The Road to Jerusalem by Geoff Thompson

SERMON 20/3/16 Renmark and Renmark West Uniting Churches.

This is the outline and recorded message presented on Palm Sunday 2016 at the 2 Renmark Uniting Church Services.

The Bible Passages are underneath the transcript.

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The Road to Jerusalem

In todays readings we see the enthusiasm for Jesus of the common people as He road into Jerusalem on a colt.

They had no idea of His real mission and purpose and were probably thinking on the lines here is our future King and Leader.

They were aware of the miracles He had been doing and this turn out was in part a celebration of what He had been doing over the last 3 years, the 3 years He actively carried out His ministry on earth.

They were overjoyed and thinking He will lead us out of oppressive lives we live under the ruling Romans.

Many of them had also just recently witnessed the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

They were thinking Jesus was the promised Messiah.

They were probably thinking of Him as their Saviour.

Saviour from Death,

as they saw what happened with Lazarus.

They lay down palm leaves in His path as part of the celebration.

The irony of the occasion however was that Jesus chose a colt or donkey to ride on.

A beast of burden.

Usually triumphant kings in those days rode into town on a war horse,

a symbol of strength and victory in battle.

But Jesus chose a beast of burden,

a servant animal.

Jesus was coming ,

although they did not know it ,

as the servant King.

Remember Him washing the Disciples feet.

The Son of God who had come to give His life for all mankind.

People were casting off their outer garments and laying them and palm fronds down in His path.

The Palm fronds and laying down of garments are given some significance in other commentaries.

“Zechariah had prophesied, "Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden"(Zech.9:9; Mt.21:5). Jesus instructs the disciples to bring a donkey and a colt, and so they do exactly that--just as it had been prophesied.”

“It is John's Gospel that informs us that these branches were palm branches(Jn.12:13), but what was their purpose? Why was this massive crowd stripping off their outer garments and throwing them on the road? Well, thankfully, we have another biblical precedent of this to provide us a clue.

If your Bibles are open, you may want to turn to 2Kings, chapter 9. In 2Kings 9, the prophet Elisha sends a messenger to give a Word from the Lord to Jehu. After pouring oil over Jehu, the messenger said to him in verse 12, 'Thus says the Lord, "I have anointed you king over Israel"'. After that declaration, everyone who was present took their garment and placed it under Jehu's steps, and they blew the trumpet, shouting, "Jehu is king!"(9:13).

So what does this mean for Jesus' entry into Jerusalem? It would imply that the multitude recognized Jesus as a king . Like in the case of Jehu, the garments and palm branches served as an improvised red carpet.”

So regardless of the behavior of the crowd Jesus was calmly and quietly riding to His certain death.

The crowd had no knowledge or suspicion of this.

Jesus came to us with one purpose.

To die for our sins on the cross.

To take our place.

To cancel the power of the devil.

To cancel the power of sin.

To rise from the dead and ascend into heaven.

(Having first descended into Hell)

To send us the Comforter , the Holy Spirit to allow us all to be born again and enjoy victory in our lives over sin and death.

In the garden of gethsemane, the night of His betrayal, we are told He was not looking forward to it.

The accounts tell us that he was in agony there and sweated great drops of blood.

His disciples fell asleep.

He pleaded that if it were possible could His Heavenly Father take this cup from Him.

But He had set His will, His face to the Cross.

He knew what had to be done.

None of the people on the road to Jerusalem had any idea that this was all to come.

Even his Disciples were of the  same expectations as the crowd.

They had no idea that their  winning team was going to be in disarray with the death of their Lord.

They did not handle it well.

They were to fall into a state of shock and disbelief and fear.

Indeed even Peter when he later saw what was unfolding denied that he had anything to do with Jesus.      

 3 times.

Only hours after saying he would never betray Him.

At this stage I would like to introduce an even more amazing and spectacular triumphal arrival of Jesus.

A huge contrast to the Palm Sunday event.

And some of us just might be there to witness it live.

Listen to these few paragraphs from a book by Max Lucado.

(read from introduction in italics)

What a breath taking description on the return of our Lord Jesus.

It is based on the book of revelation.

It is from Max’s book called “When Christ Comes”.

It is something that could happen in our lifetime.

Before we die.

It could happen tomorrow or in several years in the future.

It is not for us to know when but to be ready.

Next week we will be celebrating Easter once again.

I would like to share this from the very first message I gave in Renmark a couple of years ago.

“The cross of Jesus begins for most of us to have a profound effect upon us the day or the time we take ourselves, and what we are, and we kneel before his cross as he hangs there.

Until we do ,this personally and individually, the Cross of Jesus is mostly and mainly an historical event. A thing that happened 2000 years ago.

