Palm Sunday and the Crowd Mentality

Speaker 1 00:00:05 Let's church East. It is great to see you. My name is Craig Jarvis. I am the lead pastor here at village church East, and it's my privilege to be able to welcome you here this morning. I'm hearing some weird things in my ears today. And so does that sound weird to you? Ready? All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go. It sounds like I'm yelling at my kids all the time. Now. It sounds, uh, it is exciting to be able to welcome you to Palm Sunday. So here, this is the beginning of passion week and it's incredible for the church. This is our climactic moment for the church the week that makes the church thrive, alive birth, uh, living going on and continuing to grow. And because of that, we take a lot of, uh, take a lot of, put a lot of effort into what goes on this week. Speaker 1 00:00:59 And so I want to give you a little little update. Uh, I know my wife did was the sheet to the good looking woman that started out at the, at the front. That was my wife. She said, yeah, I know you can apply it for her. That's fine. Uh, no, she, uh, she talked a little bit about what's coming up this week, but I want to just, uh, park real care, uh, softly on Friday. Usually we do a tenant Bray service. If you're familiar with that, it's a service of shadows. And we looked at doing that again this year. Actually we partnered with churches in our area because we'd love to do things with other congregations that are around us realizing we're all a part of the family of God. And so it was one thing that we enjoy here. But however, uh, this is, this is like a continuation of COVID still. Speaker 1 00:01:44 And so we thought, what should we do for 10 of Bray? That's not quite as much of a downer because if you've been to a 10 of service, you blow the candles and then eventually get down to the one candle and it's left. And that's of course, Jesus Christ that represents him. And then he dies. And that we sets us up for Sunday morning resurrection. And so we talked about that and getting together and using another campus cause we can't use this one. And this is, this is our setup, tear down a place that we're at at fountain view. We're very grateful for the use here, but we were looking at partnering with other churches, figuring out a location. And ultimately I think the Lord has laid it on my heart, particularly that we've gone a little bit different direction on Friday night. And so we've reduced it down to a zoom service and it's still going to be a tenant brace service. Speaker 1 00:02:31 I'd still like to involve all of you. If you've been to our service before, you know, everybody gets to read all the families get to be involved. And so what I'd like to see on Friday night is us to do our service, but to do it online, over zoom and to have you and you online that are, that are home. If you would like to join us at seven o'clock and be a part of this, your family would read a passage of scripture. We've got about seven passages of scripture. We would love for each person on the zoom call for, for many families as we can to join us and help us through the service. And if you've got a reader in your group, or if you're a reader in your group, it basically is an opportunity for us to do this together. As a family in my mind, this is going to work nicely cause it's kind of like a family devotional that you might do together with your family at home. Speaker 1 00:03:18 But this is more over zoom. It'll be at seven o'clock. We will provide the link for you online for all of you that would like to join us. Uh, we will send that out for you if you're part of our newsletter or part of our communication thread that we have. If you're not joined us, let us know you're here this morning. You online, let us know that you're here and when you will get the link and then join us at seven o'clock. And if you would like to read a passage of scripture, just shoot me a quick little note, uh, at VCU or VCU dot B dot anyway, send us a quick little link on the sidebar. You'll see our, our, uh, our text thread. Uh, you can get ahold of me and, uh, we'll find out that you would like to read. I'll send you a little reading, not very long at all, but it'll be an opportunity for us to kind of do this together as a family. Speaker 1 00:04:03 I think it will be a wonderful time, a little different than we normally do, but a good time to set us up for Easter Sunday for what's coming on our celebration next Sunday morning, I would like to just take a moment and pray this morning. Uh, I realize some of you have had some challenges, uh, this past week in your life. Some of you have kind of had some challenges with the change of venue for your kids. Maybe they're starting spring break, or they're still in on spring break for now. And I just like to spend a moment and pray for you this morning. Some of you remember that Dan, who is Sherry at motto's brother passed away and they had their service yesterday and I'd like to pray for them and for their family as well. That's why they're not with us today. And then of course for our service next Sunday, as we plan for our Easter celebration and the baptisms that are coming up, which are going to be really cool. Speaker 1 00:04:54 And if you've never experienced a baptism, like, uh, we're going to transform this whole area into, into a baptism area and we've done it already once a couple of weeks ago, and I'm looking forward to doing it again. Life-changing moments that you will experience next Sunday. So would you join me in a word of prayer as we prepare our hearts for God's word this morning, father, it is such a privilege that we are welcomed into your presence. Every one of us realizes who we are, what we have done, how we've dropped the ball, how we've come to the end of our, our ropes, even this past week, how we have disappointed you or others, how we've used these mouths in ways that haven't blessed others and has, has hasn't glorified your name. Every one of us knows who we are this morning. And yet you welcomed us into your presence. You long to hear us praise your name. You enjoy us. As we gathered together, fellowship with one another. It's your children coming back together to refocus our minds on what really matters Speaker 2 00:06:00 It's to put you back at the center. And so father, I thank you. Speaker 1 00:06:03 Thank you for that, that we get to do that each Sunday. And again this morning, Speaker 2 00:06:10 I also thank Speaker 1 00:06:10 You that you not only listen to our prayers, but you love to answer prayer. We've been praying for several, several things over this past, uh, this past, even this past month, Speaker 2 00:06:23 I think of Chris Speaker 1 00:06:24 Deer this morning that, uh, just a reminder to me, of, of a daughter who loved her mum and, uh, losing, losing a parent is very difficult. I