Mark 11:1-11

They went and found the coal outside in the street tied to a doorway as they untied it. Um, some people standing there asked, what are you doing? Uh , and tying that Colt , they answered as Jesus had told them to , and the people let them go. When they brought the Colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks over the road while others spread , uh, branches. They , uh , cut in the fields.

Um, those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, Hosanna. Bless it. Is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Bless it is the coming kingdom of our father David Hosanna in the highest Jesus interred at Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything , uh , but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12 okay ,

And now coming out of this week into this new week, we bring in our third of our top three candidates. Again, he, this candidate and his wife will get a good view of us. We'll meet a our senior staff and we'll meet our elders. We'll go through further interviews, so it'll be a busy week, but an exciting week. We are, I believe in a very exciting time of our pastoral search. And if you are not praying for our pastoral search , can I entreat you to pray for our pastoral search?

We're at a place where we have, we have three candidates that, you know, any one of them from our humanize could be the, the , the next lead teaching pastor of central or you know, there could be another candidate out there hypothetically. So we need the Lord to really focus us in . I was reading in my own just devotional reading this morning, proverbs 19, that reminds us, we have many plans in our hearts, but it's the Lord's counsel that prevails. That's what we want.

We , we have plans, we have agendas, we have a process. We have steps that we , we do. Uh, we have hopes and expectations, but ultimately we want the Lord's counsel. We want the Lord's purpose. We want the Lord's will to prevail. So will you just pray for great discernment for first of all, the pastoral search team and then eventually the elders as we are in this very critical, good, critical, critical and exciting time of the pastoral search.

I even want to lead us in prayer now as we go into the word. But let's pray for the pastoral search. Would you just join me and I , I will pray on our behalf. Father, I thank you for your word and even the spirits reminder this morning that um, we, we might plan all kinds of things, but ultimately at the end of the day, you are going to do what you have determined. You are going to bring about the counsel of your will. That's what we want.

And so Lord , uh , we as a congregation, we as the leadership of this church, we as the pastoral search team, we , we need to listen to your spirit and want to listen to your spirit. Um, father, help us to see beyond what our humanize can see. Give us us spiritual site . Give us discernment from Your Spirit to be able to discern who it is that you want to be. The next lead teaching pastor here at central. And then father, I pray for us as a body.

It would be very easy to put all our hopes and uh , all our big expectations for the future of central and this one man. And yet he is only a man, whoever he is. And even in the images that you give us in scripture, he is just one part of an entire body and the body needs every part and no part truly is more important than any other part. And so lord, while this is a critical part, we don't want to make him in to be the Messiah. We don't want him to become somehow our savior.

So give us perspective and give us balance mixed in with the anticipation of what you are doing in this next season of the life of central church. We are so thankful for your Holy Spirit who leads us and gives us discernment. We're so thankful that your spirit illuminates your word to us and that's all we need this morning.

Lord. As we turn once again to the gospel of Mark, we need your spirit to make your word and your truth in your word light up for us, light up in our minds and light up in our hearts so that we not only would grow in our understanding, but we'd actually be changed as a result of interacting with your word. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. We are in mark 11 which Jackson just read and I'm mark 11 begins the last third of the gospel of mark.

It's interesting that the last third, the entire last third is all devoted to one week. It's the last week in Jesus's earthly life, which you might think of as passion.

We can he at the beginning of that week, what we look at today in the first 11 verses, he enters the city of Jerusalem for the last time in his earthly life and by the end of the week near the end of the gospel of mark, he is not only been crucified but risen from the dead so much packed into one week that mark gives it a full third of his gospel. And because he does that, nothing is insignificant in what we read in these 11 verses is not is is very significant. Let me just get into it this way.

A , there's a , uh, maybe you've heard of the name Aaw Tozer . Maybe you have not. He's one of the great evangelical minds of the last century. He said something that has always stuck with me. He says, what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you?

And I want to take that one step further as we look at the gospel of mark, I would say to you this morning, what comes to your mind when you think about Jesus Christ is not only the most important thing about you, but it is the most important thing about your spiritual life.

