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Lack of Information or Hardness of Heart

By 1in1000 | June 20, 2008

As we come to the next section of Luke, I just want to remind you all of where Pastor Mike left off. Sermon # 90 something…

Jesus had given the parable of the King and the ten minas and referenced it to the historical king Archelaus.

This King represents Jesus, the one upon whom Israel had waited to set things right, though Jesus had said in the parable that He would be going away before He would reign, He was now coming into Jerusalem to claim His throne.

Luke 19:28 When He had said this (The Parable), He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹And it came to pass, when He came near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. ³¹“And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”

Matthew 21:4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ⁵“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.’ ”

Matthew points out the fulfillment of prophecy as he goes through the stories since he is writing to Jews.
Luke is a broader audience and so has less of these references.
The point is that the Jews had it all written down before them and in their hardness and impenitent hearts they did not see it.
We will see more of this as we proceed

Luke 19:32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. ³³But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” ³⁴And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” ³⁵Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. ³⁶And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. ³⁷Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, ³⁸saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” ⁴⁰But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Jesus now encourages to crowd with regard to heralding Him as King. Before this He has not done so.
The people shout Hosannah! As we see in Matthew and Mark’s accounts. This means “Save us Now!”
And also as we see here in Luke as well they quote the 118^th Psalm, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”
There is a recognition of these prophesies being fulfilled here!
Again we see the hardness of hearts as the Pharisees rebuke Him for allowing this praise.

Luke is pretty much giving the running narrative of what happened that day. Though he does not call specific attention to the prophesies as Matthew and Mark do, their fulfillment is still in view.

There are a three different kinds of people that we see here in this narrative.

The disciple who sees the reality of Jesus’ authority yet still won’t fully comprehend it until after the resurrection. A couple of months out.
The crowd who is whipped into a frenzy with anticipation of what Jesus might accomplish temporally for them and their nation.
The Pharisee who is threatened and in opposition to what this will mean to his personal position.

Everyone was waiting for this great Kingdom. This rule and reign of God through His Messiah that would alleviate all of the political turmoil and the personal suffering and bring peace and prosperity to God’s chosen people.

They were looking for this physical / temporal kingdom that would put them at the top of the food chain.
Jesus has other ideas.

The most important thing is that Jesus did this stuff as the fulfillment of what had been written about Him in the Old Testament. The Pharisees and the people should have known what was going on.

God began to speak of how He would overcome sin and suffering all the way back in Genesis 3:15 when He cursed the serpent saying that the seed of the woman would crush his head.
The Messiah would be a man.
John the Baptist who opens our New Testament was the thing that closed the Old Testament.
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. ⁶And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
These are the closing words of the Old Testament.
Different order in the Hebrew Bible, but still chronologically the most recent.

Luke 1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Matthew 17:10 [Jesus'] disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. ¹² But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.
Jesus’ healing, teaching in parables, as well as His birth in Bethlehem and being called a Nazarene. Virtually everything about His life was foretold in the Old Testament.
The problem was not a lack of information! The problem was hardness of heart!
The truth of God did not fit their personal agenda and rather than change their agenda they tried to manipulate the plan of God.
They lived in denial of the plain truth, imaging that it was not so.
Like the man Police in Pittsburgh arrested in October for trying to get change at a store for the Gospel Tract that looks like a $1 million bill that he was carrying (with a likeness of Grover Cleveland) and getting angry in the cashier’s office when he was turned down.
I’m sure that the cashier in a store doesn’t have a million dollars.
There is no such thing as a million dollar bill.
Yet he threw a big enough fit to get arrested.
You say that guy has to be a few cents short of a dollar himself.
What about the guy who tries to change God’s plans to fit his own agenda?
Who ignores God’s reality in favor of his own delusions?

Luke 19:41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, ⁴²saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³“For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, ⁴⁴“and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Words that were fulfilled to the letter less than forty years later.

