The Battle of Wills
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As we come today, knowing what this week entails...
Knowing what Christianity celebrates throughout this week...
We come today, looking back at Jesus Christ’s - Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
As He takes His final steps in His earthly ministry...
Before laying down His life…for all who would believe.
If you remember last week - as we walked through Chapter 6 of John (walking thru as a fellowship)...
…we looked at - The Will of the Father...
In that The Father’s will:
connects faith in Jesus with Eternal Life
wills faith in those who believe...
And today - as we look back to the 1st Palm Sunday, we’re actually going to see that what played out...
…from that Sunday - to that Friday...
Was - a BATTLE OF WILLS...
and in seeing THAT - we’ll actually have a better grasp as to WHAT ACTUALLY RODE INTO Jerusalem that day…so many years ago.
Let’s look back...
28 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples,
30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.
31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ”
32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them.
33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”
35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Now - I think that as we look back at this passage...
We see that - AT LEAST for the moments of time described in these verses...
This was a JOYOUS time for all involved!
Jesus had been healing people left and right...
And not just putting ointment on people...
Not just wrapping people’s wounds...
BUT - literally...
healing the lame...
RAISING the dead!
See most of the people there in Jerusalem that day as Jesus made His way in...
HAD HEARD about His MIRACULOUS work!
Jesus was a bit of - a freak show!
And we all know - we love to check out - the newest Freak Show!
BUT - even in that truth - there was more going on that day than people just trying to catch a glimpse!
And we HEAR it in the text...
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
The whole MULTITUDE of His disciples began to REJOICE!
quietly??
No - with a LOUD VOICE!!
Mark’s gospel tells us ALL who went before Him and ALL who followed Him were PRAISING Him!
This wasn’t JUST ABOUT catching a GLIMPSE!!
These people WORSHIPPED what they saw…that day...
AND YET - there was an EPIC - Battle of WILLS - taking place!
As we saw Last Week...
SLIDE: The Will of the Father: Entered Jerusalem That 1st Palm Sunday
The Will of the Father
The Will of the Father
We spent last week really diving into the Will of the Father...
And if you remember we saw that the WILL OF THE FATHER...
Connects Faith in Jesus - with Eternal Life
Wills Faith in those who Believe
And so when we say YES - The Will of the Father Entered Jerusalem that day on a Donkey...
We look back to Genesis to see where God PROMISED this would be so...
In Genesis 15 (i hope you remember this)...
God makes a Covenant with Abraham...
And in chapter 15, we see this Covenant Ceremony take place...
8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
So what’s happening here? (*Explain)
Ordinarily when a servant would enter into a covenant with a lord, the servant would pass thru the dead animals as he made his promise of faithfulness.
This was a way to say - If i'm not faithful to this promise i make today, may i be torn into pieces and killed like these animals.
The servant is agreeing to take on the curse of the covenant if he does not keep his oath.
Now with this in mind...let's look at what happens here.
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
So instead of Abraham passing thru the dead animals...
God does!
In the form of a smoking fire pot and flaming torch,
God passes thru the blood path (the dead animals),
and as He does, He promises to bless Abraham in all the ways He has promised.
Typically the Servant would pass through the blood path...BUT God does...
And in DOING SO - GOD points to the Son of God (Jesus) who would come to .... SERVE...as a Suffering Servant...
So God walks the blood path....
WITH - that 1st Palm Sunday in View!!
And then the ceremony ends. Abraham never walks.
- SEE - This rescue mission was God’s PLAN...
Plan B?
No - Plan A
And again - the Bible CONFIRMS this for us...
24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
The Father in Heaven - Sent Jesus the Son - to earth - TO BE CRUCIFIED...
The death of Jesus - WASN’T wishful thinking on the part of God the Father **
God came to earth....ON A MISSION...
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
SLIDE: Just as Jesus entered Jerusalem that day, so too did the will of the Father
Just as Jesus entered Jerusalem that day, so too did the will of the Father
It was the Fathers Will that Jesus come and die...
God the Father sent Christ to the Cross...
And Jesus Himself laid down His life…choosing the Cross…!
BUT - remember what our title for today was?
Let’s see...
SLIDE:
The Battle of Wills
The Battle of Wills
There were 2 wills in play on that 1st Palm Sunday...
We’ve just looked at the Father’s Will…and NOW...
SLIDE: The Will of Man: Entered Jerusalem That Day
The Will of Man
The Will of Man
When Christ rode into Jerusalem on that donkey that day...
The Will of Man came with Him...
And we can hear it in the text...
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
The Will of Man - here - manifests itself in 2 ways
And yet - EACH display - comes from the same place...
We’re going to look at EACH WAY…and then also - the place it comes from...
The first display of Man’s will comes in the PRAISES of MAN toward Christ that day...
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Here we have - MEN - worshipping Christ...
But let’s DIG…we need to get DEEPER than the surface of it...
THINK ABOUT IT...
WHY were they worshipping Christ?
See...
• The problem with all of those people there in Jerusalem that day was not that they just needed to mean what they were saying...
• ...THEY MEANT WHAT THEY WERE SAYING..
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord;
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
• The problem was revealed in WHY they were saying it.
• This Jesus guy can do anything!!
• He can set us up real nice!!
• Their worship that day DID NOT terminate on the Son of God, as He rode into Jerusalem.
• Their worship terminated on themselves...
