This week is the start of Holy Week, and we're
very excited to spend the next couple weeks looking
at this very important moment of Jesus not only
entering into Jerusalem, but then this week culminating
in what we call Good Friday, and there's always
a question on why is it good, and we'll be dealing
with that on Friday night at our Good Friday
service, and then to celebrate his resurrection
Sunday morning. We're so excited about that.
But today, we're going to be in Luke chapter
19, verses 29 through 44, and I wanted to give
a background to what we're looking at today.
In December 4th, 1977, in a town called Banqui,
in the capital of what was then called the Central
African Empire, the world saw the coronation
of His Imperial Majesty, Bokassa I. His coronation
had a price tag of $131 million in today's numbers.
And so this whole coronation started with this
trumpet and drums, you know, a proclamation of
his coming, just like the emperors of old traveling
through the boulevards in Rome. And the whole
parade was just... Just gaudy, right? It started
with eight of his 29 official children parading
down the royal carpet to their seats, followed
by Jean Bocasa II, who was the heir to the throne,
who was dressed in a $100 ,000 white admiral's
uniform that was stitched with gold braids all
through, and he went up the aisle to sit on his
red pillow to the left of the throne. And then
Bocasa's wife, Catherine, the favorite of his
nine wives, came up the steps to her little throne
next to the royal throne wearing a gown that
cost $382 ,000. The emperor eventually arrived
in his imperial coach. decked out with gold eagles,
a coach that was drawn by six of the most expensive
and prestigious horses in the world. As he stepped
out of his coach, people saw him wearing this
beautiful 32 -pound royal robe that was inlaid
with golden embroidery and had $785 ,000 of pearls
stitched into it. On his head, he wore a gold
crown of laurel wreaths because he wanted to
look like the Caesars of old and have the sign
that the gods favored him in his rule. As this
profession or procession all came to a conclusion,
Bokassa climbed up and took a seat on his $13
million throne, removed the $13 million gold
royal, or the gold royal leaf from his head,
and then put on his $13 million crown that was
topped with an 80 -carat diamond upon his head.
And after all of this, he stood and declared
himself emperor of the Central African Empire.
Now, mercifully, his reign wasn't as obnoxious
as his coronation, or as long, I should say,
because it was two years later, and when he was
on a trip outside of the country, the French
staged a coup and kicked him out of office. But
unfortunately, it wasn't before this very arrogant,
prideful man had caused much, much heartache
in the people of his country, one example being
which that he had 200 school -aged children executed
because they complained that their uniforms were
too expensive. Now, the reason I share this as
background is this is an example of a human king
who in an attempt to establish a forever throne,
to proclaim his own glory and his own majesty,
to force his will and his rule upon people, spending
resources that could better be spent on other
things, he failed spectacularly in establishing
his forever reign. Today, we celebrate something
different. You see, every human ruler and human
king that has ever been, they all faced one truth
that every single one of them experienced the
same. Death came for them. And when death came
for them, it took away their rule, it took away
their empire, it took away everything that they
had worked so hard to build up in proclaiming
their own glory. But today we celebrate the fact
that it isn't so with Jesus Christ, the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. He is a king
like any king who has ever been. He operated
on a completely different set of principles and
as the king of kings with a kingdom unlike any
kingdom that has ever been seen, he rules and
reigns today. His kingdom is a kingdom of humility,
a kingdom of service, and it is a kingdom ruled
by a king who has spiritual rule over our hearts
and our lives, has spiritual rule over the hearts
and lives of the people that follow him who have
been transformed by his loving grace. Today we
celebrate the day that Jesus Christ entered into
Jerusalem, publicly proclaiming himself as king,
the ruler long awaited by the people, the one
that they had hoped would come and bring victory
over oppression. But as we're going to see today,
it was a type of victory that they didn't expect.
It was a victory over the inside battle, which
is the ultimate victory that all of us need.
Amen? First, we're going to worship him today.
Let's pray. Father God, we love you so much.
We're so grateful that you sent your son to this
earth, Lord, and that we get to remember this
day, Lord, the day you entered into Jerusalem
to celebrate the beginning of this final week
of your life. Lord, a week that was the culmination
of three years of ministry, but Lord, was gonna
end with your death. Lord, as you would willingly
and voluntarily go to the cross. to die the death
that we should die, to pay the price for our
sins, Lord, that we would be able to find freedom
in you. God, you truly are the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. And God, we know that
when you come in your second coming, you truly
are going to be king both over the spiritual
and the physical realm in every possible way,
Lord. But we know that during your first coming,
you came to deal with the biggest problem of
all, Lord, the heart of man. And God, some of
us in the world today understand that and we
rejoice, Lord, because you have saved us. Others,
Lord, don't understand and they don't get it.
And today, God, I pray, Lord, as we look at the
story, we would be reminded of what you truly
came to do. And those that maybe haven't received
the fruits of that work, Lord, today would come
to know you as their king. Lord, we love you
so much and we thank you. It's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. Let's worship. All right, we are
in... Luke chapter 19, as I said earlier, we're
going to be looking at the story of Jesus' triumphal
entry into Jerusalem this morning, and that's
what this day celebrates, this day we call Palm
Sunday. is celebrating the very public declaration
by Jesus Christ that he was indeed the coming
king, the Messiah that Israel had been looking
forward to for so many years. And this day that
we're celebrating today launches what is called
Passion Week. This is the day that launched this
last week of earthly ministry in the life of
Jesus Christ, ending, of course, in his death
and his resurrection. And so we'll be looking
at those things later this week. To give us kind
of the chronological context here, Jesus is now
at the end of a journey that started some nine
months previous in his life. He began a zigzagged
path down through Galilee, through Samaria, through
Perea, finally coming down to Judea. And over
the course of that journey, he had about 35 different
ministry stops. And you could read all about
that through the Gospels. But the timing of his
journey... All those stops and everything he
did was perfectly timed that he would arrive
in Jerusalem on this day. This day beginning
the week of Passover in the city of Jerusalem.
