This is the Dennis configuration for the mic, because I don't speak as loudly as Roger. Welcome. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm here, too. And we live in a loud world. You ever notice that? TV, cell phones, entertainment, radio, voices, storms, it's a loud world. cell phone volume cranked up to hear over the loudness. Today we're going to talk about a still, small voice. We're not talking about that after all these years it's still small, but that in Hebrew it means the sound of a thin silence, the voice of gentle silence. And that's where the Lord often meets us as we're preparing to worship, as we're calling to worship. The Lord often meets us in a gentle whisper, in the thin silence. We're going to talk about Elijah. In 1 Kings 18, he calls down fire from heaven. It's, you know, we talk about when we get to heaven, we'll get to watch the video of what that looked like. They soaked the ox or the bull, they soaked it in water. and it ran off the sides of the altar and filled up a trench around it. And when Elijah prayed, the fire came down, it consumed the offering, consumed the bull, it consumed the water all around it, it dried it up, and it consumed the rocks. It takes a pretty hot fire to burn up rocks, but it did. And so you'd think he'd be kind of encouraged and wowed by all this. And also, at the end of that, they had the 450 false prophets of Baal executed. He prophesied to King Ahab that, oh, by the way, the three-year drought's over and it's going to start raining now. So everything seemed to be going well. He expected a revival to break out in Israel, that they would turn from their false gods or come back to the true God. Everything was going to be better. And then he found out that Queen Jezebel just pretty much put out a contract on him and said, by this time tomorrow, you will be dead. So he got scared. He ran away out into the desert. He was depressed. He was discouraged. He felt alone. You know, where was God? And through a series of events, he ended up in, it's Mount Horeb, which a lot of people think is the same as Mount Sinai. But he ended up on the side of the mountain and in 1 Kings 19, starting with verse 11, Follow along with me. It says, And he said, Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord. We get wind. We may get some today, but it doesn't seem to break rocks and tear up mountains. This wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. The Lord had spoken in the past through earthquakes, fires, winds, but this time the Lord was not in these things. And after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing. It's the sound of thin silence. Some translations will say a soft whisper, a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and he went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah said, I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left. They seek my life to take it away." It kind of sounds like he's depressed and discouraged and scared. And then in this still, small voice, this quiet whisper, God reassured Elijah that he was not alone, that there was still a remnant of solid believers, and he gave him his next assignment. There were some things that he was to do next, to anoint some people, and he revealed more of his will to Elijah, just to get him back on track. The point of God speaking in this still, small voice is that the work of God does not always take place in the loud, dramatic, grandiose things. Sometimes we want to see, I want to see something big from God. Often God comes to us in a soft whisper, a quiet voice. You know, divine silence doesn't necessarily mean divine inactivity. Remember a few weeks back, Dan, in talking about Abraham, talked about the growth that happens during the waiting. You know, you think that, okay, when big things happen, that's when we grow. No, a lot of times we grow by waiting, being patient, by listening. Sometimes with my grandkids, I would go out in the woods, deep dark woods behind our house. We'd go way out in the woods and there's an old picnic table at the bottom of the hill. And we'd sit there and we'd play this game called, what do you hear? And in a way it's a grandpa trick just to get kids to settle down. But it can sit and be quiet for a while and then you hear a bird over here. And a little bit later, you know, there's a chipmunk or a squirrel. Or there's a creek down here. We could hear the mill across the lake. You just sit really quietly. You can start hearing things. They're there all the time, but you didn't hear them before. And this is, I think, what God is often trying to do to us, is to get us to just be quiet and listen. How do we hear God's voice today? Number one is scripture. Don't ever leave that out. That is first. Second, maybe, is prayer. quiet time of prayer when you're really praying for wisdom and listening to what comes back. Godly counselors, trusted godly counselors, are another source of God speaking to us. But again, all these are tested against scripture. A lot of times, there's a lot of screwy ideas that are prefaced by, God told me that, some weird idea. The ultimate test is how does this line up with scripture? We need to be quiet. Psalm 46.10 says, Be still and know that I am God. Be still means wait. Just sit and listen. Play what do you hear? Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. It seems like God is quiet sometimes even though he is the sovereign Lord of the universe. He doesn't have to be loud. His people can hear him. So as we go into the worship service, continue in it, even during the singing, during the preaching, you can sit and listen for God's voice. Holy Spirit will talk to you. So let's pray. Lord, I thank you for, I thank you for your still small voice, for your quiet whisper. Lord, I pray that you would tune up our ears to not just take the time to hear, but to look forward expectantly to hear from you. Lord, I pray that through the rest of this service, Lord, that this would be a worship service, that you would be praised in the singing, you would be praised and pleased in the speaking of your word. We ask these things in your mighty name. Amen. Let's try that one more time. Good morning. Okay, come on now. If you have your Bible with you, please turn with me to the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 11. Now, I'll explain where I'm going to go here in just a bit, but this is a three-part series. Today, Friday, and next Sunday is all kind of going to be tied together. You guys know, I would think you would know by now, I'm not really a person that follows the church calendar, quote unquote, and preaches on specific days and that kind of thing. I usually just kind of plow through. But I want to, being Palm Sunday today, I do want to go back and look at the triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus, and then the death of Christ on Friday, and then the resurrection next Sunday. And so I want to read the gospel accounts. I'm going to kind of park in Matthew this morning, but I want to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So let's start in Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11, verse 1. Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you. And immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing, untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. And then if you would, turn to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. And we'll start with verse 28. And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, saying, go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say this, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, why are you untying the colt? And they said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near already on the way from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed in heaven and glory in the highest. I'm sorry, peace in heaven. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. And John chapter 12, John chapter 12, verse 12. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 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! 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, when 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're gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. And Matthew 21. And as I said, I want to kind of make Matthew 21 the launch pad that I'm going to be coming from for this message. But I'll be tying in what the other gospel writers have that may differ with them. Let me pray. and we'll jump in. Father, thank you for your word. I thank you so much that we are not gathered here to hear some thoughts from Dan. I thank you, dear God, that we are here to see and hear and listen carefully to the revelation that God has decided to allow us to know. Father, you have a revealed will. You have given us 66 books that are inerrant, inspired, precious above all things, and Lord, the greatest treasure that we have in this world right now, Father. And I thank you for your written word. I thank you for the blood that has been spilt for it. I thank you for your preservation of it over the years. I thank you, Father, that we have many translations. I thank you, Lord, that I have a whole Bible intact. I don't have to hide pieces to get it underneath the government's nose to gather here today. Father, I just praise your name. We have the Word. And I ask of you, as we have it, Father, help us not to simply rejoice in having it, but go after it. Seek to know you, Father, by your revelation. And so be with us now as we pursue your word, Lord God. For the glory of Jesus Christ, I pray, amen. Now, the gospel narratives are, you probably, I'm sure you know this. It's interesting when you come to the Gospels and you see a particular event, and when all four Gospels have something to say about it, it really piques my attention. Now, all of it piques my attention, but when I see every single Gospel writer has something to say about it and has something a little bit different than what the others said about it, it becomes very intriguing to me. If we had a car crash out here right now, we heard the wreck, and four people came in here who saw the wreck, and we interviewed them, there would be vast differences, or rather, there would be minor differences in their story of what they saw. But they would