Turn back over to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. And look at verse 12. It 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. What a glorious event that is
right there. Isn't that wonderful? Can you picture that in your
mind? Here are these people. It's two
miles from Bethany to Jerusalem. People all along the way. And
word starts coming. The king is coming through. And
they see him riding this donkey. And they start running to the
palm trees, cutting palm trees down, throwing them in the way,
crying, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel! I love the glory of God. I love it. I cannot wait to see,
you know, we have that wonderful scripture of the Queen of Sheba
going to see Solomon and she thought she was something, but
as soon as she saw Solomon, she saw glory. She saw, she brought
some gifts and she was so ashamed of them. She watched him ascend
his throne and she Fainted. No more spirit in her. Crushed. Crumbled. Whatever pride was
in me is gone. I love the majesty of the king. I cannot wait to see the king. I can't wait to see his kingdom. I can't wait to see his throne.
I can't wait to see his servants. I can't wait to just look around. the majesty of God. Go with me
to Luke chapter 2. Luke 2, look at verse 7, it says,
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, And the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you, You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one
to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this
thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known
unto us." What a glorious event. Can you picture that event? Here
are these shepherds doing their thing. Day in and day out. And all of a sudden, the glory
of the Lord appears. The glory of the angel, the messenger
of God appears. And says, a savior has come.
Christ the Lord. And as soon as he said that,
the multitude of the heavenly host appears. Those already in
glory. praising God, crying with a loud
voice, all of their being, glory to God in the highest. The King
is here. The King is here. The King has come to earth. Peace
stepped foot on earth. Goodwill has come to man. That one who came is the king. He is the king. He is our king. He's my king. He is a king like no other. We
have a king. We have a president, don't we? We have a governor in this state,
don't we? We have a king. We have a king who rules and
reigns over all. He is the king of kings. Back over in our text in John
12, his subjects are throwing palm
leaves in his path, crying, Hosanna, blessed is the king, of Israel
while he rides triumphantly with his face set
like a flint. He's riding down and they're
throwing these palm leaves in his way. They're running back
and cutting more palm leaves and they're throwing them in
the way. They're crying, Oh Santa! And he has got his face set like
a flint straight into the heart of Jerusalem.
Now why were they crying that? What was he doing? This chapter right here begins
with our Lord having dinner with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Verse 3 says, Then took Mary
a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the
feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house
was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his
disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the
poor? This he said, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief and he held the bag
and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let her alone. Against the day of my burying
has she done this. Against the day of my burying
has she done this. What was he doing? He was going
to die. That's what he was doing. He
was going to die. The king came on purpose. And
he came with a purpose. He came on a mission, and that
mission was to die. That's why He came. Go with me
over to Isaiah 50. Now if you have a heading at
the top of your page, mine says, Christ's Patient Suffering. Now this is the Old Testament. But this is Christ. This is Christ
right here. This is Christ saying this. Isaiah
50 verse 5 says, The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was
not rebellious. neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. 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. He is near that justifies me. Who will contend with me? Who's going to go to battle with
me? He says, let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Hosanna means Oh, save. That's what it means. Oh, save. They heard the king is coming
and he's riding into Jerusalem. And they started crying, Oh,
save us, Lord. Oh, save us. Make peace for us,
Lord. Cover our sins, Lord. And he set his face like a flint
as he rode straight into the heart of that battle. And God
opened his ears and he heard the cry of his people, save us,
Lord, save us. Blessed is the King of Israel. This King came for the purpose
of redeeming his people. He came to die. Go with me back
over to John 12. Verse 7 says, Then said Jesus,
let her alone, against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always you have
with you, but me you have not always. I am going to die. And I'm not going to be ashamed.
I shall not fail. That's what he's saying. I will
not fail. Verse 9 says, Much people of
the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came not
for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also,
whom he hath raised from the dead. Many people were curious
about all this, just like so many people are in religion.
You know that's what religion is? Curiosity. Superstition and
curiosity. Well, I sure don't want to go
to hell, so I think I'll go to church. That's what it is. Verse 10 says,
but the chief priest consulted that they might put Lazarus to
death also. Also to death. Because that by
reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
Lazarus went around telling everybody how great things the Lord had
done for him. And you go around telling people
that. You go tell people the truth and the gospel. You know
what the gospel is? It is good news about how God
did something for me. I am a wretched sinner, but He
set His face like a flint, and He went into the battle, and
He died. And that death was His victory. That's what He came to accomplish.
