Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John chapter 12. John 12. I'd like to consider verses 14
to 19 this morning. Coming up to this passage, the
Lord had raised Lazarus from the dead. People were standing there. People saw it happen. They heard
the Lord Jesus Christ tell some that were standing there, remove
the stone. The stone was removed. The Lord cried with a loud voice,
the Scripture said. They were standing there. They
heard him speak. He called Lazarus in particular
from the dead, and the Scripture says that Lazarus bound hand
and foot face covered with a napkin, came
forth. I've told you, when I preached
on that passage of Scripture, it just intrigued me. He was bound hand and foot. How
could he walk? The Lord had called him from
the dead. Don't you think the Lord could cause him to walk,
even bound hand and foot? How do we walk today, Carl? But
for the grace of God. Here we are, in ourselves, bound. Oh, but by His grace, Lazarus
came forth. A different effect on different
people. The Scripture says back in chapter
11, verse 45-46, many of the Jews which came to Mary and had
seen the things which Jesus did believed on Him. But some of
them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus
had done. But the fame of our Lord spread. And when it was
time for Him to be glorified, that is, for Him to place Himself
in the hands of sinful men, they didn't take His life from Him.
He gave it. When it came time for Him to
lay down His life, to be crucified, to be buried, to be raised from
the dead and ascended into heaven. When that time was coming, time
was now. The Scripture says over in verse
13 of chapter 12, the people took branches of palm trees,
went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna, save now. Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. They saw his fame. And they saw that fame to be
their salvation from Rome. This is the one that's going
to save us from our oppressors. Verses 14 and 15 of chapter 12. Scripture says, In Jesus, when
he had found a young ass set thereon, as it is written, Fear
not, daughter of Sion. Behold, thy king cometh sitting
on an ass's coat. Here they saw Now they knew Zechariah
9.9. I'll read this to you. This is
what Zechariah, this is what the prophet said under the inspiration
of God's Spirit. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy King cometh. He's been coming. He's coming. Thy King cometh unto thee. He
is just, having salvation, lowly, riding upon an ass and upon a
colt. Fold them in half. That was one of the signs they
were looking for. This was the one that was born
of a virgin. That was prophesied. This is
the one that was confirmed by the Lord God Himself with miracles
and signs and wonders. This is the one. This is who
we're looking for. And now he's riding on the colt
of an ass. He's on a donkey. That's him. That's the one that Zechariah
had spoken of. And many of them, not all of
them, but many of them were looking for that deliverer from the bondage
of their oppression Oh, but for those that by the grace of God
saw Him as the deliverer from the bondage of sin. That's who
He came to save. Not for those that look for Him
as just merely one that would relieve them from temporary oppression. That is the religion of this
world. You're not going to be poor.
You're not going to be sick. Everything's going to be great. No. There's some precious people
that we know right now that are sick. Lazarus was one of them.
Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Our Lord humbled Himself. Made Himself. of no reputation. And without the worldly pomp,
splendor, this is not the way that an earthly victor would
come into town. An earthly victor is going to
come into town, he's going to get him a white horse, he's going
to have a beautiful saddle, he's going to be on that, you know,
A gorgeous animal. He's going to have all of his
finery on. He's going to have an entourage
that's going to be up in front of him announcing. Here I am. This is me. Check it out. Check me out. Here's the way he came in. Riding
on a donkey. This world would look at that
laugh. That's the Savior. That's the one that all of the
scriptures has announced is coming. This is He, but without worldly
palm. Without all of the splendor,
here was the mighty God. Here's might. Here's power. The one that is
able to humble himself. I've said before, nobody that's
ever been born in Adam has that ability to humble himself. Just
proud, arrogant. Nobody wants to be humble. I
want to be exalted. That's my nature. I want you
to talk well of me. but to make himself of no reputation,
to submit himself to the suffering of the cross, the humiliation, laying down his life and have
men spit on him, curse him, in obedience to his Father's
command, the servant. The mighty God. No might. No might, but His might. No power,
but His power. All power. Here He was in absolute
humiliation. In all power, doing whatsoever
His heart pleased. Moving all things according to
the counsel of His own will. People looked at Him and said,
but it was God Almighty emptied Himself. Rejected of men, meekness, submission. Submitting Himself to ride a
beast of service. And the Scripture says in verse
16, these things understood not His disciples at the first. But
when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things
were written of Him, that they had done these things unto Him. You know, it's so blessed to
behold the truthfulness of Scripture. Scripture never paints man. Man born in Adam never paints
man. any other way than the way He
is. This is the way He is. This is what He is by nature.
He doesn't hide anything. Here was the apostles, our Lord's
disciples, and the Scripture says they didn't understand at first
what was going on. The Lord had sent them Get this
coat. If anybody asks you, you tell
them the Master needs it. Got it? Didn't understand what was going
on. Had no understanding that the Spirit of God was accomplishing
God's purpose in what they were doing. Let me ask you something. What's really going on right
now? What's really happening right now, Jeff, right now? I
don't know. I don't know. I don't know what
Almighty God is saying to you. I don't know. I know the message. I know it's
the gospel of God's grace. I know it's the gospel of sovereign,
saving grace. I know that. I know that this
Word is not going to return void. But I don't know what God is
saying to you. After the Lord was glorified
on the day of Pentecost, after He was ascended into heaven,
when He pleased God to send the Spirit of God, the Scripture
says these things, verse 16, understood not His disciples
at the first. But when Jesus was glorified,
Then remembered they that these things were written of Him."
