The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" (John 12:12, 13 ESV)
They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
(John 19:15 ESV)
We often think we can be good enough on our own, that we can pick and choose our own way, our own gods and our own righteousness. We argue that we are pretty good, at least better than some. And the real issue that will lead to death if we don't repent is that we think we are righteous and will be saved on our own.
To suggest that we are good enough is to make the cross unnecessary and to reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
If we reject Christ and his sacrifice believing we are good enough then we make ourselves Gods. Yet as we examine our own hearts we will find only sin and death. For the very ones who celebrated as Jesus entered Jerusalem singing Hosanna then either stood by quietly or cried out to crucify him days later. The apostles all either betrayed or deserted their teacher and the one they had come to know as Messiah. For there is not one human who is righteous and will live by our own good works. We are all sinners in need of saving.
I pray I would remember the reality of sins hold on me and the wrath of God bringing death I fully deserve without Christ. But in Christ there is no condemnation. I am righteous by Christ's works and not by my own. Keep me humble and dependent on the cross for my righteousness and salvation!
Lord I pray you would convict hearts and turn them to you this Easter season. I pray they would not come in once a year and believe that a few words and hours can lead to true repentance. I pray they would taste your goodness and the hope of life with you and they would realize how desperately empty and dry and insufficient their words are. I pray you would bid them come and die. I pray they would die to themselves daily and take up the cross you give them. I pray for real discipleship. I pray for them not to condemn but that they might have true life, for they think they have it and so blind themselves to the death they are due like me and like all people. I pray for their repentance and for new life by he Spirit. Like the parable of the four soils I pray you would not take them from the world but that you would protect them from the evil one and their own deceitful hearts. I pray that they would bear much fruit 30 to 60 times what was sown.
Lord humble me to not feel superior but to know that of my nature and will power I am and I was a Chreaster like them. You are the one who redeemed me and brought me home not because of anything I had done but because of your love. And you have the same love for all people desiring that they would repent and would come home to you by the way of the Cross through faith lived out in action.
Come Holy Spirit and do a new work this Easter week.
Amen
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