Paul Preaches in the Synagogue of Pisidian Antioch (13:13–41)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 27, 2025

Billy Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. Hundreds of millions more have heard the message of Christ through television, video, film, and webcasts.

I’ve been inspired by reading Billy Graham’s autobiography, Just As I Am.  In 1953 Graham was doing a series of evangelistic meetings in the Dallas Cotton Bowl.  In his own words, he recalls:

“One night my preaching did not seem to have spiritual depth or power, although a number of people did come forward at the Invitation.  After the meeting, John [Bolten, who was a close and trusted friend of Graham’s] and I took a walk together, and he confronted me.

“Billy,’ he said, ‘you didn’t speak about the Cross.  How can anyone be converted without having at least one single view of the Cross where the Lord died for us?  You must preach about the Cross, Billy.  You must preach about the blood that was shed for us there.  There is no other place in the Bible where there is greater power than when we talk or preach about the Cross.” 

Graham writes, “At first I resisted his rebuke.  The Cross and its meaning were more often than not, a part of my sermons.  But that night I could not sleep, and before morning came I knew he was right.  I made a commitment never to preach again without being sure that the Gospel was as complete and clear as possible, centering on Christ’s sacrificial death for our sins on the Cross and His resurrection from the dead for our salvation.”

That commitment to constantly preaching the cross did two things for Billy Graham: it brought him constant criticism from so-called intellectuals, and it resulted in revival and conversions wherever he went.

During Graham’s life he had to wrestle from time to time with feelings of inadequacy. In addition to the criticism he faced, he sometimes felt insufficient to preach at campuses such as Princeton and other prestigious universities since he did not have an advanced degree and had never been to Seminary.^[1]

So, Billy Graham had to be convicted of preaching the cross. Today, let’s look at a passage when the Apostle Paul preaches a sermon, and let’s break it down because we will see that he preaches the whole Gospel. Paul does not budge on anything. Paul does preach the cross. Paul preaches the death, burial, and the resurrection. Paul also challenges the people to an application.

I have often taught the following gospel acronym. We see this acronym in Paul’s preaching:

God created us to be with him (Gen. 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Gen. 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matt. – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Rev. 22:5).

My theme today is that the whole Gospel is critical.

