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Lessons from the Passion Week

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Palm Sunday and Passion Week

Why don’t we stand for a moment and pray and dismiss the children. Lord, we thank you for this time of worship. We thank you for your presence here. We thank you for your word and your spirit. We look forward to you ministering to us for the word today. We ask that you give us ears to hear.

We thank you that you enable us to understand your word through your Holy Spirit. I pray that our hearts would be willing and open to receive whatever you want to give us today. I ask that Your Word would truly bear fruit in our lives, that we would be a changed people, and that our lives would reflect our lips, our practice would reflect our praise.

I ask it in Jesus’ holy name and for His glory. Amen.

Amen. Open your Bibles if you would to Matthew. I think we can use Matthew 21. This week is what is called, some people call holy week, some people call Passion Week. And this is the week where as a church we reflect on the events leading up to the, really the events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus. And what is astounding is how much happened in the few days before Jesus actually was risen from the dead on what we call Resurrection Sunday or in our culture is called Easter. And when we look at the Passion Week, we see many, many things that Jesus experienced as part of his suffering for his people. For example, in this one week, just to mention a few things, Jesus, after entering… Well, let’s read this text, then we’ll talk some more. Matthew 21. Now, when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, go into the village opposite of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. But if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them, and immediately he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, tell the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them and set him on them. And the very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. This is why today is called Palm Sunday, because of the laying of the palm leaves on the ground for Jesus. Then the multitude 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. and when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this? So the multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. This is how the week began. But as we look through the following chapters in Matthew and Mark and Luke, because all of the gospels record this Passion Week of Jesus, we see that Jesus was rejected by the Jewish leaders, he was then betrayed by Judas, he was deserted by his disciples, he was denied by Peter, he was condemned by Rome, He was exchanged for Barabbas. He was beaten by soldiers. He was mocked by the multitudes. He was crucified by man and he was forsaken by God. And you think you had a rough week. All of this transpired literally in a matter of a few days. And each one of these events warrants a sermon or two or even three. But today I just want to survey this week briefly and make some practical applications to us that we can learn from the experience of Jesus.

Rejected by the Religious Leaders

First Jesus, we won’t cover all these by the way for the sake of time,

but first Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders. A lot of space, we don’t have time to read all these chapters, but a lot of space is devoted to the fact that the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians, all of the religious leaders of the day, challenged Jesus after he entered Jerusalem on the donkey. This entrance was what we call the triumphal entry of Jesus, into Jerusalem, at which point the Jews could have received him as their Savior, their Messiah, and their King. But in fact, they did not receive Him, and the leaders rejected Him. And one of the lessons we can learn from the experience of Jesus here is that religion is not the same as godliness. Being pious is not the same as even being honest. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees warn us, are a warning to us, of false religion. They had the form of godliness, but they denied the power of it. They loved their liturgy, but they did not love the light. When you think of the Pharisees, it is astounding how knowledgeable they were, how well versed they were in Scripture, how much they knew their Bible, the Old Testament, right? And yet, when they were actually in the presence of Jesus, they couldn’t see what was right before them.

And Scripture talks about those who are ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. They come to more knowledge, but they don’t come to the knowledge of the truth. And so, this is a warning for us who learn and learn and learn, and we should be learning. This is not an anti-intellectual comment. Rather, we must understand that our learning must lead to truth, not just the more knowledge. Because Paul says, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. So the Pharisees stand as a warning to us, and really to all, not to substitute religion for relationship, not to substitute liturgy for life, not to substitute knowledge for truth, not to substitute even the Bible, which I prize so highly for God Himself.

Because what we have to remember is that the Scriptures are given to us as a means of grace. The end of the Bible is not the Bible. The end of the Bible is to point us to the author of the Bible. It’s to point us to the subject and the object of the Bible. The point of the Scripture is to reveal God through His Son, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. So it is through the Word of God that we know God. And so we need to be careful that we don’t become pharisaical in our knowledge in embracing truth in the abstract by not embracing the truth in our hearts. Jesus.

Betrayed by Judas

Secondly, Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Why? Why was he betrayed? Well, the obvious answer is his love of money. And that answer is, although the Scripture doesn’t say that, it’s implied or suggested, or deduced, I should say, really, because he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. So the idea is, well, Judas was in it for the money, if you will. And that’s very possible. He may have had a money problem. He was the one who held the purse for the disciples. You gotta watch those people on the finance committee. No, I’m just kidding. So Judas held the bag, if you will. Maybe he was really good at it. But maybe he had a heart problem with money. Another interpretation, which I think is probably equally true, is that Judas had political aspirations. What I mean by that is that we forget about the political stuff that’s going on around Jesus as we read the text, okay? And we know that many people expected Jesus to set up the Jewish kingdom when he came.