In other words, more can be determined about your spiritual life by how you think about Jesus, who he is, what he came to do, what his relationship is with you than anything else than church attendance, than whether you read your Bible or do devotions on a regular basis. What you think about Jesus Christ is determinative of your spiritual life. I think we see that born out in, in a in life experience.

I think about the people that I grew up with going to church with, and maybe you have had similar experiences. I expect how many started out going to church, going to youth group, but by the time they graduated and they were out of their parents' home, drifted away, not having anything to do with church or Christianity. You know, to this day, how many people have started out maybe growing up in church and , and, and no longer have any acknowledgement of Christianity on their life?

I can't help but wonder, does it come back to how, think about Jesus Christ, who they think he is? What if they think he came to do what they think is his relationship that he wants with them? I think even if people who are still in the church, maybe people who have spent years in the church their whole life in the church, but, but, but, but they have really not had any life change, any significant life change. They , they've just kind of stagnated throughout most of their life.

They just go through the motions and again, I can't help but wonder at its core is that really an issue of they don't understand who Jesus Christ truly is, what he came to do, how he desires to interact with us, what you think about Jesus Christ, who he is, what he came to do, how he wants to relate to you is the most important thing about where you're at spiritually about your spiritual life.

It's not just a matter of subjective opinion like I am my opinion of Jesus and you have your opinion of Jesus. Jesus clearly portrayed himself. He , he revealed his identity. He taught about how it is that we are to relate to him and God has preserved that in his word for us, particularly today in the gospel of Mark, God has given us his Holy Spirit to light that up, to aluminate that for us.

And so what we see Jesus doing here in these first 11 verses of Mark Chapter 11 is a piece, a very important piece, but a piece of that you could read those verses and you could think, you know, when do we get to the good stuff? When do we get into Jesus in Jerusalem, cleansing the temple? When do we get into Jesus going to the Cross and dying for us? When do we get to Jesus rising from the dead? What are all these verses that have to do with the donkey all about?

But Jesus is very intentional hair . He wants the people then and he wants us now to see something about who he is and , and how he relates to us that he is, he is bringing to light even in the way he enters Jerusalem. So, so what is going on really in the first 10 chapters, what have we seen? Jesus too , he's really kind of hidden his identity largely. He's not gone real public with with who he is.

And so here at chapter 11 he does almost a complete reversal of that as he rides into Jerusalem with all the rest of the pilgrims who are going into Jerusalem for Passover. And what I would specifically tell you that these first 11 verses show us today is Jesus very intentionally wants the people then and once you and I now to see him as King Jesus presents as king. Maybe you know Jesus as your savior.

Maybe you know Jesus as, as, as friend, or any other word that you would associate with that from, from your background and in the Christian faith. Do you know Jesus as your King King is? It's kind of a foreign concept to us, not growing up in a monarchy. What does it mean that Jesus wants you and I to see him as king? What does it mean that Jesus wants you and I to relate to him as king?

What we see Jesus very intentionally doing this, and again, these verses seem to be, you know, almost insignificant details and yet they're very significant. Let me show you how Jesus presents himself as king to them. And those who were there at the time and to us for, we see this first of all in verse two you will find a colt or a young donkey tied there, which no one has ever written. Untie it and bring it here again.

Jesus just hasn't on the spur of the moment decided that he is going to ride in Jerusalem on a donkey. Up until this point, Jesus has walked everywhere that he has gone except for the few cases in which he's in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. He's walked everywhere and even in this situation, he's walked almost all of the way to Jerusalem. He's up probably at the top of the Mount of olives. I mean, you can see the city of Jerusalem from there.

