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Apr 13, 2014

If You'd Only Known....

Passage: Luke 19:37-48

Preacher: John Repsold

Category: Road to the Cross

Keywords: recognizing, knowing, prophecy, crisis, life

Summary:

This message looks at some of the things Jesus identified as what we really need to know about Him and how he works if we are to recognize His work in and around us. Truly embracing these core truths will change how we deal with some of the harder things that life can throw at us.

Detail:

If You’d Only Known….

Luke 19:37-48

April 13, 2014

INTRO: How many times in your life have you said to yourself, “If I’d only known about ___________, I would have done that differently.”

  • If I’d only known they were struggling with that issue, I wouldn’t have said what I said.
  • If I’d only known how it was going to affect my family, I wouldn’t have taken that job.
  • If I’d only known that drunk driver was going to be on that road that day, I would have waited 5 minutes.
  • If I’d only known what I now know about my ex-spouse, I would never have married them.

A whole lot of gaining wisdom and maturity in life has to do with the mistakes and failures we or others around us make in life. While we’re often tempted to say, “If I’d only known what I know now, I would have done things very differently,” the reality is simply knowing all the facts doesn’t always lead to decisions that keep life from pain or suffering. Often God has so much more to show us about Himself and life that can only be experienced in and through our wrong, stupid, poor or bad decisions.

            Think back on your life. All of us have areas or issues in our lives where we are tempted to say, “If I’d only known what I know now….” So think about one or two such issues in your life where you’re tempted to say that.

Now, ask yourself what you would have failed to learn or experience or grow in had you somehow avoided the difficult or painful results of not “knowing” what might have saved you from that experience. Would avoiding that painful experience have made you a better person? Would it have been a better blessing in the long run to the people around you?

Mix-it-up: Share one of your “If I’d only known…” experiences with someone near you today. Then talk to them about something good that has come out of that experience for either you or those around you.

_________________________

I want you to imagine something. You are witnessing to a college student who asks, “Why should I follow Jesus?” You tell him, “Because Jesus said, ‘I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.’ Jesus will give you an abundant life. Not only that, He will give you peace with God. He will give you new purpose and meaning. He will help you overcome the temptations that would destroy your life. Being a Christian is the greatest life in this world!”

Let’s say you encourage him/her to come with you to a Christian concert. He/she enjoys the music, even if they can’t catch all the words. He sees others who look similar to him and figures, “Maybe not all Christians look weird.” When the invitation is given, he sees others going forward and he feels good about the whole evening. When the speaker gives another emotional appeal to come forward and know Jesus, the young man/woman decides to try it. He goes down front and a counselor goes over the basics of the gospel and leads him in the sinner’s prayer. He assures him that he is now one of God’s children and encourages him to read the Bible and go to church.

In subsequent weeks, he’s out late on Saturday nights, so he struggles with getting out of bed early enough to get to church on Sunday mornings. But he hears about the college group and starts attending it. He likes the feeling of the worship time and meets a lot of nice people, including some cute girls. Life seems to be going well for him. He likes being a Christian.

Then, bad news hits. He hears that his mom is dying of cancer. He asks everyone to pray, but she doesn’t get better. He watches as she slowly, painfully sinks lower and lower until she dies a difficult death. He doesn’t understand why God didn’t answer his prayers.

About this time, he runs into an old friend who offers him a joint. He smokes it and feels mellow all over. Soon after, he meets a beautiful girl and she willingly gives herself to him. Being with her is a lot of fun and she makes him forget the pain of his mother’s death. His Christian experience fades into the background as she moves into the center of his life. When you talk to him about his faith, he says, “I tried Jesus and it helped me for a while. If it works for you, that’s great. But right now, it’s just not where I’m at.”

Why did that young man fall away from the faith? What was behind his spiritual defeat?

At least two faulty assumptions:

1.)    First, personal happiness is the most important thing in life. God, if He is there, exists to make me happy. If Jesus can make me feel good, I’ll give Him a try. If following Jesus doesn’t make me feel good or if it seems too hard, then I’ll try something else. Man and his happiness, not God and His glory, are what matter the most.

