Finding Your Spiritual Journey
"Journey from Religion to Relationship"
by Pastor Jerry
March 29, 2020:
(Selections from) Luke 19 28-47
-----------------------Sermon Synopsis-------------------------
In late October 1991 a storm was brewing and the crew of the fishing boat
Andrea Gail had taken their boat five hundred miles out into the Atlantic Ocean. The forces of nature converged on the helpless
Andrea Gail creating the “perfect storm.”
Let’s compare that storm to the storm in the last days of Jesus’ life on this earth. That perfect storm came to a head as the Passover Feast approached in, probably, AD30, in Jerusalem. The “perfect storm” into which Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day. It is one of the few scenes described in all four Gospels in the Bible. That event is called the Triumphal Entry, and it has been celebrated by churches around the world as Easter approaches for the past two thousand years.
Jesus’ entry into the city of Jerusalem at the beginning of that fateful week can supply an illustration of three things that change when Jesus enters our lives.
Salvation comes to the human heart, not as a result of religion and self-effort—
but as a result of relationship, as a result of the living presence of Jesus Christ coming into your heart and taking up residence there as Savior and Lord. And a true, living relationship with Jesus brings about things that no amount of religion could ever do. One of those things is this:
- When Jesus enters my life, forgiveness comes to me.
One of the elements in that perfect storm that eventually swept Jesus up to Calvary was the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the priestly party that were the elite caretakers of the Temple. The high priest was a Sadducee. The high priest represented the people before God, interceding with God on behalf of the people. The Bible says Jesus is
himself both high priest and the once-for-all sacrifice for sin.
Jesus said to the Father,
“Here I am, I have come to do your will.” And the Bible says,
“by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:1–10, NIV). Jesus came, a high priest above all high priests, and did not offer a bull or lamb as a sacrifice—he offered himself.
And so, when Jesus comes into my life, when he takes up residence in my heart, his saving and healing presence brings forgiveness and cleansing that no religious act could ever bring about. I don’t have to take a precious offering to a priest to have my sins forgiven; I can have the high priest actually living in my heart, and when I have him, I have complete forgiveness and cleansing through His once-for-all sacrifice for me.
There is another way in which a true, living, relationship with Jesus brings about far more than religion could ever do:
- When Jesus enters my life, righteousness comes to me.
Two parties objected to Jesus’ actions on that triumphant entry into the holy city. One was the Sadducees: who were “the chief priests and the scribes” (Luke 19:47). The other is: “the Pharisees” (v39) who were the “teachers of the Law,” the rabbis who relied on obeying the Law of Moses in every detail to try to gain favor in God’s sight.
As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one; all have sinned…” (Romans 3:9b NIV). Despite all the Pharisees’ efforts, no one—not one soul—had manage to keep the Law of God … because
the Law was not given to make us righteous. The Bible says
the Law was given to show us our sin. Romans 3:20 says,
No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin (NIV). In other words, the Law exists so that you and I, and all of us, will know we are sinners. Why? So that we know we need a Savior. And that’s where Jesus comes in.
He is the fulfillment of the Law. He said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, NIV).
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law. So when he enters my life—when I by faith enter into a relationship with him—the fulfillment of the Law takes up residence within me! When he enters my life, righteousness enters with him …because he
is righteousness.
The Bible says:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV). When Jesus enters my life, forgiveness comes to me because of the sacrifice He made for me as my high priest. When Jesus enters my life, righteousness comes, too, because he is the fulfillment of the Law.
And there is yet one more way in which a true, living relationship with Jesus brings about far more than religion could ever do:
- When Jesus enters my life, a new power comes to me.
After Jesus was arrested, and placed on trial, He was shuttled between King Herod, ruler of the people of Palestine, and Pilate, the governor of Jerusalem, These earthly rulers supposedly had the power to pardon or sentence Jesus. Yet the whole time Jesus stood before these human rulers, the true power was in his hands, not theirs:
“Are you the King of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied (Mark 15:2, NIV).
And so he is. This is why, after Jesus had died and rose from the dead, his closest followers asked him,
“Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” In other words
, “Are you going to take your throne and exert all your power … and, of course, share it with us?”
They still didn’t fully understand that Jesus was a different kind of king and his kingdom was a different kind of kingdom. But he knew what they were asking, so he answered,
“You will receive power …” But it would not be political power, temporal power. He told them that theirs would be a power of a different kind.
And that power is yours, too, if you accept the king because when Jesus enters your life, a new power comes to you because he is
your king. All the power of the kingdom comes when the King enters in. That’s what Jesus meant when he told his first followers,
Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these … (John 14:12, NIV 1984). Jesus asked those who were praising him as he entered Jerusalem… will you follow me? Jesus asked those who wanted a changed life …will you follow me? Jesus asks you the same today …will you follow me?
Religion isn’t enough to give you what it takes to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus you must make a commitment to a relationship with Him. And you can have that relationship this coming Easter …you can have it now … you can come today and begin to follow Him.
