"The Weight of the Cross" - That We May Believe

Palm Sunday

— We are entering the week that the church has set aside each year to focus our whole person on Jesus.

— These 7 days are a whirlwind for those who observed everything that happened

— Tomorrow, Monday is the day traditionally centered on Jesus cleansing the Temple.

— We will be using that text in a few minutes.

— The message of cleansing extends from the first century immediately to us, right here, right NOW!

— If we look back in the Old Testament there are nearly 100 different Old Testament prophecies that Jesus has met or will meet in the Passion Week.

— At this point, we have NOT stepped into New Testament.

— Jesus and all of his followers — Apostles, Disciples, Men, Women, children, Families just like we have here, were still captive, yes I said captive to the Old Testament.

— That was changing QUICKLY.

— To fast for those who saw the Jewish Passover as a way to accumulate money, in any and all ways they belonged to “den of robbers or thieves” as the scriptures say.

— Jesus arrived through a small community known as Bethany on a colt.

— Listen to Zech9.9

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

— He came in on a donkey with the multitudes of people saying Hosanna, this is the king of Kings, he has come to take his rightful place on David’s Throne in Jerusalem.

— They laid down palm and their cloaks and worshipped Jesus as the Savior that he was.

— The people present were laying down their cloaks and those who didn’t have a cloak ran and plucked palm leaves and laid them down for Jesus.

— He had told them throughout the 3 years of his earthly ministry that his time here was limited, but he would send his Holy Spirit to guide us.

— But RIGHT NOW, the people saw a way out of the trouble and ternary by FINALLY elevating Jesus to His place on the Throne of David.

— Once again a prophecy confirmed for us.

Psalm 132:11–12 ESV

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. 12 If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.”

— Jesus belongs on the throne. Jesus becomes our “David” … Forever and ever.

— The Throne was made Jesus.

— You see back in 1Samuel, God gave the people a human king.

--THEY DEMANDED IT, SO GOD GAVE THEM WHAT THEY WANTED.. Listen

1 Samuel 10:17–19 ESV

17 Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

— If you are familiar with the passage you will remember that some Kings were good and still other’s were “evil and wicked.”

— And Israel got what they wanted.

— A human king,

— In God’s mind he had turned them to… themselves.

— Without an ever present God, they immediately return to there old, evil ways.

Jesus intention was to “right” all of the 4,000 years of “wrongs”

— Instead, inflamed the Jewish rulers, who finally convinced “the people” that he was to be crucified.

— If you remember, Pilate, the Roman governor, tried to free Jesus but the crowd said CRUCIFY HIM!!

— These are the events we will especially be aware on Good Friday.

John 19:6 ESV

6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”

John 19:14–15 ESV

14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Let’s get to our passage for today..

Turn if you will to The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 19, Verses 28-40

Luke 19:28–40 ESV

28 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Just a few comments..

— Let’s look at those verses from 28-34.

— As we talked about a bit about these first verses. This is fulfillment of prophecy found in Zechariah 9.9.

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

— And now Vs. 34-40

— Vs. 34“The Lord has need of it” — That strikes me that the foal of a donkey, a colt is being used to transport Jesus.

— This must have been a substantial colt of a donkey

— Jesus was a full grown man, any colt of a donkey would be small and slightly built

— Was the real Jesus NOTHING like the one we see in movies and pictures… Probably.

Verses 35-38… Let me read them again

Luke 19:35–38 ESV

35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

— They worshipped and glorified the Lord, throwing their cloaks down in front of the donkey.

— In what GRAND way do we let Jesus all over our ground, all over and in all of our stuff, claiming and taking as he see’s fit.

— Well, I got to tell we don’t let him that well, Yes of course one day a week, we let him, transforming us.

— Then on your Monday, do we obey Him like the disciples did in the first part of the passage. OR… Do we return to our OWN rules.

— We should remember the disastrous consequences that the Jews went through when they demanded there own king… One with flesh and blood!!!

— Moving God, Yaweh to a back burner…

Humans, all of us, We replace the one only God, With one that suits US better.

— One that let’s play around,

— One that doesn’t cramp our style

— One who doesn’t ask anything from us.

— One that bows to our wants and desires

— One that doesn’t judge, punish, or give out consequences.

THAT IS A FALSE GOD...

— Our God is none of those things

— He is just, righteous, jealous

— He is the one and only

— He made us, he created us to worship and we glorify Him and Him only.

— Remember this tomorrow morning when your feet hit the floor.

— Ask yourself what is it that God wants from me today and listen and act on what He has told you.

— He may speak to you through His word, a vision, an audible exchange or a kick in the pants

— Listen, read, hear, however you hear Him… Listen and do what he says.

Communion

— We are going to transition to Communion now.

— Pause quietly, ask forgiveness of your sins against Him and against others.

— He says, “Create in me a clean heart”

— Take the time now to have a clean heart.

Closing --

— We have reached the end of our worship service to the Lord.

— Go out now into the fields… The workers are few but the Harvest is great.

— On your way out, there are palms fronds that you can take home to remember this day and what the Lord has done.