all say, I saw a car crash. Red car and the blue car smashed. And so then what happened? And as they go into it, we would say, there's a detail this person caught that this person didn't catch, and this person didn't catch either, and this person had even more details. So what you do as a good detective is you piece it all together and it makes this harmonized, clear understanding of the event. When we come to the gospel narratives and we see all of them right, we look at them and seek to put them over one another and go, where do they differ? Now, please notice, I am not saying contradict. I do not believe that for a second, that there's contradictions. What it means is that we have human beings under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, writing underneath the inspiration of God, but still with their personalities and the work they did to collaborate these writings. And so Luke's fingerprints are on Luke's writings, Paul's fingerprints are on Paul's writings, Mark's fingerprints are on Mark's writings. So as we read these gospel narratives and we see them speak of these events, some of them give us a little bit more detail, some of them a little less detail, but nonetheless the same event. In my opinion, it gives a much fuller understanding of the actual event that took place. As up to this point in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm sure you are aware, we have seen him do incredible things. We're told in John's Gospel, specifically, there's a batch of people here who are still hyped up because he rose Lazarus from the dead. He's been teaching as one who has authority, meaning he's one who doesn't look to other authorities to validate his teaching. At that time, the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees would be, a Pharisee or a scribe would teach, and they would make reference to another's teaching, and another's teachings, and another's teaching, to continue to validate that what they're saying is true. I'm not condemning that. We do that all the time. You'll hear from this pulpit when one of the elders, when we preach, We may say, you know, R.C. Sproul says, dot, dot, dot. John MacArthur says, dot, dot, dot. We're seeking to show some trusted Bible teachers this is their perspective. Scribes and Pharisees are doing the same thing. Jesus shows up and he never once says, in order to validate my teaching, I need to bring someone else. He says, truly, truly. Thus saith the Lord. Amen, amen. He says amen before he speaks. We say it after we speak. He's saying, verily, verily, this is the truth. So with that great authority. So he's raising people from the dead. He's feeding thousands. He's healing the sick. And he's teaching. He's preaching. He's making the scribes and Pharisees look foolish, day in, day out, as they're seeking to catch him in something, he says. The popularity is skyrocketing at this point in the narrative. Now, here's what I find very, very intriguing. Isn't it interesting, guys, how fast popularity fades? This is what I want to have as kind of the backdrop of this passage this morning and Friday and next Sunday. How fast popularity fades? One term I hear a lot now is cancel culture. You say the wrong thing, you do the wrong thing, you click on the wrong thing, whatever, you're part of the wrong club, you're canceled. And what's interesting is that if you do the right thing, you're extremely popular in the minds of people. They want to know who you are. They're like, oh my goodness, they tweeted again. And everybody is just ecstatic. You are popular in the eyes of this world. Your popularity is booming. And then you do the slightest wrong thing, boom, like a rock, dropped. Your popularity is so quickly fading. That's always been the case. That's not new. It's just clearer to us, I think, in our world right now, because all we have to do is click to say we disapprove. But nonetheless, incredibly fast fading. When we come to this narrative of Jesus and his triumphal entry and the glory that it appears to have, I want us to be a little careful. I think there's every reason in the world to celebrate what's happening in the text, but not because of why the people were celebrating in that moment. Something a lot more, a lot deeper, a lot more serious going about in this text. So like I said, I want to follow Matthew's account, and I'll sprinkle a few things in from the other gospel narratives. Chapter 21, verse 1. Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. Stop there. So Bethphage, there's not really any more geographical or archaeological or historical information we have about this little place of Bethphage. Bethany, we know a little bit because of his connection with Lazarus and Mary and Martha, and he's been there before. But the big point here is, where is he going? If you remember, there's Luke chapter 9, verse 51. You don't have to turn there, just jot it down. 9.51 tells us that Jesus turned his face towards Jerusalem. Jesus, this whole time, is making His way to Jerusalem. This is not a happenstance. This is not a mistake. This is not something where He's thinking, you know, let's go here, let's go there. He is on point, on purpose, with a divine timeline the entire time, from His birth to His death, to His burial, to His ascension, to His resurrection. There is no ink wasted. There is not a scrap of this man's life that is wasted. It is all on purpose, and there is intent in everything. When we study the earthly life of Jesus Christ, pay attention to details, because there's no ink wasted. We're told that his face was turned towards Jerusalem. What's interesting is as you read that, as you hear that, you say, I wonder what he's going to do in Jerusalem. Now, we know what's going to happen in Jerusalem. We know the account of the text. But still, we're still interested as to what did his disciples think? What was in the minds of those people? This is a very peculiar guy doing some incredible things. And there's question marks around him all over the place. So as he is on his way, the Lord Jesus is coming. And first, I want to look at the ride that he asks for. Verse 2, He sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. This is the only narrative that makes reference to a donkey and a colt. The rest all say a colt. Some folks spent a lot more ink than I was interested in reading on the fact that he had both and the others didn't. I think it's very simple that the colt would come much easier if the donkey, the mom of donkey was also involved in there with him. So I believe they went and got the colt, there's the donkey, bring both of them back. What's interesting to me is how many times Jesus tells his disciples to go do something, and he tells them what they will encounter, what will happen, what they should say, and how it's all going to unfold. Again, guys, this is not just a good man, or just some prophet, or just some historical figure who made a mark on society. The individual we're looking at, the individual we're reading about, the individual that we're studying here is the God-man. saying, go get me that colt that I may ride on him coming to Jerusalem. This is also Zechariah 9, 9, a fulfillment of prophecy. As I said earlier, there's no wasted ink. The actions of Jesus are on purpose. If you've never done this, and perhaps every last one of you has, and I praise God if you have. If you have not, I encourage you at some point, take up the study of the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament and look at how they're fulfilled in your New Testament. There's a lot of different thematic studies you can do in your Bible that boosts your faith and grows your love for Christ and your amazement at the unity of Scripture. This one is one that I think is top notch, probably at the tops of that, where you go and you see the amount of years in between, you see the different authors, what they wrote, and then you see Christ perfectly satisfy all of these messianic prophecies to the detail, all the way to the point that he rides on a donkey, Zechariah 9-9, as he rides in here. And the more you look at that, that's a good challenge that I'd put in the face of any atheist in this world right now and say simply, you tell me how that works. And I know they'll have an answer. They always have an answer, because nobody gets born again apart from the miracle of the Spirit doing the job. But still, I find it so interesting So interesting how much proof, how much clarity there is. This Jesus is the Messiah. Absolutely the Messiah. So, Zechariah 9, 9. Also, Isaiah 40. These are two passages that are kind of pushed together to speak to this prophecy that is here at verse 5. If you look first, though, at verse 3, it says, if anyone says anything to you, you shall say what? What's your Bible say? You shall say what? The Lord has need of him. Don't you find it interesting he doesn't say, you tell them your Lord has need of it. He doesn't tell them, you tell them their Lord has need of it. Jesus Christ says, you tell them The one, the only, the sovereign one of history wants that animal. Again, no wasted ink. If it said, my Lord, or their Lord, or your Lord, I'd probably skip right by because it'd say, yes, of course, he's their Lord. He's referred to them. But no, you tell them, the Lord has the need of it. This is right back where he says the I am statements, back where God the Father says, you tell them, I am has sent me. And then Jesus comes on the scene and says, I am. Making himself equal with God right here, you tell them, the Lord has need of it. Now some commentators sought to say that perhaps he orchestrated all of this like a magic trick. So he goes and sets up the donkey and tells the owners and does all that. Then he tells the disciples, they go and find exactly what he set up. I'm not of that persuasion. I think that there are sometimes folks try to rescue the Bible from its miracles, which is horrific. Shouldn't do that. I actually believe that he is omniscient. I believe the Lord knew exactly what he was doing, and every single detail finely tuned to this second sidebar. Consider this thought. How many things in this world had to come into perfect alignment for that donkey to be there at that moment? Our God is not sloppy. He's a God of absolute detail. And so the