Hosanna

Remember those who requested prayer? Julie's in Highlands now, room 220. And they've started working on her for rehab. Don't know how long she'll be in there, but remember her in prayer. And you said, Cynthia, what'd you say about Cynthia? How are they? They were trying to work her in sooner if they get a cancelization. It's hurting her real bad. Oh, OK.

Let's begin our worship service with hymn number 228. has been placed, neither in device nor creed. I trust the Ever-Living One, His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument I need no other plea It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me Enough for me that Jesus saves and my heart is written word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name. Salvation through His blood. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is in all that Jesus died. he died for me It is And then he died for me.

Number 354, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. ♪ What a privilege to carry ♪ ♪ Everything we've got in prayer ♪ ♪ Oh, what peace we often forget ♪ ♪ Oh, what needless pain we bear ♪ ♪ All we've got is in our care ♪ ♪ Everything to God in prayer ♪ ♪ Every trial and temptation ♪ ♪ Is there truly where ♪ ♪ We should never be discouraged ♪ ♪ Give it to the Lord in prayer ♪ Jesus knows our every weakness I'm We take Him to the Lord in prayer. In His arms to take His children. Thou wilt find us on the stair.

There's the Bible's term in John chapter 12. On the next day, the people that were coming 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. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat there on as it is written, Fear not, O daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh to you when an ass is cold.

These things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered, then remembered they, that these things were written. done these things unto him. The people, therefore, 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 unto them, Perceive ye how we prevail nothing?

Behold, the world is gone after him. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you. For great mercy for ruined and wretched sinners, who without hope and without help in this world, who cannot look to themselves for anything or anyone else that walks upon the face of the earth. Our hope is built on Jesus Christ alone, as it's in thy right hand, having purged our sins, put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, and brought us by his spirit to life and faith in Jesus Christ. We thank you for the salvation that has been brought for us, has accomplished our redemption, bought us with the price of the blood of the Savior, and made us accepted in the beloved and welcome into your family. We thank you.

Father, we pray for those who are sick. We pray for Julie. Recovering from this knee operation and pray for Cynthia. She's in pain with her knee. The doctors will find a way to more quickly minister to her. Pray for the others who requested prayer, those who lost loved ones.

We ask the Lord your help for them, strengthen them, and be merciful to them, oh Lord, and be accorded to you in good pleasure. Help us tonight as we look at your word to see the glories of Jesus Christ. We thank you. that the record has been set and we have it before us. A clear and plain declaration of who He is and what He's done and where He is now. Help us to worship You in spirit and in truth. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Well, the Passover is at hand and many people were gathered in Jerusalem. Now it was a matter of law that all men, all the men in Israel had to attend the Passover feast. Women, with women it was optional. They could go home or they could go to the Passover feast or they could stay at home. But both men and women evidently came in droves for this particular reason.

It says in verse 12, that on the next day much people that were come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So that was the reason they not only came to observe the Passover or maybe not at all, but they did come to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12 makes it clear that the attendance was great because the people had heard that Christ was coming to Jerusalem. Now his fame had increased since the word was out that he had raised Lazarus from the dead. And it's interesting that the celebration of the deliverance of Egypt at this great feast is what the Passover was.

You remember it was instituted there in Egypt. or actually at Sinai, but what I was observing was what happened on the night when the Lord came through and took the first mourning of every household in Egypt. And he told the people to put the blood on the doorposts and levels, and when he saw the blood, he would pass over that household.

In other words, he would save them. They observed this passover throughout history. The greatest was observed when Josiah was a young king in Israel, but it was an observation. It was part of the law. Whether or not they understood or even cared for what it really meant, it was a time for a gathering for a great feast there. But it's interesting that the celebration of their deliverance from Egypt, that that great feast was later clarified by Paul.

And the first epistle that he wrote to the church in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, when he explained what the Passover was, turn over there in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. This was written some 20 years after our Lord went to glory. First epistle written to a church. Around 50 AD somewhere in that area in chapter 5 and verse 7 it said Purge out therefore the old leaven the old leaven was the pharisaical law That you may be a new lump As ye are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is slain for us.

That's what the meaning of the Passover was. It was talking about Christ in Genesis or in Exodus and it talked about Christ all the way through and it had to do with Him being our Passover. When God looks at the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf, He only sees the blood of Christ. He doesn't see our sin. He doesn't remember our sin no more.

This entire celebration was about the successful of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anybody who was under that blood in Egypt was never harmed. Not one person under the blood was harmed and that's the same case today. If you are under the blood of Jesus Christ, you have hope and a sure hope you'll never be harmed. You'll never feel the wrath of God or the anger of God because he's satisfied with that perfect substitutionary death of Christ.

