The Perfect Savior

What's wrong with the world? If you think about everything going on right now in America and abroad, how would you define the problem? How would you summarize it? How would you define it, right? There is a lot going on. And I imagine that every one of us has an opinion. And probably we could go on for hours and hours talking about what's wrong with America and what's wrong with the world. But fundamentally, According to the Bible, what is wrong with the world is that man is in perpetual rebellion against God. Every man, woman, and child is conceived in sin, born in sin, and lives a life that is marked by sin. The sin's inherent to us because we're all sons of Adam. And this is essential for us to grasp.

If we are to grasp the joy of Palm Sunday, before we can experience the joy of the salvation that Christ has wrought, we have to have our nose stuck into the filth that is our own sin. Because if we don't understand that, then we won't see the joy and the glorious joy of the gospel. God, the creator. is perfectly holy. And in Job, what we're told is that God is so holy that the heavens are not clean in his sight. What this means is that every sin, every sin, no matter how small we think it is or how insignificant we think it is, is an offense against God. And in fact, there's no such thing as a small sin.

God is no small God. He is a great and mighty, powerful, holy God. And so any sin against him is worthy of death. And what this means for every one of you, for me, is that our greatest problem is not with all the things that are happening around us. Our greatest problem is our condition before a holy God. I'm not saying that our suffering is small or unimportant. Scripture takes suffering seriously. But our suffering is not our deepest problem. And if we do not understand this, then we will not understand Jesus. And if we don't understand Jesus, then we're not going to understand the salvation that Jesus came to bring. And we won't understand the commands that Jesus has given us.

You see, God is more concerned about your holiness than about you having an easy life. 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. His priority is his glory and conforming you to his image. Since this is our condition, What we need is not mere improvement. We actually need to be rescued. And this is exactly what God has provided for us in Jesus Christ. But it's not a rescue from all the things happening around us. But we have to first realize that our first problem is actually with God himself. Because we are sinners. And he is holy. And we...

are in rebellion against him. And every sin that we commit is an act of rebellion against God. Please stand with me as we read God's holy word found in John chapter 12, verses 12 through 19. This is God's word and it's eternally true. On the next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees, 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 Israel. And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.

These things his disciples did not understand at the first. But when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things to him. So the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about him. For this reason also the people went and met him, because they heard that he had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, You see that you are not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Now, if the greatest problem...

That we have. Is our sin. Before a holy God. The question that we have to ask is. What kind of a savior do we need? And I believe that the. All of Jesus's life. Is describing to us this need. And a picture of it. And his teaching is to that effect. But when we come to holy week. I think the answer becomes clear. In a way that everything is just brought to a crescendo. The tensions and everything come to a point that becomes unmistakable. Jesus is not the savior that the people expected. But he is the savior that they desperately needed. And the same is true of us. And so what we come to here in John chapter 12 is a very interesting part. It's throughout Jesus' life.

if you recall, Jesus is constantly silencing men and demons when they begin to say who he is. When they begin to acknowledge him, he's constantly telling them, no, no, not yet. The hour has not come. Don't go out and tell everybody. But all of that has changed in John chapter 11 because Jesus' hour has actually come. So in John chapter 11, what happens is Jesus' friend Lazarus gets sick and Jesus delays until he dies. Then he comes to Lazarus after he has been dead and in the tomb for four days. His body's decomposing. He stinks. He is dead, dead. And Jesus comes. And when he comes, he goes before the tomb and he calls, Lazarus, come forth.

And Lazarus resurrects and walks out of the tomb in front of many witnesses. And up until this point, that is the greatest miracle that Jesus has ever done. It shows his power on display in a way that no other miracle had done to that point. Of course, in two weeks, when he resurrects himself, that's the greatest miracle of all. But up until this point, it's Lazarus. No one has said anything like this, right? Jesus has risen people from the dead before, but they were not rotting in the tomb for four days before this has come to place. And so what we have is an unbelievable stir among the people. People are going, what do we make of the fact?

