Behold Your King

The most important life that has ever been lived is that of Jesus Christ, and the most important part of His life is His last week ending with His Crucifixion on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. His last week begins with what is called “the triumphal entry.” So the Friday before he was crucified, He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. We traditionally call it Palm Sunday. His week ended with the triumph of the Resurrection and His victory over sin, Satan and death. The greatest victory ever accomplished was accomplished by Christ when He died for the sins of the world and victoriously rose from the dead.

I want to start our holy week by looking at this triumphal entry. I’ve chosen Luke for the text, but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—all four of the Gospels—present the story of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. That indicates its importance; whenever you have an episode from the life of Jesus that is recorded in all four Gospels, it’s an indication that it is something that is very significant and very important.

The first movement of the story is in Luke 19:28-36, which is the King’s preparation. Verses 28-36 say, “After Jesus had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” Now this whole setting is that Jesus has been on His way to Jerusalem. He came down the Jordan Valley and is in the city of Jericho. He has encountered Zacchaeus, who has been converted. Jesus then went up the steep, winding road to the city of Jerusalem. Before that, four miles to the east of Jerusalem, He probably made his home in the city of Bethany, where Mary, Martha and Lazarus were. Now He is ascending up to Jerusalem. Whenever you visit Jerusalem, from any direction, you are ascending in altitude to the city.

Continuing the text, “As He approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.’” Now notice that Jesus is going to be riding a little donkey that has never been ridden. This indicates Jesus’ mastery over creation. If you try to get on a donkey that no one has ever ridden, it will buck you off. I know; I’ve tried it before. But this donkey submits to Jesus’ authority, because He is the master of all creation.

Continuing with the text, “Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” That’s a key phrase. Jesus needed a donkey. There is hope for you and me. Verse 32, “Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They replied, ‘The Lord needs it.’” That was the secret password to let the donkey go. Verse 35, “They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.”

The Lord’s action of riding into Jerusalem was an unmistakable claim to be the Messiah King. Have no doubt about that. Jesus was claiming Messiahship. When He got on that donkey and rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, He was doing a public demonstration, which was the first and only time in His whole ministry that He was showing that “I am the Messiah.” Note that this was all carefully planned by God before the foundation of the world, even by Jesus.

The Mount of Olives is just east of Jerusalem. If you go on a tour of Israel, you’ll stand in the same place where Jesus stood and looked over the city and wept and where He rode the donkey down the road into the Kidron Valley and up the side of the mountain into the city of Jerusalem. It’s a beautiful picture as you look over the golden city and the eastern gate.

So Jesus has now come from Jericho, He’s arrived at the crest of the Mount of Olives and He’s looking over at the city. He tells two of His disciples to go into a certain village—maybe it was Bethphage, a little hamlet—to a place where a donkey was tied up. It had never been ridden before, and He wanted them to bring it to Him. The other Gospels tell us that there was the mother donkey and the colt, so there was the donkey and the foal. He asked that both be brought to Him. So the mother donkey went ahead, and Jesus got on the little donkey and rode along.

When the disciples got there, the owner of the donkey asked, “Why are you taking the donkey?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” So they loosed the donkey and let him go.

So far in Jesus’ ministry, He said that His time had not yet come. He would heal people and tell them, “Don’t tell anybody. Just go show yourself to the priests.” But now His time had come, and He planned it out.

The Bible doesn’t say—so Bible students like to speculate—whether Jesus, in His omniscience, knew the donkey would be there and sent His disciples to get the donkey. That’s perfectly possible; I have no problem with that. Or did Jesus make prearrangements? It’s possible that Jesus had been there before and He said, “I need to borrow your donkey. It’s going to be a special day, and I wondered if I could use your donkey.” Gladly they let the donkey go. So this was planned by Jesus.

Secondly, it was a clear picture of two things: it pictured His dignity and His deity; He was the King of the Jews, the Messiah; and it showed His humility, that He was coming humbly on this donkey.

Believe it or not, kings in the Old Testament did ride donkeys. We get the idea that this is so out of place for Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, to ride this little donkey, this little, humble beast of burden. The truth is that King David rode a donkey, even in his coronation. King Solomon rode a donkey. It wasn’t out of character for kings to ride donkeys.

