I invite you to turn in the Bible this morning to Mark chapter 11, second book of the New Testament, Mark chapter 11. We are preaching through, working through this book, and this morning we come to chapter 11, which begins the triumphal entry, and we will consider the first 11 verses of Mark chapter 11. So if I happen to miss this, when Palm Sunday comes around, you'll all say, wow, he did it outside of Palm Sunday and we all remember that so no one will get mad at me right this is Mark chapter 11 beginning at verse 1 now when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethpage 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 we'll send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at the 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 he entered jerusalem and went into the temple and when he looked around at everything as it was already late he went out to Bethany with the twelve. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. I ask you to keep your Bibles open this morning. We'll be looking at a few different passages and I want you to see it this morning. So it's real important that you see where I take you back this morning as I believe it helps us to understand Mark 11. I find this particular passage perplexing. I always have. I've never found this to be an easy passage to preach. I have to confess that there have been times when we come to Palm Sunday and I say, what am I going to say? I really don't know. It's absolutely correct that the most difficult passages are sometimes the most, I'm sorry, the most simple passages, the simplest of passages are the most difficult to proclaim, and to preach, and explain at times. In this case, you have heard the triumphal entry preached, I'm sure, most of your lives. If you've been in church, and you've sat in church for any amount of time, this comes up. We celebrate it every year, and as I sat down to think about it again afresh this week, I refuse to pull out an old sermon. It says they're not any good, I never think. So I do. I rethink a lot about what is this saying to us that I can communicate this in a way that's helpful to understand and appreciate the intention of the author here, in this case, Mark. I wonder if we really understood it. It's a strange account. It doesn't really fit the conceptions of what we have on Palm Sunday, where we think it's just a nice passage for everyone and for the children. There's nothing really sentimental about it. On one hand, he rides in on this donkey. Matthew says, donkey, here you read colt. Most of the detail here belongs to the preparations and the seating of Jesus on this donkey. But to this day, do you have any idea of why he's really riding on a donkey? You've heard this preach all your life, but if I went around and asked you, why is he riding on a donkey, what would be your answer? It would be interesting to survey that. I'm sure I would get, well, pastor, it's humility. And I would say, well, that's correct. But is that it? Is that what Mark is wanting to communicate to us, that Jesus was humble? Even worse, the whole thing's kind of anticlimactic, isn't it? I mean, did you read the end of this? Everyone puts palm branches down before and after and they're shouting out Psalm 118 and then he enters the city and it must have been some momentary thing where he looks around and it's late. He heads back. Not very triumphal, is it? In fact, in this account in Matthew, Jesus comes into the city and everyone starts saying, who is this? Who is this? They don't know? Not very triumphal, at least as we understand it. And if this is some great triumphal entry, don't you expect something greater? I would. But what does the account leave you with at this point? Nothing has happened yet. And whatever we're celebrating from Psalm 118, we know and we've studied from the disciples that they would not accept, they would not believe that Jesus had come to lay down his life. So whatever they're saying from Psalm 118 had nothing to do with, at least in their eyes, that this one would come and suffer and die on a cross. I don't think they would have been singing Psalm 118 if they knew that. That doesn't mean they understood correctly Psalm 118. What is this entry telling us? I think it will help at this point, and this is why it's so helpful to study books and preach through books as God gave us books. Topical series will never do good for your souls this way. Books do. And remember what we've learned from the Gospel of Mark. If you're able to sort of put everything together at this point, what was their great struggle with Jesus? They didn't want this kind of Jesus. They didn't accept this kind of Jesus. Remember, Jesus was constantly saying, and He said it three times, I'm going to Jerusalem and I'm going to die. I'm going to be beaten. I'm going to be spit on. And the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes and they will kill Him. Oh, I don't... Do we really have to keep hearing that? Do we really? Not interested in Jesus of the cross, were they? It's very similar to the struggle today. They wanted the show. They wanted entertainment. The cross was a stumbling block to them and we saw where their hearts were. It was on their greatness. It was on their seats. Remember, they were fighting over seats. This is what we've been studying in Mark for all this time now in this gospel. And Jesus kept saying over and over and over, I came, you don't understand my mission. I came not to be served. You're not doing something great for me. I'm doing something great for you. