Sermon Title: 3 Strikes and You’re Out!
Scripture: Luke 19:29-44
Wesleyan Community Church
Terry, Mississippi
Sunday Morning - March 24, 2002
Scripture Introduction:
It would come only natural to preach about the triumphant entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the day the we have set aside in commemoration of this blessed event. We are ever closer to the day that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, and without that event, we would find ourselves in a very sad state today. What is even sadder, is the fact that the almost the entirety of mankind, and the church is equally guilty of this as well, has put Christmas as a more significant day in the context of Christian holidays over Easter and the entire process of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The problem behind all of this, is that it is more pleasant to think of cute little babies wrapped up and innocent, than to think of a man that has been so badly beaten and battered that he i almost unrecognizable, spat on, rejected, laughed at and then nailed to a rough hewn piece of Roman timber, to suffer and die. Not only that, but it is the lives that we have lived that have become the reason that we put him there. We are responsible for that most brutal and horrible of deaths, but we push that to the back of our minds and choose instead to look at the cute baby and not the horror that is yet to come.
Scripture Reading:
29And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, 30Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither. 31And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. 32And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. 33And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? 34And they said, The Lord hath need of him. 35And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. 36And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. 37And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; 38Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 39And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. 40And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Sermon Introduction:
We have each seen it time and time again, the crowds lined up in expectation. You can just imagine the sight as these words enter our ears. As far as the eyes can see people are lining the pathway, in expectation of the grand entrance that has been so long awaited for. Some people have been awaiting this event for weeks, months and even years. I think we can easily place ourselves in the place of thinking this past description as the triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Jesus, but we see the same thing as I just described in everyday life, as people await the arrival of a movie star, a music celebrity, a sports hero or team and even certain political leaders are greeted with this type of a response.
What is it that people are waiting for in these situations. There has been a preparation in their lives that leads them to this particular point in time and to this particular location. Each and every event in our lives, whether it be pleasant or painful, constructive or destructive prepares for what lies ahead. This is a fact that we just as well get used to. Some may argue that the negative things are not actually going to be helpful, and to a degree there is truth to that, because if we fail to learn from our mistakes, instead of improving our performance we will actually be prepared to do badly. How about these events in this day and age? We are seeking to gain something from this experience, something that has been laid out before us, either through advertisement or word of mouth.
What kind of promise has been laid before us that would make us wait in line for days and hours? Certainly there has to be a reason? We seek things that would be to our advantage, things that would make some part of our existence better than it was. As Christians, we are not exempt from that because we are required to grow Spiritually. What kind of waiting and watching for God are we involved in?
The sad truth of the matter is there are problems in our reasons for being out there on the street, lined up for hours, lined up in spite of the bad weather, the vast amount of time spent waiting, and even the reason for our being there may be wrong, contrary to the original intentions of God.
As a group of people, men and women, rich and poor, white-black-brown-yellow-red, well seasoned spiritually or relatively knew to the faith, to often we are waiting for the wrong thing. Some Pentecostals are lined up waiting for the gifs and have overlooked the giver, there is the liberal faction that has chosen to embrace all and has instead compromised almost every Biblical standard in their effort to be accepting of all. The Evangelicals have turned their relationship with God into a candy machine mentality, you put the right change in and the blessing that you want will come out. There are theologies that are telling us that it doesn’t matter what you do, you won’t loose your salvation and the opposite side of that coin are those that tell us regardless of our faith or our works, unless we are chosen as the elect we will not see Jesus. The holiness movement has the same problem, we are waiting in line for all the wrong reasons, we seek holiness, but are so concerned with appearances, we seek to add others to the kingdom of God but yet expect the lost to simply walk into our churches, they are so lost that they no longer know what they need. The day of the sinner walking off of the street and kneeling before an altar to seek Jesus is long gone. The hymn tells it well - Bring them In, Bring then In, bring the wandering ones to Jesus. When Jesus told the fisherman that they were going to become fishers of men, were they basing what they would be doing on the basis of the way they caught fish. We need to wake up! The fish did not jump into their boats, they were caught in a net, the net we must use is the testimony of our lives and the Words that God has given us in the Bible, once we have them in the net, then we can haul them into our fellowship and begin the task of leading them in their learning of what God has planned for their lives.
Let us pause for a moment of prayer!
Point 1: The Parade
This mornings text outlines the triumphant entry into Jerusalem by Jesus Christ our Lord. The picture that is desired here is nothing that was new to those that new and understood the Old Testament, We read an account in:
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
This is just one of the many prophecies in the Old Testament that were rapidly fulfilled by Jesus as He approached the hill of Calvary. What a sight that must have been, the people lining both sides of the path into Jerusalem, throwing the leaves from the palm trees and their garments before the path of the colt with Jesus riding upon it’s back. This was the entry into the city that was befitting a king. And a king He was but not the earthly king that they were expecting and viewing Jesus to be. They had all missed the point.
