Life Lessons from a Donkey Ride

Jesus Christ, the person, is more appealing to people than religion. It was then.

It's the same today. Look at verse 12. That's what happens when you view life with Christ through the lens of religion. Today we continue our countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number six spot is the message, Life Lessons from a Donkey Ride. In this message, Skip explores what makes a relationship with Jesus so life-giving for you. But before we begin, we want to invite you to study the words of Jesus in the very places where he spoke them.

Here's the invitation from Skip. You're in for an incredible time as we travel throughout Israel and experience the culture that's so unique to that country. Now, I've been to Israel a number of times over the years, and I can honestly say that visiting the places where the events of the Scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived, taught, and healed, it just never gets old. We'll start on the Mediterranean Sea and head north, seeing places like Caesarea and Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in and around Jerusalem and see the Temple Mount, Calvary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives, and much more. This remarkable itinerary is made richer with times of worship, Bible study, and lots of fellowship.

The Bible will come alive to you in a way it never has before. I hope you'll join Lenny and me on what is always an unforgettable trip. I can't wait to see you in Israel.

This dream can come true for you. Start planning and saving now to tour Israel with Skip Heiting. Information at inspirationcruises.com slash C-A-B-Q.

That's inspirationcruises.com slash C-A-B-Q. Now, we'll be in John chapter 12 for today's study, so let's join Skip Heiting. This was their Passover. This is when they celebrated the deliverance of their forefathers from the bondage of Egypt through a succession of ten plagues that happened in their past history.

It had now become the focal point of Jewish history. But every year, it was the same thing. Every year, they took the same routes up to Jerusalem. Every year, they went through the same rituals.

Every year, they made the same prescribed prayers. And frankly, for a whole lot of people, it had just gotten old, and they were clamoring for something more than what their religion was offering. They found out Jesus was in town, and they all gravitate to Him, and they spontaneously start shouting, Hosanna, save now.

Deliver us now. Give us what our religion cannot give us. Because Jesus is more appealing than religion. You know, Jesus was a breath of fresh air in a climate of stagnant, stale, religious experience.

One of my favorite verses of Scripture is in Mark chapter 12. It's a simple verse. It just says, And the common people heard Him gladly. The everyday folk heard Him gladly. In that chapter, He gives parable after parable, story after story, and then has a confrontation with the religious elite. The common people were hearing and seeing it all, and they listened to Him gladly. Jesus was to them much more appealing than even their hallowed religion itself.

I've always loved what General Booth of the Salvation Army used to say. He said, I want my religion. I like my religion like my tea. I want it hot.

And I think if you were to ask most people, they would say, if I'm going to have any spirituality at all, I want it hot. I want it real. I want it authentic. I want it vibrant. I don't want just some makeshift ceremonial stuff. I want my religion like my tea.

I want it hot. And because of that, there was a clash between the old and the new, between the old religious system and the new stuff Jesus was offering. There was a clash, and it happened more than once, but a classic highlight is shown in Matthew chapter 15. You don't have to turn there.

I'll just tell you the story, and you'll recall it when I do. In that chapter, Matthew 15, the religious leaders come and they find Jesus, and they're miffed. They're upset.

This is what they say. Your disciples are transgressing the traditions of the elders, because they don't wash their hands ceremonially before they eat bread. I love Jesus' response to them. He said, why is it that you transgress the commandment of God by your traditions? And then he said this, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, saying this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. There's this clash between Jesus as a person and the religion that people were practicing.

And we see it over and over again. And do you know, because of that, people like tax collectors and prostitutes and murderers, they found it easy to hang out with Jesus. They gravitated toward Jesus. And we so often find Jesus soothing, forgiving, loving words to the very lowest people in society, while our Lord Jesus' most scathing words weren't to murderers, weren't to prostitutes, weren't to drunkards, but to religious people. Matthew 23, several times in a row, woe unto you hypocrites! And he unloads on them. And the common people heard him gladly. And here, once again, at Passover, Jesus is in town, let's go find him.

And they surrounded him. Question, why the appeal? What's really the big difference between Jesus, the person, and the practice of religion? Well, there are several differences.

Let me give a few to you. Number one, religion emphasizes the outward. Jesus emphasizes what?

Tell me. The inward. Isn't that right? He always emphasized the inward. He said, why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

Or from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Jesus was always more concerned with what was going on on the inside of a person than how a person looked on the outside. Religion is about the outward. Jesus was always about the inward.

Here's the second difference. Religion is often about what you can't do. Jesus is about what you can do. Religion is about prohibition.

Thou shalt not. It seems like Jesus' approach was, you know what, just come as you are and watch what I can do through your life. That's what we find.

That's the big difference. I know some people, their whole spiritual experience is one of negatives. Well, I don't do this and I don't do that and I don't do the other thing. Like the old fundamentalist poem, I don't smoke and I don't chew and I don't go with girls that do. And I say, whoop-de-doo.