Now what occurs next is a wonder. It says in our text, when they saw that he had come to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried Hosanna. Blessed is the King of Israel. Now you think about what's been going on here. He's not declared Himself to be the King. He's declared Himself to have power. He's declared Himself to be the Son of God. He's declared Himself to be God, but He's not declared Himself. But here they say, Blessed be the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

This indicates that they have some understanding of the old prophecies of the Old Testament. But it's a wonder, it's doubtful that the things done by the multitude when they took the palm leaves and laid them before them and shouted Hosanna, it's doubtful that when they said, behold the King of the Jews, or blessed be the King of the Jews, that what they were saying was anything more than a political statement.

Remember, they were under the rule of Rome. And they felt like when Messiah come, he would deliver them from Rome. We know that that was not why Christ came. He Christ came to deliver His people from their sin. not from Roman rule. In fact, he said in 1 Peter, when they were under the rule of Rome, to submit themselves to the higher powers, to the king, pay due to them, to the king. They were under Rome when they said that.

Even if the kings were evil, like the one was when he was writing, when he wrote that letter, it was Nero, who was one of the most wicked Caesars ever was in Rome. But the words that are here, though they spoke them probably in a political manner. We know that many times those who spoke against Christ or even spoke about Christ in another way than a spiritual way still taught a spiritual lesson. There's some truth in what they say and some truth that is really a study in theology, a study in soteriology, which is the doctrine of salvation. Here's what it says.

They 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 taking up of palm branches was significant. It was a sign of joy and victory when someone carried a palm branch in their hand. It meant that they had joy and they set forth that they were victorious in something. The Jews had a saying, they said, if a man takes palm branches in his hand, we know that he is victorious. That he is victorious. Those who carried the fronds felt that the presence of Christ meant that a victory was going to ensue. A victory was at hand and they even esteemed themselves as victor according to the saying that any man who took palms in his hand was victorious.

And they cried hosanna. Some consider this word to be a word of praise and worship, but it's actually a plea. It's actually a plea. It's a combination of two words, two Hebrew words, and the words mean save us. It means save us. That's what the first word means. The first word of the combination here means save us. The second word in the combination means we pray you do it now. So it's, save us now. Save us now. That kind of language is used over in Psalm 118, in verses 24, 25, and 26. In fact, the same kind of language is used there in Psalm 118 and verse 25. It says, save now.

I beseech thee, O Lord. I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. That's what they said about him, that he behold the king who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

Blessed means, this is the language they're using. It's Old Testament language, and whether they knew it was Old Testament language or not, but they might have. They might have, but at any rate, this is the thing. They're saying save us now. Save us now. The primary meaning of the word, hosanna, however, is this.

Be propitious. Be propitious. We get our word, propitiator. Propitiation. Thank you, Debbie. How about that? Sometimes the mouth don't work like it ought to. So here is what they're saying. Propitiate for us. We know what that word means. Our Lord four times actually in scripture is said to be the propitiation for our sins. Let's look at just two examples of that. Romans chapter three and verse 25. It says this, whom God sent forth to be, and that word is shown in all four instances. The words to be are added by the translators, they're in italics. They don't need to be there, because that could speak of intent rather than actual accomplishment. But take those words out.

Whom the Lord sent forth a propitiation. That's what happened. Something happened. God was propitiated through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remissions of sin that are passed through the barbarics of God. Then over in 1 John chapter 4.

In verse 10 it says, herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son, again the 2B can be lifted, sent His Son, the propitiation for our sin. So what they were saying probably was, get us out from under the rule of Rome. But they didn't know they were saying, satisfy God for us.

Well, that's what propitiation means, to satisfy or satiate. To satisfy. There's also the concept of propitiation that suggests the high priest. Well, the high priest on the Day of Atonement appeased, satisfied, or propitiated God for a year for the sins of the people.

So, so much is being said here, whether they knew what they were saying or not, so much is being said about what the Lord did for them. So the word blessed is not a desire, but a declaration of something that's already taken place. It's already taken place.

They say you are blessed. You are blessed. Remember back in Psalm 118, it talked about we shall bless you. We shall bless you. They are saying you are blessed. He was blessed because he was indeed the king of Israel. Again, all this was probably political for these folks, but they unknowingly said and did profound truth in this little verse here, in this little episode in verse 13. So we have our Lord Jesus Christ set forth. They say, save us now. Save us now. Be propitious for us. Blessed, you are blessed. You are the king. of Israel. You rule and you reign, is what they're saying.

