All right, well, beautiful singing and welcome to Redfield Church. I’ve not met you. My name is Aaron and I’m the preaching pastor here. And glad you’re with us. I know a number are with us today because of the wedding that’s coming up later on this afternoon.
So we’re glad that you’re here to worship the Lord Jesus with us before you head down to Janesville for that wedding. So if you have a Bible with you, open up to the Gospel of Luke.
Today’s texture study is going to come From Luke chapter 19, And I’m going to be working verses 28 through 48. But for this time here, I’m just going to read the back half of verse 29 through 36. So Luke 19, if you don’t have a Bible with you, there are Bibles scattered throughout the pews on page 5 12. And as you open your Bible, please keep them open. So we do a style of preaching here called expository preaching.
Within that, we just go verse by verse, kind of all the way through the text. So if I read the text, don’t put the Bible away, keep it out these. We’re going to work through it through the text throughout the sermon. So let me read the sacred word and then we’ll pray and ask the Lord’s blessing on this time. So Luke 19, starting the back half of verse 29 through 36.
So God’s word says he sent two of his disciples saying, go into the village in front of you, where on entering you’ll find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat, and tie it and bring it here. If you want to ask you, why are you untying it, you say, you shall say this. The Lord is of need of it. So those who sent went away and found it just as he told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, why are you untying the colt?
And they said, the Lord is in need of it. And they brought it to Jesus. And throwing their cloaks on the cloak on the colt, they sat Jesus on it and he rode along. They spread their cloaks on the road. Okay, that’s God’s word for us this morning.
Would you please pray with me, Lord, it’s good to be here, Lord. It’s good to be around your word. So, God, I pray for the glory of Jesus Christ, you would bless the preaching of your word. Please help me to communicate your word. Well, rightly divide your word of truth.
Pray your spirit would open up ears. So we would hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, including our church here this morning. And please just make much of Christ praise on his name. Amen. So when it comes to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, where the Word became flesh to dwell among us.
So the vast majority of his life revolved around people just not getting it. Where perhaps at times he seemed close to getting it, but the end just did not get it. So just think about all the events surrounding the birth of Jesus where really his first earthly parents at first did not get it. Where in Luke 1, Mary didn’t get it how she could be a child even though she was a virgin. Or when Jesus was a youth, 12 years old, he took a yearly trip to the temple.
And when he stayed behind, his parents just did not get it that he desired to stay with his Heavenly Father in his Father’s house at the temple. We read about that in Luke 2. Jesus hometown of Nazareth, the small town that he grew up in, the people didn’t get it as they rejected him. You read about this in Luke 4, by the way. It’s not just Nazareth that rejected Jesus.
Towns all over the region rejected him as his own people did not receive him. The great John the Baptist, who Jesus said was the greatest born of a woman, didn’t always get Jesus. Like there’s one point where John sent some of his students to question Jesus if he really was the Christ or if there’s going to be someone else to come. So you can read about that in Luke 7. Jesus family, extended family, didn’t get it as they struggled to understand his ministry.
Even times they’re like rebuking, rejecting Jesus and his ministry. So you can read a little bit about that in Luke 8. The political leader of the day, Herod, didn’t get it as he was actually kind of perplexed about Jesus Christ on some levels. He was fascinated by Jesus Nazareth, while at the same time seeing Jesus as a threat. You read about that in Luke chapter nine.
The religious leaders of the day certainly did not get Jesus, as all throughout the Gospel accounts, the religious leaders would stand in opposition to him. You can actually read about this all throughout the Gospel of Luke. At times, even those closest to him, his disciples, those in his inner circle, didn’t get it as they misunderstood Jesus and why he came, which you can also read all throughout the Gospel of Luke. And this not getting of Jesus, I mean, this really characterizes his entire incarnation. In fact, so much of the Gospel of Luke which we are studying today, yes, at times people seemed to close or seem like they would least start to understand in part, yet they just would not get it.
And they prove to be so far away. Now, I mention this to you this morning because here we are to remember Palm Sunday. So it’s actually one of the few events that all four gospel accounts record, which is an event that for many throughout church history has been one of the favorite days to remember on the liturgical calendar. A day that certainly is appropriate to remember to celebrate. However, Palm Sunday really marks just another day that for many who were there on the first Palm Sunday, they just didn’t get it in a lot of ways.
