SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). The responsibility of the disciples (vs 1-3)
(2). The reason for the instructions (vs 4-5)
(3). The response of obedience (vs 6-7)
(4). The reaction of the crowd (vs 8-11)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Guess the celebrity from their look-a-like dolls Quiz.
• TRANSITION: Some of you had trouble recognising who the dolls were!
• 2,000 years ago (like today) people had a caricature of what the messiah should be;
• But that image was not always true to the real likeness;
• And so when Jesus appeared he was often unrecognised!
Ill:
• There was a Jewish tradition that when a male baby was born to Jewish parents,
• The father would hold the baby in his arms and ask God a question;
• He would ask; ‘Is this the one?’
• The Jewish people were looking for and expecting their Messiah!
• And yet, when the Messiah came;
• Sadly they failed to recognise him!
Ill:
• The British conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham
• Founded a number of orchestras including the Beecham Symphony Orchestra,
• The London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Once saw a distinguished-looking woman in a hotel foyer.
• Believing he knew her, but unable to remember her name,
• He paused to talk with her.
• As the two chatted, he vaguely recollected that she had a brother.
• Hoping for a clue,
• He asked how her brother was and whether he was still working at the same job.
• “Oh, he’s very well,” she said, “And he’s still king.”
Jesus had visited Jerusalem many times before:
• As a boy, as a worshipper, as a teacher.
• But never as a king.............. that is until now!
• The question is:
• Would the people and the religious leaders recognise him!
(1). THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DISCIPLES (vs 1-3)
“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.’”
• Jesus sends two disciples ahead into the village of Bethphage,
• Which is a suburb of Jerusalem
• Their orders are to look for and find a female donkey tied up.
• With her would be a colt, also tethered.
• The disciples were to “unloose” and bring back both animals to Jesus.
Note:
• If you were to read all four gospel accounts of this incident;
• You might notice that only Matthew mentions two donkeys.
• The other gospel writers only mention one.
• Now different witnesses to a situation;
• Always notice or highlight different details;
• That is one way we can tell that their accounts are genuine and reliable.
• It is not unusual that the other Gospel writers leave out this detail;
• Because to them the donkey, is NOT the important thing in the story.
• It is only a trivial detail.
I think Matthew mentions this fact:
• Because Matthew’s gospel is primarily written for Jewish readers;
• Written to convince them that Jesus was the messiah foretold in the Old Testament.
• His gospel was written from a Jewish viewpoint for a Jewish audience.
• It is therefore hot on Jewish terms and hot on prophecy being fulfilled;
• It is one of its key features.
• And because Zechariah's prophecy mentions two donkeys;
• We should not be surprised that Matthew is careful to point out;
• That the disciples brought two donkeys--exactly as it was prophesied!
Note:
• Matthew is making a statement - not so much about possessions here;
• i.e. That is who the donkey belongs to.
• That is not his point!
• Rather he is impressing on us that Jesus is the Christ – the chosen one:
• And as the rightful King, he has the right to anything in creation,
• That is why he uses the expression in verse 3; “say that the Lord needs them”.
• The Lord commands and the subjects obey!
Note: A word about the donkey!
• We tend to think of a donkey as a lowly animal;
• But to the Jew it was a beast fit for a king:
• Israel’s greatest King, David rode on one (1 Kings chapter 1 verses 33-34).
• In war, kings would ride horses,
• But in peace, they entered the city riding donkeys.
• Had Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a horse;
• He would have reinforced the prevalent notion that Israel's leader;
• Would be a great military force who would overthrow the Roman domination.
• By riding in on a donkey not only was he aligning himself with King David;
• But showing he was coming in peace and not war.
Ill:
• In 1898 Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Jerusalem;
• And stayed at the Grand Hotel in room 25 with his wife Augusta Viktoria.
• The Emperor rode into the Old City on a white horse accompanied by the Empress.
• Kaiser Wilhelm II entourage was so grand
• That he had to have the Jaffe Gate in the old city widened;
• So that his over-sized carriage could pass through.
• After the parade had ended,
• Someone climbed up and attached a large sign to the gate that read,
• “A better man than Wilhelm came through this city's gate. He rode on a donkey."
Now while we are talking about the donkey:
• Question: Did anyone notice what is the donkey’s name? What is it called?
• Answer:
• (I expected some of you think you know where I am going;
• And will say; “Faithful” or “Obedience”).
• Well the answer I have for you is ‘Christopher!’
• Let me explain!
• Christopher is made up of two Greek words;
• The constituent parts are Χριστός (Christós), “Christ”,
• And φέρειν (férein), “bear”:
• So the name Christopher has the meaning “Christ-bearer”
• So if you want a simple application from my sermon this morning;
• It is ‘be an ass!’ Learn from the donkey.
• Wherever you go this week be a “Christ-bearer”
• To those you encounter!