thank you for giving her the grace to walk her through Speaker 2 00:06:35 That. Thank you that she's Speaker 1 00:06:37 Here today. And I just pray grace upon that family pray for the same for their model family. As they had a very difficult time yesterday, I know talking with their family and sharing together, and yet the memories that they enjoyed I'm sure were, were just such a blessing to them. May you pour grace over that family as well as they now learn to live without a dad here, but knowing full well that they'll get to see him again. Speaker 2 00:07:05 I thank you for that for all the Speaker 1 00:07:07 Prayer requests that, uh, in every one, every seat represents somebody that has a prayer request and those that are online father, each one of them burdens on their hearts, things that are important to them, places that they need to guard in their hearts because of the wounds that have existed for so long father, I pray that you would pour grace upon Speaker 2 00:07:27 Us, help us Speaker 1 00:07:29 To remember that this life isn't all that there isn't that there's a promise of a greater life to come to spectacular for even words, to explain all of this as ours, because of you because of this week and what you did for us. Like Jonathan reminded us coming through the Gates of Jerusalem, steadfast to end on a cross so that your blood would flow and the penalty would be paid for our sins and then victorious on the third day, when you Rose from the dead and father. We know because scripture says, because you Rose from the dead, we will rise to someday. We look forward to that day and we thank you that this life isn't all that there is. But for now, Lord, I pray that you would visit us where we need to be visited. Speak to us in only the way that you can speak to us, open the doors that we don't want to open, speak to us through your Holy spirit and help us to receive what you would have for us to receive this morning. As we look into your word, the truth that never changes. And I pray that we would be good recipients, good servants, good receivers of your truth. This morning, I pray in Jesus name. Speaker 2 00:08:36 Amen. In the sixties, Speaker 1 00:08:41 There was an experiment called the five monkey experiment. Have you ever heard about the five monkey experiment you have? This is a fascinating experiment that could, they could never pull off today. And as I go through, you'll understand why they couldn't pull it off today. So these researchers put five monkeys in a cage and these monkeys were gathered around a ladder. And at the top of the ladder, Speaker 2 00:09:05 There was a big bunch of bananas and the monkeys would, as monkeys Speaker 1 00:09:10 Should do eventually climb over each other to get up the ladder so that they could get to the bananas. But every time that they did, as they climbed over one another as monkeys, do, the researchers would spray them with ice cold water, and then they would fall down to the ground and then they would be down on the ground and they would look up at the bananas and then they'd try it again. And then they get sprayed again. And eventually all of the monkeys stopped going up. The ladder, the ladder was there. The bananas were there, but they were all too afraid Speaker 2 00:09:40 To go up. Then the researchers did something brilliant. They introduced another monkey to the cage. This one Speaker 1 00:09:51 Monkey had no idea what was going on. The five monkeys wouldn't climb the ladder. The bananas are up there. So guess what? The new monkey did. He climbed over the other five to get up to the bananas. But when he did, he did not get sprayed. Instead the other five monkeys grabbed the, the new monkey, pulled him down to the bottom and beat him because they did not want him to get sprayed Speaker 2 00:10:13 With icy water. Speaker 1 00:10:15 So eventually after as many beatings as he could take, he no longer went up the ladder. And now six monkeys were in the cage bananas at the top of this ladder and none of them would go up. Then they did Speaker 2 00:10:26 Something even more brilliant, Speaker 1 00:10:29 Started taking the original five monkeys out of the cage, one at a time and introducing a new monkey to the cage. And as they did that, as they took one monkey after another out of the cage and introduce new monkeys to the cage, those new monkeys would eventually go up and the last four would beat him, would pull them down a beat, no more ice water. They just would beat him so that he didn't go up the ladder anymore. Eventually all the original monkeys Speaker 2 00:10:54 Keys were gone and there was five new monkeys in the cage and none of them would climb the ladder to get the bananas. And none of them knew why fascinating isn't it. Crowd mentality Speaker 1 00:11:12 Is an interesting concept. And that's the topic that we're going to be discussing today. Even though none of these monkeys had been sprayed with water, none of them would go up and get the bananas. And none of them knew why they all saw food at the top of the ladder. None of them would go up for it. And none of them could explain Speaker 2 00:11:30 Why they wouldn't go up. Speaker 1 00:11:32 The power of the crowd can be Speaker 2 00:11:34 Positive thing, tear down that wall. You know, it can be a powerful thing. Speaker 1 00:11:40 You can get a crowd together and you could create some amazing new ways of thinking new laws, new activities, culturally can change things. Speaker 2 00:11:52 Crowds can be amazing thing. Speaker 1 00:11:55 You can find racial equality with a big enough crowd. You can end slavery with the big Speaker 2 00:11:59 Tough crowd. A crowd Speaker 1 00:12:02 Can also be a very damaging thing. The will of a misled crowd population can generate a lot of damage. I take you to Nazi jury. Speaker 2 00:12:16 The crowd Speaker 1 00:12:17 Can be a positive thing, but it also can be a negative thing in a well-intentioned crowd can begin to follow an ideal with no purpose or no reason why they just follow Speaker 2 00:12:29 The crowd. Palm Speaker 1 00:12:31 Sunday is all about crowd Speaker 2 00:12:33 Mentality. This is Speaker 1 00:12:35 Our Palm Sunday. This is the day that enters, uh, us into the process of in, into the seven day of the, of the passion of the Christ. And leading up to this point, there were three times actually this point represents three times when a crowd mentality influenced Jesus Christ. Jesus was born to die. Jesus came to be incarnated as God in human flesh so that he alone would be the substitute for our sins. That was his whole purpose. He said his mind. It says in scripture, several times, he said his mind steadfastly on the cross. He did this because this was his purpose for being here. His blaze on diaspora, his whole reason, Speaker 2 00:13:24 B Speaker 1 00:13:27 The process of doing that. Jesus was influenced several times to change his mind. Each time he was influenced by him Speaker 2 00:13:35 Crowd, these crowds well-intentioned. Speaker 1 00:13:40 I did influence Jesus in his journey to the cross. Not all of them were evil. One of them was, but not all of them were evil. Some of them were very well-intentioned, but all of them, all of these crowds Speaker 2 00:13:56 Were wrong. Speaker 1 00:13:58 Jesus still remains steadfast. So I want to talk to you about these three crowds. These three crowd mentalities this morning. One crowd was his disciples. One crowd was his fans Speaker 2 00:14:13 And one crowd where his enemies let's talk about the first one first. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:14:20 First one first. Let's talk about the disciples first, the well-meaning but wrong crowd. I take you to Matthew 26, verse 31. Then Jesus said to them, you are, you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee. Now this had to be hard for the disciples to hear, to be very honest and be very tender with the disciples. He literally is saying to the disciples, I am going to be gone. I'm not going to be around anymore. And you, you are going to be Speaker 2 00:14:54 Scattered at a fear. You won't Speaker 1 00:14:56 Be able to hang around together. You're going to be scared to death for your life. I'm going to be gone. Shepherd's gone. Sheep are going to be scattered. They had to be fearful, right? This is not a pleasant conversation. This is kind of one of those conversations. When somebody comes up to you and says, Hey, listen, we, we have to have a talk like that never ends up. Well, right? This is a conversation that Jesus has Speaker 2 00:15:16 With his disciples. Peter says, wait a doggone minute in verse 33. Peter says, though, Speaker 1 00:15:25 These people though, they, you get that very demeaning though. They all fall away because of you. Jesus, I will. What does he say? Speaker 2 00:15:38 Church? I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly. I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me how many times, three times that had to be hard for Peter to hear. We know that it Speaker 1 00:15:54 Was because look what Peter says. Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not die. Speaker 2 00:16:01 You foot in the mouth syndrome. And then look at what it says after that. What does it say? Church? And all the disciples said the same crowd mentality, Speaker 1 00:16:14 Or you probably thinking to yourself, well, Craig, come on Peter. Doesn't he doesn't want Jesus to die. He, Jesus is saying I'm going to die. And Peter saying, not on my watch, no I'm going to protect you. And when I protect you, even if I have to die, I'll go to death, protecting you. And all the other guys are going. Yeah. What Peter said, what Peter said, that's what we'll do too. We're we'll do what that guy said. Speaker 2 00:16:37 The crowd mentality. Peter was leading the way he stepped out, contradicted Jesus and the others followed. He was well-intentioned but he was dead wrong. Now you might look at me and you might say Craig being awfully hard on the disciples here. Like you're being awful, Speaker 1 00:16:55 Fully hard on Peter. Like if you were Peter, wouldn't you say the same thing about your wife? You know, my wife was saying, I got, I'm going to be killed. And all of you are going to be scattered. I'm going to go, Hey, wait a second. God died for your baby. I'm not going to let that happen to you, right? This is a noble thing to do. But what you mean, Speaker 2 00:17:09 This is, this is not the first time Jesus has explained this whole scenario to his disciples. Jesus had made this plain to him, Speaker 1 00:17:18 At least four times that we know of in scripture, Jesus sits his disciples down. He says, listen, something bad is coming. Bad. Things will happen. I'm going to be taken. I'm going to be beaten. I'm going to die. I'm going to raise again. All right. And you guys are going to be fearful. I'm preparing Speaker 2 00:17:36 You. They know this. They just don't want it to happen. I give you one illustration, Peter of all people remember Speaker 1 00:17:50 That this conversation, because this is one of the most outstanding passages of scripture where Jesus literally borates Peter to his face. Matthew 1621. This is before the whole conversation we just read about Jesus says from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must look at it. He must go to Jerusalem. He must suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And on the third day, what church, and on the third day we read any questions. He has had this conversation with his disciples over and over again. And look at what Peter does in verse 22. And Peter took him aside. Jesus, let's go over here just for a conversation. Takes him aside and began to rebuke him. Now can you imagine rebuking Jesus Christ? Like you gotta be a certain character of a person to rebuke Jesus don't do anything and began to rebuke him saying, listen, Jesus far be it. Speaker 1 00:18:51 This isn't going to happen far. Be it from you, Lord. This will never happen to you. Peter has had this conversation with Jesus already and he should have remembered because look what Jesus said to him in this passage, verse 22. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me. What would you remember? This conversation? Get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me. You were an obstacle to me. You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Now I ask you should Peter have remembered this conversation. Here's the thing he remembered. He just didn't want to believe it. And to be honest, probably neither would we They're a well-intentioned group of men, but they are dead wrong. They didn't listen to what Jesus was saying. They thought they were being brave, standing up for their friends, showing support, being noble. Jesus has had this conversation with these at least four times. And this one stands out because he calls his one of his favorite disciples. The devil, Speaker 0 00:20:05 Okay. Speaker 1 00:20:08 Peter was well-meaning well-intentioned but he was wrong because he simply didn't want to believe it. Crowd mentality led the way. And when Peter said, no, Lord, you're wrong on this? I know you've explained it to us at least four times in scripture. That's what we have written much less. What actually happened beyond what's written in scripture. I know you've told us it's going to happen, but not on my watch. And all the disciples said, Peter is being noble. Us too. We're in this crowd was well-intentioned. They wanted it to be a certain way. And they were willing to go against God's plan to do it. Second. Speaker 2 00:20:48 These are what I call the fans. The self-absorbed crowd, Matthew Speaker 1 00:20:53 21, verse seven. This is what would takes us to discussing this on Palm Sunday, they brought a donkey and the Colt