A crowd that was present for the first Palm Sunday, they were close. As we worked through the text today, you can see multiple times they’re pretty close. They had things right. Yet as we worked through the passage, those present yet were still so far away. Okay, now before we get into the text, just some brief Context on Luke 19 and Palm Sunday, this passage, Palm Sunday, really kicks off what Christians refer to as Holy Week.
It’s like the most important week on the liturgical calendar, a week that starts with Palm Sunday. As Jesus enters into Jerusalem, it continues on to what is referred to as like, Maundy Thursday, where many Christians throughout history have taken time to remember, like the Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper that Jesus enjoyeth his disciples before he was betrayed. Which led to Good Friday, which we’ll be remembering this Friday at 7 if you’re interested, which takes time to remember the crucifixion, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then some Christian circles observe what’s called like, Holy Saturday or Easter Saturday. What’s a time meant to, like, to take, to contemplate Jesus being delivered over to death as his body laid in a tomb, which the day is meant to be like, marked by like, sadness.
And then finally, Holy Week ends in triumph with Resurrection Sunday or Easter of Jesus Christ rising again from the dead. Okay, now in the Context of Luke 19, before the start of Holy Week, Jesus was about to enter into Jerusalem to enter in for Palm Sunday. In Luke, we see that Jesus had his traveling ministry, that he’d go all over the region where he would preach and teach and heal. And this traveling ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ created like a huge buzz all around the region, which he did for many reasons. Particularly, there’s a growing interest in perhaps Jesus was indeed the long awaited Christ or the Messiah that was to come, the one who is promised throughout the Old Testament scriptures.
And this buzz, this growing interest surrounding the question of whether or not Jesus was indeed the Christ. This is something actually became pretty sharply disputed. We’re growing in number. We’re really hoping that indeed Jesus was the Christ. But also a growing number, particularly among the religious leaders, were vehemently denying that Jesus was the promised Christ.
So you can read through the Gospel of Luke and you can read a lot about the preaching, the teachings, the healings that Jesus Christ gave. But you can also read a lot about the growing dispute on whether or not Christ or Jesus was indeed the Christ. And this growing dispute, this is actually at a fever pitch in the context of our passage today. It’s a fever pits as Jesus was about to enter into Jerusalem, which is our passage, which Jesus did during the yearly passover, which meant that people from all over the region were all in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And on this first Palm Sunday, it appears a very high number who filled the city were indeed ready to proclaim Jesus was the long awaited Christ, their Messiah.
As we worked through our text today, we see that the large number, this great crowd, that they’re close, yet they’re so far away. Indeed, yes, Jesus is the Christ. He is a long waited Messiah. But the reason the crowd was so far away, they didn’t quite understand what that meant. In particular, they didn’t understand the mission that Jesus came on as the Christ which kept them so far away.
Okay, so that’s the introduction, if you please look back with me to verse 28 of the passage. Scripture is going to kind of walk through verse by verse. So verse 28 where we read when he meaning Jesus, when he said these things, which are things that relate to the context of passage, a teaching that Jesus Christ gave, which is a parable related to the faithfulness of God’s people, faithfulness that God’s honor. As Jesus gave this teaching, we read that it took place just outside of Jerusalem. If you look up a little bit in chapter 19, we see Jesus in a town called Jericho, which is to take maybe about a full day’s uphill walk to Jerusalem, like 8, 10 hours, something like that.
And this is where Jesus is headed in verse 28. So from there he went, going up to Jerusalem. And this up here is this reference like elevation as Jerusalem sits on a plateau of a mountain range. Verse 29. As Jesus starts to make his way, we see he drew near to Bethpage and Bethany, which were little villages just outside of Jerusalem, maybe a mile or two outside of the city to the east.
In our text from there you also see he was at a mount that is called Olivet. Which a place a lot of history tied to it, both in the Old and New Testament. Perhaps most famously, this is the home of the Garden of Gethsemane, which I’m sure you maybe have heard of, that one which sits on the foot of Mount Olives. So in our text from Mount Olives, we see how Jesus sent two of his disciples who were with him out on a mission, which is a mission to go to the village in front of you. And as you enter in, you’re going to see a colt that is tied up.
