Living Your Election - 1 Peter 1:1-2 Series

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the chosen strangers of dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 according to (?at?) the foreknowledge of God the Father, through (??) the sanctification of the Spirit, for (e??) obedience and sprinkling by the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Introduction: Palm Sunday and Election

Today is Palm Sunday - the day we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem several days before He was crucified. I am sure you have all heard many times about this event, when the whole city of Jerusalem came out and hailed Jesus as Messiah, and then a week later that very same crowd was screaming “Crucify Him!” Did that really happen? Did the people of Jerusalem really lay down palm branches and shout, “Hosanna,” and, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” days before killing Him? No. It never happened.

And you may be surprised to discover what actually did happen. As he approaches Jerusalem, Jesus pauses before going in so He can change His mode of transportation.

Luke 19:29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 30 "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. Untie it and bring it here.

In those days when a king wanted to extend terms of peace to an enemy, he would come to them riding a donkey. So Jesus is presenting Himself here as a conquering king who is offering terms of peace to Jerusalem.

36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

That spreading their cloaks on the road comes from 2 Kings 9:13, and it is a recognition that God has chosen Jesus as King of Israel.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

How do you picture Jesus responding to that? I did a Google image search on the Triumphal Entry and this picture came up:

Is that how you picture it - great big smile on Jesus’ face? Take a look at verse 41.

Luke 19:41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept...

Can you imagine? This crowd is singing praises to Him as their king, and Jesus is riding along on the donkey crying.

Why? If all Jerusalem is shouting His praises, why cry?

He is crying because the people of Jerusalem never did shout His praises - nor did they spread out their cloaks or lay down palm branches. There was a crowd that did all that, but it was not the city of Jerusalem. If you look carefully at the text you will see that the crowd that is praising Jesus is the crowd of disciples that was traveling with Him. You can see that in verse 37. The crowd is specifically identified as the whole crowd of disciples. And in verse 39, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" Jerusalem never embraced Jesus as Messiah - not even at the Triumphal Entry. And we see this in all four Gospels. In Matthew’s account we find that the only response the residents of Jerusalem had was that they came out when they heard all the commotion, and asked, “Who is this?” (Mt.21:10).

Now, I do not mean to say that Jesus was not smiling when all the disciples were shouting praises. It is very likely He was smiling at that point. But as soon as He entered Jerusalem, and Jesus saw the people of that city, and He was reminded of the punishment they were going to receive from God the Father for rejecting Him, His compassion welled up and His smiles turned to weeping.

Fitting for Palm Sunday

Last Sunday we began our study of the book of 1 Peter, and it is actually very fitting that Palm Sunday would come up right after last week’s sermon, because it is a profound picture of the truths we studied last week. The main point of verses 1-2 that we studied last week is that we are elect aliens. Dual status - rejected by the world and chosen by God. When we get to chapter 2 of 1 Peter we are going to see that the reason we have that dual status is because Jesus has that dual status and we are in Him.