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[0:00] For the most part, the two accounts that we have had for our Scripture reading have been very much the same, with the exception of the last line in that which we just read, and it is found in Mark's Gospel, chapter 11, and verse 10.

[0:17] Note that very last line, if you will, please. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. Hosanna in the highest.

[0:28] Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David.

[0:58] I can say this here in Mark, but it isn't said in Luke or in Matthew. Which one is correct? Well, can you not see how easily it would be for all of these comments to have been made, and yet they were incorporated in the Scripture text by the writer because of how he was inspired to write at the time.

[1:22] This was a huge throng of people, and they were shouting all kinds of things. Matthew records only some of them. Matthew, Luke records some others.

[1:32] Mark records some others. But suffice it to say, in an aggregate number of people that were gathered there, all kinds of things were being said. This was a welcoming committee par excellence.

[1:45] The disciples were quite convinced that when Jesus got to Jerusalem, he was going to establish that kingdom. That's what this passage is all about.

[1:55] That's what they anticipated. Never in their wildest imagination would they have suspected that what is called the triumphal injury would end in a crucifixion of their Savior.

[2:13] Never entered their mind. In fact, when our Lord spoke about it earlier and pointedly declared that that's precisely what was going to happen to him when he got to Jerusalem, they would have none of it.

[2:27] They thought he was just thinking negatively. They thought the crowds will receive you. You'll be able to establish the kingdom. After all, this is why you came, was to offer that kingdom, to make it a reality for Israel.

[2:40] And these people turned out in huge numbers, and they were passing the word around. What's going on? Who is this? What's all of this about? Big celebration. A lot of noise. Huge crowd of people.

[2:51] Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd of people. Everybody's curious and wants to know what's happening. Yes, it seemed like a great day. It seemed wonderful. One thing I would like to correct right at the outset, though, when that has to do with a charge that is often leveled at the people who are involved that simply was not true.

[3:16] And I've heard this so many times, and it just really, really irritates me because I'm really interested in the accuracy of Scripture. And the point will be made today, the point will be made by numerous preachers throughout the land, that here is a group of people shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[3:40] And yet these people are so fickle that just three days later, the same crowd is going to be shouting out, Crucify him, crucify him. And folks, that's just not true.

[3:54] These were not the same people. You've got to keep in mind that this multitude who is receiving Jesus is going to be made up of a mixed element. That means there will be numbers there, great numbers, who are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, and he is coming to Jerusalem to fulfill his promise and to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament.

[4:19] And he's going to establish that kingdom. However, for the most part, for the most part, this huge throng of people were not the influential people.

[4:31] They were the commoners. We are told elsewhere in Scripture that the commoners heard him gladly. They waited on every word. But where did Jesus have all of his opposition?

[4:42] It was with the religious establishment, who regarded Jesus as a threat, and they were jealous of him. These are the ones who, when Christ was coming into town, and people were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, these people came up to Jesus and rebuked him and said, Do you hear what they're saying about you?

[5:04] Tell them to stop it. Tell them to quit saying that. It isn't true. We know it isn't true. And you've duped all of these people into thinking that. Tell them to shut up.

[5:16] And our Lord's answer was, If these hold their peace, the very stones will cry out, because he would not be denied on that day.

[5:29] He was the Son of David, and he did come in fulfillment of the promise given by Moses and the prophets. That he would not allow to be denied.

[5:43] That, however, was the crowd with the influence. They were the ones who were in bed with the Roman authorities. They were all in cahoots, and they were ripping off the people.

[5:56] They were benefiting from the position and the protection that the Roman government gave them, and the common people hated them, because they knew that they were nothing but the lackeys of the Romans, and they had no respect for them at all.

[6:11] They are the ones who were going to be shouting, Crucify him, telling Pilate to hand him over for crucifixion. Not those who were welcoming him as he comes into town with the shouts of Hosanna.

[6:23] So what I would like to do, for the few moments that we have together, is just give you an abbreviated version of the plan and program of God regarding the kingdom and the Messiah, and we are going to consolidate a great deal of material into a very short amount of time and space, but it is important that you see all of this and get it in one setting.

[6:45] There is going to be a tremendous amount of jubilation. They are going to be viewing this almost as a coronation, but again, it is limited to the common people.

[6:57] It is limited to those who had already embraced Jesus as the Messiah, the miracle worker, the one sent from God, and so on. The religious establishment's position had not changed.

[7:09] They, however, were the ones with all the clout, with the influence. The others, the common people, were just pretty much disenfranchised.

