John 12:12-18 NKJV The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, (13) took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ The King of Israel!” (14) Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: (15) “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SITTING ON A DONKEY’S COLT.” (16) His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. (17) Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. (18) For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.
- CHRIST IS KING! AMEN?!
- CHRIST IS KING! HE IS THE VICTORY! DEATH IS DEFEATED! SIN IS DEFEATED! CHRIST WINS!
- Today is Palm Sunday, so we are going to take a break from Genesis this week and next to talk about the death and resurrection of our Savior.
- Today I want you to Understand that the Victor is here!
- The Victor is Here! This is the story of Palm Sunday… the Triumphal entry… but what Palm branches… and why is it called the Triumphal entry?
- So let me paint a picture for you…
- For about 200 years the Jews in Israel had suffered persecution under first the Greeks, and then the Romans.
- Those who refused to compromise with the Hellenistic society were arrested, beaten, unfairly taxed, and sometimes killed in great genocides.
- But the Jews are a stubborn people, they are not easily exterminated… as Pharoh found out in Exodus, as Hitler found out in WW2, one does not simply wipe out the people of God.
- None the less, the persecution was real, and for generations families of God Fearing Jews were scarred and fractured because of relentless ongoing persecution.
- And so, during the feast of Passover, it became tradition to sing Psalm 118:25-26.
Psalms 118:25-26 NKJV Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. (26) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
- But see you read that in English and it is so easy to miss… The Hebrew word for SAVE NOW is where we get the Greek word “Hosanna”…
- Let me read it again from the Tree of Life version which incorporates the Hebrew… and imagine you are a jew who has known nothing but persecution your whole life… you are sitting around the Passover table celebrating being delivered from Egypt and wondering if you will ever be delivered from Rome… and you cry out from Psalms 118
Psalms 118:25-26 TLV Hoshia-na! Please, Adonai, save now! We beseech You, Adonai, prosper us! (26) Baruch haba b’Shem Adonai—Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Adonai. We bless you from the House of Adonai.
- Year after year you cry out at Passover “Hosannah! Save us Adonai! Save us Lord! SAVE US! SEND US PROSPERITY! We are your people, we bless you from YOUR house! SAVE US LORD! HOSANNA! HOSANNA! SAVE US!”
- Now this is the spirit you have as you hear about this man that some are calling the Messiah…
- Some are calling Him savior…
- Some are bowing down to worship Him…
- Some are calling Him King…
- But it’s not just words any more… Lazurus was dead… and this man came and brought him back to life!
- There were many witnesses, his family saw it… Lazurus is alive and well know… even though there are plots to murder him… it can not be denied, he was once dead, then he met this man, and now he is alive.
- Has it finally happened? Has the King finally come?
- And then you hear the commotion… thousands of people rushing out of the city… this man… who can raise the dead to life… who is called the Messiah… he is on his way to Jerusalem right now…
- You rush out to meet Him… you shout, you sing, you celebrate… no longer do you cry out Psalm 118 in desperation, now you declare it in celebration over this Man, over this Jesus!
Matthew 21:9 NKJV Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”
Mark 11:9 NKJV Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’
Luke 19:38 NKJV saying: ” ‘BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
John 12:13 NKJV took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ The King of Israel!”
- Point one this morning I want you to understand that Christ is the Victor!
- CHRIST IS THE VICTOR
Point One – Christ is the Victor
Psalms 118:25-27 TLV Hoshia-na! Please, Adonai, save now! We beseech You, Adonai, prosper us! (26) Baruch haba b’Shem Adonai—Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Adonai. We bless you from the House of Adonai. (27) Adonai is God, and He has given us light. Join the festival with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
John 12:12-13 NKJV The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, (13) took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ The King of Israel!”
- There is a reason the people took up Palm branches… it wasn’t because they were the only branch around… but because it had significant cultural significance.
- You see Greeks loves sports! It is where we get the Olympic games from after all… and as early as the 4th Century B.C. winners of athletic games were given not a golden medal, as they are today, but a palm branch. To quote the Ancient Greek historian Pausanias:
- “At most games however is given a crown of palms. And for all the games a Palm branch is placed in the right hand of the victor!”.
- Church, for the ancient Greeks, Romans, and the Jews who lived in their culture and territory… Palm branches signify VICTORY!
- SOMEONE SAY VICTORY!
- In fact, images and statues of the Greek Goddess Nike, who is the false Greek Goddess of Victory, often have Nike holding palm branch in her right hand.
- Everyone would have known what they were doing… everyone would have known what these palm branches signified…
- It would have been as if today Christ was coming into town and we all ran out and placed gold medals around His neck.
- The people were saying, as a matter of fact: “CHRIST IS THE VICTOR!”
- CHRIST IS THE VICTOR! JESUS HAS WON! THE COMPETITION IS OVER. CHRIST IS THE VICTOR!
