Chosen

John 12:12-19; Luke 4:20; Zechariah 9:9

Palm Sunday

CIT: Jesus enters Jerusalem

CIS: Jesus wants us to go through a change process

SO: The hearer will praise Jesus with all they have

Follow along at d1.church/notes. 

Intro: Chosen is our series leading up to Easter. Easter is all about Hope,  specifically, Hope fulfilled.

Today, we enter Holy Week. By next Sunday, we will see the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are exciting times. 

When we bought our first home, we learned a key life principle. Process. How many of you hate that word? We had a clear goal in mind, we found a house we wanted, and we prepared to make a payment and become owners. First, we had realtors asking us questions, then we had finance people calling us every day with lists of things we had to provide. It seemed touch-and-go each day. Just when we thought we had all we needed, a new requirement was set by sellers or financiers. They wanted documents we had not seen in years and proof of all kinds of security. It was a long Process. There were times when we considered it easier to remain renters, and times when we thought the finance people would make sure we were never homeowners. We had to decide whether this goal, home ownership, was worth the process. 

Holy Week has its ups and downs. Jesus and the disciples walk through the steps, and they honestly need to decide if the end goal is worth it. 

You are here today, and the process for your life will be modeled after the Holy Week journey. There will be crying in the garden, eating a meal with close friends for the last time, Suffering and shame, denial, and wanting to quit. Because we reflect on this process every year, we can make a clear decision that the end is worth the process. 

1. Jesus sends for a Donkey (John 12:12-16)

The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming,   sitting on a donkey's colt!”His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 

EXP: Jesus and his disciples are entering Jerusalem. Jesus was in Jerusalem before his family made the pilgrimage to the holy city, for sure, when he was twelve years old. And since we know he was devout in his following of the law, Jesus, even as an adult, most likely went to Jerusalem for the feasts of Tents, Pentecost, and Passover. By Custom, those of Jewish heritage who were traveling a distance would return to the city for each of these. When Jesus comes into town from Bethpage, he is coming specifically for the Passover feast. We know from Matthew’s Gospel that on his way in, he stops at the Mount of Olives and gives instructions to his disciples to go and retrieve a donkey.

ILL: Jesus again finds himself in the scriptures. When Jesus began his ministry, he did so by finding himself in the Word. He stands in the synagogue and reads the scroll of the book of Isaiah, which says I am anointed to proclaim good news to the poor and to set the captives free. Luke 4:20  Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” He does this again as we begin our final week. He paints his entry with scripture. Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The disciples don’t know, but Jesus is fulfilling every prophecy in the scripture.

EXP(2): Have you ever wondered why God didn’t just make a donkey appear? Why did the disciples not already have one? He is God; he could make one out of thin air. He could also have prepared beforehand. I wonder? Jesus is our example for how to apply scripture to our lives. Sometimes we need to go to scripture and find ourselves in it, proclaiming what it says over our lives. 

ILL: I had lunch with a man this week who shared his testimony with me. He told me he was drawn to attend church and that he went to two churches on Sundays. The night service came, and he was crying uncontrollably, so much that the person he came with left. At the end of the sermon, he went forward for prayer. He didn’t know how to pray, and a man led him in the sinner’s prayer. Then he perked up and told me that he felt a piercing in his chest, like a hot poker. It began to spread through his chest, and he knew God was changing everything about him. He said, " It was love. Pure love. Then, as he continued to tell me his life story, he kept referring back to 1 Corinthians 13. Face a tragedy, 1 Corinthians 13, Church conflict, 1 Corinthians 13, Gifts and abilities, 1 Corinthians 13. I am not sure he was even aware of how many times he mentioned the scripture. When Christ saved him, he gave him an identity. 

APP: The Word of God is a place of Identity for you. God has defined you in his word. Jesus understands the time, finds himself in the word, and knows that God will provide to fulfill his description. He says with confidence that the donkey will be there. We may have to say yes! We have to be willing to take the mountain. We may have to send for a donkey or manufacture the guts to make a move, but God will fulfill every promise in his word for you.

T.S.: When we move in the words of God, heaven and earth rejoice.

Let’s re-read the first two verses of our text.

