Palm Sunday- A Providing God
Notes
Transcript
As we enter into Holy week it starts with Palm Sunday. It is called Palm Sunday because it is the Sunday that Jesus entered Jerusalem and as He entered Jerusalem the people laid down Palm branches and clothes as a form of respect acknowledging that they believed that He was their Messiah. What a stark contract to only 5 days later when they would be calling for Him to be crucified and Barabbas to be released. While some have a hard time comprehending this, in Scripture today we will see how God has proven Himself as a God of Provision, We will also see the challenge and call of all believers to Participate in God’s plan. We will see that 450-500 years before Jesus walked this planet God has announced His plan, God then provided for the fulfillment of His promise. We will also see the importance of Jesus Participation in the provisions of God. We will see that Jesus partook in actions that would lead Him to the cross. It is very interesting to look back into time and to see the things that happened when Jesus entered Jerusalem. At first we say I cannot believe the people would crucify the one they said was their Messiah when he entered the city. It is easy to hold the people in contempt because we have the privilege of looking back into time and seeing what happened. I would challenge us to understand that If Jesus was walking in our day and doing what He did in His day it is likely that many of us in here would be calling for His crucifixion. We would say there is no way this man is the Messiah. Turn with me in your Bible to Matthew 21. We will be in verses 1-16.
Each morning, a woman walked to her front gate and shouted, "Praise the Lord!" And each time the atheist next door would yell back, "There is no Lord!" One day she prayed, "Lord, I'm hungry. Please send me some food." The following morning, she discovered a big bag of groceries on her front porch. "Praise the Lord," she shouted. Suddenly, her neighbour jumped from behind a bush. "I told you there was no Lord," he said. "I bought those groceries for you." "Praise the Lord!" the woman said. "He not only sent me groceries, He made the devil pay for them."
This morning we will see that what God has put into motion, will be accomplished. We will see how Jesus accepted this and participated in the plan of the Father. There are only 2 points this morning. First we will see God’s Provision. Second we will see Jesus Participation.
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
God’s Provision
God’s Provision
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
What we see in this scripture is that God is a God of provision. When God sets things in motion, it does not matter if it is 2 days or 450 years, His word will not return void. When God gave words to the prophets, He did so with full anticipation to follow through with what He said. Jesus is getting ready to enter into Jerusalem and He sends 2 of His disciples ahead of Him to get a donkey and a Colt. The donkey and Colt would be tied up in a specific location and when the people asked why they were taking the donkey, they were to respond the Lord needs them, these people would then just let you walk off with their donkey and colt. Now if you are like me you are saying, OK what is the big deal? Well let me tell you what the big deal is.
Type Unclean donkey (young or mature)
Age Varies (usually young or mature)
Quality Varies (good or average)
Color Varies (white, black, gray, spotted)
Use Riding, pulling carts or plows
Market Value 5-10 silver shekels or 30 pieces of silver
Equivalent to 30-60 days' wages of a laborer
Equivalent to 120-300 days' wages of a skilled craftsman
This means that between both we are talking up to 600 days wages which equates to 1.6 years of wages. So the Disciples walk up and take 1.6 years of wages and just walk away. How many people would let 2 strangers walk into the bank, take 1.6 years of wages out of your bank account and simply say, the Lord needs them, and you would be OK with it? I can answer this, zero. No one in here this morning would be OK with this. Yet because God provided it happened. I do not know how God prepared these people to be OK with giving up 1.6 years of wages, I do not know anything about the people, what I know is that God had prepared in advance for what would happen. Why did God prepare in advance? Because He had already prepared for this to happen 450 years before.
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.
So how is it that this happens? How is it that God says something 450 years ago and it is provided at exactly the right time? Isaiah gave us some insight into this.
1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and level the exalted places,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I name you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Isaiah gives us insight into the way God operates. God provided prophecy of bringing His people out of captivity and even gave a direct prophecy of who would lead that prophecy 150 years before he was even born! The scripture states clearly in verse 2, I will go before you. Our God goes before us, Our God prepares the way, Our God lights the path. Where are you in your life today? Are you wondering what to do or where to go? Are you trying to find your way and decide what the correct path is? Can I tell you this morning there is only 1 path, that is through Jesus, to the Father, and into His will. Are you running from God’s will? Are you liking the life you are living and not ready or willing to give that up to follow His will? I would challenge you to remember that He has gone before you. This same God who is going before you, went before Jesus and prepared a Colt and a Donkey for Jesus to ride in the city on so that a prophecy stated 450 years earlier could be fulfilled. This same God goes before you and prepares the way. He has gone before you, all you have to do is walk. Like the Israelites in the desert.