How did they remember? The Spirit of God brought them
back to their memory. The Lord says, I must ascend
back to my Father. If I don't ascend, the Comforter
is not going to come. But when He comes, my Father
will give you another Comforter. And when He's come, what's He
going to do? What is the Spirit of God always
going to do? Number one. He's going to speak
of Christ. He's going to bring back to your
memories the things that I've told you. I had someone ask me
the other day, how do you know if someone is indwelt by the
Spirit of God? Here's how you know. The things
that our Lord has said in His Word. This is the Word of God. This is the Word of the Lord.
The Spirit of God brings back these words in power to your
heart. God Almighty teaches His people
what Christ has to say, and they believe it. And the Spirit of
God brings no attention to Himself. He shall not speak of Himself. When someone says, I tell you
what, boy, He is indwelt by the Holy Ghost.
I mean, look at the things that the Holy Ghost is manufacturing
and telling about Himself. Speaking in these unknown languages. The Lord said He won't speak
of Himself. He will speak of Me. Then they remembered. God's people
do not understand These didn't understand at first. They didn't
realize when they went and fetched that little donkey that they
were performing the ceremony of the inauguration of Zion's
king coming in to that city, fulfilling the Scripture. They
didn't realize it at first. But when he was glorified, then
the Spirit of God brought back to their memory That's what Zechariah was talking
about. We went and got that donkey like he told us to. Oh, how often does the Lord bring
about His will, and we fail to realize it at first. We look back, see some things
that happen, and have somewhat of an understanding of what was
going on. But in time, when the Lord Jesus
Christ was glorified. Whenever the Spirit of God was
poured out on the day of Pentecost, then they remembered. Verse 17-18,
the people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus
out of the grave and raised him from the dead. Bear record. And
for this cause, the people also met him, for that they heard
that he had done this miracle. The Comforter had taught them. And the musing on the things
that the Lord had done and said was a blessing to them. Those that had been there with
Him saw that miracle, saw Him raise Him from the dead. They
said what they saw. They bore record of it. Here
was a glorious revelation. And though so much ignorance
prevailed, though so many did not believe, and though the disciples
were ignorant at first, God doesn't leave His people in darkness. They shall all be taught of God. But though they were ignorant
of all the unveilings that were going on before their eyes, the
Lord continued to maintain a witness of His deity. They bore record. We readily admit, we are ignorant
people. But I'm telling you, Almighty
God maintains a record. a witness of His truth. And though we do walk with blinders,
we see through a glass darkly. But I can look back now. I look
back over the last few months. What was the Lord doing at the
moment He spoke to those people that had recently confessed Him
in baptism? What was He doing? I didn't know.
But now, I can look back and see something. of what was going
on. These bear record. Oh, thanks
be unto our God. Salvation is not according to
our understanding concerning these things. I'm thankful that
God's moving, God's working, God's salvation is not dependent
upon me, upon my ability to be able to Voice the words, I want
to say things as truthfully, faithfully as I know how. To weigh the words. I want to say the right thing. But I know this, I don't have
the ability to impart life. If Almighty God does not give
life, it's not given. It's not there. For this cause,
the cause of what they heard, verse 18, the people also met
him, for that they heard that he had done the miracles. And verse 19, the Pharisees therefore, because of those bearing record, said among themselves, Perceive
ye how ye prevail nothing. The whole world is gone after
him. The Pharisees were saying, we're
not going to gain anything by delaying and allowing this man
to continue. Something must be done now, or
it's too late. It's going to be too late. All the world, they thought,
is gone after Him. As I said last week, that's presumption.
No. Those that He's everlastingly
loved, those that Christ died for, those that the Spirit of
God shall call out of darkness, they're going to come after Him. The whole world is going after
Him. We've got to kill Him. We've
got to kill Him. I want you to observe in closing
the enmity that the carnal heart has against the Lord. I go back to that statement that
I heard Brother Gary say years ago. It's been at least a couple
of years ago. What's wrong with giving God
all the glory for salvation? What's wrong with that? What's
wrong with the Lord Jesus Christ having all the honor, all the
glory, and all the praise, when you realize that man can do nothing. Nothing. Leave a man to himself,
and he's going to perish. He's going to perish. These men, in that last verse,
those Pharisees, those religious, they were moral. They were moral
people. In themselves, righteous people. They wouldn't have cheated you
for anything. This is the kind of people, really, that you'd
probably want to have as neighbors. Wouldn't have to lock your doors.
Righteous in themselves. Moral, righteous people had one problem though. A man
that is righteous in himself hates God. And they had one purpose,
kill him. But in doing that which they
desired, God's will was being performed. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. Killing the Lord Jesus Christ,
was that a good act? That was murder. That was murder. Murder. But it was according
to the eternal purpose of Almighty God. That was God's purpose.
That His Son would die being made sin. And with wicked hands,
Peter said, you took Him and crucified the Lord of glory all
the while accomplishing the purpose of God. Lord, thank You. That by you and for you and unto
you is praise for these things that you're doing that we don't
understand. I don't know. I don't know what's going on
right now. I don't know what's going on
in the world. I don't know what's going on in this room. I don't
know. But I can tell you this, it's
all according to God's purpose and God's will. And Almighty
God is going to take that which is happening today. And it's
going to be to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ for the good
of His people. And it's going to be for Christ's
sake. Amen.