2020-04-05 – Mark 11.1-11 – Palm Sunday

Bible Text: Mark 11:1-11 | Preacher: Pastor Jerry Higdon | Series: Mark | 2020-04-05 – Mark 11.1-11 – Palm Sunday

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Good morning everyone. It is so nice to be able to spend some time with you all in fellowship with the Lord. Thank you and God bless you for being with us today.

This week ahead is called Passion Week (also known as Holy Week). It is the time from Palm Sunday (Today) through Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday).
Also included within Passion Week are Maundy Thursday (The Last Supper),
Good Friday (where Christ died on the cross for us), and then Next Sunday being Easter (where we celebrate Christ rising from the grave). Passion Week is so named because of the passion with which Jesus willingly went to the cross in order to pay for all the sins of His people. It’s a blessed time to be with family, and although we may be sequestered in our homes during this Corona Virus Pandemic, it can still be a precious event. An Easter that we may never forget. Again, our Holy week starts with today’s recognition of what happened during that first Palm Sunday event with Jesus in Jerusalem.

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 11.1 of God’s Inspired, Infallible and Living Word. But let us first start with Prayer.
In God’s HIS-story lesson today, Jesus had just left Jericho and a few days earlier, raised his dear friend Lazarus from the grave, healed several people, and performed many other miracles, so news about Him was spreading rapidly.

Mark 111When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’”

In these scripture verses Jesus was on His way to fulfill His life-purpose and mission, to die on the cross at Calvary for our sins. He was making public now His claim to be their Messiah and King of Israel in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The fact that the King rode into Jerusalem on a colt was an exact fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy. In Zechariah 9:9. It says “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  That was prophesized some 500 years before Christ was even born. Isn’t that amazing!
And oh what a privilege it would have been to be there that day to witness, even for the Donkey’s owner, realizing that your little colt would be used to carry in the Messiah Savior and King. And that is exactly what happened.

 

Continuing our reading, in verse 4 it says:
4 So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, 5 and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. 

I can’t help but wonder what the Disciples were thinking as they walked towards that village. Would there really be a donkey colt waiting for them? And if so, would the owner just give it up for their needs? But then it all resulted in exactly as Jesus.. and Zachariah 500 years earlier had prophesized it would happen.

 

In reading this, have you ever wondered why a young donkey was used and not a mighty stallion? You would think that Jesus would want to ride in on a mighty horse wouldn’t you? Proclaiming His strength and majesty to all the onlookers. However, while horses are mentioned in the Bible, they are almost always in relation to kings of war. While donkeys, on the other hand, are usually mentioned in relation the common man, and with peace. Jesus was truly the God-man King of Peace, and thus the donkey’s colt was called for. You should know that there are many things in these verses we read about Jesus and the events from this Palm Sunday until His resurrection the following week that are actually the fulfillment of prophesy. This is all a master plan that is being fulfilled by God through Jesus Christ. God had a plan then, and He has a plan for us now. God is good all the time, He is in control and for that I am eternally thankful.

 

Verse 8 continues:
8 Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted:
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!
11 He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Again, in the Gospel testimony of Matthew 21:9 it says the crowds shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”.. “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” “Hosanna, Hosanna!” – But what does that “Hosanna” word even mean?

You might know that although the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, the New Testament was first written in Greek. Our English word “hosanna” comes from a Hebrew phrase hoshiya na. That Hebrew phrase is found in one solitary place in the whole Old Testament, Psalm 118:25, (Jeremy read) where “hoshiya na” literally means, “Save please!” So it is really just a cry to God for help. Like when somebody is drowning they may holler: “Help, save me.. Hoshiya na!”

But later there was a shift in the meaning of “Save please!” when it was translated from Hebrew to Greek for the New Testament, and thus it became to mean Salvation or “Salvation has come!” The Jews at this time were looking for a Savior from the Roman rule.. and the Messiah/Christ/Savior was finally here!