- The world had been real awful to the Jews… the world had come against God’s people…
- The world was harsh and evil… but God remained good… God had not forgotten His promises… God had not forgotten His people… God had not forgotten Jerusalem…
- Christ is the Victor and He has overcome the Romans… Christ is the Victor and He has overcome the Greeks… Christ is the Victor and He has overcome the world… This is what the people meant when they waved palm branches… Christ has TRIUMPHED. Christ is the Victor! Christ has overcome the world!
1 John 5:4 NKJV For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
1 Corinthians 15:57 NKJV But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- This morning I want to ask: Are you living in victory?
- Are you celebrating and proclaiming “Christ is the Victor!”
- Because I know how easy it is to wallow in defeat.
- To forget all the Lord has done.
- When my family is sick, I have to respond in prayer… but do I respond as if Christ is the Victor, or as if Christ is simply a contender.
- Let me ask that question again… when you pray, do you pray as if Christ is the victor, with a Palm branch in your hand and a shout in your voice… or do you pray as if Christ is just a contender.
- Do you see you problems as a spiritual battle between your problem and Jesus…
- A fight between your issues and your God…
- And you are just hopping that your God comes out on top…
- Or do you pray out knowing that Christ is the Victor?
- Man I want to see a transformation in the prayer lives of the people of this church… I want to see a revival in the way that we cry out to God…
- And I understand that you need mercy… and I understand that you need grace… and I understand that many of you have times of great need…
- Therefore I must urge you to come boldly before the throne, with a palm branch in your hand… come boldly with your requests knowing that Christ is the Victor.
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
- And maybe I am just preaching to myself here… maybe this message is just for me… but I can tell you that I have often prayed prayers like:
- “Father I just don’t understand… I just need help… how could you let this happen… please deliver me”
- I have prayed prayers like the Jews prayed in Passover for two hundred years…
- “Father I just need your help. Save me please… deliver me please… Hosanna, help!”
- And listen I think those prayers are honest, and I believer the Lord hears those prayers and answers them… but there is a better way…
- Hosanna has come, Christ has come, the Victor is here.
- So when my not even 2 year old daughter comes down with Strep throat right before vacation… I can chose to come boldly before the throne, like my 7 year old Daughter did…
- “Jesus, by your stripes Esther is healed! You have won the victory for her! Heal her just like you did Lazarus! Thank you Jesus for your healing power because I know that I am going to be on a water slide this time tomorrow!”
- Or I can pray like I prayed…
- “Jesus… why… why do you always let this happen? Are you trying to torture us… are you trying to teach us something… Hannah thinks you will heal Esther… how will she feel if you don’t heal her… father… please help”.
- Both of those prayers are honest prayers, but one of them saw Christ as the victor, and the other saw Christ as a contender…
- I, the grown man… the Senior pastor… was put to shame by my daughters prayer…
Matthew 18:3-5 NKJV and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (4) Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5) Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
- Guys let this be a reminder to those of you who have been feeling down and praying as if Christ is simply a contender… remember, Christ is the Victor…
- When you pray over your finances, Christ is the Victor.
- When you pray over your health, Christ is the Victor.
- When you pray over your prodigal children, Christ is the Victor.
- When you pray over this nation… CHRIST IS THE VICTOR.
- And that last one brings me to point two this Palm Sunday morning… Seek the right Kingdom.
Point Two – Seek the Right Kingdom
Matthew 21:9 NKJV Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”
Luke 19:38 NKJV saying: ” ‘BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
John 12:13 NKJV took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ The King of Israel!”
- You know what is interesting about all these verses… all the references to the triumphal entry and what the crowd was saying…
- What is interesting is that they all have a monarchial overtone…
- They all have an expectation of a physical king, a physical monarch…
- Hosanna Son of David… Son of David is a reference to the prophecies that the son of David will one day reign on earth.
- Blessed is the KING who comes in the name of the Lord. Remember, they are quoting Psalm 118, as they had done for 200 years at Passover because of persecution… And they say “Blessed is the King… yet there is no reference to a king in Psalm 118, the psalm they are quoting. In fact, we are told in that very Psalm not to trust in monarchs…
Psalms 118:9 NKJV It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in princes.
- In John the crowd is quoted as saying “Bleed is He who comes in the Name of the lord, the King of Israel”… but this Psalm is not about a monarch, in fact, it is about a rejected savior…
Psalms 118:22 NKJV The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
- The people who are now crying Christ is the Victor are just a few days away from crying out “Crucify Him!”… many holding triumphant Palm Branches will be the very ones who will be rejecting the chief cornerstone…
- Why? Because they are seeking the wrong Kingdom.
- Church we have to seek the right Kingdom.
- And this is where prosperity churches miss the mark.
- Yes we should pray boldly!
- Yes we should pray triumphantly.