disciples do what they should do. They go. As I said, Zechariah 9, Isaiah 40 speaks to this, say to the daughter of Zion, those are the inhabitants of Jerusalem, another way of saying that, behold, your king is coming to you. Now at that point, in the minds of the body of the people that are there waiting, they're waiting for the King to come. Remember, think about all of the history from Genesis clean through Malachi, all of the practicing of the Passover, all of the promises to Abraham, promise to Isaac, your offspring shall bless every nation. All of these things that have just been chipping away and chipping away all through the Old Testament. moving towards this coming Messiah. Isaiah 53 just flooded with information of this coming Messiah. And here's a group of people saying, when the King comes, then things will be different. Hoorah, we will have the King come. We will be set free. He will rule. He will reign. And we will be there as his people. And the world won't know what hit it. Look at the second half of the prophecy. Humble and mounted on a donkey. Kind of deflating, isn't it? Where the thought process was, are kings coming? It's kind of like if you had a king and he He said, the king's coming, the king is coming, or the general even is coming. And you're looking around, looking for some crazy helicopter with all kinds of gunships and all kinds of stuff on that going, all right, where is he, where is he? And then you see a moped. Coming down the road, you go, what's with that guy? That's your king. See, the donkey at that time was known as an animal of peace. The horse was known as the animal of war or of conquering. Jesus, again, he knows exactly what he's doing in coming on a donkey. This is on purpose. Not only as a fulfillment of prophecy, but the very picture of Christ coming on that donkey is a picture of the Prince of Peace coming into the world. And he is not coming with the same expectation in his mind that is in those people waiting for him I'll talk more on that in just a second. So the Lord is coming, they get this animal ready, and then there's further preparations made. If you would, look down with me. Verse 6, the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them." Please notice, the sat on them is the cloaks, not the donkey and the colt. I had people actually reading some different Bible teachers that were talking about, how is he sitting on two animals, or was that what he was doing? No, no, no. The concept is, there's a donkey present, there's a colt present, cloaks on both, he sits on the cloaks that are on the colt, which perfectly harmonizes with the rest of the narrative. This cult that had never been sat on before, the Lord Jesus then sits on this cult. In verse 8, most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. These palm branches were national symbols of the king's coming, of royalty coming. So let's do our best to get our minds around this picture. I don't have flannelgraph with me this morning, so we'll use our imagination. So who here, and you can raise your hand if you're willing to incriminate yourself, who here has accidentally stepped on the white runner at a wedding before the ceremony? Just Dan, okay. I guess you're all really well-behaved or liars. So, you know, it's always interesting when my first thought is, you know, if they trace the footprint, I'm in trouble. And I'm performing the wedding, so go figure with that. That runner is there on purpose. You're doing that to show respect, to show honor, and to show the pomp and circumstance of the bride as she comes down. Don't touch that. Stay away. Stay away. You're not supposed to walk down that. That is specifically going to be for the wedding party. The same thing happens if you see, even in our own culture, guys, we make reference to the red carpet treatment, right? All we're saying is we prepare when somebody important or fancy arrives. We seek to make a good meal for them or we seek to Be prepared. We want to show them the honor of their presence, of their arrival. That makes all the sense in the world to us. We do it all over the place in our culture. Other cultures do it. Some other cultures put us to shame in how they treat others. Another, I remember being in Washington, D.C., working with survivors of law enforcement officers who had died in the line of duty that year, and going and hearing the president, it was President Trump at the time, was giving a message. He was going to speak to all the families at a memorial service for all the line of duty survivors. And I remember just racking my brain, looking around at how much effort was made for one dude to walk there and stand in front of these people. I mean, cops everywhere, sharpshooters, people checking underneath buses. If you were anywhere near, you gotta have this little pin on your lapel. It was so prepared and calculated and carefully set up for this one individual to show up. Well, here we are, and they saw somebody tell another man who was dead, be alive now, and he was. Someone who taught with incredible authority, someone who healed people, not go home and take two aspirin, I'll call you in the morning, but