3-29-26 - The Perfect Savior

If you think about everything going on right now in America and abroad, how would you define the problem? And what's wrong with the world. But Fundamentals What is wrong with the world is that man is in perpetual rebellion against God. And lives a life that is marked by and the salvation that Christ has wrought. We have our nose stuck into the filth that is our gods.

And so, God, the creator, is perfectly and, Joe, what we're told is that God is so the heavens are not clean in his sight. A There's no such thing as a There's no small God. He's a great and mighty powerful holy And so, any sin against And, with all the things that are happening around. Structure takes suffering, and our suffering is not our deepest problem. And if we do not understand, and if we don't understand, and if we don't understand Jesus, then we're not going to understand the salvation that Jesus came to.

And we won't understand the commands that Jesus is. And and we won't understand the commands that Jesus is. And and and and and and and and and and and and Our perspective is all tied up in our circumstances, and this thing happening, and that thing happening. And we get muddled by all these things. But that is not God's first priority.

Rescue from all the things happening around but we have to first realize that our first problem is actually with God. He is holle, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and read God's holy word found in John chapter 12 verses 12 through nine. This is God's word and it's eternally true. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm tree and they went out to meet him and they began to shout, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Even the king of this -Right. -Josanna! -Finding a young donkey sat on it as it is written. Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, seated on a dais.

You see that you are not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after. It's just the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be Yeah.

Yeah and so what we come to here in, in John chapter 12 is a very Throughout Jesus, But all of that has changed in John Chapter 11. Jesus' hour has actually come. 's and Lazarus, raiser, and waw, and the two in front of many witnesses. And up into this that is the greatest miracle that Jesus has ever done. Right.

It's power on display in a way that no other miracle had done. Right. Yeah. When he resurrected, love. But up into this point, it's Lazarus.

No one has said anything like this, right? Jesus was risen people from the dead before, but they were not rotting in the tomb for four days before this is eating with us, and the past Jesus moves. And so And so And so, and so, and so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so gather, but he's often moving secretly and hushed. Not anymore. Everyone knows Jesus is coming to this feast.

And for and for the first time, Jesus is encouraging the crowd's adj There's no slipping away. Right? How many times did Jesus just slip away? It's like, they're like, we're gonna make him king. We're gonna throw him off a cliff.

We're gonna do these things. And then it just sort of melts through the crowd. And and and there's a there's a there's a there's a to not only murder Jesus, but Lazarus. -And the power that Jesus displayed is so on and so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so -And so us as other miracles. Many people are drawn to us.

They hear Lazarus' coming. And they're power have been done, and now Jesus is coming into Jerusalem. What is going to - And they praise him as savior, and they celebrate him. - And then But though the crowd is crying save us, they don't seem to know what they actually need saving from. And it is the correct response.

It is the response that all of us should have to Christ. And the response of the people there is the right and that's take him by force and make him with Drew again to the mountain by himself. Needs. They misdiagnosed the kind of saving that he came to do. And they misdiagnosed the sins, or the, the, the things that they needed saving.

And the the tells the disciples point blank what he has come to. And so much clarity that Peter finally understood. And so much clarity that Peter finally understood. And what is You are not setting your mind on God's interest, but on man's You are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's Again, you see this disconnect of what man thinks and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and and the disciples come together and they ask Jesus, say, Laura. It is at is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to is And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest part of the And part of the tragedy of these situations And they don't recognize him for who he is.

And if you're a Christian, you know, I need to be saved. You need to be saved from your sins. But how often do we treat that like a checkbox to be marked? Yeah. I believe in Jesus.

I'm Do we actually want a savior? It's first concern is changing your heart. Our not. And do not hear what I'm not saying that God doesn't care about us going through difficulties and trials. Far from We are told has suffered.

Problems lie externally, and all the circumstances around us, and in all the people around us, then we're missing the kind of savior that Christ is. Because Christ is the savior that we need, that the world needs, not the savior that the world shows, want. What they really need is a king who will save them from their sin, and restore peace between man and god. But about you the circumstances of your life than about your standing before God? Circumstances which we don't Right?