Your text tells us a young colt, one that no one has ever sat on in the text. As you find the colt, Jesus told disciples to untie it and bring it here, verse 31. And if anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Why are you untying the colt? You should just simply tell him this, that the Lord has need of it.
Now, this action here of Jesus giving his disciples this mission to bring him a colt like this is an indication that maybe our Lord is a little tired from all his travels. Travels, most likely he did on foot. So he’s pretty tired out. So he’s looking to maybe hitch a ride into Jerusalem by riding on a colt. So that’s not why Jesus asked for a cult.
Rather, this mission, this bringing a colt to Jesus mission, was important for a few very connected reasons. So first, this cult gathering mission, this was to fill the Old Testament scriptures which includes a prophecy is given to a man prophet named Zechariah concerning the promised Christ who was to come. And this prophet was trying to give this prophecy to help God’s people to identify their Messiah. So Zechariah says this in chapter nine, it says, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout out loud, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he. Now how we identify him? He will be humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, he declared over and over again how he came to fulfill the scripture. And this includes this passage here in Zechariah, Jesus is about to ride on a donkey or a colt into Jerusalem.
Second, the riding of a colt seems to be picking up on two cultural pictures by bringing them together into one. So the first picture of riding on a colt, so this is a picture of humility, as Zechariah does tell us, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. But then the second picture of a colt is actually that of a king. What Zechariah also mentions in historical context, kings, particularly conquering kings, what they would do is they ride on colts after a ministry or a military victory. And this is a way to like claim their victory, to reaffirm their kingly status.
So that’s the picture here of Jesus on this cult. Jesus is declaring that he is the humble yet victorious king. And third, let me briefly mention, there’s a few other characters in the Old Testament that wrote on colts. So maybe you remember this, maybe a little bit more obscure, but Moses actually rode in on a colt as he entered into Egypt to free God’s people from slavery. Solomon, King Solomon rode on a donkey into Jerusalem in First Kings as he’s about to sit on the throne, then backing up Genesis 49, maybe remember this one?
Remember how Jacob was blessing his 12 sons and he blessed his son Judah, which was a blessing that the Christ would come from his lineage. Jacob also said this about this. Christ says binding his foal to the vine and his donkey colt to the choice vine. So the Old Testament is filled with these pictures, these pictures of the Messiah riding on a cult. Okay.
By the way, one of my favorite passages in scriptures, and a couple chapters later, Luke 24. So after the resurrection, the Lord Jesus sat down a couple men on the road to Emmaus. And as Jesus sat with these men, he interpreted all the scriptures. How all the scriptures, including like this cult writing experience here, all these pictures are meant to point us to him in ways that we would believe. Okay, keep going.
The text, verse 35, the disciples went on their mission. We read that they found the cult they Jesus told them about. And as they found the colt, they did what was asked and they brought it to Jesus, doing so in ways that they threw their cloaks on the colt before Jesus sat on it. And then in verse 36, as Jesus rode on the colt, we see that the crowd then took their cloaks and spread them on the road as Jesus rode towards the city. Now this throwing of the cloaks, so this also is significant.
This is a gesture of honor to the person on the colt. This is one of showing that person is of great significance. Back in the Old Testament, a very similar gesture was done for a man named Jehu as cloaks were laid down before him as he became king, which you can read about in 2nd Kings 9. John’s gospel also records that as Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, it wasn’t just cloaks were laid down. As you may remember, palm branches were laid down, which is where we get Palm Sunday from.
As Palms are also symbols of like celebration and victory. But for our purposes today in the sermon in Luke. So right here, this is like disciples, the crowd putting down the cloaks. This is like a picture. Like it seems like they’re getting, seems like they’re getting the significance.
What’s taking place here as Jesus was coming into Jerusalem to be their king, their long awaited Messiah. In many ways that’s what the gesture is proclaiming. They’re proclaiming that Jesus is the long awaited Christ. Keep going. Verse 37.
We take your Isaiah more explicitly, more explicitly to make this proclamation of Jesus being the Christ. We read that as Jesus is drawing near to Jerusalem, where he already made his way down from Mount Olives just outside the city, so a whole multitude of disciples began rejoicing and praising God, doing so with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they have seen, saying in verse 38, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Another gospel accounts record this event. We learn it was just the whole multitude disciples rejoiced and praise God over Jesus. But there’s a loud raucous crowd all throughout Jerusalem, all throughout the area, rejoicing and praising God over Jesus Christ.
