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[0:00] It's good to be with you this morning. Can y'all hear me okay? My hearing is bad, so I don't know what you're hearing. Is that okay?! Before we get going, I just want to begin with prayer. It's been a very great, very encouraging, but it's been just a long weekend for me.

[0:22] I definitely feel at least physically unable to the task this morning. And I would just like to ask God to help me, help us. So just pray with me just for one minute.

[0:37] Father, we want to realize and embrace the reality that this is a sacred time. A time when your people scattered throughout all the earth in many different places, both legal and illegal, comfortable and uncomfortable.

[0:55] God, they are meeting together. And I pray that wherever your word is being taught, that the true Jesus is being proclaimed and made known, that the gospel of truth is being known.

[1:10] And God, I pray just specifically for this time with your people, God, that you would speak through your word, through such a challenging and encouraging and even a familiar passage to so many of us.

[1:26] So God, just work in our hearts. Convict us of our sin, Lord. And lead us into action afterwards or else this time would have been in vain.

[1:38] God, we praise you. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. So, how many of you have seen or maybe were reared on the old Bible movies?

[1:52] Like Ben-Hur. Who's seen Ben-Hur? Who's seen The Robe? The movie The Robe? That's a really old one. Jesus of Nazareth. That was an old one too, like made in the 70s maybe.

[2:04] But all these old, familiar to a lot of us, Bible movies, they always have this particular passage just like this crazy mob of people following Jesus into Jerusalem.

[2:17] And, you know, it seems like a lot of very exciting things are happening. A lot of expectations built up. So when you come to a passage like this, you feel like really pressed to like explain well and make it not so familiar to people who are used to hearing it all the time.

[2:38] So, beginning in chapter 11, we're just going to read verses 1 through 11. It says, And as they were approaching Jerusalem, and Bethage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat.

[3:07] Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? Say, The Lord has need of it, and immediately he will send it back here. And they went away and found the colt tied at the door outside in the street, and they untied it.

[3:25] And some of the bystanders were saying to them, What are you doing untying the colt? And they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.

[3:38] And they brought the colt to Jesus, put their garments on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their garments in the road, and others spread leafy branches, which they had cut from the fields.

[3:50] And those who went before, those who were falling after, were crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David!

[4:03] Hosanna in the highest! And he entered Jerusalem and came into the temple, and after looking all around, he departed for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

[4:18] Okay? Very familiar passage to so many of us, but I dare say I learned some new things about this passage that I didn't know before in studying and praying and preparing over this.

[4:31] And it really kind of turned and shook some of my expectations down. And I really was shaken to the core, actually. And again, if you're familiar with the way that movies and so many different Hollywood things portray this event, it seems like such an exciting time to be there and actually witness Christ coming into Jerusalem.

[4:55] But we're just going to walk through the passage a little bit. We're going to just kind of do some introduction first, and then we're going to look at three things. We're going to look at the actions of Jesus, the response of the crowd, and then our response.

[5:12] Like, what should we be thinking about in regard to this passage? So, as we're walking through it, just look at verse 1. It says that they were drawn near to Jerusalem.

[5:23] Alright, we just start there. Where Jesus had finished his Galilean or his Judean ministry, and he was fixed on Jerusalem. And Jerusalem, the city of peace, if you know anything about Jerusalem's history, it's been anything but a city of peace in so many ways.

[5:41] It's probably been the most conquered city in the world, over and over and over, changing hands. And so Jesus was fixed on this, and he set his eyes toward Jerusalem.

[5:52] So many of the Gospels say. And on the road, he had passed through Jericho. This is where he healed the two blind men, one being Bartimaeus, and also saved them spiritually, right?

[6:04] And he also delivers one of the most hated men in the town, Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus is born again, delivered through Christ.

[6:16] And then after Jericho, right after Jericho, they began ascending the 2,500 foot plus whatever descent to Jerusalem. When they talked about going up to Jerusalem, they really did go up to Jerusalem.

