A Colt's Perspective: Psalm Sunday
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· 126 viewsThe perspective of that entrance into Jerusalem from the Colt...or at least what we can learn from it.
Notes
Transcript
Opening/Greeting
Opening/Greeting
Good morning and thank you for welcoming me and my wife Kerry so warmly this morning. I’m Pastor Joe Vivian, Associate Pastor for Children’s and Families at Eastern Hills Baptist Church in Albuquerque. I’m honored to bring you this morning’s Palm Sunday message from Mark 11. When Dr., let him know I didn't forget, when Dr. Matt Henslee called me last month, I was so excited to join you all. I’ve kinda been involved with your Children’s Ministry VBS Trainings the past several years, so it’s wonderful to journey with all of you today.
Reading of God’s Word
Reading of God’s Word
1 When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples
2 and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ”
4 So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it,
5 and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
6 They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it.
8 Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields.
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!
11 He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Teaching
Teaching
Mark 11:1–11
This amazing passage records the Triumphant Entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It was this very Sunday morning that Jesus fulfilled the ancient prophecy of the prophet Zechariah.
Many centuries ago, Zechariah had written these words about the coming Messiah:
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
That prophecy was literally fulfilled on this occasion. The primary emphasis of this passage is the revelation of Jesus to Israel that He is their long awaited Messiah and their King.
The common man rejoiced in the appearance of the Lord Jesus, Mark 11:7–10.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it.
8 Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields.
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!
But, the leaders of Israel rejected Him, and before the next Sabbath day, Jesus would have been crucified. Israel rejected their King, John 1:11.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
The teaching in this passage is magnificent, but I want to focus in on one little aspect of our Lord’s Triumphant Entry. I want to focus in on His relationship with the little donkey He rode as He entered the city.
Friends, Donkeys factor greatly in the Bible.
• Deut 22:10 says that a donkey and an ox could not be yoked together.
• Deut. 5:14 tells us that donkeys were allowed to rest on the Sabbath.
• In Bible times, donkeys were associated with wealth. Job had 500 females donkeys, Job 1:3.
• Balaam had a donkey that talked to him, Num. 22:28.
• It was an animal associated with peace, while horses were associated with war.
• Donkeys were the mounts preferred by Israelite kings in Old Testament times.
• Donkeys were an animal associated with romance. A man would walk beside a donkey carrying his wife. Since donkeys were slow, the couple could talk as they moved along.
We are told that the Lord needed this particular donkey to fulfill His mission here on earth, v. 3.
3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ”
Isn’t that amazing? Jesus is God and He could have done this anyway He chose to, but He chose to use that little donkey.
We don’t know much about the colt Jesus rode that day, I would like to point out a few important facts about that little donkey. I think there is some help for our hearts in these verses and I do not want to miss it. Let me share those facts with you.
I. HE HAD TO BE REDEEMED
I. HE HAD TO BE REDEEMED
• According to the Word of God, that donkey was only alive and available to the Lord because it had been redeemed by the blood of a lamb, Ex. 13:13; 34:20.
13 You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons.
20 You may redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
• The same could be said of us. Consider the condition of all those who are not saved, and our own condition before we were saved!
-We were “dead in your trespasses and sins,” Eph. 2:1. We had no spiritual life and no interest in the things of God.
-We were God’s enemies, Rom. 8:7.
-We were given over to the lusts of the flesh, Eph. 2:2–3; John 8:44. We lived to gratify the flesh!
-We were under the condemnation of Almighty God, John 3:36.
36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
-We were useless to God and separated from Him by a wide gulf of sin, Isa. 59:2.
2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.
• That was our natural state! Many are still there. There are even some in the church who are trying to serve the Lord in that condition!
That may be how the Lord found us, but that is not the way He left us! When He saved us by His grace, changed us completely.
-He gave us His life—
Everlasting life, new life, Heavenly life, abundant life,
-He delivered us from the penalty of our sins—Col. 2:13–14
13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
-He bridged the gulf between us and Him—Eph. 2:13–16.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh,
15 he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.
16 He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.
• That is the only reason we have any usefulness to the Lord today. Praise God for the redeeming power of the blood of Jesus!
• Just so we understand, redemption is not an option, it is a necessity! Oh, it is not necessary to live, to work, to have a family, or to be happy in this world. Many people pass through this life with no knowledge of, or thought for, God. They live and die perfectly happy. Yet, there is nothing ahead of them, but an eternity in Hell!