1. In verses 13-25, Paul begins with the foundation.
   1. I am not going to read the whole passage, but instead I will summarize and read key verses.
   2. This is not to say that we always must begin with the Old Testament. But when declaring the Gospel, we must be wary of taking shortcuts and not giving someone the whole Gospel.
   3. Now, if you have been following along in my sermons on Acts, this sounds familiar. Stephen preached a similar sermon in Acts 7. They all preached the whole Gospel.
   4. Verses 17-25 are Old Testament history. In verse 17, we see that God chose. Later, we see that God found David in verse 22.
   5. We see an emphasis on God as sovereign.
   6. The Old Testament is the foundation for our faith. This does not mean that we must read through the Old Testament every day, but we should not neglect it.
   7. In sharing the Gospel, this is simple: God created us to be with Him. Yet, our sins separated us from God and sins cannot be removed by good works.
   8. Paul moves from the Old Testament to Jesus.
   9. Acts 13:23–25 (ESV)
   10. ²³ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. ²⁴ Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
   11. In sharing the Gospel, this is the next part of the G.O.S.P.E.L. acronym: Paying the price of our sin, Jesus died and rose again.
2. In verses 26-41, we see the emphasis on the death, burial, resurrection, and application.
   1. In verse 26 Paul addresses the people again as Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles. He is readdressing them.
   2. Acts 13:27–31 (ESV)
   3. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸ And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
   4. In a powerful way, the next few verses connect Jesus with Old Testament prophesy.
   5. I mentioned Billy Graham and the cross.
   6. Paul says that Jesus was executed without proper grounds for a sentence (verse 28).
   7. Paul tells them of the burial and the resurrection (verses 28-30 and 33-34).
   8. Paul emphasizes forgiveness of sins (verse 38).
   9. Notice that Paul does not leave out sin (verse 38).
   10. Notice that Paul boldly preached when given the opportunity; he stood up and spoke.
3.  Applications:
   1. I already gave some applications, but let’s give a few more.
   2. 1 Peter 3:15 says to always be ready to give an answer of the hope that is within us.
   3. Notice the sovereignty of God in all things. God directed things throughout the Old Testament to lead to Jesus. God was, and is, in control.
   4. This reminds us that God is faithful, we can trust Him.
   5. We may see things in our life, things that we question, but we can know that God is faithful. We may not know how, but we can trust God is in control and God is taking care of things according to His divine plan.
   6. God can redeem hardships, and struggles.
   7. Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
   8. If you love God, and you are following God, God works things together for good. You will still have those hardships, but He is working in them for good.
   9. Remember Romans 8:31: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
   10. We see in this passage how Paul preached the Gospel, we must also preach the Gospel. However, in the gospel narrative that Paul shares we see this emphasis on God’s sovereignty, we see how God is in control. We see that thread come through. So, that is an indirect application to remember God is in control. Never forget that.
   11. God is in control, and He permits or causes all things. However, He is with us in everything.
   12. Piper talks about sustaining grace, here is an example:
   13. In 1996, my wife was driving from Minneapolis to Atlanta, which is about 1,000 miles, and she had our two sons and our baby daughter. Abraham was 16. Barnabas was 12. Talitha was one, and I was not with them. On a Saturday night, the car broke down, and it was the radiator. They were one hour south of Indianapolis in Indiana in the middle of nowhere.
   14. So Noël is without her husband, the 16 year old isn’t driving, and she has a baby and a 12 year old with her. She pulled off on the side of the road because it was Saturday and nothing was open, and now what is she going to do? A man pulled up behind her, who happened to be a farmer, and she said to him, “I don’t know what’s wrong. There’s no water pressure or anything. It’s overheating. We’ll have to have a motel and see if we can find a place Monday morning to get it fixed.”
   15. Then he said, “Well, you could stay at our house if you’d like, my wife and I.” Now, that puts my wife in a really awkward position, right? He could tell she was hesitant, so he said, “You know, the Lord says that when we do something to somebody else, it’s like doing it to him,” which gave her some hope. And she said, “Well, could we go to church with you tomorrow morning?” to kind of test him out. And he said, “Can you stand a Baptist church?” not knowing he was talking to a Baptist pastor’s wife. So they agreed and they piled into his car and headed to his farm.
   16. Now, it turns out, this man was a retired aviation mechanic. He drove early Monday morning to Indianapolis and got a new radiator and put it in with his own hands before noon. And then they were on their way. They went to church together, and the icing on the cake was that my 12 year-old son, Barnabas, who is the only fisherman of all my four sons, pulled his fishing rod out of the car on the farm, found a pond, threw it in, and caught a 19-inch catfish. That made his summer. This was the best detour we’ve ever had.
   17. Of course, if God can arrange for there to be a farmer who’s a retired mechanic, who is generous, who’s a Baptist, who has a pond with a 19-inch catfish arranged to bite onto a 12 year old’s worm, he could have spared the radiator. It’s a piece of cake for him. There’s just not the least difficulty for God to spare my wife that trouble. But sustaining grace is not grace to bar what is not bliss, nor flight from all distress, but this: The grace that orders our trouble and pain, and then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.[2]
   18. So, please notice the sovereignty of God. Be encouraged by that.
   19. Lastly, let’s come back to the idea of sharing the gospel.
   20. Paul does give them the next two steps from our gospel acronym:
   21. Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).
   22. Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5).

We must go and do likewise.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him (Gen. 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Gen. 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matt. – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Rev. 22:5).