That a man who was dead for four days is now standing with us, sitting with us, eating with us. In the past, Jesus moved secretly. Is he coming to the feast? Is he not coming to the feast? People don't really know where he's going to show up. Once they find out, crowds gather, but he's often moving secretly and hushed. Not anymore. Everyone knows Jesus is coming to this feast. And for the first time, Jesus is encouraging the crowd's adulations. 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's just like, Jesus sort of melts through the crowd and isn't there. Not now, not now. There's no slipping away.

This time the hour has come. And so he comes into Jerusalem and the chief priests are so angry and afraid that the only plan that they can come up with is to not only murder Jesus, but Lazarus as well. The power that Jesus displayed is so unanswerable that they're like, the only solution is to kill them. There's nothing we can say at this point. And as with Jesus's other miracles, many people are drawn to him they hear jesus is coming they hear lazarus is coming and they're like we want to see these people this is interesting so they gather and they begin to shout hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord and these people are praising him hosanna is saying you know please save us save us it's this it's this cry and that's the I think originally it seems more of a plaintive cry, but by the time we come to the events of the triumphal entry that this is more of a messianic hope, right? They're saying, save us. There's this palpable joy and excitement. What is going to come? These incredible acts of power have been done and now Jesus is coming in to Jerusalem. What is going to happen? They call him as a savior. They praise him as savior and they celebrate him as,

A king. But though the crowd is crying, save us, they don't seem to know what they actually need saving from. They're excited. They heard about Lazarus. They've seen what Jesus has done. They're waving the palm branches and calling him king. And it is the correct response. It is the response that all of us should have. to Christ. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. But there is a problem, and the problem is that they don't actually know who Jesus is. They want a Savior who would solve their problems and give them comfort and overthrow Rome. They want this immediate relief, a political victory, a King that would Kick the Romans out. And that's not the savior that they needed. If you look in John chapter six, we have Jesus coming and there are 5,000 men who come before him and their families. And Jesus does this miraculous thing where he feeds everybody. And the response of the people there is the right response again at first.

They see this and they say, this is a sign. This is truly the prophet who has come into the world. And that's right. But then it goes on and it says, so Jesus perceiving that they were intending to come, take him by force and make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. And so they had this right response. They said, we have needs and here's the guy who can meet the needs. But they misdiagnosed the kind of saving that he came to do and they misdiagnosed the sins or the things that they needed saving from. Matthew 16, Jesus tells the disciples point blank what he has come to do with so much clarity that Peter finally understood. Jesus has come for suffering and dying. That's what's in store. And what does Peter do?

No way, Lord. That is not what you're here to do. And Jesus turns and says to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me. For you are not setting your mind on God's interests, 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 he needs. How man diagnoses the issues. Versus what Christ is saying man needs. And this is true even up until the point of the ascension. Right up until the ascension. Christ is about to leave this earth. And the disciples come together and they ask Jesus saying, Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? Christ is about to be.

taken up to the bosom of the Father to sit at the right hand of the throne of God, and they're still foggy. So Jesus responds to them, and he says to them, It is not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest part of the earth. And part of the tragedy of these situations is that the very savior we need is standing right in front of them. And they don't recognize him for who he is. They did not need a king to overthrow Rome. They needed a savior who would reconcile them to God. But I'm afraid that we're not so different. Everybody, everybody wants some form of salvation. 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? Cool. I believe in Jesus. Check. I'm saved. Now that we've dealt with the sin, Jesus believes me. I'm covered by his grace. Now could he get around to fixing my situation, my circumstances?

Can't he just give me relief and success and money so I can have an easy, comfortable life? Are we actually comfortable with? Do we actually want a savior whose first concern is changing your heart? Or do we want God to save us from our situations more than we want him to sanctify our souls? Our circumstances rarely get changed the way that we want. Rather, what happens is if we're a Christian, God uses. the circumstances we find ourselves in to shape us and to draw us near to him. And do not hear what I'm not saying. I am not saying that God doesn't care about us going through difficulties and trials. Far from that. Jesus, we are told, has suffered like us and more greatly than us. He is the sympathetic great high priest. He cares more than we can imagine.