Now, this of course is, hold on. I gotta get
this throat lozenges out. I can't talk and chew
on it at the same time. Okay. This is all coming
at the end of three years of ministry for Jesus,
where many had seen him minister, had seen his
miracles, seen his healings, and there were many
that were already clamoring to proclaim him as
the long -awaited Messiah, the one they had been
waiting for. In addition to that, the Jewish
leaders had been increasingly antagonized by
his elusiveness as they tried to trap him. and
proved that he was false, that he was a false
prophet, that he wasn't what people were beginning
to say he was. And in addition to that, we have
Rome. who had begun to take notice of what to
them was a potential agitator, someone who might
stir up the populace and cause an uprising against
them. And so tensions were really high in the
city of Jerusalem at this point. And with it
being the beginning of the Passover week, it
was just packed with people, like Jews from all
over Israel were coming into this one city at
this one time to celebrate this very important
yearly festival called Passover. Now, news of
Jesus had been spreading all over the place because
just prior to his arrival in Jerusalem is the
story of him raising Lazarus from the dead. And
he did that very publicly and there was a ton
of people that saw that. And so people were following
him from there as he was traveling towards Jerusalem.
People in Jerusalem had heard the news about
this miracle. And so there was just people clamoring
to see him as he was about to enter into Jerusalem.
But what was also happening at this time is that
the religious leaders, whose power was threatened
by him, whose control over the people were threatened
by him, were plotting how they might murder this
man. And so the question on everybody's mind
on this Palm Sunday is, what would Jesus do when
he got here? Would he move against the religious
leaders? Would he denounce the Pharisees and
what they've been doing in misrepresenting God?
Would he come against Rome and kick them out
of the city and kick them out of Israel as people
were hoping? And then if that happened, what
then would the authorities do? This is what everybody
was thinking. If he came in and kicked out Rome,
would Rome then send their armies? to come retake
over Israel. It was a very, very tense time for
everybody, and so we pick up the story here in
Luke chapter 19, verse 29. Please read with me.
As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the
place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two
of the disciples and said, go into the village
ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find
a colt tied there on which no one has ever sat.
Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, why
are you untying it? Say this, the Lord needs
it. So those who were left or who were sent left
and found it just as he had told them. And as
they were untying the colt, the owner said to
them, why are you untying the colt? The Lord
needs it, they said. Then they brought it to
Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the
colt, they helped Jesus get on it. So this town
of Bethpage is really a small little hamlet that
was between Bethany and Jerusalem. You see, here's
the city of Jerusalem, and if you were traveling
east into the city, you would go through these
towns, Bethany and Bethpage, on your way. And
so there you would travel up the Mount of Olives,
and then once you peaked at the top there, you
would come down the other side of the Mount of
Olives with a clear view of the entire city of
Jerusalem. Now, what's interesting is this story
of the triumphal entry always starts with him
telling his disciples to go get this donkey that
he may ride on it. Now, if we put ourselves in
the shoes of the disciples. This might have been
a strange question for him to ask because as
far as we know, there's no record of Jesus ever
riding on anything as he was walking through
doing his ministry. He always walked with his
disciples. He didn't ride a horse, didn't ride
a cart. It was just him and his disciples walking,
camping, and ministering. And so now after three
years of ministry, his disciples hear him say,
hey, go get me a donkey to ride on. Had to have
been a strange question from them. The very precise
instructions. You see, Jesus is coming into the
place where he's going to publicly proclaim,
I am the king that you all have been waiting
for. I am the Messiah. I am the one in the line
of the son of David. And one of the things he's
been working to do through his whole ministry
is get his disciples to truly understand what
that means. And so this was just another moment
of him giving very precise instructions, demonstrating
his omniscience, right? Go into that town. There's
going to be this donkey right there. The owners
are going to say this. You're going to say this.
Boom, we're going to get a donkey. And it happened
exactly as he said. Now, we ask, why did the
owners give the donkey, right? It tells us that
they asked, but why did they give it up? And
it doesn't give us that detail. Maybe they had
heard of Jesus and his ministry. Maybe just with
all the excitement and stuff going on. Maybe
the news of Lazarus' ministry had already passed
through. And, you know, After all, Jesus was
becoming a famous rabbi with a very famous reputation
here. But either way, they gave the donkey. Once
the answer, the Lord needs it, was told to them,
they let it go. So what we do see here, or see
here for sure, is that Jesus has very intentionally
premeditated every detail of this triumphal entry.
You see, as I mentioned earlier, There was nine
months of travel with 35 ministry stops. Have
you ever tried to put together a trip of any
kind with 35 stops and then try and figure everything
out so you enter in this part at exactly on this
day and this time? It's insane. We put together
an Israel trip a few years ago. And to be, you
know, my assistant did all the work of scheduling
everything and all that. And God bless her. She
was just such a blessing on that trip. And when
she got back, she goes, I never want to put together
an Israel trip again. Because it's just a difficult
thing trying to coordinate times. And we know
that over these nine months and these hundreds
of miles of journey, Jesus put it together. To
show up on exactly this day, at this hour, to
find this donkey, not any donkey, this donkey,
a young one that had been unridden, ready to
be lent out by its owners on the words the Lord's
needed. Now, why all this precise detail? I mean,
Jesus could have shown up to Jerusalem on any
day he wanted. He could have found any donkey,
but why was it this precise? Well, that comes
from something that Matthew tells us. In Matthew
chapter 21, verse 4, speaking of this same story,
Matthew says, this took place so that what was
spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled.
You see, one of the greatest evidences we have
of the truth of Scripture and the truth of Jesus
Christ and the stories we have that it's not
just made up is prophecy. That is incidentally
the one thing no other religion, false religion
in the world has. The Bible has documented prophecy,
documented that it was written down before things
happened and then things happened exactly as
they were prophesied to happen. Only someone
with omniscience can do that. And of course,
some people go, oh, what about, you know, Nostradamus
and those people that were around 20 years ago
and all these, oh, they're predicting everything
exactly. What they never tell you is how much
they predicted and they were wrong. Right? We
can all get lucky guessing things. Now, here,
everything is very, very precise. You see, the
point of this was Jesus making a proclamation
that he hadn't made about himself before. A proclamation
that he specifically prevented other people from
saying about him. And what was this public statement?