[7:20] They were downtrodden. They were under the heel, not only of the Romans, but of the religious establishment that took advantage of them in every way they could. So what starts out as a time of great celebration is going to end in a completely different way.

[7:38] And Christ knew that. He said that before he came. And when he got to Jerusalem, when they were coming up the hill there from Bethany, he stopped on the donkey, and he looked over the city, and he started crying.

[7:54] He wept over Jerusalem, saying, if you only knew, if you only knew the things that belong to your peace.

[8:10] But now, they are hidden from your eyes. He was saying, that this, was Jerusalem's day.

[8:26] And they didn't even know it. Didn't have a clue. He knew full well how all this was going to end. He didn't go there saying, I hope this goes the right way.

[8:38] How will the people receive me? He knew exactly how he was going to be received. And he knew exactly how it was going to end. And then he went on to say, the time was coming when the armies are going to surround you and throw up a siege around you and level you to the ground.

[8:56] And all of that would be coming in 70 A.D., just as he said. Weeping, real tears. It wasn't a little tear that trickled down his cheek.

[9:09] The text indicates that our Lord broke up, sobbing, profusely for Jerusalem. Must have been some kind of a day.

[9:23] And the crowd was so electrified and they didn't have a clue about any of this. Never in their wildest imagination would they ever have suspected that this Jesus, this son of David, the Messiah, is going to experience a kangaroo court at the hands of the Sanhedrin and another kangaroo court, all of which will be trumped up and staged by the Romans and he'll be handed over for crucifixion.

[9:50] Nobody could foretell that. But our Lord knew it all the while. This was all part of the plan. This is, as I have been trying to emphasize in connection with our studies on the Sermon on the Mount, it is the kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom.

[10:12] It's all about the kingdom. And I have, in times past, addressed this subject as what everything is all about. And I'm not backing off from that because that is what everything is all about.

[10:24] It's the fixing, the restoring, the restitution, the refurbishing of everything that was lost in the fall. And that is ultimately what is going to be realized.

[10:37] There are only three possibilities that exist about Jesus being the Messiah who would come and establish God's kingdom on earth. Except he never did that.

[10:53] It never happened. never did come to pass. Still hasn't come to pass. And I've indicated that there are only three possibilities that exist.

[11:09] Number one, the reason Jesus did not establish the kingdom was because he was not the Messiah. So it's only logical that he wouldn't be able to establish a kingdom.

[11:24] He did not bring in the kingdom because he was not the Messiah. It's simple as that. And you know, that was probably the majority opinion. That was probably the majority opinion among all of Israel, particularly those there in Jerusalem.

[11:42] Because once Christ ended up on the cross, many regarded that as proof positive.

[11:53] He couldn't have been the Messiah because there's no way in the world that God would ever allow that to happen to one whom he sent to bring in the kingdom. So Christ on the cross, as far as they were concerned, settled that issue.

[12:08] Some no doubt were thinking, we really thought he was the one. Remember, we won't go there for time's sake, but remember Luke 24 when Christ confronted the disciples on the road to Emmaus and they were all downcast, depressed, their morale was really down and Jesus says, what's going on?

[12:31] Why are you so downcast? And they said, you must be new here. You must have just gotten in town. Don't you know what's happened here? What?

[12:42] Well, about Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by signs and miracles and wonders which God did in the midst of him. And they said this, we trusted that it was he who should deliver Israel.

[12:59] But we were wrong. They crucified him three days ago. He's been dead three days. We thought he was the one, but we had it all wrong.

[13:13] And the crucifixion proved that we had it all wrong. And we are so heartbroken. We are so disappointed and disillusioned and mistaken and of course as time went on he revealed himself to them in the breaking of the bread and how he returned thanks and their eyes were open and they knew who it was.

[13:37] Glorious time. But that is the first possibility and it's probably the majority opinion. And by the way, this would still be the majority opinion among modern Jews who live today.

[13:53] Jesus could not have been the one that Moses and the prophets promised because look at the end Jesus came to. I rest my case, say they. Secondly, the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah and he did establish the kingdom but it was a purely spiritual kingdom where Christ rules and reigns in the hearts of individuals and it was never intended to be a literal physical kingdom on earth.

[14:29] So, Christ's ministry with his first coming was a smashing success. He did bring the kingdom of heaven to earth but he did it in a spiritual sense only.

[14:42] However, that would not begin to be acceptable to the Jewish constituency who were familiar with the prophets and all of the Old Testament because they regarded the Messiah coming and establishing the kingdom as being very literal, very physical and very real.

[15:03] Why do I say that? Because this earth, this planet is very physical, very earthly and very real and this is that which was fallen in Adam's sin and it needs to be restored in the same way that it was fallen.