What do you do? I mean, if you're just talking about what you don't do, but there's nothing in your life that shows what you're doing, that's the big difference. There's a third difference. Religion puts up barriers. Jesus pulls down barriers. If you and I were in Jerusalem two thousand years ago and we went up to worship at the temple, we couldn't go anywhere we wanted to go. There were certain courts for people like us. Us non-Jewish people like me, I couldn't even get close to the temple itself. I would be confined to the outer court known as the court of the Gentiles.

People that have spiritual cooties like me, that's where I hang out. If I was a Jewish woman, I could go further. If I was a Jewish male, I could go further. If I was a Jewish priest, I could go even closer.

But there were courts and there were walls that kept people out. And I've discovered that religion is really good at keeping people out. How different is Jesus who said, come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

So willing to include people. And fourth, religion typically says you have to work your way to God. Where Jesus will say, I am the way to God. I have seen, I have talked to religious people, I have been a religious person long enough to know that most all world religions are all about what you have to do to work your way to God.

Things you have to do, prayers you have to say, et cetera, et cetera. That is the religion of human achievement. That is not the gospel. The gospel is the approach of divine accomplishment. Religion says you must do. God says I have done for you. It is finished.

Now you just receive as a free gift what I have done and there will be a transformation in the process. So Jesus is more appealing than religion. So they gather around him and they shout hosanna. As I mentioned the word in Hebrew, nahoshia na, hosanna translated in English means deliver us now, save us now Lord. The crowd clamors around him. So much so, did you hear what the Pharisees said in verse 19?

You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him. Jesus was their biggest nightmare. Because what they have discovered is that people are more attracted to Jesus than their religious system.

And now there is competition. Jesus was that tipping point that drove people to a personal relationship with God through him rather than through that ritualistic system. Here is the second observation, second life lesson on this donkey ride. Scripture is more reliable than opinion. So Jesus is more appealing than religion and now scripture is more reliable than opinion. Look back with me at verse 14 if you will.

Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey sat on it as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him. Have you found that just about everybody you meet has some opinion of Jesus? Everybody has an opinion of Jesus. People had opinions of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Do you recall when our Lord took his disciples up to Caesarea Philippi and he said, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

And immediately they spouted off all the opinions. Some say that you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Those were all opinions as to who Jesus Christ was. John the apostle in this book shares a few more opinions that people had. In John chapter 9, for example, some were saying this man is not from God. Can you imagine saying that about God? This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. Others had this opinion. He's a prophet. In John chapter 10, another group said he has a demon and is mad. Let me ask you a question. Of all those opinions that I just rattled off to you, were any of them accurate?

Not really. I mean, the closest most accurate was a group that said he's a prophet, but he was much more than that. So there was a myriad of opinions, but notice what John does here. He twice quotes scripture from the Old Testament. One is Psalm 118 when the people said, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

That's a direct quote. And then Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, where it says, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. So whatever opinions people had of Jesus, here's what the scripture says about Jesus. Here's why I'm bringing this up, because what the scripture says he is, is more reliable than what people think he is. God's revelation is more reliable than people's estimation.

Scripture is more reliable than opinion. Question. Why a donkey? What's up with the donkey?

You know, in the other gospel records, Jesus actually tells his disciples as they're on the Mount of Olives, now stop. Go to the next town, and you're going to find a donkey. Bring that donkey here.

Why? Did he just like donkey rides? Why a donkey?

Now listen carefully. The donkey showed his identity. Listen again, and you can read it for yourself in verse 15, quoting Zechariah 9. Behold, your king comes to you sitting on a donkey's colt. In other words, you have a king. He is going to come to you, and when he comes to you, he's coming to you on a donkey. So Jesus asks for a donkey because he is presenting himself to them as their king. By the way, kings rode donkeys in times of peace. When they wanted to offer terms of peace to a people group, they would mount a donkey.

It was considered an animal of peace. When a king would come to wage war, he would ride a horse. This is why in Revelation 19, when Jesus comes again, he rides a horse. And the Bible says he comes to judge and to make war.

But here he is the Prince of Peace, and he's offering terms of peace to them. So the donkey represents the reliability of Scripture. 500 years before, Zechariah predicted your king is coming to you on a donkey's colt. Okay, so this is John's rendition of this event. It is mentioned, as I said, four times in all four Gospels. This is one of the few events of Jesus' life that all four Gospel writers have recorded. I want you to go back one book to the Gospel of Luke. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. And that is because John records the event. Luke records what Jesus said to them during this event. And it's important that you get this at this point. Luke chapter 19.

Are you there? Luke 19? Look at verse 41. Luke chapter 19, verse 41. Now as he drew near, he saw the city of Jerusalem and he wept over it. You know, we were just on the Mount of Olives a couple weeks ago, some of us. And before us was the city of Jerusalem. We weren't weeping over it.

We were smiling and taking pictures of it. But not Jesus. He comes and he sees it. He starts crying.

He starts weeping out loud. He's saying, verse 42, if you had known, even you, especially, watch this, in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side and level you and your children within you to the ground.