Luke’s Gospel account of this says the people caused such a ruckus that: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if [they] were to keep silent, the stones would shout out.”

Now when the Creator of the universe, Jesus the God-man that walks on water and controls the weather and the seas, says that “the stones would cry out” you got believe Him. I am not going to go there.. but I wonder what would a stone would say.. lol

 

Again, these people wanted salvation, they wanted the Messiah to march into the city and free them from Roman control and oppression, even if by force. They really wanted another exodus like what happened in Egypt, but this time, one that would expel the Romans from their lives for good. Sadly what they got instead, by just the next Friday morning was a beaten and exhausted man, this same Jesus, in Roman custody. He was rejected by most everyone, probably some of the same people that were shouting Hosanna, while he was standing next to an infamous criminal called Barabbas. They wanted a hero king, but they would instead see shortly a bloodied blasphemer, or so they thought. The jubilant sounds of the crowd that Palm Sunday, would later be betrayed by the sounds of their own stony hearts. Their shouts of “Blessed is he!” would soon instead become shouts of “crucify him!” So, so Sad Indeed.. Forgive us dear Lord, for surely many times we do not realize what we are doing.

However, Jesus knew all that would happen, and will happen. There is no surprises for our God then or now. And in that we can take a lot of comfort.

This morning, many people all around the world are waving Palm Branches and singing “Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest!”. The Bible says tells us that one day EVERYONE will bow down and declare Jesus Christ as Lord..

The apostle John wrote about our future in Revelation 7 verse 9, while he was exiled on the Island of Patmos. It reads: “After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:  “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!””.

So according to all four Gospels and Revelation, Jesus came into Jerusalem that day with Palm Branches waving, and we will stand before Him again in heaven, one day soon, waving those same Palm Branches. Don’t you just love the Bibles consistency? Finally everyone will see Jesus for who He really is. Everyone will know Him and praise Him, honor Him as Lord and Savior forever more. Amen?

Jesus Loves you.. He weeps for you.. and shortly after He went through that Jerusalem city gate.. He died for you and me.. How grateful we all should be.

This story of the triumphal entry is one of the few incidents in the life of Jesus which appears in all four Gospel accounts (Matthew 21; Mark 11; Luke 19; and John 12). Putting the four accounts together, it becomes clear that the triumphal entry was a significant event indeed, not only to the people of Jesus’ day, but to all Christians throughout history. We celebrate now this Palm Sunday to remember that historically momentous occasion.

Again, this week ahead is called Holy Week or Passion Week. Thursday we remember The Last Supper. Good Friday is when Christ died on the cross for us. We should all want to be good knowing what He did for us. And then next Sunday being Easter where we celebrate Christ rising from the grave. As a Christian, this should all mean something special for you. It is a time of reflection, and a time for us to get ourselves more in-line with God’s Will. Jesus loves you so much. He put himself upon the cross at Calvary for you.

We can now have eternal peace knowing that we get to go to heaven because we have accepted Jesus Christ’s payment for our sins on that cross at Calvary.

I pray your week ahead is special. I pray you feel the love of Christ as you go forward, and that you share that love, reflect His Holy Spirit onto others, for it is God’s will that you do. Wave your palm branches brothers and sisters, and show your love for Jesus to the world on this Palm Sunday.

I will close by reciting a popular hymn written by Judson Van DeVenter:

All to Jesus, I surrender; All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender; Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus, I surrender; Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus, I surrender; Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power; Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

If you would like to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, maybe you can do that today. I have a short prayer that I will pray, maybe you can choose to pray with me now.

“Dear God, I know I’m a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe that He died for my sin and that you raised Him to life. I want to trust Him as my Savior and follow Him as Lord, from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do your will. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

If you just prayed that for the first time, please consider contacting me or another pastor you trust and let them know. We would be honored to help you take your first steps into this new Christ-filled, Born-again journey ahead.

If you care to participate in The Lord’s Supper with us, you can find the recorded video on our First Baptist Church Facebook Page.

God be with you all.