What shall I then do with Jesus?

Matthew 27:22-31

Welcome to Mountain View Baptist Church on this Palm Sunday. Today we celebrate Jesus’s arrival into Jerusalem on what has been called the Passion Week or the Holy Week. We are thrilled to have you join us today. If this is your first time, please be sure to connect with us. Next week we will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Please be sure to invite a friend on this special day. I want encourage you to take five tracts and invite five friends.

This final week of Christ on earth before His crucifixion is filled with tremendous Biblical significance. Jesus left from the Mt. of Olives for the little over half mile journey down the hill, go across the Kidron Valley, and up the hill into the Eastern Gate. This 15 to 20 minute walk culminated when Jesus entered the city on a donkey as prophesied. Immediately His followers laid palm leaves before Him as a recognition that He was the King. Jesus is publically being identified as the King of the Jews. This is commonly called His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

His presence and announcement was a threat to the Romans and the kings under the Roman domain. In the passage we just read, Pilate was now in a huge dilemma. Pilate as governor was in jeopardy and he was losing his control over the people. The competition and supposed Jewish King Jesus was a threat to him and to the Roman kings. They were convinced Jesus would overthrow Pilate and ruin their way of life.

It is no different today because many have convinced themselves that receiving Jesus as their Savior would upset their way of living. Jesus would destroy everything and they would not want their lives turned upside down.

The fact is that Jesus did not come to destroy our lives but give us life. John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Proud Pilate asked the question of the ages and this question I want you to consider to day. It is found here in verse 22: What shall I then do with Jesus? Let me make it more personal: What will I do with Jesus?

In the first century, the people who lived during that passion week had to decide, what are they going to do with Jesus. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Jesus is eternal, He is not going away or wasting away. The thoughts of Jesus is not going away. He is alive forevermore.

This question is personal, it is direct, and it is undeniable. What will I do with Jesus? Today, when you leave, what will you do with Jesus?

That early Thursday morning Jesus was brought before Pilate. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod though Pilate could have released Jesus. Then Jesus was sent back to Pilate. That fateful morning of the crucifixion there were four responses to Jesus.

Response 1. . .

Some rejected Him vv. 23-24

In verse 25, they said “Jesus’s blood will be on their hands.” Can you imagine they were willing to turn their back on Jesus. Their eyes and hearts were blinded to the truth of who Jesus was.

One of the great weapons of Satan is blinding mankind to the truth. 2 Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Satan has so polluted the truth in our society that it is easy to be blinded to the truth. During Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus in John 18:38 “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” He was blinded to the spiritual truth that Jesus is the truth. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

If you are looking for truth, it is not found in philosophy, in education, in government, in psychology; truth, is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truth.

Those who rejected Him that day thought that the Roman way of life was the truth. They were convinced their kings were godlike and whatever they said was the way things should be. However they missed where true life is. True life is found in having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you know Him as your Savior? Has there been a time in your life where you called upon Him to be Savior? The Bible tells us we must call upon Him. Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Sometimes the devil will blind people to calling upon the Lord by telling them you have always believed God, you are a Methodist, or you are a good person. If you think about it, those who believe those things have rejected Jesus also.

Response 2

Some mocked Him v. 29, 31, 40-41.

Mock means to tease or laugh in a scornful or contemptuous manner. It is the idea of using Jesus as an object of derision.

Psalm 22:6–7 “But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,”

They mocked Jesus and what He was teaching them about living for eternity and about heaven. They mocked His position as the King and the mocked His person. There are those in our world who mock Christ. It is a mockery to deny that Jesus is the Son of God. It is a mockery to deny the virgin birth. It is a mockery to deny He is the only way to heaven.

In a 1966 interview, John Lennon stated that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and that Christianity should disappear. Katy Perry was raised in a Christian home where her father was a preacher. Publicly said, “I don’t believe in a heaven or a hell or an old man sitting a throne. “ Britney Spears was baptized as a Southern Baptist church member and sang in the church choir as a child. She now state she doesn’t believe in God anymore. Most of Hollywood hates Jesus, the Bible, and the thought of heaven and hell. There is a political movement in this country to mock the Bible, Jesus, and what He stands for.

The mockery on that fateful day reveals not only rejection but also mockery towards Christ.

Response 3

Some kept Him vv. 46-49

This crowd believed Jesus is the Christ. They believe on Him but keep Jesus at a safe distance. While they may know Christ, they are unwilling to surrender to follow Him completely. They are unwilling to publicly declare that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. They don’t want to change their public persona or change their lifestyle to line up with what Jesus teaches.

There are many Christians like these. They want Jesus to be at a safe distance so they others will not know they are believers, yet when they get in trouble they want Jesus to come running to them. There are many people who live here in the high desert who won’t come to church, who won’t follow Christ, and yet, who claim to believe on Jesus. The compromise is keeping Jesus at a safe distance.

What is your response to Jesus? Are you keeping Him at a healthy distance? Is Jesus just your Savior and not your Lord? It is possible to know Christ as your Savior, but not follow Him as your Lord. When He is the Lord of your life, you will gladly follow the ministry pathway as mentioned last week. It is on the back wall, that we determine with God’s help and by His grace to follow Him. He is not just someone I call on when I need Him, but He is the One who directs and governs my life.

The lordship of Christ is neither optional nor negotiable.

John Blanchard

The lordship of Christ is clearly at the heart of true saving faith.

John F. MacArthur

Response 4

Some accepted Him vv. 54-56

To accept Christ means we realize our empty and hopeless condition without Christ. We cannot save ourselves from our sin. Our sin has separated us from God. God convicts us that we are sinners, that we are trust in a condition we cannot take care of ourselves.

This was the mission of Jesus to come to this earth to die for our sins on the cross. 1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Jesus came to die on the cruel cross for you and for me. He came to pay price we could not pay. He was crucified, buried and rose again.

This is the gospel. There is only one way to heaven and that is through the finished work of Christ. No denomination can take you to heaven, good works can’t take you to heaven, you cannot pay your way there, you cannot bagain your way into heaven. This is not about a religion, but a relationship.

When you accept Christ, this means you repent of your sin and call upon Him only as your personal Savior. If you have not called upon Him, I want to invite you ask Jesus to be your Savior. There will be someone in the back with an altar worker landyer who can show you how to know for sure you are Christian. Will you please go to them as soon as we pray. Perhaps you are here today and you need to get baptized, will you come to the front and let someone talk with you about getting baptized or joining MVBC.

What will you do with Jesus? Will He be your Savior today? Will He be your Lord today?