Most recently, we have seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. We have seen the mixed and antithetical reactions to the Savior. Some wanting to kill Him and Lazarus, and some wanting to show their devotion to Him in a diversity of ways in the home of Simon the leper, where Mary and Martha and Lazarus had come to show their commitment and their devotion. And then Judas, who's there as the counterfeit, the apostle who would betray Him. And as we have Notice that and we are still in that section where Jesus's fame is going out for what he did with Lazarus. That's really what lays behind the remainder of this and the hatred of those who want to kill him because of what he did in raising Lazarus is all going to culminate ultimately in Jesus's death on the cross. And this is really the hinge in every other gospel. The turning point in the Gospel is Peter's confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi. That's the hinge on which everything turns. And from that point on, Jesus is going straightway to the cross. And the focus becomes very clear that this is what Christ came to do. In John's Gospel, this becomes the turning point, the triumphal entry, and Jesus' explanation about why He had come and what He was going to do. And so with that in mind, we are looking at John 12, 12-33. John now writes, 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, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raids 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. These came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida 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 will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, The Father will honor him. Now is my soul 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. 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 it had thundered. Others said an angel had 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 I 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. So the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God endures forever. Well, in 2002, I had a friend who went over to Ireland. And while she was there, the World Cup was going on. And Ireland won the World Cup that year. And I'll never forget her saying she opened the window of the hotel they were staying in. And the cheering was so loud, it was as if you could hear the entire country screaming at the tops of their lungs. She said, I've never heard something so loud. And then she said, being the godly sister in Christ that she is, It's sad that Christians don't do that over the victory of Christ. It's always stuck with me, a comparison. If a soccer game or a college football game could elicit that kind of exuberant exaltation, why are Christians so slow to exalt Christ for what he has done in that way? Now, I say that I say that for two reasons. One is we are going to read about the triumphal entry and the praise and the rejoicing and the singing that the people are doing here. But then I also say that because there is sort of a catch-22 in this passage, because at one and the same time, The triumphal entry teaches us to praise Jesus the way the people with the palm branches were praising Him as He rode into Jerusalem. And then, in another sense, this passage is teaching us that there is a greater way to show devotion to Christ, and that is by following Him as the suffering Savior that He is and that He came to be in quiet, sacrificial service. Very interesting the way this passage moves from the praising to Jesus explaining the greater response to him is understanding who he is and what our response to him ought to be in a whole life commitment. Well, notice John is still recounting everything that's going on at the Passover. And we know that Jesus has come to suffer and he is about to begin his suffering and everything that's happening is happening at the Passover. And that's important because up until this point, every time the people came to make a big deal about Jesus, every time the people entered into Jerusalem to take him and make him king, or by the sea when he multiplied the loaves and they wanted to make him a king, Jesus went and hid himself. But now something very different happens. That's what makes the triumphal entry so significant. Here we are seeing a different Jesus, as it were, than the Jesus we have seen throughout the rest of his public ministry. And as we look at this passage this morning, I just want us to consider two things. First, I want us to consider the reception of Christ at His entry into Jerusalem. And then I want us to consider the revelation of Christ at His entry into Jerusalem. The reception of Christ and the revelation of Christ. We'll notice that It is the Passover, and John says, 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, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. Now, we don't know how this crowd heard that Jesus was now coming. It's possible that the disciples had told him it's possible that those that were there at that feast in Simon's home went out and said, he's coming. He's now coming to Jerusalem. Remember back when he raised Lazarus from the dead, Thomas had sort of sarcastically said, let's go to Jerusalem with him that we can die with him because he knew the animus of the religious leaders. And yet Luke will tell us at one point that Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. He knew what awaited him, and yet now he is going, and we're seeing a different Jesus. He's going forward as a conqueror. It is His hour. Remember, throughout the Gospels, Jesus will recurrently say, My hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. It's not yet my hour. And now in this chapter, He will say, and notice verse 27, 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. Jesus knows that it's time. He knows that He has to do what from all eternity God the Father and He compacted together and contracted together in the councils of eternity, in the covenant of redemption, the Eternal Son knows that everything that God had planned from all eternity was now time for Him to fulfill. And so He goes forward. The people are going to be ready for Him. John gives you the sense that they go and get these palm branches and they're ready to receive Him. They're ready to pave the road for Him. They're ready to sing His praises. They're ready to follow Him into the city of the King, Jerusalem. And yet, Jesus is going to come in an unexpected way. Now, He's going to come voluntarily. No one is prodding Him to do this. But he's going to come unexpectedly. I love this quote by J.C. Ryle. Christ showed that he did not seek promotion and advancement by men, nor at all court their favor in the whole of his behavior. He loved to retire from the applause. When they came to make him king, he took that opportunity to reprove them. and drove them from Him. But listen to this. Raul says it's impossible not to see that here our Lord had a mysterious influence over the minds and wills of all those around Him. As He comes voluntarily, He comes powerfully drawing believers to Himself. The people who had been following Him. Raul says there's something mysterious at work. Isn't that interesting? Because that's what Jesus does for us. Why did we come to Christ? You know, when I was in the gutter in 2001, I came because some mysterious power of Christ drew me to Him. You don't have to be in the gutter. You could just be out doing your ordinary vocation. But when you come to Christ, something happens. Listen to this. Ryle says this. The Lord had this mysterious influence over the minds and wills of those around Him whenever He thought fit to use it. Nothing else can account for the effect that his approach to Jerusalem had on the multitudes that accompanied him. They seem to have been carried forward by a secret constraining power." I thought that was wonderful. Never seen that before. They're coming out. He's not coming in pomp. He's coming in lowliness, riding on a donkey. But they've seen his miracles. They've heard these things. And listen to this. Raul says this, in short, just as our Lord was able to make winds and waves and diseases and devils obey Him, so He was able, when it pleased Him, to turn the minds of men according to His will. Jesus is here doing something, in a sense, just as miraculous as what He did at the tomb of Lazarus. He is stirring up the minds and the hearts of the people for this moment at this time as He is coming into Jerusalem Now, that is the efficacious nature of his entry, that he is efficaciously stirring up these people. And you'll notice that as they come to meet him, they're crying out, Hosanna. Now, the word Hosanna means simply, save, I beseech you. Save, I beg you. Now, a cursory reading of the Triumphal Entry, and for many years I made this mistake, was I thought that the people understood more of who Jesus was at this point. The reality is they don't really know who he is. They think that he is some national leader coming to deliver them from the Romans. The palm branches in those days were sort of like a flag that was carried into triumphal procession. For a king, it would be like a group of people bringing an American flag, no Trump hats, an American flag, and singing the Scar Spangled Banner behind some guy they want to be the president. That's what they're doing. They think this is the long-awaited Messiah, but their concept is nationalistic. By the way, that's why so many in our day have mistaken notions about Christianity and America. They blend the two so that what is political and what is spiritual get interwoven in such a sense that people get confused about who Christ really is. and what Christ really came to do. These people had a nationalistic zeal behind their following Christ. And that is seen because they are singing, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. They think this is simply a physical descendant of David who's going to do for them what David did at the beginning of the kingdom. And so even when they take up the name the Son of David, which is a messianic title, they don't fully understand. Now, how do I know they don't understand what they're saying at this point? Well, there's two ways we know. One, notice verse 16, his own disciples, John says, did not understand these things at first. Even the disciples don't have a mature understanding of everything going on. And then we're going to see they didn't understand because Jesus essentially corrects the exuberance, the enthusiasm by telling them in a moment, you're going to have to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Do you understand what kind of king I am? Do you really understand why I've come? And yet, there's something