It was going to be a statement that the Jewish
people would very clearly understand, especially
the religious leaders. And it comes from Zechariah
9, verse 9. This is what it says there, prophesying
this moment. 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. Not just any donkey,
a colt, the foal of a donkey, meaning a young
one. Now, this prophecy was long understood by
those in Israel to speak of a future leader.
that would be a leader of Israel in Israel that
would come and set up the kingdom to bring peace.
And so Jesus is declaring to the people through
this whole episode with this particular donkey
on this particular time that he is, he was, and
is the long -awaited prophesied Davidic king
fulfilling the Davidic covenant, the Messiah,
the Savior, the Deliverer. This is what he's
very publicly proclaiming here. Now, this donkey,
there's a whole lot of elements to why a donkey
as he came in there. One of them is simply ancient
ways of doing things, an ancient Middle East
culture. If you were in a city and a king from
a neighboring nation rode into your city on a
horse, that meant they were about to declare
war on you. If a king from a neighboring nation
or whatever came in riding on a donkey, that
meant that they'd come in peace. And so the animal
was seen as an animal of peace to declare peace.
Jesus here, as he said, he's going, I am not
just a king, I am this king of Zechariah chapter
nine, verse nine. And so from this point forward,
no longer does he tell his disciples, don't proclaim
me as Messiah. No longer does he tell people
that he ministers to or heals or does miracles
with, don't tell people that I'm the Messiah.
Don't say that. From here forward, it's public
knowledge. Now, the choice of a donkey links
Jesus to this prophecy in a few other ways. One,
it identified him with the royal line of David.
And the reason I say that is because during David's
reign, the donkey was considered a royal animal.
And it was something that kind of came to represent
the royal line or David's royal line. And so
him riding on a donkey connected him to those
prophecies that entailed the Davidic covenant
and the coming king. Now what's interesting is
sometime after David's reign, the donkey then
became an animal considered unsuitable for a
king to ride on, that it was below them or beneath
them. But during David's reign and a little bit
into Solomon's reign after, the donkey was a
royal animal. The donkey was also his, the donkey
connecting him to Zechariah 9 -9 was also a condemnation
of what the religious leaders were about to do
to him. You see, because in Zechariah 9 -9 it
said, your king is coming to you. He is righteous
and victorious. How do we know Jesus is this
king? Because he's riding on the donkey. Now,
in Zechariah, when it says righteous there, that
word righteous means innocent. We know how the
story goes. that they are going to try and bring
Jesus up on charges. And based on those charges,
to declare him guilty so that they can then have
him executed. But the prophecy itself said ahead
of time, he's innocent. He's done nothing wrong.
And then that word victorious means one that
comes to save others from danger. So it's telling
us... The ministry of Jesus here in this prophecy,
the Jews should have known this, that your king
is coming, someone who's going to be innocent,
someone who's going to save you from danger,
and he's going to be riding on this donkey. It
spoke of his real mission because he was coming
to save from danger. We'll talk about how they
misunderstood that in a moment. But it also spoke
of his character because donkeys were considered
humble animals, right? Jesus wasn't like that
King Bocasa we talked about, right? He didn't
have a $313 million carriage set up with gold
eagles on it to proclaim his power and his authority.
He just rode in on a simple donkey. Philippians
2 .6 told us this about Jesus. He did not consider
equality with God something to be exploited.
Right? I think we, as humble as we might think
we are, when we have power, When we know somebody,
when we know we can ask a favor and exploit position
or relationship, we're kind of tempted to do
that. You know, instead of going through things
the hard way, let me call so -and -so. They'll
get you through the door without having to go
through the process, right? But Jesus didn't
do that. He was God, but he didn't exploit his
place. And this whole picture of this donkey
and connecting him to this prophecy in Zechariah.
It's portraying him to the people. His position
as king and his character as a humble servant.
Like that song we sang during worship, he is
the humble king. He is the one that sets the
example of humility for us to follow, and he's
very, very unlike the kings of this world. People
who want to try and solidify their glory and
their power forever, and they want to keep people
under a thumb of oppression. Now, when he sent
his disciples out to get the donkey, very specifically,
he says this interesting phrase. If anybody asks
you why you're taking it, tell them the Lord
needs it. Now, why is this an interesting phrase
to me? Now, yes, we could say, well, he needed
it to fulfill prophecy, right? And sure, that
makes sense. But the reason it's an interesting
phrase to me is we don't or we shouldn't think
of God needing anything. Does God need anything?
No, he's God Almighty. He created the entire
universe. And his disciples who had been walking
with him for three years, watching his miracles,
excuse me, had come to see and believe that he
is God in the flesh, right? And so this man,
Jesus, is now telling them, hey, I want you to
go into the town. I want you to find this donkey,
and the owners are going to ask you, why are
you taking my donkey? And I want you to tell
them effectively, the omniscient, almighty, powerful
God who created this universe and everything
in it needs your donkey. It's kind of weird,
right? It's like, what is he trying to get out
of here? What is he trying to communicate? Especially
when we have verses like this, Acts chapter 17,
verse 24. It says, the God who made the world
and everything in it, he is the Lord of heaven
and earth. He does not live in shrines made by
hands, neither is he served by human hands as
though he needed anything, since he himself gives
everyone life and breath and all things. Right?
And we're like, of course. You know, we talk
about this in our generosity. God doesn't need
our money. Our giving, our generosity is for
us, for our hearts, right? When we give of our
time, it's like God doesn't need our time. He
can snap his fingers. He didn't even have to
do that. Just think a thought, and whatever he
wants to happen will happen. So why is it that
he says things like this? What it tells me is
that our God in heaven, who came to this earth
and lived his whole life as a man, who is now
entering into this city on this particular day
to proclaim himself as king, is communicating
to his disciples, I want to partner with humanity.
I want to partner with you. You are the people
who believe in me, and I'm making an assumption
there about this donkey owner, but I want you
to participate in the work of me building my
kingdom. I want you to participate in the work
that I have to do in this world. You see, you
look through the Gospels, and you see Jesus,
who is God Almighty, say this many different
times. He says to Peter, I need your boat. He
says to, when the crowds were gathered there,
and he goes, I need your five loaves and fish.
He said to this guy, Joseph of Mathea, I need
your tomb for the weekend. Right? He could have
manifested a donkey, manifested a boat, manifested
without five loaves and fish, manifested a tomb
for him to die and resurrect in, but he didn't.