[6:30] It's a pretty high, high point. And they were going up during, to get ready for the Passover week. And it says that they went through Bethany. And so on Saturday, Jesus arrives in Bethany.

[6:43] It's a little village about two miles outside of Jerusalem, east of Jerusalem, over the top of the Mount of Olives. It's just a little village. And he had friends there in Bethany.

[6:55] If you remember, we're paralleling other Gospels, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, right? If we remember John's account, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

[7:08] Probably the most incredible feat that he did to actually prove and authenticate his being the true Messiah. And so that was there.

[7:19] And even today, that town is not really called Bethany anymore. It's called El Azariah, after Lazarus. The town was named after Lazarus. And in John 12, it says that a large number of Jews came to Bethany the next day.

[7:33] So they're blown away by, they're curious. They want to see, like, this guy who was supposedly risen from the dead and this miracle worker that had risen him from the dead.

[7:44] And so on Sunday, there was a large mob of people coming to Bethany. And it says they came to see Jesus and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead back in John 12.

[7:56] And so the city was swelling with pilgrims, with travelers from all over the place. A massive, huge mob. I don't know if you've ever been to, like, a really intense event where there was, like, a parade or something like that.

[8:12] But I can think of several. But one of my most memorable ones, where there was just, where I was, like, a victim of this massive mob, was when the Braves won the World Series way back in the 90s.

[8:27] That's not going to happen for a while, probably. Hopefully we still have hope. But there was a parade through Atlanta. And I was a big, like, baseball fan, obviously, at that time.

[8:38] And loved playing baseball. And so, but I was also kind of a little guy. And I couldn't see over, like, the mass mob. So I thought, man, I'm going to see the Braves.

[8:48] So we, me and some mob buddies climbed up on this billboard that was, like, up on the street. And we were, and as the hour went by, before the parade started, like, more and more people started getting on the billboard.

[9:02] And we kind of started something. None of the officials were, like, get down from there. So we just didn't get down. And so when the parade had started, we saw, I saw, I think it was, like, maybe a little over halfway through the parade.

[9:16] And everybody was going crazy. I was going crazy. And then all of a sudden, like, on the billboard, the billboard starts going, starts to, and the billboard did fall. Like, and I, like, catapulted across the crowd and, like, landed on, like, a mob of people.

[9:33] It was, it was intense. And if you go, if you go back, if you go back and look up some of the news articles, just, like, Google Braves parade, billboard falling, you'll probably see a picture of me.

[9:45] Like, there was, there was a picture of us falling. I don't know how somebody caught that. But, yeah. But that was just massive mob hysteria. And there's, it's that way now.

[9:57] I mean, in our text here, just so many people pouring into the city for Passover and getting ready for things. But one interesting thing I did learn during study was an important chronology note.

[10:10] Those of you who know me well know I'm a history nerd, so I like stuff to be right in chronology. But a lot of people have Jesus coming in on Sunday.

[10:21] So we call it Palm Sunday, right? But if we do it that way, according to the Scriptures and even according to this, the Jewish calendar, Wednesday is a completely unaccounted for day.

[10:35] Like, it's an empty day. And they even call it, some people call it Silent Wednesday. And, but really it's just not the case. When you look at the Scriptures carefully and look at the way the Jewish calendar is, there's a lot more that's there.

[10:51] Get the biblical chronology right. There's something really cool. I'll just read this to you. This is John MacArthur. This is just really beautiful. So kind of listen to this.

[11:03] He said, According to the law of Moses, a sacrificial lamb for Passover was to be selected and set apart on the 10th of Nisan, which is one of the celebrations. The 10th was Monday.

[11:17] Okay? The 10th was Monday. And that's when the sacrificial lamb had arrived, Jesus. The sacrificial lamb was to be crucified on the 14th.

[11:29] And that's Friday when Christ was crucified. So both in accordance with the Mosaic law and accordance to the calendar, he came in on Monday.

