Palm Sunday : The King Who Came in Peace

The King Who Came in Peace 
Palm Sunday message from Pastor John. 

Jesus entered Jerusalem not as a conquering warrior on a horse, but as a King of peace riding on a donkey, fulfilling prophecy and pointing toward the cross. His journey reminds us that salvation is freely given through His sacrifice, but following Him requires full surrender.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

It's great to be in the house of the Lord and to worship him. I wanted to speak for my favorite book of the New Testament, Philippians, and then I lost it this morning. Because Philippians is the my favorite book of the New Testament and the book of Ruth, it is my favorite book of the Old Testament. And I had all kinds of ideas. And I ended up speaking about a donkey. And I get three opportunities because I ought to speak another twice this week about a donkey in the old folks' homes. The donkey played a very important part in the account that you've already heard read. And it's one of the major things of scripture that it is present in all four books of the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all have a place for the account of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm thinking especially this morning about the crowning of the king. You know, it was my privilege one time to meet the Queen, to be presented to the Queen just along the street at the far end of the town when she visited us. And yet, this morning, it peels into insignificance where all that has happened since that time. You know, my mind can go back a long way. And I remember Ruth walking into here for the first time. I can remember the message of preach. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light and how you get out of the kingdom of darkness. And she walks down that aisle, and it seems a long, long time ago. But God has been faithful. I remember 1981 when I received full status in Assemblies of God. And traveling down to minehead, and the fellow of the biggest church in the world preached in the message in the ordination service that morning, David Yongicho. Had three-quarters of a million people. And I came back with a big dream. And I've had one or two nightmares. But you know, the one thing that comes out of it all is though sometimes the congregation changes, some are caught home and some move away for different reasons. At the end of it all, Jesus Christ, it's still about him. It's all about him. And I'm just going to highlight one or two things this morning, probably from the four books, because I spent quite a lot of time comparing them and going through all of the four books. John treats slightly differently to the others. But there are things that stand out to me. When Jesus walked the earth as a man, and yet he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet emptied himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, even to the glory of God. Inspired? And you can place him upon your heart forever. That Jesus came into your life. And when you welcomed him, you became part of the body of Christ. Our King is in heaven today. Well, thank God, friends, the body is all over the earth. And we bless God for that. The importance of the time is witnessed, as I said, by all four of them. And Jesus, on that final week, seems to press in so many events, so many things. Six days before Passover, one of the feasts that they were commanded to attend, they were going to Jerusalem. Wonderful place to go to. And so they set out, walking down the road to Jerusalem, which goes down, so that eventually there's one or two things they might do. Things that I think are important to the church. Jesus had selected twelve followers. He would call them his friends. He says, I have called you friends. For servants don't know what their master does. But he shares many things with them, and yet they don't fully understand. How many of us here in this room this morning fully understand what it's all about? Thank God we are partakers of the glory of God. Thank God that we are part of the church of God. But the biggest wonder for me is the number of times you can learn something new. It goes over and over and over again. Jesus chose twelve from one of the most picturesque parts of Israel, but it's the place where they are called the geories of the north. That's what they say in Israel. They are the geories of the north. That's why Peter had so much of a problem. When he denied Jesus, his voice let him down. He spoke like me. And some of you. And so he couldn't deny the fact that he knew him because people came to him and said, Surely you you were one of them. You were with him. He said, No, no, no, you're wrong there, man. No, I wasn't. And Jesus knew him so well. And Peter promised so much, and I want to be careful about what I say about Peter, because I've got to meet him some further, so a little bit further along the road. And what I've read about him and what it was like, I want to keep him happy. So Jesus was speaking to Peter, and Peter said, I'll never leave you. I'll be right up to the end, I'll be there for you. And he looked into the eyes of Peter and he said, Before the cup crows, you'll deny me three times. God was in Christ, and he knows all things. He didn't need the testimony of Peter. He knew when he chose him. He would be a leader. He would be a leader, but he would put his foot in