Lent 2019 – Our Weeping Savior (Palm Sunday)
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
2 Timothy 4:3-4
“The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
James 1:2-4
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Please open your Bibles to Luke 19:28-44
Jesus was an emotional guy!
As I was looking for the varying emotions of Jesus found in the Scriptures I decided to do an internet search and found this in an article by G. Walter Hansen in Christianity Today.
“The gospel writers paint their portraits of Jesus using a kaleidoscope of brilliant ‘emotional’ colors. Jesus felt compassion; He was angry, indignant, and consumed with zeal; He was troubled, greatly distressed, very sorrowful, deeply moved, and grieved; He sighed; He wept and sobbed; He groaned; He was in agony; He was surprised and amazed; He was disappointed, He rejoiced very greatly and was full of joy; He greatly desired, and He loved.”
This morning as we read this Scripture we will see Jesus experiencing an emotion and it’s not the one we would normally expect as we read through, what appears on the surface, to be a joyful occasion …
With that in mind let’s look at: Luke 19:28-44
May God bless the reading of His Word … (Prayer for help …)
Luke 19:41
“As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it …”
Why was Jesus weeping?
Jesus knows that the city where He placed His temple would soon be destroyed along with the nation He had chosen and raised up. Destroyed!
Let’s read Luke 19:43-44 again …
“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. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Not only is Jesus weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem but He is also feeling once again the rejection of His own people.
Have you ever been rejected by someone you loved, by someone you really cared about?
Was the LORD God of Israel REALLY after a love relationship with the people of Israel?
What was the greatest commandment in the Old Testament?
Deuteronomy 6:5
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Isaiah 43:1-3 says
“But now, this is what the LORD says - He who created you, Jacob, He who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I Am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.’”
He loved the people of Israel and they were supposed to love Him in return but instead they rejected Him!
The LORD God of Israel had been rejected by the people He loved.
They had rejected Him many times; over and over and over and over!
The LORD God of Israel had given birth to the nation of Israel. They were His chosen people. He was to be their God and they were to be His people. They would be His people who would faithfully declare His glory to all the nations of the earth.
The LORD God of Israel was to be their King; speaking to them through a prophet.
But they didn’t want any part of that!
They wanted an earthly king like the rest of the nations and in doing so, they rejected His leadership!
1 Samuel 8:1-9
1 “When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’
6 “But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the LORD told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their King. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.’”
“It is not you they have rejected, but THEY HAVE REJECTED ME AS THEIR KING.”
The history of Israel was just filled with accounts of the blessings of the LORD when they would honor and obey Him. And, there were even more accounts of the disasters that would come upon the nation when they would turn their backs on the LORD.
What did the Lord want?
- He wanted the people He had chosen and cared for to have a relationship with Him.
- He wanted them to be thankful that He had created them.
- He wanted them to be thankful that He had put them into a safe place for them to be protected and provided for until they were ready to be born as a nation; with birth pains and all!
- He wanted them to give thanks for the land He had given them and for driving out the nations before them.
What did they want?
- They wanted the gods of Egypt and the surrounding nations
- They wanted the Lord’s protection even though they had all but discarded Him
o (They thought if they carried the Ark of the Covenant into battle that they could not be defeated)
o (They thought that Jerusalem could never fall because it was the City of God)
o (They had reduced their relationship with the Lord to a set of superstitions)
- When they were strong they wanted the glory for themselves and not for the Lord
- They wanted their own way
- They were pretty much embarrassed by the Lord!
Was the LORD weeping over Israel as Jesus wept over Jerusalem?
So, jump ahead hundreds of years and you have Jesus, the Messiah, riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. A multitude of people are waving palm branches and shouting praises to the Lord.
“Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” “Hosanna to the Son of David”
What are the people thinking? This is what they are thinking!
Finally, the Messiah is here and He is going to “restore the Kingdom to Israel”.
“We’re going to be on top again.” “The world will have to answer to us!”
I won’t pretend to know what Jesus was thinking but He knew that He was not going to restore the kingdom to Israel at that time. So, why was He riding that donkey into Jerusalem?
