Sermon Tone Analysis

Palm Sunday 2011

Matthew 21:9

In the Name of the Lord

Now, we begin this Holy Week Celebration.

We commemorate the Death of our Lord and Savior and Celebrate his victory over sin and death through his death and resurrection.

Some people get very serious about whether they call it Easter or not.

I personally don’t have a problem either way.

The name is linked to an ancient Anglo goddess, but if Christ can change this sinner into a saint, he can change the meaning of a spring celebration from pagan to the Paschal Lamb, Jesus, whose Resurrection proved his dominion over death and the grave.

So, call it Easter or Resurrection Day, it means the same to me, just like you can call him Isus, or (Spanish) Jésus, or Jesus … but he’s still the same for me.

Hallelujah I’m going to Celebrate the Crucified and Risen Christ!

Jesus did nothing randomly.

There were no accidents in his life.

He purposefully set aside his rights and privileges in Heaven and came to earth.

He was not on vacation.

He was on a mission, appointed and anointed by God.

/“When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law”/ (Gal.

4:4)

As the Gospel writers record the life of Christ on earth, they make notice of this purposeful nature of Jesus.

When he was 12 years old, his parents lost him for a few days before finding him back at the Temple teaching the teachers.

He asked them /“Did you know that I MUST be about my Father’s business”/ Luke 2:49

In Luke 9:51 Dr. Luke records that Jesus /“set his face to go to Jerusalem”/(ESV)

In Luke 9:33 Jesus says /“I must keep going today and tomorrow, and the next day – for surely no prophet can die OUTSIDE of Jerusalem”/

Matthew in 16:21 writes, /“Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things … and that he must be killed and on the third day be raise to life.”/

So, understanding this purpose driven life, also knowing God’s timing had come, we get to Matthew 21.

On this Sunday before he was crucified, Jesus stops in a little town, Bethphage (bayth-fag-ay), a town between Jericho and Jerusalem, near Bethany and ½ mile east of Jerusalem by the Mt. of Olives

*Read with me Matthew 21:1-9*

Israel was always in Hope of the coming for the Messiah who would restore them to their place of prominence and blessing.

They had taught it, longed for it and sung about it for centuries.

These crowds were quoting from Psalm 118:26.

Psalm 118 begins /“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good his love endures forever”/

Let me read from Psalm 118 beginning in verse 19-26

(emphasis important words as you read)

/19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; /

/I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

/

/20 This is the gate of the LORD /

/through which the righteous may enter.

/

/21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; /

/you have become my salvation.

/

/22 The stone the builders rejected /

/has become the capstone; /

/23 the LORD has done this, /

/and it is marvelous in our eyes.

/

/24 This is the day the LORD has made; /

/let us rejoice and be glad in it.

/

/25 O LORD, save us; /

/O LORD, grant us success.

/

/26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

/

/From the house of the LORD we bless you/

And then the chapter ends /"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever”/

Did you see the prayer in verse 25? / “Oh Lord Save Us” /

So, Israel was longing for Salvation and they hoped that Jesus was the One.

So they shouted /“Hosanna!”

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”/

* Hosanna - if you look for the definition it means

1) Hosanna :)

2) Be /propitious/ (giving or indication a good chance of success).

So they were saying “we hope you are the One who we have longed and hoped for.”

So they were in essence saying …

“Our Best Chance for Success is in the truth that there is Happiness in the One who Comes in the Name of the Lord”

And then they issue a blessing … /Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord/

Now, if this is true … that the one who comes in the name of the Lord is /“Blessed”/ –

I want us to see three people for whom this is true, blessing by coming in the name of the Lord.

It is true for these Jesus certainly, but also for a Sinner, and for a Saint who come in the name of the Lord.

/Blessed – eulogeo (yoo-log-eh-o) = to praise, celebrate with praises, to make happy, favored of God/

The Qualifier then is to “Come”

“In the name of the Lord – /“name” – onoma – name, reputation, authority, class, fame/

Let’s look then at these three, Jesus, a sinner, a saint

!

*1.

Jesus*

!! A. How did He COME in the name of the Lord?

Jesus came as servant, sacrifice, substitute, Savior.

There were two ways the Messiah is pictured in the Old Testament.

(1) As conquering King … but he also came (2) As Suffering Servant.

In Revelation 19 Jesus will come as King, riding on a White Horse.

He will conquer all those who have revolted against him in pride and sin.

But here he is not riding a White Horse but the foal of a donkey.

This is not a steed of Conquest.

No Jesus is coming in the name of the Lord seeking to conquer with love and bring peace between God and man.

He comes fulfilling Zechariah 9:9 /“see your King comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

/

The donkey was the animal of the everyman.

The horse was the animal of the rich man’s chariot or for the Warrior.

But Jesus came as one of us, he came Gentle, demonstrating God’s love for us in that while we are sinners he would die for us.

That is how he comes, Gentle and With Salvation, so he comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus said that he didn’t do anything on his own, only what he saw the Father doing.

In John 17 he said he finished everything the Father had given him to do.

That is how he comes … so

!! B. Why Is He Blessed?

Why is he happy?

Why is he celebrated with praise?

Why is he favored by God?

Because he loves his people and wants to provide their forgiveness through his life and death.

Because he longs to redeem us from the penalty of our sin and return us to right relationship with God

Because he is going to display the depths of God’s love through his death

Because he has completed the plans of God

So, we can Join in Saying “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna”

So, Jesus, coming in God’s Name was Blessed

But what about the Sinner who comes in the Name of the Lord?

!

*2.

The Sinner*

!! A. How Do We Come In the Name of the Lord?

We come for mercy and eternal life.

We come as a confessed and repentant sinner.

Psalm 51:17 says /“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”/