Title: Palm Sunday-The Ultimate Triumphal Entry
Date: 4/9/17
Place: BLCC
Text: Luke 19.29-44; Revelation 19.11-16
CT: The real triumphal entry must take place in our heart.
[Screen 1]
FAS: Palm Sunday.
No greater pain has ever been experienced on any level more than the hell of Christ suffering in the moments leading to the Passion. His death on the cross. But why? Because he carried all of that pain, sin, guilt, and shame in that moment. Yet on a far deeper level he was forsaken and punished for us to reconcile us to God (2 Cor. 5:18). [Screen 2] God reconciled Himself to us through Jesus Christ.
Tim Keller illustrates it this way:
If after a service some Sunday morning one of the members of my church comes to me and says, "I never want to see you or talk to you again," I will feel pretty bad. But if today my wife comes up to me and says, "I never want to see you or talk to you again," that's a lot worse. The longer the love, the deeper the love, the greater the torment of its loss.
But this forsakenness, this loss, was between the Father and the Son, who had loved each other from all eternity. … Jesus, the Maker of the world, was being unmade. Why? Jesus was experiencing Judgment Day. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
It wasn't a rhetorical question. And the answer is: For you, for me, for us. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we would never have to be. The judgment that should have fallen on us fell instead on Jesus.
Stu Epperson, Last Words of Jesus (Worthy Inspired, 2015)
LS: Jesus knew what he was facing as he headed toward Jerusalem. He knew the praise and adoration he was receiving would all too soon turn to hate and resentment.
Let’s go straight to the triumphal entry as found in Luke. [Screen 3]
Luke 19.29-36, 36 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 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. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. [Screen 4]
Jesus went down that road on a donkey. It was a donkey that had never been ridden. This donkey had yielded its back to its Creator and willingly carried Him down that road. That donkey happens to be a lot like us when we came to Jesus for salvation and forgiveness. We come, used to having our own way. You know doing what we want when we want with whom we want. But knowing we have met our Creator and we need to yield our life to Him. What an honor to be of use to the Creator of all things! Oh to be as used as that donkey should be the desire of every follower of Jesus.
[Screen 5] Luke 19.37-40.
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!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
What a magnificent scene this had to be. Jesus surrounded by adoring people who saw him as the messiah come to save them.
This was worrying the Pharisees of course. They feared the Romans would react and come down upon the people for shouting such things about this Jesus.
The people knew this had all been foretold in the Bible. They knew their Scripture. This had been prophesied in [Screen 6] Zechariah 9.9, Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
These people were doing just what the prophecy had called them to do. They rejoiced. It says in [Screen 7] Matthew 21.9, 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!”
Our culture is fascinated with prophecies. Ever looked at the tabloid headlines as you go through the Wal-mart checkout line. They are always proclaiming some hidden prophecy is found or some secret code has helped to understand what some ancient prophet said. What is amazing to me is even when they are in error year after year, people still want to read it.
The Bible has never been wrong. Its prophecies are accurate in every detail. It tells us what is coming in detail and yet most people never pick up their Bible!
This prophecy about our Lord entering Jerusalem is amazingly detailed. Zechariah 9:9 speaks of the Daughter of Zion and Jerusalem rejoicing greatly and shouting. The sisters of Lazarus were indeed rejoicing for the resurrection of their brother. The women that followed Jesus were rejoicing that they were loved of God and forgiven.
In ancient Israel a shout would be lifted up as an army went into battle. Here is a little rag tag army entering Jerusalem to conquer? But conquer what?
But they have come led by the Prince of Peace on a donkey. They lift up a shout of praise. These people were fired up. They were ready to kick Rome’s but and any one else who might stand in their way.
Jesus had to be pumped. All these people coming out to support and praise him and ready to follow his lead. Jesus should have been ecstatic and really joyful…
Yet when he approached Jerusalem. When he laid his eyes on the city itself…Jesus wept over it. Then he said, Luke 19.42-44 [Screen 8
“42 If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 [Screen 9] The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 [Screen 10] They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. [Screen 11] They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
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Is Jesus weeping for you this morning? That what I said. Is Jesus weeping for you this morning? Is he weeping because He sees your decision is to follow something other than Him.
He sees the devastation that decision will bring in your life. How He would love to gather you into His arms.
Don’t be like Jerusalem. Receive His peace this morning. Recognize that only Jesus your Creator knows what will truly fill your emptiness. It is not in the things He made, but His very life. Jesus is the life we can receive if we follow Him.
