SERMON OUTLINE

Palm Sunday Was a Part of God’s Plan

John 12.12-15

What and Why?

-Palm Sunday is Sunday before the crucifixion with name taken from Palm branches used to greet Jesus

-Important because events at this time instigated the public crucifixion of Jesus. The hour is come. John 12.23 27-28; 2.4, 7.30, 8.20

God Was Working According to a Plan

-The crucifixion of Jesus was purposed, planned, arranged, and fulfilled to the last detail as God had foreordained. Acts 2.22-23, 3.17-18, 4.27-28,

Jesus Was Aware and Compliant to the Plan

-We have statements from Jesus from at least a year before the crucifixion that he knows what and when and why he will be crucified. Matthew 16.21, 20.17-19, 26.1-2; Luke 19.10, 41-44

Five Events that Instigated the Plan

1) The raising of Lazarus from the dead. John 11.46-50, 12.9-11. Plans had already been made to kill Jesus two years before but the raising of Lazarus expedited those plans. Matthew 12.9-14; Mark 3.1-6; Luke 6.6-11

2) The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as Messiah/King.

3) The cleansing of the Temple.

4) His teaching on the disobedience of Jewish leaders. Matthew 21.33-46

5) The betrayal of Judas. Matthew 26.3-5

Conclusion

God’s plan was to save mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross at Jerusalem. Salvation through Christ is not an option but God’s only plan for man’s salvation. We must now respond to that plan by faith.

SERMON NOTES

Palm Sunday was Part of God’s Plan John 12.12-15

-This Sunday our focus is on Palm Sunday. What we call Palm Sunday occurred 6 days before the crucifixion of Jesus. We call this Palm Sunday because when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, Palm branches were used to worship Jesus and were placed before him as a “red carpet” to invite him into Jerusalem as their King/Messiah.

-What is the importance of Palm Sunday? Palm Sunday put into high gear God’s plan to crucify His Son. On Palm Sunday and in the events of the days that followed, Jesus openly and publicly challenged the religious authorities instigating them to execute him on a cross. We hear Jesus saying throughout his ministry that his time or his hour has not yet come. Jesus cautioned his followers not to tell others who he was. With Palm Sunday the hour has come and it is time to tell others that Jesus is the Christ of God.

-On Palm Sunday Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. …Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (John 12.23, 27-28; John 2.4, 7.30, 8.20)

-The title of my message this morning is, “Palm Sunday was Part of God’s Plan”. I want to propose to you that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was God’s plan and not an accidental happening or something worked up as events occurred. I also want to propose to you that Jesus knew God’s plan and knew how he fit into that plan. Finally I want to show you how Palm Sunday fit into God’s plan. So I have a threefold purpose – to show that God was working according to a plan, that Jesus was fully aware of His Father’s plan and willingly compliant, and to show how Palm Sunday fit into that plan.

-Let’s begin with Acts 2.22-23. [Read]

-Verse 23 tells us plainly that Jesus was handed over to the Jews by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge and that with the help of the Romans he was put to death by being nailed to a cross. Men put Jesus to death on the cross but God planned it and worked out all the details in order to fulfill His purposes. That Jesus would die, when he would die, how he would die, and who would be involved in his death was all ordained of God before time ever existed. The death of Jesus on the cross was no accident. Every detail was foreordained of God.

-Turn to Acts chapter 3, verses 17-18. [Read]

-In the death of Jesus Christ, God fulfilled what He had foretold through the prophets that His Christ would suffer.

-Then turn to Acts 4.27-28. [Read]

-The people of Israel, the Gentiles Herod and Pontius Pilate, conspired together against Jesus, God’s anointed, but they were doing what God’s will and God’s power had decided beforehand should happen.

-There is no doubt from the teaching of Scripture, both in the OT and the NT, that God purposed the crucifixion of Christ, planned the crucifixion of Christ, arranged the crucifixion of Christ, and that the crucifixion of Christ was fulfilled to the last detail according to God’s purpose and plan.

-Even though God purposed and planned the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, those involved in the crucifixion are guilty of rebellion against God and will suffer God’s judgment unless they received forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ. “The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.” (Luke 22.22)

-Not only did God purpose and plan the crucifixion of Jesus but Jesus was fully aware of God’s plan and willingly compliant. Jesus knew the Father’s plan and submitted to it. Let me share a few verses with you.

-One day Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Then Jesus asked them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus acknowledged that revelation from God to Peter and then warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. The next verse says, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised from the dead”. (Matthew 16.21) This is about a year before the crucifixion and Jesus is fully aware of what is awaiting him in Jerusalem at the next Passover.

-Matthew 20.17-19. [Read]

-Jesus has no doubt what is going to happen to him in Jerusalem. He will be betrayed, condemned, and turned over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life.

-In Matthew 26.1-2 we read, “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘As you know, the Passover is two days away – and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified’”. Jesus knows what is going to happen and when it is going to happen. Jesus was not surprised by his arrest, condemnation, cruelty and crucifixion.