[11:39] He returned to Bethany Monday night, came back into Jerusalem on Tuesday, cursed the fig tree, cleansed the temple, went back to Bethany. On Wednesday, which most people don't really account for, it says he entered in controversy with the leaders of Israel, gave his sermon on the second coming, and Judas planned his betrayal.

[12:02] On Thursday, his disciples prepared for the Passover. He spent time in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was arrested. He was tied. Friday, he was crucified.

[12:14] And Saturday, he was in the grave. And on Sunday, he rose again. And that's the week of this passion. So, really, it's Paul Monday in reality.

[12:27] There really is a chronology to the way that the Scripture talks about. But it really is cool that when the sacrificial lamb was to be selected, to be sacrificed, was the day that Christ entered into the city.

[12:41] And the day he was crucified was the day that the lambs were to be tied and sacrificed. So, Passover week, the Passover celebration.

[12:54] Roughly, this is probably around 30 A.D. to most accounts, right? It's in the first Jewish month. Jesus arrives on the 10th, and he's crucified on the 14th.

[13:05] And so, Passover week, celebrating the Israel's deliverance from slavery and bondage in Egypt and how the angel of death came to kill all the firstborn and those who spread the blood over the door were spared.

[13:20] So, it's a picture of the final judgment, right? Those who have been covered with the blood of Christ being spared the just wrath of God, the angel, the ultimate angel of death, right?

[13:33] And so, really important celebration. And on Friday, like, thousands and thousands of lambs would be slain like in the temple. According to one ancient Jewish source, around 40 A.D.

[13:48] at Passover, there were 60,000 lambs slain at Passover. That's like a lot of lambs. And usually, you would have, usually, one lamb would be sacrificed for at least 10 people.

[14:00] So, you can do the math there, like, what kind of a mob that would have been in the city at that time. But, consequently, very few made the connections.

[14:12] Very few really understood that it wasn't this lamb that was going to save them from their sin. That it all was pointing to something greater, to Christ being the ultimate sacrifice for sins.

[14:25] And those who did see that imagery, who did see that foreshadowing, they were looking forward to the deliverer coming. So, he enters in Jerusalem by way of the Mount of Olives across Kidron Valley.

[14:38] Like, if you've ever seen models of the old city, there's the Temple Mount, and there's a slope coming down where Kidron Valley is, and then up the hill is the Mount of Olives. Also, the area where the Garden of Gethsemane supposedly lies on the western slope.

[14:53] So, that's just a little bit of introduction, but we're going to get into point number one now. We're just going to look at the actions of Jesus, just kind of under that. We're going to see that in verses 1-7.

[15:07] It says, When he drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.

[15:23] Untie it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? Say, The Lord has need of it, and they will immediately send it back. And when he went away and found the colt tied at the door side, in the street, they untied it.

[15:39] And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their cloaks on it, and sat on it.

[15:53] So, a couple, just two observations about Jesus' actions. The first one is, it was a very deliberate, intentional action. He's being specific.

[16:04] This wasn't just a random idea that Jesus had. Like, I think I'm just going to go ride in on a donkey today. He was being specific. He said, Go into the village in front of you, which would have been Bethany.

[16:19] And then he says, Immediately, that's one of Mark's favorite words in this gospel, immediately, as they entered it. All right? So, he was specific in the timing. He was specific in the object of the event.

[16:31] He talked about the colt that had never been ridden. So, why was that significant? Why was that important? Well, at least in the Jewish mind, donkeys are humble animals.

[16:45] They considered animals that had never been ridden before to be purposed for holy things. That's what they thought. Like, if this had never been ridden, it's been pure and fresh, undefiled, like it can be used for a holy purpose.

[16:59] So, that's why he chose that. So, very similar to his birth and his mother riding in on a donkey into Bethlehem.

