Seeking once again the Lord's
help to grant me the words to speak to this morning, I'd like
you to direct your thoughts to the chapter that we read together,
John 12, and the text you'll find in verse 13. took branches of palm trees,
and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the
King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. Reading
12, we have to read as well. On the next day, much people
that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth
to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. The chapter we have read
together is regarding the Lord Jesus Christ in his week commencing
the Passover And today is the Lord's Day, which was six days
before the Passover meal. And it was the day in which the
Lord Jesus Christ went into Jerusalem, known as Palm Sunday. It was the day when Jesus entered
into Jerusalem and the people cried out. Hosanna blessed is
the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord and they
took the The branches from the palm trees which grew round about
the area and they laid them on the floor. They waved them about
and some even took off their coats and laid them on the top
of the donkey so the Lord Jesus Christ could sit there. And others
took their coats and laid them on the floor as the Lord Jesus
Christ went into Jerusalem. And so he had the welcome of
a king He is seen as the people cry out the King of Israel, the
son of David, Hosanna, save us. And then five days later the
same people have forgotten all that they had spoken about before
and are crying crucify him, crucify him. And so we see that To be drawn along with the crowd
really was my thought. Some even said the whole world
has gone after him. In Matthew it says, who is this? And so it seems that it was some
who knew who Jesus was and they lifted up their voices and they
cried Hosanna. Others were taken up with the
crowd, went along with the crowd and not really knowing what they
were doing. And then five days later they're taken up with the
crowd again, being incited by the Pharisees, crucify him, crucify
him. And so they go along with the
crowd praising the Lord Jesus and they go along with the crowd
saying crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a danger it
is. if we are just going along with the crowd. We don't really
know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. We don't have a personal
relationship with him. We're just being ushered along.
And when the people say one thing, we say one thing. When the people
say another thing, we say another thing. We're just washed about
like the sand on the seashore and having no grounding in the
truth for ourselves. Maybe we are like that. We feel to be like that. We have
no personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We come
to the services just coming and going but we don't really know
the one that is being preached. We don't really know the one
who is being crucified. Well, may today be the day that
you are unable to lay hold of Christ for who he is, that you
may know him as your savior, that you may cry out personally,
Hosanna, Lord, save me. And you may say, blessed is the
King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. You may
confess him for yourself and ourselves, that we may know him
and not just be swept along by the crowd. Millions over this
week will say that they are remembering the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Millions will hear preaching
regarding the Lord Jesus but how many will know him? know Him personally, know Him
as their own Saviour, that Christ went into Jerusalem for them,
that He was crucified for them, that He rose again on the third
day for them, that He ascended up into heaven for them, that
He is at the right hand of the Father today interceding for
them. That is what is the most important,
not just knowing about Him, not just being swept along with the
crowd. We're Christians, we celebrate
Easter. We listen to the preaching of the cross, but it is to know
him, that he was living and dying and rising for you as an individual. Jerusalem at the time of the
Passover was packed with people. It was the culture that all men
throughout Israel went to Jerusalem for the feast days. And many
came even more than normal because they had heard about the rising
from the dead of Lazarus. And they had heard of the teachings
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the miracles that he did. And
so this event was bigger than normal. Multitudes were there
in preparing for the Passover. And we read as Jesus made his
way, he is there at the house of Lazarus with Mary and Martha. and he is there eating with them. And during that time, Mary takes
a pound of ointment of spinyard, very costly, and anoints the
feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair. And the house
was filled with the odour of the ointment. Judas Iscariot
is unhappy by what has taken place, but Jesus says, leave
her alone. Against the day of my burying
has she kept this. This is six days before the Lord
Jesus Christ is to be crucified. He's preparing himself. He is
being prepared. Mary moved by the Spirit to act
in a loving way and anoints the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
on the following day when the Lord Jesus goes into Jerusalem
which is five days before the crucifixion. He goes into Jerusalem
in Matthew 21 He goes on, he sends his disciples
ahead of him and he directs them to where they will find an ass. And when they drew near unto
Jerusalem, and were come to Bethage, unto the Mount Olives, then Jesus
sent two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over
against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and
a colt with her. Loose them, and bring them unto
me. And if any man say, Ought unto
you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway
that he shall send them. And so in his going forward into
Jerusalem, he begins now to fulfill the prophecy that was spoken
of him in Zachariah. In the prophecy of Zachariah,
it speaks there approximately 450, 500 years before the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ about what is going to take place. He sees or he is inspired by
the Spirit of God to prophesy regarding the coming of the King
that entered into Jerusalem and what he would be riding. Zechariah
9 and verse 9 it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an ass
and upon a colt the foal of an ass and I will cut off the chariots
of Ephraim and the horse of Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut
off and he shall speak peace unto the heathen and his dominion
shall be from sea even to sea and from river even to the ends
of the earth. And so Zachariah is enabled to
prophesy regarding the coming of the King of Jerusalem, the
King the Lord Jesus Christ and how they are going to know him.