19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,
I love being a dad. There are few things in this world as rewarding as being a parent. The greatest part is seeing your children grow and learn and adapt. As a father though I like to challenge my children, I like to see their trust in me grow, I like seeing them get to a place of trusting me. Because of this I will often create scenarios in our days that require my children to listen to me, and if they listen and do what I say, they will experience success. This happened just the other day when Hunter was struggling with his school work. Now let me tell you I am not a teacher and I am not good at math, but I know about word problems and I also know a trick to word problems. When word problems are created they do so with unnecessary information to try and throw you off. They put things in that you do not need to know and they do so to help you learn to distinguish between good and bad information. As a child Hunter did not know that and he was gathering everything that was said and he was struggling. I stepped in and asked him if he trusted me to help him. He said he did, then when I started to help he argued with me. I asked him if he had gotten the right answer without my help, he said no. I asked what the worse case was if he simply listened and did what I said? He said no worse than were he was at. So he listened and he learned about how the word problems are created and because he knows what he is looking for he was able to answer the question.
In the same way, God already knows the answers, He has provided a path for us to get it right, all we have to do is listen and participate, This takes us to the next point this morning. Not only did God provide, Jesus participated.
Jesus Participated
Jesus Participated
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
What you need to realize this morning is what Jesus just did was to make an announcement to everyone in Jerusalem, I am the Messiah. Jesus entered the way the prophet said He would. Jesus was making a declaration. This was not a subtle declaration, this was an announcement of announcements. The people who had been in and out of captivity, freed, and oppressed. They were finally receiving their Messiah. He was riding in on a Donkey and making the announcement, I am here to save you. This would incite the religious rulers who were already livid with Jesus for making himself equal to God. This same Jesus who called them white washed tombs, the same Jesus who told others not to listen to them. This announcement was not one that would be taken lightly. Yet, Jesus did this because He understood the will of the Father. Jesus participated in God’s provision, to meet the will of the Father. Jesus did not stop though with making the announcement, Jesus then went into the Temple and He ran people out, He turned over tables, He called them robbers. Then if that was not enough He healed the lame and blind inside the Temple, then allowed them to worship Him inside the Temple. Every single action Jesus performed was provocative and He understood the response that the rulers would have. Jesus understood how the religious leaders would see what He was doing. While what He was doing was the will of the father, it was counter to the time and culture, it was counter to what any normal person would have done. Why? Because Jesus participated in the will of the Father over His own will. How about you? Are you willing to meet the will of the Father over your own will? Are you willing to do the difficult things in your life to show others the love of the Father? You see, Jesus understood that His actions were going to lead to His death. Jesus went into the church of the time and ran everyone out, then invited all the misfits to come in, then He healed them and gave them the right to enter into the inner temple gates, a place that they would not be allowed. What if Jesus did that in our church on any given Sunday? What if Jesus walked in here, called us all names, ran us out, then invited the lowest and worst of our society into the church, then if that was not bad enough allowed those people to worship Him. How many of us would not be pretty upset? Not many of us. Yet Jesus was willing to do this because of the will of the Father. Jesus overrode His flesh to walk in the way of the Father.
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
In every way Jesus submitted to the will of the Father even when it led Him to the cross. Are you wiling to participate in the will of the Father in your life? It is time for the church to participate in the will of the Father and stop just being good Christians. Take an active roll in doing the things that honor God, even if it causes others to think you are weird, think you are a fool, think anything about you.
1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
2 Desire without knowledge is not good,
and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
3 When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin,
his heart rages against the Lord.
4 Wealth brings many new friends,
but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who breathes out lies will not escape.
6 Many seek the favor of a generous man,
and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.
7 All a poor man’s brothers hate him;
how much more do his friends go far from him!
He pursues them with words, but does not have them.
8 Whoever gets sense loves his own soul;
he who keeps understanding will discover good.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who breathes out lies will perish.
10 It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury,
much less for a slave to rule over princes.
11 Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
12 A king’s wrath is like the growling of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.
13 A foolish son is ruin to his father,
and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.
14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers,
but a prudent wife is from the Lord.
15 Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep,
and an idle person will suffer hunger.
16 Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life;
he who despises his ways will die.
17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will repay him for his deed.
18 Discipline your son, for there is hope;
do not set your heart on putting him to death.
19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
20 Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Look at that last verse there. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Are you willing to be an active participant in what God is doing? It is very much a choice. This week as we partake in Holy Week, we must start each day understanding that it was made possible only through God’s provision and Christs participation. Let us enter Holy Week this year understanding God’s provision in our lives, and the call for us to participate in His will for our lives.