[17:11] So, he was specific in instructions. Untie it. Bring it back here. If they say this, you say this. So, it's funny, like it really doesn't work today. If you were to go up to somebody that has a really nice car or something like the Lord has need of it, they probably would punch you in the face.

[17:30] So, it really doesn't fly today, but it was a deliberate action by Jesus. And it seems like a lot of guys, even some that I respect, they seem to kind of chalk this event up to the omniscience of Christ.

[17:44] Christ was kind of showing his divinity. He just knew what was going to happen. Maybe some argument for that, but I really tend to lean toward the idea that he did it because the father told him to, that he was listening to the father, and he knew what was expected of the Messiah.

[18:04] He knew what needed to take place. And so, he went in and he found this donkey. And he also was deliberate, and the road he chose to go into Jerusalem.

[18:16] Like, this was as if everybody could see him coming in. So, up until that point, he had been kind of discreet. He had not really wanted to make a big fuss that he was the Messiah. But by doing this act, he knew that he was making a large statement saying that I really am the Messiah, sitting on a donkey.

[18:35] Right? Why is that all so significant? Because most other places, well, to all our accounts, Jesus walked everywhere he went. Now he's writing.

[18:46] And that's also an important note. So, he is announcing. If you remember the Old Testament, David and Solomon came into Jerusalem riding mules.

[18:57] So, why didn't Jesus kind of copy that? Well, the answer is that it was a prophetic word from Zechariah 9, 9.

[19:08] It said, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, a burden, a beast of burden.

[19:29] So, he knew that the Messiah was prophesied, at least in the sense to come in writing a humble animal, namely a colt. So, beautiful language there.

[19:41] So, Jesus' actions are deliberate. He knows what he needs to do. He's not just kind of winging it. And the second observation about Jesus' actions was it was a dangerous action, a very dangerous action.

[19:56] So, like I said, by entering this way, he was announcing publicly that he was the Messiah, the king of the line of David. All right? And why was this?

[20:06] Because it would really, really stir up even more, incite the religious leaders even more to kill him. And they were always looking for an excuse to trap Jesus, to kill Jesus.

[20:20] They only had been prevented, right? Remember, there's so many times they actually come after Jesus, and like, it's just funny, just kind of like smoking mirrors, kind of off the scene, and like, where'd he go? And all because it wasn't part of the divine timetable.

[20:35] In God's providence, like everything is specific and on time, but now, like in God's providence, this is being used to aggravate the leaders.

[20:47] So he has spent years making fools of them, like totally obliterating their misinterpretations of the scripture, their hypocrisy. He had just been blasting them for years in a right way, so the majority of the religious leaders hated him and despised him and wanted him dead, right?

[21:06] That had been going on for three years. And also, to most nationalistic Jews in their mind, there really is a lot of like political unrest.

[21:17] Like, when you study Roman history, which I really enjoy doing, you learn that like Judea and Britain, they're like the two provinces that they always have problems with. They never made it to Ireland.

[21:29] So, that would have been a bigger problem for them, probably. So, but Judea and Britain were their two big problems. Like, if you were sent there as a commander, it was almost like saying you were getting a death sentence or you're being set up to fail.

[21:44] But to an ambitious Roman commander, it would be like, this is the chance for me to excel. Like, if I can do the impossible and subdue this province, like, I can rise in power and authority.

[21:56] They sent me here and I cleaned it up. So, there were so many little revolts throughout Judea's history under Rome. When Jesus was a boy, when he went to Egypt, there was a huge revolt.

[22:09] And I want to say around 13,000 Jews in Galilee were crucified as a result. Pretty huge. and Josephus marks that Pontius Pilate, who is the current governor of Judea, was one of the most ruthless and non-sympathetic rulers ever.

[22:32] In Luke 13, Pilate slaughtered a number of Galileans while they were going up to make their sacrifices. And then he literally took their blood and he mingled it in with the blood of the animal sacrifices.

[22:44] He lived in Herod's palace and around 3,000 soldiers lived there with him outside, kind of protecting him.