Okay, and so here in Matthew 21 5 where it says, tell the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Then they say in verse 9, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Well, when you read the version in Mark, it says, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes. They were praising Jesus as He entered in the fulfillment of it. They recognized the fulfillment of the prophecy in that He came riding lowly, but they thought that He was bringing David’s kingdom. Judas realizes that Jesus wasn’t going to bring David’s kingdom. He realizes that Jesus wasn’t going to be the earthly king, at least at this point, that Judas thought.

And so at that point he betrayed him because he was disappointed in Jesus. There’s a lot of lessons here we can learn from Judas, but I think the fundamental lesson is to ask ourselves the question, where is our ultimate loyalty?

Judas lived with Jesus for three years. He fellowshiped with him. He ate with him. They couldn’t have been any more close in terms of their physical fellowship. And he appeared to be one of the twelve. He appeared to be loyal, but in fact he was not loyal. His God was probably more mammon than God. And his kingdom, the kingdom that he really yearned for, was the kingdom of man, the political kingdom. And so the question for us as we think about Judas is where is our ultimate loyalty and which kingdom are we building? Which kingdom do we really care about? And as I said last week, when I talked about, when I gave a warning about the political environment we are in, we need to be very careful that our love for country does not usurp our love for God. We must keep our citizenship on earth subordinate to our citizenship in heaven.

God’s kingdom is the kingdom that ought to take priority over all kingdoms. And Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, after assuring us that our Father would take care of all of our needs, He said to us, seek ye first the kingdom of God. And the key to that passage, and really I think the key to so much in the Christian life is that little word first. Because if I were to ask you, do you want to see God’s kingdom come? You’d say yeah. Who wouldn’t say yeah? But the question is, do we want it first? Do we want it first? That is, will we sacrifice for it? Will we pray for it? Will we work for it? Does it really have priority in our lives and in our hearts? Or is it, yeah, I want to see God’s kingdom? Yeah. But first, above all other allegiances, Judas betrayed his allegiance to Jesus for money and for politics.

Deserted by the Disciples

Next, Jesus was deserted by his disciples. The disciples like Peter had made professions of steadfast adherence to Jesus. Look at Matthew 26. It’s in Matthew. It’s in all the Gospels. But look at Matthew. In Matthew 26, let’s read verse 30. They had had the Passover in which the Lord instituted what we call the Lord’s Supper. It was both the Last Supper and the First Supper, if you will. Verse 30, and when they had sung a hymn Jesus sang, pretty cool, they went out to Mount of Olives and then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.“ So he says to him, you’re all going to desert me. Peter answered and said to him, even if all were made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. And Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And notice: and so said all of the disciples. All of the disciples pledged steadfast adherence to Jesus even after He had told them He was going to be struck, even after He labored to make clear to them that He was going to be arrested and be punished and be crucified and even to die. They said, no, we’re with you, Jesus. We’re all with you. Amen, right? We’re all with You, Jesus. Come on, let’s say it. We’re all with You, Jesus. Yeah. How easy that is to do when you’re all together. When you’re all together at a meeting. They’re all at a meeting, having communion, singing hymns. Hallelujah, Jesus. We’re all with You. Well, as the story goes on, we know that in the dark of night they came to arrest Jesus, and all of them fled in fear. Jesus was deserted by all of them. All of them. And there are many lessons here, but one to point out is this, is that mere human resolution is not sufficient to resist the power of evil. Let me say it again. Mere human resolution is not sufficient to resist the power of evil. I have no question when these men made their profession of steadfast commitment to Jesus, I have no question they meant it with all of their heart at the moment. I don’t think they were hypocrites. I don’t think they they were insincere, I think they believed what they said. Yet they failed in the time of testing. And it’s because their commitment and their resolution was born of mere human commitment.

Human will. And when you are dealing with the realities of the spiritual world, when you’re dealing with evil in its true sense of the Word, as the Bible defines evil, human resolution is not enough. It is not enough. And this applies really to every area of life. Many Christians are frustrated and failing in their walk because they are trying to do it by mere willpower. It doesn’t work that way. You and I do not have the power to defeat evil merely by the expression of our will.