(2). THE REASON FOR THE INSTRUCTIONS (vs 4-5)
“This took place to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet:
5 ‘Say to Daughter Zion,
“See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”’”
Ill:
• If someone arrives at your house claiming to be an ambassador of the Queen,
• You would expect him or her to have proof of who they are!
• We would probably ask:
• Where is your identification?
• Where is your security pass or passport etc.
• TRANSITION: In a similar way:
• When Jesus arrived on planet earth claiming to be the Son of God;
• We should expect to see his credentials, the proof that he is the Son of God.
• One piece of evidence that emerges again and again in the gospels is the phrase like:
• Verse 4: “to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet”
• Or “So that the scripture might be fulfilled”
• One important piece of evidence concerning the identity of Jesus;
• Was the prophecies written by God in the Old Testament;
• 100’s of years before his birth;
• And now before the eyes of these people they are being fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
• They are significant signposts saying; “This is your king!”
Several prophecies are fulfilled in this story:
• Prophecies can be both broad and narrow, both general and specific.
• Let me give you a modern example.
Ill:
• Broad or general prediction:
• A man in the South of England will this week win the lottery.
• That is broad because it can apply to so many people.
Ill:
• Narrow and specific prophecies reduce the chance element;
• A man in the South of England will this week win the lottery.
• He will come from the town of Fareham.
• He will have a beard.
• He will work as a mechanic.
• He will be under 30 years of age.
• What I have done there is narrow down the field;
• Taken away so much of chance and made the prediction harder & harder to fulfil.
(a). Example of a broad or general prophecy (vs 9):
“The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”
• The words that the crowd shouted;
• Are taken from several Old Testament Psalms.
• Although this was a spontaneous act of devotion to Jesus;
• There was logic and reason in their choice of words.
(b). An example of a narrow or specific prophecy (vs 5):
“‘Say to Daughter Zion,
“See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”’”
• 500 years before Jesus walked on planet earth;
• A man called Zechariah wrote these words (chapter 9 verse9).
"Rejoice greatly; O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See your King comes to you,
righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey".
• And in these verses we will read of this prophecy being fulfilled
• By Jesus on this occasion.
• Quote: “There were no accidents in the life of Christ”
• He was a person destined to experience certain events.
• The script had been written in heaven;
• And the people were watching it being acted out in front of their very eyes.
Ill:
Peter Stoner in his Book ‘Science Speaks’:
• If you take only eight of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled by Christ;
• And determined the odds of one person fulfilling just those eight.
• The results were astounding!
• They calculated the odds at 1 in 10 to the 17th power;
• Or 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.
• (One hundred quadrillion)
• He further illustrates it this way;
• Cover the UK two feet deep in 50 pence pieces.
• Then mark one of those 50 pence pieces and stir the whole mass thoroughly.
• Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes,
• But he must pick up that one marked coin.
• What chance would he have of getting the right one?"
• The same chance that the prophets would have had;
• Of writing any eight Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah;
• And having them all come true in any one man
• (“Providing they wrote them in their own wisdom”)
Jesus knew that not only Zechariah’s prophecy was being fulfilled:
• But in the next few days so many others relating to his suffering and death.
• 33 other prophecies in just one day alone – that first Good Friday.
• Those sort of odds will just not fit on your calculator!
Quote:
“A man with one watch knows what time it is.
A man with two watches is never sure”.
• Jesus marched to the tick of one clock: He marched to the beat of one drum;
• He was listening only to one voice – his heavenly Father’s!
(3). THE RESPONSE OF OBEDIENCE (Vs 6-7)
“ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.”
Ill:
• A missionary working in Africa;
• Told this story and it was later published in The Christian Herald Newspaper.
• "For a long time we were looking for a word for obedience,
• A virtue that the natives never practiced.
• One day as I went home from the village my dog stayed behind.
• I whistled, and he came running after me at top speed.
• An old native man by the roadside said with admiration said;
• `Mui adem delegau ge';
• Literally means, `Dog yours, ear is only,'
• That is, 'Your dog is all ear' (obedient).
• I got hold of that expression at once and found I had a beautiful word for obedience.
• Let us be 'all ear' to our Lord."
• TRANSITION: While I like that story I have a problem with it.
• The story is flawed in that we interpret it to mean hearing is enough;
• While the whole point of the story is we hear to obey!
• It is never enough just to hear the Word of God;
• We are required to also act on the Word!
• Any response to the Word other than a desire to obey it is always inadequate.
• Hearing is not the same as doing.
• The bottom line is what James told his readers in his letter (chapter 1 verse 22):
• “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”
Ill:
• If you scan the passage obedience to the king is emphasised.
• i.e. verse 1: The disciples go into the village because the king commanded.
• i.e. verse 3: The owners give up their donkeys;
• Because the king commanded.