And He covered me in that blood. And now I'm accepted with God.
You go tell people that and you will be persecuted for that.
You will be persecuted for that. Verse 10 says, But the chief
priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because
that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed
on Jesus. 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. Now this King came to save. He came to die and He came to
redeem. The amazing part of grace. We
sing a song and it's called Amazing Grace. The part that's amazing
is who He came to save. That's the amazing part. Well,
He came to save the good people who dress nicely and watch their
mouth and give what's left over to charity. That's not what the
Word says. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous. He said, I came to call sinners.
Sinners. Blessed is the King of Israel. That's what they were crying.
And you know what? That's what we cry. Blessed is the King of Israel. You know who Israel is? Jacob. That's who Israel is. Jacob. You mean the sinner? The trickster? The liar? The cheat? Yes. That's who He came to save. He came to save sinners. The
seed of Israel. The spiritual Jew. Now, something
was made clear to me. I hope it's clear now. We have
a scripture in Romans that says this. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly. He is a Jew which is one inwardly. What do you mean he's not a Jew?
Look at him, he's a Jew. No. He's not a Jew which is one
outwardly. He's a Jew which is one inwardly. It's of the heart and the spirit. Now listen to this. He is not a sinner which is one
outwardly. Every person on the face of this
planet knows he's a sinner outwardly. Every person. If they say they
don't, they're just lying. They know. They know they've
broken the speed limit. They know they've told a lie.
They know they've lusted. They know they've coveted. They
know. Every single one knows. But He is not a true sinner which
is one outwardly. He's a true sinner which is one
inwardly. Inwardly. In the heart, in the
spirit, in the soul. He knows in here, I'm a sinner. I haven't just done some things
and I would love to get that, if I could just get that taken
off my record, that would be great. No. I am sin. And if you wipe that
one off that record, another one's coming. Right behind it. Because I am sin. Well, this King is the King of
sinners. Those who are sinners. True sinners. true Jews, true
Israel. Turn with me over to Matthew
27. Matthew 27 verse 11 says, Jesus stood before the governor,
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto them, Yes,
I am, thou sayest. Verse 29 says, ìAnd when they
had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and
a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him
and mocked him, saying, ìHail, King of the Jews!îî Taking the punishment of his
people, taking what his people deserved. Verse 37 says, "...and
set up over his head his accusation written." You know what his accusation
was? This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Why is He worthy to die? Can
you find any fault in Him? No. Then why is He dying? It's because He's the King of
the Jews. That's why. Verse 42 says, He saved others,
Himself He cannot save if He be the King of Israel. If He's
the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross and we'll
believe Him. No, can't do that. Not if he's going to be the King,
the Redeemer, the Savior of Israel. This King came to save sinners. This is the King! The King came
on purpose. He came to redeem. He came to
redeem sinners. Sinners. Go with me back over
to John 12 again. Verse 14 says, And Jesus, when
he had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written, Fear
not, daughter of Zion! Behold, thy king cometh, sitting
on an ass's coat. Now the glory of this is in verse
14. It says, young. See the word young? Go with me
to Luke 19. Luke 19, look at verse 29. And it came to pass, when he
was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called
the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying,
Go ye into the village over against you. in the which at your entering
you shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat." This was
a young colt and nobody had ever sat on him. He said, "...loose
him and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do
you loose him, thus shall you say unto him, because the Lord
hath need of him." And they that were sent went their way, and
found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing
the colt, the owners thereof, the owners of this colt, said
unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath
need of him. And those owners let the colt
go. Now no man had ever ridden this
colt. It had never been broken. I don't
know anything about horses, but I do know that I don't want to
get on one that's never been broken. I know that much. You know, when a king comes riding
in, usually they're going to find the most tame animals they
can find. We don't want any disruptions.
