Turn back to Mark 11. Now this
passage of scripture that I just read is one of the few events
recorded by all four gospel writers. And this actually is the beginning
of the Lord's last week upon the earth. Within seven days,
he knows he will be crucified and he has gone to Jerusalem
for that very purpose. Now, the Lord had lived for 33
years upon the earth and one third of the gospel narratives
are devoted to this last week. This is what is known as Palm
Sunday. Now, I don't like that. It's
just men's attempts at making a issue of externals. We have
a Palm Sunday and we have an Easter Sunday and all those things,
but this is what is known as Palm Sunday because this is the
time they threw palms in the street where the donkey was right. Now I've entitled this message,
Hosanna in the Highest. Look in verse 9, and they went
before, and they that followed cried, saying, Hosanna. Now that's a Hebrew transliteration
of the word in Hebrew. That's how it's pronounced in
Psalm 118. Hosanna. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Blessed be the kingdom of our
father David that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in
the highest. Now these are the highest ascriptions
of praise ever given by man to the Lord. And these same people
will within a week be crying, crucify him. It's a sobering
thought, isn't it? Hosanna in the highest. And the highest is only used
to describe God himself, the most high. They were saying,
Hosanna in the highest, and they will soon be crying, crucify
him. Now, the word Hosanna means save
now. It has with it the idea in this
word of be propitious. Be a sin atoning sacrifice for
me. Do something about my sin. Save now. Hosanna in the highest. Now, these same people, as I've
already said, will next week be saying, let him be crucified. And the reason was, he was not
the Messiah they envisioned. They thought they had a Messiah
that was coming to deliver them from the political oppression
of Rome. They thought they had a Messiah
that was coming to deliver them from their economic woes. They
thought they had a Messiah that was coming to deliver them from
sin and disease and all the problems associated with their society
and bring back in this political kingdom, the kingdom of David.
And when he didn't turn out to be the Messiah they were expecting,
they turned on him. and said, let him be crucified. Now look in verses one and two.
And when they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany at
the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples. And
he 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 man sat, loose
him and bring him. And if any man say unto you,
why do ye this? Say, the Lord hath need of him. You see, it was the Lord's ask.
He can do what he wanted. And he said, loose him, let him
go, bring him to me. And they obeyed what the Lord
said. Now we know from Matthew's account
Matthew says, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken of by the prophet. And he quotes Zechariah chapter
nine, verse nine. Would you turn with me there?
That's the next to the last book in the Old Testament. Zechariah
chapter nine, verse nine. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. And here's why they're to rejoice. Here's why they're to shout.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation
lowly. and riding upon an ass, and upon
a colt, the foal of an ass. Now, the Lord was going to enter
Jerusalem riding on this donkey because God said he would in
prophecy. Now, think about what is being
said. Who is told to rejoice? The daughter
of Zion, the daughter of Jerusalem. That's the church. That's the
elect. That is those for whom Christ
died. That is those who believe. And what are they told to do?
They're told to rejoice. They're told to shout for joy.
Now why? What a reason. He says, behold,
thy king cometh to thee. Like the good Samaritan that
came to that man who was wounded and half dead, lying in a ditch.
Scripture says he came to him where he was. And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus does. He comes to us where we are,
not where we should be, not where we ought to be, but where we
are. Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. Now, this is the King coming,
the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, the one who has all
power, whose will must be done, the King. He is thy King. Worship thou Him, the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, King Jesus comes to
thee. Now, is that a reason to rejoice?
Is that a reason to shout for joy? King Jesus comes to thee. Now I know this, we will not
come to him unless he first comes to us. And the only reason we
come to him is because he first comes to us. and causes us by
invincible, irresistible, almighty grace to come to him. Now, is
that a reason to rejoice? Rejoice, daughter of Zion. Rejoice,
daughter of Jerusalem. Shout, thy king cometh to thee. And look at this description.
He comes to thee. And the next thing it says about
him is he's just. He's just. And there's a lot
of significance to that. Can you see where you being brought
into heaven is scandalous? And it seems like a thing of
scandal. And it almost seems unjust if somebody like you or
me are brought into divine glory. This one, this king who comes
to us is just. You see, He has made a way to
be absolutely just and bring somebody like me or you who are
unjust and sinful into glory in a way that glorifies His justice
and His holiness. He is the just one. I love that. You know, when I'm
brought into heaven, it's going to be a thing of justice, not
just a thing of mercy, not just a thing of forgiveness, not just
where he's bringing the scum bag in. But it's the justice
of God that demands the salvation of everybody Christ died for.
