Let's take our Bibles and turn
now to the book of John, the gospel of John 12. I'd like to look at verses 12
and 13 this morning. The scripture says, 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. We begin this passage, these
two verses, with our Lord doing something that normally He didn't
do. That is, openly manifest Himself. Usually, the scripture sets forth
that we would find the Lord withdrawing Himself from public notice. At times, he would charge his
disciples with this charge that they should tell no man that
he was Jesus the Christ. That's Matthew 16.20. That same charge right there
is found in Mark 8.30 and Luke 9.21. Amazing. Amazing passage of Scripture.
Don't tell any man that I'm the Christ. When the disciples, Peter,
James, and John, went up with the Lord, He had openly manifested Himself
to them. Something of His glory. The Scripture says that His clothes
and He Himself did shine brighter than the noonday sun. God the
Father spoke to Him so that the disciples could hear. This is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." You hear him. Moses and Elijah showed up and
spoke to the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration concerning
his death. And then coming down from the
Mount of Transfiguration, Mark 9 says this, and our Lord said
to His disciples that they should tell no man what things they
had seen till the Son of Man was risen from the dead. I'm going to be honest with you. I know that there are some things
that are revealed in Scripture. The truth of what I'm saying.
That right there. That's just impossible for men
to know the fullness of. When his brethren urged him to
show himself to the world, in John 7, verse 4, his answer was
this, My time is not yet come. Now you know, just in contrast,
think of the difference between man by nature and the humility
of our Lord here. Man by nature wants to draw attention
to himself. I mean, if I do something, Shawn,
I want you to know it. You know what I'm saying. But
here is the Lord of glory. As a general rule, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He did not cry nor strive nor cause His voice to be heard
in the streets. That's Matthew 12, 19. Here was the Father's faithful
servant, meek, lowly of heart, who came to seek and to save
His people that was lost in the fall. I cannot enter in to the
depth of that He made Himself of no reputation. God! But now we find Him in the
week of His crucifixion. openly manifesting himself to
the Jews at Jerusalem. On that next day, much people
that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem, took those palm branches and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Why did he manifest himself
now? Well, the Scriptures must be fulfilled. I know that. Hold your finger. Turn to Genesis 49. Genesis 49,
verses 9 to 11. The Scripture sets forth this
truth. Genesis 49, verses 9 to 11. Judah. You know, our Lord was from the
lineage of the tribe of Judah. Judah. The priestly. The priestly tribe. Judah is
a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down. He couched as
a lion. as an old line, who shall rouse
him up? The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be, binding his foal upon the bind, his ass his
coat upon the choice bind. He washed his garments in wine,
clothes in the blood of grapes. Here's our Lord fulfilling the
scripture. That scripture written back in
Genesis, Moses, in the book of Moses. The scepter is not going
to depart from Judah until Shiloh himself comes in. He comes on to the scene, and
all the people gathered unto Him. As a general rule, He withdrew
Himself, hid Himself. Now all the tribes, except Judah, were still in Palestine
when the Son of God was made flesh and tabernacled among them. His entry into Jerusalem. Seventy weeks is going to have
to be seventy times seven Sabbaths of years. I read a comment Brother
Don Fortner made on this seventy weeks, which is seventy times
seven weeks of Sabbaths, or years, 490. He said, you know, though all
of these many men have written lots of things about that 70
weeks, it is 70 weeks that so many know so little about. But
I can tell you this, that prophecy, it prophesied exactly, exactly,
exactly when the Lord Jesus Christ was going to manifest Himself
openly in the world, into Jerusalem, when He was going to accomplish
the putting away of the transgression of His people, and His crucifixion
was right down to the very day. Why did He come in right then?