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Look at how Jesus came into the city, “gentle and riding on a donkey…”
This is how the Lord Jesus still comes to us today. He gently knocks upon the door of our hearts. He enters only at our invitation. He doesn’t force himself on us. I’m amazed at His patience. It should break our hearts that He is so persistent and yet so gentle.
The Romans don’t seem to have been too concerned. After all, there are no swords. When the ancient kings of Judah, from whom Joseph and Mary were descended, came into a town on a donkey it meant that they came in peace. The town could relax and prepare to welcome them. But if they came on a war-horse, it meant a battle was about to ensue. The time for Jesus to humbly and in gentleness offer Himself to man is drawing to an end. Just as the Old Testament prophesies have been fulfilled in amazing detail, so the other prophecies will soon come to pass. Turn to Zechariah 14 for the real triumphal entry. [Screen 14]
Zech 14:2-4, 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
Jesus will be back. Someone asked me after church a couple of weeks ago why Jesus did not come on down to help us when he said be not afraid. Hope you remember that sermon.
My answer was he already has. He came as the Lamb to save us from our sin. But a day is coming when he will come to bring justice to all those who did not follow Him and worked for the Evil one.
[Screen 15]
That will be the final Triumphal Entry!
For more detail let’s turn to Rev 19:11-16 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: [Screen 16] KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Now we see the King of Judah coming on a war-horse instead of a donkey.
No more gentle Jesus for the time for justice has come. What kind of God would He be if He never called man to account, if He never executed justice on the wicked?
Man cries out now when evil is allowed to go on. “Where is God?” they ask, when some tyrant kills the innocent. All rebellion and all evil against God will be required to face justice when that day comes. No one is going to ask then, “Where is God?” for every eye shall see Him.
Of course, then wicked man will be asking, [Screen 17]“Where is the God of love?”
He is right here in our text today, right now on the donkey, gently asking you to realize that the route you’re on leads to death. The Day of the Lord is coming and then it will be too late for those who have ignored His pleading in love for them all their life.
The reign of the Messiah as a ruler of the earth will begin. It was what the religious leaders were hoping for at the first coming, at least in a limited form that included them in some position of power.
But it is not the powerful, sorry Pharisees, that will reign at His side. No, it is the meek who will inherit the earth. [Screen 18]
Matthew 5.5, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
The ones who followed Him while they lived.
At the second Triumphal Entry every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
Then every one will know that He is the King of kings and Lord of all lords.
Just as the first prophecy has been fulfilled, so the second one will be fulfilled in detail. He will reign as King over the earth and execute justice and judgment upon it.
I would like us to consider the path the majority of the Jews chose. They wanted a fulfillment to prophecy that met their personal desires for power and position. They wanted a messiah of their own making and for their own purposes.
The real Messiah had never made His triumphal entry into their hearts.
Are we not the same. We want a Savior that meets our own desires and wants. We want a Savior we make. But Jesus is the only Savior just the way God meant for Him to be.
Gentle Jesus still offers salvation to those who have chosen their own messiahs. To those who choose the things of the earth over Him. He will not take second place to them, and He will not make you give them up. He just continues to offer Himself, and wait for you to offer yourself to Him.
One day it will be too late.
We see the focus of the world turn to Jerusalem even this very day. Peace will come but it will suddenly be broken and Jerusalem will be taken. But then the Lord will come and all the holy ones with Him. Will you be with Him when He returns or will you be wishing you did not let false messiahs of pleasure and worldly satisfaction keep you from letting the King reign in your life?
Palm Sunday! The ones that shouted Hosanna will be shouting, “Crucify Him” in just four days, because He did not do what they wanted Him to do. They wanted Him to fulfill their expectations… not be LORD of their life.
Where do you stand, total surrender to the Lordship of Christ, or expecting Him to fulfill your expectations?
Hosanna – save now – not from Rome, but from my own misguided desires.
If He reigns in you now, He will reign in and through you then.
Where will you be at the Final Triumphal Entry? It all depends on if you have allowed a triumphal entry into your heart!
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CT: The real triumphal entry must take place in our heart.
Conclusion: Jesus did not come to make a triumphal entry into a city.
He did not come to conquer a nation.
He did not come, as a strong-arm king who demanded your total will.
He gives us the free will to choose.
No, Jesus came as a humble servant to us all.
Jesus came as a servant who took our shame and sin on the cross, so we would be forever free.
Don’t wait till the final triumphal entry to bow and confess Jesus is Lord.
Can’t guarantee it won’t be too late.
Come today and let Jesus make the ultimate triumphal entry into your heart.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Wallace, Paul. Sermon “Palm Sunday”; Sermon Central