We must have a will which is energized and empowered by the Holy Spirit. If we are not walking in the Spirit, then we will be walking in the flesh. There is no neutral place called walking in pretty goodness.

So we can dress up the flesh, we can make the flesh religious even. We can make the flesh look pious. We can educate the flesh. But as my old pastor used to say, you know, you can take a pig and you can wash it and you can put a pink ribbon on it, but it’s still a pig. And it’s true. So every area of our life, we must understand that our resolution is not enough, that we need the power of the Holy Spirit if we’re going to be steadfast and loyal to Jesus Christ. As Jesus says here, [audio unclear] Instead of praying, they were sleeping. Verse 40, then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Jesus thought one hour of prayer was not a big deal. I’m not even going to ask you if you’ve ever prayed for an hour. And what does Jesus say? What is His counsel to them and to us? It is to watch and pray. Watch means be alert, be aware. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Now this is right before they entered into the temptation of denying Him, deserting Him. Right before that, He’s saying you need to be praying because you’re going to be tested. But they didn’t pray, they slept. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Yeah, they really wanted to be steadfast. They wanted to be loyal. But that wasn’t enough. Because the flesh is weak. And we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives if we’re going to truly be loyal to Jesus Christ.

Denied by Peter

Next, Jesus was denied by Peter. Now there’s a difference between being deserted and being denied. They all deserted him. But Peter was then accosted or confronted and recognized as one of the 12 and he denied openly that he knew Jesus. He said he did not know Jesus. And as we know, He denied Him three times. This is desertion, which is aggravated by repeated denials after carnal boasting.

After carnal boasting. As Peter said, he even says in verse 35, Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. Peter said he was willing to go all the way. All the way to the bitter end. No matter what, Jesus, I’ll do this for you. And then when the time came, he failed. He failed. And I think one of the lessons we can learn from Peter’s example is this. When pride comes, then comes shame. Peter was so confident that he would not deny Jesus. He was so sure of himself. He knew that he would never do this. He knew. One hundred percent. He knew, without any doubt, that he was going to be loyal to Jesus Christ. And yet, when the time came, he not only deserted him, but then he denied him. And then he denied him again. and he denied him again. Pride comes before a fall. And our confidence ought not to be in ourselves. It ought not to be in our own will, in our own conviction, in our own knowledge. It ought to be our confidence rather in the Lord. In the Lord, not in ourselves. Another lesson is the fear of man as a snare, as it says in Proverbs 29, 25. Peter, and I’m not trying to be critical of Peter because I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing in his shoes, but Peter feared man more than he feared God. And so he denied God. Jesus was then condemned by the world, and by the world, I mean, not only the worldly religious leaders, but worldly Rome is exemplified in the actions of Pilate. When you see Jesus handed over, and you see him, this mock trial, if you will, this really shows how worldly power hates Jesus. power hates Jesus. And one of the lessons we need to understand here is that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. When Jesus stood before Pilate, here was Jesus, truth incarnate. And after interrogating Jesus, Pilate’s response is a skeptic’s: What is truth? The object of his mocking, the truth, stood right before him. Pilate was utterly blind to the person that was standing right in front of him because that’s the natural man. The natural man cannot see the kingdom of God, right? The natural man does not receive the things of God and the world is nothing more than the natural man multiplied. That’s all it is. Then the world and the worldly system doesn’t understand the things of God. And so it is not surprising then that the world then would condemn Jesus and condemn the truth.

Mocked by the Multitudes

But then Jesus was also mocked by the multitudes. Now, you know, I want you to really think about this for a minute. Within a matter of days, days, not months, not years, in a matter of days, the people went from singing Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, to shouting, crucify him. In a matter of days. I mean, it is a shocking reversal of fortune, if you will, for Jesus. Because here at one moment, it appears that He’s being accepted, He’s being praised, He’s being welcomed as the King. And within a matter of a few short days, many of those same people who are now chanting, crucify Him. Wow. Popularity is fleeting. It is. It is. And you can be sure that those who flatter you, one minute will slander you the next. Remember, as Jesus taught us, do not receive the praise of men, but rather the praise of God. The fear of man is a snare. And we ought not to be living to get the recognition and the praise of man. We ought to be living to get the recognition and the praise of God. Because those who praise you one minute, they might be your biggest fan today, they might be your biggest enemy tomorrow. And you cannot count on people to always be loyal. If the 12 weren’t loyal to Jesus, then why should we expect people to be loyal to us? Why should we expect people who are by nature fickle to be constant in their devotion?

