believe Him for His covenant-keeping
promises this morning. That's our hope. That's our reason
for being here, that the Lord will increase our faith and cause
us to hang all the hopes of our salvation on His faithfulness
to keep His promises. Fred and Mary Jane, so good to
have you all back. We missed you. They're home for the winter. Every time I text her up there,
I say, when are you coming home? And I put that in quotations.
So you guys are home. We're glad you're here. Scott
and Christine McMinn are here visiting us from California.
He asked me not to say anything about him, but you all love them
and I know you want to speak to them. So we're going to be
in Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11. Deanna has been in the hospital
this weekend. She's home now recovering, but
her and Robert are going to be out this morning. So I think
she had some back problems, which she wasn't able to move. So I
guess they gave her something to relieve her. And I'm not sure if Robert would
know how to log on this morning without Deanna's help. So I'm
not sure if they're watching now or not, but if they are,
We miss you guys. Let's pray for the services and
pray for Deanna. Our merciful heavenly father,
once again, you've in your good providence and in your mercy
brought us here to this place. You promised to meet where two
or three are gathered together in thy name. Lord, we are very
hopeful in knowing that you are faithful to all your promises.
We come this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
come before your throne of grace with boldness in his name. We
ask, Lord, that you would be pleased now to open the eyes
of our understanding. We pray that you would give us
hearts to believe. We pray that you would make your
word now in this hour as it is a two-edged sword able to divide,
asunder, and expose even the thoughts and the intents of our
hearts, revealing to us the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
pray for Deanna, Father, and we ask for your hand of strength
and healing to be upon her. We're so very thankful for her
and Robert. pray your blessings on them. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. In Mark chapter 11 we have
what's been referred to by the church as the triumphal entry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One week before his crucifixion
he comes into Jerusalem riding on a colt in fulfillment of prophecy
and in order to reveal to us what it is he came to accomplish.
And that story is recorded here in Mark 11. The irony about this
story is that though everyone who refers to themselves as Christian
would call this the triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus Christ,
most folks do not believe that he triumphed on the cross. Most folks in religion are just
like many that were in this crowd. They were crying Hosanna and
then a week later they were saying crucify him, crucify him. I pray
the Lord will give us the grace to cry Hosanna this morning. The word Hosanna is a conjunction
of two words. One word is to save and the other
word is now. So that's what Hosanna means,
save us now. Now, everything religion concludes
is wrong. Most folks and that would call
themselves Christians would say, well, I've already taken care
of that. Salvation to them is nothing more than a past tense
experience. For the child of God who knows
anything about the grace of God, who's seen anything and tasted
anything of Christ and seen anything of themselves, they see more
and more and more of their need to be saved as they grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They never get
beyond the need to be saved. And so the child of God has in
his heart all the time, Hosanna, Hosanna, save me now, now. Today is the day of salvation.
We don't, we're never taught in the scriptures to, well, you
know, we'll think about that later. The Lord calls us now
to believe right now. And if we know anything of his
grace, We know that we need to be saved right now. We need to
be saved from ourselves. We need to be saved from our
sin. We need to be saved from the wrath that is to come. We
need to be saved from all the temptations of this world and
Satan. Lord, if you don't save me, I'll
be lost. I'll be lost. I need to be saved. The most often prayer that the
child of God prays is, in essence, we may not say it like this,
but in essence, it is Hosanna. Hosanna. Lord, save me right
now. It's what I need more than anything
else. I need to be saved. Now, Zachariah, you hold your
finger there in Mark chapter 11 and turn with me to Zechariah chapter 9. Zechariah prophesying under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit of that which the Lord Jesus
Christ would accomplish when he came. All the Old Testament
points forward to who's coming. The Messiah is coming. The Savior
of Israel is coming and he's going to save all of Israel.
He's going to be triumphant. He's going to be victorious.
He's not going to make an offer of salvation that's not going
to accomplish the real salvation of his people. He will triumph. No Jew to this day, to this day,
no Jew has any thought of a Messiah that would be a failure. That's
a Gentile heresy. Everything written in the scriptures
about the Messiah assures the people of Israel that when the
Messiah comes, even that woman at the well, you remember her?
Who was only a half Jew, even she knew. When she was talking
to the very Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, what did she say?
We know that when Messiah comes, he's gonna set everything in
order. Everything's gonna be worked out when Messiah comes.