I think it is symbolic that Jesus is the greater son of David. When we read in the Gospels that the people said, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!” why did they say that? It’s because He was in the lineage of David; the Messiah was the Son of David. So that was a Messianic term or title. God made a promise or covenant to David that through his lineage, the Messiah would come and sit upon the throne, and it would be an everlasting kingdom that would rule forever. That would be fulfilled in Jesus, not in His first coming, but in His Second Coming, when He comes and sits upon the throne of David and reigns forever. This was a picture not only of His dignity as a King but also of His humility. He was a different kind of king.

This story has this perfect blending of dignity and humility. What a contrast it is. Someone said, “How strange a contrast to the triumphal entry of ancient warriors and conquerors into the cities which they had taken. This time, no broken wall torn down for entry. This time, no garland hero standing in his war chariot driving down the lane with the cheering-people subjects, smoking altars followed by captive kings and princes in chains. Instead of that, just a meek, lowly man riding upon the foal of a donkey.” So what a contrast to the kings who conquered and came in procession and grand triumph compared to the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ. He is a humble king.

His humility is also expressed in the phrase in verse 31, “The Lord has need of it.” I’m fascinated by that statement. The Lord, the sovereign, the ruler, the creator of the entire universe? And I do believe Jesus is the creator and ruler of all things. Jesus has need of this donkey?! Oh, how He came from heaven and took on the form of man! He became a man for us. And how He humbled Himself! He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. God needing a donkey?! I’m encouraged by that. What an awesome thought.

Jesus had to borrow things quite often. He borrowed a boat in which to preach a sermon. He borrowed a coin and demonstrated that it’s okay to pay tribute unto Caesar. He borrowed the donkey on which to ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He borrowed a room in which to meet in the upper room with His disciples. He had to borrow a tomb when He was crucified and died and buried. No big deal; He only needed it for the weekend. “Can we use your burial place? We only need it for three days and three nights and then we’ll be out of there.”

I’m encouraged by that. Sometimes I have to borrow tools. I’m not a tool guy. I don’t have a lot of tools. When I have a project, sometimes I have to go to the neighbors and ask if I can borrow a tool. They probably think, That poor pastor! They need to increase his salary. He can’t buy any tools. No; I just thought I’d borrow the neighbor’s. Jesus borrowed stuff, so it’s cool.

I like what Jerry Vine said. He said, “The paradox of Christ’s earthly life was that although He was rich, He became poor. He possessed nothing, yet He was a ruler of all things. Jesus Christ created ‘the cattle on a thousand hills,’ yet He needed a boat from which to preach the Gospel. Jesus Christ created stars and flung them into place, yet He needed somewhere to lay His head at night. He who created the rushing streams of every river cried, ‘I thirst.’ He whose chariot was the clouds said, ‘I need a donkey’ on which to ride into Jerusalem.” What a picture. The creator of the entire universe said, “I need this little donkey to ride into Jerusalem.”

If God can use a donkey, He can use us. If Jesus can use that little donkey, perhaps Jesus Christ can use me if I come humbly.

The second movement of our story is the King’s adoration. It is in verses 37-40. It says, “When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives…”—so He reached the point where He would descend Mount Olivet—“…the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.”

Now before we go on, one of the works they were rejoicing God for was that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. That was right outside Bethany, just four miles outside Jerusalem. And I happen to believe, although it’s not mentioned, that Lazarus is in the group following Jesus. What a testimony he was! He was dead but is now alive. Talk about a powerful witness to the glory of Jesus! Jesus walked around with somebody He had raised from the dead.

So the disciples praised God for His mighty works. They were saying, verse 38, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” This was a quotation from Psalm 118:26. It’s one of the Hallel psalms. When the angels proclaimed Jesus’ birth, they said, “On earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Now the people were crying, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Verse 39 continues, “Some of the Pharisees…”—they were always around to throw a wet blanket on the celebration—“…in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ He replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’” That would be the first rock concert ever recorded. They probably sing, “Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in Thee.” Think about that: rocks with lips on them saying, “Praise Jesus! This is awesome!” If the disciples held their peace, even the stones would begin to cry out.

By the way, if you go on a tour of Israel today, the stones are crying out. Every time the archeologists unearth something, they cry out to the glory of God, they cry out to the reliability of
the Scriptures and the truth of God’s Word. The stones are crying out even today. “If they don’t praise Me, even the stones will cry out.”