-In Luke 19.10 just before Jesus entered Jerusalem he said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost”. Jesus knew why he had been born and how he was to fulfill God’s plan to save mankind from sin.

-Jesus also knew that in his coming to the people of Israel, God was coming to them. He also knew what it would mean for the people of Israel to miss his coming to them. Listen to these tragic words from the mouth of Jesus, “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you’”. (Luke 19.41-44)

-Palm Sunday and the crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection were no accidental happenings or arrangements made on the fly as circumstances came up. God had a plan and arranged for that plan to be worked out to the last detail and Jesus was compliant with that plan, even to the giving up of His own life. Just before Jesus went to the cross he struggled with the fact that becoming sin for us would separate him from God his Father as he suffered the curse and punishment of sin. For the sake of the salvation of those who would believe, Jesus willingly experienced eternal separation from God.

-Finally I want to show you how through the events of Palm Sunday God worked out the details of His plan to bring Jesus publicly to the cross 6 days later. I want to focus on five events that took place before, during, and after Palm Sunday.

1) About two years before the crucifixion, in response to Jesus healing a man with a withered hand in the Synagogue on the Sabbath, the Pharisees and the Herodians plotted together how they might kill Jesus (Matthew 12.9-14; Mark 3.1-6; Luke 6.6-11). About two months before Palm Sunday Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. During his ministry Jesus had raised others from the dead but the raising of Lazarus was a deliberate challenge to the religious authorities in Jerusalem. The village of Bethany where Lazarus lived was only two miles from Jerusalem and Lazarus was well known to the Jewish leaders. John tells us “therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish’ ”. (John 11.46-50). The raising of Lazarus from the dead was like the white glove slap to the face of the Pharisees that challenged them to a confrontation with Jesus. We are told that on Palm Sunday, “a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him” (John 12.9-11). So the raising of Lazarus instigated the Pharisees to kill Jesus. God’s hour had come and God was raising up those who would kill Jesus.

2) The second event was the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as the promised Messiah/King of Israel. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a young donkey proclaimed as the King of Israel. This terrified the Jewish leaders who expected the Roman government to view this as the beginning of a revolt and would come and crush the revolt and take away their nation status and of course the authority and privilege of the Jewish leaders. For this public demonstration of support by the people and their proclamation of Jesus as King of Israel, Jesus had to die. Again in this planned incident God was preparing for the crucifixion of Jesus.

3) The third event was the cleansing of the Temple. On Palm Sunday after Jesus entered into Jerusalem he went to the Temple and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. The buying and selling that took place in the Temple was profitable to the Jewish leaders and the cleansing of the Temple further infuriated the Jewish leaders. It was time to get rid of this trouble-making Jesus. God was pressing the Jewish leaders against the wall in order to fulfill His plan for the crucifixion.

4) In the days following the events of Palm Sunday Jesus taught in the Temple courts. He presented the parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21.33-46) telling how the kingdom of God would be taken away from those it was originally given to and would be given to others. He taught the parable of the Wedding Banquet were the invited guests did not come and were replaced by those in the street and how the original invited guests were destroyed. The teaching of Jesus during the days after Palm Sunday pointed to the disobedience and coming judgment of the Jewish leaders. Matthew writes, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet”. (Matthew 21.45-46)

5) The Jewish leaders were determined by this time to kill Jesus but they did not want to kill him publicly because they were afraid of the people. Two days before the crucifixion we read, “Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus is some sly way and kill him. ‘But not during the Feast’, they said, ‘or there may be a riot among the people’”. (Matthew 26.3-5) God had another plan and one final event brought God’s plan to fulfillment. That event was the betrayal of Judas. The plan of Judas to lead the Jewish leaders and their soldiers to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane at night to arrest him eventually turned into a public crucifixion and the fulfillment of God’s plan, a plan that Jesus was fully aware of and willingly compliant.

-From before time, God had a detailed plan to save man from the judgment of sin through the public death of His Son Jesus Christ on a cross in Jerusalem. Palm Sunday was very much part of that plan to present Jesus as a public sacrifice for sin. God promised salvation to Adam and Eve after they fell and God worked out that plan to its final fulfillment at Calvary on what we now call Good Friday. Today God calls you to respond to His gracious determined purpose to save you from sin through Jesus Christ. God did not work out this plan of salvation in Jesus Christ as one of many options open to you for salvation but as the only way that sin can be forgiven and that man might be brought back into fellowship with God as Father. If you already know God’s salvation in Jesus Christ you must be filled with gratitude over God’s immeasurable gift to you. If you do not know God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, today is the day for you to ask God to save you because of what Jesus Christ accomplished at the cross by paying for the penalty required by sin. The Bible says that anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. God has provided salvation from sin in Jesus Christ and ask you to receive that gift of eternal life by faith today.