It Ain't Over Yet - Live with Lon!

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to Live with Lon. I'm so glad you're with us today. We're going to do a very special passage today from the scripture, the triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. And as you just saw in the film that I sent you from overseas, man, to stand right there on the Mount of Olives and go right down the Palm Sunday Road and across the Kidron Valley and into the Eastern Gate like Jesus went on his triumphal entry. Oh, my gosh. How wonderful.

How awesome is that? I hope sometime maybe I have the privilege of taking some of you over there so you can actually experience it. But this is what we're going to talk about today. But let's pray first. Friends, let's take a moment and ask God right now to cleanse us from our sins of this week so that we might really hear from him. Lord Jesus, open our hearts to your word today. May the Holy Spirit illuminate our spirits that we might understand spiritual truth. And, Lord, I just pray that the channel between us and you would be wide open and our hearts would burn with your presence as we listen to the word of God today. And we pray this in Jesus name.

And everybody said, Amen and Amen. And may my heart burn with God's presence as I teach it to you. Now, what are we studying today? Remind me the Bible. Come on now.

What is it? The whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. And then we're going to apply it to our life. And remember, we've been studying the gospels. And Jesus has just gotten to the point where he's about to go into Jerusalem for the last earthly week of his life. Now, I just want to tell you that we're going to stop after the triumphal entry and we're going to go to John's gospel. And we're going to pick up all the things in John's gospel that we have not covered yet. The woman at the well, Nicodemus, all of this. And then we're going to catch up in John's gospel with the triumphal entry in his gospel. But we want to do the triumphal entry today. So let's look Luke chapter 19 and let's begin at verse 28.

Here we go. And when he, Jesus, had said this, the parable about the talents that we talked about last week, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem and it came to pass when he came near to Bethphage and to Bethany at the mountain called the Mount of Olives, that he sent two of his disciples saying, Go into the village opposite you, in which as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Loose him and bring him here.

And if anyone asks you, why are you losing him? Thus you shall say to him, because the Lord has need of him. And those who were sent departed and found just as he had said to them. But as they were losing the colt, the owner said to them, Why are you losing this colt? And they said, The Lord has need of him. And they brought the colt to Jesus. And they threw their garments on the colt and they set Jesus on him.

And as he went, they spread their clothes on the road. And as he was now drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God in a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

And he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these people should keep quiet, the stones would immediately cry out. So great was this demonstration and this majesty of the Lord Jesus. Now, folks, what did the Pharisees want Jesus to stop people from doing? Well, declaring him the king of Israel, declaring him the king that God promised to David would come out of David's descendants to rule and reign over Jerusalem and Israel forever. Second Samuel, Chapter seven, their proclamation that he was this king, the Pharisees said, Stop them. And Jesus said, No. Now, folks, this was the only time in the entire ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, at least that we have in the New Testament, where Jesus allowed people to proclaim him as the king of Israel.

You understand that? The only time. And why did he allow it here? Well, let's turn to Matthew's gospel and I'll show you. Matthew, Chapter twenty one. Watch verse one. And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent them into the town to get the donkey.

All this was done that it might be fulfilled. Verse four, which was spoken by the prophet saying, Tell the daughter of Zion. Zion meaning Israel. Behold, your what?

What's the next word? Your king is coming to you humble and sitting on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Now, this verse comes out of the Book of Zechariah, Chapter nine, verse nine. It was a messianic prophecy that Jesus was fulfilling here. And that's why he let them call him the king of Israel, because it was in fulfillment of this prophecy. Now, this triumphal entry, as we refer to it, being the fulfillment of Zechariah. Chapter nine, verse nine is critical in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, because remember, he had to fulfill every one of these messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

And here he fulfilled this one. Now, all of this occurred on the descent from the Mount of Olives, meaning that the Mount of Olives, as I told you a little earlier, on the one side of the Mount of Olives, the east side of the Mount of Olives, are the two towns of Bethage and Bethany. And these two towns, Bethany, you know, is where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It's where Mary and Martha lived. Jesus went through these two towns, crested, crested the Mount of Olives, going to the west, and then came down and across the Kidron Valley, which I showed you, and through the Golden Gate, which was then the eastern gate and onto the Temple Mount.

And so the triumphal entry occurred as Jesus was going down the west side of the Mount of Olives. Now, that's the end of our passage, but we want to stop now and ask our most important question. Are you ready? Come on. Here we go. Come on.

One, two, three. So what? Yes. And I'm in Israel now as you're hearing this, and I did cry out. How what? How sweet it is.

Yes, I did. And I had the group do it, too. It is sweet, but it's sweet to be here with you, too, teaching the word of God. Now, the Mount of Olives is a very significant piece of land in the Bible. The earliest mention of the Mount of Olives comes from the light in the Bible comes from the life of David. And in the Old Testament, when Absalom, David's son, mutinied against his father and overthrew his father, he chased his father, David, out of town. And the Bible says that David went out of town, went up and over the Mount of Olives.

That's how he left Jerusalem, being run out by his son, weeping as he went. You say, why isn't the Mount of Olives mentioned before David? Well, because, friends, before David, the Jewish people did not control Jerusalem and the surrounding territory. David was the one who captured Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. So this is the first time it appears after David defeats Absalom and he's killed.

Absalom is. David comes back to Jerusalem over what? The Mount of Olives.