And the Lord said, he that speaketh to you is he. So, Here in the Old Testament, the
prophets are pointing to the coming of Christ. So in a sense,
the Old Testament says, look who's coming. And the gospel
accounts of the New Testament say to us, look who's come. And much of the rest of the New
Testament says, look who's coming again. Well, it's all about Him. We're going to see that in Psalm
40 in the second hour in the volume of the book it is written
of me. That passage is quoted in Hebrews
chapter 10, you know, and it's all about Him, all about Him.
So Zechariah in Zechariah chapter 9 says in verse 9, Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. You've got reason to rejoice.
There's a Savior coming. God's anointed a Messiah. When
he comes, he's going to save Israel. That's what these people
in Jerusalem, they believe that this Jesus of Nazareth was the
fulfillment of that prophecy. And they cried, Hosanna, Hosanna,
save us. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. That's what I need and that's
what you need. You need the King to come to
you. This isn't just a general atonement. This isn't just a
general revelation. We need a special revelation.
We need the Lord to speak to our hearts and call us out and
bring us to himself thy king cometh unto thee, he is just."
He's just. That means that he must punish
sin. He's not going to allow one infraction of his law to
go unpunished. That's the justice of God. And
that's still true. Our God is a just God. He will
not overlook sin. Every sin will be punished. It
will be punished in the person of our substitute, or we will
have to suffer the punishment for all eternity, never being
able to satisfy the justice of God. That's why hell is forever,
because the punishment that comes on a sinner in hell can never
fulfill justice. Only Christ could do that. So
every sin will be punished. He is just and having salvation. He's not offering salvation. He is salvation. He is salvation. Lowly and riding
upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Now, Matthew's
account of this story tells us that when the disciples went
into the village, they found an ass and her colt and they
brought them both. Mark only tells us about the
cult. So go back with me. This is the
prophecy that's being fulfilled in Mark chapter 11. That's the prophecy, Zechariah
chapter 9, verse 9. He's going to come. Why did the
Lord Jesus Christ come riding upon a cult? He's riding the
cult, the cult who has Never been under a yoke. What is the
significance of that? And then along beside the colt
is an ass. What's the significance of that?
I assume that it was the, that perhaps the colt was the offspring
of the ass. But here you've got two animals,
the Lord's riding on the colt, who's never known a bridle, which
would be impossible for me or you to do, just to jump on a
wild animal that's never been tamed. But that's what our Lord
does, isn't it? So look what he says. And when
they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany at the
Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples and saith
unto them, go your way into the village over against you. And
as soon as you be entered into it, You shall find a colt tied
whereon never a man sat. Loosen and bring him unto me." Now in Numbers chapter 19, the
Lord told Moses and Aaron that they were to take a red heifer. And this red heifer was to be
without spot, without blemish and never under a yoke. They
were to take the red heifer and they were to kill it, take it
outside the camp. They were to slay the red heifer outside the
camp, shed its blood, take the blood and sprinkle it on the
tabernacle seven times. And then they were to completely
burn the red heifer. Now all these animals, all these
animals, picture the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who's without
spot. He's the one that's without blemish.
He's the one that was taken outside the camp. He's the one who shed
his precious blood and God took that blood and sprinkled it seven
times, perfect redemption, triumphal entry, successful salvation for
all of Israel. And he's the one who suffered
the fiery wrath of God's justice for the sins of his people. The
whole red heifer was consumed. But the significance that I wanted
you to see in that red heifer is that that red heifer was never
to have been under a yoke. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ said,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, come unto me. Take my yoke upon you. Learn
of me. My burden is light. My burden
is light. The Lord Jesus Christ has never
been under the yoke of sin. Not like you and I. We labor. We labor under the yoke of sin,
don't we? And men labor trying to atone
for their sins and trying to make things right with God. And
the Lord Jesus Christ says, I'm that red heifer. I'm that colt
that's never been yoked. I've never had trouble keeping God's law. It
is written in the volume of the book of me, I have come to do
thy will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
the will of the Father perfectly, willingly, and effortlessly. When the scripture speaks of
the Lord Jesus Christ being tried and tempted in all ways, even
as we are yet without sin, it doesn't mean that he had to wake
up every morning and grit his teeth and fight against the temptations
of sin like you and I do. No, he was God in the flesh.
He had perfect fellowship with the Father, perfect obedience
to God. He didn't have to struggle to
keep the law. You see, that's the yoke that
you and I are under. The yoke of the law, he said,
my yoke is easy. My burden is light. I've kept
God's law, being faithful even unto death. I've done everything
that God requires. Take my yoke upon you. Quit laboring. Quit burdening
yourself trying to atone for your sins they've been atoned
for. the Lord Jesus Christ came riding upon a colt that never
knew a yoke. Now the other significance of
the fact that this colt never knew a yoke is that when the
Lord Jesus Christ is in his perfect time, ready to saddle a sinner, save
a sinner. He makes them willing in the
day of his power, doesn't he? He doesn't have to, you know,
he doesn't have to disciple them before he's able to convert them.