Because Christ's blood actually put away their sin and made us
holy and just before God. He's just. That's the king who's
coming to you. The one who is just. And look
what it says next. Having salvation. Having salvation. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins." Is that what
you need? Salvation? Having salvation. Our King comes to thee. He's
just. Having salvation. And I love
my marginal reading. It says, saving himself. Do you
have that margin in your Bible? Where it says, he comes to thee,
saving himself. You know what that means? That
means the believers are so vitally united to him, when he saves
them, he's saving himself. That's the power of this salvation. And look what it says next about
him. It says, he comes lowly, humble, approachable. He said, come unto me. All ye
that labor and are heavy laden, laboring under a sense and burden
of sin, and I will give you rest. He says, I will. He's got the
power to do it. I'll give you rest. Rest from your labors. Resting
in Christ, not working, but resting. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Now this is the Son
of God. This is the Creator. This is that mighty King. He's
meek and he's humble, lowly in heart, and you shall find rest
for your souls. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. For my yoke is easy. You know
why it's easy? It's grace. And my burden is
light. You know why it's light? He carries
all the burden. And he comes riding on a donkey.
I love this. Not on a big white prancing horse
like a human king coming in to show off to everybody how powerful
he is. He has no need to make himself
look powerful because he is powerful. He's all powerful. He doesn't
need a bunch of pomp and circumstance to prove anything to anybody
because of who he is. You know, he's not interested
in proving anything to me or you. He is who he is. And he
comes into Jerusalem, how glorious this is, just like he came into
this earth, not in a palace, not with mighty armies, but he
was born in a cow stable with no human influence. He comes
into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. You see, he said, my kingdom
is not of this world. It's other worldly. I go back
to our text, this is why the Lord told these people to bring
this donkey to him. Verse four, and they went their way and found
the colt tied by the door without it a place where two ways met
and they loose him just like the Lord said it would be. You
know, the Lord can see everything, can't he? Because he's God. And
certain of them that stood there did just what he said they would
do. They said to them, what do you losing this cult? And they
said unto them, even as the Lord had commanded and they let them
go. Verse seven. And they brought
the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him. And he sat upon
him, this colt, just like Zechariah 9.9 said he would. Behold, I
come to thee, riding on the foal of an ass. And he sat upon him,
and many spread their garments in the way, and others cut down
branches off the trees. This is why it's called Palm
Sunday. They took these palm branches and put them in the
street for him to march across and straw them in the way. And
they that went before and they that followed cried, saying,
Hosanna. Save, Lord. Now, blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the kingdom
of our father, David, that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna
in the highest. Now, like I've said, no greater
description of praise is given to the Lord during His earthly
ministry by men in all the Bible. Hosanna in the highest. You couldn't say anything more
glorious or more true than that. Hosanna in the highest, and I
feel quite sure these people had no idea what they were saying,
but neither did the children. As you go on reading in Matthew's
account, the children were crying this. I mean, babes and sucklings,
Hosanna in the highest, and the Pharisees and scribes were upset
about it. They'd say, don't you hear what
they're saying? Well, the Lord caused them to
say it, and I love the way the Lord replied to them. I love
it when he said this. Have you not read? You know that got under
their skin. Of course we've read. Have you
not read how that he said out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou has perfected praise. He quotes Psalm 8. This is exactly
what God said would took place. But these people who were crying
Hosanna in the highest were saying something great, but they did
not understand what they were saying. Hosanna save now be propitious. Now, I hope me and you can learn
something from this. Be propitious. Save now and be
propitious is the same thing. When I'm saying be propitious,
when I'm saying save me, when I'm saying be propitious, I'm
saying, Lord, do something about my sin. I can't do anything about
it. I can't make it go away. I can't
make it be gone. I can't overcome it. Do something
about my sin." That's exactly what the publican in the temple
cried out, God be propitious. Be A sin atoning sacrifice. Be satisfied with the sacrifice
of your son. Be propitious unto me. That's exactly what David was
saying in Psalm 51. Do something about my sin. Take
it away. Take it away. I can't take it
away. I can't make it go away. Do something about my sin. And
that's what every believer cries out for the Lord to do. Save
now. Do something about my sin. Be
propitious. Blessed is he, and I think of
the infinite blessedness of the blessed one who comes in the
name of the Lord. He's sent by his Father in his
name, declaring his name and embodying his name, and they
thought they were bringing the kingdom of David back. That's
all they could see. We're once again going to be
top dogs. We're once again going to be
a power. We're not going to have these Romans ruling over us and
taking our money and mistreating us. We're going to be top dogs.
