If you were able, would you please remain standing for the
reading of God's Word this morning?
I'll be reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 12, beginning
in verse 12. The next day the large crowd
that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to
Jerusalem. They took branches of palm
trees, went out to meet him, crying out Hosanna.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King
of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey
and sat on it, just as it is written.
Fear not, daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand
these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they
remembered that these things had been written about him and had
been done to him. The crowd that had been with him
when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the
dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to
meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are
gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after
him. Now among those who went up to
worship at the feast were some Greeks.
So these came to Philip who who was from Basaida in Galilee and
asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told
Jesus, and Jesus answered them. The hour has come for the Son of
Man to be glorified. Truly, truly.
I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much
fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it.
Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life. If anyone serves me, he must
follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.
If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Now is my soul troubled? What shall I say, Father, save
me from this hour? But for this purpose I've come
to this hour. Father, glorify your name.
Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will
glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and
heard it said that it had thundered.
Others said an Angel and spoken to him.
Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and I, when am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to
die. This is the word of the Lord.
You may be seated 1 of the most incredible things about the New
Testament books of Matthew, Mark and Luke and John if they give
us not just one, but four different eyewitness accounts
about the life, death, resurrection of Jesus.
With each gospel, we're given not simply a different
eyewitness testimony that tells us that everything we read here
is true, but it also gives us a different window, a different
vantage point through which to behold the person and work of
Jesus. Several weeks ago on Palm
Sunday, we looked at the story of the triumphal entry of Jesus
into Jerusalem from the Gospel of Luke.
And this morning we're going to look at that exact same story
from the Gospel of John. Now you might be asking, why are
we doing that? We just made our way through
Easter tide. We haven't even made it to
Pentecost, and we're already going back to Palm Sunday.
Well, the reason we're doing that is not simply to work our
way through our series in the Gospel of John, but to notice
that with every story in the Gospels, especially those that
are found in all four Gospels, it is a right and good thing to
compare what we see in one gospel to another in order to
get a fuller picture of who Jesus is and what He came to do.
If you're with us on Palm Sunday, we saw the Gospel of
Luke, how Jesus came riding on a donkey.
He did this during the Feast of Passover, just like all the
other Gospels. We see that same story told in
the Gospel of John. I want you to look with me, John
12, verse 12. John tells us the next day the
large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem. This is the turning point in the
Gospel of John. In many ways, it's the turning
point in Jesus's earthly ministry.
This is the beginning, the final week of Jesus's life, a week
that John will dedicate almost half of his gospel to.
Verse 13 John tells us So they took branches of palm trees and
went out to meet him, crying out Hosanna.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king
of Israel, like a triumphant king returning from battle.
The people gathered there, that triumphal entry as Jesus rode
into Jerusalem on a donkey waving palm branches, symbol of
victory. They cried out Hosanna, which
means save us. And they quoted from Psalm 118.
They praised Jesus and victory as he rode into Jerusalem, but
they had no idea what he was coming to Jerusalem in order to
do. And in their misunderstandings
and false assumptions about Jesus, we will see ourselves.
But more than that, in Jesus we will see a king who came to lay
down his life in order to draw all people to himself.
So the first thing the Gospel of John's account of the triumphal
entry shows us is this. The disciples did not understand
him. Once you look with me, John 12
verse 16, John goes on and he tells us that his disciples did
not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was
glorified, then they remember that these things have been
written about him and have been done to him.
Now this may come at a surprise for you, but Jesus's own
disciples did not understand him.
Though they walked with him for three years, Though they
followed Him as their teacher, though they heard Jesus preach
and teach, though they saw Jesus work miracles and signs, they
did not understand who he really was or what he came to do.
We see this throughout the Gospels.
Just after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, he then
rebuked Jesus because Jesus told his disciples that he came to
suffer and to die. Peter wanted none of that.
That wasn't what he thought Jesus was, wasn't how he
thought. Jesus was going to bring
salvation, not through suffering, not through death.
So he rebuked him. Peter didn't understand Jesus.
Of course. We saw last week that Judas
didn't understand Jesus. All he could see was his own
selfishness. Eventually he betrayed him.
