Sermon Series: “The Resurrection Series”
Sermon (Part 2): "Jesus Christ Wants Every One To Be A Part of the Praise Parade!"
April 10, 2022
Happy Palm Sunday to you All.
My heart is still rejoicing from last week's Sermon: "Prepared For Tomorrow Today: Christ in You The Hope of Glory." My heart and mouth are full of praise for Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. Jesus Christ has given to us His “Living Hope” (an expectation with anticipation of pleasure), that whether in life or death, Christ shall be magnified in our mortal bodies.
So it does not matter what tomorrow brings: world wars, stock market crashes, pestilence, plagues, persecutions, famines, or floods. We are prepared for tomorrow today because Jesus Christ has conquered sin, death, hell and the grave for us all. (Rev. 1:18) Somebody ought to shout, “I'm Prepared For Tomorrow Today!”
For consider this: If we die a physical death, quicker than you can blink your eye, we know we will be present with the Lord. If tomorrow, God says time no more, and Jesus Christ returns to rapture His Church, we shall be caught up in the clouds together to meet the Lord in the air. For we know when we see Jesus Christ, we shall be changed into His likeness. How cool is all of this!!! Therefore, we have nothing to fear in life or death.
On this Palm Sunday, and for that matter every day we live and breathe, we have a reason to praise the name Jesus Christ. Not just praise Him, but to be a part of “The Praise Parade” in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what I want to talk about with you today. Part 2 of “The Resurrection Series” is entitled: "Jesus Christ Wants Everybody To Be A Part of The Praise Parade!"
Consider this awesome Scripture recorded at Hebrews 7:25, it reads:
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God through Him, since He
always lives to make intercession for them.
My, my, my: No matter who you are, where you are, or what you have done; to the uttermost Jesus Christ saves. Jesus will pick you up and turn your around and place your feet on higher and solid ground! Forever, Jesus Christ makes intercession for us to come to God Almighty, for those who will believe in Him.
I am a living witness that even in the most obscure of times and places, the Lord's heart and eyes are on you. I can remember, at the time of my brother’s death, how deep and lost in sin I was—and then Jesus Christ called me out of darkness into His marvelous light. I was trying to hide from the Lord in the abyss of secret sin. But, Jesus Christ stepped in and delivered me out of all my troubles.
The Lord Jesus Christ knows your name, and all the evil and wickedness you have done. For nothing is hidden from Him. You know, He comes and shines a light on your sins, never to condemn, but to embrace you with His love and forgiveness, and to bring you into the liberty and very life of God.
While you are walking in sin, Jesus Christ continually calls you to Himself. The lower and further you are sinking in sin, the louder He calls your name. Then, when you hit rock bottom, nowhere else to turn, you finally hear His Voice so sweetly and clearly calling you out of your pit of troubles. You hearken to His voice, and you come and surrender your life to Him.
In His presence is the fullness of joy. Instantly, you bow down and worship Him—you just can’t keep your feet. His love, grace and mercy, power and wisdom are irresistible; and even wraps around you like a harness to a conveyer belt, pulling you up and out of the pit.
Make no mistake about it. Jesus Christ has an Agenda that He received from His Father God. For, as we will see today, Jesus Christ comes to seek and to save that which is lost. Not just you, but your entire "household" in their generations, as well as all that concerns you.
If you are here today or reading this Sermon and have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jesus is seeking to save you. Hearken to His Call. No person or thing can bring you to God, but Jesus Christ—not family, friends, fame, fortune, leisure, education, or hobbies can save you—only Jesus Christ and His Righteousness. The best choice I ever made was turning my life over to Jesus Christ. To God be the Glory for the things He has done!
In that moment in His presence, He gives you a changed and new heart full of His Love. And, then His love compels you, from the heart, to make restitution where you had done wrong before. Instead of doing evil, you desire to focus your life on doing that which is right in His sight. Then, Jesus Christ says come and follow me, both you and your household. Come and join “The Praise Parade” with shouts of praises “Hosanna,” “Hosanna” we worship you!
On this Palm Sunday. I want to focus on a specific Bible character and event that occurred just before Jesus Christ’s triumphal ride into Jerusalem. The name of the character in this story is mentioned only once in the Bible.