He chose to partner with us. And he still chooses
to partner with us to accomplish his work here
on earth. That's why leading up to Easter and
Christmas and really every Sunday, but these
two holidays of the church, we say, hey, these
are great opportunities for you to do your part
in the partnership of building the kingdom, which
is simply invite friends and family to come to
church with you on Easter because they're going
to hear the gospel. And you know, you believe
the gospel changes lives because it's changed
your life. Right? That's why we say partner.
Can the Lord get them here on his own? Yes, he
can. But he wants to partner with you. He wants
to work with us. He wants us to be a part of
that work with him. And so today, you know, what
we learn from the story here, and it's in every
telling of the triumphal entry. And that tells
me that it's an important thing that today. When
God is looking to do his work in this world and
he looks among us, his people, his disciples,
he's like, look, I need that guitar. I need that
car. I need that computer you got. I need the
resources you have. I need your time. I need
your money. And we go, God doesn't need anything
from us. He doesn't, but he wants us to give
it. He wants us to give it in acknowledgement
of who he is in our acknowledgement of partnership
and his work in this world. He wants our voice.
He says, I want those hands. I need those feet.
He's like, I need that skill that you have, that
ability you have. And he doesn't say those things
because he's incapable of accomplishing his will
without it. He says it because he wants to accomplish
his will with you and through you. And it's a
beautiful thing. Now, when God says, hey, Nathan,
I need your, you know, scratchy voice this Sunday
morning. I'm like, God, there's other people
with better voices today. And he's like, no,
I need you to just obey me and do what I'm calling
you to do. And I'm like, okay, Lord. You know,
and he's gonna call different people to do different
things. I need you to come to church and pray
with that one person today. I'm like, God, come
on, you could speak to them. No, but I need you.
I want you to do it. I want you to come be a
part of the work that I'm doing. And so they
did it. They got the donkey. They threw the clothing
on the donkey. They helped him up. And then they
proceeded down towards Jerusalem. And this is
the moment that we refer to as the triumphal
entry. Verse 36. As he was going along, they
were spreading their clothes on the road. Now
he came near the path down the Mount of Olives,
and the whole crowd of disciples began to praise
God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles
they had seen. Now there in Luke, it tells us
that it was a whole crowd of disciples. If you
go into the other gospels in John 12, Matthew
21, and Mark 11, their stories, their narratives
about this same moment, they'll use words like
a large crowd was there, a very large crowd was
there, many people were there, right? And then
here it says whole crowd of disciples. It tells
us that it wasn't just the 12 disciples following
him down this road into Jerusalem. It was all
kinds of people. Now, a large contingent of this,
it tells us in, I believe it's the Gospel of
John, are people that saw him raise Lazarus from
the dead, and they're just like, he's it, he's
the guy. We're with Jesus now, right? So they're
following him. They're putting their clothes
on the road. And that was something that was
just an acknowledgement of someone's kingly authority,
right? It was a great sign of respect. It was
a sign of people saying, everything we have is
yours. We're acknowledging your authority, your
power. And so by laying the clothes on the ground,
that's what they were doing as Jesus was coming
across on this donkey. Now, Luke doesn't include
the detail of palm branches, but Matthew, Mark,
and John do. And that's kind of where we get
the idea of Palm Sunday from, right? That whole
idea comes from is the people were waving these
palm branches as Jesus was coming down the road.
150 years prior to this story we're reading about,
the Maccabees, which were a Jewish people, revolted
against Syrian control over Israel at that time.
And so when they revolted, big battle, they end
up liberating Jerusalem. And when the warriors
came back to Jerusalem, the people were all waving
palm branches back and forth. And so the palm
branch came to be known as a symbol of deliverance,
right? and that's why the people are waving the
palm branches now, because they're like, Jesus,
he's the coming king. He's the one that's going
to bring victory. He's the one that's going to
deliver us. He is our deliverer. Now, they were
all very excited for him to do that, right? The
people had been under the oppression of Rome.
There was, you know, misconduct among the Pharisees.
I mean, it's just the people were like, ah, they
were in bondage. Not only were they still in
bondage to their sin, but they were in bondage
to the law. And it was just heavy, heavy oppression.
So verse 37 again, this whole crowd began to
praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all
the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heaven, they say. Now
remember the prophecy in Zechariah 9 .9, it started
this way. Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. Shout
in triumph, daughter Jerusalem. And that's exactly
what's being fulfilled here, as it tells us in
Luke, that they praised God joyfully with a loud
voice. Now, I do love how that says loud voice
there. It doesn't say on key voice, right? Worship
God, regardless of how you feel about your voice
and stuff. When we have times of worship, sing
out to him. He is worthy of that praise. And
so what they're shouting and singing is, blessed
is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
This is a line that comes from what is called
the Hallel Psalms. It's Psalms 113 through 118.
And in these Psalms, this phrase comes up, blessed,
blessed is the king who comes in the name of
the Lord. And so what they're doing is they're
quoting this. It was a very common phrase. It
was chanted at the end of the Passover meal.
It was... Chanted at the Feast of Tabernacles.
And so here they're chanting it again, but they
changed it just slightly in acknowledgement and
enthusiasm of who they believe Jesus to be. You
see, in Psalm 118, it says, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord. But here they
changed it to, blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord. So they're saying right
out now, public knowledge. And Jesus isn't telling
them to be quiet. Why? Because this is the truest
truth of all truths ever in truism. That make
sense? I just made that up. It's true. It's the
greatest truth that's ever been told, that he
is the king. He is the deliverer. He is the innocent,
victorious Messiah. And so they're proclaiming
this all to the people, and now... When we go
into the Gospel of Matthew and John, we see that
there was also something else they said a part
of this loud proclamation. They said, Hosanna
to the Son of David. They said, Hosanna in the
highest heaven. Now, that's how we know Hosanna
is the right church. No, just kidding. Don't
quote that. We'll cut that out of the video,
right? Hosanna, what does this phrase mean? It's
the namesake of our church. We are Hosanna Christian
Fellowship. Why? Because it means save now. Other
renditions will say save us now. So what these
people were saying as they're waving these palm
branches, laying down their clothes, proclaiming
him as king, as they're saying, Hosanna. Save
us, son of David. You are the Davidic king. Blessed
is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
You are the one we've been waiting for. You are
the fulfillment of the prophecy. You are the
one riding on the donkey. Come, deliver us. The
people clearly saw Jesus as their king and deliverer.