It's a short walk really down the rest of the way to the city of Jerusalem and there at that moment he decides that he's going to write a donkey into Jerusalem. Why would he do that? Even as the pilgrims are going into Jerusalem for Passover, it was part of the pilgrimage that even if you owned a horse or a donkey, you would walk into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

So Jesus is very intentionally doing something that stands out and he's doing it because he wants to fulfill prophecy that points to him as king. We see this a couple of places. I'll just pick out to what he does, fulfills the prophecy of genesis 49 in genesis 49 the patriarch of of Israel, Jacob is on his death bed and Jacob is at that point, Jacob is, is bringing in his sons, his 12 sons, one by one, and he's blessing them.

He's giving his, his personal blessing to them, but at the same time he's speaking a word of prophecy about not just them, but the line, the descendants that will come from them about the tribes, the 12 tribes, and each blessing characterizes what God is going to do through that tribe and notice the blessing that he gives to his son Judah, who is of course the the the father of the tribe of Judah.

Again in genesis 49 verse 10 the Septor will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff between his feet. The there though staff , those are signs of authority. Those are signs of a king. He is saying that you, Judah and those that come from you, you will be the kings of Israel. All the kings, including the most famous King David , but he doesn't stop there. He says, a king is coming. That is going to be the ultimate greatest king.

The septic preceptor will not depart, nor the ruler staff from the tribe of Judah until he comes to whom it belongs. And the obedience of the nation is his. There's a prophetic word there that says out of the line of kings of Judah, there's going to come eventually the Messiah King, a king who is greater than all kings, a king who rises above all human expectations of kings. And how will you know? What is one of the signs that you will know that the Messiah King is coming again?

It's right there. In verse 11 he will tether his donkey to a vine . His Colt to the choice is branch. So even this insignificant detail that Jesus says, when I ride into Jerusalem, here's what I want to do. I want you to go and I've prearranged that there's going to be a donkey that is tethered, that is tied , and I want you to untie that donkey and I want you to bring it to me and I'm going to ride into Jerusalem on that donkey.

Now, most people, I'm sure miss this, most people only got this looking back at this later, but what do you see? How Jesus very deliberately is showing us who he is and it gets even more specific. Matthew makes more of this more clearly than mark does, but Jesus also fulfills the prophecy of Zachariah nine which if you read the parallel account in Matthew, Matthew quotes it exactly .

Zachariah nine is the promise to the inhabitants of Jerusalem that when the Messiah King comes, he will come to them righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey. Riding on a donkey does not fit my conception of a king. Riding on a donkey is kind of like the president of the United States saying, I'm not going to write in my presented presidential limousine today. I'm going to take the Prius. You know, it's, it's a picture that just doesn't seem to fit. Why?

Why would a king right on a animal so humble as a donkey? Well, one, we see that there are incidents in the old testament where we're Jewish kings road on donkeys, but, but even more significantly, Jesus wanted that humble image. Jesus wanted that gentle image. Again, the image according to Zachariah is when the Messiah King comes. He comes in all righteousness. He comes as the sinless messiah that he is, but notice the very next word he comes offering salvation.

He doesn't bring imposing salvation in some world, religious leaders do. He comes humbly. He comes gently. That's the image of riding on a donkey with the offer of salvation, and that's how Jesus comes to you. And to me right now, in this period before, between his first coming and his second coming, he doesn't come and impose his will on you and convert you by force. He doesn't emotionally or intellectually manipulate you into recognizing him as savior and Lord.

He comes in all of his righteousness and all of his purity. He comes as the only one who could have died for our sins on the cross. He comes with the free gift of salvation by God's grace and he extends it to you and to me to either accept or to reject.

That's the period that we live in now where that humble, gentle, free offer of God's grace and he's giving us a picture of that, of what he's going to be like in his offer of salvation between his first and second coming even as he rides in on that donkey. Now, when he returns for his second coming, it will not be like that. It will be very different. It will be the exact opposite of writing in on a humble donkey .

I know it's not up on the screen, but John The apostle John gives us a picture in revelation 19 of Jesus coming in all of his glory at his second coming and how will he come? Not In gentleness, not on a humble donkey. He will come writing on a white horse leading the armies of heaven and everyone will bow before him.

