PALM SUNDAY

 

Matthew 21:1-13

 

4 important truths

 

    1.     Jesus is Lord.

vs3 - The Lord has need of it.  What does that mean?  It means He’s in charge.  in control.  He’s got the wheel.

You drive Jesus cause you know where you’re going.  

It’s important to realize that He is Lord whether we recognize it or not.  We don’t make Jesus Lord.  “Have you made Jesus Lord yet?”  He was Lord way before I was born. I don’t make Him Lord.  He is who He is.   I can either yield to His Lordship or resist Him. 

 

The question isn’t whether He is Lord, but have we surrendered our lives fully to Him?  Have we given ourselves completely to Jesus?  Do we belong to Him?  THAT’S the question…..our modern version of Christianity tends to make Jesus a possession of ours….like my savior, my jesus, my little bobble head Jesus.  We don’t own Jesus.  We belong to Him, not the other way around.  And the great thing is, when Jesus owns you, when He purchased you, He takes responsibility for you.  Anyone ever bought a car?  The minute you buy that car, you have to take responsibility for it.  The dealer is not going to ….. it’s up to you to take responsibility for that car.

 

When we surrender to Jesus, when we say Jesus take my life, He take ownership, and takes responsibility for you.  To guid you and direct you.  Sometimes people say I ask Him or direction and things, and I’m not getting anything from Jesus.  Well I say, Have you given Him your life?  Have you surrendered your life to Him?  Have you given Him control. Because if your’e taking ownership of your life, doing things by your might and YOUR way, then YOU’RE responsible for it.  But if you’ll surrender your life to Him, that’s when He’ll say now I’ll guide you, direct you, send my angels, work all things for good, pour my love out on you, fill you with my holy spirit bc you’re mine.  Have you surrendered fully to Jesus as Lord.

 

If you’re stressed this morning, if you feel like you’re struggling to keep it all together or wrestling for control with other people, that’s a sure sign that you have not surrender as Jesus as Lord.  How many of you want to get rid of the power struggles in your life?  Surrender to Jesus as Lord then tell people that are trying to struggle with you, tell them Take it up with Jesus.

 

 

    2.     Jesus Is King.

verse 5, behold your king is coming to you.

Jesus sends his disciples to get the donkey for His entry into Jerusalem, which fulfills a then 500-year-old prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) and announces Jesus as the long-awaited King.

God is letting Israel know, this is how you’re gonna recognize that the king is coming.

It’s an unusual picture for a king.  righteous and sinless, humble, He’s going to come riding on a donkey

Kings normally come it with pomp and circumstance, chariots, trumpets.  At least on a stallion…a limo, a ferrari.

God said you’re gonna know bc it’s Jesus, He doesn’t need to hype it up.

And they get it.  They are all shouting, Hosanna, son of David…..heir to the throne.

 

What does it mean to get the green carpet treatment?

It means there is no power, no ruler, no authority that can withstand the power of Christ.  It means He is King.  The King of all kings, the Lord of all Lords.  That’s why it says if Jesus is for us, who can be against us?  No one can resist His power.

 

****But They didn’t realize how great a King Jesus actually was

 The Jews of the day were waiting for a political king to come in, battle the Romans, and restore them to a glorious nation.  

BUT JESUS DIDN’T COME TO DO BATTLE WITH THE ROMANS, JESUS CAME TO DEFEAT THE DEVIL

He is riding into Jerusalem to take on Satan…all of his demons, sin, suffering, sickness, death, hell and the grave.  He’s the King of all kings, and He’s gonna wage the war of all wars, He’s gonna take all of our enemies, nail em to the cross, defeat them in His death and on the 3rd day raise us to glorious eternal victory with Him.

 

Jesus is King.  His coronation was on the cross.  and they’re gonna crown Him with a crown of thorns. 

Bc He is our king, He has won the victory.

 

The Bible says in Him we are more than conquerers.  the very gates of Hell can’t stand against us.  living in defeat, discouragement, failure, is a sure sign we have not embraced Him as King.  

 

How many of you need to embrace Jesus as king?

 

When the devil comes to remind you that you’re never gonna amount to anything, that you’re defeated, that you lost….remind him, say, YOURE THE LOSER!  You’ve got nothing on Jesus, my king, kicked you to the curb, you’re gonna spend eternal in hell, i’m in Heaven, i’m living in victory.

 

So far, Jesus is Lord.  Jesus is King

 

 

    3.     Jesus is the Savior

vs 9  Everyone is shouting “Hosanna”

As the crowd shouts “Hosanna,” this means “save now.”  The crowd is looking for A savior but they don’t realize he is THE Savior.  Jesus is a unique savior, and He saves as no one else can: It’s eternally.  It doesn’t expire.  It’s forever.

It’s also perfect and complete.  He doesn’t just give you the base package and then upsell you later down the line.  It isn’t based on your good deeds or your lack of em.  You don’t get saved and then add on a quick dose of service, a nice bowl of quiet time, and then get the do-gooders for homeless pack for for 19.95.  We do good works once we’re saved to live a life pleasing to The Lord.  But salvation is easy, and eternal!