Pray

^[1] – See more at: http://claypeck.com/articles/there-is-power-in-the-cross-clay-peck/#sthash.2Tru0c65.dpuf

[2] Piper message published on June 29, 2006 on Desiring God. Accessed on 04.21.2025: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/will-we-last

Resurrection Sunday: The Curse Is Reversed (Gen. 3; John 20:1-16; Rev. 21)

Prepared and preached for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH, on Sunday, April 20, 2025

Tim Keller writes:

Edgar Alan Poe’s most famous literary production, The Raven, is a very strange poem. It’s about a man who is bereaved and away because he’s broken up with a girl, a woman named Lenore, and he’s trying to figure out, “Can I get her back? Do I have to move on? Will I ever be happy again?” And this raven comes in and sits on the bus [my source said “bus” but it is “bust of Pallas just above my chamber door… Pallas is a symbol of wisdom and reason. ] and keeps saying one word over and over again. You remember what the word is? Nevermore. And you know what that is? That is getting across with frightening pithiness what life is about, at least what it seems to be about, and that is the irreversibility of life. When things are gone, they’re gone and it’s seemingly irretrievable. When you’re young and then you get old, your youth seemingly is gone forever. When people die, they are irretrievable.[1]

Is that true?

From the Christian worldview, that is not true. The resurrection gives us hope that this world is not the end.

My theme is:

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection reverses the curse. Reversing the curse gives us fullness of life and life that is everlasting.

