But you turn back to John chapter
12. Tonight, we're going to observe the Lord's table together. I've entitled this message, When
Do We Understand? I want to understand, don't you?
When do we understand? Now, let's pick up in verse 12. of John chapter 12. On the next day, much people
that were come to the feast, speaking of the Passover feast,
this is shortly before the death of Christ, when they heard that
Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees
and went forth to meet him and cried, Blessed is the King of
Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found
a young ass, saith thereon, as it's written, Fear not, daughter
of Zion, behold, thy King cometh to thee on an ass's colt. 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. The people therefore that was
with him when he called Lazarus out of his 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
not how you prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after
him. The disciples, at first, did
not understand what was taking place. All of a sudden, the Lord's
popular. They'd seen so many people leaving,
but now almost all of Jerusalem is shouting His praise. And they're
thinking, where did this come from? What happened? The people that were crying,
look in verse 12, on the next day, much people that were come
to the feast when they heard that 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. These same
people would be later be crying, crucify him. The same people. See, He ended up not being the
type of king and messiah they were hoping for. They were looking
for salvation from Roman oppression. They were not looking for salvation
from sin. They thought this mighty deliverer
has come to deliver us from being under the thumb of the Romans.
We're going to be top dogs in the world once again through
him. And when they found out he was not that type of deliverer,
they cried out, let him be crucified. The Pharisees didn't understand.
Look down in verse 19. The Pharisees therefore said
among themselves, when they see this, these accolades and this
popularity. Everybody crying, Hosanna to
the king. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They said, perceive ye, verse
19, how you prevail nothing. Behold, the world's gone after
him. We failed. He's winning. We're losing. Seeing
all this popularity. Now these shouts of Hosanna, meaning save now, a
quotation from Psalm 118 verse 25, we're not shouted in understanding. When do we understand? When do
we truly spiritually understand? When God has taught us, when
do we really understand? Look at verse 16. These things understood not his
disciples at the first, I try to put myself in their place.
They see these people chanting his praise. And why is this? What is taking place? They didn't
understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, there won't
be any understanding by me or by you until there's some understanding
of this. When Jesus was glorified. Understanding has something to
do with seeing Jesus glorified. Now the shouts of Hosanna came
from Psalm 118 verse 25. Save now we beseech thee in the
Hebrew it's Hosanna. That's where these shouts come
from. Psalm 118 verse 25. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. And they believe this to be a
political savior. from the oppression of Rome.
And they were happy about it. They thought the Lord has sent
a Messiah, a deliverer, and we're no longer going to be under the
thumb of Rome. And they're putting Israel back
on the map. And I think of the euphoria of
politics. When one side wins, we've got
it made now. Things are going to be better.
A new day is coming. And then you have the Pharisees.
We've lost. We're in trouble. We don't understand
why this took place. The euphoria around politics. Now, John does not give us a
detail that Matthew, Mark, and Luke give about him riding on
a donkey into Jerusalem. But let me read this to you.
He sent two of his disciples saying, go ye into the village
over against you in the which that you're entering in, you
shall find a colt tied. Whereon never man hath said,
Loose him, bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do
you lose him? Then shall you say unto him,
because the Lord hath need of him. They asked, what are you doing? They answered, because the Lord
hath need of him. bring him and unbeknownst to
them, this was the fulfilling of a prophecy. Would you turn
back with me to Zechariah, it's the next to the last book in
the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter nine, you see
what is taking place was detailed already in the Old Testament
scriptures, hundreds of years before it took place. Zechariah
chapter nine, verse nine. Rejoice greatly. Notice, not
just rejoice. Rejoice greatly. This is something
to rejoice greatly in. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. That's the church. Shout, O daughter
of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. Now here's something to rejoice
in. and to shout greatly about, thy king comes to thee. Now I want to come to him, don't
you? Whatever means to come to him, I want to do it. But I know
this, I can't do it unless he first comes to me. I'm dead sure of that. Like the good Samaritan who came
to the man dying, half dead, alive, physically, spiritually
dead. He came to him where he was,
not where he ought to be. I know where I ought to be. Really,
I didn't know where I ought to be. Here's what I need. I need for my King to come to
me where I am, not where I should be. but where I am, because I
know that I'm not coming to him unless he first comes to me and
gives me life. And that's why the prophet says,
rejoice greatly, O Zion, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee, and he is just, and having salvation lowly, and riding upon
an ass, And upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Now the Lord
knew this is the way I'm to come into Jerusalem. And I love the
way the first description of this King is that of being just. absolutely righteous. And this king is the one who's
made the way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. Only in the Bible is Job's question
answered. How can man be justified with
God? Or how can he be clean, which
is born of a woman? Now, if I'm sinful, and I am,
I know it. If I'm sinful, how can God say
he's clean and holy and without sin? When I know I'm sinful,
how can God say of me, he's clean, he's holy, he's unblameable,
and he's unreprovable in my sight? How can that be? This is answered
in the King who is just. absolutely just. He's made the
way for God to be just and justify somebody that's ungodly like
me and it's real, it's true. Thy King, oh this glorious King
comes to thee. He's just having salvation. This is what He's bringing, salvation. It is And my Marjorie says he
comes saving himself. You see, when he saved me, he
was saving himself because I'm united to him. Oh, how glorious
this just King. He's made a way for God to be
absolutely just and righteous and accept and embrace you as
one who has never sinned. All that sin that you realize
you've committed, it never happened. It's gone. It's canceled out.
