Good morning today is Palm Sunday and of all the messages that I could have brought to you today, about the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, I was compelled, to talk about what happened just before his entry into Jerusalem.

There is a huge amount of exciting stuff that happened just days before that I think gets overlooked and I don't want you to miss out on it.

I don't want you to miss the blessing of such great truths that are able to be unpacked in the antecedent, the moments before Christ's triumphal entry.

I’m going to move pretty quick through scripture, so you can try to keep up or you can just listen, but I want to begin in John Chapter 11 where if we took the time to read the entire chapter, we would see the most amazing thing that happened right before Passover.

And that was, when Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead!  

In verse 39 of John chapter 11, we read that Lazarus died and was in the Tomb for four days and if we were to flip back to verse 19 we would see many people, many Jews had come to comfort Mary and Martha.

The town was mobbed, every bed and breakfast filled.  There is just a ton of people in this town and everybody was trying to comfort the sisters by their attendance.  And so we have this big scene.

Now I am NOT going to take the time to read the whole amazing chapter with you but Christ comes into the picture, and says in verse 25 “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me, will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives, and believes in me will never die.”

And then in verse 43 Jesus commands Lazarus to come out of the cave, and raises Lazarus from the dead!

What do you think happens, in the minds of all these witnesses, when something that miraculous takes place?

Well in verse 45 the Bible tells us that many of the people who came to visit Mary, many of the Jews that were there... put their faith in Christ!   Why? Because of the great miracle that it was to see somebody raised from the dead!  It was amazing!

And in verse 46, it also mentions that some of those Jews also went to the Pharisees and reported this crazy thing - and all of a sudden you have this Council called the Senhedrin, beginning to freak out!

In verse 47, they are basically saying, “What are we going to do?  How do we compete with this guy?  He is producing so many signs, so many wonders that everyone will follow this guy because he does stuff like that!”

So they decide that they have to solve this problem... and Caiaphas, the leader of this group, decides that he knows how to do this…  The best way is to seize him and kill him.  

So in verse 57 the WANTED posters go up, and the whole countryside is expected to report when they see Christ so he can be arrested.  

Christ understands what is going on, and he decides that he will no longer walk in plain sight in front of the Jews and so he goes up into the Wilderness... which was common in that day anyway, because of ceremonial cleansing before passover.

But Christ basically flees to the woods to escape the cops.  

My point is this, sharing you excitement about something excites others....

For example:

What do you think the atmosphere was like in that day following this amazing event of Lazarus being raised from the dead?

In any culture when something really amazing happens or something unimaginable happens, people get on the horn.  News about the event travels fast!

Can you imagine all these Jews going to other Jews and sharing this amazing event of Lazarus being raised from the dead?  

I mean… in our day... how many views on Facebook do you think this event would get?  

I imagine this post going viral!  It is the talk of the town!  This thing is going crazy!

The Bible does not tell us specifically how fast this news traveled, but I really believe that news traveled very quickly even in that day.  

I just can't believe, that the news of somebody being raised from the dead just didn't go anywhere… as if it was only news in that town.  

I just don't think that that actually happened like that.  I really believe that the Jews that saw what was going on in Mary and Martha’s life, boarded the gossip train, and it just started to be the talk of the town or many towns.  

It just started flourishing because it is just so amazing!

So then, before our fugitive, Christ, goes to Jerusalem, he takes a long detour to the city of Jericho and that's where I want to pick it up in Luke 19 because here in Jericho, we get the story of  Zacchaeus.

Here is this story, I believe the excitement about Christ and Lazarus, has grabbed Zacchaeus.

Turn with me to Luke 19

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.(he’s excited)

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

So if you do not know anything else about Zacchaeus, he is this rich man.  He is wealthy, he is unpopular, he is a tax collector.  And if you know anything about tax collectors back then, they were worse than the IRS.  

In America, we don't get to see the IRS standing in front of our house, but you would back then.  They literally would not want to walk down the same road while the tax collector was  going down the road.

I mean he could stop you on the side of the street and tax you for what you are carrying.  There was all these little percentages that would just happen, every time you basically we're transporting any kind of products around the city, lookout!

So you would avoid the tax guy like the plague.  He's worse than a prostitute, he's worse than a drug dealer, he's somebody that you would not want anybody else to see you standing next to.

But here we see that Zacchaeus is eager to see Christ, he is just so enthusiastic, that this man Christ is coming to his town!  He wants to see him, he just can't believe his ears that something amazing has happened like that of Lazarus and so in his desperation to see Christ, he runs ahead of the crowd, gets himself in a situation where he knows that Christ has to walk by, and climbs a tree.

Now that’s being excited.  He’s the guy that doesn’t wait till black friday to go shopping, he’s going to go Thursday night… He is just excited!

He’s so excited that he climbs a tree...

Now what kind of people climb trees? You would think those people would be little boys or little girls climbing a tree, and in that day, if there was actually little boys in that tree, just how nice do you think they were?