2. Hosanna (John 12:12-13)

The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

EXP: When Jesus lines up the fulfillment of Prophecy, the response is not in question. Jesus had been healing and delivering people all around the area. His ministry was no longer a small following; it was 3 years of results that led him to celebrity status. Jesus had preached to and fed crowds of 5000 and 7000, which were recorded. The people of Jerusalem responded with a King's welcome for Jesus. Luke’s version of this story has the Pharisee approaching Jesus, demanding that he get control of the crowd. Jesus says this moment of praise is so necessary that if the people wouldn’t shout “The rocks would cry out!” they shouted Hosanna!

ILL: The word Hosanna is a Greek term used to express praise for someone or something, usually God. The Greek word, as it is written in this passage, is a literal rendering of the Hebrew “pray, save us.” We often say that Hosanna is the highest Praise possible. We say that because if there were another praise better, it would have been used in this moment.

ILL: A few years back, I was allowed to go to the First Cotton Bowl held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was a game where I had no interest in either team. I had been in the Stadium before for a Cowboys game, and it was loud for sure. You know they have that decibel meter in most stadiums now, so you know just how loud it is. But that night, both bands were playing, and a lot of young vocal cords, and the roof was closed, and that Stadium was rocked with sound waves. You could feel sound, which was good because your eardrums weren’t lasting long. I honestly had never been anywhere that was that loud for that long. It was crippling on the second deck of AT&T Stadium. You could not escape it. In regular football games, when the clock stops, or at halftime, there is a break in the noise. Drunk college kids do not recognize time. It was screechingly loud the whole time. Those fans left it all on the field. 

On your seat when you came in was a Rally towel we made for you to commemorate our Chosen sermon series. It is yours. Please take it home. But first, I want to do Holy Week right. Let me be clear: We will mourn on Good Friday with the disciples, and we will celebrate and feel the wonder of the resurrection on Resurrection Sunday, but today is the Triumphal Entry.  Today, we will give the Highest Praise. Today, we celebrate our Savior as King! Today, he is in his proper place in history. Today, we will praise him, or the rocks will cry out!

We are going to praise God for One Minute with all we have! Start the timer, give me a hype song!

APP: Can you feel what praising God does to your issues? Can you imagine the demons afraid in hell? The King has come! 

T.S: Soon, all business will be taken care of.

3. Jesus the Prophet vs. Jesus who is God (John 12:17-19)

 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.  The crowd went to meet him because they heard he had done this sign.  So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

EXP: When they heard the crowd, the people of the City took notice. Those who had not heard yet came to see what the fuss was about. Who is this Jesus? They celebrated him. The Pharisees see a problem; we see a Savior.

ILL: The way we get from this Celebration to demanding he be crucified in one week was the difference between him being just a prophet, versus him being God. They did not crucify Jesus because he walked around healing people. They celebrated him for that. They crucified him because God wasn’t satisfied with earthly Stadium worship. He wants to be the Lord of our lives.

ILL: Can I tell you, it is a good thing we can find a church where we are all sinners who understand we need a savior. But honestly, God doesn’t want us to understand; he wants us to be more like him. 

 ***Call Worship Team

APP: Jesus inhabits your praise, but he wants to be Lord of your life. The Israelites got everything they wanted from God, but found out that it meant they needed to change the way they liked doing things, and instead of changing, they would crucify Jesus by the end of the week.

TS: The one thing I look for when people accept Christ is a life change. I do not have any expectation, but I love seeing people not just say a prayer or worship, but actually allow the Holy Spirit to move them closer to being like Jesus. To see people begin to find themselves in the world.

Look, I want to get this out in the right way. Where we lived in Fort Worth, there was a single-lane stoplight at the entrance to the road to our house. The intersection was fairly busy, and the light controlling the turn lane was not long enough to allow all the cars to turn. I took the turn enough to know how many cars could fit through it. So I am at the place in line where I can make it to the next light if everyone goes when the light turns green. Everyone has to do their job, and I can make it through the light. If not, I will be waiting for the next cycle. The arrow turns green, and I look at the car in front of me, and she is looking at her phone. The other cars are moving, and she is looking down. Inside, because I am a pastor. I am going to go! Go!!! 

That is how I feel about this word today. Don’t just recognize Jesus as a prophet, accept him as Lord! Go! Make the Change!, Go! Allow God to create a new you in his image! Go! The light is green. Do not be distracted. Accept all of him!

Worship goes, I leave the stage.