Oh, rejoice greatly. Thy King cometh to thee, just
having salvation. And look at this in verse nine.
This is the way the Lord rode into Jerusalem. Lowly, lowly. You know, the Lord's meek
and lowly. The God of glory, the creator
of the universe is humble. Isn't that glorious? How beautiful
is humility? How ugly is pride? Yet the Lord
comes lowly, riding upon an ass and upon a
colt, the foal of an ass. He didn't come like a human king
and deliver. He's not riding on a big white
stallion and military pump. But upon an ass, upon a colt,
the foal of an ass. And that's not the deliverer
they expected. See, when he comes riding in, they think, oh, we're
going to be delivered. And he's not on a big white stallion.
He's on a donkey, meek and lowly. How could this man stand against
Caesar? This is not the deliverer we
expected. Back to our text in John 12. Verse 14, and Jesus, when he
had found a young ass, just like Zechariah said would take place,
and Jesus, when he had found a young ass, he saith thereon,
as it's written, and he's quoting that passage we just looked at,
Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh sitting
on an ass's colt. Now, there's a party atmosphere
at this time. There's excitement. And the Pharisees
look, and they're upset. They say, what's gone wrong?
We failed. The whole world is gone after
them. I love in Luke's account, they
said, Master, rebuke thy disciples. Don't you hear what they're saying
about you? They're giving you a place where you shouldn't take
to yourself. Rebuke them. And the Lord said,
I say unto thee that if these should hold their peace, the
very stones would immediately cry out. You see, the Lord's
gonna have his praise with or without me and you. If you and
I don't praise, the stones will. That's how glorious this one
is that even the stones will shout out his praise. Now, the disciples did not understand
what was going on at first. Verse 16, these things understood
not his disciples at first, but when Jesus was glorified. And when they saw that, this
book became a new book. They didn't understand anything
in this book until they saw this when Jesus was glorified. Now he had glory before he was
glorified. I love, look in John chapter
12. Verse 41, you're in John chapter 12, just turn the page,
verse 41. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory. What did he do? He spake of him. Now if anybody ever sees his
glory, I know what they're gonna speak of. They're going to have
one subject they will speak of him." These things said Isaiah
when he saw his glory he spake of him. Now like I said he had
glory before he was glorified. He spake in his great high priestly
prayer for his people, the glory I had with thee before the world
was. Oh, before the world was the
glory that existed between the father and the son. He said, thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. I love what the writer to the
Hebrews says in Hebrews 1, 3, when he was speaking of the glory
that he already had. The scripture says in Hebrews
1, 3, he's the brightness, the brightness, the sparkling of his glory. The express image,
a strong language, the express image of who he is. All you and I are ever going
to see of God is Jesus Christ. the brightness of His glory and
the express image of His person. This glory was seen by Moses
in a veiled way when the Lord said, I'm going to pass by before
you and I'm going to show you my back parts. And He put him
in the cleft of the rock and he saw his back parts because
no one could see his face and live, but he saw something of
the divine glory at that time that he already had. The disciples
on the Mount of Transfiguration, remember when the Lord was transfigured
before them? And his face began to shine as
the sun, and his raiment was white as light, and he gave them
some glimpse of his glory at that time. I know what they did,
they hit the dirt. If you and I ever see his glory, we're gonna
hit the dirt. That's what they did. The glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The glory Paul spoke of in 2
Corinthians 4, 6, when he said, for God who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Now, what is
this thing of seeing his glory? What does it I know this, I've
never understood the scripture until I see with God-given faith and eyes
His glory. In John chapter 7 verse 39 says
Jesus was not yet glorified. This one who had this glory as
the eternal Son of God. He was not yet glorified. Stay here in John chapter 12,
verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying, the hour is come
that the Son of Man should be glorified. The reason for the
creation of the universe has come. It's time for me to be
glorified. And he's talking about the time
of his death. He's talking about him being
thrown down on a cross and having Roman soldiers nail his hands
and his feet to that pole and lift it up and drop it in the
stand and there he hangs. The hour has come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. Now I wanna say this with all
the reverence. I wish I could muster it up. But Jesus Christ being nailed
to that cross is the most God-like thing God ever did. Do you believe that? Jesus Christ, God taking those
men, I love that scripture, of the truth against thy holy child
Jesus whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." What these men were doing is what God's hand and
what God's counsel determined before to be done. This is the
glorification of Jesus Christ. Him being nailed to a cross.