He will come imposing his kingship on everyone, even all those who have rejected him, but you and I this morning are in the time between his first and second coming and that offer of salvation, that humble, gentle offer of salvation is extended to us to either pick up and embrace willingly or or to reject. That is the period that we're in. That is the picture that he gives. That is why it is so hard for so many people to grasp that he is king.

When Jesus rides down the slope of the Mount of Olives, people get excited there . There are, there are. There are crowds of pilgrims that are going into Jerusalem for Passover and notice when they see Jesus riding it on the donkey. Notice in verse eight of Mark 11 what their response is. Many people spread their cloaks on the road while others spread branches that they had cut in the fields. What? What? What is? What is this response?

What is the enthusiasm that's here while spreading your cloak was with something that was often thought that you do for a deliverer. We get an old testament example of this really quickly. In second kings nine the prophet Elisha is annointing Jay , hew as the king j you comes in after the evil oppressive King Ahab has been deposed. The people have been living under oppression for very, very long. They're weary and when Elijah anoints Jay you , it's kind of like this man is going to liberate us.

This man is going to bring us salvation and so what do they do? How do they celebrate that second kings nine 13 they hurried and they took their cloaks and spread them under Jay Hue on the bear steps. This is something you do for a liberator, somebody, something you do for us, a savior spreading branches cut in the field has a similar connotation.

It is something that was done when there was a great national victory when the Maca Biance finally triumphed and retook the city of Jerusalem from Syrian control in the Jewish rebellion. The historians recorded that the Jews entered the city with prays and palm branches, so raising palm branches is something you do to celebrate a victorious coming. In fact, again in revelation, revelation seven nine I believe it is. What is one of the things that we will see?

Those of us who love Jesus as savior and Lord, when we are all gathered around the throne worshiping the Lord Jesus, we will be holding revelation seven nine says, palm branches cc the imagery here you see the imagery that these people were looking that Jesus is for.

Some of them may be a great profit for some of them as a liberate or for some of them, a political savior, all kinds of expectations, but in the midst of all these expectations, there was excitement and there was enthusiasm even if there wasn't full understanding of who he is. Oh , Jesus knew all this would happen. Jesus orchestrated all of this to happen. Jesus orchestrated that the donkey would be there.

Jesus orchestrated that, that when the disciples went to get the donkey, that the people would willingly allow them to take it. Jesus orchestrated that as he went in, there would be pilgrims around who would respond there . Why? Because Jesus all ultimately once the people then he wants the Jews. Then he wants you and I now to see him as he wants to present himself as king. Again, king is not an image that maybe we are familiar with, not growing up in a monarchy.

We look across the ocean and we think of the British monarchy, but it's still somewhat foreign to us. Maybe you think of Jesus as Savior. Maybe you think of Jesus as friend. Do you think of them as king? How is it that he wants you and I to think of him as king? You see, here's the reality. The world does not think of Jesus as king and I think we see that even in this scene here.

What do we not see mark say we don't see the Roman troops coming and arresting him and yet he's coming in and he's presenting himself as king pilot, the Roman governor. He is so sensitive to anybody setting themself up as king. Any Jewish rebellion against the Roman authority that really he's blackmailed eventually by the Pharisees . John 19 writes that the reason they let him crucify or he let them crucify Jesus is, is their implied threat. If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.

Anyone who claims to be king opposes Caesar. Don't you think that if pilot was aware that this man was entering Jerusalem claiming to be king, that he would have had him arrested immediately to put down any potential for a threat? Why didn't pilot, why didn't the Romans look to Jesus , uh , as a king and arrest him? Because Jesus does not look to the world as a king. He does not look in in his first coming. He does not look to unbelievers.

He does not look to people who do not recognize him as savior and Lord as a king. The Roman idea of a king was the king coming in. Military triumph, a Roman general or a Roman Caesar entering the capital city after a great victory. He doesn't ride on a donkey. He doesn't ride in a Prius. He rides in the limousine of that day. He rides on a great white charger.