We want him trained, right? No disruptions. But nobody had
ever ridden this colt before. And these disciples, they come
into this town and there he is, right where they said he would
be. Right where the Lord said the colt would be. And they start
unloosing this colt and the owner said, what are you doing? That's
our colt. And the disciples said, the master
hath need of him. And the fact that the Lord made
these owners willing to let the disciples just take the cult,
okay? The Lord does things, and he moves on the heart. The king's
heart is in his hands, right? And he sways the heart. If he
leads me to do something or not do something, he puts it here,
and he puts it here, and I'm in agreement. This is what I
want to do. This is what I believe God would have me to do. And
they said, take the cult. And the fact that these owners
were willing to let the disciples take the cult, it was their cult,
and can you imagine what that was worth? It's worth a lot now. What about back then? But the Lord made them willing
to just let the disciples take the cult. They were probably
saying, you can have him. You can have that thing. I hate
that thing!" You can't ride him. You can take
him, but you can't ride him. Nobody can get close to him.
That is the most rebellious, vile thing I've ever seen. Stubborn, that's what it is.
It's a mule, a donkey. Stubborn. You've never seen one
like this. Now I have a good one back over
here. I've got one that's been broken. It would be better for
the master. There's one over here. If he
really needs it, he can borrow it, bring it back. I'm sure this
one would be more suitable to the master. This one would be
the one the master would probably prefer." The disciple said, Nope. He said, This one. Fine. Take him. He said the wildest one. He said
the vilest one. Christ came to save not only
sinners, but He came to save the worst. He came to save the chief, the
absolute chief of sinners. I know that we're all sinners,
but there are some men on death row that have done some things
that I just have not done. But you know what? Christ came
to save sinners. And if he saved me, do you know
what that means? I was the worst. I was the chief. But you never murdered a man.
Oh, you don't know this heart. You don't know this heart. Christ said, you go bring him
to me. That's the glory of my gospel.
Christ said, you see that man right there? You go bring him
to me. I'm going to break him. I'm going
to ride him. I'm going to put him on a straight
path straight to Jerusalem. Oh, that makes a sinner say,
glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward
men. This king came to break and conquer
rebellious sinners. That's why he came. Turn him
into submissive servants. The word says he came to make
his enemies his footstool. Just like Mary, before she pointed
that ointment all over him, sitting at his feet, listening to his
word, trusting him, believing him. His enemies his footstool. Go back over to John 12 with
me. John 12 verse 14 says, And Jesus,
when he had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written,
Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh, sitting
on an ass's coat. These things understood not his
disciples at first. But when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that these things were written of Him, and
that they had done these things unto Him. This King came to die
and redeem. This King came to break and to
conquer. And this King came to fulfill
every single thing that was written in the law of God. for those
who could not fulfill it. He came to fulfill all scripture.
I found a verse that I've read many times, but I read it for
the first time this week. Go to John 18. This is wonderful. John 18 verse 37, Pilate therefore
said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest
that I am a king. To this end was I born. He says out of his own mouth,
you want to know why I was even born? To this end was I born. And for this cause came I into
the world. that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. I came to bear
witness of what is the truth. What is the truth? Everyone that
is of the truth heareth my voice. I came that I should fulfill
every single thing in God's Word that sinful man could not, just
couldn't do it. Look at John 17, back one page
to John 17. Verse 17 says, Sanctify them
through thy truth. What is it? Thy Word is truth. Sanctify them through Thy Word.
Look at verse 19, And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified through Thy Word, through the
truth. I came to bear witness of the
truth. Go with me back over to John 12. Verse 16 says, These things understood
not His disciples at first, but when Jesus was glorified. When He was glorified. This King
came to be glorified. He came that the Son of God might
be glorified. That's why He came. Every single
thing He did was to the praise of the glory of God. Every single
thing. Verse 16 says, "'These things
understood not His disciples at first, but when Jesus was
glorified, then remembered they that these things were written
of Him and that they had done these things unto Him. The people
therefore that was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the
grave and raised him from the dead bear record. For this cause
the people also met Him for that they heard that He had done this
miracle. The Pharisees therefore said
among themselves, Perceive ye how you prevail nothing? Behold,
the world is gone after him." They said, we can't win. The
world is gone after him. The whole world? The whole world? No, it's the
world of believers. the ones that he died for, the
ones that he redeemed, the ones that he broke, the ones that
he conquered, the ones that he fulfilled this word for, fulfilled
the law for, the ones that he has caused to give him all the
glory. This king came to gather his
kingdom unto himself. That's why he came. To gather
his kingdom unto himself. I will close with this. Go to
Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 9 says, Having
made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth,
even in him. That's why this king came. You
know what we say? Hosanna. Blessed is the king. All right, let's stand together.