[22:55] And he hated to go into Jerusalem. He just did it when he had to. So, the religious leaders were greatly concerned that any kind of mass crowd or political unrest could incite Rome to kind of come in and crush them.

[23:11] If you look at this text real quick, keep your hand in Mark, but look at John 11. John 11. I'm going to read just kind of an account of this and how they were truly viewing these events and also how God was actually viewing these events.

[23:35] John 11, verse 46. All right? Verse 46. So, they're concerned about their nation.

[23:56] So, they're concerned about their nation.

[24:09] Right? They're not really thinking in spiritual ways. Verse 49. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all.

[24:22] Like, you idiots. It's basically like, think bigger picture. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

[24:36] Right? So, he's like, man, if we just kill Jesus, it'll be okay, rather than our whole nation being destroyed. He did not say this of his own accord. But being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.

[24:50] Not only for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. So, from that day on, they made plans to put him to death.

[25:03] So, they are being incited to aggression and to kill Jesus to preserve their nation. God has a completely different plan.

[25:15] What's amazing is, when you look at the cross, you see that God chose to use the willful actions of sinful men to play right into what he had predestined to occur.

[25:29] That's Acts 4. Acts 2 talks about that. That everyone was gathered against Christ to do what God had planned. So, in a sense, many will say that the crucifixion and death of Jesus was one of the most heinous and evil acts ever committed.

[25:46] And it was. Peter even says that. You men, you men of Judea, you men of Nazareth, you crucified and killed him. He was killed at the hands of evil men.

[25:58] Right? But, if you look at it this way, in God's mind, he was using evil to overturn evil. He was using the most sinful action to overturn our sin and to redemption.

[26:11] So, all these actions, Jesus coming in, he knows that it's going to aggravate them into action, to take him in and arrest him. So, in God's providence, God used those free and willful actions to play right into his divine plan.

[26:26] So, as crazy and dramatic and nerve-wracking as it sounds, like God is in complete control and his son is doing what he had planned perfectly.

[26:36] So, that's the actions of Jesus, both deliberate and dangerous. But, number two, notice the reaction of the people. Verse eight, they spread their cloaks on the road and others spread leafy branches as they had cut down from the fields.

[26:54] And those who went before them and those who followed were shouting Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.

[27:06] Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and he went into the temple and when he looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. So, you see some welcoming gestures from the crowd.

[27:24] Really, really clear gestures. They were spreading out their cloaks on the road. A very old, ancient custom that showed submission to people. It's basically saying that you can step on me, you can walk on me, I submit myself to you, you are my authority, you are my king.

[27:44] In 2 Kings 9, you see that with Jehu, the same event happens way back when, Sir Walter Riley supposedly took his coat off and put it on a puddle for Queen Elizabeth I to walk across, and that became just known.

[28:03] symbolically for that. So, others, it said, spread leafy branches they had cut down from the fields. John calls them palm branches.

[28:14] In Scripture, they're symbols of salvation, symbols of joy. You see that in Revelation 7, 9. It's saying, you are our deliverer.

[28:26] right? In Matthew 21, verse 9, it says, they are saying to Jesus, you are our deliverer. You are our source of joy. Right?

[28:37] So, Jesus was in the middle of the crowd, and all around him, this crazy emotion is going on. So, that's the movie Hysteria that you see in all those old Jesus movies.

[28:49] And even the one that came out recently, The Son of God, I think, same kind of Hysteria. So, they're doing welcoming gestures, and they're shouting, and they're literally cheering certain things.

[29:03] Right? It says, those who were behind him, who followed him, and those who were in front of him. So, he's literally surrounded, and they're saying, Hosanna. Right? And basically, that word means, save us now.

[29:17] Save us now. Deliver us now. It was pretty well-known term. It's exclamatory, and it's also a plea, like, save us now.

[29:28] Deliver us. And what these people were doing is they're crying and shouting what the pilgrims would say going up to Jerusalem. Again, just keep your hand in Mark, but look at Psalm 118, verse 25.

