©2002 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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3/24/02 |
Right Savior – Wrong Salvation |
Isaiah 12:1-6 |
3/24/02 Right Savior, Wrong Salvation
MAT 21:1 And when they had approached Jerusalem and had
come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
MAT 21:2 saying to them, "Go into the village
opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with
her; untie them, and bring them to Me.
MAT 21:3 "And if anyone says something to you, you
shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send
them."
MAT 21:4 Now this took place that what was spoken through
the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,
MAT 21:5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold your
King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the
foal of a beast of burden.'"
MAT 21:6 And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had
directed them,
MAT 21:7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on
them their garments, on which He sat.
MAT 21:8 And most of the multitude spread their garments
in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading
them in the road.
MAT 21:9 And the multitudes going before Him, and those
who followed after were crying out, saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!"
MAT 21:10 And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city
was stirred, saying, "Who is this?"
MAT 21:11 And the multitudes were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."
This is Palm Sunday,
that day, exactly one week before the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
that remarkable day when it seemed as if the entire nation of Israel
had finally recognized Christ for who He was,
that day when, if we would have been there,
we would have assumed that at last
we were only days,
or perhaps just hours away from His ascension to the throne of David
and the beginning of His righteous rule over the earth.
It is a fascinating event in the life of Christ,
an event that,
even when we know the truth,
still calls to us,
still draws us into it.
It is an event that makes us wish we could have been there,
waving our branches,
marching along beside Jesus’ little donkey,
flinging our coats down in front of Him.
There really is a big part of us
that views that day,
that event as something so right,
so good,
so perfect,
a day so good that somehow went all wrong.
We are going to use this morning
and that event
to look at a contrast between two very different kinds of salvation - the kind we think we want,
and the kind we really need.
And we’ll start by going back,
back to a world desperate for a Savior.
And even as I say that
we can see how much their world
and our world are the same.
Don’t let the 2000 years between us and them
blind us to the truth.
Don’t let their funny clothing,
and their different customs deceive us.
We are no different than they were.
They were just people,
like you and I,
whose lives were filled with all sorts of things
they wished were not there.
There were all of the externals, of course -
a political situation over which they had little or no control,
with corruption oozing out of the lives
of nearly everyone who possessed a measure of power.
And there were all of the other things that come with life as well -
financial struggles,
and family struggles,
and too much work,
and too little time,
and sickness,
and disease,
and death,
and the emptiness and loss it brings.
So many forces pressing in on their lives,
so many situations,
and conditions,
and circumstances they could not change and could not escape.
I think that is at the heart of why
I feel so at home with those who marched along with Jesus
on His grand entrance into Jerusalem that day.
I know those people -
I know what they’re like,
because they’re just like us.
And I know what they wanted from the Lord
because it’s the same thing we want as well.
They wanted Him to fix their lives.
They wanted Him to show Himself strong
in the way that fit perfectly with what they believed to be their deepest needs.
They wanted Him for their King,
because they thought
He could deliver them from their circumstances.
And why shouldn’t they?
Some of them in that crowd had already seen it.
Some of them had already seen Him heal.
Some of them had already tasted the bread,
and the fish that miraculously appeared from His hands.
Some of them had already seen Him
verbally conquer their arrogant national leadership,
driving them out of the temple in shame and humiliation.
And I am certainly not suggesting they were wrong to turn to Him.
With most of us
it is our circumstances
that first awaken us to our need for our Savior.
The problem, of course,
both with those marching along side Jesus that day,
and with us as well,
is that they, and we have misunderstood our real need.
They did not need a Savior from their circumstances,
what they needed was a Savior from themselves.
And what they did not realize at the time
is that Jesus could have delivered them
from every negative circumstance in their life
and yet they would have continued in bondage.
He could have defeated Rome with a word,
and elevated Israel to a position of great prominence in the world.
He could have established miraculous baskets
in every town square in the nation,
baskets that produced a never ending supply of fish and bread.
He could have healed every illness,
every deformity,
every disease afflicting their bodies,
and still their spirits would have remained imprisoned,
unfulfilled,
unsatisfied.
Do I dare bring this a little closer to home?
Perhaps I can do that best with a question.
What is that thing in your mind right now
that you believe you need
in order to fix your life?
Is it money?
Just a little...or a lot more
and then everything would be OK.
Is it that person...
if only you could have a relationship with that person,
or if only you could get out of the relationship you’re in,
then you know you would be happy forever.
Is it health?
Is that the key to your happiness?
How do we define salvation?
What is it we think we need to make us whole?
You see,
that’s what Palm Sunday was all about.
It wasn’t about them having chosen the wrong Savior.
They had the right Savior, alright.
But they had the wrong salvation.
They just naturally believed
what they needed was salvation from their circumstances,
when what they really needed
was salvation from themselves.
And, of course, that’s why they turned against Him in the end.
He failed to deliver the salvation they had requested.
I use to wonder how that could have happened -
on Sunday morning this multitude
all marched along beside the Master,
crying out “Hosanna! Hosanna!”,
proclaiming Him their King,
and then, just a few days later,
the multitude stood before Pilate
crying out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! We have no king but Caesar!”
I use to think it must have been two different multitudes.
But it wasn’t.
It was just that, following His public coronation,
King Jesus had failed to deliver the goods.
And they no longer had any use for a King, or a Savior
who would not save on their terms.
And all along they never realized -
what they needed,
what their spirits truly longed for,
was not a Savior who could bring them salvation from their circumstances,
what they needed
was a Savior
who could bring them salvation from themselves.
