Let Him IN!
CCCAG
Palm Sunday, March 24th, 2024
Scripture- Luke 19:28-39
For those of us on social media sites like Facebook, we occasionally see a post that says something along the lines of “8 years ago today” and it shows a post that you made at that time.
One of the posts that came across my feed was from a little over 12 years ago. I was on shift as a paramedic, and had a very frustrating call where I ranted “You will never see me as a nurse, never see me working in long term care, and never work in mental health.”
About 3 years ago, the instructors in my nursing school gave us a survey about the different fields of nursing we were interested in pursuing. They did this so they could line up potential employers for us to meet on the job fair day. The survey had us rate the different nursing fields on a scale of 1-5.
ER and ICU were 5’s for me. The only kind of nursing I ever wanted to do because it wasn’t a huge challenge for me- it was just an extension of being a paramedic with some more education. At the bottom of the list, with negative number assigned to them were nursing home, long term care, and mental health nursing.
Of course, everyone here knows that my negative number selections are exactly what I am doing now.
You have to wonder how God smiles at our immaturity sometimes, knowing the very thing we swear we’d never do is exactly the plan HE has for our lives. Those things we want to avoid are absolutely necessary for HIS plan to sanctify us and mold us into the person we will need to be in the future.
But it doesn’t always happen right away.
Often that plan has to wait. It’s just not the time for God’s plan to manifest itself. Often, it’s because we are simply not ready for God to bring us to that next level of life.
The timing isn’t quite right yet to elevate you to your next level.
The character needed for that plan to come into fruition has not been formed. The life experience that would support HIS plan for you in that next level or that next season hasn’t been lived yet.
Most importantly, the pride that sets limits on what God can do in your life had not been brought under HIS control yet.
Today is Palm Sunday. It’s the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem and presented HIMself as the Messiah.
A lot of things had to fall into place for this to happen. The timing had to be just right. Jesus didn’t go straight from sitting at God’s right hand to riding a donkey into Jerusalem.
Jesus need to be born.
He needed to be born of a specific family line- the line that started with Seth- Adam and Eve’s son, down through Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, through Jacob’s son Judah, down to King David, almost got wiped out with Joash, but survived and eventually arrived at Joseph and Mary, who were both descendants of David.
He needed to be born in Bethlehem.
He needed to survive the purge of Herod the Great when he ordered the death of all males under 2 years old to try and wipe out this messiah that was born.
He needed to mature to an age where his culture would take him seriously- in his time that age was 30.
Interestingly, there was donkey that needed to be born to a man who was sensitive to God’s needs, and would allow a couple of strangers to take his donkey.
These are just a few of the things that needed to happen so that Jesus could be let into Jerusalem and be recognized as the Messiah.
Let’s read about it in Luke 19 (CSB)-
Luk 19:28-40 When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (29) As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. (31) If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it??’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’” (32) So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. (33) As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” (34) “The Lord needs it,” they said. (35) Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. (36) As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. (37) Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice 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 heaven! (39) Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” (40) He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
Prayer
Jesus entering Jerusalem as the Messiah marks the final journey toward the cross. Jesus is now on the cusp of fulfilling the first prophecy in the bible in Genesis 3:15 when Father God told Adam and Eve that the enemy that caused them to be driven from the Garden of Eden would strike at the heel of their descendant, but 3 days later, that same heel would smash the head of their enemy.
The entire history of the bible- the wars, the sins, the failures, the triumphs, all of that drama you read about in the OT has come down to this last week in Jesus’ earthly life.
That’s why that last verse about rocks crying out is so true.
Rom 8:19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed.
Rom 8:22 (For we know) that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
This is it. Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday is like the worlds greatest boxer walking toward the ring against an opponent that has no chance of winning.
You ever watch Iron Mike Tyson in his prime walk toward the ring for a fight? You could feel through the TV that this guy was going to absolutely destroy whoever stood in front of him.
Everything is coming together for the prize fight that all eternity has been anticipating.
Lets look at a few of the things that were required to let Jesus in.
Let’s look at the first thing needed to let HIM in-
The donkey, or in this bible translation, the colt.
Imagine it’s summer, and you are out doing yardwork.
Your car is in the driveway, windows open, doors unlocked, keys on the seat. Some strangers walk up, jump in the car, and start backing out of the driveway.
You yell, “Hey, where are you going with my car?”
They stop backing up for a moment, and one of them leans out the window and yells, “The Lord needs it”.
That’s the modern version of what was happening in this narrative.
When Tammie and I first became Christians, we bought a lot of Christian books.
One of the authors that had a lot to do with the formation of our Christian thought is named Max Lucado.
In one of his books he talked about the people he'd want to meet in heaven. He said he wouldn't be in line to see the apostle Paul, or Peter, or James or John.
He said he wanted to meet the guy with the donkey. He wanted to meet a guy that was so spiritually sensitive to God that he would let a few homeless looking guys walk away with one of the most valuable things that he owned- remember, this donkey or colt was their mode of transportation, just like our cars and trucks are today.
These guys don’t even ask permission- they just say because God needs it.