and put them on their Speaker 2 00:21:00 Cloaks and they sit Speaker 1 00:21:03 And he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. This is why we call it Palm Sunday. This is the day that Jesus walked into Jerusalem and they took these Palm branches like this one right here. And they threw them on the ground so that Jesus could walk over them. And his disciples could walk over them and the donkey could walk on them. And then they took their cloaks and they threw their cloaks on the ground as well. This was a declaration of their, their homage to a King. It was an old, old way of showing. Homage says, you literally took off your clothes and you threw them on the ground to show you Speaker 2 00:21:44 <inaudible> to the new coming King. Speaker 1 00:21:48 I need to give you some background here so that we can fully appreciate this. This is Passover week. Speaker 2 00:21:52 Jerusalem is packed, packed full Speaker 1 00:21:54 Of people. If you've been to Disney world, it's kind of like that. Speaker 2 00:21:59 You're bumping Speaker 1 00:22:00 Into people left and right. People are coming in from all corners of the Jewish nation and they're coming to give sacrifices. So they have to bring their families as well. So you have kids, you got wives, you've got husbands, who've got parents, who've got grandparents. Everybody's there. It's a big time celebration. And this Passover is particularly interesting because there was something about this Passover and the Jewish calendar that made it stand out from the others, just in simply in the time of time of, uh, the calendar that it was, this is a crowd like few others had seen in their lifetimes. They were all there to do ceremonial activities. They were all there to go to the temple and do their sacrifices. They were, they were doing this because they had hoped for the coming Messiah. All of them had hoped for they've dialed in Seder meals and left the chair open for John the Baptist. While we know John, the Baptist left the chair open for, uh, for the one who would talk about the coming Elijah, the one who had pronounced the coming of the Christ, Speaker 2 00:22:57 They were all waiting Speaker 1 00:22:57 For the Messiah. All of them were good Jewish people. Speaker 2 00:23:01 And they had heard about Jesus. They had heard of, Speaker 1 00:23:05 But um, they don't have social media. They don't, they can't see pictures or anything like that. But they knew about them because everything was passed around by word of mouth. So everybody knew about the Jesus. And more than that, I mean, he's feeding 5,000 people with, with loaves of, you know, a handful of loaves and fishes. He's, he's raising people from the dead. He's walking on water, good grief. What can't this guy do? He's changing the environment. He's, he's stopping storms with a word of his mouth. Speaker 2 00:23:31 Oh, you, you can bet. They heard about him. Speaker 1 00:23:34 They were there. And they find out that Jesus is coming through with his 12 disciples. And so they gather around and they, they make way for him because they think to themselves, maybe, maybe this is the guy Speaker 2 00:23:46 We've been waiting for Speaker 1 00:23:49 Of them have not seen Jesus yet. And so today is their lucky day. They happen to be in Jerusalem. The same day Jesus is coming through the Gates. It's like, shazamm my kid. Can't be a better day. Speaker 2 00:24:02 Today's our lucky. Speaker 1 00:24:03 So, so you got parents pushing their kids to the front of the line. And they're just elbow to elbow people and short people like Zachias are looking over the crowd, trying to figure out where he's coming through when he's coming through. Is that him? No, no, no. Is that Speaker 2 00:24:17 And him finally, he comes through in the crowd erupts with celebration. Speaker 1 00:24:28 Cause they, they they're poor lower class people. They have nothing, but they got trees until they grabbed the Palm branches from the trees and they throw them on the ground. And it's uh, it's a show of their devotion. And some of them want more than that. So they throw their cloaks on the road and they say, Speaker 2 00:24:42 We're in this with you. We celebrate you. Verse nine, the crowds Speaker 1 00:24:51 Before him and followed him were shouting Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest they're shouting Speaker 2 00:24:58 Praising Hashanah. And when he entered Jerusalem, look at this church, the whole city was stirred up. That's a crowd. And they've said, who is this? Speaker 1 00:25:16 Crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. The whole city is steered up, but get this. Some of them in the crowd are going, why are we here again? Who who's coming through the Gates? Why, Hey, why are we here? What are we cheered for? What are you saying? Not enough or what is this? Some of them had no idea why they were there. They were just a part of the crowd. And so other people would say, are you an idiot? This is Jesus. He's walked on water. He's you haven't heard these stories. Oh, that's Jesus. That's a guy. Speaker 2 00:25:43 And the crowd begins to grow, to celebrate who they think Jesus is. But it was a self-absorbed crowd Speaker 1 00:25:52 Because they were not ready to hear Jesus. They were simply fans of the potential for what this might mean. Speaker 2 00:25:57 I mean, for them, they're simply fans, fans of this, this idea, Speaker 1 00:26:04 DIA of a Messiah who would bring back their nation. And this is not a bad thing. This is not a bad thing at all. They're acknowledging prophecy. The Messiah is going to come. Maybe this is him. That's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing because they believe that God will send the rescue. Or maybe this is their rescuer. It's not a bad thing to want your land back or your family to be kept Speaker 2 00:26:24 Safe, but they are not ready to follow Jesus Christ. And they were simply fans filled with what Speaker 1 00:26:33 They could get out of it. Now you may think here, you may think Craig you're being lovely hard on this crowd. Just like you were hired on the disciples. You're being awfully hard on this crowd. I beg to differ because what were they saying, church? What is the word that they were saying? Speaker 2 00:26:46 When Jesus came through on the donkey, they were saying, Hosanna Hashanah, do you know what Hosanna means? It means, save us. Now you see, they were fans of the guy who could save them. And they weren't interested in Jesus' message of a spiritual salvation. They were interested in his message. What they thought should be a message of a physical salvation from Rome Hashanah save now. And by the way, that's an emphatic word. If you wrote that in the English language, you would put three exclamation points behind it. That's what Hosanna means. That's the fans. That's the crowd that gathered that wanted something, but didn't