As the crowd cried out to Jesus, hosanna. Hosanna in the highest with these cries, or actually prayers, as a crowd cried out, prayed to God to save them from high, from on high, through Jesus Christ, which is what the word hosanna means. Save us. So once again, face level the disciples, the crowd, everyone is getting it. Everyone is recognizing, proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ.
Well, not everyone. He’s Also reading verse 39, the religious leaders called the Pharisees. We read how they continue to reject Jesus as a Messiah. As some of the Pharisees who are in the crowd crowd cried out to Jesus, saying to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples. Tell them to stop with their praises.
Tell them to stop with this declaration of you being the Christ. By this here, this rebuke. This is religious leaders also in some ways kind of getting it. Like they are understanding the picture of Jesus on the cult. They understand what the crowd is declaring with their cloaks and the cries of hosanna.
In a sense they got it. This is Jesus being declared the long awaited Messiah. They understood, yet they proved to be so far away as they fully rejected that which was being declared, you know, for us just maybe to get a better sense what’s taking place here in this first Palm Sunday. So in your mind’s eye, maybe Just see Jesus on a colt winding his way down from Mount Olive into Jerusalem. See people lying in the streets, see them shouting their praises at a fever pitch in minds.
I see like maybe the Pharisees trying to hush the crowd through rebukes and threats and curses, only for our Lord to ride by where the Pharisees were. So the Pharisees turn from the crowd, they channel all their energy to now rebuke, threaten and curse our Lord. We’re going to talk about this more in just a second, but in our mind’s eye, this Palm Sunday, this is a passion filled scene. We’re in the scene in this text after Jesus was rebuked by the Pharisees. We see that Jesus answered back to them from the cold in verse 40 by saying to the Pharisees, I tell you, if these here were silent in the crowd, if they were silent, the very stones of the city would raise up and cry out in mountain their place.
And this tone here from our Lord as he said this to the Pharisee, I don’t think this is some type of like quiet, sheepish response, brother. This is a strong rebuke from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Jesus strongly chastising the Pharisees for having the audacity to rebuke him. Now once again in our mind’s eye, you know, I think when we think about Palm Sunday and Jesus riding on a colt, cloaks, putting, putting down palm, palm branches, putting down in our mindset, what we might see is maybe some type of like neat, nice, organized like holly or holiday type parade where we might see like maybe people line the streets and in lawn chairs and set up along the parade route where they sat with their little families, where they, they’re kind of patiently waiting, maybe a little bit of quiet conversation among themselves as they’re looking forward to the time when the Lord is about to ready to go past them on the parade route, whereas they passionately waiting, maybe they’re like talking among themselves, like talking like, how great would it be if we could see him and wave to him? And how even greater it would be if maybe like he would catch our eye and wave to us in return.
That that’s not the scene here. This, this is a fever pitch. This is loud, this is chaotic. This is filled with passion. This is emotions running hot.
This is people like crowded in tight corners, rowdy, raucous. I’m sure there’s pushing, shoving, yelling, shouting, some shouting praises to the Lord, others shouting spiteful things at the Lord. This is the Pharisees I’m sure not just verbally rebuking the crowd, but maybe even physically rebuking them. In this rowdy, raucous scene, there would have been, like, Roman soldiers all over, who I’m sure were filled with nerves of a riot breaking out, where I’m sure the soldiers also were, like, trying to push back the crowds. Friends, this Palm Sunday scene that kicks off Holy Week, this actually was like an absolute powder cake ready to explode, as many were ready to anoint Jesus as their Messiah.
I was. Keep going. Verse 41, read, as Jesus drew near and saw the city of Jerusalem, we read that he didn’t jump on the passion of the crowd, where he’s like, waving them on, or he’s both feeding off their excitement as well as, like, pumping them up to add to their excitement. Rather, we see as this is happening, the emotion that Jesus is filled with was actually one that caused him to weep. And this is in tears of joy.
