Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to Roots of Faith podcast with Pastor Ken Gimme, where timeless truth meets everyday life. In today's episode, we turn our hearts to a decisive moment in scripture. Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The crowd shouted praise, but some stood silent.
What about you? Are you proclaiming Christ with your life, or is your silence louder?
Join us as we explore Luke 19 and the challenge Jesus gave to the Pharisees.
If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. This message, when stones must speak, calls us to ask what our silence says about our faith. Are we so moved by the person of Christ that our lives can't help but proclaim his glory?
Let this message rekindle your confidence in Christ, strengthen your testimony, and inspire your surrender to the King who still rides in to claim hearts today.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: The young boy was sitting beside his grandfather.
His grandfather was taking a stone out of his pocket, a very smooth stone, and he was just turning it over and over again.
Being curious, the child said, pop, pop, why do you have that stone in your pocket all the time?
His grandfather looked at him.
He smiled. He says, because if I ever stop praising Jesus, I want this rock to start crying out.
I want it to speak for me.
What are you proclaiming in your life? What do people see that proclaims Jesus Christ?
I read to you the portion from Luke's gospel, but I want to concentrate today, beginning at the phrase or praises that were present.
Think of the place, the person Jesus knows that the time is coming.
It was the time of Passover beginning to get ready for the Passover feast. People were coming into Jerusalem.
Jerusalem would be crowded.
And Jesus had been out in Bethany area and he had made a request.
He said to two of them, go get the donkey and the colt that's tied there.
As you go into the city, you'll see them and go and untie them. And if anybody asks you, why are you untying it? Just say, the Lord needs it.
The Lord needs it.
With him were disciples, people who had been with him, who had seen all the miracles that Jesus had done.
Actually, the text says that they had seen the great works.
So it's not just limited to miracles, but it was all the great works that were in the life of Christ.
And they came together and they were walking and they came to this place and the two disciples brought back that donkey and the colt.
Now, normally you think, well, use the older animal, no, a cult who had never been ridden.
Now, I've only had a problem with a horse that had been ridden and it didn't like me being on its back and I landed flat on my back after it bucked me off.
What about a new horse? What about a new donkey?
That's what Jesus had wasn't a proud proclamation of a king riding on a white stallion.
No, it was the teacher, the master, riding on a colt.
Coming into the city of Jerusalem, the way that would lead to the eastern gate.
And the eastern gate was where he would enter. And you could go directly up into the confines of the temple area.
It says that the people would have heard Jesus teaching later on.
But can you imagine this great crowd of people coming along and just as any victor who would be coming back from war, they had palm branches and they were spreading those in front of them. And it says that the people were actually taking off their coats, like I'm going to do right now, because it's getting hot. And they would throw it in front of him and it would be the place where Jesus was coming in, being proclaimed a victor, being proclaimed a mighty man.
When you look at the two scenes that Luke shows us in verses 36 to 40, you see that throng of people who've been with Jesus. They had seen him work.
Nobody has done what he's done.
Now they're walking with him as he rides to Jerusalem.
And I wonder, where would we be?
Where would we be because of what we've seen of the Lord's work, the mighty works?
Or would we have stopped praising and we would want the rocks ready to speak?
What are we proclaiming?
What are we saying?
Faith isn't easy.
As a matter of fact, back in Luke chapter seven, we find recorded that John the Baptist even had questions.
John the Baptist took two of his disciples and he said, go to Jesus.
You know, I've known him, he's a cousin.
Go to him and ask him if we should be looking for someone else.
What was John's problem?
Well, John's problem was he wasn't seeing the king that he expected.
He wasn't seeing the Messiah that Israel had decided and put together and said, this is what we want. We want a messiah who's going to come and he's going to lead us and he's going to be that king frees us from Roman rule.
Israel's going to be restored. It'll be like David's time.
When they came to Jesus, they said to him, john the Baptist sent us to you and asked, are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?
This was at the very time that Jesus had just cured, had raised from the dead and many other Sicknesses, evil spirits being cast out, and he'd even given sight to the blind. All of those were in the Old Testament as being testimony of the Messiah wasn't the one they were looking for.
So Jesus replied to those messengers, he said, go back and report to John what you have seen and heard.
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.
Just because you don't see what you expect, don't stumble in your faith.
That's what he was saying.
What more could Messiah do as far as ministering to the needs of men? Jesus added, blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. That's what he said. And that is he meant those who would not be stumbling by his failure to assert himself in the way that many of Israel expected the Messiah to do.
So what was the pivotal issue?
The pivotal issue is your faith and faith in faith. There is simplicity.
It's a simplicity of faith in salvation. In the Book of Acts, when Paul was being released from prison and the Philippian jailer said to him, what must I do to be saved?
The answer was simple, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
The basis was on faith. That's what Romans Sundays. In Romans 10:17 it says so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
But it's also what is seen in the person of Jesus Christ.