want the Jesus. They eventually knew. And you may ask why is that the case? Well, that brings us to the third crowd. And the third crowd were enemies. The rowdy misled crowd. This crowd was actually the same crowd. Four days later, Speaker 1 00:28:04 Crowd gathered for Passover. Once again, it's still the same people that were in Jerusalem. It's still the same people that are doing all of the Passover festivities and all of the Passover feasts and all the Passover celebrations because Passover doesn't happen until the end of the week. They were there on Sunday. They were there at the beginning of the week. They stay, this was a whole week long D D deal. They were there for the whole thing. And by Speaker 2 00:28:29 Four days later, this same group of people was not shouting Hashanah, throwing cloaks on the ground or Palm branches. They were crying out something completely different. The Pharisees had convinced them that they were following a fraud. You see a lot happened in those four days. In fact more is written on the Passover week on these seven days than any other event in the gospels. The seven days changed history forever. And if you read Speaker 1 00:29:00 The stories in the gospels are stories of all these things in Jesus' life, 33 years, but this week Speaker 2 00:29:05 Made the difference. Pharisees had convinced them that they were following a fraud. Jesus is walking around, Speaker 1 00:29:13 Down with a guy that Rose from the dead. That's hard to argue with. He had just raised Lazarus from the dead Lazarus is walking with him everywhere he goes and the Pharisee, Speaker 2 00:29:23 These are gone. Nope. We got to get rid of that guy. Why? Because he's stealing our power man. So they, the only way to get rid of him is to convince his followers. They're following a fraud, Speaker 1 00:29:37 Wanted those. They wanted Jesus cast out of the religious realm. They wanted those followed Jesus to be cast out of the religious realm. Nobody who hung around with Jesus would be accepted in modern society. We're going to make Jesus look so bad that his followers look bad, Speaker 2 00:29:53 Add as well. If they could get the fans of Jesus, those Speaker 1 00:30:00 That crowd that gathered on Sunday, if they could get those fans against Jesus, they could discredit Speaker 2 00:30:05 Jesus. And so what do they do? They conduct their own religious trial. Speaker 1 00:30:13 Four days later, they go in, they arrest Jesus on fraudulent charges. They bring him, they convict him by getting two worthless men to speak against him, which the law required. And then they condemned him Speaker 2 00:30:31 To death. Now they can't kill anybody. You see, they only had limited power. They were just the religious leaders of the day. Only Rome could kill people. Speaker 1 00:30:41 So after beating him senseless and kicking him out of the religion Speaker 2 00:30:46 Circles, Speaker 1 00:30:49 Doing it in front of his fans, they had to now get all of his Speaker 2 00:30:54 Followers to turn on him. Speaker 1 00:30:57 They had to make it look so obvious that not only would Jesus be discredited, but all his followers were would as well. And they found a way Speaker 2 00:31:05 This brilliant. Here's what they did. Matthew 27, verse 15. Now at the feast, this is a Passover feast. The governor was accustomed to release for the crowd. Any one prisoner who they arrested. Now, this is a great ploy on Rome's part. Rome Speaker 1 00:31:23 Was a hand of, of a heavy fist over, over any realm that they ruled. And especially over the Jews, they did not like the Jewish people. There all Speaker 2 00:31:33 Uprising here, uprising there. So Speaker 1 00:31:37 What they decided to do for these Jewish people is once a year, they would release somebody from prison. And normally it would be somebody with noble character. Like they would be arresting people left and right. Rome arrest anybody. They want to, they throw them in jail. And they're, you know, you ever hear from them again. But once a year they had a, they had a program and the program was, they would bring somebody out of jail and they would say, you get to choose who do you want us to set free? It can be anybody you want. It can be the dad that we dragged away in the night. It could be the mom that, that these kids, kids need desperately so badly. It can be a leader in, in your group that, that gave you hope and help and was kind to you. Who would you like us to release? And they did that once a year. And sometimes families got their Speaker 2 00:32:26 Fathers back and wives got Speaker 1 00:32:28 Their husbands back and husbands got their wives back. And, and, and, and groups of religious people get their leaders. Sometimes that happened. Speaker 2 00:32:36 But not this time. No. See if you read this real quickly, you'll miss all that because this was a ploy this year. It was different. Once a year, Rome would show benevolence by releasing somebody you loved and you get to pick it. But not this year, not this year for 16. And they had a notorious prisoner called what was his name? Church? Barabis you remember this guy? So when they gathered pilot said to them, who am, do you want me to release for you? Barabis or Jesus who is called the Christ. You get it. Pilot did not want to kill Jesus. And he didn't want these Jews to force him into doing it. So he pulled a fast one. He said, instead of you choosing who you want to be released, I'm going to choose. And I'm going to pick the worst guy we got in the Dungeons and put him up here. So you'll have the worst guy in history and Jesus. And certainly anybody would choose Jesus, not the worst guy in history for. He knew it was out of envy. The Bible says that they had delivered him up. They could choose any prisoner they wanted, but not today. He didn't give them a choice. He would make in his mind, pilot made their job easier. Pilot did not want to kill Jesus. Speaker 2 00:34:05 Pilot tried to pull a fast one to get out of killing Jesus. He couldn't care less about Jesus. He just didn't want a revolution on his hands. The Pharisees, the chief priests and the elders were jealous of Jesus and pilot didn't want them to force him to do something he didn't want to do. So he thought to himself, surely the crowd will save Jesus. If I only give them their other choice as Barabis does that make sense? It gets worse. There's 20, another chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for who church to ask for Barabis and destroy Jesus church. How much hate would you have to have to want a notorious prisoner released instead of Jesus, the governor again said to them, which of these two, do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabis what are you Def Barabis we don't want Jesus. And you can just see the Pharisees and the chief priests and the elders going around to the, this notorious crowd, this, this, this misled