WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.360 Well, good morning, church. 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:06.080 Uh, you can get those Bibles open to Mark chapter 11. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.720 And just want to say happy Palm Sunday. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:16.480 Palm Sunday is the day where churches everywhere historically celebrate the triumphal entry. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:31.280 It's that it's that Sunday right before the crucifixion where Jesus entered into Jerusalem and was hailed as the promised Messiah, the king who came to save his people. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:32.560 Now, I was thinking about this. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:36.159 Everybody loves a moment of triumph. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:42.640 I was seeing earlier this week that sports networks were showing replays of the shot. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:59.359 Now, I hardly even need to explain what that is, but of course it refers to Kawhi and that buzzer beater in game seven last year in the Eastern Conference semifinals over the 76ers, where the Raptors would be then on their way to their first ever championship. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:08.159 Now I gotta admit to you that I'm not even really all that big of a basketball guy, but I have seen that play over and over again. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:11.680 And every single time, no word of a lie, it gives me chills. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:16.879 That moment of triumph just, I mean, it just it just gets me every single time. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:21.200 Now, maybe for you, sports isn't really your thing, and so that's not gonna do it for you. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:30.000 Uh, but don't we all sort of have this, you know, our own personal highlight reel that we go back to in our minds of our own lives? 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:33.359 And for you, it might be something like an academic achievement. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:40.079 It was a time that you made the honor roll or or crossed the stage and received your diploma and graduated. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:52.239 For some of us, maybe it's the the moment that you, you know, finally were able to purchase your first home, or or as a as a young parent, you you got your kid finally. 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:54.640 We got our kid, you know, toilet trained. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:55.359 This is huge. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:59.920 These are massive moments of triumph for really any person. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:04.879 Now, I've also been thinking about it this way, you know, being at home as we are, we're not really going out anywhere. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:11.360 It feels like we've maybe lowered the bar a little bit on what exactly we will consider a moment of triumph. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:15.199 Like maybe for you, it's like, hey, I had a shower today, right? 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:26.879 Like, feels like a triumph, feels like a win, or, you know, hey, I managed to not eat the entire Costco sized bag of party mix for breakfast, right? 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.360 Better than yesterday. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:48.879 Well, regardless of how you would define a moment of human triumph, uh, no doubt that no matter what it is, depending on your standard, all of it pales in comparison to Easter and all that Christ triumphantly accomplished. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:57.680 Now, as we're gonna see here in these verses here today, this crowd definitely had a sense as to who Jesus was. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:09.360 They they knew that he was the Messiah and and they knew that he had come to save them, but they were yet to realize what kind of Messiah He would be, that he would suffer. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:17.039 And and they had yet to realize what exactly the salvation that he would bring would mean for them. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:30.960 Now, I think if you you know fast forward to us today as those who have not just Palm Sunday, but also the crucifixion and the resurrection, we have all of it in view. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:37.599 I think even we can be a little bit fuzzy, you know, in our minds and in our hearts about these things. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:45.680 And so you and I, we need the reminder, we need the clarity on what exactly our king came to do. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:56.800 And as we're gonna see here, it was a more triumphant achievement than we sometimes seem to recognize. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:59.759 And so, with that, I want to read the passage to us. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:05.039 This is Mark chapter 11, reading the first eleven verses, follow along. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:21.360 It says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphagee 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 it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:23.360 Untie it and bring it. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:26.240 If any one says to you, Why are you doing this? 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:30.800 Say the Lord has need of it, and we'll send it back here immediately. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.720 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:41.279 And some of those who were staying there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:45.199 And they told him what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:51.279 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:58.079 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:06.319 And those who went before, and those who followed after were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.759 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.399 Hosanna in the highest. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.879 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:25.199 And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:27.759 Join me as I pray. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:56.079 Lord, as we uh look at these verses and uh just consider our own lives, Lord, we confess that uh sometimes we lose sight of just how triumphant uh a moment uh not just you entering into Jerusalem was, but of course you dying and then rising again from the grave for our sins, we confess that that we lose sight of how great that really uh was and is for us. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:16.399 And so, Lord, I pray that as we uh work our way through this passage here this morning, that you would be stirring our affections for you, Lord, that that you would be stirring our gratitude, that that you would be humbling us here through uh the reading of your word, and so that you could get more glory through us, Lord. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:26.959 We thank you, we thank you, we thank you for our salvation, we thank you for what you accomplished, what you achieved, the triumphant moment that all of Easter is. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:31.279 And so, God, would you encourage your church with these things here today? 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:33.600 Would you would you teach us? 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:39.040 Would you challenge us where needed, God, all again to the glory of your son Jesus? 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:41.759 It's in his name that we pray these things. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:42.639 Amen. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:43.439 Amen. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:45.519 Well, jumping right into the first thing here. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:46.079 Here it is. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:53.839 Our King triumphantly came to save, revealing that peace between God and man was his objective. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:59.680 Okay, now take a look at verse one with me here as we work our way through the first seven verses. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:00.399 We'll see this. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:01.040 Look what it says. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:05.680 It says, Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem, okay, pause there for a second. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:08.480 We're talking about Jesus and his disciples again, of course. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.759 So they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphagee. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:15.199 Okay, so you better believe that I had to look up how to pronounce that properly. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:20.800 They drew near to Bethage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.800 Okay, now where was this? 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:23.600 What's the location? 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:25.279 Some of us like to have our bearings here. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:30.720 Well, well, Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:42.639 So this was walking distance uh for them, and this is where they set up kind of home base, if you will, uh during their time that they were in Jerusalem before Jesus was arrested. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.000 So pick it up, continue. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:08:00.560 It says, Jesus sent two of his disciples, we're in verse two now, and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a cult tied on which no one has ever sat, untie it and bring it to me. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:07.120 Now, when we see that word cult, okay, probably what comes to mind for you is a horse, right? 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:10.480 That's that's what we typically think of, like a young horse, okay. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:19.759 But in those days the word actually had a wider range of meaning, and it also meant donkey, okay, which was the word that the other gospels use. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:24.160 So understand here that Jesus is asking for a young donkey. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.800 Okay, we'll come back to all of that and the significance of it, but for now, verse three. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.600 If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.279 say, The Lord has need of it, and we'll send it back here immediately. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.440 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:47.120 And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:51.440 And they told him what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:59.120 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:05.600 Now, as we read those verses there, maybe a few thoughts come to your mind as they do to mine. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:20.879 First of all, more of a question, like, like, or or maybe just a thought, like that's a lot of detail in there for you know what appears to be a rather you know mundane mission to simply commandeer a donkey, right? 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:28.159 There's a lot in there, a lot of verses, a lot of real estate in the Bible there, uh, you know, for just this. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:38.320 Okay, but but what we need to really understand here is that these verses are the fulfillment of a 500-year-old prophecy. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:39.759 You know, where was that prophecy? 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:41.759 Well, it's in Zechariah 9, verse 9. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.039 This will be on the screen for you. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:43.919 Look at it with me. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:48.799 It says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:53.120 Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.240 Okay, remember that the crowd is about to do just that. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:57.440 They're about to hail him. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.600 It's gonna be Hosanna's and all of that. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:00.879 Okay, they're about to do it. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:01.759 Now keep going. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:06.720 It says, Behold, your king is coming to you. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:17.840 Righteous and having salvation is he, humble, and here it is, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:33.519 Okay, so so here in in Mark, Jesus is giving his disciples very specific instructions here, directions, to make it crystal clear to us that he is that king, right? 