Now why did Jesus allow this very public demonstration? As I pointed out, it was the only time He did that. Why? Because, number one, to force the Jewish leaders to act. In Matthew 26:4-5, the chief priests, scribes and elders of the people consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill Him, but “not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

But God had a plan. Jesus was the Passover Lamb. When the people of Israel came out of the Exodus from Egypt, they killed a lamb, took the blood and put it over the door of their house. That was the Passover Paschal Lamb. That was a prefigure or picture of Jesus Christ; He is the “lamb without blemish and without spot.” Jesus had no inherited defect nor any acquired defect; He was holy and sinless, so He went to the Cross and died for our sins. When you put your faith in Christ, when you believe in Christ, His blood is applied to you and His wrath passes over you. So this is all a picture of what happened when they came out of Egypt and had their Passover feast.

But the Jewish leaders were forced to crucify Jesus at Passover, as opposed to their original plans, so that it could fulfill a prophetic picture.

Secondly, Jesus’ death fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy in Zachariah 9:9. Five hundred years before Jesus rode that donkey into Jerusalem, Zachariah said, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This was a prophecy.

Sometimes when I’m trying to explain to people that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is dependable and reliable, I’ll show them fulfilled prophecy. Five hundred years before this event, Zachariah prophesied this. We’ll also see more prophecy from Daniel 9. But that very day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem, it was a fulfillment of Zachariah’s prophecy 500 years earlier when he had spoken.

This event was also prophesied in Psalm 118:22-26, especially verses 25-26. When Jesus rode that little donkey into Jerusalem, the people were singing this psalm. “Save now…”—we know it as “Hosanna”—“…I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.” So they were singing, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna!”

The word “hosanna” literally means “save now” or “save us.” So the people were expecting Him to overthrow the Roman government and to set up His kingdom on the throne of David. They didn’t expect Him, as the Messiah, to go to the Cross and be crucified. That wasn’t something that they expected. Rather, they expected Him to be a conquering, reigning Messiah. So they were singing this Hallel psalm “Save us. Hosanna.” Hosanna really isn’t a word so much of praise but of petition. This is what they wanted Him to do; they wanted Him to save them.

Thirdly, Jesus allowed this public demonstration because He delights when we praise Him. The Bible says that God delights in our praise. It says that He “inhabits the praises of His people.” Verse 37 of our story says, “The disciples began to…praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen.” I told you that one of the mighty works they had seen was Lazarus being raised from the dead. That’s pretty amazing! The guy had been dead long enough that he was starting to smell. But Jesus, with his power, called him out of the grave. Jesus is not only Lord of creation, showing that by riding on a donkey, but He is also Lord of life. Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth!” and Lazarus came out of the grave! So all of Jesus’ miracles, like the blind being able to see, lepers immediately being cleansed, the loaves and the fish multiplied, Jesus walking on the water and calming the raging sea, were witnessed by His disciples.

We, too, should praise God for all the mighty works that we have seen and heard. When we hear about God working in someone’s life or God working in our life or the things that God is doing, we should give Him praise.

Notice also in verse 38 that they blessed the name of the Lord. It says, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” I love that. We need to do the same; we need to bless God. We need to praise Him. It means to magnify Him.

Then Jesus said that if the people hadn’t praised Him, “the stones would…cry out.” Sadly, for many in the crowd, their praise would wither before the palm branches that they were waving. This very same crowd, one week later, would be crying out, “Crucify him! Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar.” They would turn their backs on Jesus, because He hadn’t met their expectation. How sad that is.

Now we move from the King’s preparation and the King’s adoration to the last division in verses 41-44, the King’s lamentation. “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.’” Jesus is speaking prophetically here. He is looking forward to 70 AD when Titus and the Roman armies would come and destroy Jerusalem. Within 40 years this would happen. Verse 44, “They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.” They would slaughter women and children. “They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Notice in verse 41 that Jesus beheld the city. He could see things that no one else could see. The Bible says that “God looks upon the heart.” The most important part of you is the part that only God can see; God sees your heart. Jesus could see things that no one else could see. The Bible says, “All things are naked and open before the eyes of Him of whom we have to do.” And because Jesus could see what no one else could see, He wept. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.

The other Gospels give record of what Jesus said. He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” Then, like this passage, He made a prophecy: “Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Jesus was predicting their destruction, and He was prophesying about His Second Coming, that He would come, and “They shall look on Him whom they pierced” and would wail and weep as one weeps for an only child who had died. This is one of the saddest episodes in the life of Jesus Christ: Jesus wept.

Do you know that there are only two places in the Bible where it tells us that Jesus wept? The first is in John 11:35. That is at the grave of Lazarus. The thing you need to understand is that the Greek word used in John 11:35, “Jesus wept,” literally means that His eyes moistened and a tear trickled down His face. That’s what the word “wept” means. The Son of God in tears.