You know, he’s just so overcome with joy as he saw the crowd shouting praises towards him. Were he so filled with excitement to be back in the Holy City. Rather, these tears that Jesus wept over Jerusalem, these are tears for the sad sadness, despair, sorrow, heartbreak. And we know these are the types of tears our Lord shed because of what he said in verse 42. If you take your eyes there, would that you, Jerusalem, even you, had known on of these of this day, things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes, meaning our Lord wept.
Because even though the people gave their praises, even though in the sense they’re declaring with words and even actions that Jesus was the Messiah, as if many, if not most of the crowd was close, Jesus could see in their hearts, and he could see they were still so far away, they were blind.
The reason why they’re so far away, they didn’t understand the mission that Jesus was on, the mission that Christ came to fulfill, which is a mission of peace. Which, by the way, maybe ironically, Jerusalem basically means a city of peace. Here it is the city to understand the mission of peace the Messiah was about to bring. So many throughout church history have pointed out for Jerusalem the hope that they have for the Messiah, the mission they want him to be on, the peace they wanted him to bring was actually like a political or a military peace. They wanted him to be a military Messiah who would lead God’s people into some type of like, military conquest.
That’s the Messiah they wanted to anoint, where they specifically wanted Jesus to come and help them to overthrow the Roman government who ruled over the land. Doing so in ways he would re establish Israel as a political military force to restore Israel to his former political military glory that enjoyed centuries before when David and his son Solomon sat on the throne. That’s the peace that they wanted from Jesus as the Messiah.
But that was not the peace, the mission of peace that Jesus was on. He didn’t come to bring some type of earthly political military peace. Rather, the mission of peace that Jesus was on was of a far superior peace, a far greater mission. A mission to bring his people peace with God, which is a peace that is broken by sin that has conquered every one of our hearts. As sin not only separates us from a holy and just God, but it puts us at enmity with a holy and just God.
Because sin has conquered all of our hearts. There’s nothing we can do on our own to bring about peace with God. Friends, this peace that we need with God. That’s why the Lord Jesus Christ came to us. He came so that through him his mission, we can have peace with God.
So here in the scene, keep saying it. The crowd is close, had a lot of passion, a lot of knowledge. They certainly had some things right. Yet they were so far away. The hearts were blind to the truth of why Jesus came.
The peace that which he was about to bring, a far better, a far more important peace. Because the people were close, yet so far away in the passage, Jesus wept. And he wept in ways. In verse 42, Jesus also lamented as he lamented over Jerusalem and their blind hard hearts that kept them away from that which he truly needed. By the way, this wasn’t the first time that Jesus lamented over Jerusalem.
Luke 13 also records that Jesus lamented for the same basic reason. By the way, maybe a little side note. So most of us here, as you know, we just finished up working through the book of Lamentations. It serves a great model for us to lament different painful realities that we might have to endure. So this year, Jesus now lamenting over Jerusalem is also a great model for us.
We’re in the this life. Perhaps there’s people in our life, maybe like family members or friends, that seem so close to understanding and believing the things of Jesus Christ. But time and time again, they prove to be still so far away friends. That’s something we could lament with tears as we pray that the Lord would open up their hearts that they might believe. Keep going.
Verse 43, we see that Jesus not only was rejected with the peace that he brought, which is different from what the crowd wanted within that we see Jesus also warns the crowd, as he warns them that the opposite of what they wanted in terms of, like overthrowing Rome, the opposite actually was about to happen to them. So in the passage, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children with you, and they will not leave one stone upon another on you, because you do not know the time of your visitation. Now, just a couple quick things here on this. So first, this days that was to come, so most scholars agree that this is Jesus speaking towards the fall of Jerusalem, which happened in 70 AD by the hands of the Romans, who came and destroyed the city as well as the temple. Second, the time of visitation that the crowd did not know this is Jesus condemning the people here at the original Palm Sunday from being so close yet so far away.
As I mentioned, they were completely blind to his mission, to his purposes, which Jesus would accomplish in a few days through his death on a cross, as he took on the punishment of our sin, only to rise again from the dead three days later, which is the means of forgiveness by which we can have peace with God, which we refer to as the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. The people who hear the first Palm Sunday say it again, even though they’re passionate about, passionately crying out praise, praise towards him on this day of visitation here, on this day, in their hearts, they rejected Jesus Christ because he was not doing what they wanted him to do. His will was not matching up with their will. It’s not matching up with wills. And this mission Jesus on, you see it throughout the week.