He was about to save them in a much more profound way than delivering them from the oppression of Rome.
To quote John the Baptist the crowd should have been shouting, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
They had gotten it so wrong that it makes the Messiah weep.
In Matthew 23:37-38 Jesus says,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.”
They wanted a political champion but Jesus had come as a spiritual champion.
They wanted deliverance from Roman oppression but Jesus came to give them freedom from slavery to sin.
Never once had Jesus spoken about delivering Israel from the grip of Rome and yet the people kept coming back to it like a drum beat; over and over and over and over.
And, Jesus wept …
The LORD God of Israel was rejected in the Old Testament.
Jesus was rejected by Israel in the New Testament because He was not the Messiah they wanted.
Two great time periods and two great rejections of God …
OK. So, let’s fast forward to today.
Rare is the church in America that exists only to glorify God and to magnify His name in all the earth!
The people of Israel are still the chosen people of God and He still wants them!
But the church here on earth is also a chosen people of God!
In 2 Peter 2:9-10 the Lord is saying through Peter to the gentiles,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
We are called to:
- be a royal priesthood
- a holy nation (a holy people of God)
- declare the praises of Him [Jesus] who called us out of darkness
- point people to Jesus for salvation!
So, what is it we are doing?
Is Jesus weeping over Crossroads Church of The Nazarene?
Are we so off base that we are a disappointment to Jesus?
Do we have hearts after the Lord?
Are we a church that is constantly seeking to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds and all our strength? [Mark 12:30] Or do we just treat Jesus as a necessary part of being a church?
Are we a church that faithfully preaches and teaches and loves the Word of God or are we more interested in what our culture considers to be acceptable?
Are we a church that is concerned about the salvation of lost souls all around the world and willing to invest in mission work or are we more interested in just keeping our little church “club” running?
Are we a church that loves to come together to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or are we a group of people who long to be entertained?
Is Jesus King in the Crossroads church or just a figurehead with no real authority?
Is Jesus weeping over Crossroads?
That’s the church. What about you?
Is Jesus weeping over you or is He please with you?
Do you love to come together to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or do you consider gathering together to be an “obligation” which you sometimes resent? Do you sometimes casually cast worship gatherings aside in favor of other events?
What about your personal allegiance? If you had to choose between the prosperity of the Kingdom of God or the prosperity of the United States of America, which would we choose?
Do you ask the Holy Spirit for help in making decisions based on the Word of God or do you do what you really WANT to do; perhaps even utilizing the advice of unsaved friends.
Does anybody other than church attendees even know that you are a Christian other than seeing your car leave on some Sunday mornings?
Does Jesus know you believe yourself to be a Christian?
Is Jesus weeping over you?
Imagine what it would be like if we knew that Jesus would be attending Crossroads next Sunday. Would we spend the whole week making sure the place looked immaculate and that everything was just right?
Or, would we spend the week examining our hearts to be sure that all sin had been forsaken and that our hearts were clean and holy and ready for His arrival.
Well, Jesus is here today and He can see very clearly into your hearts and into mine.
Jesus knows if He is REALLY welcome in your heart or not.
Jesus knows if you are REALLY useful for His kingdom or not.
Jesus knows that the era described in our newest memory Scripture is upon us.
Do we as a church teach sound doctrine, firm beliefs founded on the Word of God?
Or, do we gather around us a great number of teachers to say what our itching ears want to hear?
Let’s put this to a final test using our memory refresher Scripture for today …
James 1:2-4
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Is it really ok with you if you have to face trials of many kinds for Jesus’ sake?
Is it really ok with you if your faith is put to the test so that you can learn perseverance for Jesus’ sake?
Are you really willing to go through all those unknown trials and testing times of your faith in order to be useful for the Kingdom of God for Jesus’ sake?
Are you willing to set aside your comfort for Jesus’ sake?
Only you can answer this question.
When Jesus is looking at your life is He feeling like weeping or rejoicing?
(Final comments and prayer)