And as they read from the prophecy of Zachariah they are going to
learn about how their king is going to come and the specific
way in which he is going to reveal himself. He's not going to come
riding upon a horse like a mighty warrior. He's not going to come
in battle. But he's going to come riding
upon an ass. He's going to be lowly. He's
going to bring salvation. He's going to be just. going
to do away with the war, the chariots of Ephraim, the horses,
the battle and he's going to bring peace to the heathen. His
dominion or his kingdom is going to be from sea to sea, even the
rivers to the end of the earth. And so they see this take place
in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ knows well
the prophecy regarding himself so sends his disciples to go
and get the ass prepared for him. Why an ass you may ask and why
not or why a donkey and not a horse? It was seen
a horse was the creature for battle but the donkey was for
peace. If they saw a king riding upon
a horse then it would be a war that was going to take place
but if they saw a king riding on a donkey they knew that he
was on an errand of peace. He did not want to fight, he
did not want to overrule but he came on a donkey to bring
peace. Also another interesting thing
on the fifth day before the Passover the Jews would have been choosing
their lamb. If you remember in the book of
Exodus when God speaks to Moses and tells them that this is going
to be the beginning of months for you, the beginning of the
year between the end of March and April was to be the beginning
of the ceremonial calendar for the Jewish nation. And that year
was to begin with the feast of the Passover. And 10 days into
that feast, five days before the Passover, they were to go
and they were to choose their lamb. And you will remember as
we looked at it recently, that lamb was to be without spot and
without blemish of the firstborn and they were to keep it, separate
it from the rest of the flock and wait for that day when they
were to sacrifice it and place its blood upon the doorposts
and upon the lintels. And so that was five days before
the Passover. And so five days before, the
Lord Jesus Christ presents himself as the king. He goes into Jerusalem
five days before the Passover and presents himself as the king,
the king of peace, riding upon a donkey. And the people cry
out, Hosanna, save us. Lord, save us. And they cry out, blessed is
the king of Israel that comes in the name of the Lord. It's
like they saw everything. They saw the prophecy of Zechariah
being fully fulfilled in their eyes and they cry out in those
words. He comes with peace. He came
as a king. he rode into Jerusalem and in
Matthew we read that he then begins to purge the temple. The
first time Jesus purged the temple he says this is my father's house
but the second time he says you have made my house a den of thieves. Not only did he purge that physical
temple. We know that he was going to
then sacrifice himself and enter into the spiritual temple, the
temple not made with hands, which is heaven itself. And so Christ
on the fifth day, he himself, the Lamb of God presents himself
as the Lamb of God that is to take away the sin of the world. And he is received we can say
with a kingly reception. All the other times that Christ
has been in Jerusalem there has not been this welcome. But today
it is different. They take the palm branches from
the trees. which symbolised a victory. He comes riding an ass as a king
bringing peace. They take their coats from off
their backs and they lay them on the floor so Jesus can walk
over them with a donkey. Well what does that mean? It means submission. They were
submitting. They were symbolically saying
we submit this king who is coming that brings peace. We take off
our coats and we lay them on the floor so he can walk over
them. And this happened in the second
book of Kings to a king called Jehu. Elisha in second Kings chapter
nine Elisha the prophet anointed this young man Jehu to be king. Chapter 9 from verse 1 it says
and Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets
and said unto him gird up thy loins and take this box of oil
in thine hand and go to Ramoth Gleed and when thou comest thither
Look out there, Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi,
and go in and make him arise up from among his brethren, and
carry him to an inner chamber, and take the box of oil and pour
it on his head and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed
thee king over Israel. then open the door and flee and
tarry not' and it goes on and it speaks about those things
that he does that man runs and he finds him and he anoints him
but the effect when Jehu tells those round about him what has
happened and Jehu came forth to the servants of his Lord and
one said to him, it's all well Wherefore came this mad fellow
unto thee? And he said unto them, Ye know
the man and his communication. And they said, It is false. Tell
us now, he said. Thus and thus spoke he to me,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over
Israel. And they hasted and took every
man his garment and put it under him on the top of the stairs
and blew with trumpets saying, Jai who is king? So as they heard
that Jehu had become king they take off their coats and they
put them underneath him as a sign of submission. We fall underneath
your authority. You have been made king. We accept
that and by removing our coats we confirm our subjection to
your authority and so it is what the people are doing on this
day of on this day when Christ enters
into Jerusalem. They cry out, Hosanna, save us,
Prince of Peace, King of Israel, Son of David. And they lay their
coats on the floor so he can walk over them. We know that the promise was
given to King David that he would have an eternal throne, that
his kingdom would have no end. And so when they cry out son
of David they are confessing that Christ has that kingly line
and that his kingdom is the result of being the son of David. You know there was the blind
man who cried out thou son of David have mercy on us. Matthew chapter 1 begins in verse
1 with those words, the book of
the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham. And so all of these words that
they are saying all point back to prophetic events concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. the Son of God, the King of Kings,
that Prince of Peace. And as they see him coming on
the donkey, they respond in a way which testifies as to who he
is, taking the victory that Christ came to gain a victory. You see they misunderstood one
thing. Their king had arrived yes but
he wasn't the king that they were looking for. They wanted
a king that could deliver them from their earthly troubles.
They wanted a king who could overthrow and give them an earthly
kingdom They wanted a king that could establish their nation
once again and remove the Romans from them and they could continue
on practicing their Jewish religion. They didn't want a king that
was going to bring about a change. They didn't want a king that
was going to bring spiritual blessings. They wanted physical
victories like King David again and Solomon. They didn't really
want the prince of peace. They didn't really want a lowly
man riding upon an ass. They wanted a king, a powerful
king to bring about earthly victories. And I think that's what some
people want today. They're not worried about the
spiritual. They're more concerned about
the carnal. They want a God who can help
them in the physical things. And they forget about the spiritual
things. They want a saviour who can be
an SOS saviour. Who can just come to them in
times of trouble and difficulty. But they don't truly want to
commit themselves and fall under his authority. They just want
an SOS God, an SOS saviour that can come and deliver them in
times of trouble or when they have a need, when they're sick,
when they've got money problems, when they've got difficulties
in life, when they're overburdened. It is only then that they say,
oh, we need a saviour now. Oh, we need a God now who can
help us with the spiritual things. And that's what Israel wanted.