2.)    The second faulty assumption is that he saw spiritual truth as personal and subjective, not as absolute and objective. If it makes you feel better, if it works for you, then it must be true. But if something else works better, then try it. The test for spiritual truth is how it makes you feel and whether it works. If your thing is “trusting in Jesus,” that’s cool. That seems to work for many people. But if it doesn’t work for me, and if smoking dope and having sex with my girlfriend makes me feel good, then I’ll try that. Spiritual truth is defined in personal and subjective terms.

Maybe you’re wondering, “What does this have to do with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday…or this pre-Easter series about The Road to the Cross?” A lot!

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a foal of a donkey that day, it meant different things to different people. In fact, most of the views of other people about what was unfolding were SO different from Jesus’ view that Jesus used the very expression we started this morning with: “If you had only known….”

So how did some faulty assumptions about Jesus and what was happening lead to some major “If I’d only known…” moments?

For Jesus, it signified His official presentation to the nation as King and Messiah, although He knew that He would be rejected and crucified.

The Twelve and other followers of Jesus saw Him as Messiah and King, but they mistakenly thought that He would set up His rule on the throne of David immediately.

Others in the crowd saw the event in strictly political terms. They were enamored by Jesus’ miracles, especially the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 12:17-18). They hoped that Jesus would lead the revolt against Rome and restore independence to Israel. The Jewish leaders were frustrated by the acclaim Jesus was receiving, because He threatened their power base (John 11:48).

But less than a week later, one of the disciples had betrayed Jesus, another had denied knowing Him, and His followers were scattered and confused. The fickle crowd had changed from shouts of “Hosanna!” to “Crucify Him!” Why? What happened? Why the defection? Why the failure? Why the change?

In part, I believe, it was because these various people had a wrong conception of who Jesus is and they were following Him for what they thought He would do for them. Because they had a faulty notion of spiritual truth regarding the person of Jesus Christ and a man-centered theology, they fell away in a time of difficulty when things didn’t go as they had hoped. If we want a faith that is tough enough and real enough for the trials of life, we need to understand something:

We are called to follow Jesus because He is Lord, not just because of what He can do for us.

I am not denying that Jesus can and will do much for us when we follow Him. But I am affirming that the main reason we must follow Jesus is because of who He is, not because of what He can do for us.

  • We may get tortured and killed for our faith, but we still must follow Jesus if He is really Lord of all.
  • We may experience real heartaches and disappointments in life, but we still will follow Jesus IF we are convinced He is Lord of all.

Luke’s narrative of the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem in Luke 19 shows us five things we “need to know”…need to really embrace about the Lordship of Jesus Christ…IF we are to have a relationship with God that is stronger and deeper than the valleys and disappointments of life. Most if not all of us here today want that kind of depth to our relationship with Jesus. We don’t want to look back on our lives some day and say regrettably, “If I’d only known Christ better, I would have handled that part of my life differently.” What we need to “know” or “experience” is what God teaches us about Jesus and life in under His lordship.

#1. If we really believe Jesus is the Lord of creation, we’ll trust and follow Him. (Read Luke 19:28-35)

28 When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage[c] and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”

32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”

34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” 35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.

That Jesus is Lord over creation is evident in the fact that He rode on an unbroken colt. I’ve done a lot of horseback riding in my day, but I’ve never “broken” a horse before. I’ve never trained a yearling or unbroken horse to accept a saddle and rider on its back and a bit and bridle in its mouth. I know that you don’t just climb on an unbroken colt and expect a nice, gentle ride!

Jesus’ riding on this colt shows His miraculous power over the creation that He spoke into existence by His word of power. There also was a spiritual significance in the fact that the colt was unbroken. In the Old Testament, when an animal was put to sacred use, it had to be one which had not already been used for common purposes (Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3). Since this animal was now to be used for the Messiah to ride into the city of David, it had to be an animal which had never been ridden by man. Only the Lord of creation could do what Jesus did.

Since Jesus is the Almighty Creator and ruler of the Universe, then certainly we should trust and follow Him.

