I love that song. Matthew chapter
twenty-one. Tonight, we're going to discuss
the Lord's case, and I'm going to be preaching on this subject,
the obedience of faith. Now, the reason I've entitled this message, The Most Important Question,
is because this question answers all other questions. questions. Beginning in verse one. And when they drew nigh unto
Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage, into the man of Olives, then
sent Jesus to disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village
over against you, and straightway you shall find an ass tied. And to colt with her, loose them,
and bring them unto me. And if any man say unto you,
you shall say, the Lord hath need of them, and straightway
he will send them. All this was done that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell
ye the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek
and sitting upon an ass, and to coat the fold of an ass. And the disciples went and did
as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the coat,
and put on them their clothes. And they set him thereon, and
a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others
cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried,
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And
when he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, ìWho is this?î And the multitude said, ìThis
is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.î Now here we have
the most important question ever asked. Who is this? Everything hinges on the answer
to this question. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? You see, what we believe is determined
by who we believed. The city was moved to concern,
to fear. to trembling. What is this all
about? Who is this? Now, I want to try
to answer that question with the Lord's help by going to John
chapter 19. Wouldn't it be something? Wouldn't
it be a blessing if you and I are enabled to see with spiritual
eyes, the eyes of faith, who this is? John chapter 19, verse 1. Then Pilate, therefore, took
Jesus, this was after this triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and scourged
him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple
robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again,
and saith unto him, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may
know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing
the crown of thorns and the purple robes, and Pilate saith unto
them, Behold, The Man. Behold, The Man. This is The Man, Christ Jesus. In answer to the ancient prophecy,
unto us a child is born. unto us a son is given. This is the man. Who is this? This is the man. Behold, the man, born of a virgin,
not being born with Adam's evil nature, but a real man nonetheless. with a heart pumping just like
you and I. Behold the man wrapped in swaddling
clothes at his birth with no room for him at the end, born
in a stable, a barn with the smell of manure in the air, the
ancient of days becomes the infant of days with all the weakness
and the vulnerability of a newborn baby. Behold the man, the word
was made flesh. Behold the man saying to his
parents, how is it that you sought me? Wist ye not that I must be
about my father's business? Behold the man, a young man,
a teenager, going down with them and the scripture says he became
subject to his parents. Behold the man working in the
obscurity of a carpenter's shop. Is not this the carpenter's son? Behold him as he keeps God's
law perfectly in thought, in word, and in deed. Behold the man before entering
his public ministry. He's baptized. And the heavens
open. And the Father says, this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Behold the man directly
after his baptism, he's led of the Spirit into the wilderness,
and he fasts forty days with nothing to eat and nothing to
drink. And then Satan comes and tempts
him, and he whipped Satan. He defeated him. He said, he
hath found nothing in me. Behold the man who went about
doing good, He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind. He raised the dead. He fed the
hungry. And He was called the Friend
of publicans and sinners. What a name! The Friend! Do you hear that? The Friend
of publicans and sinners. Behold the man in his harsh denunciation. of the religious of his day,
the Pharisees and the Sadducees behold him with the whip in his
hand as he drives out the money changers from the temple. Behold
the man in Gethsemane's garden, truly the man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. Behold the man when Judas and
the people with him come to get him. He says, Whom seek ye? They
say, Jesus of Nazareth. He says, I am. And they fall
backwards. He's letting him know what a
man he is. Behold the man, flesh and bones, blood, skin, hair,
pain, nailed to a cross. Behold the Man Christ Jesus. Who is this? There's one Mediator
between God and men. The Man Christ Jesus. Behold the Man. Who is this? This is the Man. Verse 6. John 19, When the chief priests,
therefore, and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify
him! Crucify him! Pilate saith unto
them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought
to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he was the more afraid. Who is this? The eternal, uncreated Son of
God. Turn back with me to Proverbs
chapter 8. Jesus Christ. is a real man, bone of our bones
and flesh of our flesh. That's who He is. He is the eternal,
uncreated Son of God. Now look, beginning in verse
22, Proverbs chapter 8. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus. He says, The Lord possessed me
in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there
were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were
settled, before the hills, was I brought forth. While as yet
He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part
of the dust of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was
there. When He set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when He gave to the sea His decree
that the waters should not pass, His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought
up with Him, and I was daily His delight. rejoicing always
before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth.
And my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken
unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear
instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the
man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at
the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me, findeth
life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord, But he that sinneth
against me wrongeth his own soul. All that hate me love death. Now this one who is man is the
uncreated Son of God. Now what all does that mean?
