Sermon Central
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At The Cross... Is Forgiveness Series
Contributed by Anthony Zibolski on Apr 15, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: At the cross of Christ is forgiveness and wholeness.
At the Cross is Forgiveness
Introduction
Last week we bean a series looking at the cross.
We saw at the cross was the most expressive way God could show his love to mankind.
By way of laying down his life, Jesus took the most horrible, and painful way of dying to show mankind how much He loved them.
Palm Sunday is usually palm branches being waved around signifying Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey.
The crowd hailing Him king of the Jews, and the redeemer to the suppressed Jews against the evil and powerful Romans.
Jesus entrance into Jerusalem is recorded in all 4 gospels.
Each one compliments each other and each one shows a detail to put this event in order for us the reader to see last days of Jesus Christ before the ultimate plan of God is complete.
The ultimate plan of God was to forgive mankind their sins so that they could have a personal relationship with a holy and just God.
To bridge the gap between God and man.
A lot of people know about the cross, and they have heard of Jesus, but few have experienced what the cross of Christ means.
To most, Easter is about food, candy, and a family gathering. Some wonder how the Easter bunny fits in the Easter account. He doesn’t, the Easter bunny is a distraction, he has no biblical truth.
Why the big change among the people!
How could they go from Luke 19:38- “ Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” to Matthews account when Jesus is before the Roman governor Pilate and Pilate asks what he should do with Jesus and the crowd said crucify Him!
The more that he wanted the innocent Jesus released, the louder the crowd cried crucify Him, to the point they released a hardened criminal Barabbas before they would let Jesus go free.
Why?
Because they had a wrong idea of Jesus-
They wanted a king to lead them out of bondage and Jesus was sent to redeem them from their sins.
It is funny how a wrong attitude can lead us in the wrong direction.
They wanted to do what they wanted.
They wanted a king to change their situation and not mess with their hearts.
They wanted military force, and Jesus came to save their souls.
Jesus told them the hard things- things that they did not want to hear.
He told them that we cannot save ourselves.
We cannot reach a point of being good enough to be accepted by God.
We need a savior, not only who can help us in our immediate situations of life, but a God who can redeem us for eternity.
What we call Palm Sunday was the final moment of a journey that Jesus chose for the redemption of each person who puts their faith in Him.
People wanted a king- Jesus wanted to be savior.
People wanted Jesus to change the Romans- Jesus wanted to change their hearts.
People wanted power/freedom- Jesus wanted peace/ relationship with them.
People saw the Romans as the problem- Jesus said they were the problem.
Where did they go wrong?
They looked for what Jesus could do for them instead of seeing what He was about to do.
For us- (This side of the cross) it was creating a Jesus to our liking instead of seeing what He has done for us.
When Jesus was making his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the crowd was cheering, hailing Him their king- “Blessed be the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Pharisees (religious leaders) told Jesus to rebuke your disciples! Tell them to be quiet! They are messing up everything!
Jesus responded- “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” Why?
Because this was the plan of God, Jesus would come and die for mankind- it was their only hope.
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you, even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The day will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God coming to you.”
The very thing they feared the most would happen.
The very Romans they wanted Jesus to destroy would surround them and circle them and bring down the city.
In the fulfillment of scripture recorded in Isaiah and Ezekiel.
Why?
Because they didn’t recognize God coming to them in the person of Jesus the messiah, they failed to recognize Him and they rejected Him.