The other lesson I want to point out about this is that our praise of Jesus must change our practice. These people were praising Jesus, and then they wanted to kill Jesus. And we can praise Jesus one day, and we can be denying Him the next. It’s true. How many opportunities have we had to witness for Jesus in our workplace, but we’ve kept silent. We’re loud on Sunday, quiet on Monday. Because what we are chanting and singing on one day is not matching what we were doing on the other day. We’re just as fickle as the crowds. Of course you’d never kill Jesus. No, you never, outright deny Jesus, but you just won’t say anything about Jesus. Our witness for Jesus ought to be as bold and boisterous as our praise for Jesus. We are willing to stand in this congregation, as our Lord, and our King, and, our Master, and our Savior, and we’re willing to stand and shout it and sing it and raise our hands and acknowledge it; here we ought to be willing to do it out there.

Crucified by Man

Lastly, Jesus was crucified by man. The crucifixion is often talked about as the ultimate expression of God’s love. And it is. Jesus said, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. That giving of Jesus was not just a giving of Jesus as a teacher or a prophet, although that’s true, but it was a giving of Jesus as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins on the cross. He gave Him unto death. So in that sense, the cross is the ultimate example of God’s love. But it’s more than that., it is also the ultimate example of man’s evil. Because you see Jesus being God in the flesh, Jesus was absolute purity and holiness and love and mercy and kindness incarnate. Are you hearing me? in Jesus was everything that the world says that it wants. Love, mercy, kindness, there it was. Lived out before them for years. Standing before Pilate, standing before the Pharisees, there it was. Love incarnate and what did mankind do to love incarnate?

Mankind killed it. Mankind mocked it, mankind beat it, mankind spit on it.

This is undoubtedly the reason why Augustine labeled the pagan virtues as splendid vices.

Because they were, and they still are, a mere facade for a deep-seated hatred for God and His goodness. Jesus, remember when He was born and they took Him to the Temple, and I think Simeon said, this one is set for the rising and falling of many in Israel? The response to Jesus, how people responded to Jesus exposed what they were.

It exposed what they were. It’s even true today. You know, supposedly there’s two things you don’t talk about in polite company, right? Religion and politics. What’s everybody talking about? Religion and politics? But people don’t mind talking about God. But start talking to people about Jesus and watch the response. People that are very gladly talking about God and God things and spirituality. Once you start talking about Jesus, you’ll see a change in their demeanor. Because Jesus is set for the rising and falling of many. He is the light of the world and that light exposes hearts. And when Jesus is there, when Jesus is present, when Jesus is discussed, men either come to Him or they recoil from Him, but they’re not neutral. People can be neutral about God, but not Jesus. There’s a lesson here for us, and one is this.

If Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate of all that is good and virtuous, was betrayed and deserted and denied and mocked and crucified, do we think it’s a strange thing if we are persecuted by men? Because the Apostle Paul said, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. There is no footnote that says, not the people at liberty. It does not say except for America. It does not say except for the white middle class. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Jesus said something really disturbing. Actually, he said a lot of things that are disturbing. You want to hear one? You want to be disturbed? Yes. Yeah. You’re already disturbed. No, I’m kidding. Jesus said this. He said, Woe to you when all men speak well of you. Now, that is so counterintuitive because I would think that if everybody talked good about me, that’s a good thing, right? That means I’m doing good. That means I’m being successful. That means, yeah, I’m doing my job. Everybody likes me. But no, Jesus says, Woe to you when all men speak well of you. [audio unclear] John 13, 14, 15, and 16. To read that and see how Jesus talks about love. Love one another as I have loved you. Love, love, love. I love you as the Father loved you. We love you, we want to dwell with you because we love you. Love you, love you love. And then all of a sudden Jesus says, don’t be surprised if the world hates you.

And it’s a stark contrast that Jesus lays out. And He forewarns us, because to be forewarned is to be forearmed. To not be taken by surprise. Not be shocked if people dislike us or slander us or criticize us, because we are steadfast to Jesus Christ. He wanted us and them prepared for that rejection.

Jesus, Our Example

Well there’s a whole lot of lessons here, more than I could mention, but I want to just mention a couple more real quick, all right? And I want to talk a little bit more about Jesus.