The owner of that animal had to exercise a faith that was incredible. But this faith wasn't just a blind faith. It came from him understanding scripture.
Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
This man knew Jesus was in the area. Jesus is now asking for his donkey, and immediately that scripture flooded into his soul, and activated his faith.
Even in the church, most people misunderstand faith.
Faith is always meant to be a response to the word of God. They work together. You can't have biblical faith without the Bible and you can't believe what the Bible says without faith. They are intrinsically linked.
They are both vital to allowing Jesus into your life and spirit
In this case this man most likely knew the stories of Jesus. People were proclaiming he was the Messiah. He was also familiar with the Old Testament prophets. In this case, the verse from Zechariah that we just read.
Faith in the word of God allowed this man to happily give this animal for Jesus’ triumphal entry.
This is why faith in the word of God is the first requirement for a person to be saved.
Jesus HIMself said that. Jesus told the Rabbi Nicodemus-
Joh 3:18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
So Faith, especially faith in the WORD of God is the first requirement to let Jesus in.
The second thing required to let Jesus in is Preparation
Oftentimes preparation precedes faith. The Holy Spirit will work on a person's heart until it is tender enough to receive the seed of the gospel.
You can write this down but it's in Mark chapter 4 the parable of the seeds. The moral of that story is that the seed, which represents the Gospel, only lasts in ground that has been tilled and prepared for it to take root.
I have lived that in my own salvation story- It probably took at least 10 times for the gospel to be presented to me before that seed finally took root. Each time the soil of my heart grew a little more tender until that final seed was able to dig its roots in deep and be able to produce salvation within me.
Very often, the people we talk to about the things of God who just don’t want to take that final plunge and follow Jesus, that’s part of God preparing that soil.
That’s why you can’t give up on people. Many may take years of effort during this preparation time before they will follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit is always working on them to soften their hearts and prepare that soil.
Paul talked about this to the church in Cornith
1Co 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
God the Holy Spirit is always working. It’s called prevenient grace if you want the theological term. It’s the working of the Holy Spirit that happens prior to a person coming to Jesus.
That’s the preparation.
But there is also a preparation happening here on Palm Sunday.
In the case of the biblical account of Jesus coming into Jerusalem, it's fulfillment of what the prophet Isaiah said-
Isa 40:3-4 A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. (4) Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain.
In preparation of this message I read all of the gospel accounts that relate to the triumphal entry.
Something I never noticed before when I read Luke’s account.
In Luke's gospel here it seems like initially it was the disciples laying down their garments to prepare the way for the Lord. Other gospel accounts indicate that other people also did that probably following the example of his disciples.
What that means for us today is we can't underestimate our role in making Jesus’ path straight when it comes to people's salvation. Keep in mind that the disciples only owned what they could carry as they moved from place to place. So anything they threw down in front of this donkey they may not get back.
But they considered Jesus being let into Jerusalem to be presented to the people as the Messiah to be so important that they were willing to sacrifice the very clothes on their backs.
My friends, shouldn't we do the same to let Jesus into our own hearts at an even greater level?
Shouldn’t we do the same so that Jesus can enter other people’s hearts?
Shouldn’t we be willing to sacrifice time and treasure for HIS Kingdom to come here and now?
The third and last thing we see in the importance of letting Jesus in is worship.
The people’s response of Hosanna, and blessed is he that comes in the name of the LORD is again the fulfillment of prophecy.
You notice the religious leaders response- they are like librarians in a library- Shh!!!
But you all saw see Jesus’s response to that.- if they keep quiet, even the rocks will cry out.
Let me paraphrase this a little bit.
When Jesus says that the rocks will cry out if the humans present don’t shout out in praise, it's not just a cute turn of a phrase.
It’s not hyperbole or a metaphor. Jesus is reminding us that we are just dirt having a spiritual experience.
God formed us out of the dust of the ground. Dirt.
What is a rock?
Super compressed dirt.
Jesus is reminding the Pharisees, and speaking directly to us today that if you who are dirt
endowed with a spirit that came directly from Father God can't cry out in worship, then creation itself will take up the slack.
Every other sentient being in creation when they first saw God reacted in worship.
If we are to truly let Jesus in, shouldn’t we do the same?
It’s not just singing. It’s not just raising our hands, clapping, playing an instrument or even just about music in general. We make this mistake way too often in today’s church by limiting worship to just a few songs on the front side of the service.
Listen- we can have the perfect worship set. Not a single note, cue, or beat missed. It could be absolutely perfect musically, yet never touch the heart of God if it wasn’t done for HIS Glory.
If we are going to let Jesus in- Worship has to be our default heart position.
Because true Worship is a heart condition that places God first in everything.
It’s a lifestyle that recognizes we are not of this world, but living for the next one.
If we are really going to let Jesus in, this is the kind of mindset we have to let the Holy Spirit form within us.
Faith in the Word of God
Alowing the Holy Spirit to grind up the soil of our heart so that HIS Word can root deep within us.
And
Having worship as our default mindset.
Is how we will let Jesus in , and this is how we show others how to let Jesus in.
So that HE is LORD of ALL in our lives.
Prayer