And yet how does he enter? War horse. It's not on a stow. It's on a dawdy. Now this is to fulfill a prophecy, is a jesus.

A jesus is a diety of human Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right He has come to be the perfect sacrifice. The way that Jesus enters Jerusalem tells us everything about his mission.

He has come to save. And Jesus did And Jesus did come. Two fight. But not the battle that they thought. They couldn't see yet.

He came to fight and to defeat sin and And this is often how God works. We don't quite expect the thing that he's come to do. He moves in ways that we don't expect. And if we only look to God to fulfill our expectations, then we're going to miss much of what God does. Because we'll this small box we expect God to operate.

And we won't see all the bountiful and amazing ways that he's And now, think about it. And then and then gives commands that we do not like. Dawnt. I want to read to you a passage from the Sermon on the Mount to illustrate. So it's Matthew chapter five.

And then when he wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your choice. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him to him who asks of you. And do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do the.

Tax collectors do the same. And do not even do the same. They're for you are to be perfect as your heavenly father. Yeah. It's a about loving my enemies and praying for those who are persecuting me, turning my cheek, man, people would just walk all over me.

What would it change? Where would our salvation be if Jesus had said Read through, read through the Reality. He does everything that he tells us to do. And are we any greater than our what we were it was while we were enemies, he died for. Right.

It's to nothing greater than what he called himself to and what the father called. God. And brothers and sisters, I tell you, there is no greater joy in our life than to be told fear not. Right. It's our greatest joy.

Our biggest problem in life is much weight would that relieve? What perspective would it give you on every other problem in your life? Because that thing, the thing that you're thinking of is just gone, solved, perfectly When did you walk lighter? Your steps you'd be bouncing off the ground with your When Christ comes and dies in the cross and you have peace with that all the other issues in your life, though they are issues, though they are painful, and yes, God does care about them, and yes, Christ suffers through them with you. And, yes, your problem is solved.

Which way everything is going is because fundamentally, issues will sort themselves. And it doesn't mean that we don't have to go through them. And it doesn't mean we don't have to. And power of the world. Satan is constantly tempting us to think that power resides and force in our rights, in our politics, in the halls of power.

But the power of the Christian lies in obedience to and having a clean and and having a clean and and and and and and and so we have power to and now others more important than ourselves. Even if they look different than A clean conscience and a holy life will give you more power than anything else in the entire world. A righteous man who fears God. One, we're told, will chase thousands. When you live a life filled with humility and obedience to God's command, they don't have any Yeah.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah The path he calls us to is not make does not make sense in the worlds. Reality turning the cheek.

These are not the way that we think you get ahead. This is not how we think you change the world. But are you willing to submit? To his humility, to serve others, to trust him rather than insisting on your own plans and your own right. Well, you live a life that is weak by the worlds.

But in a few days, whether it's the whole crowd or just a few their shouting, truisify. Why would the people turn on him so quickly? He didn't meet their expectations. And He didn't meet their expectations. He didn't save them the way they wanted to.

And fact, the next thing that he did is go into the temple and chase them out with a wit. To to teach us morality. We didn't just need a miracle worker. We needed more than an earthly team. We needed a substitution.

Salvation that Christ wrought, and the salvation that Christ And Christ gives us something that we could never earn. This all the time. But they're wrong. Children are horrible at diagnosing problems. Don't trust yourself and your diagnosis diagnosing of what's wrong.

Our offenses against and he has laid it out for us. And then he sent the exact savior that we needed, to desperately need. He's not perf because he is perfect. Harm that he cannot change. No harm that is beyond the saving power of Christ.

We're going to a we're going to a we to save us how we expect him to save in the way that we want him to save us? Or will we accept his diagnosis of us? And trust him as the savior that we need. Are you willing to follow him only when your expectations are met? Or will you follow him because he's the perfect savior, and he knows better than you what you ought to do and how you ought to live your life?

Don't follow the crowd. Don't follow the crowd. With the father. Let's pray.