group and playing them like the puppets. They are it's Jesus, Jesus needs to die. We got to kill Jesus now to fully appreciate the scene. I take you to the gospel of Luke. Luke gives us one more visual into what's going on here. Luke Speaker 1 00:35:38 2318 talks about the same occasion and Luke writes, but they all cried out together, away with this man and released to us. Barabis just in case you don't know who Barabis is. Luke tells us he is a man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection started in the city and for what church, they wanted a murder Speaker 2 00:36:01 Over Jesus. And tell me, this is not a misled crowd. Pilot, Speaker 1 00:36:07 Address them once more desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting crucify him, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him, Speaker 2 00:36:17 Crucify him a rowdy misled crowd. Church. Listen, angry crowds are usually wrong. Pilot was not a good guy, but even pilot knew this was wrong. Speaker 1 00:36:38 Crowd voices prevailed. Verse 23 says they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified church and their voices Speaker 2 00:36:47 Prevailed. That's a meaningful crowd. Wouldn't you say? That's okay. Speaker 1 00:36:53 Powerful crowd. It's an angry crowd. Completely misled. Speaker 2 00:37:00 Jesus Speaker 1 00:37:00 Was crucified because of an angry crowd who would not be satisfied with anything less than blood people. Please remember. These are the same groups of people that were throwing cloaks and Palm branches on the road Speaker 2 00:37:13 Four days earlier, crowd mentality. So why do we talk about this on Palm Sunday? Well, I'm glad you asked because the Speaker 1 00:37:27 Crowd mentality is a dangerous Speaker 2 00:37:29 Thing. Speaker 1 00:37:31 It causes us to lose our moral compass, Speaker 2 00:37:36 Well intentioned or straight up evil. It doesn't matter. Speaker 1 00:37:40 Crowd mentality is a thing that will cause us to lose our moral compass. If we are not grounded properly, Speaker 2 00:37:50 Someone Speaker 1 00:37:50 Who started this crowd has an agenda. Speaker 2 00:37:54 And so Speaker 1 00:37:55 Some of them may not even know like the monkeys. They may not even know what they're doing. They may, they may not even know why they're there like Palm Sunday. And some of them were gone. Hosanna was that, who are we talking about here? Who is this guy? Jose Speaker 2 00:38:09 Crowd mentality is a dangerous thing. It has an agenda. Speaker 1 00:38:14 And too often, whoever started that crowd has an insidious agenda and our children are at risk in this world of following the crowd mentality, perhaps now Speaker 2 00:38:23 More than ever, Speaker 1 00:38:26 Especially a crowd mentality regarding the person of Jesus Christ. Speaker 2 00:38:31 You ever notice that Speaker 1 00:38:32 Everyone online now has this new hashtag does kind of make sure that you know who they are like at the real Tom cruise. So, so you know that, you know, Tom cruise, you know, this fat guy in Toledo is not the real Tom cruise, right? Everyone's got this new hashtag that real Craig Jarvis, just in case somebody is using his name. Just so you know this, this is the real one that's true. Speaker 2 00:38:56 Talking about here. The world will Speaker 1 00:38:59 Tell our children, the world will tell us who Jesus is. And it will not in any way. Exhibit who the God of the Bible is who Jesus of the Bible is. Speaker 2 00:39:09 People will do Speaker 1 00:39:09 Everything in their power to gather a following. They'll even lie about who they are. Speaker 2 00:39:12 They are to gather a following and listen, no matter what you hear, this is going to be hard to hear. But no matter what you hear, the world will never like Jesus. It just doesn't work that way. Speaker 1 00:39:29 They may say they like Jesus. They may quote certain things about Jesus. They may like the idea of Jesus and sandal wearing cloak guy on the beach in California. They may tell you, this is the Jesus. This is the real Jesus, Speaker 2 00:39:47 But the world will never like Jesus Christ as he is in scripture. You may ask me why. I'm glad you asked because Speaker 1 00:39:57 John 15, Jesus says it are to us. Speaker 2 00:40:01 He says, if the world hates, you know that it has what church it has hated me before it hated you. The world will never lose. Speaker 1 00:40:11 Like Jesus has portrayed in scripture. Jesus says to us, if you were of this world, the world would love you as its own because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world Speaker 2 00:40:22 Will hate you too. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Speaker 1 00:40:29 And so church, my question this morning is what crowds are you listening to regarding who the person of Jesus Speaker 2 00:40:34 Christ is? Speaker 1 00:40:37 Everyone wants to be a theologian on Jesus Christ. Every, every newscaster's greatest hobby is to tell us what Jesus would do in this circumstance. It's almost hilarious. It's like, where are you getting your information? Somebody told me Speaker 2 00:40:51 I dreamed it last night. Not everyone really Speaker 1 00:40:56 Cares about what Jesus actually taught. Speaker 2 00:41:01 Where do people Speaker 1 00:41:02 Usually get their information about what Jesus actually Speaker 2 00:41:04 Taught? My guess is most of it doesn't come from God's word. Speaker 1 00:41:09 Most of it comes from word of mouth or ideas that people have had Speaker 2 00:41:13 In their head. Do you know what Jesus constantly said? Jesus constantly said, these three words, learn of me. I love those words. Learn of me. Don't take it from somebody else. Don't take it from the crowd mentality. Don't take it from the newscasters Speaker 1 00:41:34 Who are saying what Jesus would do in this particular situation. Learn of me in church. Where do we learn of Jesus Speaker 2 00:41:40 Christ from him? Speaker 1 00:41:43 His word. That's why we have the Bible and everything is in there that you would ever want to know about Jesus. He has given us everything we needed. Speaker 2 00:41:55 So what number one, crowd mentality is usually mostly popular and usually mostly wrong. Speaker 1 00:42:06 Jesus warned against this crime mentality on a regular basis in the first and longest sermon Jesus ever gave. He talked about crowd mentality and I take you to some of my favorite verses Speaker 2 00:42:17 The scripture. Matthew seven 13 Jesus said enter by the white church, enter by the narrow gate Speaker 1 00:42:25 For the gate is wide. And the way is popular and sorry. And the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by Speaker 2 00:42:34 Are many crowds and crowds of people who choose the wide gate. Why? Because it's easy, but the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life. And those who find it are what church, not a crowd. Phew, Speaker 1 00:42:55 