It was prophesied. Our Lord, who normally hid Himself
from the crowds, now manifested Himself Let the Scriptures be
fulfilled. Prophecy. He publicly entered
Jerusalem to leave men, secondly, without excuse. He entered into that city to
proclaim Himself, to be the Messiah. And His acceptance of the cries
of the multitude They took branches of palm trees and went forth
to meet him and cried, Hosanna! Save now! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. And here he was, fulfilling
the Word of God, the Scriptures about to lay down his life, and
those that would soon take him. The ones that was crying right
now, many of them, many of them, that was crying, Hosanna, soon
would be crying, crucify Him. But I'll tell you this, they
were without excuse. There He is, coming, riding,
we'll find that Lord willing next time, riding on the coat
of an ass, just like we just read about. in the book of Genesis. Just exactly the way he was going
to do it. No matter how hard they tried,
the enemies of the Lord could not refute what was happening
before them. They couldn't refute that Lazarus
had been raised from the dead. They couldn't refute the miracles All of these things that are
proven by God the Father, by miracles and signs and wonders,
and here He is actually fulfilling the Scriptures. Coming in on
the exact day that the Scripture says, you're going to die on
the Passover. Just exactly. The way that Scriptures
had set forth. That Passover that celebrated,
that remembered the deliverance out of Egypt. A picture of deliverance
from bondage. Leaving that place of ridicule. And Almighty God gave him that
Passover lamb. He put the blood on the lentil
doorpost. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Here's the Paschal Lamb Himself
coming in. Just a few days. Just like it
had been prophesied by Daniel and Moses and all the prophets. He's coming now openly. Manifesting
Himself. Fulfilling the Scripture. The
Jews ask Him in John 10.24. How long dost thou make us to
doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us
plainly. The Lord said, I told you. I told you. And you believe
not. Why? Because you're not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
Now they have no excuse. It's a serious thing. It's a
serious thing. It's a serious thing to me. It's
a serious thing to you to hear the gospel and refuse it. Not one in this congregation
this morning now has an excuse. You have no excuse. This is the most blessed and
glorious thing, to hear the gospel of God's free grace because It
is through this message of God's will and God's purpose, God's
sovereignty, that God saves a man, saves a woman. You must hear
the gospel of free grace. You must. But to hear it and
refuse it and to treat it as a light thing, I can take it
or leave it. If you die in unbelief, now listen
to me. I'm serious as I've ever been. I've been honest with you. I've
been honest with you. This message refused seals your
eternal fate. Refuse to bow to this Lord and
you're going to perish. He came into that city fulfilling
the scriptures and leaving men without excuse. And thirdly,
he publicly entered Jerusalem to set forth his willingness
to suffer and die for his people. His hour was now come. Fast approaching. It was for
this reason that He obediently came into this world. This work of redemption was not
done in a corner. Our Lord did hide Himself for
so long, told His disciples, don't tell. Don't tell anybody. Don't tell them I'm the Christ.
For reasons in the fullness of, that I'll never know, and you
will not either, this side of glory. But I do know this, he
humbled himself. Now he's openly manifest. Openly. And our Lord has set his face,
the Scripture says this, Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50 verse 7. Like a flint, the Scripture says
that. This was his attitude toward coming into this world. For the
Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. And none of his people will either. Our Lord triumphantly entered
into Jerusalem. Fulfilling Scriptures, leaving
men without excuse and manifesting His willingness to lay down His
life for His sheep. Willingness to obey His Father.
And the people, beholding the Fulfiller of the Scriptures,
verse 13, took branches of palm trees, went forth to meet Him
and cried, Hosanna, as I said before, save now. Blessed is
the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." Now
you remember, so many of them, they've been looking for a deliverer
from Rome. From Rome, from the bondage of
Rome. They remembered the Scriptures that said they were in Egypt,
and God sent a deliverer, Moses. Moses said, there will be one
that will come like unto me. He was a picture. He was a type.
But he spoke of Christ. Who said that? The Lord said
that. He said, Moses spoke of me. What they saw was a physical
deliverer. I want somebody to get us out
of this mess we're in. And when they saw Him, many that
took the branches of palm trees went forth to meet Him and, Hosanna! Save now! Lord, save now! You raised Lazarus from the dead.
You've got power to take care of these Romans. When they realized that He was
coming to deliver His people from the bondage of sin and not
To get them out from under the bondage of Rome. That's when
the tune changed. But those same Jews that praised
Him and loved Him, wanted to see that deliverance from all
of the bondage and the hatred and resentment that they were
under. Soon they'd turn on Him. They
didn't know anything about their sin before God. They thought
that they were sons of God just because they could trace their
lineage back to Abraham. They didn't know anything about
substitution. Acceptance with God by the shed
blood of the Messiah. Just get me out of my present
situation. That's what they wanted. But
for some, some that were there in Israel, They did see Him as
the Messiah. Some of them knew. Some of them
saw who He was, why He was there. They knew that salvation was
all by grace, through faith. And even now, in this day that
we're in right now, it's never changed. Some men see, or many, many see,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that's going to make
them healthy, wealthy, and wise. Trust the Lord and you'll never
have to worry about it. You'll have all those beautiful
chairs like they have on TV, you know. It'll always be great
and you'll always be healthy. You'll never get sick. Never
get sick. Never have any bills. Just get
me out from under this bondage. Save me right now." And they
think nothing of eternity. My friend, if the Holy Spirit
has given you a heart to see Him by faith, to see Him who
is triumphantly reigning over death and hells, the grave, who
has been triumphant over the penalty of sin, the one who is
the only hope of eternal salvation. If He's given you a heart that
cries, Hosanna! Lord, save me now! You're a blessed
sinner. Trust in Him alone. Confess Him
as your mighty Savior. Amen.