 

He saves us not only from things, but to things:

Lifeguard or tow truck,….oh man you saved me.

They only saved you from something.

Jesus saves you TO something.

 

From darkness to light

From the power of Satan to the power of God

From sin to righteousness

From guilt to forgiveness

From shame to dignity

From ignorance to understanding

From hatred to love

From fear to faith

From doubt to assurance

From works to grace

From lies to truth

From lost to found

From bondage to freedom

From broken to restored

From orphan to adopted

From worthless to treasured

From death to eternal life

 

ONLY JESUS SAVES LIKE THAT!

 

That’s why the Bible says salvation is given BY NO OTHER NAME

There is no other name given men by which they be saved except JESUS

 

But bc they didn’t realize how great of a king He was, they didn’t realize how far His salvation was gonna go

They just thought they were gonna save them from the Romans

 

I wonder, do we really get how far Jesus’ salvation goes.

We think Jesus is just gonna save me from my sin.  Say the sinners prayer, but i’m still living in captivity to that sin.

He didn’t just come to save us from sin, He came to transform our lives to live a life of victory, to be overcomers!

 

We are going to give you the opportunity to be saved today.  If you are living as a prisoner of anything….of bitterness, of anger,  resentment, unforgiveness, hurts from your past.  Jesus saves you from that, to abundant life!  prisoner of addictions:  alcohol, porn, lies, deceit, drugs, immoral relationship.  If you’re living as a prisoner to that.  You may be in a bad relationship, you may need to call up that guy and say, Jesus set me free, audios muchacho!

 

JESUS IS LORD, JESUS IS KING, JESUS IS SAVIOR

 

 

    4.     Jesus is God with Us

Jesus does not stop at being our Savior.  Salvation is not the end, but a means to an end – a relationship with God.  He offers not just a clean slate, not just a renewed life, not just being set free…….but also….

a personal, intimate, loving relationship with God Himself.

 

Jesus’ last stop on Palm Sunday is the temple, which has always been the representation of God’s presence on earth.  Jesus is the very embodiment of God with us (“Emmanuel”).   When Isaiah prophesied about the savior, He said He would be called Emmanuel-God with us.

 

Don’t get so caught up in the “system” … the process of being a Christian that we miss the fact that God is with us

 

Jesus is putting an end to all the business…..all the busy-ness of being a Christian

 

In a minute we’re going to stand.  you might say standing is for first timers, etc.  no standing is a response to God.  to get off your rear and start moving in the direction of Jesus.  No my friends are going to say, dude you’ve been saved for 20 years.  you were born saved right?  yeah i’ve asked for salvation, but i haven’t been surrendered.  i haven’t been living in victory.  i haven’t been living with Jesus with me.

 

The blind and the lame went with Jesus into the temple.  He met them there and met their need.

 

God wants to heal you today.  Heal your past hurts, heal your broken marriage, heal that cancer in your life, depression.  He wants us to stop being so busy, without ever being healed.

 

This is where people get healed.  He meets us here.  right here!  His power is here!

 

But if you just get up and leave and say i’m not going to come meet with Him today, it’s not gonna happen for you.  you’re not going to experience His healing.

 

Don’t live with the lie that, well this is just the way it is.  the lie that you’ll forever be in captivity.  the lie that it’s ok to stay in control and be stressed.  that it’s ok to live defeated.  

 

God wants to set you free

 

Do you believe it?

 

All you need to do is get real with Jesus

 

Bow your hearts.  let all the power of jesus wash over you.  that peace minister to your soul

Let God begin to reveal to you in what way do you need a fresh experience of who jesus is.

 

embrace him as lord, surrender fresh to him this morning 

do you need fresh victory.  do you need to be saved

are you drowning in depression

overcome by guilt

buried in problems

 

Prayer 1:  if you’ve never surrendered your heart to jesus.  and you want him to be your savior.  want to be forgiven of your sins, set free from you bondages.  pray this prayer…..i need you, be my savior, forgive me of my sin, set me free, be my lord, i surrender my life fully to you, i trust you

 

Payer 2:  if you’ve prayed that prayer before but you haven’t been living in victory, today’s your day.  palm sunday 2017, a day for you to start living in freedom:  jesus, be my lord, be my king, i surrender, i let go, i give you control of my life, help me

 

Prayer 3:  if you’ve been a Christian for a while, but gotten caught up in the routine of being religious and you’ve lost your senses of closeness and intimacy with God and you need your temple cleaned out.  Jesus, i need you to be with me.  come and overturn the tables in my heart.  would you drive out all striving and works.  i want to experience you.  i need to be healed by you

 

 

in a moment i’m going to ask you to stand.  WHY?  because it seals it.  

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  sometimes we intend to do things, intend to change, etc, but we don’t take a stand.  We need to say, God i’m standing for you.  as my lord as my king as my savior as god with me.  i want to make a fresh start, a new beginning, set free.  and i’m going to take the first step by standing for you!