I mean... I was a little boy.  Little boys are not necessarily nice little boys, they are not perfect little gentleman.  Many of them are bullies, they say horrible things, they mock you, and they pick on you, and this could have been the type of stuff that “despised Zacchaeus” was willing to take.

I just can picture, other short people, like kids, running ahead of the masses, so they are both out of the way, and yet still experiencing what others are experiencing.  I can imagine the trees being full of little people.

And Zacchaeus is saying, “hey, even if I have to act like a child, and be bullied by children because I am the only adult with them,,, I don’t care!  I am going to see this man!”

Now, can you also imagine a rich person climbing a tree?  You would have to be willing to get your fancy pants all dirty.  

You may snag or tear your shirt.  

Perhaps if you are really rich, then you may have never worked a physical job in your life, so you are overweight, you sweat uncontrollably, you are out of breath every time you reach for a branch, that’ll be embarrassing.

Ultimately, if you climbed that tree, you would have to stop caring about what other people thought of you.

You would have to lay your pride aside and go climb that tree.

Again, No matter what the scenario, it is obvious to me, that Zach was driven to overcome that obstacle, there is nothing that is going to stop him from seeing Christ!

But I'd like to suggest to you that that drive - to understand your own weakness, and yet to overcome it because of something greater…. Is the kind of stuff God desires.

Christ sees this wee little man, see the irony of a wealthy adult in the tree, like a child, and calls him out.

I believe that he was at that perfect moment in time where Christ knew his heart, and that he was humble enough to receive him, so he called him out of the tree, to himself, and immediately had fellowship with him.  

And you may think, I don’t know Jesse, that is a big assumption you’ve created.  The boys in the tree, the setting of his pride aside to climb the tree…. and I would not deny that.  

But hear me out, according to verse 9, Christ says salvation has come to this house.  So we can be confident that Zacchaeus accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior not only by the word of Christ, but also by his actions.  

Zacchaeus decides to repay any man he ripped off and he's going to give money back to the poor out of the love that is now in his heart.  

And Christ is loving it!  He spends the time to teach them again about his desire for them to be like Zach.  To give back to the Lord that which is his...

So then we started with excitement, which changed a life - Like Zacchaeus - and Now we have Duty.

11 While they were listening to this,(That is Zacchaeus’s heart) he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.

Christ is saying, the kingdom is not coming until after I leave you first...

13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

Who does that sound like? The Jews, The Senhedrin… They will be yelling Crucify him!

15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.”

Let me just say… that Christ is alluding to your salvation, your talents and gifts, your obedience to him… what did you do with what I gave you?

16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

17 “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

25 “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

Church, we know that coming to Christ and being saved from our sins is the most wonderful thing in the world for us to be able to have!  Amen?

To be able to fellowship with him, and to be able to witness so many wonderful things and embrace that Life of Christ... all of that's great!  But listen…

Christ says in his Parable... now that you have it… what are you going to do with it?

This parable about a coin and the cloth, he is saying... I'm going to go away from you.  I'm going to leave you for a time and then when I come back, I'm going to collect what is mine and I'm going to collect it back with interest.

And so by this Teaching he's saying... show me what you did with what I gave you.

And so you have these people in the story who are saying, “look God, you gave me five talents, and I have now made it another five, I have doubled what you've given me and Christ says, “well done!”

But it gets all the way down to the guy who just keeps his salvation in his pocket and just says, “God I know that you are a hard to please, and I was afraid that I would not be able to return anything of worth back to you, so I did nothing.”  

Christ says, “You wicked servant.”

He is wicked because he is slothful and lazy.  He is wicked because he did not look to what he could do for God.  This servant didn’t take time to inventory his gifts.    

This servant had the wrong focus, he was focused on what he couldn’t do for God, rather than what he could do!

In the same way if we are not motivated to do anything for God, if we have made excuses for why we cannot do anything for God, then what do you think He will call us?

In context Zaccheaus may have been a sinner his whole life, he may have been short, he may have been hated, he may have had more excuses than you or I combined… but upon salvation, he immediately found something that he could do!  He used his wealth for good..

If there be any here who are seeing their salvation as a get out of jail free card and hoards it for himself until the judgement day, without ever giving back to God, let me warn you that you will have a horrible meeting with Christ in heaven.

Why?  

Because of his death, because of his suffering, because of his payment for our sin, because he has deposited into our lives, therefore, he has the right to claim a just return!

Do not let the enthusiasm for Christ die by your hands.  Keep the flame going, add your weaknesses and your strengths to the pile and bring back a worthy return for the man who died for our sins!

Now By contrast - what are the things you would love to talk about?

I would like for you to think about something that you value.  Something like a material possession… I brought one of my most valuable possessions that I own, and it's not valuable because it is worth a lot of money, even though it really is money... but I brought it to show you by example.

This is a continental US dollar that was created or made in 1776, and this is a very special thing to me.  I mean you don't get to see history like this and get to feel it in your hands, it just gets me so excited that this was something that has survived over a couple hundred years!