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:38.639 That king that that Zechariah said would come and bring salvation. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:46.720 Okay, what might seem at first glance to be a lot of kind of unnecessary detail there is actually itself a triumphant moment. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:47.440 Why? 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:54.399 Well, because Scripture is being fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:54.879 Right? 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:03.120 And on top of that, you've got Jesus revealing his omniscience, the fact that he is all-knowing. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:07.519 He's like, here's what's gonna happen, here's what you're gonna notice, here's the conversation you're gonna have, right? 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:11.200 He's revealing, even in that, that he is God, right? 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:14.960 He's describing what is going to happen. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:22.159 And so when the disciples they go into the village, it it all happens exactly as he laid it out, uh, right down to a T. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:29.840 Now, another thought that comes to mind when you read these verses, and and for me it's a question, right? 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:31.840 Like, why a donkey? 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:32.320 Right? 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:35.519 Like, why why that specific animal? 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:50.559 Because you know, if you and I, if we picture a triumphant king entering his city, you likely imagine him riding uh, you know, an impressive, if not imposing, war horse, right? 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:56.480 Something epic and and strong and and and mighty in that way. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:04.159 Okay, well, realize here that donkeys were actually seen as symbols of peace. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:10.080 And it wasn't even unprecedented for kings back in this time uh to ride a donkey. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:15.440 In fact, Solomon actually did it on the day that he was anointed king. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.879 And first Kings chapter one uh shows us this. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:20.240 You can jot that down if you like. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.000 This is verses 33 and 34. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:38.559 This is as Father David said, uh, take with you the servants of your Lord and have Solomon, my son, ride on my own mule, okay, and bring him down to Gihon, and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:43.759 And remember that Solomon was the king who would rule during wartime. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:45.679 Okay, no, no, that was his father David. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:58.320 He would rule during peace time, okay, and he would be the king who would build the temple, which is something that God didn't permit David to do, even though he wanted to, because David had been a king of war. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:00.000 Okay, he had shed much blood. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.080 You can read about that in 1 Chronicles chapter 22. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:22.080 Okay, so when Jesus here in Mark obtains this donkey, and the disciples, it says in verse 7, threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and then of course he he rides triumphally into Jerusalem, as we're gonna see next. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:23.279 What is he doing? 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:28.799 Okay, well, well, he is revealing that peace is his objective. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:36.000 Okay, that ultimately he's coming to bring peace between God and man. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:40.639 Now I know some of you are gonna be thinking, well, wait a second, wasn't he still a conqueror as well? 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.279 Well, well, yeah, he he he was. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:43.919 That's true. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:50.000 He he would defeat sin and death uh through uh his resurrection. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:50.639 We know that. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:56.960 We know that you know he will defeat his enemies once and for all at his second coming. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:13.519 Okay, but here in Mark chapter 11, what he's revealing is that his overarching mission objective is to secure peace between sinful mankind and a and a holy, righteous God. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:20.559 Okay, which is, if you think about it, the great news of the Bible, right? 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:21.600 It really is. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:33.039 And that's what the entire thing is is driving to uh since the very beginning back in Genesis when when mankind fell through the sin of Adam and Eve. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.399 Okay, because here's the here's the ugly truth. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:42.320 The ugly truth is that you and I have deeply offended God. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:43.279 How? 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:45.440 Well, we've done that through our sin. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:51.519 Okay, all of our sins, which are, which are many, are against God ultimately. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.600 It's against His His holiness. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:01.759 We've transgressed His His righteous commands, which renders us what? 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:06.480 Well, it renders us guilty before Him, right? 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:09.360 It makes us enemies of God. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:16.159 Okay, no, no peace whatsoever between us and our Creator. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:23.279 Meaning we are 100% deserving of His of His wrath. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:31.440 Okay, we're we we deserve judgment, we deserve hell even for all eternity when we die. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:40.240 Okay, furthermore, on top of all of that, the Bible makes it very clear that you and I cannot fix this problem. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.080 Okay, we we can't, we can't do anything about it. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:54.480 You know, because I think some of us would be tempted to maybe realize and and and feel that that prick in our conscience a little bit and think, oh man, like I have kind of made a mess of my life. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.159 And so, you know, starting today, I'm I'm gonna turn things around. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:05.440 I'm gonna clean my act up and and I'm gonna live in a way that God will be more impressed. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:12.320 And then I hope that at the end it'll all kind of balance out in my favor when I stand before Him. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:34.879 Well, listen, when when all of these things here that I'm saying are landing on a person's conscience, and you realize the state that we're in before God and that we cannot fix it, it is the most sickening and soul-crushing weight that we could ever bear. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:40.000 Okay, but listen, church, we we need to hear that. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:42.879 Every person needs to hear it. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:50.480 All of us need to experience that that the heaviness of that that conviction under that truth. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:17:04.559 Because when we do, only then does it make the peace that that Christ secured for us through through his triumph over the grave, only then does it make that reality the sweetest thing ever to us. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:13.200 See, when when Jesus was crucified, it it may not have looked optically like triumph, right? 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:14.880 In fact, we know that that it didn't. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:18.559 It looked like pathetic, awful defeat. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:41.920 Okay, but what was actually happening in that moment was that that God the Father, while Jesus was suffering on the cross, God the Father was was pouring out all of his wrath towards mankind's sin, all of his wrath that was meant for you and I, that we deserve, he was pouring it out on his son once and for all. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:46.880 Hey, Jesus dying on the cross, he died as our substitute. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:18:06.400 He took the penalty of our sin upon himself so that you and I could be forgiven, so that you and I could have our slate, our ledger wiped completely clean, so that peace could be restored again or be established between God and man. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:19.519 Okay, which is exactly what happens when you and I, when any person believe in him and what he did for us on the cross and when he rose. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:33.359 Okay, that's why Romans 5 verse 1 says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, okay, justification is when God declares us righteous. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:36.960 That is what happens when you trust in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:44.240 When you believe that what Jesus did for you on the cross was for you, he died in your place, and that is a finished work. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:48.640 All of God's wrath towards you is satisfied in Christ. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:54.319 When you trust in him, you are justified by faith, by trusting, okay? 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:56.720 Since then we've been justified by faith. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:03.519 We have, notice, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.400 Okay, enemies no more. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:16.400 That's the objective that Jesus rode into Jerusalem to carry out. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:20.319 Okay, that is the triumph of Easter. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:21.839 Peace. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:30.319 Can I just really encourage you to glory in that truth this week? 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:38.400 You know, to really chew on that and and to consider, like actually take time, okay, beyond hearing me say it. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:48.799 Think about it for yourself, to consider how astounding it is that God, through Jesus Christ, is saving us from himself. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:50.480 You thought of it that way before? 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:50.960 Right? 00:19:51.119 --> 00:20:00.880 He is a just God, he is a good God, a righteous God, and so he had to punish sin one way or another. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:14.880 But because of his immense love for us that he has as as people that he made, he decided to punish his innocent son Jesus instead of us. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:15.599 Right? 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.160 Why? 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:28.720 So that peace would exist, so that we would have be at peace with him when we trust in Jesus and and in the person of Christ and in the work that he accomplished. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.759 I mean, that right there, that's the gospel. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:32.319 Right? 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:40.720 And I would really challenge you if if you are watching this right now or or listening to this, to put your faith in Jesus. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:41.599 Have you done that? 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:46.319 Have you recognized that that it's your sin that's that's making a mess of your life? 00:20:46.640 --> 00:21:00.640 It's your sin that that has destroyed any possible hope of a relationship with God, apart from you trusting that what Jesus did those days 2,000 years ago, it was for you. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.480 Would you just confess your sin? 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:03.920 Would you admit it to the Lord? 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:05.279 That's that's repentance. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.039 You're you're apologizing for it. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.279 You're saying, God, I realize that my sin is against you. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:10.319 Would you forgive me? 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:14.160 I want to trust in the work that Jesus Christ did. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:15.279 Would you trust in him? 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.799 The Bible says that when you do that, you will be forgiven. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:28.480 You will now be in a close, tight, knit relationship with God forever, where he will begin to transform you in very practical ways. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:30.480 He will transform your desires. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:39.119 And of course, we have heaven waiting for us at the end of this life where we will be face to face with him for eternity. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:51.519 Listen, if you have not done that and you have any questions about it, or or perhaps you're doing that right now, would you just click that button above here that says uh connections, right? 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:59.759 It says, it says connection card and just fill that out and jot a little note in there for you uh for us so that we can follow up with you and encourage you and just celebrate. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.440 This amazing time, or at the very least, answer questions that you might have. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.759 All right, well, keep trucking here. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:09.200 We're gonna go into the second thing. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:19.359 Okay, our king triumphantly came to save, exposing our misguided ideas of what salvation should look like. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.640 Now, notice verse 8 with me here. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.160 It says, And many spread their cloaks on the road. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:32.400 Okay, so he's entering Jerusalem now, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:37.759 Okay, and those who went before and those who followed were shouting. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:38.480 What did they shout? 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:39.759 Well, they shouted Hosanna. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:45.119 Okay, Hosanna is a word that they used to praise the Lord. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.680 It literally just meant save, right? 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:51.039 So they're praising the Lord because salvation had come. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:56.480 They're saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:01.119 Blessed is the coming uh kingdom of our Father David. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.559 Hosanna in the highest. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:12.480 Now, upon first inspection here, everything really seems to be in order, okay? 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:13.759 It really does. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:20.720 I mean, the people are obviously amped up about Jesus arriving on the scene in Jerusalem. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:21.599 He's finally here. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:25.279 I mean, his reputation had obviously preceded him. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:36.240 They they knew and word had traveled of all of his miraculous deeds that he had done, the miracles that he performed, the wonders that they had seen and heard about. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:39.759 He'd done that for so many people, healing people, all of that. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:49.359 I mean, many in this crowd would have actually, you know, seen some of those things with their own eyes or been some of those people that he had taught or had healed. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:58.319 And so they respond here excitedly hailing him again as the long-awaited Messiah who had finally come to save. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:03.680 We have been waiting for this for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.920 Jesus has arrived. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:12.319 Which is true. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:21.839 Only there's uh a clue here actually in the text that suggests that they didn't quite get it. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:23.039 Okay, can you see it? 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:24.960 Do you know what that clue is? 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:25.599 I don't know. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:32.240 Maybe you remember it from the time that we actually worked our way through uh the gospel of Mark last year. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:40.480 Okay, well, it's in verse 10, and here's what verse 10 says it says, Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:43.920 Okay, so that right there is the clue. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:57.039 That shows us that they had a kind of a misguided sense or misguided ideas of of what salvation would or should look like for them. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:05.680 Okay, see, in in Mark's gospel, Jesus never actually talks about the kingdom of David. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.559 Okay, he only teaches about the kingdom of God. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:14.880 Okay, so when they're saying kingdom of David, what exactly is going on in their minds? 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:16.000 What are they thinking? 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:26.000 Okay, well, well, they're imagining that the Messiah is is coming as the same type of king that that David was. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:32.799 Okay, and so you remember that we actually already talked about King David and how he was a king of war. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:52.480 And and under his reign and rule in Jerusal in Jerusalem and in Israel, right, the this this nation uh you know rose to prominence as David, most of the time anyways, led his armies out to victory, conquering all other neighboring nations. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:26:05.279 Okay, so they they imagine here that the Messiah's objective, okay, Jesus, of course, is to come and liberate them or save them from Roman oppression. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:18.240 Remember, they were under Roman rule here, and really give them more national or or or military prominence that they had long uh desired and and wanted. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:23.519 Okay, just like the good old days under our father David. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:40.640 Okay, only this time they were seeing it, because it's in the scriptures, they were thinking of it as only bigger and only better and only more land and and more comfort and more prosperity, more permanent as well. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:46.480 You know, it's it's actually pretty easy to see why they would have thought that. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:51.680 Okay, we would have too if we had lived during this time and had been in their shoes. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:27:15.359 Okay, the Bible does say that Jesus would come from the line of David, of course, and and and God's promise to David about his offspring who would come after him, included how God would establish his kingdom, okay, the the Messiah's kingdom and the throne of his kingdom forever. 00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:18.480 Okay, 2 Samuel chapter 7 talks about that. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:34.400 So again, it's it's understandable how you know how how the Jews would have been expecting that the Messiah's kingdom, his throne, his rule over all nations would be very David-like, only maybe more epic. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:43.680 Okay, this is the salvation that the Jews had had come to expect and and imagine and and and even desired. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:58.240 And of course, we know because the New Testament reveals it, that the triumphant salvation that Jesus came to secure was was a vastly different reality altogether. 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:17.119 Okay, it was to it was to be salvation from the deadly dangers of our sin, right, as opposed to the deadly dangers of Roman rule or or whatever you know neighboring nation might rise up and threaten God's people. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:32.240 Now, while you and I can you know read the scriptures and you know kind of clear up that misunderstanding and those misguided ideas that the Jews had about what kind of salvation Jesus would bring. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:46.559 Have you ever noticed how you know in our own hearts and in our own minds and desires they really betray the fact that we have our own misguided ideas of what salvation should look like? 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:47.920 Have you ever noticed this? 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:52.000 Again, we we know in our heads, because we we read it on the page here, right? 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:54.000 We know what Jesus came to do. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:59.119 We know what salvation uh was really uh all about. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:13.920 But but in our hearts, have you sensed that that in the warped reality of our hearts that have still yet to be sanctified, as God's Spirit will continue to do that by grace, but but in our own hearts, we have this desire for salvation to look different, right? 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:19.920 And that we want certain things that the Bible never says salvation is all about. 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:23.920 And so maybe uh you think these ways. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.160 Some of us think, I'll give us a couple of examples here. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:33.119 Some of us think that salvation should be about uh Christ giving me what I want. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:33.759 Right? 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:35.440 Does your heart function this way? 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:38.880 Well, we'll kind of call this Genie Jesus, all right? 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:43.519 Where we we imagine salvation being, all right, I I'm a follower of Christ now. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:50.880 Now, you know, salvation is about Jesus giving me all of the things that I would ever want. 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:51.599 Right? 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:57.359 Jesus is the one who should make all of my wildest dreams come true. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.200 He should be at my beck and call. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:01.920 Every whim that I have, he fulfills. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:03.440 Again, just like a genie. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:04.480 Do you have that? 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:08.880 Do you do are there things that your heart just longs for and and wants? 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:16.400 And and when you pray for these things and you don't get them, do you get down about that? 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:24.400 Do you do you get do you get angry towards God when He doesn't answer your prayers the way that you want? 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:32.319 Well, all of that suggests that we have, again, a kind of a misguided understanding of what salvation is really about. 00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:35.279 Maybe for you it's the genie Jesus. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:45.920 Some of us, though, think that salvation is still really just about doing good things and being rewarded, okay, or doing bad things and being punished. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:49.440 Okay, so let's just kind of think of this as karma Jesus. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:56.160 All right, and many of us think and kind of relate to God and think of our salvation as this. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:07.839 Like, hey, I I you know I'm I'm sitting in front of my TV screen today, and I am, you know, got my Bible open, I've got my pen ready, I'm taking notes and following Pastor Mike on the screen. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:13.519 That's uh that's a big old check mark in the good job box that that God is gonna give me. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:21.119 And and so he is impressed with me, and he's gonna give me that little that little pat on the head and and good job, little Johnny Christian, right? 