Luke 19:45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, ⁴⁶saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” ⁴⁷And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, ⁴⁸and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

Not only did Jesus weep over their hardness of heart, but He went into the Temple and chastised them for it. They had made merchandise of what God had given them. They turned it around into a money making scheme to take personal advantage of what God had given them.

We have all just celebrated Christmas. Our culture has taken the things that God has done and has twisted them around so that what was a celebration of God taking on human flesh so that He could live and die for sin has become an excuse to get presents and flatter ourselves. It has become a celebration of our own egos.

Do you see how twisted we can be?

I’m not saying you shouldn’t celebrate Christmas, but I am challenging you to ask yourself the question,

What do I compromise about the truth of God in my life because of personal preference or cultural pressure?

Is life more about comfort level or truth level?

The King has come. He entered Jerusalem as King, but He has gone away for a while. He will return to reign, will you be ready?

Like the people in our text today, you have all of the right information. Pastor Mike asks you nearly every week whether anyone here needs to trust Christ.

It has been a while since anyone has done so.

I know that you know the facts, that’s not the question. The question is, In light of the facts, will you continue to live for yourself, hoping Jesus will help you out or will you surrender to the King and let Him tell you how to live your life?

It is usually at this time that we begin to imagine what we would like to change in our lives in the coming year.

I want to ask you to evaluate which of these three kinds of people you are.
Are you the disciple who may not understand everything, but are in a close enough relationship to Christ that you will submit to Him in love, trusting Him for the results?
- He went and took someone else’s donkey just because Jesus said to.
- Hey, run over to the ford dealer and grab the keys to a new Mustang and bring it to me. If the salesman asks just tell him that I need it.
- Kind of crazy huh?
- Jesus won’t tell you to do that today… If you think He has, come see someone here at the church before you do it!
- He will tell you not to cheat on your taxes or your wife.
- Not to spend money on wants when you can’t meet your needs.
- To turn off the TV and open your Bible.
- To trust Him in your situation with your family, finances, faith
Are you the frenzied person in the crowd who is hoping that Jesus will make your life better only later to reject Him (as we will see )when your wishes are not met?
- Jesus didn’t promise peace and prosperity. If that’s what you want, what will you do if He doesn’t give it?
- These folks who are shouting Hosannah today are going to be shouting Crucify Him next week!
Are you the hardened Pharisee who thinks that you have God all figured out; Who enjoys your position or power or what you consider freedom to reject His rule in your life and will not give it up no matter what?
- You know the facts but will not submit to Him because you have distorted them in your mind to make the Gospel something that allows you to keep on in your sin, but God has to forgive you because you believe in Jesus.
- Romans 6:1 Shall we continue in sin so that we can get more grace? Me ginomai!
- That is not saving faith!

Again….

These words that were fulfilled to the letter less than forty years later and may also be prophetic for you.
If you are not resting on the foundation of Jesus Christ, our Prophet, Priest and King, then whatever you are resting on will be utterly destroyed!
Now that we have celebrated the fact that God has become a Man in order to take away the sins of the world, have you celebrated the fact that He has dealt with yours?
Has He dealt with yours?
Do you recognize the time of your visitation?
Or will you be like so many who had all of the right facts, but would not let go of their own agenda, their personal peace and affluence to receive the King?

As I studied this out I began to see this as an act of mercy on Jesus’ part.
He didn’t just wish it was not this way. He intervened.
I pray that you would see the time of your visitation today, as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says, today, when you hear His voice do not harden your hearts.
I pray that if our hearts are still hard today even though we have all of the facts, that Jesus would in His mercy come into your life and mine and begin to turn over some tables and tell us that this temple of God is supposed to be a house of prayer though we have made it place to gratify your lusts.

* All Scripture Quotes NKJV

Luke 19:28ff Lack of Information or Hardness of Heart by Kevin Hoffman: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Topics: Christ the King Sunday, Luke, Palm Sunday, Practical Advice, Special Occasions |

Lack of Information or Hardness of Heart

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