The Lord of Salvation (Palm Sunday 2024)

Open your bibles to the gospel of John chapter 12… we will start at verse 27…

This morning we are going to cover a great majority of John chapter 12… Which is the context for the Palm Sunday, triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We have already read two sections of the three I want to look at so we will turn our attention to see the third. Lets read the rest of the text together…

John 12:27–37 ESV

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

PRAY

This morning, I want to begin by asking you a question. What if you could have salvation without Christ, would you take it?

That question might seem a little out there to you at this moment but I hope by the end of my sermon today that you will understand why I ask it.

Palm Sunday has always been an interesting weekend for me. The whole idea of Jesus coming into Jerusalem is often played up in the Christian world as a beautiful thing, dolled up with palm trees and a donkey and the whole bit… But its been interesting to me because Jesus came into Jerusalem and fulfilled the scriptures, but the highlight in all four gospels is not that the desired king has come, but that God’s chosen King has come…

So in a way these people that came out to greet Jesus were like people at your work celebrating the coming of a man they thought would save the company for bankruptcy. But really he came to fired them all, close the company down, and invite them to take part in a new venture. Palm Sunday is both glorious, and humbling, and preparation of our hearts as we look toward Good Friday and resurrection Sunday.

I want to show you two things this morning as we consider this glorious and humbling event of Jesus’ ride into jerusalem. First, I want to show you that naturally, the world and all the people in it want a savior… and Secondly I want to show you that God has chosen His savior.

I. The World wants a savior

In John chapter 11 we find the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. No doubt that is a huge deal and word traveled fast. News indeed traveled fast, far, and wide… So much so that the pharisees had plotted that they would kill Jesus and Lazarus. The problem was not the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the problem was that Jesus was becoming popular. He was getting the attention that once belonged to the religious leaders of the day.

But look at verse 12… That large crowd that was forming as the witness fo raising Lazarus from the dead was in jerusalem preparing for passover next week. And while they were there they heard that Jesus was coming… Like hearing Taylor swift was coming to Indianapolis. That was announced last year and tickets were sold out faster than the internet could keep up with. The crowd went out to great him as he came in as if he were some kind of royalty. For they shouted, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, King of the jews!

What did they know about him? Really, not much. He claimed to be of the line of David. Sure. They knew he was from that hillbilly place called Nazareth. They knew he was the son of a carpenter… They knew he hung out with fisherman, and prostitues, and tax collectors…And they knew he had raised a man from the dead. They knew he did miracles. In fact, look at verse 18… John says that the reason the crowd came out to meet him was because they had heard that he had raised Lazarus from the dead.

The pharisees stood back grumbling, ahhh look, who are all these people, see that the whole world, everyone, is going after him. Truly they were. Look at verse 20. Not only were the jews going out to see Jesus but the greeks too. The gentiles. And Jesus welcomed them.

My point here in these observations is that, as it says in Matthews Gospel, Jesus had stirred up all of Jerusalem. There was so much excitement revolving around Jesus! I think we underestimate just how much there actually was… But have you ever stopped to consider why? Why… Why was there so much excitement?…The answer was, their definition of a savior was coming…

They knew a savior was coming. Look at verse 34. The crowd knew from the law, the first five book of the old testament, they knew from there that the Christ. The savior of God. The chosen anointed salvation of Israel would remain forever. They knew that. And they took the raising of the dead as a clear sign…

They had an understanding of who the savior would be. A miracles worker. A powerful man. But it went deeper than that. He was going to remain forever, meaning, he was going to set up a kingdom on earth that would never end. They were partying and praising Jesus Becuase they thought he had come to Rome to overthrown the government and set up his kingdom, the kingdom of the Jews!

My friends, don’t you see. There is a problem here… They wanted a savior. They wanted to be saved. But from what? What was the problem they thought they had? They thought they had a Roman problem. That the Christ would come and set up a kingdom on earth and all of Israel would become the prominent political ruler of the world forever! They wanted a savior. They knew they needed a savior. But salvation from what? They had a problem alright… It wasn’t a roman problem… it was a God problem.

God has chosen His Savior

Now here is the second thing I want you to see… God has chosen His Savior. Look at Verse 15… This quote from the prophet Zechariah is being fulfilled. I want to read that whole section to you from Zechariah so you can get the grasp of what is being fulfilled… The Lord is talking and says,

Zechariah 9:9–10 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. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 9:14–16 ESV

14 Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. 15 The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. 16 On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.