APP: There will be plenty of challenges in life through the creation. Some of us will lose our homes to fire or flood or tornados or hurricanes. Most of us will experience some level of sickness or horrible diseases that will rock us to the core. If we were farmers, some of us would probably suffer crop failure at some time. The creation can throw some nasty stuff at us.

If you want a faith that perseveres, bow before Jesus as the Lord of creation. We are not here as the result of random chance plus billions of years of evolution. The personal God created us and has a purpose for our lives, both in time and in eternity, both in health and in suffering, in safety and in the storms.

If we don’t know or don’t really believe that God in Jesus Christ is actually, actively over creation, really Lord of creation, WHEN the creation treats us poorly, we will probably blame God and mistakenly think He is treating us poorly.

If I only really knew and believed that Jesus was Lord of the creation, what a difference it would make.

Do YOU believe that about Jesus?

#2. If we really believe that Jesus is the Lord over human authority & human actions, we will trust and follow Him. (Read Luke 19:37-40)

37 Then, as He was now drawing near 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 they had seen, 38 saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’[d]
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

This story that inaugurates the week leading to Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion, conveys the picture that He was in absolute control of the circumstances. He was not deluded by the cheering crowd. He was not intimidated by the threats of the Pharisees. He lived under the precise timetable of the Heavenly Father.

On Palm Sunday Jesus staged a public demonstration to show the people and the rulers that He is the Messiah. But he wasn’t the kind of Messiah they were expecting. Jesus’ bold actions that week infuriated the religious leaders and many of the people. They led to His arrest and crucifixion at the very moment that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in Jerusalem, as a fulfillment of His offering Himself as the Lamb of God for sinners. Even the day of the triumphal entry was in fulfillment of God’s prophetic timetable. Jesus was in control of every event.

Jesus was in command of the whole situation. And that authority over human beings and their actions enabled him to both genuinely offer himself as King while knowing they would reject Him. It enabled him to willingly submit to the injustice of people while knowing it was accomplishing the salvation of those very people and so many more.

To have a faith that perseveres, we need to understand that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Lord over human authority and even human actions. He is sovereign over all of the evil things happening in the world while not desiring any of them. That truth shouldn’t make us passive. We are still responsible to fight evil at every turn and love truth and righteousness. God’s sovereignty does involves our responsibility.

God will work all these things together for His glory and for the ultimate good of His saints. Jesus was not a well-meaning reformer who was tragically murdered because He made a mistake in picking a disloyal disciple who betrayed Him. He laid down His life for His sheep on His own initiative (John 10:17-18).

While the crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God, was the most horrible crime imaginable, and those who did it are responsible for their terrible sin, that sin did not thwart the sovereign plan of God, but rather, fulfilled it. As the apostles prayed later in Acts 4:27-28, “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, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”

APP: Having trouble believing that God is really Lord OVER some difficult human relationship or some evil action of another? Have you been treated unjustly and are still paying the price? Has someone sought to do you real damage and it still hurts? Has some employer or government bureaucrat made life tough for you?

If we really knew and believed that Jesus was Lord over human authorities and human actions, what a difference it would make!

Do YOU believe that about Jesus?

#3. If we really believe that Jesus is the Lord of prophecy and the future, we will trust and follow Him in the present. (Read Luke 19:41-44)

41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

On Palm Sunday, Jesus fulfilled several Old Testament prophecies, which I can only touch on here.

(1) Psalm 118:22-27. This psalm, sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the feasts, refers to Jesus, the cornerstone rejected by the Jewish leaders, and to the day of Messiah which God has made. In Hebrew, the command “do save” (118:25) is “Hosanna,” which the crowds called out to Jesus (Matt. 21:9). Luke omits that word, but he reports that they quote Psalm 118:26 as Jesus passes by (Luke 19:38).

(2) Zechariah 9:9 (see Matt. 21:5; John 12:14-15). Zechariah proclaims, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

This prophecy refers especially to Messiah in His humiliation. The word “humble” (Zech. 9:9) points to one who is not only humble, but also oppressed or afflicted by evil men.

After the time of Solomon, a donkey was considered a lowly animal ridden only by persons of no rank or position. Kings, warriors, and people of importance after Solomon’s time rode on horses. The donkey was considered a burden-bearer, an animal of peace, not an animal of war.