[15:24] Literally, physically, really and that's exactly what he's going to do. now, in fact, that was the essence of the prayer and what we've been looking at called the Lord's Prayer, mistakenly labeled, I believe, but nonetheless, the highlight of that prayer was, thy kingdom come.

[15:46] It was a prayer for the coming of the kingdom so that God could fix things spiritually? No, no. so that God could fix everything that was broken including lives, creation, the animal kingdom, everything is out of kilter because of the fall of Adam and Adam was the federal head of the human race.

[16:13] God gave him jurisdiction and supremacy over all of creation and told him to take dominion and when he fell, everything that was under his authority fell with him and that's what needs to be restored.

[16:28] You know what really needs to be restored? Life. Away with this business called death. Death needs to come to an end and it's going to, but it hasn't come to an end yet and one reason it hasn't is because this kingdom has not been established.

[16:47] It still hasn't been and that brings us to the third possibility. he was the Messiah and he came to fulfill God's promise for doing his part to make the kingdom a reality.

[17:00] This he did by dying and paying the judicial price for the sins of the world in his own body. This is a very, very important concept and I just want grace people to understand this so thoroughly that you'll be able to deal with issues that come up from this.

[17:24] The reason that Christ came was to fulfill God's promise and he did. He made that judicial payment that balanced the scales of God's justice.

[17:38] In other words, in the death of Christ, in the sacrifice that Christ made in his own body, God's God's God's legal judicial basis for being able to lift the curse and that's exactly what he's going to do when the second part of this program is fulfilled and it yet remains unfulfilled.

[18:05] What's the second part? Second part is for Israel to get on board. The Jew today as a nation remains in obstinate unbelief, indicated in Romans 9, 10, and 11, and they are set aside because of their unbelief.

[18:25] God has given humans volition, and this is a very, very important concept, and I want to take just a moment to develop this. When God created man and gave us volition, he made man a major player in his plan and program for the earth.

[18:51] He never gave volition to animals. Volition was given only to those who were made in the image and likeness of God, and volition means that we have the power to choose.

[19:04] We have the power to refrain from choosing. We are moral creatures, and we are given a moral capacity that animals do not have.

[19:16] And that moral capacity consists primarily in choosing to obey or disobey whatever God has revealed. So when you couple that and realize that God has given volition to all human creatures, and of course this includes Israel, that means that Israel and the people who make up the nation become major players with God.

[19:41] Of course, they're not equal to God, but because God has made a commitment to them, and has made a commitment to all of mankind about this business of volition, he doesn't choose to override it.

[19:54] Even when man makes bad decisions and wrong decisions, God will not interfere with our volition and override it, so that he will not allow us to do what we want to do, but he makes us do what he wants us to do.

[20:09] He doesn't do that. If he did, it would make a farce out of volition. Yet he is committed to working with our volition and his will to accomplish his ultimate goal.

[20:20] Don't ask me how he's going to do that. I have no idea. But I know he's a big enough God to be able to do that. This means that God has to take into consideration the wrong choices we make as well as the right ones.

[20:34] And he's still going to get his will accomplished. I remember years ago when our kids were small. I don't know how often this scenario was played out, but it was always a matter of family humor, and it happened a number of times, and Tim and Lynette both complained about it, and Dawn, bless her heart, she didn't understand enough of what was happening to register a complaint.

[20:57] But Tim and Lynette did, and it would go something like this. Barbara would say, Well, kids, you can either take your showers tonight, or you can take them in the morning before you go to school, but you are going to shower.

[21:12] So which will it be? And Tim would say, I'll take mine in the morning. And Lynette would say, Me too. And Barb's saying, Okay, well, no.

[21:23] I think you better take them tonight. You'll sleep better. And Tim would get so frustrated because she would give them the choice, and then she would take the choice away from them. And one time he came in, he said, Mom, it seems like you're always giving us a choice and an opportunity to choose, but if we don't choose the right thing, you take the choice away from us.

[21:43] And she just smiled, you know, and said, Well, I guess maybe I do do that, but it's just because I know what's really best for you. Yeah, yeah, sure. But that happened a number of times.

[21:53] But you know something? God doesn't do that. God does not give us the freedom and the power to make choices, and then say, No, no, no.

[22:04] I'm not going to let you do that, because that's the wrong choice. Yes, you've got to do what I want you to do. No, he doesn't do that. That would delegitimize the volition.

[22:16] God doesn't give it to you, and then when he sees you're on the brink of making a wrong choice, he snatches it away from you. So, no, you can't do that. And you know what that means? It means you have the freedom to make some really dumb choices, some painful ones that really hurt.