This became more and more a point of contention between Jesus and the crowd, where many throughout church history actually have wondered how many in this crowd crying out to Jesus on the first Palm Sunday, crying out hosanna, were actually part of the same crowd just a few days later on Good Friday, crying out the words, crucify him, Crucify him. Because Jesus was not the Jesus, not the Christ that they wanted. Finally, we’re going to end today. Starting verse 45. You take your eyes there, see, Jesus finally entered in Jerusalem.
You see, they headed towards the Temple, which my guess is the crowd probably assumed that Jesus would, like, enter into the temple and then take some type of seat from there where he would maybe give out, like his battle plan to free Jerusalem from Roman rule. However, we read what actually happened as Jesus entered the Temple. We read that he actually began to drive out People from the temple, and not Roman soldiers who perhaps were in the area. Rather, Jesus chased out those who sold at the temple, those who were selling animals at the temple. Animals to be sacrificed in accordance with the Old Testament law.
Now the problem wasn’t they’re selling animals, the problem was the greed that they had as they sold where it appears like they were like price gouging, where they were like manipulating things, manipulating the temple, the sacrificial system, the words of God as their means for their own sinful gain. Some text is Jesus entered the temple, did not sit down, he did not give instructions on how to overthrow Rome. Rather, our Lord did what he came to do.
He dealt with sin as he drove out the greedy sellers, doing so by saying the text, it is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, which is a quote from Isaiah 56. But they meaning those who are selling, sinfully selling, but they have made it into a den of robbers, which is a quote from Jeremiah, which is Jesus further fulfilling the scriptures in the text. After Jesus drove out the cellars, we see that then Jesus started to teach, which is always at the heart of his ministry, to teach, to preach God’s word. Now for us, we don’t have time to work through all the various things that Jesus taught after he cleared out the temple. But of interest you, in each of the Gospel accounts, you can read some of what the Lord taught.
As you read through those, a good portion you’ll notice revolves around the kingdom of God. What that looks like coming back to our text. The Lord taught on the kingdom of God, the religious leaders, the chief priests and the scribes, the principal men of the people. We see they’re still not buying it. We see how they continue to reject Jesus being the Christ, with such a committed and full rejection that we read that they were seeking to destroy Jesus.
They wanted him dead from the text, at least up to this point. They couldn’t do anything, finding no real opportunity to destroy Jesus. Of all the people who are surrounding him as they hung on his every word, let me just point out here, there’s people hanging on the word. So it doesn’t appear the people are like fully getting it here at this point, but in time, after the resurrection, we read the Book of Acts, also written by Luke. We do read that many do believe.
And I have wondered how many of those mentioned in Acts who believe. I do wonder how many there were part of the crowd in Palm Sunday. How many of those were the ones hanging on the very words throughout the week. Yet how many in that same crowd were there at Good Friday, shouting out, crucify him yet by grace, through faith, we’re brought near to Christ after the Resurrection, where they stopped being close yet so far away. Rather, they were just close.
Through the power of His Spirit, Christ drew them near and opened up their eyes in ways that they would believe and have peace with God. By the way, I think that is actually often the case how it works where people hear the things of God where they might not quite get it right away that can cause us to lament, but over time they do. They do believe. So for us, don’t give up on people. Right?
The Lord is patient as he works in the lives of his people. For sure, maybe at first they don’t get it, but all those little seeds, all those little base hits, the Lord uses those in time to bring people of faith as His Word does not return to him void. So again, don’t give up on people. Keep planting seeds, keep praying, keep trusting that indeed the Lord is drawing people near to Himself. Okay, now, so close.
This time, I do want to close by just giving you two thoughts from two categories. So the first category, just under the banner of Palm Sunday, Dangers to Avoid. And then the second category, just under the banner Palm Sunday Troves to Embrace. Okay, so I’m going to go through these kind of quickly. So category one, Palm Sunday Dangers to Avoid.
First. First thing to avoid is honoring God with your lips, but having your heart far from Him. That’s the danger we see in Palm Sunday we must avoid. In text where you see this play out. Well, we see it played out with people giving a lot of lip service to God’s Word disciples, the crowd, right?
