4-2-23 Sermon "Unexpected" 13 Minutes

Matthew 21:1-11

This morning I'll be reading Matthew chapter 21 verses 1 through 11. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Matthew 21:1-11 A very familiar passage of scripture to all of us this morning. One that we can always look at again to see what God says to us today! Matthew 21:1–11 (HCSB) — 1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you should say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them.” 4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: 5 Tell Daughter Zion, “Look, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their robes on them, and He sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna to the Son of David! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One! Hosanna in the highest heaven! 10 When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee!” The word of God for the people of God,,, thanks be to God! God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ___________________________________ Last Sunday we looked at Romans 8:6-11,,, and we learned from these verses that Paul is teaching them that they don’t need to fear death any more,,, as long as they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior,,, and they are living by the “Spirit” instead of the “Flesh”!

And my challenge for all of us as we prepared for today,,, for Palm Sunday,,, and Easter Sunday next week,,, is to be sure that we decide for ourselves,,, whether we will live by “Flesh or Spirit”,,, because living by the “Spirit” will be a key component to our living a life that is pleasing to God.

And as Christians,,, living as Children of the Light,,, going into the Easter celebrations,,, we must be prepared,,, to follow the Holy Spirit,,, as we live our life,,, the way that God intends,,, for us to live,,, so that others can see the light of God shining out from us,,, as it brings them to God,,, or makes them aware of God’s love being available to them!

And that begins by making the choice,,, “Flesh,,, or,,, Spirit”,,, and we choose “Spirit” because we want to live in happiness and contentment today while we are here on earth,,, knowing that we are living a life pleasing to God,,, and also knowing,,, we will live in eternity with God forever,,, because of our choices,,, today!

This morning we will look at these verses in Matthew and see how they help us in our walk with God this week.

___________________________________ Verses 1-3 said: 1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you should say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them.”

As we look at these verses this morning,,, I want you to be aware of the “Unexpected” seen in these scriptures.

Jesus is traveling with his disciples,,, making his way toward Jerusalem,,, when he stops and gives very specific instructions to two of the disciples.

They are to go into a village and retrieve a donkey, and a colt, for Jesus.

You would think their immediate response would have been to talk him out of doing this and let them find him a horse to ride instead!

Also,,, I’m sure that you’ve noticed that they are told to tell anyone that says anything to them,,, you should say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them.”

So we can see immediately that Jesus is doing something different,,, “Unexpected”!

___________________________________ Verses 4-5 said: 4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: 5 Tell Daughter Zion, “Look, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

This was mentioned by Matthew,,, to show that this was prophesied about many years before,,, seen in Zechariah 9:9.

___________________________________ Verses 6-7 said: 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their robes on them, and He sat on them.

The disciples did as Jesus tells them,,, and they bring the donkey and colt to Him.

One of my commentaries explains that when Mark,,, Luke,,, and John,,, tell this story,,, they only mention the colt,,, but Matthew wanting to show,,, possibly,,, that the just mentioned prophecy was fulfilled,,, by writing about the donkey and colt.

And it also mentioned that the colt was still with it’s mother to show that it had never been ridden before,,, since they were usually kept together until it would have been old enough to have carried a rider.

Jesus could have rode into Jerusalem on anything that He wanted to,,, but He chose,,, a young donkey!

Doing the “Unexpected”

___________________________________ Verses 8-9 said: 8 A very large crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna to the Son of David! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

The crowds that day are shouting “Hosanna” which means,,, “save, we pray”.

Even though the crowd didn’t fully understand what Jesus was actually doing,,, they did recognize that it was significant and they were ready to be saved,,, but they were expecting Him to save them from the Romans,,, not save them from themselves!

Again,,, doing the “Unexpected”!

___________________________________ Verses 10-11 said: 10 When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee!”

Some of the people present had never seen Jesus,,, maybe because they had just arrived for the Passover.

Those that knew Him kept explaining,,, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee!”

___________________________________ One of the main things that we can understand whenever Jesus comes into our life is the fact that he will do the unexpected.

I believe if we go back and look,,, not just today,,, you know the entrance into Jerusalem,,, but if we go back and look at Jesus' whole life we will see that he was always doing the unexpected.

And we have that same feeling today because when we first know Jesus,,, we have certain things that we expect Jesus to do,,, but it doesn't always work out that way!

So many times we're focused on what we want to do and we think that God will guide us and help us in that,,, but instead,,, he's got something entirely different, planned for us!

So it becomes frustrating for us because we're not doing what God wants us to do and it's simply because we're just not paying attention.

Just like the Israelites and the disciples were then,,, you know Jesus has told them what is about to happen,,, but yet they still have their preconceived notions in their head and they just stay with that plan,,, ignoring Jesus’ words!

___________________________________ We know that the disciples and others had plans that differed from Jesus,,, but we must remember that Jesus didn’t come to meet their expectations,,, or ours,,, instead,,, He came to meet our needs!

That’s why that they possibly turned on Him later in the week,,, hollering crucify Him,,, crucify Him!

They weren’t prepared for the “Unexpected”,,, and they felt let down and abandoned!

When all that they needed,,, would have been to listen to Jesus,,, and truly hear His words,,, and fully understand these events as He explained them!

So as we go into Holy Week,,, we need to remember that we should expect the “Unexpected” when we remember these events,,, and the way that things happen to us in our life as well!

Then we remember,,, that God was in control that week,,, just as He’s in control today,,, and He will take care of things in His way,,, and in His time,,, if we just don’t panic,,, at the “Unexpected”!

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