When Jesus Rides In
Notes
Transcript
Our text this morning is from Luke 19:37-48:
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, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
As Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, He was making an unmistakable and public statement that He was Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. Up until this time Jesus was very selective as to whom He would reveal His full identity. For example, after Peter’s confession, we are told in all three Synoptic Gospels that Jesus “strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one” (Mt 16:20; Mk 8:30; Lk 9:19); but on this day, Jesus left no doubt as to who He was. As a result, His disciples “began to rejoice and praise God saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Some of the Pharisees took great offense at this, and by the end of our reading they, together with others “were seeking to destroy him”.
This hostility to Jesus and His Messianic authority is not limited to just the first-century, it has characterized every century, even our own. For example, just this past week, a young woman, who rebelling against Christ’s creative order, mutilated her body in a vain attempt to become a man, entered a Christian school with the intent of killing as many Christians as she could. You would think that people would be shocked by this violence, but individuals in the entertainment industry, the news media, and even government called for continued violence against Christians in what they called a“Day of Vengeance”!
As hatred and rebellion against Christ, and persecution against His disciples increases, I fear that many Christians will be tempted into think that Christ is no long riding triumphantly into our lives. I am here to tell you this morning that nothing could be further from the truth. When Jesus rides in:
Stones Cry Out
Time Runs Out
Robbers Are Cast Out
Stones Cry Out (vs. 37-40)
Stones Cry Out (vs. 37-40)
Let’s look at Luke 19:39-40 again:
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
What Jesus is saying is this: Wherever His authority and power are lifted up and praised, the sin hardened hearts of people will be supernaturally transformed into hearts of flesh that respond to Christ in faith and praise! Throughout Scripture, the sinful human heart is compared to a stone. The negative reaction by the Pharisees and so many others, both in the first-century and our own, should come as no surprise. Sinful man hates God and His Messiah. In the Upper Room, on the night He was betrayed by Judas, Jesus wanted His disciples to understand what was happening to Him, and what would happen to them in the future.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
However, hate is not the only power at work in this world, the Holy Spirit is also at work, blowing like a mighty wind, supernaturally causing hearts of stone to become hearts of flesh (Jn 3:1-8). Ezekiel prophesied this would happen:
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
Christ in not impotent in the face of the world’s hatred—He is causing “stones” to cry out in praise!
This should be a great encouragement to us all, as well live in a nation that is becoming increasingly hostile to both Christ and Christianity. When we present people with the Good News about Jesus, Jesus literally comes riding into that situation. Many will react negatively, but there will always be some who will respond in faith and praise. The doctrine of God’s sovereign grace in salvation is not disincentive to evangelism; it is the only thing that gives us any hope of success. If God did not sovereignty elect some to salvation, no one would believe!
Do not let the hard-heartedness of those who you are witnessing to discourage you—when Jesus rides in stones cry out!
Whenever God sovereignty in salvation is clearly revealed, inevitably our fallen natures and the devils will tempt us with presumption. “If God is sovereign,” they say, “then God does not desire that I repent and believe, and I cannot be held responsible for my rejection of the Gospel.” As the next episode that day shows, nothing could be further from the truth. Rather than taking pleasure in Israel’s unbelief, Jesus weeps; and rather than letting the unbeliever off the hook, Jesus holds them responsible. Not only do stones cry out when Jesus rides in, but time runs out as well.
Time Runs Out (vs. 41-44)
Time Runs Out (vs. 41-44)
Unless you are familiar with biblical language, you will not appreciate the significance of what Jesus said in vs. 44, “you did not know the time of your visitation.” In the Bible when God “visits” a group or an individual, He is visiting them personally with His love and mercy; however, if they do not respond positively to that “visit” it can result in God “visiting” them with His wrath and judgement. A great example of this is found in John 3. One of the most familiar verses in the whole bible is John 3:16, but few are familiar with the verses that follow; perhaps because they speak of the consequence of unbelief:
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Notice that this passage continues the positive message of John 3:16, Jesus was not sent “to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” However, most of the world has rejected Jesus, and with their rejection comes judgement. This is why we find Jesus weeping in our text today—He sees clearly what will happen to the Jews in 70 AD when the Romans will “not leave one stone upon another”.
Throughout Scripture, God is shown to be long-suffering in His “visits”. What does long-suffering mean?
Long-suffering is God’s patient mercy, by which He gives us time to repent. However, there will come a time when Time Runs Out! Our closing hymn today begins with these words,
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever “twixt that darkness and that light.
How long has Christ been riding into your life with love and mercy? How many times have you heard the Gospel and yet have not believed? Do not take God’s longsuffering for indifference. Do not presume that you will have tomorrow to believe. As we learned earlier, faith is only possible because God turns our hearts of stone into flesh. If you feel your heart softening today, do not delay in seizing this opportunity. If you do not, a day is coming when God will irreversibly harden your heart in judgement as He did Pharaoh (Ex 7:13, 10:1). Hear this sobering warning from John’s Gospel:
Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
There is one final mistake we must not make as we see the hardness of heart and hatred of those in authority—the mistake in thinking Christ will not protect His church from evil men. With tears still in His eyes, Jesus continues His journey into Jerusalem and makes His way to the temple. Upon entering the Court of the Gentiles, Jesus begins driving out the merchants who sold animals, oil, grain and coins. By doing this, Jesus demonstrates that when He comes riding in...
Robbers Are Cast Out (vs. 45-48)
Robbers Are Cast Out (vs. 45-48)
Most assuredly, these merchants were robbing the Gentiles of an opportunity to worship God. More importantly, they were robbing God of the worship of the Gentiles that He so desired.
Have you ever been in a crowded shopping mall at Christmas time? This is what the Court of the Gentiles had become. It was filled wall to wall with Jews purchasing animals for their sacrifices, oil and grain for thank offerings and coins to pay their temple tax. It was all very convenient to the Jews who were there, but it made worship of God and prayer next to impossible for the Gentiles!
However, there was more to this story than first meets the eye? Who gave these merchants the authority to set up their booths? This was most certainly not God’s plan for the Court of the Gentiles as the passage of Scripture cited by Jesus shows.
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
No, it was not God who gave these merchants the authority to set up their booths in the Court of the Gentiles, it was “the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people”; and this is why we read that they plotted to destroy Jesus!
Moreover, behind these false teachers is Satan. The Greek word translated “diver out” in our text is the very same Greek word translated “cast out” when Jesus casts out demons. Satan attacks Christ’s church two ways, first, with demons, and second, with false teachers. In composing his gospel by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Luke wants his readers to understand that Christ protects His church by casting out both demons and false teachers.
In an time in which false teachers are multiplying in the church, we must not become discouraged or jump to the conclusion that Christ has abandoned His church. In denominations and congregations in which Jesus rides in with power and authority, false teachers are driven out!
As I conclude this message, I hope you have caught the vision for what Palm Sunday is really about. The triumphed entry is not just history to be remembered, it is a present reality to be experienced! Will you share in that experience?