1. Why death? Let’s look at the first garden, the Garden of Eden.
   1. I will summarize much of this passage, but the first garden was the Garden of Eden.
   2. God created man and woman and placed them in the Garden of Eden. He placed man in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8, 15), and then He created woman (Gen. 2:21-23).
   3. Adam and Eve were in paradise. They were told they could eat of any tree, but not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they will die (Gen. 2:17).
   4. Sometime later, the devil disguised as a serpent (Gen. 3; Rev. 12) tempted Eve and then Adam to take and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
   5. This brought death, disease, and separation.
   6. The rest of Genesis 3 shares that the ground is now cursed (Gen. 3:17-18). It will be harder to work. The world is cursed. They will die.
   7. Genesis 3:19 (ESV)
   8. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
   9. The first garden was paradise, but with the curse means they were cast out of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:22-24). They could no longer take from the tree of life, which would allow them to live forever.
   10. This brought on the fallen, depraved state.
2. Let’s look at the second garden.
   1. The second garden is a cemetery.
   2. John 20:1: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
   3. Jesus has been crucified; the disciples are in mourning. But they do not realize that Jesus cannot be kept down.
   4. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb to see Jesus.
   5. She was the first to go to the tomb, and she saw the stone rolled away.
   6. John 20:2: So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
   7. Mary did the logical thing; she went to Peter and John. This is likely John; when we read, “The disciple whom Jesus loved,” we believe it is John. She runs to Peter and John. She was in a hurry.
   8. John 20:3-4: So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
   9. Peter and John ran to the tomb, but John ran faster.
   10. John 20:5–10 (ESV) ⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes.
   11. They get to the tomb and see the tomb empty.
   12. John saw and believed.
   13. Verse 9: They had not understood the Scriptures that He must rise from the dead.
   14. Now, why did I say that this was a garden?
   15. John 20:11–16 (ESV)
   16. ¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
   17. She thought Jesus was the gardener.
   18. It is possible that she was so distraught, so overcome with grief, that she did not recognize Him.
   19. Remember the last time she saw Jesus, He was beaten and crucified.
   20. So, the first garden brought death. This second garden brings everlasting life. Why? In the second garden, we see that Jesus has been resurrected.
   21. She is seeing the resurrected Jesus.
   22. She sees that through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, the curse is reversed.
3. The third garden leads to the final city.
   1. The final city is in Revelation 21 and 22. This is the New Jerusalem.
   2. In the Garden of Eden, there were many trees, but two were specified. One was the Tree of Life (Gen. 2:9), and the other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:9).
   3. They were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because that would bring death.
   4. They were to eat from the Tree of Life, which would give life (Gen. 3:22).
   5. Ever since they sinned in Genesis 3, we have not had access to the Tree of Life, but in the final city, we will have access. In the final city, the Tree of Life will be on both sides of the River of Life (Rev. 22:2).
   6. Because of the second garden, because Jesus died in our place and rose again, we have abundant life now and eternal life later.
   7. Because Jesus rose again, the curse was reversed.
   8. Sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3).
   9. God is holy. He is set apart, perfect. Ps. 66:18: If we withhold sin in our heart, the Lord will not hear our prayer. Hab. 1:13: God is too pure to behold iniquity.
   10. The Bible even says that we have separated God from ourselves because we have sinned (Isaiah 59:2).
   11. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
   12. The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23).
   13. The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says that God will not let the guilty go unpunished (2 Thess. 1:8-9).
   14. Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16), Which is a dilemma.
   15. God can’t tell a lie, or He wouldn’t be God (Numbers 23:19).
   16. God doesn’t change His mind (1 Sam. 15:29).
   17. That is why God sent Jesus. The guilty must be punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. The penalty for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
   18. God is holy, so we need a way to take care of our sins.
   19. Throughout the Old Testament, bulls and goats were sacrificed, but they were just types. They could never bring salvation, but instead, they pointed to the day when God would come in the flesh, live the life we could not live, die the death we could not die, and rise again.
   20. Jesus did that.
   21. Jesus lived a sinless life.
   22. Jesus took the wrath of God in our place.
   23. Jesus rose again.
   24. Why?
   25. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Jesus took our sins upon Himself.
4. 1. Tim Keller: The illustration of a friend of mine comes from the movie The Sixth Sense. Okay, you can only see that movie twice, actually, because the first time you see it and then you get to the end and you find out, “Oh my goodness, there’s this big shocking ending.” The second time you see it you can’t possibly see any part of the earlier passages of the movie without thinking about the end. Right? I don’t want to spoil it for you but Bruce Willis is dead, which is sort of the opposite of the gospel, isn’t it? The Sixth Senseis sort of the anti-gospel, you know. You get to the end, the hero’s dead. But at the end of this gospel, the hero is alive. I’ll take this gospel. But my point is once you know the ending you go to the earlier scenes of the movie and you say, “Ah, here’s Bruce Willis and here’s a woman, they’re in the same room, and the first time I thought they were talking to each other, now I realize she doesn’t really look at him.” And you can’t not look at every scene in light of the ending. It’s impossible.
   2. John Piper says the same thing: You can’t not—when you know how the story ends—look at that particular passage and say, “But wait a minute, Jesus is the ultimate example of that, whether or not the actual author at that moment was trying to get across a Messianic prophecy or not.” You can’t help it.[2]
   3. People today think like The Lion King, you become part of the fertilizer and out of that come plants that other living things eat. You become part of the world, there’s no reason to be afraid of death.[3]
   4. This is not true.
   5. The resurrection shows the curse is reversed. Jesus gives fulness of life and life eternal. Applications

What Edgar Allen Poe wrote is incorrect. We will get it back. Because of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, we will have life everlasting. Jesus gifts us with the fullness of life now and life everlasting.

Jesus is going to make all things new.

Further, no one is too far gone for the Lord. There is always hope. In the gospel accounts, the battle-hardened Centurian says, “This was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). Later, we see the Apostle Paul saved (Acts 9).

No one is too far gone.

God is going to make all things new. He is going to restore all things. Be encouraged! The resurrection gives us hope.

What does this mean?

If you have lost loved ones who knew Christ, you will see them again. They will not be in a disembodied state. No, we will have an embodied, physical, eternal existence.

What about suffering now? God knows what we go through, and He is preparing is to reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12).

If you have lost babies whom you have never met, you will meet them in heaven.

If you have had children or grandchildren with special needs, they will be restored in Heaven. They will be able to talk, and walk, and run, and understand and so much more!