He doesn't have to train them. He doesn't have to, he just comes
and he takes possession of a wild animal, one who's never been
under God's yoke and puts them in his own yoke, doesn't he?
So here's, he said, you're going to find a colt wherein never
a man sat, loose him, loose him. That's my heart's desire. I know
it's your heart's desire every time we come together is to be
set free, to be loosed from the yoke of bondage. That's what
the Lord said in Galatians. He said, don't return to the
yoke of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Don't
go back to Egypt. You've been set free from that.
And so when we preach the gospel, we're taking wild colts that
have never been trained and never been tamed and we're loosing
them and bringing them to the master. And if the owner says
to you, what are you doing? You just say to him, the master
hath need of him, and that'll be sufficient. And so they found,
they went, and as soon as they entered into the city, they found
this colt, just like the Lord said they were going to find
him. They found him by a doorway. Well, look, let's read the scriptures. Look at Look at verse 3, and
if any man say unto you, why do you this? Say ye that the
Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither. You know, this man owned these
animals. He didn't know who these disciples
were, but the word of God was sufficient
to settle his heart and release his animals. And so it is now. If God's ever pleased to speak
to your heart or to my heart, the Lord hath need of him. There'll
just be a bowing, a submitting to that, won't there? Won't be
a, well, you know, well, but, but, but. No. No. God said to Matthew, who was
sitting there at his money changer table, Matthew, come on. And immediately he got up and
he followed after Christ. Immediately. Lord, I need to
be saved right now. And if I'm going to be saved
right now, the master is going to have to speak to me, Lord.
And he does. He speaks by his word. That's
why the scripture says faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the word of God. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow after me. So the Lord sends these disciples
to get this colt, which had never been ridden, a picture of Christ
and a picture of his church. and bring him to me. Now with the cult, of course
we know from Zachariah and from Matthew's account that there
was also an ass involved with this cult. In verse four, and when they
went their way and found the cult tied by the door without
in a place where two ways met, God's word is written very specifically,
isn't it? Yeah, there's, we're going to
see in the second hour from Exodus chapter 21 where the willing
servant who loves his master and loves his wife and loves
his children, is bored through the year at the door post and
what a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on Calvary's
cross. There's one door into heaven.
One door. And that door is right at Calvary. It's right at Calvary. The Lord
Jesus Christ is that door. He's the one that was bore through.
He's the one who satisfied God's divine justice. And that's why
he was able to say, I am the way. Narrow is the gate. Narrow is the way, and few are
they that find it. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man come to the Father but by me. So where is this colt
found now? He's found in front of a doorway
where two roads meet together. So there's a fork in the road.
And you can go one way at a fork, or you can go the other way at
a fork. What a picture. There's only two ways. There's
only two ways. There is a way that seems right
unto man, a way of works, the way of free will, but in the
end, that way leads to death. There's only one way, one way
into glory. All these symbols and prophecies
are being fulfilled. None of this is by accident.
The Lord put that cult there. The Lord tempered the heart of
the owner of that cult. The Lord was the one who made
sure that the cult would come and sent the disciples to a specific
place. Verse five, and certain of them
that stood there said unto them, what do you loosen the cult?
What is this about? You stand there next to your
automobile and somebody gets in your car and starts to drive
off with it and you say to them, well, that's my car, what are
you doing? And they say to you, well, the master have need of
him and you say, oh, okay. That's exactly what's happening. And they said unto them even
as Jesus had commanded and they let them go. and they brought
the colt to Jesus and cast their garment on him and he sat upon
him. Now, there's two animals in this
story. There's also an ass. I assume,
as I said, the mother of the colt, however you say that, the
colt being the offspring of the ass. What is the significance
of the ass in the scriptures? You remember the story of Samson
when he slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass? And then after he finished killing
a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, he took that
jawbone, and there's a hole in the jawbone that has water in
it. He drinks water and satisfies
his thirst from that jawbone. I have a jawbone of an ass hanging
on the wall in my office. If you want to see one, it's
right inside the door. And the reason I have it hanging there
is to remind me what I am. That's exactly what the picture
is. You remember the story of Balaam? Balaam's riding on an
ass and the ass sees something that Balaam didn't see. The ass
saw the angel of the Lord with a flaming sword drawn and he
asked runs out into the field away from the away from the angel
and uh... and bail and beats the acts and
then the ass and then they're going to shows up again and the
ass pushes bailing against a brick wall and uh... rock wall and
bailing beats the ass again and and the third time they asked
us finally collapses right in front of the angel or and they
don't start to be nasty and and they asked for today and said, why are you beating
me? I've spared your life. Why are you beating me? And the
most amazing thing of this story is that Balaam talked back to
the ass, you know. So Balaam starts having this
conversation with the ass and what is that a picture of? In Deuteronomy chapter 22, the
scripture says, thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. What does that mean? Don't put
an ox and an ass in the same yoke together. They won't work
together. Well, the ass is a beast of burden
and it's a picture of gospel preachers. It's exactly what
it is. And the yoke, the ox is a false
preacher, false prophet. And God said, don't listen to
a gospel preacher and a false prophet. Don't put them in a
yoke together. How many people do that? They
come here and they hear what we say and what do they conclude?