They will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. Jesus, get the scene, he's weeping over the city that he's seeing from the Mount of Olives. He weeps over it and he predicts their fall, their destruction. Somebody's going to level this to the ground and destroy the city and the people in it. That happened, by the way, in 70 A.D. Years later, it happened.

The Romans surrounded Jerusalem and leveled it to the ground. And notice what Jesus said in verse 44, because you did not know the time of your visitation. What on earth is he talking about? When he says, your day, this is your day, verse 42, this is the time of your visitation. What Jesus is referring to is a prediction made by their own prophet, the Jewish prophet Daniel, in Daniel chapter 9, where Daniel gives in two verses an exact precise timetable for the coming of their Messiah. Daniel chapter 9, verse 26 and 27, a heavenly messenger tells Daniel this, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince will be 483 years. Then it says, and the Messiah will be killed, will be cut off. It's a very odd but precise scripture. From the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince will be 483 years and then the Messiah will be killed. So that must mean that you would be able to count at whatever time the commandment was given to restore and build Jerusalem, you'd be able to count 483 years and you should come to some event about the Messiah after which he would be killed.

Plain. Well, several scholars have looked at this, including this brilliant criminal investigation guy, Sir Robert Anderson. He was the head of Scotland Yard's criminal investigation. And he wrote a book on that prophecy called The Coming Prince. So he discovered that the date in history when a commandment was given to the Jews to restore and rebuild Jerusalem after it had fallen, was March 14, 445 BC. On that date, Artaxerxes, the Persian monarch, Artaxerxes Longimanus, told the Jews, go back and rebuild Jerusalem.

Nehemiah and his buddies did that. And then he decided, I'm going to count from March 14, 445 BC, 483 years and find out what date that is. Not only that, but he did it in precise numbers in this book, The Coming Prince. He took not the Julian calendar, our calendar is 365 and a third days per year. The old Babylonian slash Jewish calendar has 360 days. It's a lunar year, not a solar year. So he took years of 360 days, 483 of those years, according to the prophecy, discovered that that equals to 173,880 days.

Follow me so far? So he began at March 14, 445 BC and counted 173,880 days. And he decided, now what day of the year was that on? It happened to be April 6, 32 AD.

The 10th of the Jewish calendar month of Nisan. The day when Jesus with his disciples comes to the Mount of Olives and he goes, okay boys, now wait a minute. Don't go yet. There's a donkey next door. Bring that donkey to me. And for the very first and only time, Jesus presents himself as their king to the nation.

You see, up to this point, every time Jesus did some miracle that would have made him famous, you know what he told people? Shh, don't tell anybody. It's not the time yet. The time hasn't come yet. It'll be revealed in the time, but not today.

Don't tell anybody this. He kept telling people to keep it quiet. But now, on this day, on this day, he presents himself as their king, according to the prophecy of Daniel, according to the prophecy of Zechariah.

He presents himself. Now, the disciples didn't get it. They didn't understand what is happening until after Jesus' resurrection and ascension. Look at verse 16. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him.

You know what? When I read that verse, it was one of the best verses I ever read. I read it this week and for the first time, I started really understanding it. I felt the sigh of relief that the disciples, Jesus' own disciples, didn't understand it at first.

The reason I get encouraged is because I read the Bible a lot and I don't always get it. It's not until the second or third or fifty-second time I read it. I go, oh, now I get it. Now I see it.

And now I see how precise and accurate it is. So the disciples weren't getting it all yet, but they will later. And they will discover just how reliable the Scripture is, especially when you compare that to people's opinions.

Yeah, everybody had an opinion as to who Jesus was, but these disciples would go back and read the Scriptures and see how reliable and accurate they are. That's Skip Heitzig's number six message on our Top 40 Messages countdown. It's from the series Palm Sunday Messages. Find the full message and more of Skip's teachings as well as full-length sermon series anywhere, anytime, on any device at youtube.com slash Calvary ABQ. Now we want to let you know about a resource that will encourage you even more in your faith. There's a Top 10 list for just about everything. But what about a Top 10 list that can actually impact your faith?

Skip Heitzig's Top 10 Messages will really make a mark. Here's a sample from What Most People Don't Know About Heaven. Somebody once said there are going to be at least three surprises in heaven. First of all, who's there that you thought would never make it?

Second, who's not there that you were sure would make it? And then number three, the fact that you yourself are there by God's grace. Here Skip teach on heaven, hell, and the end times, and topics like the Holy Spirit and true happiness. And when you give $35 or more today, we'll also send you Reload Love, Lenya Heitzig's book about the founding of a ministry that's been helping children victimized by terror for nearly two decades. Visit ConnectWithSkip.com to give today and get Skip's Top 10 Messages on CD, plus your copy of Reload Love by Lenya Heitzig, or call 800-922-1888.

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800-922-1888. Thank you. And come back next week as Skip Heitzig shares another Top 40 message and reveals some truths about heaven that might surprise you. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.