They understood what Jesus is doing, how he’s fulfilling the Scriptures, specifically Zechariah 9. Furthermore, within that disciples, the crowd understood and they believed God’s word when it came to the Messiah, who was to come as a gentle yet powerful, victorious king. Keep going. The people gave lip service with their praises to God as they shout out things that I think probably were true. It wasn’t just lip service that was true.
Even the actions of throwing down the cloaks, the palms, right, those are true acts. At face value, service level, this all looks right, checks all the boxes. But as we know, there’s a deep problem in the text. Their hearts were not right. Their hearts were not soft.
Their lips, even their actions were not done with a heart that was drawn near to God. Rather, I think it was the heart more trying to, like, manipulate God to get Jesus to do what they wanted him to do instead of having their hearts soft. Soft to desires that God has. And friends, this is real danger that we can easily fall into. We’re very similar.
We can give lip service, lip service to the things of God, lip service to His Word. We can go through motions of worship, doing right actions, but it’s actually birthed out of a heart, a heart that beats for God. That’s one thing we have to worry or watch out for to avoid. Second. Second danger, avoid is just simply missing out that which is of first importance.
Okay, first importance. Now, in this life, there certainly are numerous things that can and should be important to us that we care about, that we’re concerned about. You know, even for me, I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong. For the people of Jerusalem that wanted freedom from Rome, the thing that was wrong, that was like of first importance to them. They had their priorities not in line.
Because of that, they missed the mission of peace found in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just read you this from the New Testament says this for I deliver to you as of first importance that which I also received. That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead on the third day or raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. And of all the things in this life that can be important to us, nothing can be more important than this. The message of peace through Jesus Christ.
This is where the people, the first Palm Sunday proved to be so far away they missed the message of peace, of peace of Jesus Christ dying for sinners, only to rise again from the dead. So by grace, through faith in him, we would have true peace.
And this not having the priorities right. This is why Jesus lamented, because the priorities are not right. This is why I think so many of the crowd turned on Jesus by week’s end. He wasn’t delivering to them which was their first importance. Say it again.
This is a real danger that we can also miss. We can lose track of that which is of most first importance. Or maybe other things start to creep up, become that of first importance to us, which are things that actually will never satisfy our desires. Friends. True peace, true peace.
It only comes through Jesus and what he accomplished. New Testament. He is our peace. And by the way, if you look at your life and if you’re honest with yourself, you see no peace. My wonder is maybe you’re trying to replace that which is of first importance with something else.
See the second banner? These are some Palm Sunday truths. To embrace. So it’s Palm Sunday. First, simply embrace Jesus as your peace.
Make him his mission of first importance, so you can have peace with God, which in the end, this is the only peace we actually really need. The peace that Jesus gives us.
This peace that Jesus gives, and that’s simply because he rode on a colt in Jerusalem, as mentioned a few times a few days later. The peace that we have is because the Lord was nailed to a cross to bear the weight of our sin. We took on the punishment of our sin in our place so that through him we would find forgiveness. Friends, this Palm Sunday, embrace Jesus. Embrace this message.
Embrace of first importance. Second, embrace the mission that Christ came to do. Which, by the way, to embrace Christ is to embrace his mission, which is a mission just a few verses up in Luke 19 is to S. Or to seek and to save those which are lost. Which is a quote from Ezekiel 34. So for us, if we’re going to embrace Jesus Christ, we’re going to embrace his mission with great passion and zeal and urgency, declare the message of peace.
Peace found on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, where we declare it to a world that’s in desperate need of hearing it. With the hope, with the prayer that by grace, through faith, people actually would get it through the power of the Holy Spirit, they would be drawn near, that they would believe.
Church this Palm Sunday. Don’t be a face in the crowd who’s close yet so far away. Rather be one who embraces Christ, his mission, his peace. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you for the peace with God that He gives to all who would believe in him.
Lord, I do pray for those here maybe still have their eyes blinded to the truths of Jesus Christ. That even in this moment, they could open up their eyes in ways that they would believe.
They would trust that indeed Jesus did die for them, only to rise again.
And Lord, please help us as a church to embrace Jesus. Embrace his mission.
Praise on his name, Amen.