Every time I do a funeral and a graveside service, every time I try to comfort bereaving families who have lost a loved one, I remind them that “In every pain that rends the heart, the Man of Sorrows has a part.” When you lose someone you love and your heart is broken, Jesus understands. He’s weeping with you. He feels your sorrow.

This is why God became a man in the person of Christ: because He became a sympathetic and compassionate high priest who was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He was a God who cares and came down and sympathizes with us.

The second time Jesus wept in the Bible was here in our text, Luke 19:41. But here “wept” is a different Greek word. It is a very strong word in the Greek. It could be rendered “lamented” or “wail.” We would use the word “sob.” It’s when someone sobs loudly and their chest is heaving and they’re groaning and wailing and crying out loud. That’s what Jesus was doing here.

I want you to get this mental picture: the Son of God in tears. And why was the Son of God in tears? Because He saw their coming destruction. He saw their coming doom. He saw the blindness of their eyes and heart. He knew that they had rejected Him and would crucify Him. He knew the judgment that would come upon them. He wasn’t crying because more people hadn’t shown up for His triumphal entry; “Where are my friends?” He was crying because of the hardness of their hearts.

I believe that Jesus weeps today. The same Jesus is in heaven, and He weeps over sinners today. We should have the same compassion. The Son of God weeping over the lost. When did you last weep over the lost? When have you last prayed for your family and friends to come to Christ? Your coworkers? Your neighbors? When were you concerned about the judgment they were facing if they don’t turn and believe in Jesus Christ?

Think about this: Jesus was sobbing, but everyone is celebrating. They’re waving palm branches and crying, “Hosanna!” They even laid down their own garments on the ground for the donkey to walk over. They also made a saddle out of their clothes. It’s a celebration. It’s His coronation. It’s an awesome time, but Jesus is crying and weeping. It’s like someone crying at their birthday party when they blow out the candles. You’d think, What’s the matter? This is your day! But Jesus saw what no one else could see.

There are three reasons why Jesus was weeping. One reason was because He looked back and saw another prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. I’ll just abbreviate it. It’s called the “70 weeks of Daniel.” God told Daniel that 70 weeks were determined upon God’s people for Him to fulfill all prophecy, to bring in the Messiah, to set up the everlasting kingdom. So God’s whole purpose, whole plan, whole program was laid out over 490 years. God actually gave a timetable in the Scriptures. Not for the rapture. But when certain things started to happen, they would all come into place, there would be this time sequence.

When does this 490 years start? It started on March 14, 445 BC according to the prophecy of Daniel 9, when there is a commandment to go forth and restore Jerusalem. Until the coming of the Messiah, the prince, it will be 483 years. He gives us the time. That is when King Ahasuerus gave them the right to go back to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. From that very time to the very day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey—that is why Jesus said, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day….” It was the exact day—173,880 days to the day that Jesus rode in on Palm Sunday. If they had only known their own prophetic word, they could have figured it out and known that this, indeed, is the Messiah. By the way, it says that He will be “cut off,” not from Himself, but from the people.

Then there will be one last week; there are seven years missing from the 490 years. The last seven years is called the tribulation. It will be the time of Jacob’s trouble. It is a Jewish time when God will pour out His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world and prepare Israel to repent and trust in Him as Messiah. Then they will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” once again, and they’ll see Christ coming. But Jesus had received His wounds in the house of His friends. So what an awesome prophecy that was. Jesus had said, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day….” After 173,880 days, according to Daniel’s prophecy, Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

Secondly, Jesus looked not only back, but He looked around. In verse 42, He said, “If you had known…the things that make for your peace!” If they had only known that this was the peace that they could have. I believe the peace here is a reference to peace with God. You can be forgiven; you can have peace with God. Thus, you can have the peace of God. The Gospel is all about the peace with God. I was at war with God, but when I repented and believed in Jesus, I received peace with God. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. But they rejected Him.

How about you? Jesus can bring you peace with God. Jesus can bring you the peace of God. But if you reject Him, the Bible says, “There is no peace for the wicked.” Do you have peace with God? Do you know that when you die, you’d go to heaven? Are your sins forgiven? Have you been born again? Do you have the hope of heaven? Are you sure that you have eternal life? If not, you can have peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Thirdly and lastly, Jesus looked ahead and saw their punishment. So He looked back and saw the prophecy, He looked around and saw the peace that they missed and then He looked ahead and saw their punishment. Verses 43-44 is a description of what would happen within 40 years. In 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed. It started a few years earlier under Titus and the Roman armies, when they came to destroy the Jewish people. It was from this point on that the Jews were dispersed until the modern return to Israel in our lifetime. They wandered all around the world; they were dispersed among the nations of the earth. But God brought them back, because He still has seven years on His timetable of 490 years that He gave in Daniel 9.