[29:49] Psalm 118, verse 25, and there's a whole section of psalms, this being one of them, that are called the Psalms of Ascent, or the pilgrimage psalms, where the Jews would be singing these, proclaiming these to each other as they went up to Jerusalem to worship and to make sacrifice, kind of preparing their minds and their hearts.

[30:11] Psalm 118, verse 25, and this is the psalm that they are quoting from, Save us, we pray, O Lord. There it is. O Lord, we pray, give us success.

[30:24] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.

[30:36] Bind the festival sacrifice with cords, there it is, like a Passover idea, up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you.

[30:47] You are my God, I extol you. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. So this is the psalm that they have in their mind.

[30:59] It was called the Conqueror's Psalm. Years and years ago, before this event, in between the Old and New Testament, we know what happened, but there's no scripture at that time.

[31:11] There was a lot of other rulers who came to rule over Judea, Greece being one of them, some of the Syrians being one of them. But the Jews shouted this psalm when Maccabeus triumphed over the Syrians.

[31:23] The same thing, like Hosanna, bless you who comes in the name of the Lord. So Christ was met with much zeal and much expectation by this mob.

[31:35] Right? So it sounds great, but here's where it was convicting to me. These are some sad misunderstandings.

[31:47] These people are not really understanding what's going on for the most part. The tragedy is that though Jesus really was the true king, the true Lord of lords, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of God, he was all those things and no human ruler could ever come close to Jesus.

[32:08] Yet the majority of this mob does not see him that way. The reality is this is like a faithless false approval of the true king, Jesus. Everything they shouted was true.

[32:20] It was biblical, it was right, but it was misdirected. It was not accurate. They weren't thinking personal salvation, most of them. They were thinking political deliverance.

[32:31] They were thinking rescue from our conquerors. So the crowd is fickle. They're making the connections wrongly between the true prophecies about the Messiah and what they were experiencing.

[32:44] So their understanding was just marred and confused. I'm not saying that every person in that mob did not truly have a good understanding of who Christ was.

[32:55] Surely there was, but most of them do not. Why? Because there are so many things about this event that if this was a true triumphal entry, there would have been a lot more celebration.

[33:08] It would have almost been planned. It would have gone on for days. Even see how it ends. He pretty much just walked into the temple and was like, let's go back to Bethany. Very unofficial, insignificant conclusion to this entry.

[33:25] They had earthly expectations of Jesus. Come and get rid of our Roman conquerors who have been abusing us since Pompeii and all these other conquerors had come in there.

[33:38] Come and deliver us, give us back our country, give us back our national pride, restore to us the glory days of Joshua and David and Solomon. They're misdirecting.

[33:49] Right? And Jesus knows this. Other accounts said that he wept over these things because he knew that most of them were grossly misplacing their zeal. Right?

[34:00] So most of it's superficial and earthly. Even the disciples. Okay, well, if you don't follow that, the scripture says that even the disciples didn't understand this. In John 12, 16, it says his disciples, entering into Jerusalem, his disciples did not understand these things at first.

[34:19] But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done by him. Right? So even they didn't understand fully.

[34:30] They were thinking like, alright, our boy is going to come in here and clean house, and I'm going to be his boy when he does clean house, and just this false misinterpretation of all these events.

[34:43] But what's sad, if you're still in Mark, look over one chapter, chapter 10. Jesus told them, even after he had told them why he was going to Jerusalem, still they didn't understand.

[34:57] Mark 10, verse 33, saying, Jesus said, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and after three days he will rise.

[35:21] And again, they're like, what? They're not making the correct interpretations of these prophecies. Also, when they are teaching their children, they would read a scripture like out of Zechariah or something else, and they would ask their children, of whom does the prophet speak?

[35:42] Right? Still, we're missing so many things. So they had a false idea, this messianic liberation from Rome's oppression.