When John would be the apostle, John was writing his letters to the church and to Gaius, he said in 1 John, in the opening verses of 1 John 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life.
The life was made manifest, and we have seen and we bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
It's a faith in the person of Christ.
That's where faith resides, in a person.
My faith is not in a creed.
My faith is not in some cleverly laid out program.
My faith is not in rules.
My faith is in a person.
A person who looking down through the ages, looked and saw you and me.
And because he loved us, he sent his son to die in your place. And my place to buy us eternal life with him.
Now, we all know that you give testimony to that.
So did Jesus just stop there?
No.
Jesus is still as powerful as he was on the day that the disciples saw him. Raise the dead, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, make the lame walk.
But I fear that so many times we don't look and see what the Lord's doing or needs to do in our lives.
The old gospel song says, look and live, my brother, Live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
Just recorded in God's word. Hallelujah.
It's only that you look and live.
When we look at the person of Christ, we see the person of Christ clearly when we look carefully. And our natural response should be to be with that group of people that were laying down palms and putting their clothes in front of him and saying, come, you're the victor, you're the king.
And if we find it hard to speak about the Lord in our everyday conversation, I wonder if it's because we haven't noticed and looked at what mighty work that our Lord and Savior is accomplishing in us.
We find it very good to sit there and say, well, I'm saved. I bought my fire escape insurance.
But what's he doing in you to mold you?
Because we are to be molded into the image of Christ.
Christ is to be seen in us.
He's to be seen as the hope of glory, not the hope of gloomy.
That happens so many times.
Philippians 1:6 says, Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. In other words, he's working.
So it's not only the simplicity of faith, but it's the surety in Christ.
I am sure of the person of Jesus Christ.
Scripture even says, don't let your mind wobble back and forth. Do not waver.
I am sure of Christ.
Or maybe we're just so unconscious of God working in us that it doesn't even trigger the response of praising a living Savior.
The hymn writer pen these I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean he took my sins and my sorrows he made them his very own he bore the burden on Calvary and suffered and died alone.
Oh, how marvelous, oh, how wonderful and my song shall ever be O how marvelous oh, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
Maybe if our surety is in Christ and it's the simplicity of faith, we need to take a moment and start looking at how marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall ever be how marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me look and see what he has done.
It says in the Old Testament, his mercies are what new?
Every morning I get up and I wonder, do I want to be miserable in the morning?
It's hard getting up in the morning.
I have to go through at least one cup of coffee before I get there.
But you know what?
His mercies are new every morning.
I gotta tell you, I got the biggest hug this morning, and none of you saw it.
His mercies are new to me this morning.
All four of the Gospels include an account of the triumphant entry.
And when you take those four together, and I love doing this this week, I've got this wonderful big page of all four of the Gospels spread out. And, you know, I've got to have my arrows and my pointers and my special highlights and everything, because it just was thrilling to see a king.
And if we take the timeline in the other Gospels, Jesus went from coming down the Mount of Olives riding on a donkey's colt, going to the eastern gate and going right up into the temple precincts.
And if I read correctly, he walked in there and he had to throw out people because he said, my father's house is to be a house of prayer, not a den of thieves.
Because what was in there is the tables of the money changers. And I've mentioned him many times. My Muslim friend, who's our auditor, called me on yesterday, was it?
And Shahab said to me, he says, now, I want you to tell me, he says, I want to know what Christianity thinks about usury. Now, if you don't know what usury is, don't worry about it. It just means paying interest and it's unfair interest.
And that's exactly what those money changers were doing.
I'm going to have to sit there and explain to them. I don't worry about the rules.
I worry about my savior. And, boy, I've been cooking this in my mind because he asked me several other questions and what the world looks at, what this Muslim is looking at. He says, well, I know back in Christianity, ouch. When he says that, I always go ouch in my mind.
He says, I know in the 1600s back in England, they allowed usury. What were the rules for usury?
I'm sorry.
I went through the American Revolution and we got away from that.
I wasn't under English rule.
But that's what he equates Christianity to be. You're a Christian nation.
That's not my Christianity, because that's not my living Christ, the person that I see.
But when we look at that. And he came in as a triumphant king, all the praises were to the king.
And the disciples were looking for someone who would serve them.
They didn't understand even their own needs for a messiah, a king. As a matter of fact, they sat there and shouted, hosanna.
Translated very literally, it means save us. That's what they were saying.
Come and save us.
So that faith needs to move from what we expect to what we surrender ourselves to.
So many hymns keep popping in my mind.
And the one that comes to my mind now is King of my life. I crown thee now.
Thine shall the glory be.
Is Christ really king in my life?
As Americans, we kind of rebel at the idea of kings.
King George wasn't a good guy, so we dumped all the tea in Boston harbor and went from there.