boom, done, healed. Instantaneous. Thousands of people, just thousands of people, food coming out of nowhere by His Word. He's coming to Jerusalem. He's on His way. What are we going to do? We've got to get ready. So they go, they cut the branches, they throw that in front, they start taking off their cloaks. I mean, what a scene, you guys, to picture this multitude, and here's Jesus on a colt riding down to the Mount of Olives, as Dennis has shared with me. I've never been to Israel, but over there, they don't have mountains, they have hills. And so he's coming down this hill, and they are taking cloaks off, throwing the cloaks out in front of him, palm branches falling, and this cheer that's just deafening. I've been to concerts and I've been to sporting events where I could yell as loud as I could and I wouldn't hear my own voice because of the mom. And so if you look at Matthew's description here, verse eight, it says, most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, the concept there, the meaning, he's a savior, he's saving, he's the rescuer. The rescue is taking place. Hosanna to the son of David. Remember the Messianic prophecies or the prophecy of the Messiah coming in the line of David. David, David's kingdom. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a representative of God. Hosanna in the highest. I mean, you think about that deafening crowd screaming this and here's Jesus coming down. What a spectacle of reverence. What a spectacle of just intrigue. I've got to see this guy. Did you hear? Lazarus was dead. He shows up, and he says, Lazarus, come forth. And he came out. Like, really? No, I knew Lazarus before he died. It was at his funeral. Jesus ruined it. He came out. And he looks like a mummy, and he takes his stuff off, and he's alive and well. His sisters are ecstatic, and people are freaking out. He did it by his word. No CPR, no resuscitation, no medicine. He said now, and he went from death to life. He was dead three or four days. I saw him do it. You've got to see this guy. It's crazy. Well, let me get my family together, and we'll head on over. And just multitudes and multitudes of people, Hosanna, Hosanna. What a spectacle. And yet they do not fully understand what's going on. Look at your Bible in verse 10. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. One man come into the city, the whole city stirred up because of one man. saying, and here's what reveals to us a little bit of what was going on, who is this? It tells us right there that there is not clarity on what's going on and who this person is. And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. So what do we know about what they know? This is the prophet Jesus, so he's prophesied. We know there's some special stuff about this one. This one came from God. Notice they don't say is God, but came from God. And he's come in the name of the Lord, but notice where they said his place of origin was. Nazareth of Galilee, still earthbound, still a man. See, beloved, the tough part about this passage, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four, the Synoptic Gospels and John's Gospel, collectively, they give that full picture that this crowd was not a crowd that had a full understanding of what was going on. but more of a enthusiastic mob about what they had seen. John specifically says that there were many people bearing witness about what he had done with Lazarus, and there was people who were present. He said many were there present for the sake of that sign. So there's folks here, I think truly his disciples. There's Pharisees present who hate his guts and can't wait till he dies. And on top of that, you have a mob of people who are just interested, where's the next magic trick? I can't wait to see what this man can do. In our culture, it's pretty easy because mob mentality is a reality right now and has been in our history. I know that. But it's interesting to me when you take one person and you set them down in front of a TV for the most part and you put on a football game, they're relaxed, they're calm, cool, collective, and they watch the game. Now, not all people. I'm looking at Roger on purpose. And as you watch that, most people are just calm, cool, and collective. But then when you take 10,000 people, they begin to paint themselves and scream and do all kinds of incredible things. We have seen mobs with anger in the last couple of years. We've seen mobs with, you know, they have a reason for being where they're being and they're angry and they're doing this and they're doing that and they're screaming and violence in the streets, things on fire, police stations. trampled, and you go, is it possible that there really is something to this concept of people just kind of get themselves worked up with one another? Of course. Can I remind you, in a few days, some of these people saying Hosanna will probably be saying, crucify him, crucify him. How hard is it to steer the mob? How long does popularity work? Be very careful, beloved, when the world has got your back. Because the world does not have your back. And when the world seeks to force you to say what it desires