Sermon Tone Analysis

Palm Sunday

Introduction: We have been going through the Gospel of John and today we are going to look at the Triumphant entry of Jesus in to Jerusalem.

Next week is Resurrection Sunday (Easter) and it is representative of Jesus’ victory over death and the grave!! Lets look at the week leading to His crucifixion at Calvary.

We see this same account in John 12 12-20 but Matthew has a little more detailed account that I want to look at today.

We have seen through the book of John and the begging of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

He came humbly to the earth and lived in obscurity until he was 30 years old.

We have been looking at His first few miracles and his interaction with John the Baptist.

I am so excited to get in to chapter 4 but we will pick that up after Resurrection Sunday!

Today lets look at what we like to refer to Palm Sunday the week leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Have you ever wondered how Easter and Passover are so close in proximity.

Well, that is because Jesus was crucified around the time passover was celebrated.

Jesus is about to make His triumphant journey in to Jerusalem.

He is about to make His last trip in to celebrate Passover.

A time when everyone goes to Jerusalem to sacrifice, make atonement for sin to God and to remember His protection over Israel when they put the blood on the door posts and the death angel passed over their houses while they were in Egypt.

We saw in John 2 when Jesus had cleansed the temple of the extortion during the passover, and this would have been his 3rd and final passover he would be in Jerusalem for during his public ministry.

This leads us in to the triumphant entry.

It is interesting how Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies and we will see another one fulfilled in verses 1-5.

This refers to:

Imagine Jesus seeing all of these events that were about to unfold.

Knowing the reception that He was about to receive before the rejection he was about to endure.

Jesus had recently raised Lazarus from the dead.

Lazarus’ sister Mary had just annointed Jesus’ feet with costly spikenard and she washed his feet with her hair.

He just had dinner with his friends and all of this is culminating right before His last week on Earth.

Jesus is omnipotent and knows all things.

He tells his disciples to get a donkey and a colt and bring them to him.

In Marks account of this passage the donkey had never been ridden before and this shows the power that Jesus has over nature that He was able to ride on it humbly into Jerusalem even though it had never been ridden or been broken.

It is so awesome to know that our Lord and Savior knows all things.

He knows all things about us, He knows our struggles, He knows our cares, and He loves us the still with an everlasting love that has no bounds, and has no cares.

We not only see the prophecy fulfilled, now we see the multitudes reception:

The path had been prepared.

imagine the scene that unfolding people are coorinating Jesus as a King.

He is coming in riding on a donkey which symbolized peace.

A horse would symbolize War but a donkey would mean peace.

People are making the way significant for Jesus.

Then the Bible says the people said (in verse 9),

"Hosanna to the King, to the Son of David.

Blessed is He

that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the

highest."

Now you see, we not only see Jesus in His

lowliness but we also see Jesus in His loftiness.

Because

now they are singing, Hosanna, which means literally "save

now."

It came to be a word of welcome.

And they're saying,

Blessed is He that cometh.

That was a technical phrase

identifying Him as the Messiah.

That was an Old Testament

terminology, Blessed is He that cometh.

So it's really like

they were saying, Praise the Lord, here comes the King.

There He is in all of His loftiness.

There He is in all of

His glory, coming into Jerusalem to die for the sins of the

whole world.

That's how He entered the city.

In verse 10 we see that the City was moved.

They noticed what was going on and people were wondering who Jesus was.

He came as the Messiah and a King and people were excited but in less than 4 days from then they would crucify Him.

There was a commotion going on when Jesus was in town.

You could imagine what it would've been like to see this unfold.

The world is always curious about Jesus but sadly that curiosity wanes.

Having a personal relationship with Jesus will radically change your life.

People often wonder about the transformative power of the Gospel but it isn’t until you put your faith and trust in Jesus that you are made a new creature.

They understood that Jesus was significant but they were mistaken that He was just a prophet.

He was instead the Messiah, the Christ!

The Chosen one that would free all mankind from the throws of sin.

Now we see Jesus cleansing the temple again.

He did it in John 2 when He first started His public ministry and now as He is ending it, He does it again.

This shows us the signifcance of Church.

It should be known as a place where we hear from God and pray.

In this passage their was extortion and all sorts of terrible things going on in the temple and Jesus tried to rid the temple of these evil things.

This should be known as a house of prayer.

That is what LHBC should be known as.

I have been to a lot of different churches and it doesn’t take a lot for churches to get sidetracked by good intentions while missing the purpose of the church.

It is not a social club, although their is commrodory and fellowship.

It is not a humanitarian outlet, although the church should meet needs in the community.

The main purpose of the church is to edify Christ through worship.

The Bible says that our bodies are the Lords temples as well.

We should live a pure and Holy life before Him.

This is the final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

He is preparing to take upon himself the sins of the world.

If you have accepted Christ you understand the significance of what is about to happen and if you have not accepted Christ let this be the day you change your life.

Lets commit to worshiping God with our lives.

With every head bowed and every eye closed.

I want to ask you this morning, do you know without a shadow of a doubt that if you were to pass away today, that you would spend eternity with God?

If you could answer yes to that question let me challenge you to get that settled.

The Bible tells us how we can know for sure that Heaven will be our home.

If you are here today and you have that settled, let me ask you.

How is your walk with God?

This week is a great reminder to put God first in your life.

In every area of our lives it is important to put God first.

Let me challenge you to do that today.

Remember the price that was paid on calvary.

We are going to have a time of prayer and reflection and I will close us out with prayer.