If you are dealing with a disability, you will be restored in heaven.

If you are dealing with pain, or having trouble walking, or with sight, or hearing, you will be restored in heaven.

God is going to get rid of cancer. God is going to get rid of Alzheimer’s. God is going to get rid of sickness. God will get rid of special needs, everyone will be special, and there will not be any needs. God is going to get rid of aging. God will get rid of viruses, infections, parasites, and poisons. God is going to get rid of death. God is going to get rid of sin. There will no longer be hate. There will no longer be murder, or violence, or any other sin.

Everything will be made new. Everything will be restored. We will be reunited.

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection reverses the curse. Reversing the curse gives us the fullness of life and life that is everlasting.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Confess, Believe, trust, commit: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

Prayer

[1] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today, accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

[2] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today. Accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

[3] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today. Accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

[4] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today. Accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

Patient Endurance, Waiting for Jesus (Ezekiel 10; Zech. 9:9-10; Mark 11:1-11)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 13, 2025

Timothy Keller writes:

In The Lord of the Rings, the trilogy. The little hero is a remarkable Christ figure because he has a burden, and the burden is he has to go right into the heart of the realm of the evil lord and take his ring of power and throw it into the mountain of fire and destroy it.

In order to go toward that evil and go toward that terrible doom, he feels it in front of him all the time. At one point, the narrative says just like a man, if you close your eyes you can always tell which direction the sun is because you feel it beating on you, he felt his doom beating upon him. It became a wheel of fire. When he even closed his eyes, he saw the ring, the doom.

Now this is Jesus. Jesus is always thinking about his death, and he’s always thinking about us. He always has it on his heart. Do you know the place in John 17 where he says to his Father, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself …”? Do you know what that means? To sanctify means to totally devote yourself to something. It means, “I have excluded everything else. I am living for them. Everything about me, all of my powers, all of my privilege, everything, is completely dedicated and devoted to living for them.”^[1]

Today is Palm Sunday. Today, we celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem, and the people were ready for a King. The crowd hailed Him King. They cried out:

³⁸ saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38 (ESV))

Or, as Mark’s Gospel reads:

Mark 11:9–10 (ESV)

⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Today’s theme is “patient endurance.” That theme fits Jesus’s triumphal entry. Throughout the Old Testament, the people were waiting for a King. They were waiting. They were enduring. Jesus came, entered Jerusalem, was beaten, crucified, and rose again. He will come again.

