Adoration

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon
Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011

[Video] “Oh, the weight of the cross; Oh, the strength of the one who bears it.”

When the angel, Gabriel, came to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, he said that He will sit on the throne of His father, David, and His kingdom would have no end.

When the Magi came looking for Him, they asked, “So where is the newborn king of the Jews?” When He came into Jerusalem riding on the back of a colt, the people announced Him, “Blessed in the name of the Lord is the king who comes to us.” Pontius Pilate would ask Him, “So are you the king of the Jews?” And Jesus would answer in the affirmative.

Today we discover that Jesus fulfills all three of the offices of the Old Testament, that of prophet, priest and, today, that of king. Now He may not have been the king they had been anticipating or even the king they wanted in Jerusalem but just as He is the perfect prophet, the perfect priest, He also is the perfect king. Jesus has come and Jesus is king.

But for us to really understand what does it mean for Jesus to be king, we actually have to go all the way back to the first king of Israel when the people asked of God to appoint them, to give them a king. You recall that they went for hundreds of years with no king in place. It was Moses who brought them out of Egypt and into the wilderness. It was Joshua who took them into the Promise Land and then it was a series of judges who ruled and led the people.

But in 1 Samuel 8, we read this, “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, ‘You’re old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’” The people get together and they say, “Our time has finally come for us to be a legitimate nation. We need to be like all the other nations that are surrounding us. If we’re going to be a contender in this world, then we also need a king just like all the rest of the nations have a king.

Samuel tries to warn them of what they’re asking for. He says, “I’m not sure that you want a king. A king will reign over you. A king will exact taxes upon you. A king will take your sons and daughters and put them into servitude.” But nevertheless, they said, “We want a king over us. Then we’ll be like all the other nations, a king to lead us and to go out before us and to fight our battles.” They want a king, someone they can point to, someone sitting on a throne, someone who has a palace, someone who will go out before them, someone who will fight their battles for them.

And so God gives them a king. First He gives them Saul. Saul doesn’t work out too well, but then David comes and David’s the king they’ve been thinking about. David is the king they want. He’s the great warrior king. David leads them on a conquest of the entire Promise Land. He’s followed up by his son, Solomon. Solomon builds up the nation with riches and prestige like they’ve never experienced before. It’s that kind of king that the people of Jerusalem are expecting when Jesus shows up on the scene.

They’re looking for a king the likes of David. They’re looking for a king the likes of Solomon. And they’ve been watching Jesus. For three years, they have marveled at His teachings. For three years, they’ve been astounded at His miracles and His healing. And now, He enters Jerusalem at Passover time? Passover time for the Jewish religion is the highlight of the year and the place that they celebrated was in the capital city, the spiritual center where the temple is at, in Jerusalem. So if at all possible, no matter where you lived, you would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The city is packed with people.

And into the city rides Jesus in a royal procession. No, He doesn’t come riding in on a stallion but instead, even better. He comes in on a colt and, immediately, the people see the connection between the old prophesy that said the king would come on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He comes in to accolades from the crowd. They welcome Him as royalty. They lay down their coats in the road. They put palm branches down for Him. And then they announced Him that He is the king and has come to them. Jesus does not dissuade them in their accolades. In fact, He says to the Pharisees, “If they were quiet, the very rocks would cry out that I am the king.” So for all practical purposes, Jesus comes in as their king, the one who they have waited for, for such a very, very long time. Can you feel the excitement, the anticipation? The city is buzzing. It’s electric and, as Jesus comes in, is it any wonder that the religious leaders who were in cahoots with Rome were worried? Is it really much of a surprise that once Pontius Pilate catches wind of what’s going on, he’s concerned? Jesus has come into Jerusalem as their king. But will they accept Him as their king or will they reject Him?

Will you accept Him as your king, the one who has supreme authority over your life or will you reject Him? We know that the people of Jerusalem would reject Him. They may hail Him as king on Sunday but just a few short days later, they’re not hailing Him as king. Instead, they’re shouting for His death. They have rejected Him as king.

Now what we may not know or realize is that history is repeating itself. Again, let’s go all the way back to when the people first asked for a king. Samuel didn’t like the idea that the people wanted a king. In fact, he was offended. He was hurt at the fact that the people demanded a king be appointed. Listen to what God says to Samuel, “And the Lord told him, ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as king.’”

The people didn’t think they had a king, but they did. God was their king. Wasn’t it God who went before them? Isn’t it God who went to battle for them? Isn’t it God who defeated their enemies? Isn’t it God who was leading them, guiding them? God was their king, but they rejected God as their king. They wanted an earthly king.

And so it is in Jerusalem now, they reject the Son of God as their king. Both times, they reject God as king for the same reason. They don’t understand who the true enemy is. They miss the point of where the true battle will be fought. The first time they rejected God as king is because they thought the enemy was the foreign nations around them. They thought that battles would be done against army against army, king against king. Therefore, they needed a king. They wanted to point to someone as their leader, someone sitting on the throne, someone who would lead the charge into battle. They thought their enemies were the foreign nations that were around them. What they didn’t realize is that the true enemy was a spiritual enemy. It wasn’t a physical enemy.