But when we kneel before our Saviour’s cross , when we kneel before Him hanging on His cross, it is then it begins to have a profound effect upon us.

As we kneel , and look up into His face, the face of Jesus as He hangs upon His cross , we see someone who utterly died to self, and as we look at Him and as this realisation begins to come home to us ,

I can assure you we are shaken to the very core, and not only are we shaken , but ,
we are scared ,we are frightened to death by that terrible challenge to self.

As we look into His face we begin, and often it’s only a beginning , begin to see how controlled, we are, by self.

We begin to realise how demanding self is.

That I always want to be first!

That I always want to get the biggest!

That one way or another I’ll scheme to get the best!

Give me the chance and I’ll put myself before you!

Driven by self ,all these ugly things as you kneel there, start to come home.

And you know that the Son of God is dealing with you.

When we kneel and look up into the face of Jesus on His cross, we begin to realise what Love really is.”

God is Love.

Jesus is Love.

At our Easter service next Sunday, and we can begin today, let us set our wills, our face towards the Cross of Jesus and allow Jesus to shake us at the depths.

Shake us out of our ;

spiritual doldrums,

our self pity,

our unforgiveness of others,

our criticisms and condemnations,

let’s live in the power of His Cross!

And let’s look forward to His triumphal return to this earth.

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Luke 19:28-40

²⁸ After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking along ahead of his disciples. ²⁹ As they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead, ³⁰ with instructions to go to the next village, and as they entered they were to look for a donkey tied beside the road. It would be a colt, not yet broken for riding.

“Untie him,” Jesus said, “and bring him here. ³¹ And if anyone asks you what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs him.’”

³² They found the colt as Jesus said, ³³ and sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners demanded an explanation.

“What are you doing?” they asked. “Why are you untying our colt?”

³⁴ And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs him!” ³⁵ So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw some of their clothing across its back for Jesus to sit on.

^36-37 Then the crowds spread out their robes along the road ahead of him, and as they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, the whole procession began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles Jesus had done.

³⁸ “God has given us a King!” they exulted. “Long live the King! Let all heaven rejoice! Glory to God in the highest heavens!”

³⁹ But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Sir, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

⁴⁰ He replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones along the road will burst into cheers!”

Easter Sunday-Parkrose United Congregation 16/4/17

This Easter Sunday I once again had the privilege of leading the worship service at the Parkrose United Congregation.
This is an outline of the message I gave.
 