for you to say, and you do, they move to the next one. And when you don't, you're trampled. That is not where we, we don't put our eggs in that basket. But nonetheless, in this moment, in this part of history, everybody is enthralled with Jesus Christ. At face value, anyway. So these preparations are made, Jesus finally arrives, coats are thrown on the ground, coats are thrown on the donkey, coats are everywhere, and these branches are thrown all over the place, and the King finally shows up. You imagine how deafening that is, just how loud it is, finally they see him start to come down that hill. It says that the entire city was stirred and the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. John's gospel includes a little information about the crowd, specifically where they came from and some of the motivation with them since Lazarus and the crowd heard about his miracle. The actual event is almost eclipsed by the incredible symbolism of the King of Kings coming on a beast of peace, being hailed as the Messiah. If you were to just step away from some of the narrative and you just put on a flannel graph just a picture of what was taking place here, the symbolism is screaming out God's divine gameplay. as the world is hailing him, king, prince, ready to crown him, and he's coming down bringing peace, but on his terms, not their terms, not man's terms. Peace on man's terms never works, ever. We don't do peace. Peace, true peace, biblical peace, is peace that flows through the gospel. Jesus knows that. The Father knows that. The Spirit of God knows that. Nobody else here knows. So let me just with you look at three camera angles on this one. So three different perspectives. If you were to walk around in that moment, say you have a warm up the flux capacitor, you get back in the DeLorean, you fly back in time right to this moment, and you walk up, you have a microphone to go interview people, and you say, why are you here, and what do you think he's going to do? Why are you here, and what do you think he's going to do? And you, sir, I'm a Pharisee. Never mind. Why are you here, and what do you think you're going to do? And you're going around interviewing these people. It is so interesting to consider, what would they say? Well, here's three perspectives. There's more, I'm sure, but I just want to give you three just to kind of give us the idea. Number one is the people. The people saw him as the, underline it, potential Messiah. After all he had done, they were perplexed. Perhaps this was the coming foretold Messiah, expectation of a conquering military political hero. He will set us free as a powerful leader. and we will reign underneath his leadership. In the flesh, it's very fleshly, very worldly, very earthbound concept of, finally, the king's here. Finally, things will get easier. Finally, things are going to be better for our people, because he's going to come down and conquer. Just as we've been waiting, and we have had this expectation for so, so long. And so as he watches, they watch this man coming down, they're ecstatic. but still perplexed, could it be? They don't know the answer to that question. They're still calling him the prophet Jesus. They're still saying, who is this? There's still a consideration of, I don't know who this guy is, and what's he doing on the colt? If he's our king, if he's our leader. So that's one. Second one is more, and not more, it's just different. If you were to put that microphone up to a scribe or a Pharisee and you say, who is that guy? What's going on? What's your thoughts on him? What do you think his agenda is here? They were drunk with jealousy. If you listen to the language used by the scribes and Pharisees in these last few days, they were absolutely seeing red. This is the one who is stealing our people away. He's blaspheming God by saying he's God. He's taken the people away. Nobody's impressed by us now. We were the leaders. We were the ones that people looked up to. We gave long prayers in the middle of the street. We were tithing all the time. We were the elite. And he comes on the stage, this guy 30-something years old, and he starts making a mockery of us. To the point in the narratives, guys, throughout the Gospels, it hits a point where it says, after this, they were looking for how they could kill him. I can't shut him up. I can't find any error in his teaching. And please notice this. Never once did the scribes and Pharisees say he didn't perform that miracle. They can't. Too many people saw it. So even they had to agree, yes, he did the miracle, but he's still wrong. A couple passages just to write down if you're keeping notes. John 12, 19 and Luke 19, 39. John 12, 19 and Luke 19, 39. To give you a little flavor of the jealousy that is in the hearts of this group of people. They are fully recognizing his popularity and they're sick over it. To the point that one of the gospel writers says that one looked to the other and said, give it up, the whole world's going after the guy. He had made them look foolish for some time now. And all they can think is, how on earth can I catch him in something so we could kill him and