James and John. They saw Jesus as king, but they
wanted to know from Jesus when he took the throne on the
Kingdom, which one of them would be the greatest.
They too didn't understand Jesus.
The disciples tried to keep children from going to him.
They questioned Jesus when he suggested that he was going to
feed 5000 people. The disciples did not fully
understand Jesus until after Jesus died and rose again.
Before. You want to be hard on them.
I actually don't think it's to surprise us at all.
See, they couldn't possibly fathom that the savour of the
world had come to die, that the King was going to ride into
Jerusalem in humility. All of this they couldn't
possibly see until after Jesus triumphed over the grave.
And in that moment their cries for victory became fulfilled.
John tells us that it was after he was glorified that they
remembered all that was written about him.
They begin to connect all the dots of the prophets and all
that Jesus said and did. They remember the words of
Zechariah Chapter 9, verse 9. Rejoice greatly.
O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold,
your King is coming to you righteous and having salvation
as he humbled and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the full of a
donkey. They expected a king to come and
triumph over their earthly enemies.
They didn't understand that Jesus came to conquer an enemy
far greater. He came to conquer sin and death
itself. So we must ask ourselves, how
different are we? Do we really understand who
Jesus is and what he came to do? If, like me, you've grown up the
culturally Christian S, you probably grew up going to Sunday
school and hearing about Jesus. You probably grew up raised the
church hearing a pastor like me preach Sunday to Sunday, maybe
even read much of the Bible for yourself.
But here's my question. Do you really understand him?
Because for those of us who've grown up in a culturally
Christian environment, sometimes we know just enough about him in
order to misunderstand him. Others of us, maybe we didn't
grow up in a Christian home, but growing up in the West, United
States of America. You've at least heard his name.
Maybe even you recognize some of the stories.
Maybe even a popular 1 like this, the triumphal entry.
And for you, you know, just a little.
But that little is not just simply led to curiosity, but
also misunderstanding. I want you to know that we've
been given all that we need in the Word of God.
Right there in the palm of your hand, you hold a means of God's
grace to show you Jesus, to see him for who he really is, to see
the story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation to just
like the disciples, to look back on the death of resurrection of
Jesus and see how it's the fulfilment of every prophecy.
And so don't settle for vicarious Christianity.
What I mean by that is don't just come Sunday to Sunday
expecting to just hear about Jesus without seeing Him for
yourself. Don't just take my word for it,
but study Him. Read about Him, see Jesus
unfolded in the pages of Scripture, and behold Him as
your Savior, King. 2nd, we see not just the misunderstanding of
the disciples, but we see that the Pharisees were threatened by
Jesus. Look with me at verse 19.
John goes on and tells us that the Pharisees said to one
another. You see that you are gaining
nothing. Look, the world has gone after
Him as the Pharisees are seeing this parade unfold and Jesus
entering into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people waving
palm branches and shouting hosanna, they don't want to join
with them. No, they're threatened.
They see their grip on control and their hold on the people
beginning to wane. They're threatened by Jesus's
fame and popularity, and so they cry out in anger and a mockery.
Look, the world has gone after him.
In other words, look at this peasant, this king that they're
bowing down to. Can you believe it?
Look how the world's going after him.
We're gaining nothing. They're just going to keep doing
it. How can we stop their blindness
and their foolishness? But you see, what the Pharisees
meant out of anger was exactly right.
The whole world was going after Jesus.
John goes on in verse 20 and tells us, thou among those who
went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
Undoubtedly these were some Greek Jews who had come to the
feast of Pentecost. But what I want you to notice is
that John tells us in verse 21 that they didn't just come to
the feast, but they came to see Jesus.
These Greeks had heard about him.
They wanted to know who he was, that if the stories were true.
So Philip and Andrew go to Jesus.
They tell him that these Greeks had come and Jesus sees this as
a sign that it is now finally time.
His hour has come. Once you look with me, verse 22,
Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told
Jesus and Jesus answered them. The hour has come for the Son of
Man to be glorified. The Pharisees were threatened.
And the truth is, if we're honest, Jesus is a threat to us
as well. You see, the cross of Christ is
at once both a threat and freedom.
