Warrior Creek Baptist Church
March Sermons
  • He is Able to Deliver Thee
  • Blessed Be the Name
  • Praise Him! Praise Him!
  • Palm Sunday is always an exciting time, because in each Palm Sunday we relive the joys of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The messianic expectations, hoped in for hundreds of years, is now being fulfilled. The people of Israel have long awaited their Messiah to deliver them from Roman oppression, not unlike their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, and it seems the time has come.
    But, among the many lessons we can learn on Palm Sunday, the one I would like to focus on this morning is this:
    Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be.
    What do we do when our lives do not seem to be going the way we thought they would? What do we do when we have a God-given desire that is unmet? What do we do when we receive those difficult phone calls from family members?
    This Palm Sunday we will learn one important lesson that will help us to handle those situations for the glory of God and the good of His church. Let us pray and then unpack this truth.

    I. The Passover Background- Exodus 12:6

    The events of Holy Week, which include Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday all occur within the Old Testament feast of the Passover.
    You will remember that the Passover was a meal eaten in haste as Israel was about to leave Egypt under the mighty power of God (see Exodus 1-14 for the complete story).
    In summary, the people of Israel were to do the following:
    Select a lamb according to household size on the 10th Day (Palm Sunday)- Exodus 12:3-4.
    The lamb had to be without blemish- Exodus 12:5; cf. John 8:29; 1 Peter 2:22.
    Kill the lamb- Exodus 12:6 “the whole assembly” ; cf. Matthew 27:25 “His blood be on us and on our children!”
    Year after year, Israel was to celebrate this great deliverance. It was an instructional meal as well, as Israelite children, when engaging in this event, would ask their parents, “What do you mean by this service?” (Exodus 12:26).
    Year after year they were to be a part of this celebration. And year after year they were reminded of God’s deliverance, His provision for His people.
    Although there were times when Israel did not celebrate the Passover (2 Kings 23:22; 2 Chronicles 35:18), from what we can see in Scripture is what observed with some regularity. Come about 1400 years later, Jesus, the perfect lamb of God who not only delivers, not from slavery to a nation, but from slavery to sin (John 1:29 “29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” )

    II. The Divine Preparation- Mark 11:1-6

    Jesus has been teaching publicly for about three years now. Any one halfway familiar with the story of the Gospel knows that Christ has offended the religious leaders of His day, particularly the Pharisees.
    They have been seeking to take Jesus down, but every time they attempt to attack Him it always ends in embarrassment.
    The time has come to observe the Passover, and the especially the selecting of the Lamb. Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (11:11) brings about the selection and examination of the Lamb.
    Christ rides on a colt in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 “9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
    Rashi, a Rabbi from the Middle Ages, wrote this, “It is impossible to interpret this except as referring to the King Messiah, as it is stated: “and his rule shall be from sea to sea.” We do not find that Israel had such a ruler during the days of the Second Temple.
    Israel had eagerly awaited this coming Messiah, and the preparation is being fulfilled. Notice that God takes care of all the details, for Christ nor His disciples had this animal. These unknown, unnamed individuals fulfilled the Word of the Lord and gave the colt to the disciples.
    Then Jesus rides into Jerusalem, which brings us to the decisive proclamation and the main bulk of our time this morning.

    III. The Decisive Proclamation- Mark 11:7-11

    When Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people readily acknowledge that He is the Messiah, the Son of David coming to establish the Kingdom of Israel. They call out Psalm 118:26 “26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.”
    The atmosphere was electric with excitement and joy. It was a decisive proclamation by Israel. They truly believed that the Messiah would deliver them from Roman oppression, just as Moses led Israel out of Egyptian oppression.
    We will see on Thursday, Lord willing, the change that takes place in the crowds as they are led by the Pharisees. But for now, all is excitement and joy and celebration.
    The annual celebration of Palm Sunday provides us many opportunities to learn about the amazing period in the life of our Lord Jesus, again and again, much like the Passover with Israel.
    What is one lesson we can take away this Palm Sunday?
    It coincides with what we will learn this Thursday and coming Easter Sunday.
    Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be.

    A. God’s Work and His Word

    We see a remarkable aspect of this in the life of Christ. The Gospel accounts record all sorts of fulfillments of prophecy, usually with a phrase like, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet…”
    In Mark chapter 11:1-11 we see two major Old Testament passages, Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9 cited.
    God’s Work always involves His Word, but too often we miss out on God’s work because we misunderstand God’s Word. This is why reading, meditating, and studying the Scriptures in the community of faith are so vital. We are prone toward misinterpreting Scripture, which affects how we view and understand God’s work.
    Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be because we misinterpret or fail to understand God’s Word.
    Let me give a rather humorous, albeit sad, example. In 2020, when covid was at its height, I saw so many people claiming Psalm 91:10 “10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” as a protection against the virus.
    Many Christians and individuals who claim the name of Christ held staunchly to this, as if it were a divine promise given in God’s Word precisely for the corona virus pandemic. The problem is that many Christians contracted the virus. Many recovered, many died, and still many have had lingering effects from it.
    God’s work seemed contrary to these believers because they did not understand the Word of the Lord. Let us relearn this lesson, because there will be times when it seems as if God’s Work goes against His Word.
    It is not that God has failed in His work, it is that we have failed in our understanding of His Word. The very crowds proclaiming “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” will be among the people crying, “Crucify Him,” because they failed to understand God’s Word.
    This brings us naturally to our lives.

    B. God’s Work and Our Lives

    Let’s see if we cannot make this point a little more personal. Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be.
    In other words, sometimes God’s work is the opposite of what we think it should be. And if you feel this way, take comfort. Many saints of God have felt the same way. Moses, David, Asaph, Haggai, to name but a few, have wondered what God was up to.
    We have sung the hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way, by William Cowper. Cowper was a man who faced great mental distress, struggling deeply in the throws of depression. But even in the midst of these struggles, God was working.
    He penned these lines in that hymn,
    You fearful saints, fresh courage take: The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
    What work did God wrought in this great Sunday? It was the beginning of our redemption. It was the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy, the great Transaction where filthy, rotten sinners deserving an eternity of pain and suffering are transformed by the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ into sons and daughters of the living God.
    The nation of Israel rejected their Messiah, but this was all a part of God’s plan. Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be, it seemed wrong that Jesus would suffer and die.
    After the resurrection, Jesus had to explain what God’s Word meant (see Luke 24:25-27, 45-49). Their expectations of what God should do had to be tempered with what God was actually doing.
    This is a life-long lesson, is it not? Each new day brings with it fresh expressions of God’s work in our lives, and at times challenges to our faith. Why did God let this happen? What is God doing here? are frequent questions on our journey of faith.
    The beauty of Scripture is that there are many, of whom I already named some, who struggled with this journey. They did not shy away from asking God, “Why!?” One such individual is the man Job. After losing almost everything, and as he was being chastened by his friends, Job displays a raw struggle of faith, chapter after chapter in the book that bears his name.
    There are many examples of this struggle, but perhaps none is so concise as Job 13:15 “15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.”
    Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be. What should be our response? It should be a call to reverent and trusting questioning. You see, Job spoke what is right about God (see Job 42:7), not that everything he said was good, but that it came from a heart of faith.
    Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s work does not always align with what we think it should be.
  • Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken
Warrior Creek Baptist Church
4 members