Yet, God does not go about changing and fixing things the way that we choose. He does it according to his plans and purposes. And too often, if we are misdiagnosing what we need saved from, if we think that the problems lie externally in all the circumstances around us and in all the people around us, then we're missing the kind of Savior. That Christ is. He's the perfect savior. This is why I said he's the perfect savior. Because Christ is the savior that we need. That the world needs. Not the savior that the world chose. Or the one that we might think we need. The crowd is shouting for a king who would give them what they want. But what they really need is a king who will save them from their sin. And restore peace between man and God.

What about you? Are you more concerned about the circumstances of your life than about your standing before God? Are we more concerned about the culture and what the culture will do to us or our children than actually teaching our children to fear and obey God? Do we look at God as some sort of problem solver, some sort of magic genie who just will If we get the thing right, we'll just change the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Rather than looking at him as the savior who's there to reconcile us to God. Jesus enters Jerusalem and part of the circumstances which we don't expect is the king of Israel, right? And yet how does he enter Jerusalem? It's not on a war horse. It's not on a stallion. It's on a donkey.

Now, this is to fulfill a prophecy which Zechariah gives, and it's to show the kind of king that Jesus is. Jesus is a king of humility. He does not come to fight wars, to take lives. Rather, he has come to give life. He hasn't come to lead revolutions, to conquer nations. He has come to confront sin. 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. He has come to save, not to revolt. The crowd is expecting a king who's going to come and fight for them. And Jesus did come to fight, but not the battle that they thought. They couldn't see yet. He came to fight and to defeat sin.

and death, not Rome. And this is often how God works. We don't quite expect the thing that he's come to do. And 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 have this small box we expect God to operate in. And we won't see all the bountiful and amazing ways that he's working. Now, think about it this way. Jesus constantly gives commands that we do not like, especially if we think that salvation comes through strength of arm. Because Jesus commands us many things that make us look weak and sort of pitiful, kind of like a king riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. I want to read to you a passage from the Sermon on the Mount to illustrate this.

It's a few verses. This is Matthew chapter 5. You have heard that it was said. What have they heard that it was said? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist an evil person. Rather, whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

Do not even tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, and what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. What Jesus says here sounds like madness. It sounds weak. It sounds pathetic. But what he says here is the power of the Christian life. Every one of us can go through reasons why what Jesus says here in this passage doesn't apply to us. We have ways to make our theology say that what Jesus says here doesn't actually mean what it says. That what Jesus says here doesn't actually apply to us today in our lives. After all, if I actually did what Jesus said 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 that? Because read through, read through the weeks, this week of Holy Week, and read through what Jesus does and where he's at.

His humble entry into Jerusalem. Everything that Jesus says to do in this portion right here that I just read in Matthew chapter five is exemplified by him throughout the rest of Holy Week. He does everything that he tells us to do. And are we any greater than our master? We remember where we started. Our problem is our sin. Our sin puts us in enemies of God. And while we were God's enemies, What happened? Christ died for us. It was while we were enemies, right? While we were enemies, he died for us. And so when he says to love your enemies and to pray for them, that's exactly what he did. He's calling us to nothing greater than what he called himself to and what the father called him to. On the cross, praying for their forgiveness. And now.

The reality is that because he did that, we can be reconciled with God. And brothers and sisters, I tell you, there is no greater joy in our life than to be told, fear not, because you have peace with God because of the work that Christ has done. It's our greatest joy. Our biggest problem in life is solved. What is the biggest thing weighing you down right now? If that issue were to just be fixed, like that? How 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 resolved. Wouldn't you walk lighter? Your steps, you'd be bouncing off the ground with your feet. And think about it. If your sin is that bad that you would go to hell for eternity unless you're reconciled to God, when Christ comes and dies on the cross and you have peace with God, 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 yet, your problem is solved, fixed. You are at peace with God. So smile through all the other pain with tears going down your face because God is at peace with you if you are in Christ.

