Okay, now I'm entitling the message
from John chapter 12 As it says there in verse 15
fear not Fear not daughter of Zion Behold the whole fear not
I brought a message from Isaiah 43 this morning on fear not fear
not Isaiah 43, 1 through 4. Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold,
thy king cometh. Thy king cometh. Sitting, sitting, sitting on
this wild ass's coat. Sitting on this coat of which
no man had ever sat before, it says in the book of Luke. So
I'm entitling the message from the words found in verse 15. Behold, the king cometh. The
King, the King, the King cometh. Now, get a hold of who's coming
here. The King. Get a hold of who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. He's King. The King cometh. Behold, the King cometh. Truly,
the Lord Jesus Christ is called in Scripture the King of Kings. and Lord of Lords. He indeed
is, as we sang a moment ago, Come Thou Almighty King. The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed
King in His Kingdom. Behold the King cometh. cometh cometh this refers to
his first coming this refers to his second coming this refers
to the Lord Jesus Christ always coming unto his people coming
coming coming for he says I'll never leave you I'll never forsake
you now the Lord Jesus Christ is not going to be king someday
in some mythical Millennium Kingdom, the Lord
Jesus Christ has always been king. He's king now, has always
been king. He has always been God, our king. He was king when he came to this
earth. Fullness of time, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us. He
came here as king, didn't he? When the wise men came seeking
to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, remember what they asked? Where
is he that is born king? He was king when he got here.
Because he's king from all eternity. He lived as king of all the earth. For it says in Psalm 47, God
is the king in all the earth. And he died as king to accomplish
all our salvation. Turn over to John chapter 19.
You remember the title? that Pilate had affixed to his
cross, John 19, 19. Pilate wrote a title, put it
on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the king. You see, he came as king, He
lived as King. He died as King. And when He
had accomplished our salvation, He ascended as King. And it says,
when He had by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right
hand of God. Why? He's King! He has a right
to the throne as God our King. Psalm 74 declares, God is my
King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Peter
declared at Pentecost that he is king. Behold the king cometh. He said to those Jews, this same
Jesus whom you had crucified, God had made him both Lord and
Christ. Aren't you glad he's king? He's
my king. I want no other king. For he
is king of kings. Now we see the Lord Jesus Christ,
verse 12, on the next day, much people that were come to Jerusalem
to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches, cut down
branches, some took off their garments and put them in the
way. Now we see the Lord on many occasions
before, withdrew himself from the crowd. He went away from
the crowd, but now, now he manifests himself unto the crowd. Many
times before he hid himself, notice in John 11, 54, Jesus
therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but went then
into a country near to the wilderness in the city called Ephraim, and
there he continued with his disciples. Oftentimes he would hide himself
away, turn back to John chapter 6. Let me show you another occasion
when he fed the multitude. You remember the crowd of 5,000
in John chapter 6, and they gathered up the fragments, 12 baskets
full in verse 14 of John 6. Then those men, when they had
seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth, that
prophet that should come into the world. And when Jesus therefore
perceived that they would come and take him by force to make
him a king, what did he do? He departed again to the mountain
himself alone. Oftentimes he withdrew from the
crowd, he hid himself from the crowd, but now on this day, at
this time, he manifests himself openly. He rides into town openly,
not Hiding himself not withdrawing from the crowd. You know why?
now His hour is come notice in this same chapter John 12 verse
27 now is my soul troubled and And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. He knew exactly what was to take
place when he came to Jerusalem, to be our sin offering, to be
our sacrifice. Look at John 13.1. John 13.1,
now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart out of the world, And to the
Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved
them to the end, knowing that his hour was come. You remember
many times he said, when they sought to arrest him and take
him, he said, my hour's not yet come. But now he's saying, this
is the time. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, this is the time for Him
to be our sacrifice for sin. This is a time when He would
be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This
is a time when He would lay down His life for us as the great
Lamb of God to take away our sin. This is the time that He
is the one, the Lamb of God that John said, behold this Lamb.
