Head and Heart

They recruited her, and salved her conscience by telling her that thru education and contraception, Planned Parenthood was reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

Then, w/ the reduced number of abortions there were fewer unwanted children in the world.

She had had 2 procedures herself as a teenager and young adult so her conscience was already somewhat compromised.

When the clinic director was promoted, Abby was promoted into the clinic director’s position.

She was an all-star. She won employee of the year in the Houston region for her leadership and meeting company goals.

They only did abortions on Saturday. One Saturday, she was called back into the procedure room b/c they needed her to assist in one.

She’d never been back there before during a procedure.

She held the wand and performed the sonogram while the doctor performed the abortion.

She watched the sonogram screen the whole time. And, what she saw wrecked her. She had no idea.

I will spare you the details, but it was hard to watch.

She ran out of the room when it was over, broke down sobbing. When she returned to the clinic on Monday, she resigned.

As she processed everything with her husband, it hit her hard that she was complicit in over 22,000 abortions during her time in the clinic.

The guilt she carried was massive and messed w/ her.

The movie wasn’t a total downer. There was a very positive ending. Still, it was very sobering.

As we left, the group gathered in the hallway and everyone was a little teary.

Notably, several shared they have been affected directly by abortion. And, the movie was particularly hard on them.

This is one of those things that are much more common than we realize.

Be careful how you speak about things like this b/c it’s very possible there is someone in earshot who has experienced one.

The feelings came back. The hurt, regret, and some guilt.

We are all really good at compartmentalizing. But, these feelings don’t just go away. And, they can be triggered and come back w/ as much force as when they were fresh.

What do you do w/ it?

B/C, if you do nothing w/ it, it will lock you up emotionally and spiritually and you won’t be able to function in these areas in healthy ways.

Bondage. An emotional jail cell. Spiritually shackled.

As I said, this is much more common than any of us realize. Still, most of us probably have not been affected by abortion, specifically.

But, I bet everyone of us has a serious regret or two, or 3...

I look back in my life and there are some significant mistakes I’ve made. The potential cost of human loss or finances far outweighed the stupid risk I took.

To this day I beat myself up when a memory is triggered and mind is transported back and I can see a snapshot of a moment I regret to this day that could have been so much worse.

Beginning to skid on an icy highway w/ friends in the car.

Coming in too fast on a jet ski w/ kid playing by the shore.

The potential financial disaster of our first house.

Foolish mistakes that could have been so much worse still weigh on my mind if I let them bring back the old guilt as if I were still in one of those moments.

What about you?

What locks you up still after time has passed?

Foolish action. Hurtful words. What would you love to hit the rewind button on your life to go back and try something different?

This morning starts our Easter series. And, we’ll get to Easter Sunday when Jesus walked out of His tomb.

But to get to Easter Sunday, we have to get thru Palm Sunday, Passion Week, and Good Friday.

Jesus had to die.

B/C He died, we have been set free from the bondage of our bad decisions.

All we have to do is believe in Who Jesus is, What He did, and why He did it.

Then, every bad decision we’ve ever made and the bondage of guilt that goes w/ them, we can give to Him at the foot of the cross and He will give us back freedom, redemption, deliverance.

Don’t loan them, give them.

Don’t take them back, leave them.

And, w/ that, the guilt and regret stay away, too.

It worked for Abby Johnson and it will work for us.

Sometimes our head gets in the way. Do we believe the facts? Or, Is all this the original fake news?

Sometimes our heart gets in the way. Does God really care about us enough to do what the Bible says He did?

I have a hard time loving myself enough to sacrifice what I want to get what I need.

It worked for Abby Johnson and it will work for us.

Jesus had to give up much more for me than I ever could for Him.

Who does that?

Does He really love me that much?

This morning we are starting with Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entry.

It’s not Palm Sunday, that ‘s next week. But, today I’m teaching the message of Palm Sunday. Next week I’ll talk about Passion Week.

Jesus knew He had die. He rode into Jerusalem that day knowing exactly what was going to happen and why.

God predicted it and planned for it.

Jesus willingly did it to make it possible for us to give away all our guilt.

The question is, will we? Most won’t.

I just finished a series thru Ezra and Nehemiah, the chronological end of the OT.

God predicted thru the prophets and planned for Jesus to arrive in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

I’m going to start this morning by engaging your head w/ some facts. Dates and events that lead directly to Jesus’ arrival.

Predicted & Planned

The first time Israel arrived in PL and over the course of a few centuries, they failed to live faithfully and obediently.

God told them if they continued He kick them out.

God used Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to exile them.