[35:53] But truly, in Jesus' mind, it wasn't Rome, it was Satan, sin, and death that he was coming to conquer. So they meet him with so much zeal and false expectations.

[36:03] Okay? And a little later, a few days later, when Jesus didn't meet these expectations, what happened? The mass mob kind of turned.

[36:14] Crucify him, crucify him. We will not let you reign over us. Right? Now, certainly, some of that mob, shouting that was probably a stage mob. But, in general, the whole city was thinking deliverance from an earthly power.

[36:31] Alright? And then you read on, back in verse chapter 11, it says, he entered Jerusalem, went into the temple, where he looked around at everything, it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

[36:42] So he went into the temple, scouted it out, maybe, like, yeah, I've got work here to do tomorrow, and then went back to Bethany, back up the hill where he just came from.

[36:54] Right? So how are we to look at all these events? This is the third thing, our response. We can learn a lot, but just a couple of things.

[37:06] Alright? And I got them just in the form of questions. One is, do you misuse the Scripture to suit your own purposes? Alright? Be aware of very, very passionate people, zealous people who quote and use the Bible for their own desires.

[37:27] Like, this happens every day all over the place. Like, understand, when you were engaging in reading the Bible, teaching it, listening to it, you're engaging in a sacred act.

[37:39] You're hearing the very words that were inspired by God himself. So, you don't need a good word, you don't need some cool advice from a psychologist, you need the Scripture. Scripture. Like, this is God's truth.

[37:51] Don't read the Scripture selectively, pull out of it what you want, and then make up your own Bible. Thomas Jefferson did that, he called it the Jefferson Bible.

[38:03] He took the parts he didn't like out and left what he did in the Bible. Can't do that. God's word stands forever. All right? So, Jesus doesn't meet our fleshly expectations, right, for this crowd.

[38:19] They didn't meet their desires to have a new authority and a new rule over them. They weren't expecting to have a humble, suffering servant come. Not their Messiah, not their Messiah.

[38:30] He was going to conquer and rule and reign over the political earthly kingdom. Right? So, don't read the Scripture selectively. Don't say, well, this is my verse and that's my verse, no matter what happens.

[38:46] Like, understand what's going on. Like, God gave this for specific reasons in the context. All right? Secondly, really big one, do you have false expectations of the true king?

[39:01] Yes, false expectations of the true king. So, interesting enough, like, these kind of events go on on a daily basis all over the place.

[39:12] People are interested in a Jesus of their own making, which we would call idolatry, like creating a God in your mind to suit your own interests. Right?

[39:23] They're told, people are told a false gospel, or they read the Scripture wrongly, and they think, Jesus, come to Jesus, I will get happy, I will be satisfied, or nothing bad will ever happen to me.

[39:38] Well, the first part of that can be true. Those of us who know Christ know He is satisfying, know that He does bring peace and joy, but that doesn't come, that only comes by repentance of your sin and following Christ.

[39:52] And so many people leave that part out. Like, don't preach to your friends and your family, you don't know Christ, don't preach to them a false gospel saying, come and be happy. Jesus is the reward, not these other things.

[40:06] Don't come and say to people, don't lead them to think, Jesus will grant you all of your desires, Jesus will heal you of all your sicknesses, He will fulfill all your dreams, if you just come to Him.

[40:20] Right? Some of you, you know, if I have Jesus, I will have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. If I have Jesus, I can do good in my job and be successful and make a lot of money.

[40:36] People will think well of me if I'm a Christian, so I'll attach Him to my name. No. So many people who are super passionate and seem to be zealous for Christ until Jesus doesn't deliver the goods, and then they turn on Him.

[40:53] Right? Is that true love, like you're really loving Christ like a heart, soul, mind? And strength if you're so quick to turn on Him when He doesn't deliver some earthly expectation that you hoped He would.

[41:07] The fallen sinful heart can be very interested in Jesus, right? Until Jesus attacks their false religion, which is exactly what He did the next day.