By riding a donkey, Jesus was showing Himself to be Messiah, in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, but not the exalted political Messiah of war that the people expected. In His first coming, Jesus was the suffering Messiah offering peace and salvation.

(3) Daniel 9:24-27. We don’t not have time to demonstrate the calculations, but the 19th century British scholar, Sir Robert Anderson, showed that Jesus’ triumphal entry fulfilled to the very day Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks concerning the appearance of Messiah the prince (see Alva McClain, Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks [Zondervan], p. 20).

24 “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself….

Note Jesus’ words in Luke 19:42, “If you had known in this day ....” What day? The precise day that God had fixed in Daniel’s prophecy. Before this time, Jesus would not allow His followers to proclaim Him as Messiah. But now (Luke 19:40) He accepts their acclaim because the day had come for Messiah the prince to be proclaimed.

APP: Do you ever get worked up about the future? Ever get concerned about where our nation is heading? What’s going to happen to our freedoms? The economy? Race relations? The foundations of our Republic?

            When Jesus came into Jerusalem that day on a donkey, most people including His own closest followers thought national history was about to change dramatically for the better through Jesus’ political leadership. They were dead wrong. Why? Because they confused their kingdom for God’s kingdom. They confused their idea of a king for Christ’s kingship of their hearts. They confused God’s timetable and the prophecies about the need for the suffering Servant of God before the reigning Sovereign of God’s kingdom.  

Realizing that Jesus is the Lord of prophecy will enable us to persevere when it looks like history is running amok. The nations may rage and the kings of the earth may take counsel together against the Lord and His Anointed, but He who sits in the heavens laughs at their puny attempts to cast off His rule (Psalm 2). Our God is sovereign over history, bringing it along right on schedule according to His prophetic timetable.

History is full of God shepherding his people through wars and prisons and even executions. When we really believe that Jesus is the Lord of prophecy and the future, we will trust and follow Him no matter how difficult and disappointing history becomes.

#4. If we really believe that Jesus is the Lord of judgment, we will appreciate his present compassion and prepare for the future judgment.

In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus predicts the terrible judgment that would come on Jerusalem. It would come because its people would utterly reject the kind of kingdom God was offering to them—a kingdom that dealt first with people’s sinful, rebellious hearts because of the compassion of God for people.

Note Jesus’ attitude: He wept. The word is a stronger one than the word in John 11:35, where Jesus quietly wept at the tomb of Lazarus. The word here means loud sobbing or a cry of agony.

Our God is perfect and therefore by nature hates all sinful, destructive rebellion against His perfection. He does not take joy in judgment, but in mercy. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance” (2 Pt. 3:9). He is slow to anger and abounding in love toward every sinner (Exod. 34:6-7). Yet He is also the righteous judge who cannot simply wink at sin as if it was no big deal. Just as truly good people cannot simply turn their back and walk away when they see someone being abused by someone else, so our truly good God cannot ignore sin in each of us.

There is a mystery here, which Wordsworth expressed nicely when he said, “Christ here proves His twofold nature by shedding tears as man, for what He foretold as God” (cited by J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], note on Luke 19:41, p. 318).

God is not only a God of love and grace. He also is a righteous God who is settled in His wrath against all sin. His day of patient grace is not forever. Jerusalem’s day of grace was rapidly ending and a time of terrible judgment was approaching, because they did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them (19:44).

In A.D. 70, the armies of the Roman general, Titus, fulfilled the frightening prediction of Luke 19:43-44. Someday soon, the same Messiah who came the first time riding on a humble donkey, proclaiming peace, will come again in power and glory, riding on a white charger of war, to tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God (Rev. 19:15). Then the day of grace will be over.

What was true of the nation Israel in Jesus’ day can be true of individuals in our day: You can miss the time of God’s gracious coming to you. Right now He is calling each of us to Himself with the promise of grace. But if you refuse to recognize how your sin has separated you from Him and that only your acceptance of His Son Jesus Christ can reconcile you to Him, you will face an awful day of judgment for your sins.