It's threatening to us, and it's liberation.
Here's what I mean by that. You see, Jesus Christ has come
not only as King of the Jews, but what we see the triumphal
entry is He is King of the whole world.
Listen again to the words the Pharisees.
Look, the whole world has gone after him.
He's not just King of the Jews. He is King of kings and Lord of
Lords, and His Kingdom transcends every earthly Kingdom
but the wonder of the Gospel. He's not only brought His
Kingdom to bear on the kingdoms of this earth, but He's brought
His Kingdom to bear to reign and rule over our hearts.
And every single one of us spends every single day trying
to build our own earthly kingdoms.
We go through most of our lives holding on with tight gripped
fists, grasping for control, trying to build our own Kingdom
in our own image. For some of you, it's the
Kingdom of business and work and this thing that God has called
us to, to be fruitful and multiply.
This thing He's entrusted to us to steward.
We have held onto so tightly that we have choked God
completely out of it. And holding on to control, we've
bought into the American Dream. If we just work hard enough,
we'll achieve everything that we've ever wanted.
But if you've ever been let go or laid off or had a deal fall
through after an entire year's worth of work, you know that we
are not as much a control as we would like to be for others.
Us. That Kingdom is our own
families, these families that God has called us to lead and to
shepherd again, we hold on to so tightly trying to control.
And so we've bought into the fear as parents that we have to
get our kid on the right team, be part of the right ballet
company, and get into the right school.
And if we can hit all of those boxes, then they'll just going
to turn out just right. But you know that those of you
whose kids have now all grown up, we're not much in control of
that either. We've been called as parents not
to raise our children according to kingdoms of this earth, but
according to the Kingdom of God, and we serve a heavenly Father
that holds all of his children in the palm of his hand.
For others of us, our Kingdom is our own health.
There's nothing quite like our own frailty as human beings that
confronts the lack of control that we have over our lives.
The kingship of Jesus is a threat to us.
Let me tell you why. It's also incredibly liberating.
Because our King is good. And when you behold the
sovereign majesty of Jesus and you realize He is good, suddenly
your grip on your life receives an invitation to let go, and you
fall on His feet and bow down before him and worship our King,
out of his goodness and love, laid down his life for His
people. How do we know that our King is
good and are questioning Him? When life lets us down?
How do we know that He is good? We look no further than the
cross, and at the cross we see His goodness and sovereignty
come to bear. That's what Jesus was talking
about in verse 23 when he says the hour has come for the Son of
Man to be glorified. Every time Jesus talks about the
hour, he's talking about the hour of his death.
The hour is crucifixion, he goes on in verse 24.
It says truly, truly. I say to you, unless a grain of
wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
He tells a short parable to illustrate the point.
Just like a grain of wheat falls and it's buried in the earth,
from it much fruit comes in a harvest.
So to Jesus must be separated from his Father, must be buried
in the ground so the third day he could rise again.
He goes on in verse 25, he says whoever loses loves his life
will lose it. Whoever hates his life and this
world will keep it for eternal life.
So not only does Jesus tell us about his sacrifice for us as a
king laying his life down for his people, but he's calling us
to follow him to the cross. And that is why the cross is so
threatening to us, because it calls us to come and to die.
But in Christ's death, our sin is paid for, and in his
resurrection his victory becomes ours.
So the 3rd and final thing that we see here in John's account of
the triumphal entry, not only do we see the misunderstanding of
the disciples, the way that Jesus was a threat to the
Pharisees, we also see in the crowd all of the false
assumptions that we make about him.
Verse 27, as Jesus reflects on what he has come to Jerusalem to
do, to die on the cross in our place for our sin, he prays a
prayer that sounds a lot like the prayer that he will
eventually pray in Gethsemane. Because now my soul is troubled,
and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour.
But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name. In other words, Jesus,
considering the weight of sin that's about to be placed on him
on the cross, considering the agony of his suffering and
death, he said, well, what should I do?
Should I pray to Godfather deliver me from the cross?
No, no, for this purpose I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name. And as soon as he utters those
words, a voice comes down from heaven and declares, I have
glorified it and I will glorify it again.