The foundational issue is fixed. This is why Christians go through life not having to fear all the whims of this world and which way everything's going is because fundamentally we are at peace with God. And if we are at peace with God, all the other issues will sort themselves out. And it doesn't mean that we don't have to go through them and it doesn't mean we don't have to fight and work, but the issue is fixed. That's the joy of what Christ has done. And then what that leads into is that we ought to be willing to forgive others. God forgave us. Remember, David says, against you and you only have I sinned. Well, what does that mean? That idea is at least in part that our offenses are against God. And if our offenses are against God, that means.

Other people's offenses, though they sinned against you, are primarily against God. And if God is willing to forgive and he has forgiven all the stink and the problems and the messes we've made in our own lives and in other people's lives, how can we not therefore turn to others and say, I forgive you, brother. The power of God's kingdom does not look like the power of the world. Satan is constantly tempting us to think that power resides in force. and our rights, and our politics, and the halls of power. But the power of the Christian lies in obedience to Christ. It lies in having a clean conscience, living before the face of God, not because of any goodness inherent in you, but because we know we are clothed in the blood of Christ. We've been washed. We have his righteousness put on us.

And so we can stand in the face of God. And so we have power to speak truth. We can count others more important than ourselves, even if they look different than us. A clean conscience and a holy life will give you more power than anything else in the entire world. Mary Queen of Scots had said, there's a quote we have from Mary Queen of Scots. You know what she said? She said, I fear John Knox's prayers. more than all the combined armies of Europe. A righteous man who fears God. One, we're told, will chase thousands. This is why wicked men had to kill the Christians. This is why they killed the martyrs. This is why they're plotting to kill Lazarus. This is why they're plotting to kill Jesus. Because in the end, when you live a life filled with humility and obedience to God's command, they don't have any answer.

You either submit or you try to stop them by killing them. Are we willing to follow Jesus? The path he calls us to does not make sense in the world's eyes. Humility, 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 Christ, to his humility, to serve others, to trust him rather than insisting on your own plans and your own rights. Will you live a life that is weak by the world's eyes, but powerful? This is the kind of faith that turned the world upside down with 12 men. The crowd is excited, but they don't understand the full story. They're shouting Hosanna, but in a few days, Whether it's the whole crowd or just a few, they're shouting crucify. Why? Why would the people turn on him so quickly? He didn't meet their expectations. He didn't save them the way they wanted to. In fact, the next thing that he did is go into the temple and chase them out with a whip. Christ didn't give them the salvation they thought they needed. Christ came to save us the way that we actually needed.

We didn't just need a teacher to teach us morality. We didn't just need a miracle worker. We needed more than an earthly king. We needed a substitution. We needed a savior who could deal with our sin, who could bear God's judgment, and who could reconcile us to God. And that's exactly what Jesus came to do. Jesus is the perfect savior because he saves us. from a real problem. And the salvation that Christ wrought, he's the only one who could do that work. And he did it in the only way that it could be done. And Christ gives us something that we could never earn. How often with our children do they want something? They think that the solution to the problem is X, Y, or Z, right? You run into this all the time, but they're wrong.

Children are horrible at diagnosing problems. Don't trust yourself in your diagnosing of what's wrong. Our offense is against God and he has laid it out for us. And then he sent the exact savior that we needed to fix it, to solve the problem. Jesus is not the savior that any of us would have chosen, but he is the savior that we desperately need. Because he is perfect. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven. No heart that he cannot change. No one is beyond the saving power of Christ. And so with us, where are we with this? Are we going to admire Christ like the crowd? Are we going to evaluate Christ?

to save us how we expect him to save in the way that we want him to save us? Or will we accept his diagnoses 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, the fickle crowd. Rather, let us follow the King who saves, the King who has reconciled us to God, the King who tells us to not be afraid because we can have peace with the Father. Let's pray.