we can get back to normal? What a mixed bag of recipients crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna. Last camera angle. This is when you walk up to the guy on the colt. And you say, who are you? What are you doing here? I'm God in the flesh. I created all things. All things were made through me and for me. I was the one there when light existed for the first time. I was there when I formed this world. I was there when life was breathed into dust and Adam came out. I was the one who was there doing that. John 1.1, Colossians chapter 1, I was the preeminent one. Now I say was, is, I'm God in the flesh. I lived an absolute perfect life thus far. I've never once sinned. In the first service I made the comment, and I still am baffled at it, how do you go through junior high without sinning? I never once was disobedient to my parents. I never once was disobedient to the Father. Not a single lustful thought. Not a single angry thought that was unjustified anger. Not once did I sin. For 30 plus years, I have never, ever, ever done anything displeasing to the Father. I have taught with authority the word of God. I never look to man to validate my teaching because I am God. I'm the one who, this is my word. Don't forget that, beloved. When Jesus says, truly, truly, and quotes Old Testament scripture, he's quoting his own word. I am the living God. My popularity is booming on this earth. I am despised by the religious leaders. I am the great I am in the flesh. You wish to see the one true living God, look to me. What are you doing here? I've come to die. So you feel that silence in this room, and you consider those people screaming, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. And then he says, I'm actually here to die. Can you imagine just deafening silence? Every single disciple will flee in a few days, and I will be alone on the cross suffering the wrath of God. This is most definitely the Messiah. He's truly the God-man. This is the seed of the woman. This is the seed of Eve. This is the seed of Abraham. This is the seed of David. This is the king who's coming in David's line. This is the one who the law and the prophets has always been speaking about. This is the preeminent one. but not to have as some political military leader who will lead in a natural fleshly way. Remember, Peter pulls out a sword, whacks off the guy's ear. Jesus says, put your sword away, heals the man. In a sense, Peter, you are fighting against your own salvation. Put it back in the sheath. Some of the voices who cry Hosanna right now will scream, crucify him. in a matter of days. All things in history before and after, all things in history before and after have perfectly come aligned that I would die in the very nanosecond that my body stops breathing. And God has sovereignly decreed in that moment That's the death of my son. Galatians 4 tells us that when the fullness of time had come, he sent forth his son. So beloved, perhaps the world isn't very good at reading the times and doesn't really see what's happening. I want to end on a note in the book of Acts. So if you would turn with me to Acts chapter 2, and I will seek to land the plane. I didn't look at the clock earlier, I apologize. But Acts chapter 2, verse 23. I know you know this, but just to refresh your mind, Jesus Christ laid his life down fully intentionally. Verse 22, men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the," I love this wording, the definite plan, and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. And then chapter four, verse 27, just turn a page, Acts 4, 27. The apostle says, for truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. What a mob! To do what? To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Truly, this is completely under the sovereign control of God. The Trinity had predestined this entire event on purpose for the sake of saving people to the glory of God. Last verse, John chapter 10. And beloved, if you would, as I read this verse, Hear this as yes, the church collectively, but hear this personally too. John 10, 18. I'll start at 17. For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one, No one takes it from me, not Judas, not the scribes and Pharisees. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from the Father. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you, Lord God, that as you were coming down from that mount, truly, Lord God, we have every reason to rejoice as you got footstep by footstep closer to Jerusalem. But Lord, your plan, your plan is absolutely marvelous, and nobody saw it coming. And I want to simply close this message, Father, by thanking you for taking the penalty for my sin. I am a man fully deserving of hell. I deserve your wrath, Father, right now. Your son has absorbed it. And He's given me His righteousness, and I am declared just before you on the merits of Jesus Christ. So, Hosanna. He has rescued me. He has saved my soul. And I thank you so much, Lord, for the King. The King of kings and the Lord of lords, who has completely accomplished your purpose. We praise you and thank you for him in his precious name, in Jesus' name. Amen.