Can you imagine what it must have been like to have been
there that day? To have worked your way through
the crowds just to get a glimpse of Jesus, to see him riding on a
donkey into Jerusalem, to hear the words of Jesus talk about
what he has come to do, and to hear a voice from heaven cry
out? I have glorified my name, and I
will glorify it again. Just a week or so with the day
after Next Sunday, I'm going to go on sabbatical for the summer.
One of the things that we're going to get to do, we're so
grateful for, is to spend some time in England and Scotland
visiting pastors and churches there and learning from them.
My wife and I just realized that we're going to be in London
during the Trooping of the Color.
I don't know if you know what that is, but it's a parade, a
military parade that celebrates the birthday of the sovereign.
So on June 14th, all of London is going to be overcome with
people. We're going to be there and
crowds are going to form along the Mall just to get a glimpse
of the King as he makes his way down the road.
Of course yesterday we asked ourselves, should we go?
What do you think it was like for them that day?
Pushing their way to their crowds just to get a glimpse of
Jesus. What gave them the motivation to
go and see him? Well, John tells us that it was
because they had heard that Jesus rose Lazarus from the
dead. They heard what Jesus had done.
They could raise the dead for life.
They wanted to go and see him. But I want you to ask yourself,
do you think they all came with good intentions?
You see, I think just like us, they had assumptions about Jesus
even after they heard what he did.
There are some of them, I think, that we're probably skeptics.
They heard that this man supposedly rose Lazarus from the
dead, and they want to go see from themselves.
Can it be true? Out of their skepticism, they
went to see Jesus at the triumphal entry.
And I think we see a picture of them here as the voice cries out
from heaven. They assume that it's Thunder.
It's the only logical explanation.
Others, I think, had heard about Jesus, that he rose and from the
dead, and they were overcome with the mystery of it all.
They were not skeptics. They were prone to mysticism.
They want to come and see a show.
So as they hear this voice call out from heaven and this sound,
they assume that it must be an Angel speaking to him.
None of them could have imagined that what they heard from heaven
was far more glorious than an Angel and far more powerful than
a thunderstorm is a voice of God the Father speaking over God the
Son about the glory of the cross.
And so Jesus answers them in verse 30.
This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Now is the judgement of this world, now with the ruler of
this world be cast out, and I, when I'm lifted up from the
earth, will draw all people to myself.
Jesus Christ, our great King, poured all of His sovereignty,
authority, and majesty out on the cross.
And there our great King died. He laid down his life for his
people. He died for our sins, so that on
the third day he could rise again in victory over sin and
death. And in that way, even as they
waved palm branches at him, not fully understanding what he came
to do, they were exactly right. Because the victory is ours in
Christ. And just a few years later, the
apostle John would write about another triumphal entry, one
that also had palm branches in the crowds.
And he was given a vision and recorded it in the Book of
Revelation, Revelation 7, verse 9, John writes.
After this I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one
could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and
languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, crying
out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on
the throne into the Lamb. Can you hear it?
The triumphal entry to come when Christ our King comes again to
make all things new. On that day every tribe and
tongue and nation will wave palm branches, declaring victory once
and for all. And he can almost hear the voice
of the Pharisees. Look, see, the world has gone
after Him ever since they uttered those words.
That promise has been fulfilled through God's people.
The fame of Jesus, his death and resurrection has spread.
And this morning, as we come to this table, we're reminded not
only of what has gone before us, but the feast that is to come.
And so as you come forward, look around you.
Don't you see that the world has gone after Him?
He has drawn all people to Himself.
Can you see that He is drawing you out of your skepticism, out
of your misunderstanding, out of your false assumptions?
He has drawn you to behold your Savior at the cross.
Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we pray now as
we come to this table, that You would prepare our hearts.
May you rule and reign over us. May we bow our knees before our
Savior Jesus, and in his kingship may we find the victory
that is ours through his death and resurrection.
And so we pray now that you would prepare us as we come to
this table, as your people help us to not only behold you, but
in one another, to behold the salvation that you are working
in and through us. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Would you please stand?