That's all they could see. Bring back the kingdom of David.
You know, there was a time when David was the most powerful man
in the world. You know, the scripture says the fear of David. I love
this scripture. The fear of David came upon every
nation. Every nation in the world was
scared to death of Israel because David was their king and they
knew nobody could whip David. He was in control. And they said,
we want this again. We want this again for us. And
that's why they would soon be crying out, crucify him. Hosanna
in the highest. The highest is only used in scripture
to describe the most high God, and it was a name David loved
to use. How many times in the scriptures
do we read things like, I will give thanks unto thy name, O
most high. Most high belongs only to God. What a high description of praise
they give Verse 11, and Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Now, Mark, for some reason, gives
us less detail than the other writers give about this triumphal
entry into Jerusalem. Because Matthew tells us, when
he entered the city, all the city was moved, saying, who is
this? Now that word moved doesn't mean
moved like, you know, moved in a good way. You know when something
moves you and you're just, you're moved to tears or you're moved
to awe. That's not what that word means.
That word means agitated, disturbed, scared. All the city was moved
saying who is this? Now, Christ is coming as a king. They hear these shouts, Hosanna,
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. He's coming
into Jerusalem as a king. And that's what disturbed people. Now listen real carefully. Nobody
minds a Jesus they can control. You know, folks who believe in
free will, when it comes right down to it, they think they have
control. some measure of control. And if you have any control,
you don't have anything to fear. I mean, whenever you decide to,
you can just up and decide to be saved. You have control over
Jesus and everything else. If you have a free will, that
means you have control. Now, nobody's afraid of a Jesus.
They can control. But men dislike and are agitated
by and moved by and disturbed by the king of kings whom they
cannot control. They say, we will not have this
man reign over us. And that is why they were agitated. That is why they were disturbed.
Who is this? You see, an absolute king, that's
one whose will is done. That's what a king is. His will
is done. An absolute king, men want to
have nothing to do with. But let me tell you this about
the Lord Jesus. Now, he comes as a king riding on a donkey
to let us know his kingdom's not of this world. It's not like
some human, earthly kingdom. But he still comes riding as
the king of kings. Scripture says he was born king
of the Jews. You know, when he was dying,
He died as a king. Death could not come to him and
take him until he gave it permission. He's the only one to yield up
the ghost. Death couldn't even take him
until he said, you can take me. He was raised as a mighty king. As a mighty king, he makes intercession
for his people, controlling everything. And as a king, as a mighty king,
He's gonna return. What was it they crucified Him?
What did they put over His cross? You remember? It was written
in Hebrew and Latin and Greek. Hebrew, the language of the religious.
Latin, the language of the educated. Greek, the common man. So everybody
can hear Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Oh, they didn't
know. Pilate hated him. Pilate hated
the Jews, too. He was trying to dig into the
Jews at this time and say, this is your king. They said, say
not he's king, say he says he's king. He said, what I've written
stays written. This is the truth. Never has truth ever been said
more clearly. Jesus of Nazareth, king of the
Jews, and even the thief on the cross understood this. He said,
Lord, remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
you're going to come back as a mighty reigning king. Who is this? The city was moved. They were disturbed. Who is this? I love answering this question.
This is the uncreated second person of the Most Holy Trinity,
God the Son, the God-Man, Christ Jesus the Lord, the only Savior
of sinners, the God-Man. That's who this is. Well, the scribes and Pharisees
didn't like this. I like what Luke's account says. In Luke's account of this same
thing in Luke chapter 19, when they're crying, Hosanna in the
highest, the Pharisees look at the Lord and they say, master,
which means teacher, rebuke thy disciples. They ought to be no
better than say something like this. Rebuke thy disciples, and
you know what he said? I tell thee, if thee should hold
their peace, the very stones would cry out. God's able to make stones sons
of Abraham, and he's able to make these stones sing praise
to him. He's gonna be praised, whether
you and I praise him or not. He doesn't have to look for somebody
to praise Him. He can tell the stones to praise
Him, and they'll do it. They'll be anxious to join this
great heavenly choir. You see, He is God. Now, we also know from Matthew's
account that when he entered the temple, an unusual demographic
came to him. Pointed out, when he entered
the temple at this time, it says, And the lame came to him. That's who always comes to Christ,
blind. They can't see one reason in
themselves why God would look in favor toward them. Lame, they
can't get to him. But bless God, he comes to them,
and the reason they come to him is because he first came to them,
the blind and the lame. Somebody says, well, if they
were blind and lame, how could they get to him? Same way you
did, he caused them to, by irresistible, invincible grace. You see, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. The Pharisees and scribes,
once again, were sore displeased. That's when they said, don't
you hear what they're saying to you? That's when he said,
have you not read? I love that. Have you not read what the scripture
says? Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings, thou has perfected praise. You see, everything was
happening exactly as the scriptures said it would take place. And
then there's something that Luke points out that the other writers
do not point out. In Luke 1941, when he was come
near and he beheld the city, he wept. He wept. Tears came out of his
eyes as he beheld this unbelieving city. You see, the Lord is never indifferent
to human sin. Never. He wept. He said, if thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day the things which belong to
thy peace, but now they are hid from thy eyes. He didn't say
here's a second chance. He said these things are now
hid from your eyes. And he wept as he told them about
the leveling of Jerusalem. How could he be sovereign over
all of that and weep? Let me ask that question again. How can he be sovereign over
all that? controlling every event, and
weep. Here's my answer, I don't know. But he is, and he did. That's enough, isn't it? The
Lord wept. And one final detail that John
gives. We haven't said much about John,
but would you turn with me to John chapter 12? As I said, this is one of the
very few events that is recorded by all four writers of the gospel. And here's John's take on this.