Popular gate is a wide gate. The narrow gate is the unpopular choice. It always has been this Speaker 2 00:43:02 Way. If, if Speaker 1 00:43:04 Not planted in a firm foundation, our crowd can go any way. The crowd wants to go. Speaker 2 00:43:10 Jesus. Jeez, Speaker 1 00:43:11 You may think to yourself. Well Craig, Jesus didn't teach on every current issue that we face. I beg to differ. He actually did well. Craig had never taught on marijuana. He never taught on homosexuality. He never taught on modern technology. Oh, you've heard all this. Right? You've heard all this. Jesus never taught on these things. Don't believe Speaker 2 00:43:28 Word of it. He taught on all of these things. I don't Speaker 1 00:43:34 Remember any verses like that, Craig. Well, I'm glad you asked. Speaker 2 00:43:41 Have you ever read where Jesus said it is written or sometimes Speaker 1 00:43:47 He would say, when he's particularly ticked off, he would say, have you not Speaker 2 00:43:51 Read? It Speaker 1 00:43:53 Is written. Have you not read? Do you know what Jesus is referring to? There? Everything that is written in the Bible before him, Jesus, didn't start teaching from a tablet. Rosa from a, from a blank slate. Jesus was teaching everything. They had been taught from the old Testament. You thinking to yourself, well, Craig, Jesus didn't teach on these things. Well, how about Jesus taught on these things? Because he referred to old Testament passages, everything in scripture, Jesus was using to teach. That's why Jesus said it is written. Sometimes he would say, you've heard it said, but I say to you, do you know what he's saying? There? You've heard somebody say this about what is written. Let me clear it up for you. He's not saying everything from before me is gone. He's saying you have been told bad things, incorrect thing. Speaker 2 00:44:42 So he says you've Speaker 1 00:44:43 I heard it said, and we live in a world where we've heard all kinds of things said that Jesus says, but I said to you, he clears up God's word Speaker 2 00:44:52 For us. Jesus Speaker 1 00:44:54 Referred to scripture for a reason. Do you know why he did? He could have said everything from Tablo Rosa, because he's called the word of God. Literally everything he says is God's word. He could have said anything you want to do. And we would've said that's God's word that's God's word. Why did he constantly said, say it is written. Have you not read? Why did he say that? Because he wants us to know all scripture is Speaker 2 00:45:14 Given for us. All of it applies to us. Speaker 1 00:45:20 You may think to yourself, well Craig, where does it say that? I'm glad you asked second Timothy three 14 says this as for you continuing what you've learned in firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood, you have been acquainted with what church Speaker 2 00:45:36 Sacred writings, Speaker 1 00:45:37 Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Speaker 2 00:45:42 Christ. All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, Speaker 1 00:45:52 The man of God may be equipped and the woman of God may be equal, Speaker 2 00:45:56 Complete equipped for every good work. Speaker 1 00:46:01 Scripture is given to us so that we can understand these are God's thoughts on these subjects. And every subject you face in life is covered in scripture Speaker 2 00:46:10 And everyone in 20 years will be covered. And 20 years from that scripture Speaker 1 00:46:16 Was given to us so that we can receive the right information. We go to God's word for insight. We don't go to the crowd. I have a, Speaker 2 00:46:22 A friend who is constantly switching in his life on what he's willing to die for. Speaker 1 00:46:30 He's constantly, he's constantly on, on this path. This crowd says, Hey, go this direction. And he goes, okay, I'll go that direction. Then this crowd says, go this direction. He said, okay, I'll go this way. And he's constantly following these crowds at my question. And I sat down with him and said, how do you know what Hill you're supposed to die on? Because whatever's important to you today is going to change in five years based on whatever the crowd says you should be doing. And then that's going to change in the next five years based on whatever the crowd says, she sees these popular crowds, know that they have these people by the nose and they're dragging them around. And if you don't have a moral base, you're going to follow all kinds of crowds, all kinds of popular crowds. And it's going to seem really Speaker 2 00:47:06 Right. It's going to seem like the right path to take. But if you don't have a moral base, you're never going to know what Hill you're supposed to die on. And it'll change under your feet. Every time Speaker 1 00:47:21 In a world that is constantly dragging us around by our noses based on the size, Speaker 2 00:47:25 The crowds and all it is is a telltale sign. That so many of us do not have a moral base God's plan. Never changes God's will never changes. God's direction. Never changed. Listen, can I illustrate this any better than to remind you? We just finished a series on the 10 commandments. Do you know when the 10 commandments were written 5,000 years ago? And I just did a series on the 10 commandments and hopefully everybody was saying afterwards, that really applies to today. Yes it does. Because that's your moral base. God gives us everything we need for godliness and salvation. He gives us everything we need. Have you not read because it has been written. So I finished with this last one. Don't follow the crowd, follow the man. Don't follow the crowd, follow the man. Don't even follow a cause. Follow the man. I keep coming back to this moment in the disciples lives, where he made this clear to them in John six and verse 66, very apropos six, six, six, something terrible happened in John six, six, six. Do you know what it was after many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. Speaker 2 00:49:00 You see Jesus kept on teaching and people liked the Messiah. They liked the idea of getting their nation back. They liked the idea getting rid of Rome. They liked all that. The crowds were all for it, but when they really heard what Jesus taught, many of them are gone. Now that's too much. And many of his disciples turned and walked away. Can you imagine walking away from Jesus Christ? So Jesus said in verse 67, he said to the 12, do you want to go away? Can you just hear the heart of the savior breaking? Do you want to go away as well? Simon, Peter answered him and said, finally, something really good Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we believed in, come to know you are the Holy one of God. What crowd is worth following? Follow the man. Speaker 2 00:49:57 Follow the man who has the words of eternal life. Follow the man who has the keys to death in the grave. Listen, if you're