Look at John 17. Verse 1, These words spake Jesus,
and lifted up his eyes at heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I finished the work that you
gave me to do. And now, O Father, verse five,
glorify thy me with thine own self, with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was. The Lord Jesus Christ is
now saying that the time for Him to accomplish our salvation,
that very hour determined before of God, from all eternity, He
stood as a Lamb slain, the hour has come. This is the time which
He would accomplish all of our salvation. Now in verse 12, in
verse 13 of John chapter 12, they took branches when the Lord
Jesus started into the city They cut down branches from the palm
tree, and went forth to meet him. And they cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the king of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. After the Lord had supper
with Lazarus and his family there in Bethany, the next day the
Lord rides into Jerusalem, marching with his face fixed like a flint
toward the appointed hour of his glory. the appointed hour
of his crucifixion for our sin, and the people honor him in a
very special, unique way by what they do and by what they say,
and in doing so they fulfilled Scripture. Did they really know
that they were fulfilling Scripture? No. But yet they unknowingly
did the will of God in accomplishing what they did. They cut down
branches from the palm trees, It says in Matthew 21, and these
palm trees are symbols and signs of joy and victory. It also says
in Matthew 21 that they took off their coat, their garment,
and laid it on the ground. And it says in Matthew 21 that
all the city was moved saying, who is this? I mean, it was a
big day, a grand day, a grand time. Some were waiting for him
to come to the Passover. Some were wondering, will he
come to the Passover, or will he stay away? Because they had
given commandment to, if anybody knew where he was, that they
should take him. They plotted his death, and some
wondered, will he come to Jerusalem? Will he come to the temple? Some
were waiting for him to come to the Passover. Some had no
idea about what was going on, but they were caught up in the
emotion. They were caught up with the
crowd. You see the same. Verse 13, the crowd cried out
with great excitement, Hosanna! Hosanna! Which means, oh, save
us now. Save us right now. Blessed is the King of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel.
It says in Mark 11 of this same occasion, blessed be the kingdom
of our father David that cometh. This is the son of David. This
is David's son and David's Lord. David, blessed be the kingdom
of our father David that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now
remember why all these folks came from all these cities, concentrated
in Jerusalem. They came in remembrance of that
Passover feast. Remember what the Passover feast
was about. How God, by the hand of Moses,
delivered them, the nation of Israel, from 400 some years of
Egyptian bondage. God delivered Israel by His hand. God killed the enemy. And God
did this by His will, His purpose, and His power. Now, here's what
this crowd is thinking. For the most part, now there's
some, I'm sure, that's an exception to this. But here's what this
crowd is thinking. I just know what's going through
their mind. because we can see here in a moment, it will reveal
what's in their mind. God, here's what they're thinking,
God has sent us another deliverer like Moses to deliver us from
not Egyptian bondage, but from Roman bondage. Remember, they
were under the dominion of the Roman government. Most of this
crowd had heard how the Lord Jesus had raised up Lazarus from
the grave, Many came to see not only the Lord, but were inquisitive
as to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. And now they saw
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they saw in him a way of deliverance
from Roman dominion and Roman bondage. They thought, we're
going to have a great kingdom again. And this man that raised
Lazarus from the dead, he's going to be like Moses. He's going
to deliver us and give us an earthly kingdom, a prosperous
kingdom. I know that's what's going through their minds. and
yet they had no understanding of their real need. of His deliverance,
that the Lord came to deliver His people from sin, from the
bondage of sin, and to establish an everlasting righteousness
for them, that He came to accomplish salvation for His elect, His
people. Most of this crowd had no real
spiritual understanding of what the Passover was truly about,
how it all pictured that special Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you." And it wasn't just that blood on the door.
He's talking about the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is our Passover. He is sacrificed for us. Truly,
the Lord said in John 18, my kingdom is not of this world.
He said that to Pilate. He said, you're a king? Pilate
said to him, you're a king? I've heard that you're a king.