right. I want to press this this morning. There's something right about the reception with which these people receive Christ. There should be an exuberance in our hearts when we think about who the Lord Jesus is. In fact, nothing should make us more excited than meditating on all that Christ is and all that He's done. In heaven, by the way, you'll know this, The next time we see palm branches in the New Testament is in glory when the people are praising the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. There, we have a right conception of why he should be praised. Here, they have a misconception. Now, he doesn't deceive them into thinking he's going to be a nationalistic king. Their conception is drawn off of everything been taught everything that they've heard, all the conversations they've had with the religious leaders have told them that one day the prophet said God is going to restore His people. He brought us out of Babylonian rule. He's going to bring us out of Roman rule. And so they are very myopic, earthly, and nationalistic. But even the way Jesus comes, notice John tells us that in v. 14, Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King is coming to you. Now, John at this point has come to understand what's really going on. John is among those who didn't understand there in verse 16. The one writing this at that time didn't understand. I think there's a word there for us. There are times... I was just having this conversation with one of y'all out in the foyer. There are times when believers can treat other believers harshly for not fully understanding everything. Maybe they've come to understanding God's Word. And yet the disciples teach us that God brings his people along patiently, that he brings them along. He gives us more and more clarity as we're in Scripture, as we compare Scripture with Scripture. as we learn and we grow, things that we didn't understand begin to become more clear to us as the Lord works in us. I know for me, as I read the Word now, there are things I come across recurrently that I think, how did I never see that 20 years ago? How did I not really understand that? That encourages us in two ways. One, it encourages us to be diligent in being in the Word, comparing Scripture with Scripture. And it encourages us to be patient with other people. That's a word we need to hear. John understood that he didn't understand everything, but then he comes to understand. And one of the things he understands is that what Jesus is doing is he is fulfilling that prophecy of Zechariah chapter 9. Now, John's going to do something marvelous here, and you're not going to see it if you just read over this and you skim it. You're not going to see it. But John is essentially going to take Zechariah 9, 9-13, and I'm going to read that to you in just a moment. And he is going to flesh out everything that's going on in this account and showing that all of it is a direct fulfillment of what God had said in Zechariah 9. I remember, maybe I've told you this Very young Christian, brand new believer. I was home visiting my parents. It's probably 2001 or 2002. And I was watching a religious show on the History Channel. I didn't know any better then. I thought, let's watch this. This is about the Bible. Now I would never waste my time watching any religious show on the History Channel. But a liberal professor from Duke Divinity School was talking about the triumphal entry. And she said, you know, Jesus manufactured this to make the people think He was fulfilling it. And I remember the rage I felt inside. I remember thinking, if Jesus manufactured this, He manufactured every single prophecy in the Old Testament from his conception to his resurrection and ascension. This is just one of the many things that Jesus fulfilled. And Zechariah had said that the king was going to come and he was going to come riding on a donkey. Now, you know this. A donkey is not a reputable animal. Kings didn't come in on donkeys. Now, Solomon had ridden in on a mule, but most kings were coronated on horses. They came in on war horses. They came in majesty. And Zechariah will tell us, though John doesn't quote this, your king comes to you. He's coming righteous, but he's coming lowly, lowly and riding on a donkey. He doesn't come in splendor and power and opulence. That's not the Savior that we get. If you want a Savior that comes in power, influence, worldly renown, that's not the Savior Jesus is going to be. He came lowly, riding on a donkey, unassuming. You know, the characteristic that most marks Jesus during his earthly ministry is humility and gentleness. In fact, The Scriptures rarely draw our attention to the inner life of Christ, the emotions of Jesus, but when they do, they tell us really in pronounced ways that He is humble and that He is gentle. Now, what is humility? I came across this great quote this week. Never really thought of it this way. Listen to this, because I think this captures what Jesus is doing here as he fulfills this prophecy and he rides in on this donkey. William Still, the Scottish pastor, said humility is not thinking nothing of oneself. Humility is not thinking nothing of oneself because that is unreal. It is about being real, having such an estimate of oneself as doesn't need to strive or compete or overreach or tear others down. Because it is un-self-conscious. A