1. In the Old Testament, they were waiting for a Savior.
   1. D. Greear shares:
   2. Ezekiel 10 records that Ezekiel saw the light of God’s presence leave the temple, hesitate at the threshold, depart from Jerusalem by way of the east gate, ascend up the Mount of Olives and into heaven—seemingly forever. And years later, when Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he takes the most unusual route. Matthew tells us that Jesus first ascended the Mount of Olives, then rode a donkey down into Jerusalem, where he entered by the east gate. The first place he went? The temple. He was reversing Ezekiel 10.[2]
   3. Wow! That is a different way of thinking of this.
   4. This procession of Jesus into Jerusalem was a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophesy.
   5. Let’s go back in time and talk about the passage prophesying Jesus’ procession.
   6. Now, let’s read Zechariah 9:9-10: 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.
      ¹⁰ I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
      and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
      and the battle bow will be broken.
      He will proclaim peace to the nations.
      His rule will extend from sea to sea
      and from the River to the ends of the earth.
   7. Notice this passage prophesies that the King will come and the King has come. We see this in verse 9 and we see it’s fulfillment in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; John 12:12-13; Luke 19:29-38
   8. Why is this?
   9. They needed a Savior.
   10. All through the Old Testament they sacrificed animals and these were types pointing to Jesus. Jesus was the antitype. That means He was the fulfillment of the types and the prophesies. animals could never ultimately take away sins. But Jesus sacrificed Himself for us.
   11. Jesus entered Jerusalem to take our place on the cross.
   12. The passage says, “Rejoice.” The passage says to “rejoice greatly.”
   13. Why? Your King is coming to you.
   14. Now, that is something to be excited about, right?
   15. The passage says that the King will come humble and riding on a donkey.
   16. Now, that is something to motivate the troops.
   17. Early in Israel’s history, very early, it was respectable to ride around on a donkey. But by Solomon’s time, it wasn’t. See, Solomon brought into Israel horses. He had literally…some say 30,000 horses in his private group of horses. He introduced the horse. And from that time on, nobles and soldiers and important people rode horses and the donkey lost its dignity. You were really admitting your poverty by putting around on a donkey.
   18. But the passage acknowledges Jesus’s humility.
   19. Could we miss King Jesus because He came in humility?
   20. I think we certainly could.
   21. Now, let’s jump to Mark 11. We read parts of the passage earlier, so we will not read them again.
2. Jesus came.
   1. Jesus came.
   2. Jesus lived some 33 years, and He never sinned. His whole life He was going to the cross.
   3. Simultaneously, His whole life, the people were patiently enduring, waiting, for a Savior.
   4. Then, Jesus entered Jerusalem.
   5. We can notice that in the first few verses Jesus’ disciples obeyed Him and went and got a colt.
   6. Before we get there, it is important to note that in this Gospel Jesus’s Divinity is called a “Messianic secret.” Jesus would tell them not to tell anyone. An example of this is Mark 8:29-30. Peter had confessed Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus told him not to tell anyone about this (Mark 1:43-45 is another example.).
   7. However, in this case Jesus allows people to worship Him. In this case He allows Himself to be known as King.
3. In verses 8-11, Jesus now makes His entrance.
   1. But He is going to enter riding on a donkey. He is fulfilling the prophesy that we talked about.
   2. Mark doesn’t really tell us why this happened, but Matthew does.  Matthew 21:4: “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet.” What prophet? Zachariah, 500 years before Zachariah 9:9, Zachariah said, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your king is coming to you gentle and mounted on a donkey, not even a donkey but even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden…the foal of a donkey.’”[3]
   3. Now, they put coats on the donkey for Jesus to sit on and then they put coats and leafy or palm branches on the road. Spreading coats under a person was recognition of royalty.
   4. Now, this happens during Passover and Jewish hopes of a Savior ran high, so Rome, not wanting any trouble, had extra soldiers around.
   5. People in front and all around Jesus were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” This comes from Psalm 118:26. Hosanna is Hebrew and means “save us.”
   6. Jesus entered Jerusalem, knowing that He was going to the cross. His eyes were on the cross.

• Jesus is coming again.
  1. In Zech. 9:10, this passage prophesies judgment, this is still to come.
  2. Jesus is coming as the judge. Verse 10: I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
     and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
     and the battle bow will be broken.
     He will proclaim peace to the nations.
     His rule will extend from sea to sea
     and from the River to the ends of the earth.
  3. If you turn to Revelation 14:14, it says: I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
  4. This is about Jesus coming as judge. We see this also in: Luke 21:27; Phil. 2:9-11.
  5. See also 2 Peter 3:9-10: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
  6. Verses 9-10 of Zechariah are double prophecies. They were fulfilled in Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, but they will be fulfilled again when Jesus comes again as judge and literal King.
  7. We could even look at Zechariah 9:1-10 as a triple prophecy since Alexander the Great fulfilled part of the passage.

Keller:

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, they were yearning for a Savior. We are still yearning for a Savior. We need a Savior. They were patiently enduring waiting for a Savior. We are patiently enduring waiting for a Savior.

C.S. Lewis says, in several places, “We want something else which can hardly be put into words. That is why, in the oldest stories, we have peopled the air and the earth and the water with nymphs and elves. That is why our lifelong longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we feel cut off is no mere neurotic fantasy, but the truest index of our real situation. For if we take the Scripture seriously, God will one day give us the morning star. The trees and the hills will sing with us [Ps. 96; Isa. 55], and so the ancient myths and poetry, so false as history, may be truth as prophecy.”