But that's not the king that I have in the person of Christ.
What is a king?
A king had a definite responsibility to his people.
Some kings didn't follow that well.
Some did well.
But when you come to the person of Christ, his kingdom is not the earthly kingdom, but it's going to be his rule. And we're going to reign with him. That's what scripture says.
What kind of king is that?
A king who's going to give us responsibilities, who's going to give us the privilege to serve.
And right now, he gives us the privilege to serve him as we look to him as king of my life.
And I crown you now.
Thine shall the glory be.
They cried out, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David.
Blessed is the king of Israel. Now these were. I'm drawing from all four of the Gospel accounts.
And they sang hosanna in the highest heaven.
Saved now in the highest heaven.
That's a strange statement.
But it's because we will be a testimony in heaven.
The angels do not have a savior who died in their place.
We are a strange group because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The angels already have everlasting life. They're created as eternal beings.
But there was sin amongst them. We know that because Satan fell.
But we have a king who died in our place.
A king who paid the ultimate price by becoming man and living just like we do. He knew us and knew all of the problems, the hurts.
He cried at the tomb of Lazarus, in Zechariah, who is a prophet, a prophet speaking to the problems of Israel.
And in Zechariah 9:9, the prophet records, rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem.
See your king comes to you righteous and victorious.
There were palm branches, the palms of victory.
Lonely and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
John's Gospel tells us in John 12:16, at first the disciples did not understand all this.
They didn't understand why they were going down the mountain to the eastern gate, proclaiming him king.
But in John's Gospel, when he tells us that at first his disciples didn't understand all this, Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize all these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
So the disciples focused on Jesus, and they began to understand.
After he was dying, laid in a tomb and rose again.
And they had seen him, and they saw his transformation.
I wonder how long it took them, looking at that, that they began to understand.
How long did it take for the Holy Spirit to speak to their lives that they might hear and understand.
How long does it take for us to look at the person of Christ?
Now, I guarantee you in verses verse 40 is where 39 and 40, the Pharisees were amongst the crowd.
And Abe said, teacher, you better tell your people to shut up.
And Jesus said, if I told them to be quiet, the stones would speak out like that grandfather turning over that stone over and over, keeping it in his pocket to remind him that if I don't speak the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ, then that stone in my pocket better start talking.
When you look at Hebrews 3:12, 14, it gives us another hint.
Because not only is it a simple faith, a faith that looks at Jesus, a faith that resides in him, where he's king of our lives, where he is our surety, but it's also that we share in him. Oh, do you hear that? Do you hear that very word? We share in him. And that's what the writer of Hebrews Sundays. In Hebrews 3:12, 14, it says, See to it, brothers and sisters, means you and me, that none of you has a sinful or unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. You better look at your heart because it says, but encourage one another daily.
That does not mean Sunday from 9:30 to 11:30, encouraging one another daily as long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
We have come to share in Christ.
If indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end, we need to look and see.
Are we sharing in Christ?
Is our conviction sure?
Are we holding onto that to the very end?
Because just like John had doubts.
Doubts interfere.
And when doubts interfere, it allows the opportunity for sin to come in. And then it says that our hearts become hardened.
Faith isn't something that you buy a fire escape with. Faith is what we believe in every day, as long as it's called today.
Where are your eyes looking?
Everything we see today in Scripture is summarized in the person of Jesus Christ.
And I go back to the marvelous message in John 3.
But beginning at John 3:14, listen.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, that's where in the Old Testament they had a plague. The stinging serpents were killing people.
And God told Moses, he said, put one of those stinging serpents up on a pole in the middle of the whole camp and tell the people, if they look, they'll be saved.
So even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
My life here is just a passing. That's it. It's a what's more important is my eternity.
Hebrews 12:1 3.
With the simplicity of faith, the believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, our surety in Christ Jesus our King, that we surrender to Christ, and we share in Christ, the writer of Hebrews pens. Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily ensnare us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking where unto Jesus, the author and finisher of that faith of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him who endured such hostility for sinners against himself. Lest you become weary, discouraged, today, I want you to consider that you want to know Christ.
Join in your heart with Paul. When he wrote to the Philippians, he said, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, knowing and surrendering, and I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, share in him, and be found in him, sharing in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
Is the stone that you have needing to cry, or are you looking at a Savior who is king and your lips are telling the mighty works of God in your life.
If you don't see them, then just ask the Lord to open your eyes that I may see him and know him and the power of his resurrection.
Let's go.
[00:39:17] Speaker C: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Roots of Faith, a ministry of Lawn Evangelical Congregational Church in Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's Word is always fresh and powerful to transform. If you are blessed by this episode, please share it with friends. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. We would love for you to join us on Sunday at 10:30am at 5566 Elizabethtown Road, Route 241 in Lawn, Pennsylvania. As always, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith and keep growing in Christ.