Regarding this character, his own countrymen the Jewish people sorely hated him. In their eyes, he was considered a traitor and a friend of the Romans—the Jews arch enemy. And, although he was well known in the Jewish community, affluent, and very rich, in the view of the Jewish people he was an "outcast" and "untouchable." Moreover, he was considered to be a sinner and detached from the seed of Abraham, in which the Jews considered themselves sole descendants.
The man I am talking about is Zacchaeus. The story of Zacchaeus and his amazing encounter with Jesus Christ is told at Luke 19:1-10. Let's read the account and come back and discuss it.
The story unfolds with Jesus Christ, passing through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified. This is also just before Jesus would make His triumphal entry by donkey with palms strewn before him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
While traveling through Jericho, Jesus took his twelve disciples aside and told them all, that He (the Son of man) would be delivered up into the hands of the Gentiles, they would mock him, spitefully entreat him, spit on him, scourge him, put him to death, and on the third-day rise again. (Luke 18:31-34) Yet, the Bible says the disciples of Jesus Christ did not understand nor remember His words.
So it was that on this final journey through Jericho, Jesus Christ encountered Zacchaeus. The Scripture tells us Zacchaeus was "chief among the publicans" and very wealthy. (John 19:2) He was one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax collection business.
For context, as a major source of revenue stream to finance the great Roman Empire, the Romans levied taxes on all nations, including Israel, under their control. Tax collectors were among the most unpopular people in Israel. Some Jews by birth, chose to work for Rome and were considered traitors. Moreover, it was common knowledge that tax collectors were making themselves rich by gouging off of fellow Jews. So Zacchaeus being chief among publicans was very well known and loathed among the Jewish people.
On this day, massive crowds of people were following Jesus Christ. Along the way, Jesus met and healed a blind and beggarly man, and all the people glorified God. (Luke 18: 35-43) Immediately after the blind man received his sight, Luke records that the man joined and followed after Jesus—yes, he happily joined “The Praise Parade.”
Zacchaeus being a man of short stature, and the crowds following Jesus Christ so massive, he decided to run ahead and climb into a "Sycamore Tree," as he wanted to see Jesus, who he was. Bible scholars note that Sycamore trees in Jesus Christ days on earth grew extremely large with a beautiful trunk and produced several crops of figs each year. (See an example of a Sycamore tree in Israel shown below.)
However, when you think about this story—about Zacchaeus—it is very unusual for a very rich man to go and climb a tree to see someone. The rich tend to see themselves as elite/aristocratic, affluent, influential, and able to get their own way. While Zacchaeus tried to press through the crowd to see Jesus and could not. He could have perhaps offered to pay people money to move out of his way to get a better view of Jesus.
Or more likely, as a rich man, he would not have wanted to expend more effort to see Jesus by climbing a tree, he would have simply given up and gone about his business. Taking the effort to climb a tree would ordinarily be beneath a wealthy man’s privilege.
Instead, seeing the route Jesus was taking, Zacchaeus chose to run ahead of the crowd, and climbed a sycamore tree to watch Jesus—the precious Lamb of God—Jesus, the Love of God pass by. I believe in his excitement to see Jesus, Zacchaeus elected to climb the tree because in his heart there was a longing for love and God. In his heart there was a desire to do good things, even though he had done much evil. In his heart, Zacchaeus had lost his way and was seeking after God.
In Zacchaeus’ life he possessed the finer material things. No doubt he had a beautiful house, plenty of money, and notoriety. But, money cannot buy you a relationship with God and the peace that comes only from knowing God! In every person God has set a longing within themselves to know Him because we are all the offspring of God. (Eccl. 3:11-12, Jer. 10:23, & Acts 17:28) In Zacchaeus’ heart, he had to see Jesus for he truly desired to know Him. Most likely he had heard of Jesus before, but never had seen Him up close and observed His miracles. So he climbed up the sycamore tree.
Umm, the sycamore tree. I believe in this story, the sycamore tree has profound and very deep spiritual meaning, as it related to Zacchaeus, and relates to people today. I do not believe for one second that the writer, Luke by happenstance identified the specific type of tree Zacchaeus climbed—a “sycamore tree.” Luke could have just as easily written that Zacchaeus climbed a tree in order to see Jesus, but instead he specifically names the tree he climbed.