Think back to some of the Old Testament stories you know. How many times were the people of God outmanned and outgunned and yet, they came out on top? They prance around Jericho a few times and the walls fall down. It’s not an issue for God. They go out with a handful of people and they defeat entire armies. It wasn’t the physical enemies. It wasn’t the armies. It wasn’t the kings who were the real enemy for them. The real battlefield was the battle for their souls. It was for the battle of their eternity. What they were fighting against were the false gods that kept infiltrating into the people of Israel. It was all the idols of the foreign nations. It was all the false gods that kept getting in the way, that kept trying to take the people away from the one true God.

Look at the kings after Solomon. It was a slow progression downward. Each king turned away from the one true God and started following the false gods of the foreign nations. That was the downfall of Israel. It was no foreign power. It wasn’t some foreign army that took them out. It was a spiritual loss. It was a spiritual battle. They didn’t understand who the true enemy was. They didn’t understand where the real battlefield was, and neither did the people of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem saw that the new enemy was now Rome, and Rome had them under oppression. And so they needed a king who would lead them in revolt. As soon as they discovered that Jesus isn’t organizing an army, as soon as they figure out that Jesus isn’t going to lead them in revolt, they reject Jesus. They reject Him because they don’t understand what the true battle is all about. They don’t understand what the true fight is, where they need a king to lead them. So they reject Jesus as king.

Will you accept Jesus as king or will you reject Him as well? And I ask that because I wonder, do we understand or maybe better yet, do we really believe what the true battle is? Do we truly believe and understand what we’re really fighting against? It’s easy for us to say that the battle lines for us, the things that are attacking us, “Well, it’s the faltering economy.” “It’s my dwindling retirement account.” “It’s the unstable job market.” “It’s poverty in the world.” “It’s war in the Middle East.” “It’s sickness.” “It’s disease.” “It’s a broken heart.” “It’s abandonment.” We look at all these things and we say, “Those are the things that we need a king to go to battle for us. We need God to straighten out the economy. We need God to stabilize the job market. We need God to restore relationships back together again. We need God to bring peace on this earth.” Is that the real battle, though? Is that the ultimate battle?

Just like in the Old Testament, every time God’s people would defeat an enemy, a foreign power, another one would pop up and they’d defeat that foreign power and then another one would pop up and they’d defeat that foreign power.

Every time we think we’ve cured a disease, another one comes up. Each time the economy comes back up, you and I both know it will go back down. Each time the job market seems to level out, we know that sooner or later, it’s going to get unstable again. Jesus said, “The poor will be with you always.”

I’m not trying to be depressing here. I’m trying to bring us to reality. The reality is we live in a fallen world and the reality is we will always have those kinds of issues. There will always be war. There will always be poverty. There will always be broken relationships. There will always be disease. That’s what it means to live in a fallen world.

So what is the real battle that needs to be fought? What are the real issues, the ultimate issues that we need a king to lead us against, one to go before us? It’s a spiritual battle. It is a battle for your soul. It is a war for your eternity. That’s where we need a king.

Listen to what Paul said at the Church at Ephesus, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.” That’s where the battle is being fought. It is a spiritual battle. It is a battle over your soul. It’s a battle for your eternity. That’s where we need a king to lead us. We need a king to go before us and to fight our battles for us.

Jesus comes in as king, and the battlefield is a hill and His weapon is a cross and He defeats the real enemy. There He goes and He wins for us an eternity. He frees us from this world and the constant struggle and He wins for us paradise to restore us back where God originally wanted us to spend an eternity, a paradise that was free of sickness and disease, free of economy, free of broken hearts. Paradise, where He wants us to spend an eternity.

That’s the ultimate battle the King Jesus fights for us. He goes before us. He fights to give us a confidence, to know that if that battle has been won, then we can survive anything this world throws at us. He fights the battle for our very soul. He does battle with the devil himself and He defeats sin. He takes upon Himself the punishment that we deserve. Therefore, He releases our conscience. He takes away the guilt and He takes away the shame.

He takes away the power of death because as death couldn’t hold Him, death will not hold us. That’s the ultimate fight. But do you believe that? Do you see that? It’s so easy for us to get caught up in all the things of this world, and I don’t want you to misunderstand me. It’s not that God isn’t concerned about the economy. It isn’t that God isn’t concerned about your health. It isn’t that God isn’t concerned about your broken heart. It’s just the opposite of that. He is so concerned about it that He makes sure He fights the ultimate battle, that He secures your eternity so even if you have to go through a little bit of pain now, paradise is waiting for us.

It so moved the apostle, Paul, that he said, “I can do anything. I can face any situation through Him who gives me strength.” That’s what it means to have Jesus as king, to recognize Him as that supreme authority in your life, to have the trust and the confidence in Him that He fights the real battles and He wins the ultimate victory.

Jesus is your king and He has gone before you and He has won the ultimate fight. Amen.