• Pausing and ask:
• What will you give up because the King wants it?
• If you want a lesson on using our possessions for Jesus – it is here in the text!
Ill:
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
• TRANSITION:
• What will you give up because the King wants it?
• i.e. Mark chapter 11 verse 2 tells us that Jesus sat on an ‘unridden colt?’
• Now there is nothing in Jewish scriptures that required such an animal.
• But again I think it shows the sovereignty of Jesus;
• This animal did not fight and resist and throw him off;
• Rather it submitted to its creator!
Ill:
• Not only that it allowed Jesus to ride him through a street procession;
• Through a human tunnel of noise and excitement.
• It takes a police horse years to learn to do that!
• i.e. verse 7-11 we see the crowds acknowledging their king!
• They might be a fickle crowd who would soon change allegiance;
• But for now they are acknowledging King Jesus!
• We see the authority of Jesus.
• He gives a command and his subjects obey.
(4). THE REACTION OF THE CROWD (Vs 8-11)
“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’
11 The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’”
The Jewish people had waited 1,000 years for this day:
• 1,000 years waiting for someone to once again sit on the throne of David;
• At the time of Jesus Palestine was divided into little bits,
• The people longed for the day when their nation would ne united once again.
• This was by the crowd a nationalist demonstration.
• They wanted a Messiah who would unify their land and kick out their enemies!
• We see that in two ways:
FIRST: By what they shouted:
• The crowd shouted a Hebrew word; “Hosanna” (/hoʊˈzænə/ Hoshana):
• In the Old Testament it is used only in verses such as "help" or "save, I pray"
• (e.g. Psalms 118:25).
• In fact it literally means; “Save us NOW!”
• “Get us out of our troubles NOW!”
• In New Testament times the word had changed it meaning;
• In the gospels it was used as a shout of jubilation, an expression of praise.
• In shouting out this word in praise;
• The crowd was declaring what the actual mission of Jesus was;
• He had come “to save his people from their sins”
SECOND notice the link to David:
• Verse 9: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’
• Notice the other expression in verse 9:
• ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’’
• It is from Psalm 118 when Israel’s enemies the Egyptians were defeated!
• Psalm 118 is all about cutting off our enemies.
• It is a song of political rebellion.
THIRDLY: Their garments on the road:
Question: Do you know when they did this before in the Old Testament?
Answer;
• It was for a man called Jehu.
• And he was coming to throw Ahab & Jezebel off the throne!
• He was coming as a resistance leader,
• As liberator from an exploitive and evil oppressive enemy.
Notice:
• Jesus had come to liberate the people;
• He had come to destroy their enemies;
• Only Jesus had a bigger enemy to fight than the Romans!
• He came to defeat sin, death and the devil!
Quote:
• If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.
• If your greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
• If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
• If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
• But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Saviour.”
Question: Have you ever asked Jesus Christ to be your saviour?
Ill:
• D.M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia.
• At the close of the service one of the congregation came up to him and said,
• "Dr Stearns I don't like the way you spoke about the cross.
• I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ,
• It would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example."
• D.M. Stearns replied,
• "If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?"
• The visitor replied: "I certainly would,"
• D.M. Stearns continued:
• "All right then, let's take the first step. He did no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?"
• The man looked confused and somewhat surprised.
• "Why, no," he said. "I acknowledge that I do sin."
• D.M. Stearns replied,
• "Then your greatest need is to have a Saviour, not an example!"
• Question: Have you ever asked Jesus Christ to be your saviour & Lord?
• If not, why not?
Note:
• This public parade into Jerusalem;
• Is the only time Jesus allowed a public demonstration on his behalf.
• One of the reasons Jesus allowed this to take place;
• Was to force the Jewish leaders to act.
• Matthew chapter 26 verse 3-5 says;
• "That they had hoped to arrest him AFTER Passover".
Quote Ken Gire in his book 'Intense moments with the saviour':
"In so coming Jesus forces the hand of the religious aristocracy.
After this public act, they would have to cast a public vote.
No more meetings behind closed doors. No more plotting in private.
They would have to come out in the open.
They would have to confess him or curse him.
Crown him or kill him".
By entering Jerusalem in the manner Jesus did:
• He is removing all doubts from the religious leaders minds,
• He is making his claim as the Messiah, the king perfectly clear.
Listen:
• The choice, the decision this day is not that complicated!
• But it may well be one of the most important choices you ever make!
• Actually the most important because the choice we make regarding Jesus,
• Affects not just this life but the whole of eternity!
• If you leave this building without making Jesus Christ your Lord & Saviour;
• You have made your choice;
• And sadly the answer you will have chosen is no!
• So take 5 minutes where you are right now;
• Repent, believe and receive!
Sermon Audio Link:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=HRHrcEbkbpaIicPq691JWKG1FVIf8st1