Notice the graphic description of their punishment by Jesus. “For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you…”—the Romans actually built a wall around Jerusalem—“…surround you and close you in on every side.” They started to starve the people in the city to death, which is an ancient way of warfare. You surround the city and don’t let anyone in or out. “And level you…”—they razed the city to the ground—“…and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

So they burned the city of Jerusalem to get the gold out of the temple. They dismantled the stones one by one. You can go to Jerusalem today and see the stones. As I said, they are still crying out. But Jesus, as the prophet, looked forward and saw the judgment that would come upon them.

Now I want to bring in something very important. Romans 9, 10 and 11 deal with the nation of Israel and the issue of God’s people, the Jews. Chapter 9 is Israel’s election, chosen by God. Chapter 10 is Israel’s rejection. They rejected Him because they crucified their Messiah. Then chapter 11 is Israel’s restoration. God’s not finished with the nation of Israel. They are like an olive tree that had its natural branch broken off, but you and I, as Gentiles, are like wild olive branches that are grafted in.

You say, “How sad that the nation didn’t recognize the day of their visitation. How sad that they didn’t know that He was their Messiah. In John’s Gospel it says that “He came to His own…”—that is, His own created world—“…and His own…”—His own people, the Jews—“…did not receive Him.” But John says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right…”—or “power” or “authority”—“…to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” But the point is that He came to the Jewish people, and they rejected Him.

However, the door then swung open, in God’s eternal plan for you and I, as Gentiles, to enter in, as wild olive branches, to be grafted into this olive tree. As such, we become partakers of the root, of the covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are now ours, even as Gentiles. It’s called the “new covenant.” Now God writes His laws upon our hearts, everyone has the Holy Spirit, we know God, we have a relationship with God and it’s an eternal covenant. The covenant was made with Israel, but we become partakers of it; by their rejection, we are brought in.

Now when “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” during this time of blindness in part by Israel, the church “will be caught up…to meet the Lord in the air.” It’s called the rapture. Then we’ll “be with the Lord forever.” The Antichrist will be revealed on earth. He’ll make a covenant with Israel to keep peace for seven years. Isn’t that interesting? Four hundred eighty-three years have been fulfilled of the 70 weeks of Daniel. There are seven years left. That will be a time when God will pour out His wrath. God will bring Israel to its knees, and they will come to understand that Jesus is the Messiah. So all of this fits with Scripture in God’s plan for the nation of Israel and for you and me as the church, that we might be saved.

Here is how it applies to us, verse 44. All this because they “did not know the time of their visitation.” Jesus came—“Emmanuel…God with us.” But it’s not too late for you. Today is your day of visitation. You’re hearing the Bible. You’re hearing the Gospel. The Gospel is that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him…”—trusts in Him, puts their faith in Him—“…should not perish but have everlasting life.” That’s the good news. God loves you and sent Jesus to die for you. Jesus died on the Cross to pay for your sin. He took your place. He was buried and rose from the dead. He conquered sin, Satan and the grave.

“Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
…Hallelujah! Christ arose!”

But today is your day of visitation. Do you know that there is a day of visitation for every person when God comes to you? Jesus said, “I stand at the door…”—of your heart—“…and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

Have you opened the door of your heart to Jesus? Do you hear God speaking to you right now? Do you hear God’s voice speaking to you? Do you need to get right with God? Do you need to believe in Jesus Christ? You’re not a Christian because you come to church. You’re not a Christian because you believe there is a God out there. You’re not a Christian because you’ve been baptized. You’re not a Christian because you’ve been confirmed or you’ve gone through catechism. You’re not a Christian because your mom and dad are Christians. You’re not a Christian because you’re an American. You’re a Christian because you’ve trusted in Jesus.

The Bible says, “By grace you have been saved through faith.” That’s trust. That’s believing. Where John 3:16 says, “believe in Him”; John 1:12 says, “receive Him”; and where Paul says in Ephesians “faith in Him,” it all means the same. You trust Jesus to save you. I want to give you that opportunity right here, right now. You’ll know that when you die, you’ll go to heaven.