The Lord Jesus knows everything about you! Why try to avoid Him when He offers a full pardon if you will trust in Him? Godet, warns, “Jesus does not knock indefinitely at the door of a heart or of a people” (A Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke [I.K. Funk & Co.], p. 427). The day of judgment is coming! If we really believe that Jesus is the Lord of judgment, the rightful, holy Judge of all mankind, we will live in such a way that we will not be ashamed before Him at the end of our life. We will live in such a way that trusts God to settle accounts and offenses. We will live in such a way that says to people around us, “I know that unless we repent of sin and live in Christ, we are headed to a horrible judgment of God. But if we do repent and live in Christ, we are headed to an unimaginably glorious eternity enjoying God.”

Jesus came the first time offering peace, and the offer stands until He comes again for judgment. He offered Himself as the Passover Lamb. If His blood is applied to your sins, God will pass over you in the day of judgment, and you will be safe. His offer to you is peace with God through the forgiveness of your sins. On the cross Jesus satisfied the wrath of God for every sinner who will trust in Him. The cross of Christ is offensive to our proud, sinful hearts, because we must lay aside any notion that we can save ourselves or that we’re good enough to get into heaven. We must admit that we are sinners who desperately need a Savior.

There are two wrong notions that will keep many people out of heaven, and they usually go together.

First, people wrongly believe that God is too loving to send decent, moral people (like us) to hell. Most people can accept the fact that God will judge people like Hitler—really evil people. But they view God as being tolerant of the normal sins that good, law-abiding folks like us commit. Our sin-damaged sense of love is so skewed that we think it loving to tolerate lots of sin and unloving to judge sin. Oh, if we only knew that just the opposite is true!

The second wrong notion is that most of us are good enough to qualify for heaven. Sure, we’re only human, we have our faults, but we’re not really bad, like murderers, terrorists, like Hitler and child molesters. So we figure that the scales will tip our way when we stand before God because we were sincere and we meant well, even though we’re not perfect.

But pretty good people do not qualify for God’s perfect heaven. It requires perfect righteousness to get into heaven. The Bible makes it clear that God is absolutely holy, and no sin will be tolerated in the day of judgment. Our sins in thought, word, or deed are just as horrible in God’s eyes as those of Hitler’s are in our eyes. My sins of greed and lust and slander and indifference are more than enough to condemn me and any other “good person” to hell!

That’s where Christ and the cross come in. On the cross, the perfect Son of God offered Himself as the substitute for sinners. He came “to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Some day you will stand before God either clothed in your own goodness, which will be inadequate, or clothed in the perfect righteousness of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. That righteousness is credited to your account the instant you renounce all trust in your own righteousness and put your trust in Jesus as your sin-bearer.

Conclusion

I’d like you to ask yourself, “Why do I follow Jesus?”

  • Some of you may have to say, honestly, “I follow Jesus because I am hoping that He can heal my broken marriage and give me a happy home life.” I assure you that He can do that, but that is not a good enough reason to follow Jesus.
  • Others may say, “I follow Jesus because I struggle with many emotional problems, and I’m hoping that He can give me inner peace and joy.” He certainly can give you inner peace and joy, but that is not an adequate reason to follow Jesus. Following Jesus can also give you increased trials and persecutions!

The only sufficient, true and adequate reasons to follow Jesus are found in knowing and embracing the truth about Jesus displayed right here on this Sunday when we celebrate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem.

  • Because He is the sovereign Lord over all creation, we should follow Him through thick and thin! Nothing this physical world can throw at us is outside His plan or control.
  • Because he is Lord over ALL human authorities and all human actions, we should follow him through thick and thin. Nothing people can do to or against us will short circuit or frustrate His will and work in our lives.
  • Because he is Lord of prophecy and the future, we should follow him through thick and thin. . Nothing that we fear about the future or that will happen in the future will fall outside God’s good plans for us.
  • Because he is the only rightful Judge of every human being, we should follow him through thick and thin. . He, the Judge, offers us mercy and grace while taking the divine punishment for our own sins. Ultimate accountability should move all of us to immediate…

[The bulk of this message is borrowed from a sermon by Steven J. Cole found at https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-89-why-you-should-follow-jesus-luke-1928-44]