The Cross - God’s Plan to Atone for Sin - Palm Sunday
Notes
Transcript
Main Preaching Theme:
Jesus’ deliberate plan of heading towards the cross was for the atonement of our sin.
Main Preaching Intention:
I believe that people will be struck by the deliberate actions of Jesus on their behalf and that they will respond with gratitude and action.
Scene 1: Jesus has a plan, to go to Jerusalem.
To place himself in the hands of the religious leaders.
Who he knew would crucify him.
Look at Matthew 20:17 -18
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die.
This is the third time that he has told his disciples of his death.
The first time was in Matthew 16:21.
The second time was in Matthew 17:22.
Jesus had a plan from day one.
Now you can’t say that Jesus didn’t prepare his disciples for what was about to happen.
There are these three explicit occasions when he told them that he would die.
There were also a number of veiled references, such as Matthew 12:40 where he said he would be in the earth for three days as Jonah was in the belly of the whale.
Plenty of time for the disciples to talk him out of it.
Plenty of time for him to change his mind.
But he didn’t!
Jesus deliberately chose his path.
Turning over to Matthew 20:29 we find Jesus leaving Jericho.
Actually when we read all the gospels we will discover that this verse is set on the road between the old and new cities.
Two blind men appeal to Jesus using his title Lord, Son of David.
That is they were publically declaring that Jesus is the Messiah.
The crowd with Jesus told them to be quiet, there were more important things to do such as getting on with the journey to Jerusalem where they all though that Jesus would be made king.
But Jesus stopped and healed them.
This verse places Jesus in a specific location, Jericho.
Next to the Dead Sea.
A long uphill walk through desolate country.
A journey many crowds of pilgrims would make.
For individuals a dangerous journey through bandit country.
But for the large group with Jesus there was safety in numbers and all the time in the world for Jesus to change his mind.
But still he continued!
Scene 2: Everything Jesus did in the next week was aimed at fulfilling prophecy and provoking a response from the chief priests and teachers of the law.
He set out to be crucified. Matthew 20:18.
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
After the long hot uphill walk from Jericho the crowds were ready to celebrate the Passover.
Jesus knew that the crowd was excited.
It had been 400 years since the last prophet.
There were high expectations of what Jesus would do.
Many had declared him to be the Messiah.
The crowds were ready to proclaim him as the Messiah.
And Jesus encouraged them by his actions.
He told his disciples to go and find a donkey and they would find the colt there as well.
They were to untie the animals and bring them to Jesus.
And if anyone questioned why they were taking the animals they were to explain that the Lord needs them.
Such borrowing of an animal was not as strange as it may appear.
There was an ancient custom by which a political or religious leader could commandeer property for short-term use.
As Messiah Jesus had the right to request whatever He needed.
The fact that he made this request was seen by Matthew to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 and Isaiah 62:11.
This prophecy presents the dramatic contrast of a King coming gently, humbly riding on a donkey with the dramatic bold manner in which a conquering king normally arrived on a war horse.
A colt was a symbol of peace.
The disciples got the animals, threw their garments on them to make saddles, and the people in the large crowd spread their cloaks (cf. 2 Kings 9:13) and tree branches on the road.
Most of these people were pilgrims from Galilee on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
They were familiar with Jesus and the many miracles He had performed in Galilee.
As the people walked along, some before Jesus and some behind Him, they were probably singing some of the pilgrim psalms.
Matthew noted that the people, including children, shouted the words of Psalm 118:26, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
To Jesus they shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David.
“Hosanna” is Hebrew “Save (us), we pray,” taken from Psalm 118:25.
It seems that there was a definite expectation amongst the crowd.
They probably did not grasp the full significance of the event but they were expecting something.
Both their actions and words bestowed honor on this one coming into the city, at last presenting Himself publicly as their King.[1]
But it was not to be as they expected!
Jesus did not come to make himself King.
The leaders of the nation were not willing to accept him.
Instead Jesus went out of his way to upset those leaders.
In a sense to force their hand to make them carry out their intention to rid themselves of this troublesome popular preacher.