[22:35] And sometimes we might even charge God foolishly for not writing in and co-opting that, so that we can't do that.

[22:47] You see, we want him to protect us from the things that we do that are going to be hurtful, that we don't know about on down the road. But we don't want him to mess with our power of choice.

[22:59] We want to run things our way, too. You can't have it both ways. And God is committed to working his own will and fulfilling his own plan and program, while all the time he provides mankind with innumerable opportunities to mess things up and throw one monkey wrench in the works after another, through all the stupid things we do.

[23:25] And he is committed to letting us do stupid things. But he is also committed to ultimately working even the stupid things for our own good.

[23:38] Now, let me tell you something. That requires some kind of a God who can work that out. Give man volition and the power to make choices.

[23:50] And still say you are committed to working all things for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those who love him.

[24:01] That requires a sovereign God of such incredible capabilities we can scarcely imagine. And that's what he's going to do through this kingdom business, through the church and through disobedient Israel being set aside, through the mystery that he is fulfilling in an aspect that was never prophesied, never promised, never made mention of at all in all of the prophets.

[24:30] Because we are not a subject of prophecy. The church is a subject of mystery. Can't find it anywhere. It's gone. Until the apostle Paul arrives on the scene and he makes a startling announcement.

[24:44] You know what? God is doing something entirely different that nobody even dreamed of before. He is taking Jews and Gentiles who are poles apart and meshing them together as one new man.

[25:05] Wow. God is doing that. And you know what? He is doing that through disobedience. Israel's disobedience.

[25:17] And it is because Israel is set aside that the whole concept of the church has come into being. And we look upon that as an amazing thing. It wasn't amazing at all.

[25:28] As far as God was concerned, it was planned all along, but it just wasn't revealed until the right time. So what I'm saying is this. Out of the death of the Messiah, out of the cruel, cruel, utterly unjust crucifixion that he endured, and out of the subsequent disobedience nationally of the whole state of Israel, God is committed to still working all things after the counsel of his own goodwill, taking into consideration individual disobedience, national disobedience of the nation of Israel, and God is still going to have it his way in the final analysis.

[26:14] Jesus, the revelation, last book in the Bible, makes that quite clear. So what man views and looks upon as all our hopes and dreams come crashing down, God says, now wait a minute.

[26:33] The final chapter hasn't been written. There's coming a time of restoration. There's coming a time of refreshment. There's coming a time of renewal.

[26:46] Sunday morning is coming. And that's going to be the basis for it. Wow. That is amazing. You know what? If you're like most of us, if you're like most of us, you've got some real heartache issues, some things that just wring you out, that are very painful and very difficult, and it looks like your world is coming, crashing down.

[27:24] But if you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, God is committed, absolutely committed to working all things after the counsel of his own will, and he is committed to working all things for your good.

[27:41] But in his timetable, this kingdom that was promised, Israel waited 4,000 years for the one who was going to bring it to come.

[27:53] And then when he came, they rejected him. We've been waiting 2,000 years for him to come back. And all I'm saying is, God always makes good on his word.

[28:08] God can be relied upon. God can be counted on. And when you are facing adversity, and you don't know how to handle it, and it is overwhelming, and it's just like a kick in the gut, and you wonder when or how or if this pain is ever going to go away, if the heart is ever going to be healed, if things are ever going to be made right, and they just seem so out of reach.

[28:36] Sunday morning's coming. And don't you worry. God will make good on his promise. You know what he wants from you? Just one thing. Well, two things, really.

[28:49] I'm not sure you can do one without the other. And that is, he just wants you to believe him. To trust him. To consider him reliable, dependable.

[29:01] And to fail to do so is an insult to the Almighty. After all, he has promised, shall he not make it good? That's what God wants from us.

[29:12] In the midst of adversity, and heartache, and everything that's painful that comes with it, God just wants you to hang in there and say, Father, this really hurts more than anything I have ever experienced.

[29:26] I don't know how I'm going to get through this. I don't know why this has come upon me. I don't know why now. I don't know what I did to deserve this. We say all kinds of crazy things like that.

[29:38] But I know that you are God and you have promised to make it right in your timetable and I'm just going to believe you.

[29:49] I don't care how it looks and I don't care how many people tell me I'm crazy for believing this or thinking this. You're the only one who is worthy of really being trusted.

[30:02] and I just want to trust you. That's what God wants. That's what he wanted from Job. That's what he wanted from David. That's what he wanted from his own son when he was in Gethsemane heading for the cross.