They were expecting:
physical freedom
a new kingdom
a higher status
THIS WAS THEIR - WILL (the will of man)
They were WORSHIPPING what they THOUGHT was going to happen!
What they WANTED to happen!
And they VIEWED Christ as THEIR MEANS to - get what they wanted!
THEREFORE - “Blessed is the KING!!”
Their WILL displayed itself in - Praise / Worship
But the Will of Man also displayed itself in another way that day...
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
The Pharisees - see what’s happening...
They see ALL the people TURNING to Jesus…!
Where before - the people may have viewed the Pharisees as ELITE...
NOW - the people “Found a NEW toy”
And the Pharisees didn’t like it!
And so - THEIR response to Christ - different than the people’s response to Christ!
And it was the PRIDE of the Pharisees that caused their response...
The Pharisees were INTERESTED in - POWER…STATUS....PRESTIGE....GLORY
and they SEEMED to HAVE THESE THINGS - before Christ showed up!
And in their eyes - Jesus was STEALING their glory!
BUT can you see how BOTH responses (the people - and the Pharisees) - how both responses actually came from the SAME PLACE?
Where the Pharisees felt like they were LOSING:
their POWER
STATUS
INFLUENCE
GLORY - from the people...
The People WORSHIPPING Christ
DIDN’T HAVE THOSE THINGS - BUT - felt like Christ could help them - ATTAIN those same things!!
Those who were SHOUTING - “Blessed be the KING”
“HOSANNA in the Highest!” “SAVE US” “Deliver US!”
Each response that day - coming from a place of PRIDE...
The people worshipping Christ that day - would end up SHOUTING “Crucify Him” later that week...
Why?
Because He wasn’t DELIVERING - as they had hoped!
They were expecting “the Physical” - and completely MISSED the “Spiritual”
And so as Christ RODE into Jerusalem on that 1st Palm Sunday...
it was a: Battle of the Wills
The Will of the Father
The Will of Man
And GOOD NEWS for us - the Will of the Father would not - and will never be DENIED!
BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?
On this 2019 Palm Sunday...
Who’s will are you pursuing?
Are you pursuing God’s will?...
…or your own?
Here are some questions to ask yourself - to help you answer that question for yourself...
And they focus on these things:
Himself
His Word
His people
Himself
Do I find myself viewing more of life in light of Jesus Christ?
Meaning - as i live out my days, do I find myself using CREATION itself, and SITUATIONS of life...
…as SPRINGBOARDS to God?
Example - Where early on in your life - you’d look out at the Sunrise, and wouldn’t think twice about God - NOW - you find yourself praising Him for it?
Where before Christ, your emotions would get the best of you when something “bad” happened to you…BUT NOW - you find yourself ‘trusting’ Him through all of it...
…still praising Him through it!
Do your MOUNTAIN-TOP moments lead you to PRAISE God for it...
…and do your DARKEST VALLEY moments lead you to lean in to God…trusting Him…praising Him through the storm?
Answering these questions will help you determine if you’re - Pursuing the will of God
His Word
2. Do you find yourself desiring to know Christ more through His word?
IN HIS WORD - is where we come to KNOW Christ!
If what we THINK about Christ doesn’t jive with the WORD of Christ…then we don’t KNOW Christ.
And so if you’re going to Pursue Christ in His word...
Then....
We have to commit to Reading and Studying the Word!
Ask yourself: Do you read God’s word?
Do you study God’s word?
If I told you that - IF you read Romans chapter 7-8 tonight, you would get $20K in the mail tomorrow…who would now have different plans tonight?
But is that what it takes?
We need to READ the Scripture…large portions of it...
And then STUDY the scripture - to go deep
We need to encourage each other in this!
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Couple this with the truth of Hebrews 3:13...
13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
And you can see that we’re called to READ and STUDY the scriptures - FOR THE BENEFIT of OTHERS!
You see that connection?
But what else?
We’re called to pursue God’s Will through:
Himself
His Word
BUT ALSO - His people
His People
3. Do you find yourself desiring more and more, to be with the people of God, that you might help change them and be changed by them?
And I’m not sure we completely understand the importance of this...
When we look at how God works in the lives of Christians...what we see in Scripture...is this...
• Men wander from the path...
• And God brings them back...
• Men wander from the path...
• And God draws them back....draws them back...
• Now, how does he draw them back?
• God draws us back to the path...by using the Body of Christ...by using other believers
• In Scripture we see David wander from the path (Bathsheba)...
• And God brings David back..
• by His grace...
• USING Nathan...
• The fellowship that David and Nathan had brought David back from wandering...
• And so GOD KEEPS us saved...by HIS Grace...using US as a means of that grace...
And so Fellowship is a means of Grace that God uses to bring His people back to Him...KEEPING them saved...
THIS is one of the ways we fight the WILL of our flesh...
Speaking of the Battle of Wills...
We’re called to live out this FIGHT - together!
And so what have we seen today, on this Palm Sunday - 2019
SUMMARY:
The Will of the Father
The Will of the Father
The Will of Man
The Will of Man
And so do you see the dangers in this…?
Think of the Will of Man - those people praised Jesus as He came...
We praise Jesus every Sunday...
Are we any different?
Could we go our entire life - THINKING we’re in God’s will, yet all the while we’re really only worshipping our OWN will regarding Christ…?
We NEED each other...
Get in the game -
If we learn anything from this Palm Sunday - it’s this - Get in the game!
Your eternity is at stake!
Let’s pray
Have a Great Week
Have a Great Week