-Salvation is necessary if you want to miss Hell and go to Heaven!
-Salvation is necessary if you want to enjoy the blessings and presence of God in this life!
-Salvation is necessary if you want true joy and peace of heart!
-Jesus put it this way to Nicodemus in John 3:7, “you must be born again.” Without the new birth, you are lost in your sins.
• You will notice the Lord did not say be baptized, join the church, turn over a new leaf or do good things. The Lord told Nicodemus that he needed a new life!
Redemption is not something that happens because you joined a church and were baptized. It is not something that comes to you because you stopped committing a sin. It is not something you get be being a better person.
Salvation comes when a lost sinner is convicted of sin, John 6:44,
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
and looks away by faith to the Lord Jesus for salvation. It is an encounter with the grace of God, totally unconnected with any works of the flesh, Eph. 2:8–9.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
Have you been redeemed?
• You and I will only be useful to the Lord when we have been redeemed by His blood from our lost condition. When we are, we become the Temple He occupies, 1 Cor. 6:19
19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
and the Tool He used, Eph. 2:10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
It is good to be redeemed! Are you saved?
II. HE HAD TO BE RELEASED
II. HE HAD TO BE RELEASED
• When Jesus told the disciples about the little donkey, He told them they would find it tied, v. 2. They were to untie the donkey and bring it to Jesus, which is what they did, v. 4. That little donkey was bound and it needed to be set free before the Lord could use it.
• When Jesus found us, we were bound up too! Before we could be of any use to Him, the chains of our sins had to be broken and we had to be set free.
• We are born into this world as slaves to sin, Eph. 2:2–3.
2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
In that condition, we are useless to the Lord. We cannot serve Him. We cannot live for Him. We cannot bring glory to His name. We are useless in that bound up, tied down condition. We need to be set free!
• I praise His Name that is just what He does for His saints. He comes to where we are and He gives us liberty.
• The word “need” in v. 3 can mean “business”. In other words, Jesus is saying, “If anyone asks you what you are doing say, “The Lord has business with that donkey!”
• Here is what He does for those He redeems!
-He delivers us from the bondage of our sins, Rom. 6:14.
-He gives us a new desire to follow Him and serve Him.
-He makes us a “new creation” in Jesus, 2 Cor. 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
-He moves in and takes up residence in our bodies, 2 Cor. 4:7.
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
-However, remember...We are not perfect and we still sin, Rom. 7:14–25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin.
15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.
But, we are no longer slaves to sin. We have been delivered from its power. We lose our appetite for the old ways of living and develop an appetite for the things of God.
• I don’t know if the Lord Jesus has ever released you from anything, but I know that if He has, you need to praise Him for it.
• If your life has never changed, you need to be saved. It doesn’t matter if you are a church member or not. If you know Him, there will be the evidence of a changed life! The truly redeemed believer will no longer live a lifestyle of unrepentant sin.
When that donkey came back, it was better than it was when it left. When it left, it was unbroken and untried. When it came home, it was ready for the saddle. That’s just what the Lord does! He takes what we give Him and when He gives it back, it is far better than it was when He got it.
• Give Him your crabapple and He will give you back a golden delicious.
• Give Him your acorn and He will give you back a mighty oak.
• Give Him an Abram, a lost pagan, and He will give you back an Abraham, a mighty man of faith.
• Give Him your Jacob, a schemer and a trickster, and He will give you back an Israel, a Prince of God.
• Give Him your Saul of Tarsus, a mean, cruel man, and He will give you back a Paul, a mighty Apostle of God.
• Give Him your Simon, a weak, unsteady man, and He will give you back a Peter, a rock for Jesus.
• Give Him your broken, sin-scarred life and He will give you back a new start, a new life and a home in Heaven!
• Thank God for His life-changing, soul-saving, eternity-altering grace!
III. HE HAD TO BE RULED
III. HE HAD TO BE RULED
• Someone had to take charge over that donkey. Verse 2 tells us that the donkey had never been broken to ride. It was a wild animal. That little, wild donkey needed a master.
2 and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
It was wild; yet it submitted itself to the Lord Jesus and yielded to His control. That donkey wasn’t frightened by the crowds or by their noise. It simply surrendered itself to the Lord totally.
The very fact that this little donkey has never been broken, and that Jesus is riding it, is a miracle in itself. Of course, Psa. 8:6–8 tells us that He has dominion over this creation.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.
That little donkey surrendered to the Lord’s sovereignty and yielded to His authority.