What all does that mean? Turn to John chapter 5. Verse 17, But Jesus answered them, My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work. Whatever my Father does, I do. What He does, I do. Therefore,
the Jews sought the Moor to kill him, because he not only had
broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father,
making himself equal with God. Now that's what the Son of God
means. He in his person is equal with
God. One day, The disciples said,
after He had rebuked the wind and said to the raging sea, Peace,
be still. They said, What manner of man
is this that even the winds and the sea do obey Him? I'll tell
you what manner of man this is. This is the God-man. The Word
was made flesh. and dwelt among us. This One
who was made flesh is the eternal Word, and the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that could be made. Would
you turn to Luke chapter 8? Now, do you remember the story
When our Lord comes into the country of the Gadarenes, and
there's a man possessed by a demon, not a demon, but a legion of
demons. When the Lord asked his name,
he said that my name is Legion, for we're many. And this man
had his dwelling place in the tomb. He lived among the dead. There's great significance to
that. And men always tried to tame Him. They tried to chain
Him down, chain Him up, and try to get Him in line and try to
straighten Him up, chain Him down. But He would always break
the chains. No one could tame Him, the Scripture
says. He was always cutting Himself
with stones, crying in misery and torture. And one day, the
Scripture says, He saw Jesus afar off. Isn't this where salvation
begins? It may be a far off site, but
this is where it begins. And he comes running into the
presence of the Lord. And he falls down before Him.
And he says, what have I to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? What connection is there? What
do I have in common with you? You're light. I'm darkness. You're
holy. I'm evil. You're good. I'm bad.
What have I to do with thee? I drew thee before God, but ye
don't torment me." He didn't even suspect mercy. He thought
the Lord was going to send him to hell. That's all he could
see. Do you remember what the Lord did? He cast the demons
out of that man by His Word. And they go and find him. The
citizens of that country go and they find this man whom they
were so afraid of sitting at the feet of Jesus and clothed
and in His right mind. Now let's begin reading in verse
35 of Luke chapter 8. Then they went out to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the
devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in His right mind. That's what a believer is. He's
someone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed in the very righteousness
of Christ, in his right mind. You see, a lost man is a fool.
He's crazy. A believer is in his right mind. Let's go on reading. They also
which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of
the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart
from them. For they were taken with great
fear, and he went up again into the ship and returned back again.
Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that
he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
Return to thine own house and show how great things who has
done? God hath done for thee. And he went his way, and he published
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto
him. Did he make a mistake? You know,
the Lord said, you go tell them what God has done. And he went
to tell them what Jesus has done. Who is this? The man, the son
of God. Now, understand who he is determines
what he did. In my heart of hearts, I hate,
I hate that doctrine or that teaching or that preaching. that
says Jesus Christ shed His blood for all men and made salvation
possible for all men. Listen to me. He's the Son of
God. He can't shed His blood for you
and you wind up in hell. It's impossible. Because of who
He is. It's Christ that died. If Christ
died for you, you must be saved. He can't intend to save somebody
and then not end up being saved. He's man, yes, He is the Son
of God, the God-man. Why, even in His death, we read
now in the centurion, and they that were with Him, watching
Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done,
feared greatly, saying, truly, this was the Son of God. Who is this? He's the man. He is God the Son. Back to our text in John 19. Verse 8. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, that he was the son of God, he was the more afraid. You remember how his wife came
to him and said, don't have anything to do with him. I've suffered
many things in a dream because of this just man. Pilate was
scared. Pilate had some idea as to who this was. He was afraid. And verse nine says, he went
again into the judgment hall and saith unto Jesus, whence
art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then said Pilate unto
him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee? Jesus
answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that hath delivered
me unto thee hath the greater sin. Now, who is this? He's man. He's God. Here's my third point. He's the one over whom you and
I have no power. No control. The Jesus that cannot save unless
we let Him. The Jesus that we make Lord of
our life. The Jesus that we accept as our
personal savior. The Jesus. Who we of our free
will decide to accept or decide to reject. That Jesus is an idol. There's no such thing. That Jesus
is the figment of men's perverted, warped imagination. That is not
the Jesus Christ of the Bible. He is the one over whom we have
no control. He said, thou couldst have no
power at all over me. Now that's who He is. He's the
one over whom we have no control. And the reason we have no control
is He has complete control over us. He reigns. He reigns in this physical world.
Everything that happens, happens according to His will. Weather,
earthquakes, typhoons, pretty days, rainy days, It's him. He reigns over demons. He reigns over Satan himself.
Satan, that mighty being, is on his chain, doing neither more
nor less than his will. He may not know it, but that's
what he's doing. He reigns over wicked men. He
reigns over his people. The Scripture says, Thou hast
given him power over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. You see, you'll only worship
a sovereign, one whom you cannot control. If you have any control
at all, you won't worship him. You'll only worship an absolute
sovereign, one who reigns, one you can't manipulate. Somebody
says, well, I don't believe that. He's in control of that, too. He controls. He rules and He
reigns. You're in His hands. I don't
believe that. Well, perhaps He sent you strong delusion that
you should believe a lie. I know this. Everybody who ever
worships Him knows He is in complete control. And they come to him
like that leopard did. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Who is this? He's the one over
whom we have no control. But he has all control. You know,
somebody says, I don't feel safe having no control. Huh? That's
crazy. You think things would be better
off if you did have control? You want things to be in my hands?