[30:21] hopes and dreams come crashing down but Sunday morning's coming. would you take your hymnal please and let's return to that hymn number 305 Jesus paid it all number 305 and we'll sing just the third stanza no I'm sorry we'll sing verses 3 and 4 and would you stand please and as we sing the last verse we'll ask the elders to come forward and we'll prepare for communion hymn number 305 and the third stanza for nothing good at high where vines

[31:28] I grace to claim I'll wash my garments tight in the blood of Calvary's land Jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left the crimson stain he washed it white as snow and when before the throne I stand in him on knee Jesus guide my soul to save my lips shall still break me Jesus paid it all all to him

[32:34] I owe sin had left the crimson stain he washed it white as snow thank you be seated please well this is a twofold occasion it is an occasion of great sorrow and solemnity because these elements are designed to remind us of the flesh and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and what he endured on that cross as he hung there dying for the sins of the world that makes this as solemn occasion as it can possibly be but thanks be unto

[33:35] God it is tempered it is balanced greatly by what our Lord said that we are to do this in remembrance of him and we are to do it until he comes and that's the joyous part of this message he is coming again so there are mixed feelings as we come to this table we enter into the solemnity of it because of what it represents and we enter into the joy of it because of the promise that it provides that Jesus is coming again and what's the greatest evidence for the second coming it's the first coming and just as that was fulfilled quite literally as prophesied in numerous places so also is his second coming prophesied in so many places and God made good on it for the first coming you can trust him for the second coming meanwhile we gather together like this we encourage one another we remember our

[34:43] Lord and his death burial and resurrection and in his promise of coming again each time we gather around this table the only hours from the time our Lord instituted this that he would be subjected to cruel beatings scourgings taken to Calvary's hill and there crucified wearing nothing but a loin cloth the shame and the ignominy of it all and just hours before that horrible event would occur he was gathered in the safety of the upper room with his apostles and he was trying to prepare them for what was coming and they just didn't understand and when he took the bread and said take eat this is my body and he passed around this common piece of bread I'm sure they did that with complete puzzlement what does that mean what is he saying take eat this is my body which is what and then

[35:50] I can just see these looking at each other quizzically and saying what is this all about what is he and then he took the cup and he said this cup is the new covenant in my blood and they still had no idea that he was going to die on the cross they just didn't get it and I'm sure they were wondering what what is this what and you know of course after the fact it all made perfect sense they could look back on that night say now we understand now we see what that was now we know what he meant when he said that but they didn't understand it at the time and so it is with us when we are going through things difficult things trying things perplexing things trying to make some sense of it and we just can't figure it out nothing seems to make any sense just wait the time will come when you may be able to look back on that puzzling situation and say now

[37:02] I understand back then I didn't know this was coming I didn't know that was going to happen and again it's nothing more than another occasion to trust him so as we partake of these elements please keep these items in mind we we serve an open communion that means if you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you are welcome as a member of the body of Christ to partake in this communion table and we would certainly not refrain giving it to anyone who has a personal relationship with Christ if you do not have this will not give you one this is not for that we do not partake of these elements to become Christians we don't even partake of these elements to become better Christians we partake of these elements because we are Christians and these symbols mean something to us because of our union with Christ so even if you are not a member of

[38:04] Grace Bible Church if you are a member of the body of Christ and you belong to the Lord Jesus this is his table and you are welcome to it Jesus took the bread and he broke it and he said take eat this is my body which is given for you may we take our hymnals please number 312 Calvary covers it all sing verses 1 and 2 far dear thou all that the world have been called for my sweet love came to thy heart now that

[39:18] Jesus alone for my sin near the home and Calvary covers it all Calvary Calvary covers it all my past with the sin in stain my guilt and despair Jesus took on him there and Calvary covers it more more the shards that he wore and the thorns that he wore and his mercy and love evermore and my heart bowed in shame as I called on his name and

[40:26] Calvary and Calvary covers it all Calvary covers it all my past Cueicks And in the same manner, our Lord took the cup.

[41:09] How much was the grace when I looked at the face of Jesus, my crucified Lord?

[41:26] My redemption complete, I've been found at His feet, and Calvary covers it all.

[41:41] Calvary covers it all. My past was still in stain, my guilt and despair.

[41:58] Jesus took on Him there, and calvary covers it all. How blessed the hope that my soul by Him brought shall be His in the glory of the high.

[42:23] Where with sadness and sorrow, I'll be one of the throne. And Calvary covers it all.

[42:39] Calvary covers it all. My past was still in stain, my guilt and despair.

[42:56] Jesus took on Him there, and Calvary covers it all. The scripture text says, And when they had sung in Him, they went out.

[43:16]  You are dismissed.