So what does the real thing look like?
And how do we get there?
I mean, what’s the difference between salvation from our circumstances
and salvation from ourselves?
And how do we go about receiving from our Lord the salvation we really need?
I can give us the answer to those questions in a single sentence,
but before I do so
I need to warn you that only the Spirit of God
can show us what that means in our individual lives.
But let me go ahead and try.
We are able to receive
the salvation we really need
when we reach the point where we want Him on His terms
more than we want the fix.
I will tell you something now
that, I think,
may be impossible for me to communicate.
But I will say it anyway.
You see, what we so often fail to understand,
what the human mind resists at all costs
is the discovery that Christ does not GIVE us salvation,
he IS the salvation.
He doesn’t GIVE us the reward,
He IS the reward.
His presence within us,
and His life through us
is what He offers.
What our spirits really hunger for
is not the God who will remove us from our circumstances,
but rather the God who is adequate for us in our circumstances
whether those circumstances ever change or not.
What our Savior offers us
is not the promise that He will change our world
into something with we can cope with,
but rather the promise
that He can change us into someone
who can cope with our world,
no matter what we may encounter in it.
What is it we want God to do for us right now?
What is it we want Him to fix?
How have we shaped and molded our definition of Salvation?
I certainly do not fault us for doing that.
It is our natural first response to our God.
“God! Deliver me!
Fix this!
Get me out of the mess I’m in.”
But the really important question
is how will we respond to Him
at those times when He does not deliver what we want?
Will we look elsewhere for another God,
another King,
one who is willing to deliver what we want?
“Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the son of David, the King of Israel... We have no king but Caesar.”
Or will we permit Him to redefine salvation for us?
Will we let Him become our salvation?
Maybe it will help
if I phrase it in the form of a prayer.
“Lord, if you do not fix anything,
if you do not change anything,
if you do not deliver me from any of my circumstances,
then I still choose You,
and I know that I will find You to be all that I need for all I that face.”
You see,
what we are really seeking,
and what we really need
is not a God who can reshape our world
into something we can cope with,
but rather
a God who can reshape us
into someone who can cope with our world
no matter what we may encounter.
I will be the first to admit
that I do not know how to teach this.
I do not know how to publicly present
a principle that can only be learned
within the context of our individual, private interaction with our God.
But I believe I can do two things for us at least.
First, I can point us to the doorway
that will lead us into the truth.
And second,
I can offer us a description of what will happen within us
on the other side of that door.
First the doorway...
I think we will find it
in our own personal answer to this question.
If we could ask God to fix one thing in our life right now,
what would it be?
And of course,
as soon as I ask that question
it becomes obvious that we face new doorways every day of our lives.
Because every step along the way
brings something else into our lives
we cannot control.
And of course we should bring those things boldly before our God.
But what happens in our attitude towards Him
if He does not deliver the answer we want
in the time frame we have hoped for?
What do we do then with the palm branch in our hand?
Do we toss it away in disgust
and return to Caesar?
Or do we choose to continue trusting our King
even when we discover
that His path is leading us to the cross -
first His cross,
and then, very possibly our own.
I think I can say this more simply.
What do we need most of all?
Do you know what we need
more than a God who heals us?
We need a God who is adequate for us in our sickness.
Do you know what we need
more than a God who gives us the relationship we want?
We need a God who is adequate for us in the midst of our loneliness.
Do you know what we need
more than a God who gives us the wealth
that we think we must have in order to validate ourselves before the world?
We need a God who is able to give us an identity
that is not linked to our possessions,
or our image,
or who we may have impressed with our spending.
The great question of Palm Sunday
has always been, “What do we do with a Savior
who will not allow us to define our own salvation?
What do we do with a Savior
who’s little donkey leads us
not to the kingdom we seek to claim
but to the cross?
But I cannot end it here
because I want us to see what it looks like
from the other side.
I want to show us where we end up
when we allow Him to lead us
not to where we want to be,
but to where He knows we need to go.
And I can do this best
by ending our time this morning
with several verses from the 12th chapter of Isaiah.
Actually, the entire 12th chapter is only 6 verses long,
and I think I need to read the whole thing for us
because it captures beautifully
the response of the human spirit
when we have allowed our Savior
to define for us,
and then to give us the salvation we really need.
Isaiah writes,
ISA 12:1 Then you will say on that day, "I will give
thanks to You, O Lord; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is
turned away, And You comfort me.
ISA 12:2
"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For
the Lord God is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation."
ISA 12:3 Therefore you will joyously draw water From the
springs of salvation.
ISA 12:4 And in that day you will say, "Give thanks
to the Lord, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make
them remember that His name is exalted."
ISA 12:5 Praise the Lord in song, for He has done
excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth.
ISA 12:6 Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of
Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
That entire passage is one huge explosion of gratitude to God
for being all that we need and more so,
not because He gave us what we wanted,
but because He became what we needed the most.
“Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord God is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”
God is my strength
and my song.
You see, that’s it - that is the heart of it.
God does not give us what we need,
He IS what we need.
And I can’t leave this passage
without pointing out the incredible imagery
with which Isaiah seeks to communicate this truth.
He says you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation.
I hope you see what he’s doing there.
He is creating for us an image of God’s redemptive work in our lives
in which our God is not just sufficient,
not just adequate,
not just enough for what we face,
but that He becomes a flowing, bubbling, gurgling, never-ending spring of salvation,
a spring from which we draw bucket after bucket after bucket
and it never runs dry.