It was a gradual process, not just all at once.

They built their siegeworks, got over the wall, and began systematically dismantling the city, the government, religious structures and programs, and the families.

They killed many. Exiled more back to Babylon as slaves. And, left only a few in the ruins and rubble of the city.

How do we know all these dates I’m about to give you?

The Babylonians and Persians kept great records and archeologists have found them.

In 605 BC the prophet Daniel was just a boy. His family was shipped off to Babylon.

In 586 BC the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was complete. No buildings were left standing and the wall was totally broken up.

In 539 BC, 66 years after his family was exiled and while he was still in exile, Daniel wrote this prophetic passage

Daniel 9:24–27 NIV

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Daniel 9:20–27 NIV

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill—while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision: “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Daniel

Daniel was praying one evening and the angel Gabriel showed up and gave him this message.

This is Daniel’s 70-week prophecy.

In the prophecy, 1 week = 7 years

The time period is broken into 3 parts

7 weeks, or 49 years

62 weeks, or 432 years that begin immediately after the 7

Which added is 69 weeks, or 481 years.

1 week, or 7 years that will occur after an unspecified length of time or a break after the end of the 69 weeks.

At the end of the 69 weeks and before the 70th week, the Anointed One will be put to death.

In the process, at the very end, 5 things will have happened

Sin will end.

Wickedness will be atoned for and all guilt will end.

Righteousness will begin that lasts forever.

That is, a right relationship w/ God.

Vision and prophecy will end b/c it will be fulfilled.

The Most Holy Place will be anointed; prepared and set apart.

Put yourself in Daniel’s shoes. What in the world is this about? It’s 539 BC. What do you watch for? What do you listen for? What’s going to happen?

The next year:

In 538 BC King Cyrus decreed the rebuild of the temple in Jerusalem.

The Persians had conquered the Babylonians and were in power. Cyrus was looking for a political ally in the region.

So, God moved in his heart to send Zerubabbel back to Jerusalem w/ a group of people to rebuild the temple.

We studied this in . God moved in the heart of the Pagan king to pass a law requiring Israel to rebuild their temple.

A note, Zechariah the prophet and Haggai, returned with this group to help with the temple.

In 515 BC the rebuilt temple was completed and dedicated. There were a couple of stops and starts.

Some time after this, probably around 500 BC, Zechariah wrote a sermon that is included in his OT book that has this verse.

Zechariah 9:9 NIV

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He is predicting how the Messiah will arrive in Jerusalem.

Again, it’s about 500 BC.

In 444 BC King Artaxerxes decreed on Nehemiah’s behalf to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the wall around it.

We studied this in .

If Daniel was alive, and we don’t know if he was, he would have immediately recognized this event as marking the start of the clock ticking on his 70-week prediction.

Daniel 9:25 NIV

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.

The first part of the time period, 49 years, was the time Artaxerxes allotted for the city to be rebuilt.

It only took Nehemiah 52 days to rebuild the wall. But, the city was a much bigger mess.

It took them that long to remove the debris, re-stack the stones and restore the buildings.

Immediately after, the second part of the time period began; the 62 weeks or 434 years.

Remember, due to Israel’s failure into their old bad habits, rather than exile them again, God went dark. 400+ years he didn’t speak. No prophets, powerful preachers, burning bushes or talking donkeys. Nothing.

Then, the end of that 62-week period, or the 69th week total.

Their Hebrew calendar has 360 days.

They didn’t follow our Gregorian calendar, it hadn’t been developed, yet. Our calendar has a 365-day year. And we know we have 6 extra hours every year. So, every four years we add a day, February 29.

The Hebrews had their leap days, too.

Days are all the same, 24 hours.

W/ modern technology, we can go back on our calendar and know the date of these events.

B/C of Persian records, we know, Artaxerxes’ decree to rebuild the city went out on March 5, 444 BC.

We know the number of years, we can count the days that include all the leap days to the end of the 69-week period.

The 69-week period ended on March 30, a.d. 33.

Coincidentally, that was the week before Passover that year.

The week before Passover the Anointed One rode into town knowing He was going to die. On Thursday April 3 Jesus was arrested and tried. On Friday April 4 He was crucified. And, on Sunday April 6 He walked out of this tomb.

In this process He atoned for wickedness past and future. And, he established eternal righteousness,

All this made it possible for us live guilt free and in a personal relationship w/ God forever.

Who would want to live forever under the weight of guilt from all our bad decisions. So, we get to live free of the emotional and spiritual bondage from every bad decision we ever made.

The facts add up.