Luke recorded that Jesus wept over the city Luke 19:42 and told the religious leaders that:
42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.
Jesus was referring to a prophecy from Daniel concerning the time of Messiah’s coming and that He had arrived in Jerusalem at the very time predicted by Daniel over 500 years previously.
25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times. 26 “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
Basically Jesus was asking the rulers if they got it;
They didn’t!
The Scriptures had foretold the official presentation of Jesus Christ to the nation of Israel as the rightful Son of David.
And just as Daniel had predicted they cut him off.
Just to make sure of their rejection on Monday morning we read in verse 12 that Jesus entered the temple and threw out the traders.
Now don’t make the mistake of thinking that Jesus turned up and ever so nicely asked them to leave.
He drove them out
Matthew tells us that Jesus further demonstrated His authority by healing the blind and the lame who came to Him at the temple.
Normally such individuals were excluded from the temple, but Jesus’ authority brought many changes.
As Jesus healed those who came to Him in the temple, children ascribed praise to Him, shouting … Hosanna to the Son of David.
Clearly this was a messianic title.
The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were angered by Jesus’ works and the children’s praises.
They wanted Jesus to make the children stop.
They had their own ideas about how things should be done and Jesus was upsetting everything.
He was accepting the peoples praise as a Messiah.
He was healing people and letting them into the temple courts.
He was taking over their business and threatening their hold over the people.
Over and over again throughout the next few days Jesus gained more and more attention.
Again and again he challenged the leader’s authority.
He showed up their hypocrisy
He had to be stopped and accusing him of insurrection and crimes against the temple was as good a way as any to force the Roman governor’s hand to execute him.
Scene 3: Why did he do this?
To atone for our sins!
Romans 3:23 tells us.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
No one here is perfect.
We all fall short.
God is perfect and holy and cannot stand to have sin in his presence.
Therefore we all deserve to be separated from God forever.
We can never do enough to make it up to God.
Therefore we will always fall short of the perfection that is required.
Jesus came to bring us back into a right relationship with God, to atone for our sins.
To atone means to make at one, to restore those who were estranged back into a united relationship.
W e have all sinned, sin is universal; we need the atonement of Christ.
Sin is serious, God cannot stand it; we need the atonement of Christ.
We cannot deal with our sin, nothing we can do can make it right, no matter how hard we try; we need the atonement of Christ.
Scene 4: So how should we respond?
With gratitude!
Deliberately Jesus set out to die for your sins.... and mine.
This wasn’t something God dreamt up at the last minute.
It cost Jesus his life.
So let’s respond with gratitude.
Let’s allow the significance of all that Jesus did to really sink in!
God gave everything for you.
That is how much he loves you.
We can never repay him, but we can love him in return.
We can allow his Holy Spirit to transform us.
I was reading a transcript of a Radio interview a few years ago.
It was an interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef, the author of the book “Son of Hamas”
It was an amazing interview and while I had only just become aware of the book it is one that I think we should all read.
It is very timely in todays situation.
This former Islamic terrorist organisation leader has become a Christian.
The clarity of understanding that he shows is awe inspiring.
He gets the concerns of the Palestinians; He gets the concerns of the Israeli’s.
He gets the hatred of Hamas and others who would destroy Israel.
He gets the political doublespeak and lack of real understanding of the West.
And through it all his central theme is that politics and war cannot solve the situation, only a change of ideology can.
And that can only come about by changing people’s hearts.
He is no longer consumed by hatred; he is consumed by the love of Christ ... for all sides.
Here is a man who is hunted, a man who almost certainly has a price on his head.
A man whose family has disowned him because he became a Christian.
Yet he understands this.
Christ died for his sins.
And all he can do in response is to love others as Christ has loved him.
Here is a man, who has nothing, but he has everything, he has the love of Christ.
Will you respond with the same gratitude and action?
No one deserves Christ’s love, but it is offered anyway, let’s respond with gratitude.
[1] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Mt 21:1–9). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996 (electronic ed.) (Da 9:25–26). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.