They're saying you have the power, or they're hoping he has the power, to deliver them out from under the reign of Rome. Of course, that's not what it was all about. His deliverance was far greater than delivering people from the power of any nation. His deliverance was delivered from sin and eternal life. And the language they used suggests that. whether they knew what they were saying or not.

And our Lord, in verse 14 and 15, fulfills a prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah. It says in verse 14, and Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat there on, in another place, he said, he told his disciples, go into this house, he hadn't been to that house, but he said, go to this house, the fellas got a young ass's coat, you go get him and tell him the Lord needs it and bring it to me, and they did that. And so he's sitting on the young ass's coat, He sat there on and look at these words as it is written. So this has been written before about him sitting and coming into Jerusalem on a young ass.

And then in verse 15, two verses are set together from Zechariah and from Isaiah. Fear not daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh sitting on an ass's coat. It is written, it's found in Zechariah chapter 9. Zechariah comes right before the last book of the Old Testament, Zechariah chapter 9, in 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 upon a coat, the foal of an ass. So that's why it says, as it is written. It was already written how this was going to take place. So the prophecy has been fulfilled.

And we know also that part of what they said, what was spoken of that, was Rejoice greatly, O daughters, and behold, thy king cometh unto thee. Also in Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 62, we have the other part of that verse spoken in verse 15. Isaiah 62, verse 11. It says, Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed to the end of the world, saying to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, thy reward is with him, and his work is before him. So this is how it was worded by John in writing in verse 15 back in our text here, not daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's coat.

Now these things were not understood by the disciples. And most of what the Lord told His disciples as He was beginning to tell them of what He was going to do. Things like, I lay down my life for the sheep. What that really meant to them didn't register. He said in John 17, there's many things that you don't know yet, but you're not able to bear yet.

And they won't be able to bear until something happens in the future. these things were not understood by the disciples as it says in verse 16 these things understood not his disciples at the 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 so we just read what was written of him already so this is one of the things they learned when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost They had the Old Testament. That's all they had. They didn't have the New Testament. They didn't have the Gospels. They weren't written until about 100 A.D. They didn't have the Apostles' Epistles, which began to be written in 50 A.D. All they had was the Old Testament.

So they began, by the power of the Holy Ghost, to see in the Old Testament the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what they saw in Genesis chapter 1 when it said, let there be light. They saw that that was Christ. They saw that that was Christ. They saw that Christ was the creator. They saw that Christ was the word and so forth and so on. They didn't understand because sight was still involved and played a part in the transition period between the old covenant and the new covenant.

It was not until the Holy Spirit came in power of Pentecost after Christ died, rose and ascended that the apostolic age began, that faith replaced sight upon the completion of the Word of God. When God's Word was complete, there was no more apostolic power to speak in different languages or to raise people from the dead or create miracles.

That ended. That's not to say that God doesn't create miracles yet today. We've all experienced it. that God has been miraculous in many ways. But the power to make a miracle happen no longer exists in men. No longer exists. Now it's all of faith. Why in the world do we come here on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings and Sunday afternoons? Why do we do that? We do that because God's Word is what we live on. God's Word is what we count on. We look at this Word and that's what faith holds to.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ was given to take the things of Christ, who He was, what He did, where He is now, all these things involved, and reveal it to His people. That was the promise He gave in John 17, which we'll get to later on in this study. But that's, or John 16, and His work, the work of the Holy Spirit, is to take the Old Testament, this is what He did for those saints of old, He took the Old Testament after he came at Pentecost. He took the Old Testament and he showed them Christ.

The things of Christ. The things of Christ. And they began to preach Christ from this old book. Now up to that point, Christ wasn't preached. The Messiah was promised. They spoke of it in a few instances, they thought. Spoke of it in Daniel chapter 9 and a couple other places. But now they saw from Genesis all the way to Malachi, this was about the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles saw that.

They didn't see it yet. Now, he was their master, he was their teacher, he was their rabbi. He sat with them and taught them and they loved him. But when he died, they were all confused, they scattered. They scattered. And even when he resurrected, Thomas didn't believe he'd be resurrected until he reached up and touched the wound in his side and said, my Lord and my God. The disciples on the road to Emmaus thought he was going to set up a kingdom on earth. And he told them, no, I have to die. This is why I came. I came to die. None of that was understood fully until the Pentecost. When the disciples were gathered in a little place, though they had been told to go out and preach the gospel to the whole world, they were still afraid.