The Messiah is going to bring this! The Messiah is going to bring back the glory of God. The Messiah is going to be the ultimate priest. He’s going to be the temple. He’s going to mediate the presence of God. It’s going to surround us. We’re going to be healed![4]

Let’s worship Jesus. Let’s patiently endure waiting for Him to come again!

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[2] J. D. Greear. Blog. 12.10.2024

https://jdgreear.com/the-only-light-that-reveals-and-heals/

[3] https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/41-56/the-false-coronation-of-the-true-king

[4] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[5] Adapted from Jean Fleming, Pursue the Intentional Life (NavPress, 2013), page 44

Prayer Like Jesus, He Prays for Us (John 17)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 6, 2025

Do we pray for others? Do we pray for others in front of others? These two Sundays, before Palm Sunday, we are focusing on praying like Jesus.

Today, notice that Jesus prayed for Himself, yes, but mostly for us.

Jesus’ prayer showed us His heart.

John 17:1–5 (ESV)

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ² since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

1. In verses 1-5 of this prayer, we can see that Jesus prays for Himself.
   1. Let’s put this in context.
   2. Jesus is sitting with the disciples at the Last Supper. He is about to go to the cross. Jesus had plenty to think about. He could have been nervous or anxious. We know from other accounts that He was in agony and burdened by what He was about to face. Yet, Jesus took time with the disciples and took time to pray.
   3. I don’t see Jesus beginning the prayer in a customary fashion. He doesn’t say, “Let’s pray.” He just starts His prayer with “Father…”
   4. The Scripture tells us that He looked towards Heaven. He may not have literally looked up. This could be the Gospel writer’s way of saying that Jesus was praying.
   5. Jesus prays like a high priest:
   6. A high priest would pray before the sacrifice, and he would pray in 3 concentric circles:
   7. Himself and ministry;
   8. Family and consecration;
   9. All the people of God would be blessed and pardoned through the sacrifice he brings.[1]
   10. Jesus says the hour has come. Jesus means that it is just about time for His arrest and crucifixion.
   11. The time of Jesus’ teaching with the disciples is just about complete. What last message does He have for them?
   12. Is it about building a church? Is it about sermon preparation??? No
   13. He prays for them. He lets them hear His prayer for Himself. He lets them hear His prayer for us today.
   14. In the first few verses we are able to overhear a conversation between the Son to the Father. Jesus, in humble submission, gives all credit to the Father. Jesus is focused on eternal life. In verse 5, Jesus is able to talk about a time in the long past when He had glory with the Father before the world was created.
   15. What can we apply from these first few verses? We can take many things from this, but something that I see is:
   16. Jesus cared about the disciples (and us) so much that He let them in on a personal conversation between Him and the Father.
   17. In John 15:15, Jesus said that He calls the disciples friends because He tells them what the Father tells Him. Jesus is showing the disciples that He meant this. Jesus shares His heart and passions with the disciples. They are not servants.

John 17:6–19 (ESV)