I get to look at it in a way that normal people probably wouldn't... I mean they would read it in a textbook, and I brought my textbook with me to show you that this is actually the real thing, but you only get to read about this stuff in the textbook.  

You don't actually get to see it unless you visit a museum, but I actually get to own it.  

It makes me feel so excited!

I mean... Isn’t this the most amazing thing on the face of the earth?

I want to call everybody up here and be like... “look at this thing!”

I just want to show it to you because you just can't believe how wonderful this is!  This represents something from 1776.  You know what else was made in 1776?

Yes! The Declaration of Independence 1776 this is from the same year as the Declaration! Amazing!

I'm really emotionally attached to this... but here's the thing guys...

God has given us something of far greater value.  Something so amazing!  Something so Earth shattering!  Something that can't be replaced... and that is a spiritual life in him!

A life that frees us from so many devastating things and yet we take our Salvation sometimes... and we put it in a napkin... and then we put it in our pocket... and then we lock it up... and we don't touch it…. and we don't talk about it…

We listen to the Devil and our flesh and believe - I am so weak, I am so stupid, I am not confident, if I tried I would fail and so on.  

Listen… Salvation isn’t a token, it’s a gift that needs to be used!  Imagine spending thousands of dollars on a gift for your wife… maybe an engagement ring?  How would you react if she never wore it?  I’d be tict off!  I want others to see how much I love you… and yet you have put it in a cloth and do nothing with it.  

We need to be the bride who shares the ring that Christ gave us, use it!   

We're not really evangelizing, we're not really coming out and changing the world until we call our friends, until we call all our neighbors, until we say look at this!  It is so amazing!

Look this thing that has happened to me, it's so amazing!

I believe the reason why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus Christ was because people heard about the fact that Lazarus was raised from the dead and there was nothing else quite like it!

Is there anything else more amazing than that?  If it happened in our day we would probably fall out of our chairs the first time.  And then we spend hours replaying it!

We would send it out on facebook and count how many likes we got for the post!

If it happened in our day, there would be just crowds and crowds of people wanting to see this person that's been raised from the dead!

You would just want to talk about… “Hey man did you see this yet?”

“Ah, you got to check this out!  This Jesus, he’s like the real deal!”

He’s so amazing we are going to make him president!

And so all this excitement follows Christ into Jerusalem and we have this emotional moment this exciting reality that Jesus Christ is exactly who he said he was!

Luke 19:35

35 They brought it to Jesus, (the Colt) threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices- -why?-- for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

That is how exciting this guy is!

People are screaming, “He is the most amazing person ever! and he should be crowned king in Israel because there's nobody else like him!”

That was what Palm Sunday felt like to his disciples.

How many days in a year, do you give Christ the Triumphal Entry that he deserves?

As we conclude our time together

I wanted to share all that with you because Christ desires to give you something that is of Value.

You see God is a Holy God.  He is pure and righteous and just.  And when He created Adam, he was also free from anything bad.  We were like him being pure and righteous.

Then sin entered the world.  Sin is defined as an immoral act that goes against a divine law.

In the mind and heart God gave you, I am sure that you know the difference between doing something well, and doing something bad.

Perhaps growing up you have had to have a consequence for doing something wrong.  Maybe it was talking back, or being caught in a lie, it could be anything.  But the reason why we know the difference between Right and Wrong is because God told us what is right and wrong.

If you are like me, then you can admit that you know the difference.  Hopefully you can also admit with me, that you are guilty of doing something wrong.  You are guilty of lying or cheating, or anything else that hurts another human being.

Just that one act, just one time separates us… from God.  God cannot tolerate sin.  He has never sinned, because He is Holy.

But because God is also just, He must also punish sin.  If your parents ever gave you a penalty for doing something wrong, then I am sure you can relate.  Your parents were just in doing so.

God is the perfect judge.  And He has determined that even one act of sin, will take you out of His presence, and place you into an eternal place of separation from Him.

This is the reason Christ came.  Christ came to pay your penalty.  

Christ gave you his life.  Christ shed his blood.  Christ died for you on the cross, so that you could live in eternity with God, and be restored to His fellowship.

Who does that?  Who would die for you?  I mean you might have a parent or a spouse that would die for you but Christ died for people when they were still his enemies.  

This great gift that he gave you, was not cheap.  He purchased it with his blood he loves you so much!

Christ offers this free pass on your sins, if you can believe that He paid the price for you.

Christ proved that He has the authority in this matter by conquering death, and raising from the dead.  

And if you can believe that, then in return, you owe him your life.  The Bible says in Romans 10:9

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Friend Christ wants entry into your life.  If you would like to stay and talk with me after the service, I am willing to do that.  Don’t leave her without Christ.

Christian, I continue to challenge you… what interest are you earning on Christ’s investment into your life?  He is worthy to be praised.  Bring him the sacrifice of praise.