The people, they recognize you as a king. And the Lord said,
well, I am a king, but my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
was of this world, my servants would fight, would fight for
me. They were only interested, these people were only interested
in a earthly kingdom, a prosperous earthly kingdom. They were only
interested in making their life easier. not in salvation from
the bondage of their sin, not interested in acceptance with
God through the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Well, preacher, how do you know this? How can I say that? You know what happened? Turn
over here to John 19. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
arrested, And when he was beaten and mocked as the king, you remember
they put a crown of thorns on his head? And they bowed the
knee and said, Hail, King of the Jews. These Roman soldiers
did. And when Pilate brought him forth
and presented him to this same crowd, that one day, six days
before, they said, Behold, the king cometh. And now when they
see the Lord Jesus Christ standing before them arrested, beaten,
mutilated, humiliated, blood streaming down his face, they
see him as a defeated man. Not as someone like Moses who
could raise us up again, because look what's said here in John
19, when Pilate, verse 13, therefore heard that saying, he brought
Jesus forth, sat down in the judgment seat in a place called
Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha, and it was the preparation
of the Passover, about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews,
behold your king. Now you remember what they said
just a few days ago? Behold the King cometh, Hosanna,
save us!" But when they see him arrested, beaten, humiliated,
mocked, look what they say now. And they cried out, away with
him. He's not the deliverer we're looking for. Away with him. Away with him, crucify him. Pilate
said to them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest
answered, we have no king. Look what he says there. We have
no king but Caesar. Then delivered him therefore
unto them. Says in another place, he delivered
them to their will and they crucified him, to be crucified. You see,
this crowd wasn't really interested in salvation, were they? They
weren't really interested in being delivered from the bondage
of their sin. They just saw in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who exercised His mighty deity and power in raising Lazarus
from the dead, and they thought, boy, this man can lead a revolt,
an insurrection against the Romans, and we can defeat him if he leads
us. But now they see him as arrested and defeated. And they think,
oh, we don't want this man away with it. Give us Barabbas. Ask
for Jesus, you crucify him. He's not the liberal we're looking
for. Now here's the lesson for us. And here's what I want us
to learn here. Much of this world's religion
today follows the same carnal pattern. And this is the nature
of our sinful state to eat, drink, and be merry. We want someone
just to make things better. That we might have better health,
a better job, more money. And that's what most of this
religious world caters to. The state of things in our finances,
that's why they have these seminars on how to pay all your bills,
and how to have a successful marriage, and how to have a happy
family. And they center on these things and they neglect the gospel
of God's grace. We by our sinful nature only
seek those things that please the flesh. The Lord said, the
lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of
life, these things are not of God. Rather than, Seeking those
things that please God in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
such as grace The grace of God such as sovereign mercy such
as peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ such as pardon
from all sin through his blood redemption such as righteousness
that justifies us before God you interested in those things
and Most of this religious world's not. They're just interested
in gain and money and popularity and how they can get on in this
world. We are told to seek ye first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.
You see, being a believer And being one in Christ, we have
all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. We
have an inheritance that's eternal, incorruptible, that shall not
fade away in Christ. Being a believer, we're complete
in Christ Jesus. Now, which is more important?
To gain all this world and lose your soul? or to have nothing
and to be found in Christ Jesus, having His own righteousness
charged to us." You see, being a believer, we're complete in
Christ Jesus. Now, what can get any better
than that? We're complete, we're made whole in Him. Being a believer,
we're one with Christ, of which He said, nothing can separate
us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, look at verse 14 of John 12. And Jesus, they said, Blessed
is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And
the Lord Jesus, when He found a young ass, sat thereon, because
it is written. Now, we're not given the full
story here, but if you read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we will find
that the Lord, remember, sent His disciples to a certain house,
to a certain place, and He said, there you'll find an ass tied
that has a coat of which no man has ever sat thereon. You bring
him, the master has need of him, and if they ask, the owner asks,
by whose authority? You say, the Lord has sent them.
The Lord arranged all this that He might fulfill Scripture for
us, and He sat thereon as it is written. The Lord Jesus Christ,
as the God-man mediator, lived every day, every moment, every
way, He lived in such a way as to fulfill all Holy Scripture
for us. He lived every day by the Word
of the Lord. In every precept, He honored
the Law of God for us. The Lord Jesus Christ did so
as a representative man for us. It is the Word of God, it is
His revealed will and testimony concerning how He accomplished
salvation for us. He lived by the Word of God.
Remember he said this, when Satan came to tempt him and said, make
these stones into bread and everything will be okay. You won't be hungry
anymore. Remember he was tempted in the
wilderness 40 days? Remember what the Lord said is
written. I like how he rebuked Satan with the very Word of God.
It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That was His motto. He lived by the Word of God.
Everything without accepting the Lord fulfilled in Scripture
for us in a special and complete way as our surety, as our representative
of our salvation. You see, our salvation is based
upon whose faithfulness? Our salvation is based upon whose
obedience? Do you have to think about that?