⁶ “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

• Prayer for the disciples.
  1. In verses 6-19 the prayer is totally for the disciples.
  2. Jesus cared so much that He left them hearing His deepest desire for them. But more than that, Jesus gave these desires to God the Father, who can do something about them. Jesus knew and modeled a life of prayer, and now He allows the disciples to hear and experience His prayer life.
  3. Starting in verse 11, we can overhear some heartfelt request: I am not in the world but they are:
  4. Keep them in Your Name. Name means character.
  5. Let them be One as we (the Trinity) are One.
  6. Jesus compares the disciples oneness to the oneness in the Trinity.
  7. Verse 12 shares that Jesus guarded the disciples while He was with them.
  8. Jesus has just asked for God to keep the disciples united in the Father’s character, and now He talks about how He guarded them when He was with them. I think Jesus is asking the Father to guard them.
  9. The guard idea gives an idea of a watchman who stands on a city wall watching for invaders.
  10. Review, Jesus is about to leave them, He prays that God, the Father will keep them in His character, He prays that God, the Father will keep them One, He prays that God, the Father will guard them as a watchman.
  11. In verse 13, Jesus prays that the disciples have His joy.
  12. I don’t know of one verse where Jesus just starts complaining! Jesus had joy.
  13. In verse 15, Jesus asks that God keep the disciples from the evil one.
  14. 6:9-13 has the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, and Jesus teaches us to pray, “deliver us from evil.”
  15. In verse 16, Jesus compares the disciples with Himself (twice now, Jesus compared the disciples with Himself). He says, “they are not of this world as I am not of this world.”
  16. That must be very encouraging to hear Him say. The disciples greatly respected Jesus, and they heard them compare them to Him. They must be like “Yes, we are on the same team.”
  17. Do you know someone who you have always looked up to and would count it an honor if you were compared with them?
  18. Growing up, I always respected my dad and was honored and excited anytime someone said that I was like my dad in any way.
  19. Here Jesus compares the disciples to Him.
  20. Jesus asks the Father to sanctify them in God’s Word, which is truth.
  21. In verse 19 Jesus will say that He has sanctified Himself for their sakes.
  22. Jesus cared that much. He set Himself apart, apart for the Father’s mission for us.

John 17:20–26 (ESV)

²⁰ “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

• Starting in verse 20, Jesus prays for the future disciples. Jesus prays for us.

1. Again in verse 21 Jesus prays that we all will be one.
2. Eugene Peterson: “If we stay in the room with Jesus as He prays for us, we will acquire a readiness to embrace all the baptized as brothers and sisters. It may be slow in coming, but Jesus’ prayer will have its way with us. We will no longer define other Christians as competitors or rivals. Jesus doesn’t evaluate or grade His followers as He prays. He does not lay out plans to settle the controversies that he knows will arise. He is praying us into easy camaraderie. The longer we stay in Jesus’ praying presence the more we will understand that our impulses toward schism and sectarianism, our rivalries and denunciations, have no place in the room while Jesus is praying for “us to be one.” (page 225)
3. Jesus compares us to the Trinity. That the church can have the oneness that the Trinity has.
4. Jesus even adds to this by describing the oneness of the Trinity.
5. Verses 22-23 expand the oneness idea. Jesus wanted the church to be one. Jesus, once again, compares this to the oneness of the Trinity.
6. In verses 25-26, Jesus again invites us into the personal conversation between Him and the Father.

Close:

Robert Murray McCheyne writes:

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.^[1]

^[1] [Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 455.]

Sometimes a prayer is also a message. This is true because a prayer includes a request, and you can hear the heart of the person saying the prayer. Jesus’ prayer gives us a message. Jesus tells us to be one. That is our challenge as a body of Christ, we must be united.  Jesus tells us that we are not of the world. But more than anything else, I think Jesus tells us that He cares so much for us that in His last moments before death, He prays for the disciple’s current and future. He says this prayer in front of them.

Do you pray in front of people? Do you pray for people in front of people? What about your children? Do you pray for them in front of them? It is humbling and meaningful to show that you care for someone so much to pray for them.

You may be thinking, “That is arrogant! I’ll pray for others in private.” Well, it would be arrogant if you simply wanted them to know that you are praying for them. But in this type of prayer, you can talk to God the Father and your loved one at the same time. Your motivation is not to say, “Look at me, I pray!” Your motivation is to reveal your concerns and requests for this person to God and to the person at the same time. That is what Jesus did. Jesus cared so much that He prayed.

Encouragement: Jesus prays for us— wow!!!

Conviction: we must pray for others.

Prayer

[1] Sinclair Ferguson; Renewing Your Mind; 07.23.2021