child is happy to be a child. It's a kind of bliss. A state of being that all the striving in the world can never attain. I thought that really captured, Jesus is coming, not overreaching. He's not coming to advance himself in an unrealistic way. He's not coming to strive or compete. He's coming to fulfill what he came to this world to do, and he can do so in humility and loneliness. Well, I want us to consider just briefly what else is going on here. The Pharisees are enraged in verse 19 over everything, and they say, speaking better than they realize, as Caiaphas, the high priest, had done. when he had prophesied unknowingly, notice they say the whole world has gone after him. Now, most of the people praising Jesus with the palm branches are Jewish people who have come up to the feast. They've probably traveled with him, but you get the sense that they're all Jewish people. Now the Pharisees say at this turning point, look, the whole world is going after him. And there are roughly two million people in Jerusalem at this time. And some of them are not Jewish people. Some of them are Gentiles who were wanting to convert and to become part of the covenant people. And notice there are some there that now are seeking Jesus. Notice verse 20. They're receiving Him too. Among those who went up to worship were some Greeks. They came to Philip, maybe because he had a Greek name. They came to Philip. And they say, sir, we wish to see Jesus. that phrase hidden away in the pulpit I preached from for 10 years. Many, many Scottish pulpits have that written up there. You can't see it. But when the minister gets up there, it says, Sir, we would see Jesus. Sir, we would see Jesus. They speak better than they know. They're just saying we want to see him. We want to be brought to him. That's That's the whole goal of why Jesus came into the world is that we would see Him with the eyes of faith, that we would want to come to Him. There is a world of application there for us, both for those that preach, for those that seek to live out the Christian life. You know, I just heard recently someone say, when others want to see who Jesus is, they oftentimes look at you before they look at a Bible. That's a convicting word. That's a convicting word that unbelievers, when they say we wish to see who this Jesus is, are often looking at us before they look at Scripture. And so there's many ways in which Christ is received and inquired about. Now, I want us to consider here not only the exuberance of the crowd, but the universality. These were Greeks, and this is a foretaste of what Jesus had come to do right at the point the turning point in his ministry when he is going to go to the cross. It's fitting that now Jews and Greeks are coming to him. Now he is starting to get the fruit of his reward. Now, I told you a minute ago, and you have to listen carefully. I told you a minute ago that John is tracing the prophecy of Zechariah 9, 9 through 13. in all the things that are happening in this passage. And I want to read that to you now. Listen to this. Zechariah says, 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, humble, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Now listen to this. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, the war horse from Jerusalem, the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations. The Greeks are coming to Him. He shall speak peace to the nations. He shall rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Isn't that interesting? He's coming on a donkey. He's coming lowly. Your King is coming, Israel. And He is going to speak peace to the nations. Here's the King, the Savior of Jew and Gentiles, coming into Jerusalem to get His reward from what He came to do. Well, I've mentioned already that the people didn't adequately understand what kind of King He was or why He had come. I want us to secondly consider briefly the revelation of Christ at his entry. Now there is so much in the subsequent verses. There is so much between verse 23 to 33, but I want us to just consider a few things. Jesus first corrects their misunderstanding about what kind of king he is. Notice this. He says in verse 24, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies. It remains alone. He's talking about himself, what he came to do. He has to die. And if he dies, he, like a grain of wheat, is going to bear much fruit. What is that fruit going to be? You have to listen carefully. He's a king who's going to die on a cross. He's going to rise. And then he's going to bear fruit. What is that fruit? Listen, he says this, 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. Jesus is saying, your exuberant praise may have a place, but I came to suffer. And if you're going to have me as a king, then you have to be willing to follow a suffering king and suffer with me. You know, we have not had much suffering in our lifetime as Christians. Every Sunday morning, Dean Walters, when we pray as elders together, we'll pray at the end, and I love this, we'll ask the Lord to be with the persecuted church on this Lord's Day, because we forget that Christianity is about suffering. It's about persecution. It's about opposition. We have so much freedom. We have so many liberties, and we reel against the idea of suffering. But Jesus says, if anyone is going to follow Me, if anyone's going