How can that be? In John chapter 17 verse 4, Christ
said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the
work thou gavest me to do. Now the glory of Jesus Christ,
where he said he was glorified, and this is when the disciples
saw with spiritual eyes and with understanding what was going
on. The glorified Jesus Christ has something to do with him
finishing the work the father gave him to do. Those are his
own words. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. John chapter 4 verse 34, My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. Now, what did the Lord say before
He gave death permission to come and take Him and say, Father,
into Thy hands I commend my spirit? What did He say before it? He cried with a loud voice, it
is finished. What was finished? The work his
father gave him to do. It was after that work that he
achieved this glory. He had glory that he would never
have had, even as the eternal son of God, had he not finished
this work. Now, we can't really talk about
him being us understanding his glory until we see it in my heart. Oh, would to God, but I see that
this is not just something I'm Turn with me to Exodus chapter
33. This is a familiar passage of scripture, but oh, it's so
important. You understand. I understand
when I see him glorified. Now, what does that mean? What
does that mean? Now, in verse, Exodus chapter
33, verse 18, this is Moses speaking, and he says to God, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory." What a request. Now Moses had
seen the Ten plagues. Moses had seen the parting of
the Red Sea. Moses had seen manna come down
from heaven and feed the children of Israel. He'd seen that rock
smitten. He was the one who smote it and
saw the water come out of the rock. He had heard the giving
of the law, all of the law at this time, and yet he says, I've
not seen thy glory. Show me, I beseech you. Oh, this is done in humility.
This is done in brokenness. This is done in some kind of
proud, haughty way. I beseech thee, show me. Can you pray that prayer? Show
me. I want the Lord to show me. It won't do me any good for you
to show me anything. It won't do you any good for me to show
you anything. It must be Him that shows us. The only way we'll
see is if He shows us. I beseech thee, show me thy glory. I hope everybody in this room
is praying that prayer right now. I beseech you. For Christ's
sake, I beseech you. I beseech you. Show me thy glory. And now God himself tells us
what his glory is. Verse 19, and he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. That is God's glory and it is
only seen in Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross. Can you and
I, by the grace of God, see this? The goodness of God. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have eternal life. The door's thrown open. God's
goodness, His goodness is seen in giving His Son. His goodness
is seen in He gave His Son to somebody like me. to die for
me, to put away my sins, to make a way for Him to be just and
yet justify me. How good is God? God's good. Everything He does is good. Everything. You know, when people say, well,
what about this? What about that? I don't know what about. If God's
good, why does He let this happen? Why does He let that happen?
I don't know. It doesn't change His goodness.
He's good all the time. No matter what, He's good. He's
good. Do you believe that? God is good
and that is most clearly demonstrated in Him giving His Son. Whenever somebody tries to judge
God, how could God do this? How could God let that happen?
God gave His Son. You don't need to understand,
you just need to believe. Trust Him. Trust Him. God is
good. He's good all the time. Aren't
you thankful for the goodness of God? God's good. I'm not,
but He is. He is. God is good. And the cross,
Jesus Christ was glorified in going to the cross to demonstrate
the goodness of God. And notice He said, I'm going
to proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And this is so very
important. The name of the Lord is the person
behind the name. It's His attributes. It's His
characteristics. It's who He is. And the only
way God is known is through Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross.
Every attribute of God is on full display in Jesus Christ
being nailed to that cross. He glorified God's justice. God's gonna punish all sin. That
sin you've committed, the sin you've thought, the sin that's
in your heart, It will be punished, either you, in you, or in the
substitute. But all sin will be punished.
Oh, God is just. He's no respecter of persons.