the mouth many, many times. I sympathize with that because I've done that a lot of times. But you know, when it all panned out, when Jesus rose from the dead, he said, I'm going back into Jerusalem, tell my friends that I'm going there. But if you tell anybody, make sure you tell Peter, because he thinks he's lost it. And he embraced him. Oh yeah. And he would preach a message all on its own. On the three times that Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. So Jesus called his disciples and they said, Come on, let us go to Jerusalem. And so they went off down the road. You have. And surely, and some of us have walked down that road at Jerusalem on a number of occasions, actually. And as they walked down, they came to a place called Bethany, another little village just across the street called Bethage. And both of the villages would be part of the story. But Jesus goes all the way down to Jerusalem and he walks into the temple. The Bible doesn't tell you what he saw or why he went there. But he went into the temple and then he came back out. And he walked not far along the road into the village of Bethany. In the village of Bethany was a family. And the family was made up of Martha, she was the oldest, Mary was slightly younger, and Lazarus. And Jesus was welcome in that home. You know, I've thought a lot over the years of what it would be like to be in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. When Jesus came there. You know, normally when you have a preacher in the house, you're on your best behavior. And you say to the kids, mind, yeah, and they get not read exactly the right, but they know how to be here for the next few days. Because it was it was our privilege many times to have missionaries, and we've had many times people staying in the home. And I always wanted to provide a home where people could be at home. And they prepared a supper for for Jesus while he was there. And Jesus went with all his disciples. You know, I don't know about the size of the house, but all the disciples are there. Even Judas Iscariot. You know, if you're a if there's a crowd of you together, if we were all in this room and you start to think, and you get a subject, a lot of us would get very expressive. And the main points would be the thing that stuck us. We would crowd over a lot of stuff, but there would be things that we are interested in that would just suddenly throw themselves out at us, and that's exactly what happened for Judas. Because Mary came, and Mary is prophetic in the scripture because she had a vase of ointment which is used for the burial of people when they are dead in Israel, because funerals take place in a couple hours. They have professional mourners, and for a few shekels, they'll peer them, and they'll come and weep, even if they didn't know the person who was dead. But when the room is filled with smell, can you imagine what it was like? Oh man, it would at point in times it would be nearly choking you. And then you would appreciate the sweetness of it all, because the the the flavor of death is not good. And I tell you that, it isn't good. But Judas, he couldn't hold himself any longer. What was in came out because what's in will always come out, friend. You can cover it up, eh? Like the lady who was watching her son in the parade, and the the army walked down the street, and her son was in the parade, and she grabbed all the two women who stood alongside her, and she said, Look at that, look at that. That's my son, he's the only one in step. Yes, your favorite subjects grab a grab a hold, and they hold on you. And Judas has had a great love of money, man, he loved it, and he says, What are you doing? Why all this and that all the sweetness of the flavor and the smell, the odor that is going through the house is wasted on him because it cannot conquer the love of money, and the love of money is the root of all evil. Thank God, friend, for what God gives you. But it's better never never to be a hoarder. It is better to meet somebody else's need. You hear testimony sometimes. And Judas says, Why wasn't that sold? If that ointment was sold, you would get three hundred denarii, about eleven months' wages. So it wasn't cheap. And that's what grabbed his heart. Why do you waste this kind of money on him? Why do the other disciples keep quiet? Nobody raised their voice. And he brings out the prophetic message, which they still didn't fully understand. Against my death and burial, has she done this? Because that's what they did at funerals. And he is one week away from death. And all that would happen in that week. Let her alone. You know, all the people in that home that Jesus loved played a vital part in the family. I used to sing a song once in a land far away, stood a home Jesus loved, and he often to it would repair was where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived, and a welcome awaited him there. Or that old fashioned home to which Jesus would come. It was dearer than all else beside, and I pray each day, as I live Jesus' way that my in my home he may abide. That presence, friend, is something worth aiming for. To have peace in your home. But they weren't all for Jesus. Caipha wasn't for Jesus, and he was the high priest. The scribes and the Pharisees were not for Jesus. They were totally opposed to him. In fact, they went from bad to worse. They said, Lazarus is with him. Let's