Problem was, is it wasn't in the way they thought.
Let's move on. Verse 39, some of the Pharisees
from the crowd told him, teacher, Rebuke your
disciples. He answered, I tell you, if they were
to keep silent, the stones would cry out. Right?
Some Pharisees are out there saying, they're
proclaiming you as king. They're linking you
to Zechariah 9. That's blasphemy. Rebuke them.
You know, the idea of rebuking is this strong
disapproval by admonishing. Now, why are they
telling him to do this? Because... Many things
are like, oh, it's a violation of the law. But
really, they were the ones who were the elite
of the society. They were the ones who had the
high positions and got the high seats and got
the best place at the table. And now this man
who they've been hearing about his miracles going,
he's threatening us. Now he's coming into the
very heart of their kingdom, if you will, coming
into Jerusalem where the temple's at, and all
the people are proclaiming him as the king, as
the highest authority. And the Pharisees were
completely threatened by that. They were completely
threatened, and so they go, hey, teacher, right?
You're nothing else but a teacher. You're just
a rabbi. Rebuke them. And again, I love Jesus'
response. They're proclaiming the truest truth
that has ever been spoken. If I tell them to
stop, creation itself will start crying out this
truth. And I love that. You know, I think I've
said this every year at Palm Sunday, but years
ago, me and Pastor Ron, we thought, you know,
we want to get some animatronic rocks on the
stage, right, that open up, like little eyeballs
on them. And so when there's a Sunday where everybody's
just kind of tired and we're doing worship and
everybody's just kind of sitting there, and we
just hit a button and the rocks start singing,
right? I always thought that would be cool, but
then some people went, that might be offensive.
And I'm like, okay. So we didn't do it. But the
rocks would cry out. Why? It tells us in Romans
that the creation has been groaning. Romans 8,
creation is groaning as it waits to be released,
to be set free from the curse that sin has brought
upon creation. You see, we go all the way back
to Genesis. We studied this. God created the
heavens and the earth as perfect. No decay, no
entropy. Things did not die. And then we sinned,
and death entered the world. And ever since then,
God's creation He's going, please release us
from this curse. And so, Jesus at this exact
moment, this exact time, this exact day, month,
year, it's all a divine appointment set before
creation. And it was so important that what was
divinely appointed to happen in this moment,
this proclamation of who Jesus was, was not stopped,
could not be stopped. But in all the joy and
the celebration and the parade and the proclamation,
as joyous as that was, it was all underscored
by a wrong expectation of the people. Because
Jesus, at the time of his entry, the Jewish people
were greatly desiring deliverance from Rome.
Rome was the world power of the day. Rome didn't
care a whole lot about their faith or religion,
but Rome would come in and say, okay, fine, we'll
let you still do your Jewish stuff, but you have
to pay taxes to us and you have to do all this
stuff. And it was very, very oppressive. And
so they, knowing Zechariah 9 -9, had been expecting
for generations the king to arrive who was going
to be righteous and victorious. But for them,
victorious meant over their earthly condition,
over their physical outward oppressors. That's
what they wanted victory over. This is not what
Jesus came to be victorious over. Jesus came
to be victorious over the spiritual inward oppressors,
Satan, ourselves, our own flesh, our fallen nature.
That is what Jesus came to deal with. But they
were like, no, no, no. Don't tell me to change
my life. Just fix everything outside of me. Deliver
me from my boss who's a punk. Deliver me from
this situation. There's even people within the
church. God, deliver me from my spouse. What?
Deliver me from my kids. They're filled with
the devil. Deliver me from these friends. Just
change everything outside of me. If I could only
win the lottery, life would be so much better.
And Jesus is like, you know what the problem
is with all of that? You are still you in every
situation. Regardless if I change the boss, the
job, the business, the family, you are still
you. And that is the problem that Jesus came
to fix. But that wasn't the problem or the issue
that the people wanted Jesus to fix. And so they're
praising him. You're the king. You're the deliverer.
You're the victorious one. Over Rome. Not my
heart. Over religious oppression, but not my
heart. And sadly, many from the same exact crowd
that are now proclaiming him, you're the king,
you're the deliverer, waving palm branches, in
merely a week's time are going to be in the middle
of a different crowd. Instead of saying, Hosanna,
save now, blessed is the king who comes in the
name of the Lord, they're gonna be in a different
crowd saying, crucify him, crucify him. And that's
what we'll be looking at on Friday. But you see,
there's many in this world today that love to
praise God in anticipation of him giving them
what they want. They love to praise God for that,
but they'll turn a corner when he gives them
what they need instead of what they want. Right?
So often we'll have times where, and this has
come up through our genesis of study over and
over, that we'll struggle with, you know, oh,
I'm sinning and I've done bad and God must be
mad at me. And we're like, no, God loves you.
You're his kid. Consequences are going to happen.
Yeah, but he loves you. Oh, no. But we think
we have this transactional relationship. So,
you know, if I do 10 good things to offset my
10 bad things, well, then me and God are back
to... Back to level. And then so if I do five
more good things past that, boom, I'm in the
positive realm of spiritual blessing. And that's
not how it works. God's like, I love you, you're
my kid no matter what. You put faith in me, I've
attributed righteousness to you. Now, I'm living
within you, let's work together to live a righteous
life. But we think these transactions take place
and so what happens is we find ourselves in situations
where we're like, okay, God, I'm having a good
run here, right? I'm resisting sin. I'm reading
my Bible every day. I'm doing this. And Lord,
I know because I'm doing this, that thing I've
been praying for is gonna happen. And God's like,
what do you mean? Aren't you doing it just for
me? Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. But really, that
thing, that thing I want. And God is constantly
trying to teach us that we are to obey him, to
love him, to worship him, to serve him simply
because he is who he is. He is our God. He is
our savior. He saved our souls. And so we don't
want to just worship him when there's something
on the other side. Now, is it wrong to have hopes
and dreams? No, not at all. But God does say,
let me know about those things. But be true in
your worship of me, right? But the people here,
we want you to kick Rome's butt, so we're worshiping
you right now. Woo -hoo, Jesus is my Lord and
my Savior. I'm going to serve you. You have my
everything. Here's my cloak on the road. Yet
so many of us, when we don't get the thing we
want, we go, give me my cloak back. I ain't worshiping
you this week. What? Right? So, worship. Proclamation
of him, it's not something we do to butter God
up, to get our way, right? It's not something
we do to impress him in the sense of influencing
him to get what we want, not at all. It's simply
to honor him for who he is. He deserves it. That's
it. Doing right because it's right is right.