[41:18] Right? He went in there and completely upset their whole system and the temple. And they were like, why are you doing these things? And He quotes from the Scripture. quit making my father's house a den of robbers.

[41:33] Very angry, very zealous for God's glory at that time. So, beware of that. So, alright, so a warning.

[41:44] If you're in this state where you really just think Jesus is some kind of genie that can get you what you want, you're in a very dangerous and vulnerable position. You're not thinking about Jesus as He truly is.

[41:56] You're making a mockery of the cross. It's not why He came here. You don't place demands on God Almighty. You don't say, you will do this if I do this.

[42:07] You are a creature, He is Creator. We exist for His glory and purposes. He doesn't exist for our purposes. Right? He is the true King. The only King.

[42:18] Immortal, invisible, the God only wise. Right? So don't preach to your lost friends. Come to Jesus and be happy and you'll solve all your problems. Come to Jesus, those of you who are burned with your sin or your evil and you want deliverance from that sin.

[42:33] Right? Repent of your sin and turn to Christ. Don't preach that gospel. Right? We want the giver, not the gifts, the blesser, not the blessings. Right? He is the reward.

[42:45] And all true believers know that. Like, He will go around and destroy everything you're taking joy in until you understand that He really is the only consistent true way. Right?

[42:57] A little story here to illustrate this. I'll just read you. This was Charles Spurgeon. I told you all Thursday night I was on a Spurgeon kick the last couple of weeks. He said, there's a story of a humble gardener who presents a bunch of carrots to his king because he so loved and esteemed his sovereign.

[43:18] The king rewards the gardener's gift with a plot of land so he can continue blessing the kingdom. And then another person in the court thought an acre of land for a bunch of carrots?

[43:30] What a deal. So the next day the courtier presents the king with a magnificent horse and the wise king discerning the courtier's heart.

[43:41] He knows like this guy just wants something out of me. Right? Simply accepts the gift and says thank you. When the courtier is upset the king explains the gardener gave me the carrots but you have given yourself the horse.

[44:00] You gave not out of love for me but out of love for yourself in the hope of a reward. Right? So always seek Christ. Like you can't fool him.

[44:10] You can't trick him the way this guy was trying to trick this king. He knows your motives. He knows what's behind him. So ask that God would purify, cleanse your motives. The Bible does talk about reward but the reward is God himself.

[44:25] Right? God himself. So we'll close with this. Look at Revelation 19 real quick. Revelation 19.

[44:43] Alright. Now this passage that we just read in Mark is not really the true triumphal entry. It's really not. As we've kind of looked at most people have false expectations on Christ.

[44:58] This however is the true triumphal entry of Christ into the earthly kingdom and for eternity. And he's not riding a donkey. He's riding a white horse.

[45:11] Revelation 19 verse 11. John talking and he says then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. The one who was sitting on it was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

[45:27] His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and there was a name written that no one knew except himself.

[45:37] he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure followed him on white horses.

[45:51] From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will shred the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

[46:05] And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will come and he will destroy the ungodly, all those who have not come to Christ for deliverance.

[46:20] He will establish his earthly throne in Jerusalem for a millennial reign and the matter will just carry right on in to eternity forever and ever. The new heaven, the new earth that follows in those chapters, that's the true earthly triumphal entry of Christ.

[46:36] So let's have that Jesus in mind also. He was committing a great, humble act when he came into Jerusalem that day that we just read about.

[46:47] But in his mind he knew what was in front of him. Death, suffering, rejection, being mocked. Isaiah 53, suffering servant. He knew that's what he was coming for. He wasn't jumping up and down like a lot of other people were.

[47:02] He wept over Jerusalem. He knew what he had to do. That familiar place. He announced his boyhood. He knew it was going to be a place where he suffered and died.

[47:13] So worship the true Christ. Read the scripture the way it was meant to be read. And worship God in spirit and in truth. Let's just close in prayer together.