Verse 12. And on the next day, much people
that were come to the feast, when they'd 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, saith thereon, as it is written,
Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an
ass's colt. Now these things understood not
as disciples at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remember
they that these things were written of him, and that they had done
these things unto him. You know, you don't really understand
anything until you understand the glorified Christ. You know,
who's reading, Eric was reading Psalm 135, and when he was reading
Psalm 135, I was thinking, you can't understand any of that
unless you know the gospel. I mean, it's just a closed, mysterious,
have no idea what it is unless you understand the gospel. And
the gospel puts all the light on that. And it's a glorified
Jesus, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ that makes you understand
everything. Verse, 17, the people, therefore,
that were 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 they had heard that he'd done these miracles.
The Pharisees, therefore, said among themselves, perceive ye
how you prevail nothing. Behold, the world has gone after
him. This is during all these accolades of Hosanna. And like
we know, they'll soon be crying, crucify him. Verse 20. And there were certain Greeks
among them, Gentiles, and they had observed all this. They'd
seen, they'd witnessed everything that had taken place. You see,
they'd come for the Passover and they see all this and they
see all this hubbub about this man called Jesus. The same came
therefore to Philip, which was a Bethsaida of Galilee and desired
him saying, sir, We would see Jesus. We would perceive Jesus. We would know Jesus. That's our desire. Very much
like Zacchaeus. The scripture says he sought
to see Jesus who he was. And I like what said next, but
he could not. You know, when you find out you
want to know him, you find that you cannot, for he was little
of stature, unable to do what he wanted to do. But these men,
after observing all this, here was their desire. We would, we
desire to see Jesus. That's a whole lot more than
a physical sight. We want to know him. Now here,
insofar as our experience goes, here's where salvation begins.
A desire to see who Christ really is. I want to know Him. I want Him
to know me. And I want to know Him. When I mention His name, I don't
want it to be name dropping. I want to be somebody who really
knows Him, somebody that He really knows. Now that's where salvation
begins insofar as our experience goes, wanting to know Christ,
wanting to know who He is. All the other stuff's just fluff.
It's not seen to be real until there's this desire to know him. And you know, when you want to
know him, you see that you don't know him, and you want to. We would see Jesus. That would be a As soon as I
put a scripture up, I'm afraid on the back to remind me that
that's the purpose of preaching. That's the desire of everybody
is to see Jesus. I'd probably forget what it means
or not. You know, I just know the way
I am. But boy, what that ought to be in every message, that
which hits the preacher. Here's what our purpose. The
people here, they want to see the Lord Jesus Christ. we would
see Jesus. Now that's where salvation begins,
but you know what? That's how it's carried on too. Paul said, Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him that I might know
him. Paul, don't you know him? Yeah,
but not very well. I want to know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made
conformable unto His death if by any means I might attain to
the resurrection of the dead. I want to know Him. You see, the knowledge of Him
is faith. It's not what you know till you
know. Paul said, I know whom I have believed. Now when that's
settled, everything else becomes obvious. You know who he is? The doctrine becomes obvious.
I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. Let's pray. Lord, we would see thy son. We would see who he is. We would
desire to know him. Not just an empty profession
of religion, not religious exercises, but oh, that we might know him. Whom to know is life eternal. Lord, you said in your word,
this is eternal life that we might know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. Lord, allow each one
of us to see him and to know him for Christ's sake. In his
name we pray. Amen. Drew.