to serve Me, he must follow Me. Where I'm going. Notice He says, where I am, there will My servant be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. So He tells us that it's a life of suffering when we follow Him. But then He tells us the nature of what He came to do. Notice v. 27-33, and I just want us to end here. This is one of the most powerful insights into the soul of Jesus. As He comes to this place, and He comes humble and lowly, notice this, He now turns to His Father in prayer and He says, now is my soul troubled. That was my soul weighed down. The holy soul of Jesus was in agony already, knowing what He was going to have to endure for your sin and my sin. Knowing what it was going to cost Him to redeem His people. And so He turns to His Father. He says, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this hour I have come. I've always loved the thought that Jesus knows what it's going to cost. But He loves us enough that He is not going to let anything deter Him from doing what He came to do. And He loves the glory of His Father so much that nothing's going to deter Him from doing what He came to do. Then He tells us three things. I briefly want us to consider this first. He tells us what He's going to do on the cross. Notice this. He says, Now is the ruler of this world cast out. Notice verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now is the ruler of this world cast out. The first thing Jesus says about going to the cross and what kind of king He is, is not that He went to the cross to die for your sins. That's true and glorious. The first thing He says is He came to deal with the evil one. So when he said, do you want to know what kind of king I am? I am a king that came to conquer Satan and overthrow this dark and evil world. And that's a great word for us. When he hangs on the cross, he is disarming principalities and powers. And that's so important because Satan loves to tempt us, And then when we sin, He loves to accuse us. And the fact that Jesus has conquered him and has cast him out has exercised him literally in the Greek. He is going to cast him out and He is going to reclaim for Himself a people. Notice Jesus will say here, He will say right after that, and when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself. I'm going to conquer Satan. And as I am lifted up, as I am conquering the evil one, I am going to draw people to Myself when they see Me lifted up. A people from every tongue-tied nation and language. You sitting here this morning. If you've come to Christ, you've come because He was lifted up, having conquered the evil one, having atoned for your sins, and then noticed, He says in verse 33, I will draw all people to Myself. He said this to show what kind of death He was going to die. He came to conquer Satan. He came to draw us to Himself. He came to overthrow our sin. Well, I want to leave us this morning with just a few thoughts. First, when we think about our response to Christ, Are our hearts dull? You know, many times my heart is dull. And if you find your heart being dull, that's the best time to go and say, Lord, stir up within me that exuberance I had when I first saw who you were. That burning within me. when you first opened your word to me and made me see my need for you. That's something we ought to pray often. I was reading this week a verse out of Psalm 119. David says, revive me according to your word. We need to be revived. And that plays out when that happens. I have a terrible voice, I know that. But when that happens, we want to sing as loud as we can the praises of our King and Savior. In worship, in our homes, we want to make a joyful noise to the Lord. We need that so desperately. You know, I actually think one of the greatest witnesses we can have as Christians is when others see us exuberant in worship about the Lord Jesus. And then I want to ask you, as you think about Christ and your need for Christ, Have you adequately come to a place where you have said, I am going to follow Christ wherever He takes me? as the suffering Savior that I need for the forgiveness of my sins. And am I willing to suffer for the One who suffered for me? Am I willing to suffer for the One who suffered for me? You know, the time may come when the Lord calls us to suffer for Him. And if He suffered for us, how can we not suffer with Him and follow Him closely? I hope that you'll be encouraged Meditate again on these truths and to go to the Savior and follow Him. Being willing to deny yourself, take up your cross, and come to that sort of Savior. Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. Let me pray for us. Father in heaven, we do pray that you would do for us what you did in the hearts of the people as they sang hosannas, as they waved their palm branches, as your Son came into the city of the King. We pray that you would stir us up. We also pray this morning that, Lord, you would make us willing to follow the Lord Jesus even to the point of suffering for Him. Would you give us resoluteness? Would you make us a people who do not love our life, but who are willing to lose it? that we may gain it. And so, Lord, would You make us to see with the eyes of faith the kind of Savior the Lord Jesus is? And would You give us grace to follow Him as the suffering Savior? We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.