Palm Sunday / 4.10.22

Palm Sunday SAVIOR KING 

Matthew 21:1-10 & Luke 19:38-44

April 10, 2022  

1. Introduction:  
2. Many of you know and experience me as pastor, my wife knows and experiences  me as husband, my three daughters know and experience me as dad, and my  grandchildren know and experience me as grandpa.  
3. Recently my grandson, whose name is Johnny, who also comes here to MVC,  asked me “Are you a pastor?” and I said, “Yes, I am” Then he said, “I’m  going to call you Grandpa Pastor.” That is because Johnny knows me as both  a grandpa and a pastor.  
4. Actually the name Jesus Christ is the joining together of two different  identities and works that Jesus does, just like I am Grandpa Pastor to Johnny  so our Lord is Jesus Christ to us.  
5. a) Jesus means savior and refers to Him as the one who delivers us from sin  and danger  
6. b) Christ means Messiah – or simply referring to the one that God promised  throughout the Old Testament to send to be both their savior and their  king.  

(1) John 1:41  

(2) Listen to what the Jews said about him in the trial before Pilate -  Luke 23:2-3 (king)  

(3) Listen to what the chief priests and the scribes said about the Christ  at the cross Mark 15:31-32 (savior and king)  

1. c) If anyone understood the concept of what the Messiah was, the Christ  who was promised to come as their king to be savior, it would have been  the Jews and the religious leaders of the Jews.  
2. That is what Palm Sunday is all about – the triumphal entry, the time when Jesus  came to present Himself to them as the Christ, their king and savior and they 

rejected him which began a week of rejecting Jesus repeatedly as their king and  savior.  

1. My concern this morning is that many Christians know Jesus as their personal  savior but they do not recognize him as their personal king! We do it to our own  hurt.  
2. The triumphal entry was one of the major turning points in Jesus’ life and actually  in the larger story of the Bible as the long awaited Messiah/Christ had come and  presented himself to them as their king and they rejected him.  

• Turn to Matthew 21 where we see the story of the Triumphal Entry  II. The Triumphal Entry  

1. Matthew 21:1-9  
2. Read 1-5  
3. a) V5 – king coming on a donkey – Matthew is putting in an editorial  comment on this story to let us know that what Jesus was going to do  was predicted by Zechariah 9:9 – that their king would come to  

Zion/Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  

1. b) Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey should have been a picture that  was worth a million words that every Jew should have known especially  their religious leaders.  
2. c) Story of Al Richmond at Easter musical and play – a full blood Jew who  was trained in Jewish schools all his life was radically saved when he  saw the one portraying Jesus coming down the aisle on a real donkey!  
3. Read 6-9  
4. a) Matthew tells us here how the crowd responded as they shouted out  praises to Jesus calling Him the Son of David.  

(1) That phrase is important because the Old Testament identified a  coming king who would save them as coming from the line of  

David.  

1. b) On top of that, the Old Testament made it clear that this Christ who was  coming to save them and be their king was going to be God Himself.  
2. So while Matthew shows us the response of the people, Luke shows us the  response of the religious leaders, those who should have understood best just what  was going on. Turn to Luke 19:37 
3. Read v37-38  
4. a) Again, we see the crowd responding with praise to God and here we see  that some in the crowd were actually calling Jesus the King who comes  in the name of the Lord.  
5. Read v39 -40  
6. a) But the religious leaders had a very different response as they told Jesus  He should strongly denounce what they are saying and correct them.  
7. b) Jesus response shows that what is happening is so big that if the crowds  themselves do not shout out in praise then the stones themselves will cry  out!  
8. Note Jesus’ response to this – read 41  
9. a) Note in v41 that Jesus wept. This is the Greek word for a loud crying  and wailing. Jesus was deeply troubled and grieving over what just  happened  
10. b) Read v42  

(1) Know = understand  

(2) This day was the day that peace was being offered to you. I, as the  Messiah, was offering you salvation from your sin and enemies  

and to be your king who would provide peace – internal tranquility  

and external harmony with your enemies.  

1. c) Now there enemies will overthrow them. Read v43-44b  
2. Now we see the reason why Jesus responded the way He did with such deep  grief and crying and consequences. Read 44c  
3. a) The word for visitation here indicates a visit from God  
4. b) Simply they did not recognize that the Messiah, the Christ, the King who  was God Himself had come to town today to save them and rule over  them for their good.  
5. This began a week of continual rejection of Jesus as their Christ both in trials  and ultimately at the cross when the charge put above His head on the cross  was “King of the Jews”  

• So what are the implications for you and me here today?  