Point 2: The Preparation
Jesus had done His best to get them to the point where they realized exactly what kind of a kingdom that He was going to lead. Peter, the often fumbling and bumbling Peter hit so close to the truth when he answered Jesus’ question, "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?" Jesus performed many miracles and allow me to read a little of the Scripture that deals with two of them:
The Miracles of Jesus
Luke 4: 33And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
Luke 5:2And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 4Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 6And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Luke 18: 35And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: 36And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. 37And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. 38And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 39And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 40And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, 41Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. 42And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. 43And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
These are only three of the Miracles of Jesus out of a long list and I am sure that I will miss some of them:
1. Cleansing a Leper
2. Healing a Centurion’s Servant (of paralysis)
3. Healing Peter’s Mother-in-law
4. Healing the Sick at Evening
5. Stilling the Storm
6. Devils Entering a Herd of Swine
7. Healing a Paralytic
8. Raising the Ruler’s Daughter
9. Healing the Hemorrhaging Woman
10. Healing Two Blind Men
11. Curing a Devil-possessed, Dumb Man
12. Healing a Man’s Withered Hand
13. Curing a Devil-possessed, Blind and Dumb Man
14. Feeding the Five Thousand
15. Walking on the Sea
16. Healing the Gentile Woman’s Daughter
17. Feeding the Four Thousand
18. Healing the Epileptic Boy
19. Temple Tax in the Fish’s Mouth
20. Healing Two Blind Men
21. Withering the Fig Tree
22. Casting Out an Unclean Spirit
23. Healing a Deaf and Dumb Man
24. Healing a Blind Paralytic at Bethsaida
25. Escape from the Hostile Multitude
26. Draught of Fish
27. Raising of a Widow’s Son at Nain
28. Healing the Infirm, Bowed Woman
29. Healing the Man with Dropsy
30. Cleansing the Ten Lepers
31. Restoring a Servant’s Ear
32. Turning Water into Wine
33. Healing the Nobleman’s Son (of fever)
34. Healing an Infirm Man at Bethesda
35. Healing the Man Born Blind
36. Raising of Lazarus
All of these acts were done by Jesus for what reason, to show the people that He was an earthly king? Now I don’t understand how they missed the point, but when we look at the situation of the world around us today, we are in the very same boat. We still see miracles, there are many people who have walked away from addictions and turned their lives around, there are people who were hopelessly ill and were suddenly cured and doctors find themselves speechless when asked how it happened. Jesus promised that he would return, and we look at the world around us, and those that study the signs of the end times say we shouldn’t be surprised if the end is suddenly upon us. I don’t spend a lot of time looking at those things, but I have to agree on that point.
None of these miracles that were performed would have done anything to prove Jesus’ ability as an earthly king but did much to prove his position as heavenly king and the Son of God.
Point 3: The Promise
We spent some time looking at the relationship that Abraham had with God and the experience that he had going into that. He was very clued in to what God had in store. Moses had a little more knowledge going into his service but still not the knowledge that we have, and certainly not the one on one teaching of Jesus’ disciples and some of his other close followers. Look at the following Scripture recorded in the book of Job:
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
Poor Job and all of the trials and tribulations that he endured, never wavered in his faith and knew for a fact that Jesus would one day walk on the earth. Why are we as a society with the many blessings, especially the written Word of God at our fingertips and yet we are so simple in our understanding.
Point 4: The Problem
We have a problem, let us read the final verses of this morning’s text, beginning with verse 41:
41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
The city of Jerusalem is destroyed in 70 Ad by Titus, just as Jesus describes in this particular text, but Jesus speaks equally about the peace that He offers as Lord and Savior, a spiritual peace, an eternal peace, a peace whose concept escaped even those that were the closest to him.
I entitled this message, three strikes and your out for a very good reason. This is a time when we celebrate His resurrection. We celebrate the fact that through His shed blood our sins are atoned. But we better catch on quick and spread the word to others, because the count-down is nearing the end.
God chose to reveal himself to His people in His Word that we have called the Old Testament. Time and time again, there were revelations of the consequences, the consequences were suffered. There were promises made and those promises were kept. The Hebrew people were in and out of captivity, they were saved from decimation they were decimated, scattered, cut-off, evicted and scattered and yet they never caught on.
The promised Messiah came as predicted and performed so many miracles that amazed astounded and left awe-struck so many people with the power and authority that could come only from God, and yet as Jesus prepares to enter the city, they are left clueless and He in tears.
There is one more promise that is made and that is the return of our Lord and Savior, and this time He comes to judge. This will indeed be the third strike and those that are clueless at this point will truly be lost. Jesus suffered and died so that we may have eternal life, and so many have missed the point.
Conclusion:
I think of all the fanfare that goes into some of the sporting events and I wonder would Jesus receive such a welcome today? He has given the opportunity for us to choose a life with Him. We see His wonders all around us as He prepares us for what He has in store for us. He promises us the opportunity of life everlasting. He promises us the forgiveness of the things that we have done that we are willing to turn away from. He promise to heal us from the terminal illness that each and every one of our souls possess.
But there is a problem, time is running out. He has already died for all the sins, and the preparation is made for his return, however at this return it is three strikes and your out, if you are not where He wants you to be.
Yes, this is a time to celebrate the sacrifice that Jesus made, what a better way then to celebrate by dedicating our lives to Him.
For those that don’t know Him, He will meet us today!
For those that have lost touch, He awaits our return today!
For those who wish to know Him better and deeper, He desires that commitment from us today!
We all fit in one of these categories, what will you commit to Jesus this day?