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:28.960 I did good things, and therefore I will be rewarded or receive more of God's love, or even earn my forgiveness. 00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:29.759 We think about that. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:31.680 Or or you have a bad day, right? 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:52.559 One of those days where you get up and you eat the whole Costco bag of chips and you don't put a shirt on, and you don't even go outside, and you don't read the Bible, and you just sit in front of TV the whole day, and and and or or or far worse than that, and and and you're thinking, man, like the Lord must not be real impressed with me today, and he must not love me, and I'm probably gonna be punished for this, right? 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:55.279 We we sometimes operate this way. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:32:05.039 We think that we need to earn our salvation, and and again, it shows that we have we have misguided ideas of what salvation is about because it's not about that. 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:12.240 Others of us think that salvation is kind of like fire insurance, right? 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:17.839 I I just I pray these magic words, and and that's really the end of it. 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:31.279 I'm I'm saved, I I get to go to heaven someday, but but till then it's about me, just kind of live essentially living however I want with really no involvement from the Lord uh after that. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:35.039 Okay, think about this as like firefighter Jesus. 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:45.359 And so for you, it's like, you know, I prayed a prayer when I was a kid, but but my life from that point doesn't really reflect what the Bible says a Christian's life should look like. 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:56.720 And so I really think of salvation as it's fire insurance, and he's he's allowing me to escape from heaven, but in the meantime, I or escape hell, but in the meantime, I'm still wearing the crown. 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:00.160 I'm still sitting on the throne of my life. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:11.599 Okay, does one of these three examples here uh represent you and just how your heart can be misguided in terms of what salvation is really about? 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:14.319 Is it something that your heart struggles with? 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:16.160 If so, what's the answer here? 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:34.079 Well, the answer is reminding ourselves or reminding our heart and soul of the true gospel, reminding ourselves of what salvation is actually all about again and again until our hearts change, until the Holy Spirit does that work of transforming us. 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:34.400 Right? 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:52.000 So, for example, if you struggle with kind of that Jesus or sorry, that genie Jesus mentality, you gotta remind yourself of the truth that no, okay, salvation is not about God granting me every little self-centered desire that I have. 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:58.720 No, the the gospel reveals, okay, that that that now I live for him, right? 00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:03.279 I live for to please him and for his glory. 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:07.200 My life isn't about me and what I want and all of my dreams coming true. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.599 My life is to furthering the mission of Jesus Christ, to bringing him glory in everything that I do, right? 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:20.800 See how that is the gospel, reminding your soul and and correcting those misgivings, misunderstandings that you might have. 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:28.079 If you lean more towards karma, Jesus, tell yourself gospel truth. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:35.360 Preach it to yourself that that salvation, man, that that's not uh a works-based system at all. 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:43.679 It's not about me earning and performing for God and being rewarded or punished accordingly. 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:44.559 Why? 00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:52.960 Because the gospel tells us, it's very clear in the scriptures that that that my salvation is a gift from God. 00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:56.639 It is given to me by grace. 00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:00.079 I can't I can't earn this. 00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:03.039 I can't I can never pay God back. 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:11.840 And as I understand that, I realize, wow, God has already shown me and given me all of his love through Jesus Christ and by way of my salvation. 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:16.079 God's love for me is never gonna ebb and flow based on my performance. 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:18.400 His love for me is is constant. 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:28.880 And so now I'm just gonna bask in that and I'm gonna rejoice in that and allow the truth of that to drive me towards serving him and bringing him glory. 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:43.679 Okay, but if you, you know, in your heart, your misguided desire there, you know, relates to Christ and salvation in the you know, firefighter Jesus type way, again, preach the gospel to yourself. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:44.239 Right? 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:51.679 Remind yourself, did did you know, and really ask yourself the question did did I really understand true salvation in the first place? 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:53.280 Okay, maybe you didn't. 00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:59.679 And maybe you you you thought you were saved, but as you look back on your own life, you know, you realize I'm not showing any evidence of this. 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:07.679 Well, if that's the case, if you don't have fruit in your life of what a Christ follower should look like, repent of that. 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:16.400 Get saved today and allow the gift of salvation to become yours as you repent of your sin and receive God's grace. 