"It's Hard To Have Solid Faith When Following Christ For The Wrong Reason" (John 12:12

As a Christ follower, it saddens me to observe those who made a profession of faith in Jesus and started to follow Him, only to fall away and are far from the Lord! While the reasons for this type of spiritual failure are varied, at the core of every case is that the person either never knew or some how lost sight of who Christ Jesus is! Understanding and embracing how Jesus is revealed in the Bible is very critical because our eternal destiny rests on having faith in the truth about who Christ is and what He accomplished on Calvary. Understanding and embracing how Jesus is revealed in the Bible is the purpose of John's Gospel! In it John says, "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31). If you have incorrect notions about who Jesus is or false hopes about what He will do for you in this life, you will be disappointed and in danger of falling away from your initial profession of faith in Him! You can't follow Christ only because of the temporal benefits YOU THINK HE MIGHT GIVE TO YOU! In our passage, John shows different groups that partook of Jesus' Triumphal Entry. There was the crowd who'd come to Jerusalem for the feast and they "took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him" (John 12:12-13). This particular group mainly consisted of those who gave praise and applause to Christ because they thought of the temporal benefits that He could give to them! This is seen by the words they were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel" (V 13). They're calling Jesus the "King of Israel!" This is the kind of Christ that they expected! They expected a King to deliver them from Roman bondage! Their hopes were energized by those who had seen the Lord call Lazarus from the tomb, who were telling others about this dramatic miracle (John 12:17-18). In other words, if the Lord had done this for Lazarus, surely He could meet their needs as well! Within a week, the shouts of "Hosanna" turned to "Crucify Him!" The life application is that your faith will be undermined and perhaps destroyed if you follow the Lord because of what YOU THINK HE CAN GIVE YOU! Follow Jesus because of who He is: God's Messiah and King! Your move. Be encouraged!