He arrives rides in on that white horse leading his troops and behind his troops, the captured enemy and behind the captured enemy, the wagons loaded with all the loot that was taken from the people that that had been conquered. That's the image in the Roman mind of a king. What's, what's the image in the world's mind today of a King? The image, even if we don't use the word king in the world today, is, is that person who's risen in success?

Maybe it's business success and and they've climbed at the top of the ladder. Maybe it's, maybe it's military success. Leaders in the world who buy power and force have been able to, to rise to a place of, of kingship. Maybe it's a , it's, it's in terms of fame. Maybe it's that person in Hollywood or in the music industry who has, who has risen to that place or everybody knows them. Everybody follows their tweets and their Instagrams.

We have very different, a very different conception of what a king is. And so that's why I think as many people look at Jesus, they don't see a king. When they look at him and his humble first coming, they don't see that one who in the eyes of the world, a successful. I wonder if I can't help but wonder if that's why so many turned away from him because we're growing .

We grow up in this culture that teaches us that a king, somebody who has power, someone who has influence , someone who has authority, does not come humbly, does not come gently. They come in power, they come with influence, they come with force and I can't help if wonder if that's why so many walk away or just live lives and mediocrity because they have the wrong picture of Jesus is king.

Jesus or mark here shows us I think the world's view of Jesus here, but he also shows us, I think our default human view of a , of of Jesus as king. The way I phrased it on your outline here is, is what we see in the crowds. And I think what we see in ourselves is we humanly want Jesus to be something other than king. So, so even if we begin to see that yes, he's fulfilling prophecy and he's coming in to Jerusalem and showing himself to be a king, that's not quite what we want in Jesus.

We're okay with him being a savior. We're okay with him meeting our personal needs. We're not so sure that we want somebody who's going to be that ruling authority in our lives. And I think we see that even in the response of the crowd of pilgrims in verse nine you could read this and you could think that, you know, they are hailing him as king I they the hell they, they cry out the word Hosanna and the word literally means Lord, save us.

Now, isn't that an acknowledgement that they're looking to Jesus as king? Well, this is something that was said all the time. Every year as pilgrims were coming into Passover and it was said over and over again. It's kind of like the phrase that we use when we say praise the Lord. We don't normally say that as a command. We don't say that as an exercise station. We we say that as an expression of excitement of, of jubilation.

It. It's kind of a lost some of its meaning from from what it was and the Old Testament is we use it similarly. Here they are. They're expressing excitement about the whole environment of going up to Passover. They're excited about this great profit coming in on a donkey that does not indicate that they recognize him as king.

They go on to say bless it as he will comes in the name of the Lord and again you could interpret that is aren't they recognizing Jesus as as Lord as king, but know again in context that's not really what's occurring here. That that phrase is, it comes from Psalm 118 psalm 118 is one of the handfuls of psalms that are known as the psalms of ascent. They were the, as you might think of it, they were the songs that the pilgrims would sing every year as they came into Jerusalem for Passover.

As they're there in the midst of that enthusiasm and that jubilation of the crowds coming into Passover, they would sing these songs. And so that is a common phrase that year after year, if you lived at that time, you would hear going into Passover and very interestingly, if you read the whole, the whole phrase there from Psalm 118 one verse 26 bless it , is he who comes in the name of the Lord from the House of the Lord. We bless you. You get a picture more of what's going on there.

That is, that is pilgrims who are already in the city, in the temple sanctuary crying out, singing out to the other pilgrims who are streaming in, c'mon in. You'll be blessed. Come on in for Passover. You'll be blessed. It is not necessarily an identification of Jesus as the Lord, as Jesus, as the Messiah King. And even the phrase in verse 10 their blessing is the coming kingdom of our father.

David again, we could we get at first reading, we could think, well, isn't that in acknowledgement of Jesus and when he's coming to do well? No. Jesus never used that phrase. The Kingdom of our father, David, what was it that Jesus preached about and proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of our father, David is a political kingdom. It's the make Israel great again, kind of kingdom, that concept.