Doing right because we hope to get something
because we did the right as a reward, wrong motivation.
Worship is simply to honor him, to say thanks
for what he's given us. And, you know, true worship
here, the focus is not what I want on the other
side. The focus is on God purely and solely and
only, who he is. It's not on me. It's not on
what I want. It's not on my tradition. It's not
on how I think it should be or my method, right?
This is what the Pharisees are all upset about.
No, no, no, you're doing this all wrong. Tell
them to shut up. He's like, I can't do that.
Because what they're doing is right. And right
is always right to do. We know that not everybody
in this crowd was worshiping the king simply
because he was the king, and that is the sad
part of this story. Many of that crowd either
ignored their true need, which was a spiritual
change, or simply didn't know they needed that
change. But either way, Jesus was showing up
to do that. That was the victory he was bringing
on Palm Sunday. And when the people didn't get
it, it broke his heart. Look at verse 41. As
he approached the city, he wept for it, saying,
if you knew this day what would bring peace,
but it is now hidden from your eyes. With Jerusalem
in front of him, right, coming down the slope
of the Mount of Olives, those whole crowd of
disciples praising and proclaiming him as the
king and Hosanna and throwing their cloaks down
and waving the palm branches, all of this, he
begins to cry. Now, yeah, there's some of us
in this room that'd be like, well, when Jesus
hears me sing, he would cry too. But that's not
what's going on here. This is the second time
we've seen Jesus weep in the Bible. First time
was when his friend Lazarus died. When he was
there at the tomb and he cried because he loved
Lazarus. He was his friend. But the word there
in the Greek that it used for Jesus weeping is
kind of like... quiet tears, as we would call
it. Like he's kind of just, you know, sobbing
within himself in grief. The word used here in
the Greek is a very different Greek word. It
means to cry freely and profusely, to wail. The
modern terminology we use for this type of thing
is ugly crying, right? Like the tears, the snot,
the whole, you're just convulsing because you're
so overwhelmed with grief. And it's a very public
thing. People could see and go, wow, they're
upset. They're truly upset. And so I imagine
what the crowd is thinking. Yay, Hosanna, blessed
is he. Why is he crying? Is he overcome? Are
those happy tears? No, they weren't happy tears.
It was because he knew that their expectation
of what he was coming to do was very different
than what he was actually coming to do. What
they wanted was very different than what they
needed. And so he knew that they would reject
the real victory that he was bringing. You see,
when God changes your heart, you can live under
oppression with peace. When God changes your
heart, you can deal with that difficult boss
in peace. God gives you a supernatural ability.
When God changes your heart, when God comes in,
the things that irritate you in your relationships,
well, they don't irritate you that much anymore.
Because the love of God is flowing through your
heart, and when it flows through your heart,
it affects everything outside of you. But if
everything outside of you changed, that does
nothing to change your heart. That's why the
law didn't work for Israel. Well, if I go do
this sacrifice, I go do this outward thing, I'm
good. But their heart never changed. And Jesus
is coming to change the heart. That is the victory,
and the people didn't get it. They were focused
on the temporal. They were focused on the material
as if that is all that life is about. You know,
and we think that so much. If we could just change
the outside enough, my life would be different.
It's our hearts that are desperately wicked.
We may think our boss is desperately wicked,
and that might be true. But the problem is our
hearts are desperately wicked. We are selfish.
We are self -centered. We are of number one first.
That's what it comes down to. And the only one
who could change here is Jesus Christ. It's not
new governments or new laws or different rules
or cultural acceptance or any of that. None of
that addresses the heart issue. And that's why
the Bible tells us that when we come to Jesus
and we say, okay, Jesus, do your work in my life,
he pulls out this heart of stone and gives us
a heart of flesh. He tells us that our spirit
that is dead is born again, made alive, now connected
to God and going, God, I can hear you, I can
see you, I can feel you. And God's like, yeah,
because you're alive to me now. The people here,
they didn't understand that true peace comes
only through this saving relationship with Jesus
Christ. And so as Jesus is looking down the slope
of the Mount of Olives, looking inwards to the
hearts of the people, weeping over their wrong
expectations, seeing their future rejection of
him and what he came to do, still clinging to
their outward religion, still proclaiming their
faith in their temple and all of their rights
in their Judaism, He looks ahead 40 years and
he sees the result of the rejection of him. Read
with me in verse 43. For the days will come on
you when your enemies will build a barricade
around you, surround you and hem you in on every
side. They will crush you and your children among
you to the ground and they will not leave one
stone on another in your midst because you did
not recognize the time when God visited you.
And this happened, we know this. August 9th,
70 AD, There was a time where the Jewish people
were starting to rise up against Rome, right?
Jesus didn't do it, so we're going to do it ourselves.
And Rome's like, our army's bigger than yours.
And so Titus, the Roman general, surrounded Jerusalem
with his army. And one of the first things they
did is build a wall around that city, barricading
it as Jesus just prophesied. Now, they showed
up and did this during Passover time, so the
city was packed with people. And what's interesting
is historically it tells us that the Romans were
letting people go into the city, but wouldn't
let any come out. Right? You can imagine that.
You're Jewish, you're going to Jerusalem for
the Passover. Oh, hey, the Romans are here. They're
like, hey, I don't go on in. And then they won't
let you leave. And as the population of the city
swelled, the food stores ran out, the water stores
ran out, people began to starve. And the Romans
just held the wall. People were dying in such
mass numbers that they couldn't even burn the
bodies, so they were just throwing them over
the walls of Jerusalem. The siege lasted from
this time all the way through the end of summer.