III. Implications 

1. In preparation for this message, I traced every reference to Christ and King in the  New Testament and one thing jumped out to me about 2/3rds the way through.  About 99% of references to Christ either referred to Him as Savior or King.  
2. There are two different ways to respond to Him. We trust Him as Savior and  we obey Him as King - trust and obey for there is no other way, to be happy  in Jesus but to trust and obey.  
3. a) We must trust Jesus as our Savior from the penalty of sin, and we must  continue to trust Him every day to deliver us from the power and effects  of sin in our life  
4. b) But as our King, we must also take His lead in our life as King and  follow him with submission and obedience!  
5. Let’s talk about Savior  
6. The Christ came to save His people from both the domination that sin had  over them and the domination that other nations had over them.  
7. a) In His first coming, He dealt with the domination of sin and in His  second, He will deal with the domination of other nations over Israel.  
8. So if you are here today and do not know Jesus as your personal Savior do  you recognize that God is seeking to visit you today with the good news of  who Jesus Christ really is?  
9. a) He wants to deal with that tendency within us that wants to run our own  lives our own way apart from what God says, those things that ultimately  end up hurting others and us!  
10. b) Basically, that is what sin is  

(1) Running my own life my own way not caring what God said!  (2) Falling short of the standard, which God set for us to live by!  (3) The penalty for that is death – eternal separation from God in a real  place of fire called hell  

1. c) Jesus is God’s solution for our sin problem when at the cross God placed  all our sins upon Him to pay the penalty for our sins by dying for us.  Then He rose from the dead three days later to offer us a brand new heart  and life, one that is eternal and free from the power of sin.  
2. d) Believing who Jesus is and what He did on the cross and resurrection  was done for me is how we respond to John 3:16 
3. So believing, faith, trust, relying is the way we respond to Jesus Christ as our  Savior  
4. a) Maybe today is the day that God is visiting you! - Invite  
5. How about Christ as King and a few synonyms for that in the Bible is Lord and  Master, how are we to respond to King Jesus, the Lord and Master.  
6. Listen to what Jesus said. Turn to Luke 6:46  
7. a) Read v46 – it is inconsistent and incongruent to call Jesus my Lord and  King and not obey Him.  
8. Let me ask you this –  
9. a) To follow what our King says we need to know what He says in His  Word. Do you know your Bible?  
10. b) Secondly, are there any areas of your life right now you know are not in  submission and obedience to Jesus  

(1) Thoughts, affections, attitudes, actions, habits?  

(2) So you want me to get specific – ok – I will. Let’s get to the heart  and crux of the matter.  

(a) Read Matthew 6:24 – no one can serve two masters, two  

lords, two kings  

(b) Even our money – are you giving to the Lord’s work and  

seeking His leadership with every penny you own or are  

you running your own bank account your own way without  

any knowledge or concern for what Jesus says.  

(c) Lower shelf – ok – are you regularly, every paycheck  

putting aside as a first fruit a generous amount of your  

salary to give to the Lord’s work right here in your church?  

(3) You cannot serve God and money at the same time – one is king of  your life and the other is not. Which is it in your life?  

(a) Tony Evans says it something like this – God never has the  heart of a man until He has the wallet of the man!  

1. Bottom line today – Palm Sunday is the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem to  present Himself as the King to obey and Savior to trust.  
2. Today as Jesus visits MVC through this message, will you recognize Him for who He is and respond to Him as the Savior to trust and the King to obey! 
3. As we prepare for worship let me read you two passages to prepare us and  recognize just how big this day and moment was as Jesus presented himself to be  their King  
4. This is where the religious leaders drew the red line, the line in the sand  where there is no return when it came to rejecting Jesus’ claim to be the  Christ, the king of Israel, God Himself!  
5. a) Turn and read Matthew 26:63 – 68  
6. Why would the high priest be so upset at this statement by Jesus.  (1) Listen to Daniel 7:13-14  

(2) Context – God the Father, the Ancient of Days was sitting on a  throne of fire with a river of fire coming out in front of Him. Now  we see this Son of Man, Jesus coming with the clouds of heaven  right through the river of fire up to the Ancient of Days.  

(3) Read 7:13-14  

1. Worship