They didn't want their sins which were so many forgiven. They wanted
a king to rid them of the Romans. They wanted everything put back
in order, their temple worship and such like. They didn't want
the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. They didn't
want the gospel to go forth into all the world. Well this king
the King Jesus who came riding upon an ass. He is just, he is
right and he came bringing salvation not from physical things but
he came to bring salvation from sin and his kingdom. His kingdom was an eternal kingdom
that had no bounds. If any of you have ever listened
to the news recently, you will see that the Palestinians, they
chant a slogan, from the river to the sea, let Palestine be
free. And from the Mediterranean Sea
to the River Jordan, they claim this is ours and we want it back. We've been given it. But Christ
came and his kingdom has no end. It spans the sea and it spans
the river. It goes from beyond the Mediterranean,
beyond the River Jordan and it goes into the uttermost parts
of the world and he came to bring peace. He is the Prince of Peace
and he is lowly. he was riding upon an ass and
they cried out Hosanna oh save us. They didn't realise what he came
to save them from. They wanted salvation from the
Romans but Christ came to bring about salvation from sin. in Matthew 21. As the people were taken up with shouting and getting their palm
trees and laying their clothes on the floor there were others who didn't really know what was
going on. when he was come into Jerusalem all the city was moved
saying who is this and the multitude said this is Jesus the prophet
of Nazareth of Galilee. Remember right at the beginning
of the Lord Jesus's ministry As Peter goes to his brother
Nathanael and he says, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Well, the good thing that came
out of Nazareth is the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet of Galilee,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But there were those who
said, who is this? They were carried along by the
crowd. They did not know what they were
doing. Those of you who remember a few years ago there were the
riots in Croydon when night after night houses and shops were looted
and burnt down and people broke into shops and set fire to things
and many people were arrested. Some people that had never done
anything wrong before, they'd never stolen before, they'd never
smashed a window before and they were arrested because they were
seen on CCTV and they just went along with
the crowd. You see there's safety in numbers and so as they saw
other people rushing into the shops to steal shoes or TVs or
something like that they also ran in and thought that they
were hidden they were seen and so there's confidence in a crowd,
there's that ability to be manipulated and peer pressured into doing
things that you wouldn't normally do and so on this day as some
erupted in praise to the Lord Jesus Christ others were caught
up in the moment and began to shout out but in the end had
to confess What is it that we are doing? Why is it that we
are doing it? They didn't know what they were
doing. They didn't know who the Lord
Jesus Christ was. They could see him but they didn't
know him for who he was. He wasn't theirs. They were crying
save us, save us but they didn't know why they needed saving.
They were crying Hosanna. Blessed be the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord but they didn't know why. They were just caught up in the
crowd, caught up in the moment. And I wonder how many are like
that. Caught up in the moment. Don't
really know what we are doing or why we are doing it. We cry
out, we sing the hymns, we read from the Bible but we don't really
know the sum and substance of what is going on. We don't know
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the multitude crying out,
Lord save, but they didn't know why they needed saving. They wanted salvation from problems,
oppression but they didn't know they needed saving from their
sin. There are many, aren't there,
like that? It's like going to the doctor and having a cancerous
wound and him just putting a plaster on it ignoring the greater problem
and just covers it over. But you have to get to the root
of the matter. Christ came to get down into
the root. He wasn't concerned with the
Roman government. He was concerned about sin that
was destroying his people. And he came and dealt with that. And he was presenting himself
on the fifth day as everybody else chose their lamb. He came
to present himself as the lamb of God to take away the sin of
the world. He came to deal with sin. He
came to deal with death. And he came to deal with Satan.
And he came to establish a spiritual kingdom, an eternal kingdom that has no
boundaries, that is not limited to the river to the sea, but
it spans the whole world, that his gospel may go forth and to
capture his people, to bring them to himself, that they may
cry out. Hosanna. Lord, save us. Oh, save us. Blessed is the King
of Israel that comes in the name of the Lord. John 18. When Jesus is before Pilate, Jesus says to him, Verse 36,
my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then my servants would fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence or not from here. They cried out, King of Israel,
Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. It is a spiritual
kingdom, an eternal kingdom. John 19 and verse 14. Now look at the difference that
is being dealt with here. And it was the preparation of
the Passover about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews,
behold your king. And they cry out, away with him,
away with him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, shall
I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered,
we have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he them, therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. Look at the difference. Swept along with the crowd. King of Israel, our King, that
has come to deliver us and to help us, riding upon an ass,
lowly and humble, bringing peace, salvation. Five days later, we
don't have a king. The only king we have is Caesar.
Crucify him. Crucify him. You see there was
no, the truth was not grounded in their hearts. They didn't
care one day to another. One day they're shouting one
thing, one day they're shouting another. How many are like that?