That's exactly correct. Now, during the life of Jesus, the Mount of Olives was incredibly important. The Bible says Jesus would go out every night that he's here during his last week of his earthly life, and he would sleep right on the Mount of Olives. Bethany was on the east side of the Mount of Olives, where he raised Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus ascended into heaven, where did he ascend from? Acts Chapter one.

Well, let me read it to you. And when Jesus had spoken these things, while the disciples watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, angels, and said to them, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will also come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem. Where did Jesus ascend from? He ascended from the Mount of Olives. There's a church on the top of the Mount of Olives called the Church of the Ascension, because that's where Jesus went up into heaven.

Yeah. And what did the angel say? He said, Men of Galilee, don't worry. This same Jesus is coming right back to this very spot one of these days, just like you saw him go.

He's coming back. Now, how did Jesus go into heaven? Well, he went literally, he went bodily, he went visibly, he went supernaturally, and he went quietly. Now, how's Jesus going to come back to the Mount of Olives? Well, let's look at Zechariah in the Old Testament. We already saw Zechariah 9 predicting the triumphal entry. But look here with me at Zechariah 14.

I'm reading from the New American Standard. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights in the day of battle that is gathered around Jerusalem. Look, verse four. And in that day, his feet will stand on the what? The Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east.

And the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move towards the north and the other half towards the south. And how will he come back? Well, the angel said he's going to come back just like he left. He's going to come back bodily. First time his feet have touched down on this earth since he left. He's going to come back literally. This is not some hologram. This is the real Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to come back supernaturally.

You just don't float down from heaven except supernaturally. He's going to come back visibly. They're all going to see him.

As Zechariah said, they're going to see me whom they have pierced. But the difference is he left quietly. He's not coming back quietly, friends. He's coming back powerfully. He's coming back majestically. He's coming back with so much glory.

He's going to explode that mountain and split it right down the middle. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Praise the Lord. Can I get a praise the Lord out there?

What a wonderful thing. And all of this is going to happen where? Right on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives has a great history with David and then, of course, with the Lord Jesus. But you know what? The Mount of Olives' role in the plan of God is not over yet. No, no. It's going to be the receiving point for the Lord of glory returning to this earth. Isn't that wonderful?

Yeah. Now, the point I want to make to you as we close is this. Not only is the Mount of Olives not done with its role in God's plan for the ages, but friends, the things that are going on in your life are not yet done in God's plan for your life.

We say, what do you mean by that? What I mean is, friends, Jesus is coming back. And when Jesus comes back, he's coming back to rule and reign righteously over this earth. He's coming back to right every wrong that's been done, to correct every injustice that's been done, to rectify every evil and ungodly thing that has ever been done on this earth.

Friends, nobody's going to get away with anything. No, Jesus is coming back. And when he comes back, he is going to set things right. And all those things that have been done to you that are evil by other people, all those things that have been done to you that are unrighteous by other people, all those things that have been done to you that were cruel and mean and unjust and unfair, God's going to judge all those things. I mean, now some things we have a tendency sometimes to think we've been treated unfairly and wrongly when we actually haven't. Well, only God is going to make that determination. But friends, let's face it, all of us have actually been treated this way.

Really, we have in the course of life by people. And God's coming back and he's going to set all of that right. How's he going to set it all right?

Folks, I don't know. I don't know what he's going to do to make it all right, but he is going to hold everybody accountable for what they did to you. If it was unrighteous, unjust and unholy.

If it was scheming and conniving all these rotten things that were done to you. It's not over yet, friends. The Mount of Olives' role in the plan of God's not over yet and making these things right in your life.

It's not over yet. This is why Jesus says that everything that was spoken in the secret rooms shall be shouted from the housetops. And that which was spoken in the dark corners will be proclaimed on the streets. Hey, every bit of scheming that was done against you or me. Hey, it's coming out in the open.

God's going to judge it. Folks, the point is, don't get discouraged by all of this. It ain't over yet. It ain't over yet. All the injustice in our world, it ain't over yet. All the unjust things done to you, it ain't over yet. And why ain't it over? It ain't over because the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, who sees everything that's ever been done, He's coming back to make things right.

So take heart. There will be a reckoning. There will be a reckoning with the folks who've done this.

And you don't have to do that reckoning. God's going to do it for me. God's going to do it for you, too. What did Jesus say? Vengeance is mine, Romans Chapter 12. I will avenge, saith the Lord. Folks, relax if you know Christ. The avenging of what has been done to you is all taken care of, folks. In the mind of God, it's already done.

But in time and space, it will be done when Jesus comes back. So don't get discouraged. Why?

Because it ain't over yet. Let's pray. And with our head bowed and our eyes closed, I know that so many of us struggle with the way we've been treated by some person, some group of people.

And it was not fair, and it was not right, and it was not righteous, and it was not holy, and it was not just. I understand. But I want to ask you to take those things right now and just, in your mind, nail them to the cross, friend.

Go ahead. Pick up the hammer. Pick up the nail. Take this thing and nail it to the cross. And leave it there. Vengeance is mine, said Jesus. I will repay, and it ain't over yet, my friend, he says to you. I'm coming back. I'll take care of what you just tacked up there to the cross.

You just leave it there. I got it. Lord Jesus, help us, so many of us who struggle with how we've been treated. Lord, help us to be able to be content with your simple promise. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. It ain't over yet. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.