No, really, the only place of safety I see is His absolute
sovereign control. Who is this? Verse 12 of John chapter 19, And from thenceforth Pilate sought
to release Him, But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let
this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself
a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat in a place that is called the pavement. But in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover. Now this day was the day of the
Passover. Look in verse 28 of John chapter
18. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. And it was early And they themselves
went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled.
We don't want to be defiled. But that they might eat the Passover. You see, if they would have went
into the judgment hall with these Gentiles, that would have messed
everything up. They would have been defiled and they would have
been able to keep the Passover. How ironic. All they saw the
Passover was was some kind of religious ceremony they could
go through that would make them better. And they did not understand. Who is this? This is God's Passover. He is man, bone of our bones
and flesh of our flesh, the real man. He is God the Son, and as
the Son of God, He has complete control. We have no control,
He has all control. And he is God's Passover. Now you remember the story of
the Passover. God said, I'm going to destroy
the firstborn in every house. But he said to Israel, he said,
you take a land without spot and without blemish and you slay
that land. And you put the blood over the
door of the house where you'll be staying. And everybody that's
in the house with the blood of the Lamb, I'll pass over them
in mercy. Now, this is God's Passover Lamb. Behold, the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God's providing.
The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. I
love to think of the Passover. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Now let me ask three or four
questions. One, who is the blood shed for? Was it shed for everybody? Did
everybody have the blood over their door? No. It was shed for
Israel. It was shed for the people of
God. Who is the blood shed for? I'm
going to say this is even more accurate. The blood was shed
for God. It wasn't so much shed for me
or for you. It was shed for God. Now, what does that mean? For
God to do something for me or you, He first had to do something
for Himself. You see, He couldn't accept me
and you the way we are. Somebody says, God loves us unconditionally.
No, He doesn't. No, He doesn't. He can't love
you unconditionally. Something has to be done about your sin.
He's not going to love somebody who's filled with sin. No, something
is going to have to be done for your sins. So the blood was shed
for God, for Him to do something for me. He first had to do something
for Himself. He had to make a way for Him
to love me. Something had to be done about
my sin. Now, what did God, what was He looking
for? He said, when I see your sincerity, when I see your good
intentions, When I see your repentance, when I see your resolution to
change, when I see how you promise you'll never do it again, we
don't read anything like that. He said, when I see the blood,
that's the one thing he was looking for. When I see the blood, I
will pass over you. Now, when I see your faith, Not
when I see your understanding. Not when I see the blood. Who had to see it? He didn't
say when you see the blood. He said when I see the blood.
And what is the promise? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. I wonder if I have anybody in
this room thinking How could God have anything to do with
me? What if there's anybody like
that man possessed with the demons, 2,000 demons saying, what have
I to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of the Most High God? Are
you come to torment me? I don't have any connection with
you. Or if there's anybody like Peter who says, depart from me,
Lord. sinful man. You don't want to
have anything to do with me. Now, listen to me. God says, when I see the blood
of the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of my Providing, the Lamb who
is my Son, the Lamb who is God, when I see the blood I will pass
over you. Is there anything else he needs
to say? No. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Behold the Lamb of God which
takes away the sin of the world. Now let's go back to verse 14.
Who is this? Who is this that the whole city
was moved? He's man. He's God. He's the One over whom
we have no control. He's God's Lamb. He's the Passover. Who is this? Verse 14, And it
was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour, and
He saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King. Now, I realize what their response
was. Look at verse 15, but they cried out, Away with him! Away
with him! Crucify him! Pilate saith unto
them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We
have no king but Caesar. They wouldn't own his kingship.
We see where they were coming from. They were in his hands
when they said that. But let's talk about this title
just for a moment. This name of our Lord. Behold
Your King. Now, what does a king do? A king
reigns. A king rules. He doesn't simply
have the right to rule, he does rule. He doesn't have the right
to reign, he does reign. Now, I need him to be my king. I need his kingship. I need his
rule over me. I need him to subdue my iniquities
for me. I need Him to turn me. I need
Him to cause me to approach to Him. I need to be one of those
people where it says, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest
and causest to approach to thee. I need His kingship to reign
and rule over me. I need His kingship. I'll be
damned without it. I'll be lost without it. I need
Him to cause me to approach unto Himself. I won't do it unless
He causes me to and that's why I need His kingship. Behold your
King. I know those fellows said, we
have no king. They said, but this is my king. This is my king. He's my king. He's my Lord. He's my king. And how I need
His kingship. Lord, reign in me. Rule in me. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me to my own perverted will. But reign and rule in me. My King. Who is this? He's the man, Christ
Jesus. He's the Son of God. He's the
one over which you and I have no control. He's God's Passover. He is my King. I hope and pray that everybody
in this room knows who this is. I also know this, you won't know
him unless God is pleased to reveal him. We're totally dependent
upon revelation. We're totally dependent upon
him to make himself known. So, what I'm doing right now
and what I highly advise you to do Lord, make yourself known
to me. Believe, this is God's command,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. We love to sing of Christ our
King and hail Blessed Jesus, for there's no word ear ever
heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. Let's pray together.