DO WE NEED TO SEE HIS HANDS?
On Friday we followed the scriptures of the events leading up to and the actual crucifixion of Jesus.
The Last Supper, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemene,the betrayal by Judas, the trial before Pontius Pilate and the horror of the Crucifixion.
“and darkness fell across the whole land^[b] for three hours, until three o’clock. ⁴⁵ The light from the sun was gone—and suddenly^[c] the thick veil hanging in the Temple split apart.
⁴⁶ Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I commit my spirit to you,” and with those words he died.”
Then there followed some strange things happening in the weather and many people rising from the dead.
The curtain in the Holy of Holies in the temple being rent, torn from top to bottom.
And so we come to Easter Sunday.
What happened next?
A day of celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus was taken down off the cross and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Amirithea.
He was a member of the Sanhedrin who was not present at the vote by his fellow clergy to have Jesus done away with.
He obviously had a high regard for Jesus.
Jesus rose from his grave clothes from within the tomb that was sealed by a massive rock.
No one saw this happen.
It has been said that resurrection power is very quiet.
The rock was later found to have been rolled away and there was no one inside.
The guards who had been placed there were totally baffled.
Then we have accounts of those first at the tomb to discover Jesus was missing.
The core of the story is the same in all the Gospels.
The tomb is visited by a small group of women followers early on the Sunday morning following the crucifixion, and they find the tomb is empty.
They see a vision of Angels saying the tomb is empty.
Then there is a steady stream of witnesses to the fact that Jesus is alive recorded until the time of His ascension into Heaven.
He appeared to the two on the Emmaeus road, to Peter, to James,to all the apostles and the Apostle Paul and the a group of 500 of His followers all at once.
Many witnesses.
The resurrection has indeed happened and did happen.
People might say that it is medically impossible to rise from the dead.
To us from a human standpoint , a medical standpoint, that might be logical but we are not talking here  about our limit of human knowledge in the world of the flesh.
We are talking here about the power of Almighty God for whom nothing is impossible.
I have a friend who is intrigued by Faith and Jesus and the Christian story.
He brings Christianity into our conversations up every now and then, indicating to me that God is speaking to him,
 as he does to so many.
Many people hear the call of God but few choose to follow His voice.
My friend says he can’t believe what he can’t see.
“Unless I can shake His hand I can’t believe!”
Yet for all of us who are Christians this is not a stumbling block!
Why are we so convinced that Jesus is real?
That He is alive today?
That He can speak to us through scripture,(the Bible)?
That He can speak to us through our minds,
That He can speak to our spirit by His Holy Spirit?
That He can speak to us through prayer and we can speak to Him?
That He can speak to us through life’s circumstances?
That He can speak to us through a sermon?
A Christian Book?
Another Christian?
And the list can go on.
For many of us,
 as Christians,
 this is all true,
Not withstanding that at times we have doubts.
We wonder whether it is all real sometimes,
 usually when we are feeling a bit depressed
 or challenged by current circumstances.
There is no doubt that Jesus lived and breathed and walked this earth.
There is no doubt that Jesus was crucified on a cross.
These facts when scrutinised by un biased historians are found to be true.
The stumbling block for many is when it comes to the resurrection.
Our whole basis for faith in Jesus rests on this truth.
Rests on this as fact.
Any other means of us having a basis for faith could well be figments of our imagination.
Without the resurrection of Jesus and our promise of life after death through Him our faith is not going to do too much for us.
Some people think that if we are good and well behaved that’s as much Christian Faith as we need.
Being good of course is a wonderful virtue and can make us feel good and others, but without the resurrection it is just a way of living and not much else.
Some people like my friend,
and ,
like some of the frightened apostles when he appeared to them,
 say they need to touch His hands.
To know Him and Trust Him?
Our reading today says this:
^“38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why do you doubt that it is really I? ³⁹ Look at my hands! Look at my feet! You can see that it is I, myself! Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost! For ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do!” ⁴⁰ As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see the marks of the nails,^[a] and showed them the wounds in* his feet.
⁴¹ Still they stood there undecided, filled with joy and doubt.”
“Undecided, filled with Joy and Doubt.”
And yet they had Him there in front of them!
Isn’t that a good description of how we are lots of times as we live out our Christian lives.
“Undecided,
filled with Joy,
 and Doubt.”
There are many people who try to say the resurrection didn’t happen,
That someone stole His body,
That He did not really die,
He just swooned!
We don’t have the time today to go through the reasons,  why the resurrection did happen,
 or examine the overwhelming circumstantial evidence,
and what about the eyewitness accounts of all who saw Him after He had risen..
and the fact that a band of defeated Apostles turned the whole world upside down, as we read in the Book of Acts!
You would hardly think if Jesus had not risen they would have put their lives so much  at risk.
Some times, as we become Christians we do experience emotions and feelings similar to what the two on the emmaeus road felt.
^“32 They began telling each other how their hearts had felt strangely warm as he talked with them and explained the Scriptures during the walk down the road.”
We might, or we might not have a warm and “fuzzy” experience when we encounter Jesus, but either way,
do we need to be able to see His hands before we will believe?
I think not!
The reason we don’t need to see His hands is that on the day of Pentecost as Jesus had promised the Apostles, He sent the Holy Spirit to be made available to live in the hearts and minds and spirits of all who put their trust in Him.
It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the assurance that all the promises of God are true.
We can’t see Him but we can see the evidence of his presence and work.
The Bible gives us the analogy that the Holy Spirit is like the wind.
We can’t actually see the wind but we can see where it is blowing.
So as we conclude our Easter celebration, let us be jubilant that the Lord indeed has risen.
That He lives today.
In us and His Church.
Hallelelujah!


 Order of Service

Welcome and Call to worship

Hymn: 159  “Glory to God”

Announcements: Barrie

Bible Reading:  Luke 24:35-49

Hymn:  “There is a redeemer”

Communion: Geoff

Offering and Church Prayer

Hymn: 156 “Thine is the Glory”

Sermon:     “Do we need to see His hands?”

Hymn: 160 “The day of resurrection” Plus “He Lives”

Benediction and vesper

Bible Reading

Luke 24:35-49

 

³⁵ Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.

³⁶ And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them, and greeted them. ³⁷ But the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
³⁸ “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why do you doubt that it is really I? ³⁹ Look at my hands! Look at my feet! You can see that it is I, myself! Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost! For ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do!” ⁴⁰ As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see the marks of the nails,^[b] and showed them the wounds in* his feet.
⁴¹ Still they stood there undecided, filled with joy and doubt.
Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he ate it as they watched!
⁴⁴ Then he said, “When I was with you before, don’t you remember my telling you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true?” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand at last these many Scriptures! ⁴⁶ And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day; ⁴⁷ and that this message of salvation should be taken from Jerusalem to all the nations: There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me. ⁴⁸ You have seen these prophecies come true.
⁴⁹ “And now I will send the Holy Spirit^[c] upon you, just as my Father promised. Don’t begin telling others yet—stay here in the city until* the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”