Turn to Galatians chapter 2. You see, salvation that's of
the Lord is based upon His faithfulness, based upon His obedience, based
upon His righteousness, His sacrifice, His doing, not ours. Anything
that I could contribute is nothing but sin. Nothing but sin, sin
through and through. Galatians chapter 2. I want you
to find Galatians chapter 2. Look at verse 16. I've read this
many times, but I want you to see it again. Galatians chapter
2. Verse 16. Knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law. Sinners are not justified
by the deeds of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. You see that? By the faith of
Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Him,
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. You see, it's His faithfulness,
His obedience, not by the works of the law. By the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified. Look at Galatians 2, verse 21.
I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
comes by the law, then Christ died in vain. That's one of my
favorite verses in all the scripture, right there. That's Tom's favorite,
right there. One of them. If righteousness is by the law,
then Christ is dead and vain. You see how that gives me hope?
That gives this sinner hope. All I have is sin. All I have
is disobedience. My salvation does not depend
upon my faithfulness. Our salvation, every believer's
salvation depends upon Christ. His faithfulness, His obedience,
His righteousness unto the Father. He is the surety of the everlasting
covenant. Now look at verse 15. Fear not,
fear not. Daughter of Zion, who's the daughter
of Zion here? Children of God, sons of God.
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called sons of God? Fear not, daughter of
Zion. Why, behold, thy king cometh sitting on an ass's coat. Now, turn back to Zechariah 9.
You can find it easier this time. I should have told you to mark
it. Zechariah chapter 9. Turn back over there one more
time. You see, all of the Lord's doing was to fulfill Scripture
for us. Zechariah 9.9. Rejoice, fear
not, thy King cometh unto thee. Rejoice greatly. We have every
reason to rejoice in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in His mercy, His
love, and His grace unto us. O daughter of Zion, shout! O
daughter of Jerusalem, two names that signify the children of
God in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold! Behold! Our King comes. The King cometh. Thy King cometh unto thee. He
comes to thee to bring salvation. You see, salvation to the believer
is an invasion of the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. He takes
up residence in your heart. Christ in you is a hope of glory. He is just. He is the just God
and Savior. and he has salvation, or he's
saving his people from their sin, and he's lowly, he's meek,
he's riding upon an ass, upon the coat, the fold of an ass,
and here he comes, and fulfillment of that. Now look back to John
12. Here he comes, here he comes, the king. Believers have every
reason to rejoice in the Lord, And again I say rejoice. Being taken up with Him, rejoicing
in Him, we have no need to fear the law. He satisfied it. We have no need to fear sin. He put it away. We have no need
to fear death. He said, I'm he that liveth and
was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. And then we're gonna read in
John 14, verse 19, where he said, because I live, you shall live. In Christ, we live and move and
have our being. We have no need to fear and every
reason to rejoice. The Lord will not forsake us. The Lord is always with us and
for us, and he will never forsake us. Behold, the King cometh.
The King cometh unto thee. Now look at verse 16. Look at
verse 16. These things understood not his
disciples. Now he's talking about John and
Peter. He's talking about James, Philip, and Andrew. He's talking
about these who were with him, these whom he had chosen, Matthew,
follow me, These who had been with him all this time, who had
heard him on countless occasions preach the gospel, they beheld
his miracles. And it says, these things understood
not his disciples at first, but when he was glorified, then remembered
they these things that were written of him, that they had done these
things unto him. Then, when he was glorified,
then they remembered. Now John And his fellow disciples
understood not at first, but when the Lord came forth in his
resurrection glory, then he gave them understanding. Now remember
when that happened? Turn back to Luke 24. Luke chapter
24. He gave them understanding. They
understood not at first. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither
can he know them, understand them, they must be spiritually
discerned. Now look at Luke 24. This is
the risen Lord appearing unto the same men, the same disciples,
John, Peter, Andrew, Philip, He said unto them, verse 44,
These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalm concerning
me. To him give all the prophets
witness. Then opened he their understanding. He has to open
our understanding. That the scriptures, that they
might understand the scriptures. And said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ, to suffer, to rise from
the dead the third day, that repentance and remission of sin
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these
things." Then they understood when He opened their understanding. Now when the Lord is pleased
to glorify and reveal Himself to us and in us in the way of
mercy, in the way of salvation, He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so farther
it seemed good in His sight. When He's pleased to reveal Himself
unto us in the way of mercy and peace, you know what He does?