Well, I can't tell the difference. They're saying the same thing
my preacher says. No, your preacher's an ox. My preacher's an ass. That's alright. I'm God's ass,
I don't mind being an ass. It pleased God by the foodlessness
of preaching to save them which believe. Paul, in speaking of
his ministry, said, I bear the burden of the churches. There is a burden that God gives
to his church, to his preachers. That's the picture here. So here
we have the Savior of Israel riding upon a colt and leading
beside him an ass and entering triumphantly into Jerusalem to
accomplish the salvation of Israel, fulfilling all prophecy. What
hope, what hope we have. And the people began to cry,
look at verse 9, and they that went before and they that followed
cried saying, Hosanna, save us now, save us now. If God's put that prayer in your
heart, Lord save me, save me right now. So I've asked the
Lord to save me. Ask Him again and again and again. Never, never beyond needing to
be saved, are we? The Lord hears the cry of His
children. Never turned one away. Save me, Lord. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Blessed of God is this Messiah. He's come in the name of the
Lord to accomplish the salvation of Israel. Blessed be the kingdom
of our father David that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna
in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem.
Now you know this is Jerusalem. This is the city of peace. That's what Jerusalem translated
means. This is where God makes peace with his people. And into the temple, and when
he had looked round about upon all things, and now the evening
tide was come, and he went out of Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, When they
were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree
afar off having leaves, he came. If happily, he might find anything
thereon. And when he came to it, he found
nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus
answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter
forever. And his disciples heard it. Now,
look over with verse 21, and Peter called, and in the morning,
verse 20, and in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the
fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter called to remembrance
and saith unto him, Master, behold the fig tree, which thou cursed
is withered away. And Jesus answered and saith
unto him, have faith in God. Now, what was that fig tree a
picture of? You remember in the book of Esther,
when Ahasuerus, the king of Persia, threw a feast for his kingdom
and invited Vashti, his wife, to come because he wanted all
of his subjects to see the beauty of his wife. And Vashti refused
to come. She refused to come. And the
king got together his counselors and said, what do I do? And they
said, well, you've got to get another queen. And that's when they sent men
out into all the country and brought back the women, and Esther
was chosen as the queen. Esther's a picture of the New
Testament church, and Basti's a picture of Old Testament Israel. And that's exactly what this
fig tree, without fruit, without fruit, did not believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you remember when God took,
the Lord gave a parable of a man who owned a vineyard and said
that he'd lend the vineyard out to husbandmen and they were to
send to the owner of the vineyard the prophets of the vineyard
and they didn't do it. And so the owner of the vineyard
sent his servants to check on, you know, why haven't you sent
the prophets to the vineyard? And the Lord's telling this story,
this parable to the Pharisees. And then he goes on to say they
wouldn't acknowledge the servants. So the master, the owner of the
vineyard said, well, I'll send my son. So he sent his son and
they beat him. And then the master showed up
and the Lord asked the Pharisees, he said, what do you think the
owner of the vineyard should do to those husbandmen? And those
Pharisees not knowing pronounced their own judgment. when they
said to the Lord, the vineyard should be taken from them and
given to another. And the Lord said, and that's
exactly what's gonna happen. God's vineyard was taken from
Old Testament Israel. And the Lord raised up his church
and mounted his colts and sends his asses out to preach his gospel, to bring
in the fruits of his vineyard. He is accomplishing and has accomplished
the salvation of all of Israel. It was all God's purpose. Why? Because it's all based on a covenant.
God made a covenant promise to God and that covenant promise
is being fulfilled. right now, right now. All of scripture, all of scripture
points to what the Lord Jesus Christ is accomplishing in fulfilling
the covenant of grace. Let's take a break.