It's a political, geopolitical concept of authority and of rule and of government and so what are they hailing? They are crying out like they did every year to pass over. Lord, we we want to see, we want to see the nation of Israel freed from Roman rule. Again, if this man who's coming in on the donkey, if he can be our political savior, then we're off for him. That's about as far as their acknowledgement of Jesus went.

They're enthusiastic about him to the extent that he becomes what they want him to be. I think that same dynamic happens for you and I. I think many of us initially, when we grew up in the church, we hear a concept of Jesus that speaks maybe to a place of real need in our lives, and Jesus is all about speaking to the needs of our lives. But I think for too many, it stops there and Jesus becomes relevant. As long as he meets our needs, Jesus is relevant.

As long as he speaks to my, to my emotions, Jesus is relevant as long as he meets my subject. Subjective expectations of him, what Jesus calls us further, Jesus calls us to become subjects of him as he is king. And I think what we see here is they don't get it. Even his disciples, John tells us in his Gospel, didn't get the picture of what was happening here. John 12 John writes about this event. At first, his disciples did not understand this at all. They didn't understand the imagery.

They didn't understand how he was presenting himself. It was only after Jesus was glorified. Did they remember what had happened and realize that these things were written about him in friends. Here's, here's really my premise today. You and I are just like the disciples. We are just like the people in the crowds here.

We come to Jesus with our own agendas of the kindness savior that we'd like him to be and when he doesn't meet our expectations, too many of us give up on him and let go of him and it's because we fail to see him in the full way. He presents himself. Yes, he presents himself as savior. Yes, he presents himself as as healer. Yes, he presents himself as friend, but he presents himself to us as king.

Now King in his first coming again is that image of Zachariah nine it is that image of coming and all humility, but king ultimately is more than that image in Zachariah nine king is about the image that we're eventually going to see when he returns and all of his glory when he returns on that white horse, when he returns in all of his, his glory as the resurrected king as the fully glorified king. Here's my, here's my really my, my summary for you today is how is it that you encountered Jesus?

Have you encountered him as savior? He wants you to encounter him as savior. We're in that time between his first and second coming where he extends the offer of salvation gently and humbly and freely, and he wants you to embrace him. But what do we know will happen when his second coming comes? All will bow before him. Philippians two tells us all about on bended knee, those who have accepted him now, but all those who rejected him, choice will be gone.

The time to embrace him freely and willingly will be gone. All will be forced to bow before Jesus as the mighty king. He comes this first coming. He comes in gentleness and humility. He comes the second coming in , all power as king, as Lord, even as judge, he comes in his first coming, not as the one who would impress upon you, who had force you into believing him. He comes in his first coming offering you the ability to have your heart changed as he comes to live in you.

Have you embraced him as that King of your life? Not just savior, not just friend, not just healer, but as king. I would close and just make the first line of a, of a him, an old him. Really a question to you. Do you Crown Jesus as the king of your life? Do you sing out of your heart, within your heart to Jesus? King of my life, I crown thee now that is how Jesus wants us to see him today and beyond. Let's pray.

Jesus, I thank you for all the dimensions that you reveal of yourself through this gospel, through the rest of your word. I thank you that you show yourself to us to be the son of God fully. God, I thank you that you show yourself to be fully man tempted like we are in all ways and yet without sin, suffering all of the things that we suffer in this in this life.

I thank you that you show yourself to be savior, the righteous one, going to the cross, dying in our place so that by your righteousness we are healed. I thank you though for this hard one, Lord, that you show yourself to be king. You show yourself to be the one that that that calls us to bend the knee before you to submit our will before you to give over control of our will, our emotions, our thoughts, our choices, our entire lives. To you.

I thank you that you present yourself, Laura, to be the one who is returning as glorified king and that all who gladly receive you now will one day rain in Aternity with you. Do that work in all of our hearts. Lord, bring us into a fuller understanding of you. A greater embrace of you as savior, as Lord, as king. Amen. [inaudible] .