Biblical scholars note that the wood from the trunks of sycamore trees were commonly used to construct buildings, and also used for making and preserving Egyptian coffins for 3,000 years. Scholars also commented that the characteristics of the sycamore tree, with its low branches made it easy for a person to climb its very large trunk, and its large and leathery-like leaves also made it easy to hide behind. Perfect, in this case for Zacchaeus, a short man who could hide behind the branches and leaves and not draw attention to himself while watching Jesus Christ go by.
So it would seem, Zacchaeus would be able to see Jesus Christ passing by, but Jesus would not notice him. In this way, Zacchaeus could satisfy his curiosity about Jesus, avoid further contact with his fellow Jewish people, and remain a greedy and cheating tax collector.
Moreover, Scholars have posited that Adam and Eve, after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, and running and hiding from the presence of God, may have used the leaves from a sycamore tree to cover their nakedness. The thick and long leaves of sycamores were thought of as a kind of tent that could serve as a covering.
Scholars also add that sycamore trees were planted and located a good distance from any nearby town because it was thought by Jewish tradition that one could not tell what kind of ceremonial uncleanness or moral indiscretion might occur under this type of tree, which could be a source of contamination to a person keeping the Law of Moses.
In the view of the Jewish law keepers that were among the crowd following Jesus Christ, Zacchaeus’ climbing up, and sitting in the sycamore tree showed his lack of respect and lawlessness against the Law of Moses. In their eyes he was truly a sinner wallowing in sin, and had no fellowship with them.
Oh, but the Scripture declares that when Jesus Christ came to the place he looked up and saw Zacchaeus in the tree. (Luke 19:5) Jesus called Him by name and told him to “come down quickly.” For the Lord had decided to spend the day at Zacchaeus’ house.
There is a lot of revelation packed into these three words of the Master Jesus Christ—“come down quickly.” When Jesus Christ told Zacchaeus to come down quickly from the sycamore tree, he was saying in essence:
--I know you Zacchaeus, and exactly where you are spiritually.
--You don’t have to hide in the sycamore tree.
--You don’t have to be afraid of me. I want to be your “Friend.”
--You don’t have to feel rejected and neglected.
--You don’t have to feel condemned and ashamed for the life you have lived.
--Hurry and come on down and away from the sycamore tree—
--you don’t have to walk in sin anymore.
--you don’t have to associate yourself with sin and death—as the tree whose wood is used to make coffins, and leaves which represent the cover up sins—all of the so called dirt and shame and sinful activities that may have been committed under this tree—come down and away from it.
--For I am the atonement for all Sin!
--This is your day Zacchaeus, I have exactly what you have been searching for all your life—eternal life. I can see the emptiness of your heart and longing for God.
--If you believe on me you can have eternal life and never see nor taste death. If you believe in me, though your sins be as scarlet, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
--Jesus was saying in essence, I'm on my way to die for you on the cross so you don't have to. I'm going to die for you so you can be washed free from your sins, and come and join “The Praise Parade!” So this day, I must abide at your house.
--This day, I'm bringing salvation to you and your household. This day, you are loved and having all your needs met. Yes, you have money. But this day, you are going to find out what it truly means to be rich!
So Zacchaeus hurried down the tree, and ran to Jesus. Luke wrote that Zacchaeus "received him (Jesus Christ) joyfully." Meaning at the feet of Jesus, Zacchaeus bowed and worshiped Him. I know Zacchaeus fell at Jesus’ feet because it says in verse 8, Zacchaeus "stood” and said these words:
“Behold Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him four-fold.”
Zacchaeus, believing on Jesus Christ, had given his life to Him. His heart had been changed by Jesus in a moment. He would never be the same. That's what happens when you meet Jesus—when you come and get to know Jesus Christ. Jesus causes you to make the great turn around in your life! He removes your stony sinful heart and replaces it with a new heart and determination to do that which is right. A heart that desires only to make restitution where you wrong.
Zacchaeus had been a thief over-charging Jews on their tax bills to pad his own pockets and make himself rich. But his heart now and motives toward money had changed. He no longer loved money, but loved God and wanted to obey God and give to the poor.