- Yes Christ is the victor!
- Yes Christ is King… But His kingdom is not a worldly Kingdom…
- Consider what happens just a few days latter, after Jesus has celebrated the Passover… after Jesus has been betrayed and arrested… now Christ is on trial in front of Pilate… and the same people claiming Christ as victor are in attendance…
John 18:33-37 NKJV Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” (34) Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” (35) Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” (36) Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (37) Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
- Pilate straight up asks “Are you a king?” and Jesus says “Yes I am a King, but my Kingdom is not of this world”.
- And how do the people respond to this… they respond by saying “Give us Barabbas, Crucify Jesus!”.
- The people on Palm Sunday at the Triumphal Entry wanted something for themselves… they wanted an earthly king to overthrow the Roman empire… when they realized that is not what they were getting, they reject Jesus.
- You see something has been on my heart recently… and it is this… Yes we as born again believers in Christ Jesus… yes we are more than Conquerors… and yes we can claim Victory… BUT… we can only claim victory when it is Jesus’ Victory that we are claiming. When it is His Kingdom that we are seeking… not our own.
- When the prosperity churches teach you to seek your own kingdom, you may find yourself rejecting Christ when you realize His kingdom is not of this world. His Kingdom is not YOUR kingdom… but you can chose to Join His Kingdom…
- In the book of Joshua Jesus appears to Joshua… interestingly it was directly after they had kept the Passover…
Joshua 5:10-14 NKJV Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. (11) And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. (12) Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. (13) And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” (14) So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
- Jesus, sword in hand, appears to Joshua and Joshua says “Are you for us or are you for our enemies” and Jesus responds “Neither… I am not for you or your enemies… I am for the Lords army” and then Joshua falls down and worships Him.
- How many times do we beg God to be on our side? To fight our battles? To do things for our Kingdom… to be the Victor that we want… not the Victor that the Kingdom of Heaven has sent.
- God did not have to heal my daughter before our vacation… and I have no right to demand that… But I can still pray as though Christ is the victor, but I have to SEEK THE RIGHT KINGDOM.
- Which means instead of “God heal my daughter because I am tired and need a vacation” I can pray “God heal my daughter because you are good, and we belong to you, and our lives are yours so heal us so we can be used for your glory”.
- Or even, maybe even better yet “Christ you have won the victory of death and disease. You are the victor who has overcome the world, and I believe by your stripes you have overcome strep throat! And Lord even if you DON’T heal my daughter, because your ways are higher than my ways, I STILL NOW THAT I WILL SEE THE VICTORY, because whatever happens we are on your side, the Shields family is on YOUR side… AND YOU NEVER LOSE”.
- That is a prayer that puts me in my right place and God on the throne… it is not a weak, cowardly prayer, it is a bold prayer… but a prayer that says “I will let you be King of your Kingdom and I just want to be a part of it”.
- It is the same kind of thing that Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego said to Nebuchadnezzar….
- Ol’ Neb told them that if they did not bow down and worship his false idol that he would throw them into a fiery furnace to be burned alive… Look how they responded:
Daniel 3:17-18 NKJV If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. (18) But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
- Do you see the VICTORY in that response! Do you see that they were seeking the right kingdom?!
- Go ahead Nebby ol’ boy! Go ahead and throw us in the furnace… our God is well and able to deliver us, to protect us, to save us! But even if he doesn’t, let it be known that we don’t belong to your kingdom, we wont bow down to your gods, we won’t worship your false images… even if God does not deliver us, HE IS STILL KING!”
- This is how we pray… knowing that Christ is the Victor and it is HIS Kingdom come, not ours…
- When you pray over your finances, Christ is the Victor and HIS Kingdom wins… therefore I win regardless of my bank account because I am in Christ’s Kingdom.
- When you pray over your health, Christ is the Victor and HIS Kingdom wins… therefore I win regardless of my prognosis because I am in Christ’s Kingdom.
- When you pray over your prodigal children, Christ is the Victor and HIS Kingdom wins… therefore I will not give up praying for them because I want them to be a part of Christ’s Kingdom.
- When you pray over this nation… Christ is the Victor and HIS Kingdom wins… EVEN IF AMERICA LOSES… THAT’S OK. BECAUSE THE KINGDOM I BELONG TO NEVER LOSES.
- Christ is the Victor church, seek the right Kingdom!
- THE VICTOR IS HERE! Amen?!
Conclusion
Now I want to conclude, as I always do, by inviting you to the Kingdom of God.
- Maybe you have spent your whole life seeking your own Kingdom… today seek the Kingdom of God.
- Maybe you wonder if God is fighting for you… today decide that you are fighting for God.
- Maybe you cry out “God be on my side” today cry out “God I want to be on your side”.
- If you will give your life to Christ this morning, then you will see TRIUMPHANT VICTORY!
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