The Holy Spirit came in power, and they began to preach the gospel. They began to preach the gospel clearly. And they took reading Peter's message at Pentecost, and see how much of the Old Testament he uses to teach who Jesus Christ is. That's all he had. And so talking to the Jews and the Gentiles, and he's talking about the Old Testament and how it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit did. It took the things of Christ. He took the things of Christ and showed it unto His people. The fact that they did not understand was a common thread.

Look over at Luke chapter 18. It's an example of this. Our Lord is talking to them concerning His death, that He should die at Jerusalem. In Luke chapter 18. Verse 31, it says, Then he took unto him the twill, and said unto them, Behold, we go to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, And they shall scourge him and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. Look at verse 34. And they understood none of these things. And this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. He said it plainly what was going to happen. They didn't understand it. They didn't understand it.

Until the Spirit comes to you by His power through the preaching of the gospel, you don't understand what Christ did on Calvary. You come up with all kinds of ideas maybe you'll have, but if the Spirit teaches you, you'll find out that Jesus Christ came to save His people from their sins.

The revelation of Christ was progressive in those days, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, because the gospel is a wonder. I've been preaching it for a lot of years. Close to five decades. About five decades I've been preaching this gospel, and I'm still amazed at the wonder of it.

Still, my flesh still says, this don't make sense. That God Almighty would leave heaven and come down here and take on sinful flesh. And die for the worst kind of people that ever walked upon the face of the earth. That's off scouring of the university. What kind of sense does that make? And that by his death, by dying, he answered God Almighty's wrath and justice for them and set them free and redeemed them by his blood and saved their souls for eternity. That doesn't make any sense. It's a wonder. Only a fool, as old Barnaby used to say, only a fool or a Christian would believe this. Only a fool or a Christian.

Verse 17 speaks of the people that were with him when he raised Lazarus from the dead. It says, it's the people, therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead. They bear record. So the people that had been with him at Bethany when he raised Lazarus from the dead, they went with him to Jerusalem.

And everybody they met, they said, I was there. Do you see, do you know anything about the miracle of Christ? I was there. I saw it happen. I saw it when he said the Lazarus would come forth out of that grave. So they bear witness to everybody. They told everyone that was here that they were eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Lazarus. And this was the cause of multitudes welcoming the Lord. This is why they did it. They heard he came and this miracle that he did, that he had raised Lazarus from the dead, and they wanted to see it.

And as soon as they saw it, they started crying, Hosanna and declaring Jesus was the King of Israel. What did this do to the Pharisees? They were beside themselves. Their words in verse 13 reveal the extent of their dilemma. They were at wit's end and they knew that they must, by whatever means, rid the world of the Lord Jesus Christ, of Jesus of Nazareth. In verse 19, rather, the Pharisees said, Do you understand? Perceive ye How will ye prevail nothing? Do you see that we're not getting anything done? We're not making a headway in this thing.

We've been trying to kill him for a long time now. We've been after him. We've been chasing him. And here he is, multitudes around him. They call him the king of Israel. They're saying, save us. Don't you understand that we've not made any headway here? Perceive, perceive ye not, or perceive ye how we prevail nothing.

Behold, the world's gone after him. The world is going after him. They want to get rid of him. Why? Because law and grace cannot ever come to him. They know if he remains and the multitudes enthrone him as they desire and they desire to make him king back in chapter 6 and chapter 5. They was going to make him the crowning king back then. Why? Because he fed their bellies with fishes and other. They was going to make him king. They said if they enthrone him That will be, then they will be nothing but an afterthought. The world will be nothing but an afterthought. The Pharisees, the law will be nothing but an afterthought. And what does the scripture say?

I'm crucified in Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I'm crucified to the world. What does the law mean to me? I love the law. And it's done its duty, it's done its job, and now it's set aside. I love the law, it's honorable, it's true, it's holy, and it's pure.

But it doesn't do anything for me. So it's an afterthought. It's an afterthought. The Word. I enjoy life, just like you do. I enjoy the things we have and the things we possess. These things mean a lot to me, and I enjoy them a great deal. But when I think of Jesus Christ and Him on the throne, they're an afterthought. You're just there to be used and not abused.

As in every enemy of sovereignty, their heart's cry is simple, and it's always the same. They said it at Calvary, they say it today. When sovereignty is set forth, when Christ is truly seen as the one who saves us now, the one who is the King of Israel, the one who is blessed forever, amen. will not have this man to reign over us. Which is a fool's notion, because he does. They just don't know. Father, bless us to understand and pray for Christ. Amen.

Hosanna

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Hosanna

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