And then at the end of summer, Titus finally
gave the order. He said, level the city. Kill
everybody. But Titus said, leave the temple intact.
Interesting. So during the attack, the people
of Jerusalem were crushed, as Jesus just prophesied.
The people and the children. were crushed as
the soldiers just went through and slaughtered.
And because the town was so full of people, people
would fall down and just get trampled as people
were trying to get away from the attack. And
as the histories tell us, that as the soldiers
were just leveling the city and burning everything,
there was one drunken soldier who believed he
had a divine message that was given to him. And
so the message said, throw this torch into the
temple. And he did. And that torch went into
the temple, and the veil caught fire, and everything
in that temple started to burn. And as that temple
was burning, Titus himself tried to get soldiers
to put it out. But during this time, the soldiers
are now in such a blood frenzy and looting and
pillaging and killing that he couldn't control
his own soldiers. And the flames that were now
burning in the temple got so hot that all the
gold in the temple, the golden menorah and the
golden implements and all of this stuff, this
elaborate place of God's holiness, the gold melted
and got into the cracks between the stones that
made up the temple. And the soldiers, consumed
with such bloodlust and goldlust now, actually
tore the temple down stone by stone to get at
the gold that had melted in between the cracks,
fulfilling Jesus' prophecy that there would be
not one stone left upon another. Jesus sees all
of this as he's coming down the Mount of Olives.
He sees their present, he sees their future,
and he weeps. And it's the same today, this morning,
here in this church. And in every church around
the world that is celebrating this day, Jesus
sees into each one of our lives. He sees your
present. He sees your future. He knows the decisions
you're making, and he sees the result of those
decisions. He sees every choice. Now, for some
of us, he's rejoicing. Good job. Good choices.
Right on. I see the molding that you're letting
me do in your life and the fruits and I could
see into the future. Oh, praise God, that's exactly
what I wanted. For others, he's looking into
our life and he's weeping because maybe he sees
you today on the road waving that palm branch.
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna to the son of
David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord. No, no, no. Blessed is the king who
comes in the name of the Lord. But then as Jesus
looks into your heart, he sees that tomorrow
you're going to put that palm branch down. You're
going to pick up your cloak off the road. And
you're going to continue to live in disobedience
to him. But you're going to keep coming to church
and keep doing things and just keep thinking,
you know, I'm not, there's nothing wrong with
me. If Jesus changed everything outside of me,
it would be good. And Jesus is weeping for your
life, weeping for your soul. The answer, the
solution, the hope is to give your life to Jesus,
to let him change the inside. You see, that's
where he works, from the inside out, not the
outside in. He's not going to go make everything
pretty on the outside and wear an audacious crown
and robe and all this stuff and stand up there
and say, I am emperor, look at me. The Bible
says he had no place to lay his head. You think
Jesus could have just went, poof, five star in
with a really good continental breakfast? Of
course he could have done that. But he humbled
himself to come live as one of us, to come experience
everything we experienced. So that when he said,
trust in me, I will change your heart, there
would be no question that he is the answer. He's
not proud. He's a king unlike any king that has
ever existed on this earth. He's humble. He cares
about you, the real you, because he knows if
he could change that, everything outside of you
will change as well. Now, there are some here
that have walked with Jesus for some time, right?
We've been transformed by his love. We've experienced
his salvation. We're born again. We get it. We're
redeemed by his sacrifice. We've learned to hear
his voice. We've learned to follow his leading
as the Holy Spirit talks to us. And even when
he says, go get that donkey, we're like, that
makes no sense, Jesus, but I'm going to do it
anyways. And he just wants to keep partnering
with you. And so keep partnering with him. When
he says, go, go. When he says, do, do. When he
says, stop, stop. Let him flow through your life.
Learn to make him the soul. priority of your
life. And then he'll speak through your changing
heart to go, hey, I need to do this to care about
these people and do this. And he can do that.
And we celebrate that work in our lives. We praise
his holy name in worship. And so I challenge
all of you this morning that when we close in
worship today, I challenge all of you to worship
him. Don't keep silent. Shake the walls of this
building with your praise to God. Off key or
not, because God deserves it. God is worth it.
And we'll have words on the screen, so don't
worry about not knowing the words. The Bible
says make a joyful noise, okay? We're gonna do
that. But some of you are here this morning,
maybe you're like the Pharisees. You're this
person that, when other believers are full of
joy and excited, it just highlights the joyless
faith that you walk in, right? They seem so free.
They seem so just alive. And you're like, well,
I'm always grumpy and I'm always critical of
people. And let this Palm Sunday be a reminder
of why Jesus came for you, what he did for you,
what he wants to do for you. He wants you to
drop the cold trappings of legalistic religion.
He wants you simply to learn how to enter into
the joy of your salvation, the joy that you have
in Christ. And then there's some of you this
morning, This may be your first time at church,
whether here or online. You may have been attending
for a while, but you're still in the place of
seeing God as a cosmic vending machine. Oh yeah,
I'm gonna read, I'm gonna worship, but I'm only
gonna do it because there's something I want
on the other side. This isn't about my heart.
I'm a good person. I don't need salvation, but
God, there's this thing that I want you to do,
and so, oh yeah, I'll come. I'll proclaim you.
I don't mean it, but I'll say it out loud. Maybe
it's just to soften your guilt a little bit at
the life you lead. Well, I gotta come to church
and say this because, again, if I do 10 good
things, it'll offset the 10 bad things, and I'll
be good. But tomorrow, you're just gonna go back
to your normal way of living. You need to recognize
that God, Jesus Christ, is visiting you today.
Here in this room, here watching this stream,
Jesus is visiting you. This is what we celebrate
on Palm Sunday. And he's saying, look, your real
needs go far deeper than the external stuff.
The external circumstances around you, just a
tiny part of the issue. The issue is your heart.