Boy, don't we see that in the cross? When his son, sin is found
in his son, what does God do? He kills him. Because God is
no respecter of persons. He's the only one, really, who's
no respecter of persons. Everybody, me and you are. Not
him. He's absolutely just. But oh,
we see the love of God in giving his beloved son to be nailed
to a cross to put away sin. Oh, how we see his love. Who
understands that? How we see his wisdom. in finding a way to be absolutely
just and justify somebody like me or you. Oh, what wisdom, what
power, the power of God in putting away my sin by what Christ did
on the cross and making it to be no more. What power in making
me holy and unblameable and unapprovable and righteous in His sight. What
power. I see God's eternal purpose. You see, Jesus Christ glorified
His Father. That's why He came. Now men,
me and you think, well, He came to save us. Well, that's the
end of what He did. That's what happens. But He came
to glorify His Father. Men think, oh, us and the things
God will do for us. No, things begin with God. His
glory is why He does what He does. His glory, that's his motive
behind everything. We benefit from that. But his
glory is why he does what he does. He said, my glory I will
not share with another. And how he is glorified in the
cross of Christ. Every attribute that he's been
pleased to make known is in full display. You understand when
you see God's glory in the death of Jesus Christ. Do you? Do you see how this glorifies
God in every one of his attributes? They understood when he was glorified. And then Moses says in verse
19, he says, I'll make all my, God says this to Moses, I'll
make all my goodness pass before thee. I proclaim the name of
the Lord before thee. And that's what was going on
on the cross. The name of the Lord is being
proclaimed. Every attribute of God glorified and made known.
And then he says this and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now, the first part is I will
be gracious. I will be gracious. You know what I need? Grace. The favor of God. The acceptance
of God. The love of God. The mercy of
God. He said, I will be gracious. That's who he is. He's so gracious. I mean, I'm so gracious, it's
not even, he is gracious. He is merciful. He delights in
mercy. He said, I will be gracious.
How does he do that? Jesus Christ being glorified
on the cross because of what Christ did. He can say to you
individually, I will be gracious. I will be merciful. For this one reason, Jesus Christ
was glorified on the cross. He made the way for God to be
just and be gracious to you and be merciful to you. I will be
gracious. Lest anyone thinks that this
is a thing I'm entitled to, to whom I will be gracious. I will show mercy. I will be
merciful. to whom I will be merciful."
Anytime somebody comes up with this, well, how can it be fair
for Him to not be gracious to everybody? What you mean by that
is how can it not be fair for Him not to be gracious to me?
And that's some kind of a sense of entitlement before God. God's
not going to have anything to do with that. He's gracious to
whom He will be gracious. Now, this doesn't shut the door
of mercy. It opens the door of mercy to
anyone who comes. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. The finished work of Christ is
the declaration of how all of that can be, how God's glorified,
His goodness is magnified, His name is made known through the
cross of Christ, This is how he saves sinners. Now, when did they understand? When Jesus was glorified. When
he glorified God and you see that God's glory is honored in
your salvation. You're not glorified in any way.
He gets all the glory. And you like it that way. And
God's glory is honored in your salvation through what His Son
did on Calvary's cross. I understand that God's purpose
is the glory of His Son. I understand that His finished
work on the cross fully glorified His Father. I understand that
my salvation is completely predicated on this statement, it is finished. Do you understand that? You know,
it is finished to me is what was blown on the day of Jubilee. That silver trumpet, somehow
through that sound it was saying, it is finished. Every 50 years
in the nation of Israel, it's supposed to be this way. I've
told you before. There's no record of them ever observing the year
of jubilee. They were supposed to, but they
always found a way to get out of it because folks, you know,
if you owed me money and all of a sudden it was canceled on
the year of jubilee, I probably wouldn't be all that happy about
hearing it either. But when that silver trumpet
of jubilee blew on that 50th year, All of a sudden, you were set
free. You were a slave. You were in
debt. You couldn't pay your debts. You were made to be a slave.
Can you imagine what it would like to be a slave? I mean, these
fellows were slaves. And all of a sudden, when they
heard that silver trumpet of jubilee, it is free, they were
free. It is finished. Their salvation
was finished, free. And when that trumpet blew, you no longer have any debts.
All debts are canceled. When that trumpet blew, whatever
it was you lost was restored to you. You might have lost everything.
In Christ, we gain more than we ever lost. An eternal salvation. And when that trumpet sounded,
the land was given a year of rest. What am I to do? Rest. Well, give me something
else. No. Rest in Christ. They understood. When Jesus was
glorified that glory he achieved on Calvary's tree. Let's pray
together. Lord, how we thank you that you
glorified your son. How we thank you that he glorified
you when he finished the work you gave him to do. And Lord,
would you enable each person here to hear the silver trumpet
of Jubilee? It is finished. And let us cease from our own
works and rest in his. In his name we pray, amen.