Are You Convinced? | Matthew 26:5

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody and you were trying to convince them of something and they said these words? Well, I'm not easily convinced. They were pretty skeptical.

[00:00:18] Hmm. When Matthew 26, we read these words starting at verse 1, we've talked about these previous verses, verses 1 to 4, but today we're going to be looking at verse 5 especially.

[00:00:30] When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,

[00:00:34] You know that after two days the Passover is coming, that was going to be Thursday, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.

[00:00:41] Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

[00:00:47] and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said,

[00:00:52] Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

[00:00:57] What feast? The Passover feast. The population of Jerusalem at that time was about 50,000.

[00:01:04] But when Jews descended on Jerusalem, it swelled up to 250,000.

[00:01:09] And so people were there for the festival of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, which was the following days after Passover.

[00:01:18] So this town had swelled up. And what was the crowd? They were convinced, listen to this, they were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah.

[00:01:26] What did they say on Palm Sunday? And some of them by that time were there.

[00:01:30] They said, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, son of David.

[00:01:34] They were saying, He's the Messiah.

[00:01:36] Now, why did they say that? Why were they convinced that he was the Messiah?

[00:01:41] Because of what he had done. Cleansing lepers, causing paralytics to walk, causing the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the mute to speak.

[00:01:53] And not only that, but there are four different stories in the Bible where Jesus had raised people from the dead.

[00:02:01] And because of those things that Jesus had done, news about him spread like wildfire.

[00:02:08] And so when people descended on Jerusalem for Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, they were absolutely convinced.

[00:02:15] Many of them were absolutely convinced that he was the Messiah.

[00:02:18] So why did these guys say, we better not do anything during the feast because there's going to be an uproar?

[00:02:25] Because they believed that he was the Christ, right?

[00:02:27] And so these guys knew, hey, he says he's the son of God. Many people leave. He's the son of God.

[00:02:33] So if we arrest him now and we crucify him, there's going to be a riot on our hands.

[00:02:37] And we don't want to mess with that. They were convinced.

[00:02:41] Maybe they weren't easily convinced, but they were convinced.

[00:02:43] These people were that he was the Messiah. Now, here's the thing.

[00:02:47] We also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, have made a spiritual pilgrimage all the way back 2000 years.

[00:02:54] We've read the scriptures. We're convinced not only that Jesus performed those miracles, but that he was crucified on a cross for our sins and raised again to defeat death.

[00:03:05] We are convinced. And so we make the same confession that the people on Palm Sunday made, which was blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[00:03:15] Hail, Hosanna, son of David. You're the son of God, the savior of the world, the promised Messiah, my redeemer and king.

[00:03:22] That's the confession we make. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has convinced us.

[00:03:28] Now, I love what St. Paul said in Romans chapter eight. It's one of the most powerful chapters in all of the Bible.

[00:03:36] And he said this about his relationship with Jesus and our relationship with Jesus.

[00:03:42] And he used this word, I am convinced. He said, I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor heights nor depth nor anything in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

[00:04:00] Not only was Paul convinced because he had a face to face encounter with him, basically on the road to Damascus.

[00:04:06] Not only was he convinced that Jesus was the son of God, he lived to tell about it.

[00:04:10] And that's what needs to happen in our lives.

[00:04:15] If we're like those people who were ready to create a riot because they believe that Jesus was the Christ, there needs to be an uproar in our life that indeed Jesus is we claim to be.

[00:04:26] And he's coming back to take us home. Right.

[00:04:28] Right. And until then, we have a mandate.

[00:04:31] We have marching orders.

[00:04:33] We have the great commission to make Jesus known to whoever and whenever possible.

[00:04:39] Right. We're convinced just like they were.

[00:04:43] Right. So make Jesus known.

[00:04:46] Live to tell about what Christ has done in your life.

[00:04:49] He's changed your life.

[00:04:50] And oh, by the way, you may not be convinced that Jesus is a Christ.

[00:04:53] Some of you may be watching this and you're really not sure.

[00:04:56] I want to encourage you to read the book of Mark.

[00:04:59] It's short.

[00:05:00] It's only 16 chapters.

[00:05:01] Many of the miracles that Jesus performed are found there.

[00:05:05] And after reading that, you can text me or email me and we can have a chat about why we believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be.

[00:05:14] One of my favorite evidences is that 500 people saw Christ after he rose from the dead all at once.

[00:05:20] We don't know what the scenario was.

[00:05:22] We don't know where it was.

[00:05:23] But the Bible tells us that.

[00:05:25] And remember, Jesus hung out for 40 days.

[00:05:27] And because he hung out for 40 days, so many people had seen him.

[00:05:31] These people, when they descended on Jerusalem for the feast of Passover and unleavened bread, they were convinced.

[00:05:39] That's why Caiaphas and the leaders were so afraid of a riot because people were convinced that Jesus was Messiah.

[00:05:47] And may that be the case with you, my friend, today and always.

[00:05:52] And when he comes back, he'll take you home to be in his presence forever.

[00:05:58] And oh my goodness, what an uproar, what a hoopla that will be.

[00:06:05] Not a riot, but glorious, majestic, powerful, unparalleled, reuniting with our Savior Jesus who will take us home to be with him forever.

[00:06:19] Why?

[00:06:19] Because we are convinced.

[00:06:24] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:06:25] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:06:49] Bye-bye.