To the extent our we can wrap our minds around the details we can be certain that we live guilt free forever if we accept what Jesus did for us.

Since there was a literal 69 weeks, there will be a 70th week after an unspecified amount of time. And that will be the tribulation when God deals w/ Israel’s disobedience once and for all.

The end has been predicted and planned all along. In the meantime we can live completely guilt free b/c Jesus rode into town.

So, what else happened on March 30, a.d. 33?

Not only was it factual, planned and predicted; but it was also heartfelt.

Heartfelt

Matthew 21:1–8 NIV

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

There is , written 500 years earlier and now quoted by Matthew b/c their King was arriving.

They mistook him to be an earthly king, not the King of God’s kingdom.

Even an earthly king was too honorable for him to sit directly on an animal so they put their cloaks down first.

And, even a king’s ride was too honorable for its hooves to touch the ground so they put palm branches down as he walked along.

Jesus was prepared for this. Nobody, not even His Father forced Him to go. He rode ahead willingly.

As He came over the Mount of Olives He had a view of the city on the next hill.

Luke describes the moment

Luke 19:

Luke 19:41–48 NIV

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

In that moment his dominant emotion is not the exhilarating joy of being exalted and celebrated as King.

But, it’s the heartbreak of the coming rejection.

He paused and wept b/c he knew the vast majority would reject his offer to free them from their bondage.

They would rather hold onto their bad habits and try to rule their own lives in guilt and misery than surrender their lives and live forever guilt-free.

Josephus wrote that 256,500 lambs were slaughtered that year. There would have been about 10 ppl per lamb, one family.

That means approximately 2.7 million ppl were in and around Jerusalem that year for the Passover. Some saw Jesus. Everyone heard of Him wondered Who He really was.

He rode straight to the temple to drive out those selling lambs for Passover sacrifice and Seder meals.

That’s b/c they were gouging the vulnerable travelers. Over-charging for “temple approved” animals for those who traveled too far to bring their own.

This was the day everyone selected their lamb for sacrifice and their meal.

Jesus rode into town as the Lamb of God and made Himself available as everyone’s sacrificial lamb.

Irony #1. They rejected the Lamb of God who could deliver them from their bondage permanently in favor of an animal that only served a symbolic purpose. But, it was tangible.

Irony #2. The leaders planned to kill Jesus, thinking they were protecting the law. But in reality they were fulfilling the law so that any and all who believed in this Lamb would have their sins atoned for forever. Freedom.

Those in bondage provided for and personally rejected the means by which we are saved and freed.

Knowing He was going to be brutalized and rejected He didn’t run away.

He wasn’t angry, spiteful, nor vengeful.

He was hurt and his heart broke. And, thru his anguish He rode on into town.

Not only does he love those of us who accept Him, He still loves everyone who ever rejects Him.

Jesus knew it was coming and He went anyway so you and I can live guilt-free forever.

Applications

Head

Let God speak to your head today.

The facts all add up.

There is nothing that any archeologist has discovered and proven that contradicts any fact in the Bible.

Don’t reject Jesus b/c you believe it’s intellectually dishonest.

Ask whatever hard question you have to and seek the answer and you will find that Jesus doesn’t contradict truth anywhere.

Honestly, let God speak to your head and tell you what He did and how it adds up to freeing you.

Heart

Let God speak to your heart.

Jesus wept over those who were going to reject Him.

He didn’t reject them. He didn’t run a different direction.

I’d run away screaming like a little girl if I knew next week was going to be that hard and I’d be rejected by 2.7 million people and only accepted by about 125.

Jesus loves you regardless of your position w/ Him.

He rode into town for you knowing exactly what you’d do during your lifetime that now binds you w/ guilt.

He accepted His painful fate so you and I could life painless and free.

Let God speak to your heart and tell you how much He loves you.

Accept

April 7, 2019 is a perfect day to accept what Jesus is offering you.

Accept salvation. Secure your reservation in heaven forever.

Give up control, surrender your life to Jesus.

You know if He is talking to you right now asking you to do this. Give in to it and let Jesus free you up.

Or, accept the freedom that you are resisting right now.

You’re saved, but you’ve only loaned Jesus your troubled past. You keep taking it back.

Give Him your history of mistakes.

Leave them with Him don’t loan them to Him.

He will keep them locked up w/ the guilt that accompanied them and never let it bind you up again.

Jesus willingly rode into town knowing exactly what was going to happen to Him.

He had planned it and predicted it and went anyway so He could take away the guilt and whatever else binds you up.

Are you going to let Him take it? Most don’t.

Communion.

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