Not only is scripture being fulfilled, but something amazing was happening right before them… look at John 12 verse 28… While the crowd was around him a voice came from heaven. What did it say? I have glorified it [my name], and I will glorify it again”… Jesus explains, that voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now, Now is the judgment of the world. The ruler of this world will be cast out! And when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself… He said this to show what kind of death he was going to die. And the crowd picked up on it…

Did they like this? No, they had a problem with it! verse 34… Uhhh… We thought that the christ lived forever…That He established dominance in jerusalem… How can you say that the son of man must be lifted up… Now they are confused.. Do you see that? Just a few minutes ago they were praising him as their Salvation! But now they aren’t so sure. Who is this son of man that will save us?

They were so confused, because, catch this… he wasn’t who they thought he was.

Look at verse 36-37…

When he had said these things he departed form them and hid himself. Though he had done so many miracles. So many amazing things!!! They still did not believe him.

So why in the world were they partying? What was with all of the palms and the crowds, and the chanting?? Here in lies the humbling of Palm Sunday. We celebrate saying, hosannah, hosanna, which literally means “I beg you to save me”… we celebrate, hosanna, hosanna, just like they did, but I have to wonder, which savior are are you worshipping?

Which Savior are we worshiping?

Are we worshipping the one we want or the one we need? Are we longing for, and begging for, and worshipping the savior who is going to save us from our supposed problems or our real problem? Are we worshipping our lord of salvation, or God’s Lord of salvation?

We want a savior… All of humanity does… A savior to save us from the economic crisis we have… We want savior to save us from the drinking problem we have.. From the guilt we have of premarital sex, the shame we have of a wayward child, the anger we have toward someone we don’t like, we want someone to save us from our bad choices and habits, and we want someone to save us from the possibility of an eternal torment after we die.

But let me ask you what I asked you in the beginning, if you could be saved from all of those things, all of them, apart from Christ, would you take it?

Listen, the crowds, the multitude of people wanted all of those things too. They wanted all of their problems to go away. But something stood in their way. Belief. They couldn’t believe. Even though the told them over and over again…

John 6:35 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 8:12 (ESV)

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 10:9 (ESV)

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:11 (ESV)

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 11:25 (ESV)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 15:1 (ESV)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

My friends, God has not merely saved us from our symptomatic problems. Our lust, our greed, our anger, our lying. He is the Lord of salvation that comes to save us from our sin. You might say, isn’t our sin the same thing as greed and lust, and anger, and lying… My friends, that is not the greatest thing that stands in between you and God. The greatest thing that stands between you and God, the sin that all other sins come from… is that you think you are God, and in turn you don’t believe that He is.

This is the humbling and joyous message of Palm Sunday. Our definition of a savior wont do. Our definition of salvation Won’t do. We must turn to God to see that he is the one who defines our need for a savior, and he defines who the savior will be, and he is the one that gives you a savior!

My friends, you savior is not a 12 step plan to free you from alcohol. Your savior is not a perfect family. Your savior is not freedom from pornography. Your savior is the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, who forgives the sins of those who see their great and dire need to be saved. He saves those who confess that their way of salvation is cheap and broken. He saves those who mourn their sin. He gives hope to those who see that without a divine helper, they are hopeless.

Maybe you are realizing for the first time that you have not understood Jesus fully, that you have cheapened him to a genie in a bottle… Repent this morning and find the grace of our lord who welcomes you to him with open and loving arms. Who won’t just give you want you want, but will get you what you need, and bless you even further with an inheritance of riches you didn’t earn.

Maybe you have seen this for some time now and are praising God with me this morning that he has opened your blinded eyes. That you once thought like me that the purpose of Jesus was simply to clean my life up, but now see, that Jesus is life himself… Rejoice this morning my friends. The Lord of salvation again is revealing himself to you.

Come to him, all you who are weak and heavy laden from leaning on yourself for so long. You who have again believed that you can save yourself and still lack true peace. Come to him, day by day, and find rest. He is the Lord of salvation.

PRAYER

Father let our hearts ring with praise… well up in us the Spirit who has made a home with us. Cause us once more to reflect on your absolute goodness and kindness towards us…