He gives us an understanding, doesn't He? Now let's turn to
1 John. Find 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. Look at verse
20. Here's what he does. He gives
us an understanding of these things. We understand what happened
in the garden, what happened when Adam sinned. We understand
what happened when Christ died to put away our sin. 1 John 5,
20, and we know that the Son of God has come and given us
an understanding He's given us an understanding. You see, the
carnal mind has enmity against God. He must change our thinking,
change our thoughts. By nature, all of our thoughts
are wrong. Did you know that? Everything spiritually, our thoughts,
spiritually, by nature, are all wrong. And we know that the Son
of God has come and He's given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true. And that we are in Him that is
true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God. He's given
us an understanding that He is the true God. And that eternal
life is in Him. He's given us an understanding.
Now, I'm going to close this message with four things. I said all that to get to these
four points. Here's the four things. I won't
be long. When we see His glory, the glory
of His electing grace, then He gives us an understanding that
had Christ not chosen us, we never would have believed and
loved Him. When we see the glory of His
electing grace, then He gives us an understanding Had He not
chosen us, we never would have believed the gospel. We never
would have loved Him. And when we see the glory of
His electing grace, His electing love, then, then, when He's glorified,
then we understand the necessity of Him choosing us, the necessity
of Him loving us. Secondly, told you I wouldn't
be long, when we see the glory of His atonement, His atonement
for our sin, His expiation and putting away of our sin, how
complete, how eternal, how full, how cleansing, how powerful,
how glorious His atonement is, His redemption is, then He gives
us understanding to see the absolute necessity of Christ crucified.
to see the absolute necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His blood cleansing us from all our sin. And then He gives us
understanding how futile and useless is our vain attempt to
put away our sin. Try it sometime. Just put away
your sin. Come on! Just stop sinning. Come on! I
challenge you. I'm not going to make the foolish
statement as the man who followed me on the radio program today,
who said, when we walk with God, we do no longer sin. Well, I
do walk with God as a believer looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. Oh, wretched man that I am! I
can say with Paul, who shall save me from this body of death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I sin every moment,
every way. Everything I touch, do and say
is contaminated with what I am. Do you understand what you are? S-I-N. Sin. That's all I am. That's all I can do. My hope
of salvation is Christ continually, always, every day, every moment,
cleanses me from all my sin. When the Lord gives us an understanding
of how sin is put away, and when we see the glory of His person
who put away our sin, then we understand. You understand this,
don't you? You cannot put away your sin. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things, silver and gold, vain conversation, but with the precious
blood of Christ. The precious blood of Christ. Thirdly, when we see His glory,
the glory of His salvation, how He takes the rebel, old Saul
of Tarsus, that little booger, I mean he was a booger, he was
a booger man, that old proud self-righteous Pharisee, No one
could whip him or tame him. He thought he had the law by
the tail on a downhill pole. He said, I was blameless concerning
the law. But when he met the Lord, he
took that self-righteous rebel and whittled him down in the
dust, and he cried out, Lord, what will you have me do? You see, the Lord can take the
rebel and make him a servant of the Lord. When we see the
glory of His salvation, how He takes the ungodly and makes them
righteous in Christ Jesus, how He imputes righteousness unto
Him. When we see the glory of His salvation, the Lord takes
the ignorant and the foolish and makes them new creatures
in Christ. Then we understand the salvation of the Lord. Then we understand the necessity
of the new birth and of regeneration, being raised from the dead. I
cannot raise myself up. And until we see the glory of
His salvation, we'll just keep trying to do the best we can
and pray God will accept us. Boy, that's a bad place to be. It's a place I don't want to
be. But when we see the glory of
His salvation, we understand the need of the new birth, of
regeneration, being reconciled to God in Christ Jesus, and we
say that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is His doing.
Remember what the Lord said to Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. He cannot understand the Kingdom
of God. The natural man doesn't understand.
Fourthly, closing, when we've seen His glory, the glory of
His person, who He is, God Almighty, manifest in the flesh, for without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest
in the flesh. Then we have understanding of
the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the message
of the Gospel is the Lord Christ alone. Now, turn to John 12,
verse 41. John 12, verse 41. These things
said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, remember Isaiah 6, the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord lifted up, and the angels,
the pharisees, and cherubims cried, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord
God Almighty, These things said Isaiah when he saw His glory,
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He spake of Him. You see, those who've seen the
glory of His person, the glory of His salvation, the glory of
redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ, He gives us an understanding
that Christ is the object of our faith and Christ is our message. I'm determined not to know anything
among you, I'm determined not to know anything among you for
righteousness, for salvation. Nothing, nothing but Christ. Nothing else, nothing less, nothing
more but the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all.