9 When the word got out that Jesus was not far from Jerusalem, a large crowd came out to see him, and they also wanted to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 This prompted the chief priests to seal their plans to do away with both Jesus and Lazarus, 11 for his miracle testimony was incontrovertible and was persuading many of the Jews living in Jerusalem to believe in Jesus.

12 The next day the news that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem swept through the massive crowd gathered for the feast. 13 So they took palm branches and went out to meet him. Everyone was shouting, “Lord, be our Savior! Blessed is the one who comes to us sent from Jehovah-God, the King of Israel!”

14 Then Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it to fulfill what was prophesied: 15 “People of Zion, have no fear! Look—it’s your king coming to you riding on a young donkey!”

16 Now Jesus’ disciples didn’t fully understand the importance of what was taking place, but after he was raised and exalted into glory, they understood how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies in the Scriptures that were written about him.

17 All the eyewitnesses of the miracle Jesus performed when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept spreading the news about Jesus to everyone.

18 The news of this miracle of resurrection caused the crowds to swell as great numbers of people welcomed him into the city with joy. 19 But the Pharisees were disturbed by this and said to each other, “We won’t be able to stop this. The whole world is going to run after him!”

John 12:9-19,

37 Even with the overwhelming evidence of all the many signs and wonders that Jesus had performed in front of them, his critics still refused to believe. 38 This fulfilled the prophecy given by Isaiah: Lord, who has believed our message? Who has seen the unveiling of your great power?
39 And the people were not able to believe, for Isaiah also prophesied:
40 God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts to the truth. So with their eyes and hearts closed they cannot understand the truth nor turn to me so that I could instantly cleanse and heal them.
41 Isaiah said these things because he had seen and experienced the splendor of Jesus and prophesied about him. 42 Yet there were many Jewish leaders who believed in Jesus, but because they feared the Pharisees they kept it secret, so they wouldn’t be ostracized by the assembly of the Jews. 43 For they loved the glory that men could give them rather than the glory that came from God!

John 12:37-43

Who were the people still condemning Jesus?

• The enraged body: the average individual reading the wrong headlines about Jesus.
• The fearful priests: those who believed in Jesus, yet feared the Pharisees
• The hoarding rulers: those who heard Jesus’ message as a threat to their notoriety

29 So Pilate came outside where they waited and asked them pointedly, “Tell me, what exactly is the accusation that you bring against this man? What has he done?”

30 They answered, “We wouldn’t be coming here to hand over this ‘criminal’ to you if he wasn’t guilty of some wrongdoing!”

31 Pilate said, “Very well, then you take him yourselves and go pass judgment on him according to your Jewish laws!”

But the Jewish leaders complained and said, “We don’t have legal authority to put anyone to death. You should have him crucified!”

John 18:29-31

6 “You take him then and nail him to a cross yourselves! I told you—he’s not guilty! I find no reason to condemn him.”

7 The Jewish leaders shouted back, “But we have the Law! And according to our Law, he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!”

John 19:6-7

12 From then on Pilate tried to find a way out of the situation and to set him free, but the Jewish authorities shouted him down: “If you let this man go, you’re no friend of Caesar! Anyone who declares himself a king is an enemy of the emperor!”

John 19:12

There are three filters that the spiritually blind people used to convict Jesus

1. Society
2. Law
3. Government

Three Filter Killers

1. Do you find yourself getting trapped in society? Go to your Pastor.
2. Do you find yourself tripping from extra-biblical laws? Go back to the Bible.
3. Do you find yourself picking political sides? Pick God first, forget the polls.