• That is exactly what He expects of us! He is looking for total submission and total surrender from our lives, Rom. 12:1–2.
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
• Let’s face the truth; some people have a real problem with authority.
There are folks who just have a hard time with the idea of someone having authority over them. Whether it is their parents at home; their boss at work; or their Pastor at church; they have a hard time with authority. When you get right down to it, we all have some problem with authority. There is a wild man in us that does not like to be rule!
• The fact is, there is always someone over us!
-In the home, the husband is to be over that home, Eph. 5:23.
The home is a model of the Kingdom. There is a system of leadership designed by the Lord.
-In the home, the parents are to have authority over their children, Eph. 6:1–3. I know that the children rule the roost in most homes, but that is not God’s way. If children are not taught to respect the authority of mom and dad, they will have no respect for the other authority figures they will encounter in life!
-On the job, the boss is the person in authority, Eph. 6:5–8. I know most people think their job exists for their benefit and that they can do as they please, but that is not God’s way!
-In the church, the Pastor is the person in authority, Heb. 13:7, 17. Deacons and others in the church are servants, as is the man of God. However, authority in the local church rests in the Lord Jesus Christ and He gives His authority to lead to the man He calls as the Pastor of that church.
-Ultimately, our first and final authority is the Lord Jesus Christ. When He redeemed us from our sins, He purchased us unto Himself. Now, if we are saved, He owns us completely, 1 Cor. 6:19–20. We are His slaves by right of redemption and by right of creation.
-When we are submitted to His Lordship in our lives, we will have no trouble submitting in the other areas of our lives. Show me someone who is not submissive to the authority figures God has ordained in their lives and I will show you someone who is not submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You show me someone who refuses to get under those God has placed over them and I will show you someone who is probably not even saved!
Why? Yielding to the Lordship of Jesus is an essential component of biblical salvation. He is the “Lord Jesus Christ!” His identity as Savior cannot be divorced from His identity as Lord.
• Who is your Master today? Is it you? Or is it the Lord Jesus Christ? Can you honestly say that Jesus Christ is your Savior and your Lord?
I hope you understand what I am saying today. If we are saved, He owns us completely. We do not have the right to use any part of our being, whether it is our body, our spirit or our mind for our own purposes. We are His and only He has the right to tells us how we should live our lives.
• I do have good news for you today, if you are submitting yourself to any other master today, Jesus can and will help you to change your allegiances.
One of the most amazing statements in the Bible is found here is in verse 3, and it has to do with that little beast. It says, “The Lord needs him.”
When did God ever “need” anything? Here is what God had to say about His Own needs, Psa. 50:9–12.
9 I will not take a bull from your household or male goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is mine.
But, that was the paradox of our Lord’s earthly life. He was rich, yet He became poor.
• He owned all things, yet He possessed nothing.
• He created the stars, yet He had nowhere to lay His Own head.
• He fashioned everything there is out of nothing, yet He had to borrow a boat from which to preach His Gospel.
• He created every drop of water that exists in the world, yet He cried “I thirst” as He was dying on the cross.
• He created every tree, but He died on a borrowed cross.
• He created every rock, but He had to borrow a tomb in which to be buried.
• He used the clouds as His chariots, yet He had to borrow a donkey on which to ride.
• That is the paradox of His life! He was rich, yet made Himself poor so that those who believe on Him might enjoy His riches!
The Lord could save sinners and accomplish His work on earth just fine without us. Yet, He chooses to use frail, human instruments for His glory. When we are like that donkey, Redeemed, Released and Ruled, He can use us too.
Being a donkey isn’t so bad when Jesus is your Master. Look at what that donkey did. He got to carry the King of Glory into Jerusalem. The Lord used Him as His vehicle to get glory to His name.
That’s what He wants to do with you and me! Let’s yield to Him and let Him rule us as He sees fit. By the way, when that little Redeemed, Released, Ruled donkey walked by with Jesus on his back, nobody saw the donkey! All eyes were on the Lord Jesus. That’s how it should be all time.
There are some here that need to be Redeemed. You need to come to Jesus. Other have been and you need to praise Him for it!
There are some here that need to be Released. Sins and the flesh hold you captive. Come to Jesus, He specialized in delivering the captives.
There are some here that need to be Ruled. You need to submit to the Lordship of Jesus in your life. When you do, you will have no trouble submitting to the authorities the Lord has placed in your life.
If Jesus has spoken to you on any level, you need to do what He is telling you to do!