The Word of God tells us that Jesus is an example for us for enduring suffering.

In 1 Peter 2, Peter says this, he says in verse 21, “…For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. In other words, you are to deal with suffering and persecution the same way that he did.

Well how did he do it? Well he tells us right here. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return. And when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.”

Isn’t that good? Amen.

Man, when I get attacked, you know what I want to do? I want to attack people back. Somebody said something bad about me. That’s just the flesh. You read the account of Jesus standing before the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Pilate and the entire process in which he is examined and criticized, and there are false witnesses against Him, all this, he did not threaten, he did not revile, he did not sin. It’s astounding to see Jesus under this kind of pressure hold up and do what was right. And yet he’s our example. that as the world may reject us, we are not to sin, we are not to revile, we are not to threaten, we are not to hate. Because that’s not the example Jesus set for us, amen? Jesus also set an example of making a good confession. Look at 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 6, Paul says in verse 12, we’ll start in verse 11, 6-11 of 1 Timothy. He says, but you, O man of God, flee these things, meaning love of money, pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love and patience and gentleness, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you are also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing. Jesus stood before Pilate and he made the good confession. He did not deny the faith. He did not deny the truth. And so he’s an example of standing in the face of opposition, And He’s an example therefore of courage, and an example of standing for truth. And we need courage. Amen? We need courage. When you go to work and there’s no Christians there, you need courage. Because you’re called to speak for Jesus Christ. You’re called to be a witness there. And I believe that our culture, Maybe I’m reading the tea leaves wrong, folks. But it seems to me it’s getting more and more and more hostile toward Christianity. Hostile, even to the point to where it’s getting physical. It’s going to get tough. If you think it’s tough now, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet. And so we need courage. We can get courage from the Holy Spirit. We can receive courage from Jesus Christ. He was tempted just like we were. When he stood before Pilate, we read these texts and we don’t really stop and think about it. And we think that Jesus Passion Week was easy. It wasn’t easy. And when he was in Gethsemane and there was blood coming out of his forehead, that was real. The stress of what was going on was wreaking havoc on his body. And yet he had the courage to stand before Pilate knowing that by standing, he would be beaten, he’d be mocked, he’d be tortured, and he’d be crucified, yet he stood. Man. You talk about Jesus being a man’s man. That’s the kind of courage I believe that we are going to need in the days ahead. And I believe that God can give that to us. I call it martyr’s grace. Lastly, Jesus is an example of sacrificial humility. Philippians 2, which was read earlier in the service today. Paul says, verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, your version may say, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. In this context Jesus’ example is held up so that we would be, it says in verse 2, like-minded, that we would have the same love being of one accord and in one mind. That we would do nothing through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, that’s selfishness right, but also for the interest of others. And then Jesus is held up as an example. He’s an example of sacrifice and he’s an example of humility and the two go together. In order to make the sacrifice necessary for us on the cross he had to be humble enough to take Take that low place, that place of a servant. Take the place of a criminal, really. Because when Jesus hung on that cross, He was marked as an outlaw, as a criminal. And so He endured the shame we are told in Hebrews for the joy that was set before Him. And that of course was the purchase of His church and his people whom he loves.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray together. Lord, as we contemplate just in a small way what you went through, [audio unclear] I just pray that you’d help us to do a couple things. One, I pray that you’d help us really, really appreciate what your passion meant. I pray that we’d really appreciate the sacrifices that you made for us. Really appreciate it. That we would be a profoundly grateful people. The Lord I also ask that we would follow in your footsteps. Lord, I pray that we would be willing to suffer for You, willing to sacrifice for You. And I pray that we would be willing to make that good confession of the faith. I pray, Lord, that we would stand in the evil day, that we would not desert, that we would not betray, but that we would stand. And Lord, we know, although our spirit is willing, our flesh is so weak. We know we cannot sacrifice and profess the way we ought if you do not empower us. We acknowledge our weakness. We are all dependent on Your Holy Spirit. And so Lord, we ask that you would daily fill us, daily fill us with your Spirit, Lord. That we would be really what you were on the earth, a good witness, a good witness.

And Lord, I thank You that as we contemplate Your passion, Your suffering, we thank You, Lord, that we know that wasn’t the end of the story. And we thank You that we look forward to celebrating Your resurrection next week and all that that entails. Jesus, we love You very much. We pray that You’d be blessed by our worship today. We pray in Your name, amen.