You have no peace in life because you have no
peace with me. That is what Jesus is saying to
you today. You need to lay down your life before
him today. Just like these disciples laid down
their clothing saying, all I have is yours. That's
a picture of what you need to do spiritually.
mentally, emotionally, because he is God. You
yield your life to him and acknowledge him that
he is your king, he is your savior, he is your
deliverer from the inward problems, from the
sin that has so gripped your life and characterized
your life. He wants to save you personally. That's
why he came to Jerusalem. That's why in a week's
time he gave his life on the cross. That's why
just a few days after that, he rose from the
dead and he is alive forevermore today, speaking
to your heart. Let's pray. God, we're so grateful
for who you are. We're so grateful for your word
and the depth that it has, Lord, to understand
your heart, your ways. Lord, we know that you
came to change our hearts, and yet, Lord, we
can get so caught up in just expecting you to
change our outward circumstance. And yeah, Lord,
some of our outward circumstances are tough.
They're difficult. But God, it's a peace with
you that comes from being submitted to you that
allows us to have peace around us in whatever
the circumstance is. That is what we need, Lord.
We praise your holy name, God. We do proclaim
that you, the king, blessed are you. That God,
we would cling to Hosanna because you save now.
But God, we would do that in just purity and
the simpleness of just doing it because you are
you. God, we are so unworthy of what you've given
us. And what you've given us is so amazing. It
puts everything this world could offer to shame.
But Lord, as we're praying today, there may be
some people in this room, God, and you've been
speaking to this whole message. You've been knocking
on their heart. You've been pointing out the
things that you're like, hey, that's you. God,
and they know right now that you are. Speak into
their heart, and then they need to give their
life to you. And so, God, I pray for them. I
pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would break
down the lies of the devil and the resistance
of the flesh. That, God, that they would proclaim
you as their king, give their life to you as
their savior, their deliverer, God, and they
would be set free from the oppression of Satan
and set free from the oppression of sin. And
while we're praying right now, just all heads
bowed and eyes closed, if you're in this room
this morning, And God has spoken to your heart,
and you know that you need to give your life
to him. You need to be saved. You need to stop
living the lie. You need to stop pretending.
And God is telling you right now, looking straight
at you right now, looking into your soul, saying,
I love you. I'm not mad at you. I want to change
your heart. Let me do it. If there's anybody
in this room that you want to make that decision
to receive him this Palm Sunday morning, I just
want you to raise your hand where you're seated.
Just say, yes, I need him. God bless you. God
bless both of you. You too on the side there.
God bless you. Anybody else? God is knocking
on your heart today. I see you on the side. God
bless you as well. The Lord came to set you free.
Yes, he is king. He's also your friend. He loves
you so much. Anybody else in this room? I see
you in the back. I see you too. Anybody else?
God is speaking to you today. I see you on the
side. you in the back as well. This moment is
the moment of Jesus' visitation to you. If you're
watching online and God has spoken to your heart,
obviously I can't see you, but if you want to
receive the Lord, please let us know in the chat.
Just type into the chat, I want to receive Jesus.
Because in a moment, I'm going to pray with all
of you. And you are going to receive a salvation
that is unlike anything else you've ever experienced.
you're going to receive a freedom, a new heart.
You are going to be filled with the Holy Spirit
of promise to be different and to live different.
In this last moment here, is there anybody else
that you know you need to make this decision,
this commitment to Jesus Christ? Just raise your
hand high where I can see it, and I'll be praying
with you. All right, let's pray. Father God,
Lord, we're so blessed at who you are. God, we're
so humbled, Lord, that you see our sin. You see
our brokenness. You see our wickedness, God.
And yet, Lord, you still look at us with tears
in your eyes, Lord, saying, I love you so much.
Just come to me, and I will fix you. Lord, we
know that that means you'll fix our hearts. It
doesn't mean you're going to fix everything in
our circumstances around us, but you're going
to fix our heart, which ultimately fixes everything,
God. And so Lord, for those in this room this
morning and those watching online, God, they've
made a profession right here. They've raised
their hand to say, I need Jesus today. They've
recognized, God, that today is the day that you
are visiting them and they are here to receive
you as their Lord and Savior to change the brokenness
inside, to receive forgiveness for all of their
sin. And Lord, we rejoice. Your word tells us
that the entire host of heaven celebrate when
one person gets saved, God. And so this Palm
Sunday is a radical party going on up there.
Not a sinful party, but one that is just proclaiming
the glory of God. And so for those that raised
their hand in this room today, I want to pray
with you. And I just want you to kind of repeat
these words after me. There's no particular magic
in all the exact words or say it. This is about
meaning these words from your heart. But know
this, that God hears you. God is listening right
now. And so just pray with me. Say, Father God,
I know I've sinned against you. I know you're
here today to visit me. God, I ask that you would
come into my life. God, I ask that you would
save my soul. God, I ask. That you would make
me be born again. Give me a new heart. A heart
that can serve you and to love you, to know you.
God, I believe the truth of your word. Let me
be a person, God, who walks with you and worships
you and serves you simply because you are you.
And God, use me to share this truth with others.
Help me to be a better person. Help me to resist
temptation and sin. Lord, I know only you can
do the work. And so I yield myself, I submit
myself to you. Thank you for loving me so much.
Thank you for taking the time to visit me today.
It is in your name, Jesus Christ, God in the
flesh, I pray these things today. Amen. Well,
God bless you guys. You know, if you raise your
hand today to receive the Lord, like I said,
the entire hosts of heaven are celebrating. The
devil is ticked off because he lost a few other
ones. Your life is forever different from this
day forward. Now we want to help you on this
relationship. We have some packets up front.
We call them our new believers packets. They're
also out in the back as you're leaving today.
Please make sure you pick up one of them, okay?
It's just an encouragement and resources to help
you now on this relationship, to learn how to
talk to God, to learn how to let God talk to
you through his word, to worship him and to proclaim
him because he has saved your soul. Glory, hallelujah
on that, amen. Guys, we have an opportunity this
week to take this hope that is within us, to
share it with others. Because this Friday, we
celebrate Good Friday. We celebrate the death
of Jesus Christ, the thing that happened that
paid the price for our sin. But beyond that,
Sunday morning, we're going to celebrate the
resurrection of our Lord and Savior. That changed
everything. So take this week to worship God,
to know him more, and to tell others. Invite
others to church next week. Because I believe
God is going to do a mighty harvest. God is working
in our world today. God is changing people's
hearts. And we just get to be a part of it. Let's
stay in partnership with him. Amen? God bless
you guys.