One day you're here in the house of God singing the praises of
the Lord, listening to the preaching of the word, sitting under the
reading of the scripture, saying that you're a Christian, then
the next day That's enough. I've had enough of Christianity.
I'm just going to do what I want to do. I'm going to go where
I want to go. Crucify him. Crucify him. We will not have this man to
reign over us. That's it. It's either Hosanna. Lord save us. My king. Or it's
crucify him. Crucify him. That's what the Jews were like.
And that is how so many people are like. Hosanna one day, crucify
him the next. Jesus didn't come to save us
from our problems. He came to save us from sin.
the consequences of our sin and the way in which our sin has
separated us from God and will eternally separate us under his
wrath in hell. Christ came to deal with the
root of the matter, the Prince of Peace, to bring about reconciliation
to God. In Acts chapter 2, when Peter
is speaking He says in Acts 2 verse 22, You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves know him being delivered by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain whom God has raised up having
loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. A man approved of God who did
many miracles, him being delivered by the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Christ was God's lamb. and he willingly offered himself
and as we see him going into Jerusalem it's like the Lamb
of God that walked his way to the altar. He fully knew exactly
what he was doing. For this reason he says, came
I into this world. He knew everybody would reject
him. He knew he would be crucified on the cross. It was the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God. All of those people were
working about the will of God to bring about the crucifixion
of Christ which brought about the salvation of his people. Blessed be the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord. He brought himself the altar. He willingly said no man takes
my life but I lay it down. Also I thought of as we had been looking recently
at those events in the scripture that act out something else that
is going to take place as Christ entered into Jerusalem on the
ass victorious the victorious king coming to lay down his life
for his people and the people cried out Hosanna and having
palm trees in their hands. What about heaven? Heaven tells us the book of Revelation
tells us there as John views heaven opened chapter 7, Revelation
7, he says in verse 9, After this I beheld and lo a great
multitude. What do we have on the day of
Pentecost week? A great multitude. Some swept
along with the crowd who didn't know what they're doing but in
heaven behold a great multitude which no man can number of all
nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the
throne before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their
hands. When Christ went in to Jerusalem
they cried out, Hosanna, Lord save us and they had the palms
in their hand as signifying victory and in heaven those who are truly
enabled by grace and faith to cry out Hosanna, Lord save us. They will be there. They will
all be there from all nations and people and tongues and they
will be before the Lamb, Christ, the humble Lamb clothed in white
robes having the completion of his perfect sacrifice, having
those things complete in heaven, white robes, having palms in
their hand, and cried with a loud voice saying, salvation to our
God which sits upon the throne and unto the Lamb. They once
cried, Lord save us. Oh save us. But now, then they
would cry, salvation belongs to the Lamb, that salvation would
have been completed. There would have been death passed
through the grave and now in heaven at last that salvation
would have been fully accomplished in Christ Jesus and they will
wear white robes for all eternity for their sins which are so many
will have been washed away. may we be enabled over this time
of year to fully contemplate do I know him? Do I really know
him or am I just being swept along by the crowd crying out
these things happy Easter, a good Friday and such like Or do I
know Him? Have I really cried out, Lord
save me? Do I really know the King of
Kings? Do I really know the Prince of Peace? Do I really know the
humble Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour? And then
one day We will be with him forever, singing his praises, hot with
the palms in our hands, singing Hosanna, singing salvation to
the Lord, forever and ever. Amen. Let us conclude our worship by
singing from Hymns for Worship number 81. Hymns for Worship
number 81. The strife is o'er, the battle
done, the victory of life is won, the song of triumph has
begun. Hallelujah. Number 81 from Hymns
for Worship. you ? About Christ daily ? His way, he runs. O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag
was still there. Yeah. Almighty God, we do thank Thee
for the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world and
we pray that Thou work in our hearts that we may cry out truly,
Hosanna, O Lord, save us, save us from our sin and grant us
that place in heaven at last. And we pray that Thou be with
us now as we part from each other. Do watch over us in the interval
of the service and do Bring us here this evening in thy time
and way. Forgive us then of our many sins
and do make up where we fail. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us
each now and for evermore. Amen.