kill them wolf. You do that when you become jealous. And the fact that Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, they couldn't live with. Because they lost people. They're followers. They lost them left, right, and center. Simply because Lazarus was still walking and they would have preferred him dead. So when they were coming back down the road after the supper, they'd had a good supper. And they were walking down the road, and then Jesus stopped and he said, Go into Beth Philosophy, just cross the street and go to Bethage, and you'll find a donkey tied. Bring him to me. Now in Luke's gospel, he tells you that what if he's somebody else's donkey? Because taking that donkey is like taking either his wagon that he got his he made his living out of, or his rolls that he drove around in if he was rich enough. Donkeys are very, very important. They are the transport of Israel, and they still, they still are. They still use them. I remember being on the on the M1 on a big motorway, and the lights was flashing, and I was waiting to get away, and I looked in the mirror, and there was a guy with six loaves on his head, on a donkey, in the middle of the motorway. You want some bread? No, I want to go. And I left him in the middle of the road. But it's a strange thing to see, man. They carry everything on their heads, so lots of things are carried on their heads. But when they sit on the donkey, the donkey goes everywhere. And the donkey becomes very, very precious to them. And Jesus, who knows all things, because God is in flesh in Jesus. He quotes from the last part of the Old Testament. The last two books of the Old Testament are Zechariah and Malachi, what we call Malachi. The Jews would call him Malachi. But that's in Zechariah and chapter 9 and verse 9, if you turn to that, you will find the words that Jesus spoke in the New Testament. Only it's 400 years previous. 400 years before Jesus had reached 30 years of age. And funnily enough, Zechariah 9 is nothing about a donkey. And the king who would ride on him. But now the full meaning of the verse is brought forward. But the thing that fascinates me, one of the writers do say it, and a man came out and he says, What are you doing to me, donkey? You can't just take him. And he says, Alright, take him. Man, that's that's amazing. If you had a donkey and you were dependent upon it tomorrow, and I said, Is that here? How would you appreciate that? Eh? No. He would say no in your best voice. No way am I gonna do that. I'm keeping a donkey. But he came. But the next part fascinates me. You see, kings rode on donkeys. In the Old Testament, kings rode on donkeys. They had a horse, which was what they went into battle with, and they had a donkey for the return visit. And so when they had fought their battle, when it was all over, then they would dismount from the horse and they would get on the donkey. Because the donkey speaks of peace. The battle is over, it's gone. Now it's peace. And so the ass begins to come back. Solomon rolled on a one, David rolled on a one various times. But the one thing they didn't do is ride on a one that's never been rolled on before. That's not good. That's not good. I used to work with horses a long time ago, big ones. But the one thing you did, you never tried to get on one's back without a saddle. And you never got on a one's back that had never been ridden before. Else you were heading heavenward before your time. But the disciples took their cool their outer clothes off and put them on the donkey. He didn't have a saddle, but he had a saddle cloth. And they put it down. And Jesus sat on a donkey where never man sat. I wouldn't take a king's ransom and do that. But he is different. He is a king. He would be revealed as the conqueror of all things. In that same week, all the people would hear the crowd, the donkey. All that is happening. The donkey leading the way here, and Jesus on the donkey. He enters into Jerusalem. But in three days, he would be crucified. He would go down, he would descend into hell itself. And he would take his blood into heaven and sprinkle the true mercy seat in heaven and set people like you and me free. There is only one way you are ever going to become a child of God. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Hallelujah. I am glad. He shed his blood and changed me forever. Guys like Paul, Saul of Tarsus, who hated everybody of the way and he went after them. He was a witness to them when they were stoned or got rid of. But God changed him. Changed him till he was not what he was. He was not what he would become. But by the grace of God, he was what he was, exactly the same as me. I'm not what I used to be. I'm not yet what I will be. But by the grace and the favor of God, I am what I am. My wife remembers that every day. Hallelujah. He's never gonna change. But thank God he changed me. And he's still the same. And he offers the same to anybody who wants to follow him. Oh hallelujah! Salvation is free, friends, but discipleship will cost you everything you got. Yeah, that's where it is. He paid with his blood, and you and I will pay as we follow him, but we can't earn our way to heaven. Thank God we're going. Oh hallelujah! Thank God for well, I hope we're going anyhow. It doesn't excite you that much. But at the end of the road. Thank God for this day. Thank you for listening. The Lord bless you all. Thank you.