1. PALM SUNDAY 2013 1

2. ”WHEN YOUR NUMBERS’ UP!” 1.EVERYONE HAS SO MANY DAYS BEFORE THEIR ‘NUMBERS’ UP!’ 2.YOUR NUMBER IS FOREORDAINED! “FOR I KNOW THE PLANS THAT I HAVE FOR YOU, DECLARES THE LORD... ” (JER. 29:11) 3.HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF YOUR LIFE IN TERMS OF NUMBER OF DAYS? FOR EXAMPLE, TODAY, I AM 27,961 DAYS OLD! I HAVE BEEN ‘BORN-AGAIN’ FOR 12,931 OF THOSE DAYS; AND I WAS “DEAD IN MY TRESPASSES AND SINS” FOR 15,030 DAYS! MY LAST DAY WILL BE ___?______. IT IS FOREORDAINED! 4.EVEN JESUS’ DAYS ON THIS EARTH WERE NUMBERED!! “ NOW BEFORE THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER, WHEN JESUS KNEW THAT HIS HOUR WAS COME THAT HE SHOULD DEPART OUT OF THIS WORLD UNTO THE FATHER... ” (JOHN 13:1) 2

3. 5.IN GOD’S SOVEREINGTY, JESUS ENTERED THE CITY OF JERUSALEM AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT! UP TO THIS POINT, IT WAS NOT TIME, “THEN THEY SOUGHT TO TAKE HIM: BUT NO MAN LAID HANDS ON HIM, BECAUSE HIS HOUR WAS NOT YET COME.” (JOHN 7:30) “A TIME FOR EVERY EVENT UNDER HEAVEN, A TIME TO BE BORN, AND A TIME TO DIE; (ECC. 3:1-2) BUT NOW, “AND THE JEWS’ PASSOVER WAS NIGH AT HAND: AND MANY WENT OUT OF THE COUNTRY UP TO JERUSALEM BEFORE THE PASSOVER, TO PURIFY THEMSELVES.” (JOHN 11:55) A.FOR JESUS: IT WAS NOW THE RIGHT YEAR. B.FOR JESUS: IT WAS NOW THE RIGHT WEEK. C.FOR JESUS: IT WAS NOW THE RIGHT DAY. D.FOR JESUS: IT WAS NOW THE RIGHT HOUR. E.FOR JESUS: IT WAS NOW THE RIGHT MOMENT. 3

4. 6.IN GOD’S SOVEREINGTY, THE ETERNAL COUNCILS AND DECREES WERE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FULFILLED. A.IT DIDN’T MATTER WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH THE PHARISEES AND ROMANS, IT WAS TIME! B.JESUS WOULD BE ON THE CROSS AT THE APPOINTED MOMENT. C.HE WAS IN CONTROL OF EVERY MOMENT. (HE IS IN CONTROL OF EVERY MOMENT OF OUR LIVES.) “THEREFORE DOTH MY FATHER LOVE ME, BECAUSE I LAY DOWN MY LIFE, THAT I MIGHT TAKE IT AGAIN. NO MAN TAKETH IT FROM ME, BUT I LAY IT DOWN OF MYSELF. I HAVE POWER TO LAY IT DOWN, AND I HAVE POWER TO TAKE IT AGAIN. THIS COMMANDMENT HAVE I RECEIVED OF MY FATHER.” (JOHN 10:17-18) D.(REDEEM US FROM) SIN AND SATAN. E.THE LAW WITH ITS CURSE AND CONDEMNATION. F.DEATH AND HELL. G.THE WRATH, RUIN AND DESTRUCTION WHICH WAS TO COME TO THOSE WHO REJECTED HIS SACRIFICE. 4

5. 7.SO IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, THE LAMB OF GOD ENTERS JERUSALEM. “ON THE NEXT DAY MUCH PEOPLE THAT WERE COME TO THE FEAST, WHEN THEY HEARD THAT JESUS WAS COME TO JERUSALEM, TOOK BRANCHES OF PALM TREES, AND WENT FORTH TO MEET HIM, AND CRIED, HOSANNA: BLESSED IS THE KING OF ISRAEL THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.” (JN 12:12-13) 8.AS PROPHESIED, THEIR KING MESSIAH HAD ARRIVED. “REJOICE GREATLY, O DAUGHTER OF ZION; SHOUT, O DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM: BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE: HE IS JUST, AND HAVING SALVATION; LOWLY, AND RIDING UPON AN ASS, AND UPON A COLT THE FOAL OF AN ASS.” (ZEC. 9:9) 9.YET, IN THE MIDST OF ALL THIS REJOICING, “AND WHEN HE WAS COME NEAR, HE BEHELD THE CITY, AND WEPT OVER IT.” (LK. 19:41) 5

6. 10.EVERYONE IS SCREAMING IN EXHILERATION. A.BUT, JESUS IS WEEPING. WHY? BECAUSE FOR MANY OF THEM, IT’S TOO LATE; THEIR ‘NUMBERS’UP! “IF THOU HADST KNOWN, EVEN THOU, AT LEAST IN THIS THY DAY, THE THINGS WHICH BELONG UNTO THY PEACE! BUT NOW THEY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES.... BECAUSE THOU KNEWEST NOT THE TIME OF THY VISITATION.” (LK. 19:44) a.THEY DESPISED THE MESSAGE OF HIS SERVANTS. b.THEY MOCKED, BEAT, AND KILLED THE PROPHETS. c.THEY COULD NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. d.CONSEQUENTLY, THEIR EYES WERE BLINDED, THEIR HEARTS WERE HARDENED. e.WHY? BECAUSE THEY HAD REJECTED JESUS AS THE MESSIAH. 6

7. 11.JESUS SEES THE IMPENDING WRATH THAT IS COMING. “BUT WHEN HE SAW THE MULTITUDES, HE WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION ON THEM, BECAUSE THEY FAINTED, AND WERE SCATTERED ABROAD, AS SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD. THEN SAITH HE UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, THE HARVEST TRULY IS PLENTIOUS, BUT THE LARORERS ARE FEW; PRAY YE THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE WILL SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST.” (MATT. 9:36-38) 12.THOSE THAT REJECT THE GOSPEL ARE A GREAT GRIEF TO THE LORD JESUS; AS THEY SHOULD BE TO US. “THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONGSUFFERING TO US-WARD, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.” (2 PET. 3:9) “KNOWING THEREFORE THE TERROR OF THE LORD, WE PERSUADE MEN;” (2 COR. 5:11) 7