00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:29.760 Or maybe for you, if you you know treat Jesus as the firefighter, you you gotta tell yourself that you know, as much as I needed Christ on that day that I you know put my faith in him, I need him now, right? 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:33.920 And and I and I need him every single moment hereafter. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.239 I I am not God of my life. 00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:39.760 I am not the CEO of my existence. 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:41.199 I am not Lord. 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:42.880 Christ is, right? 00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:57.199 The the gospel proclaims him as Lord and King over absolutely everything, over my desires, over my over my time, over my money, over my relationships, over my entertainment, literally everything. 00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:01.360 Jesus is not just fire insurance, okay? 00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:07.119 You know, where you get to the uh to heaven at the end of a very godless life. 00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:07.519 Right? 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:09.679 That's that's not how it works. 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:17.840 You see how our hearts need that that gospel reminder constantly, right? 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:26.159 To dislodge again those those misguided ideas that we all have of what salvation is or or what we think it should look like for us. 00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:34.320 Okay, our king triumphantly came to save us and and and transform us from all of that. 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:45.360 Okay, including now, final thing, third thing, repairing our fruitless ability to truly worship God rightly. 00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:50.320 Okay, take a look at verse 11 here, final verse for us today. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:56.960 It says, uh, and he answered he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. 00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:04.960 And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:17.679 Now, while this might seem like a bit of a throwaway verse for us here at the end of this passage, or something to just kind of glance over to get to the next uh verses here, okay? 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:28.159 The fact that that Jesus went straight into the temple, it says, uh upon entering Jerusalem, that that's a very significant thing. 00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:30.480 See that the temple, what did it represent? 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:34.480 Well, it represented God's presence with his people. 00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:42.480 Okay, and it was considered the central place of worship where God's people would gather. 00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:50.960 Now, if you were to read through the rest of chapter 11, you'd see that that the next day uh a bunch of other things happen. 00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:57.440 Jesus curses uh a fig tree, which seems a little random, but but it it eventually withers. 00:38:57.519 --> 00:39:08.639 Okay, and and and the next he angrily drives out those who had turned the temple from a place of worship into a buyer's market. 00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:16.159 Okay, all of that to say, okay, worshiping God rightly, it just wasn't happening. 00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:18.320 It wasn't happening in the temple. 00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:20.719 It had become very corrupt. 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:31.039 Okay, it'd become a farmer's market, it had become this this money-making enterprise and and and so far from what it was intended to be. 00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:39.840 Okay, their their worship had had withered, okay, and was fruitless, which was the significance of the withered fig tree. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:41.760 It's what that represented. 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:59.039 Okay, so when when Jesus here, he he he says that he went into the temple in verse 11, it signified that he came to repair what was inherently broken, what was corrupt, what had grown to become fruitless. 00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:06.159 Okay, and and that was mankind's ability to worship God rightly. 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:14.000 Okay, now when I use that word worship here, I'm not just talking about uh singing. 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:20.880 Okay, now singing is a you know a very crucial and very important you know, aspect of worshiping the Lord. 00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:22.079 And I know that's often what we think. 00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:41.119 We think about the songs that we sing, but but when I use that word worship, I'm talking about the just our overall ability to adore, okay, to revere and and honor and and and show admiration and express uh devotion to God Almighty. 00:40:41.199 --> 00:40:45.440 That's what that's what I mean here, and that's what this is saying by by by talking about worship. 00:40:45.599 --> 00:40:51.199 Okay, apart from a saving relationship with Jesus, we can do none of that. 00:40:51.280 --> 00:40:53.599 We we cannot worship him rightly. 00:40:53.760 --> 00:41:00.000 Any any effort to please God apart from Jesus is just a fruitless endeavor. 00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:01.760 It accomplishes nothing. 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:13.440 Okay, Christ's triumph over the grave is the event, is the act that enables you and I now to worship God rightly. 00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:23.679 Through his blood shed for us, you and I are entered into the throne room of grace, into God's presence, where there is what? 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:25.599 There is peace now, right? 00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:28.079 We can we exist in a relationship with him. 00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:32.960 We are we are made able and even want to, it's a desire thing. 00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:36.400 We're able to and want to worship our Maker. 00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:41.119 Do you appreciate all of this? 00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:42.000