Before meeting Jesus, he did not care about the poor, but afterwards he became a blessed-giver of his wealth to those in need. His heart was changed to obey the Law of Moses and restore every man four-fold in whom he gained money by lying and cheating. (Ex. 22:1)
What a change Zacchaeus experienced in his life. He didn't just render lip service to Jesus Christ about how he had changed, but wanted to prove his faith by doing that which was right.
The utter beauty of the story is Jesus Christ never talked to Zacchaeus about his sin. He just loved Him, and the love of God compelled Zacchaeus to make restitution. The Jews murmured and thought Zacchaeus was unworthy because he was not a keeper of the Law. But Jesus Christ demonstrated that the Law can't save you, only He can.
When Zacchaeus gave to the poor and restored all he had stolen from the people, it caused the blessing of Abraham to come on His household in their generations. The very thing that had obstructed his relationship with God, which was the “love of money,” was now turned around as he loved Jesus Christ and chose to serve God with his money. His money was used to establish God’s covenant in the earth. (Deut. 8.18)
Oh, but look at what Jesus Christ said to Zacchaeus at Luke 19:9. Jesus said, "This day is salvation come to this house because [for as much] he also is a son of Abraham.”
Jesus was saying to Zacchaeus, that because you heard and obeyed my call and believe in Me, you are a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus and his household had entered into Abrahamic Covenant.
Even though his countryman the Jews had called him a sinner, an outcast, and most hated—through Jesus Christ—Zacchaeus and his house had received the blessing of Abraham (wealth, health, protection from all enemies, and longevity in the earth) (Gal. 3:6-9)
Just like the Jews did with Zacchaeus, murmuring and complaining about him being a sinner and Jesus going home with him, people today, including many Christians, try to hold the sins of people against them, with un-forgiveness.
But, I say unto you, Jesus Christ is on a mission to seek and save the lost. Every born-again Christian ought to be on the same mission! For to the uttermost Jesus saves. No matter what you or anyone else has done, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) Jesus Christ’s name is the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
Right now, the Lord is calling somebody to “Come Down Quickly” from the sycamore tree. Jesus has been calling you for a long time and you have been putting Him off. You have heard about Jesus Christ and are curious about Him, but you don't know Him for yourself.
You have tried everything in life to satisfy you, but no matter how much material gain you get in life, there is still that sense of void in your heart—a longing for something more inside of you. Life is far more than a fine home and cars, sports bars and night clubs, clothes and jewelry, one night stands and shacking up, gambling dens, computer games, vacation plans, drinking, smoking, drugs, and a yoga mat!
Jesus Christ is calling you and wants to stay at your house today! Come down quickly and run to Jesus. Come on and give your life to Jesus Christ and join “The Praise Parade.” Jesus wants everyone in your family to join the Parade—we are marching, singing, and shouting Hosanna, Hosanna we worship you!
Also, some of you may be here today who are what I call, “Confessed Christians.” You have heard about the story of Jesus Christ and confessed Him as Lord, but you have never gotten to know Him. As result, you are still sitting on a limb on the sycamore tree. You continue to walk in sin—you still have a void in your heart—something missing, lacking and broken in you. Your peace is broken and happiness has left you. Jesus Christ is calling you out of the sycamore tree.
Finally, there are other Christians that may be here today, who have strayed from the Lord—and you know it! You were once on fire for God, but now have found yourself sinking and drifting away from Jesus Christ—you don’t pray, read the Bible, come to church, invite people to church and win the lost as you use to.
You may even be sitting in church every week, but are spiritually dead! Sitting wondering about your purpose in life, even after the Pastor has told you the plan of God for your life, which is to go and win the lost to Christ Jesus—you sit unmoved and unwilling to serve the Lord. Today, Jesus Christ is calling you down and out from the sycamore tree.
Oh praise Almighty God, whether you are online with us in this Worship Service or reading the Sermon on our website—know that Jesus Christ loves you. Fall to your knees wherever you are and give your heart completely to Jesus Christ. Invite the Lord into your life, and He will give you a clean heart and renew within you the right spirit.
There is no sin, and no hurt, that Jesus Christ cannot forgive, fix, and heal you to wholeness. Let Jesus Christ bring salvation to you and your family today so you can join in and be a part of “The Praise Parade” for our loving Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Next week, in Part 3 of our Resurrection Series, we are going to preach for Easter Sunday: “I Love a Parade: Jesus Christ Died on the Cross, One Time for All Times!”
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