going to die, which you are someday, Shizam like that. That may not be news to you if you're going to die. Aye. Aye, aye. Aye. I would think that you want to know who has the keys to this prison? Jesus has them. All authority has been given to him on heaven and on earth, everything, he rules it all or crowd is worth following what causes we're dying for. It. Don't a crowd. Follow a man. People jump from crowd to crowd when they can't find em personal moral unchanging center from which they operate in their lives. And Jesus is that center for us. Jesus alone has a keys. Speaker 1 00:50:40 That's why Jesus never said follow this crowd or follow this idea. Jesus always said, follow what Speaker 2 00:50:47 Church. Follow me, follow me. Don't jump into a crowd. You can't usually trust them. Don't follow Speaker 1 00:50:58 The crowd. They can do great things. But when you do jump into a crowd, operate from a moral compass and say, this crowd is doing the right thing because Jesus would be in this crowd or this crowd is doing the wrong thing because Jesus, wouldn't be in this car. See if you have a moral base, you can understand Speaker 2 00:51:13 Which crowd you should be. A part of. It doesn't even have to be a church crowd. These days we might need a crowd because our world is going in a terrible evil direction. We might need to rise up and find a crowd to stop it. Crowds don't necessarily have to be bad, but crowds, if they operate without a moral compass will always be mistaken. Make sure that the crowd in their cause is righteous by measuring it against the man. Follow me. The gate is wide. That leads to destruction. And those who go through it are many big crowds. But the gate is narrow. That leads to eternal life. And those who go through that or a few Jesus never said, follow this religion. He never said follow this. Cause he said, follow me. And I'll make you fishers of men. Speaker 2 00:52:10 He said, take up your cross. And what church follow me. He said, my sheep know my voice and they follow me. We don't follow a crowd. We follow Jesus Christ. It is this. This is the only cause we're following worth fighting for and worth dying for the road may be hard, but the blessings are out of this world. Choose your crowds wise. Like never heard. Choose your words wisely on church. Choose your crowds wisely. God. If God calls you to join this chow, this crowd measure it against his church and follow Christ. This last song that we're going to sing in a few minutes as we go into our communion, I'd love because it says that are our voices joined with all heaven and universe crying worthy is the lamb. Now that's a crowd in revelation that says that there's going to be a crowd so large in the end times that that is going to shake the earth itself. As we praise the name of Jesus Christ. That's a crowd we're falling. When you say, because we measure the crowd with the man, let me pray for you father. We live in a world that constantly wants us to Speaker 1 00:53:26 Go in one direction or another, trying to persuade us to join crowd after crowd, after crowd. Cause after cause and some of it looks good, but ultimately most of it is just misinformed. Misled Speaker 2 00:53:41 Help us to be careful when we fall Speaker 1 00:53:44 Cause or crowd that we would measure it up against you finding our moral base in you. And in this way, may we change the world Speaker 2 00:53:52 Gospel that never changes. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. We always finish Speaker 1 00:54:01 Our pieces with communion. If you're new to this, Speaker 2 00:54:04 Welcome those of you Speaker 1 00:54:07 That are at home. I know that you are not able to join us for this. And so we would encourage you to get a Cracker or a piece of bread or something that you have at home, some juice or whatever you got in your fridge, water, anything we'll do, uh, because it's not the thing that makes a difference when we do this, it's the meaning. We do this together as a congregation because this is our reminder. We follow the man. We don't follow a because Speaker 2 00:54:35 Christianity Speaker 1 00:54:36 Is just Christianity because it's literally Christ Speaker 2 00:54:38 Followers. We follow Jesus Christ. Okay? Speaker 1 00:54:43 So don't ever be mistaken that the Christianity is a movement. Christianity is simply the determination of a group of people to follow an individual. And communion is our reminder that we do that. There's no other name under heaven. Given among men whereby we must be saved. There's no one else. This is it. Jesus was given to us in God's full plan. He was born to die. He was born so they could shed perfect blood, God incarnate, born without sin, a life without sin so that he could shed blood without sin. And that blood will cover our Speaker 2 00:55:13 Sins. This Speaker 1 00:55:15 Is the great blessing we have of communion. When you drink the juice or the water or whatever you have, when you drink the liquid, it's a celebration. It's a confession that you believe this blood covers your sin. And when you eat the bread, Speaker 2 00:55:28 When you eat the terrible crackers that we eat here, they're terrible. The styrofoam little pieces that we, Speaker 1 00:55:37 It's not the thing, this thing doesn't make any difference. It's what the thing represents. He makes a difference. You see why we don't follow a cause we follow a man and that, that Cracker bread or whatever it is celebrates the fact that he came in bodily form so that that body could be pierced in the side and the hands and the feet and that blood could flow to cover our sins. Listen, if you're coming to community and thinking to yourself, I'm not, I'm not righteous enough to take communion. You're about in the right place because none of us are commentate communion to us because with us, because it's a declaration of who we are because of Jesus Christ. We're going to hand these out if you would hold on to them for just a moment. And then we're gonna, Speaker 2 00:56:21 Uh, have a, uh, I'm going to read from scripture Speaker 1 00:56:24 And remind us why we do this each Sunday, just hang onto them. And then we're going to eat and drink together. The reason we do, we hold under, eat and drink together is because you need to know I'm in the same leaky boat as you, without Jesus Christ, we're all sunk. But because of Jesus Christ, we all have hope of eternal life. And someday that hope will be sight. So when, uh, when the music plays, if you would go up and grab, grab some, uh, communion elements from the front, uh, there in place in the front, those of you that are home, just hang onto them. After the song I'll read, we'll eat and we'll drink together and we'll celebrate Jesus Christ. The man that we follow before we do any of that, would you just bow your heads with me and spend a minute, maybe thanking the Lord for his son. Jesus Christ.