Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible.
CHRIST’S FINAL WEEK: HOSANNA!
MARK 11:1-11
Introduction: Someone has said that everyone loves a parade. Parades and Processions draw crowds. As Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem the crowds grew large. Waving palm branches and shouts of Hosanna – Save now filled the pathway. Within the crowd, however, there were a number of different people with different views and reactions as to what was taking place. Let us consider the careless observer, the callous critic, the convicted sinner, and the committed believer.
I. The Casual Observer
A. Lamentations 1:12 asks the question “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?”
B. There were in the crowd those who were merely casual observers. They were in Jerusalem for Passover. They may or may not have heard of Christ. They had no idea what was going on and could care less for what was transpiring. They did not want to get involved. They were content to stand along the curb and stoically watch the procession go by. They did not want to get involved
C. Luke 11:23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
D. We cannot be neutral or ignore Him. We must accept Him for exactly who He says He is, or else we must reject him as a liar or a lunatic or both.
E. The Gospel requires a response. One cannot be neutral about the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone may say, "I never rejected Christ so I do not need to accept Him." The reality is neutrality is rejection. We reject Christ by putting our- selves in His place, as lords of our own lives.
F. Casual Christianity is an oxymoron. “Casual Christianity” has a form of godliness but places other things ahead of love and obedience to God. It follows Christ from a distance.
G. Many people have a casual attitude toward God and Christ. They say, “Don’t worry – all roads lead to Rome. Don’t take this religion stuff seriously.
H. Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
II. The Calloused Critic
A. Everywhere Christ went, everything Christ – did critics were there to demean and degrade Him.
B. This is evidenced in Luke 6:7, where we read, “So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him.”
C. John 15:24 - 25 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
D. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
E. Matthew 13:14 - 15 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.
F. They had hardened their hearts against God and sought to harden others to be like themselves.
G. Matthew 23:13 – 15 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
H. A survey asked mothers to keep track of how many times they made negative, compared with positive, comments to their children. They admitted that they criticized ten times for every time they said something favorable. A three-year survey in one city’s schools found that the teachers were 75% negative. The study indicated that it takes four positive statements from a teacher to offset the effects of one negative statement to a child. – Institute of Family Relations in Homemade, December, 1986
I. Definition of an antagonist: someone who on the basis of non- substantive evidence, goes out of their way to make insatiable demands, usually attacking the person or performance of others; these attacks are selfish in nature, tear down rather than build up, and are frequently directed against leadership. - From “Antagonists in the Church,” by K. Haugk
J. A young musician’s concert was poorly received by the critics. The famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius consoled him by patting him on the shoulder and saying, ‘Remember, son, there is no city in the world where they have a statue to a critic. - Haddon Robinson
III. The Convicted Sinner
A. Isaiah 6:5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”
B. Christ’s very presence would make manifest to men their sin. As the Light of the world he exposed men’s sin.
C. A view of God’s holiness gives a deeper view of our sinfulness.
D. John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. (no cloak for their sin)
E. John 8:3 – 9 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
F. Jesus ministry brought conviction (verse 9) and not condemnation (verse 11).
G. At a southern Church, an older lady was listening to the sermon, in which the parson was preaching fervently against all the common sins, from gambling, to Murder, and everything in between. The lady swayed in her seat, and murmured "amen, Amen" from time to time. But when the parson hit on the subject of Snuff-taking, the lady sat bolt-upright and said, "Now he’s left preaching and taken to meddling"
IV. The Committed Believer
A. In that crowd there were those who were committed to Christ. They had searched the Scriptures and believed that Christ was Who He said He was and committed themselves wholly to Him. To a handful of true believers they received Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
B. John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
C. Some lauded Christ thinking He would issue in Utopia. But later when things were not easy would vacillate with the crowd who cried “crucify Him.” A few would follow Christ regardless how dark the path became.
D. A missionary society wrote to David Livingstone and asked, “Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you.” Livingstone wrote back, “If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.” - April, 1985 Good News Broadcaster, p. 12
E. Romans 12:1 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
F. Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time, year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism. - Source unknown