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. and to give his life as a ransom for many. I'm laying it down. Well, all of that should help us by now, don't you think? All of that should help us by now to come into the triumphal entry because this is the moment Jesus chooses his seat. We've been talking about seats for a long time. And it was, absolutely correct, a seat of humility all the way to death. And I think it's helpful at this point to remember something that I had said earlier. It fits so nicely again here when I was going through my bookshelf and I pulled out that book that I'd never looked at before. It was Donald Gray Barnhouse's little book on the Gospel of Mark. And I had been at that point in the series wrestling with, well, what is the central theme of the Gospel of Mark? And Barnhouse just nailed it right in the title, Mark, the Servant's Gospel. But he said in that, and this helps us, I believe, with this morning, that the path to the cross is his glory. We're going to come back and look at everything that Barnhouse had been saying, but the path to the cross was his glory. It's such a beautiful section, and we'll come back to what Barnhouse said in a minute, of thinking about what was real glory and what was real greatness. What we have this morning is a kind of parable of the entire work of Christ for us, if you will, in this triumphal entry. It's a snapshot of this whole path that He chose and that everything that the Old Testament looked for in celebrating the coming King and the Messiah and a kingdom and the reign of David comes together right here in this particular moment. The key then to this whole section is seen in the citation by the people of Psalm 118 where they begin to shout out, Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Jesus, taking his seat on a donkey, riding to death, is how the kingdom comes. That's what was being said. Now, I don't think they understood that for a minute. But they're fulfilling what the Old Testament talked about. Jesus is. And at this point, for Mark's readers, he is drawing heavily, and I believe all the Gospels do this in this great moment of the triumphal entry, they're drawing heavily on the Old Testament to show and say one great thing to us, this is the moment that it all anticipated. This is the moment that it was all looking for. And as I thought this week about the love of God and last time how we looked at our struggle with the love of God with this picture before he went to this cross of a blind beggar, a nobody, sitting out in the cheap seats, having nobody, being a nobody, brought to the front in front of everyone, you had the whole story that the last shall be first because he just became last. Well, in that way, you have the most beautiful account displaying this morning the sacrificial love of the Lord. As we open up chapter 11, we see this great detail given on the preparation and retrieving of a donkey or a colt in this case. You know, this is seven verses of this whole section on this particular issue. seven verses, to deal with the bringing and seeding of Jesus on this colt. As we come to verse 1, now we read that when they drew near Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, we read that Jesus sent two of his disciples to get this donkey. Bethany is located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. It is a 2,900-foot hill facing Jerusalem. So they came down the eastern slope, entering the Kidron Valley, and they would come to Jerusalem. He had just come from Jericho, which was a 21-mile trip, most of which was uphill. His heart has been set the entire time to come here. This is where he's wanted to be. So from verses 2-7, we have this sort of odd moment where Jesus says, I want you to go get this animal and bring him so that I can now ride into Jerusalem. So you'll notice in verse 2, it says that. And he said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you will 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 we'll send it back here immediately. What a remarkable thing. that more ink has been spilled over and tried to be explained to us of what this very strange occurrence really, really means. I thought to myself this last week, it wouldn't work if I tried it, you know. If I said, hey, over down at the Ford dealership, I'd like one of you guys to go down and get me one of those brand new F-150s. And if anyone asks, why are you taking the truck? Say, Pastor Gordon needs it. I'd then have to visit you at the jail, wouldn't I? It's really, it's quite a moment. It's clearly demonstrating the power of Jesus over everything, isn't it? He is Lord. He says the Lord needs it. I'm Lord. You tell them that. They'll give it up. It's quite a moment. Think about that. But it really doesn't make sense to us, does it? Why this detail? Why does it matter? It says a donkey that no one's ever ridden. Now I've had this explained, really not explained to me in a way that totally makes sense to me. At least I've heard a good explanation for it in the past, but I've still never understood the why. I've never really grasped it. I mean, to make seven out of the 11 verses as we have it recorded here about this particular issue means that it is something important that the Spirit wanted us to understand. Why a donkey? and everyone says well it points to Jesus's humility it shows his his royalty but do we understand that humility and royalty Alexander the Great rode on horses when he was going to war he was a champion and this is why I come back to Barnhouse this is why it's so helpful to preach through a book as I was going through that shelf and I picked up Barnhouse on Mark the servant gospel listen to the preface again mark is the gospel of the lord as servant the gospel of the lord of glory who showed his glory by becoming little for us he descends he condescends he stoops he serves he dies that is his glory and he goes on remember i described that the first time he saw King George VI at his coronation with all of his robes and all of his pomp. And then later, he saw him again after London, a picture of George, after London had been bombed by the Nazis and was in rubble, and George was standing there with Churchill. And he says, I saw him looking totally unremarkable in a derby hat. He saw the suffering of the people, and George wept. When the people saw that, they kept saying over and over, when they saw their king in that kind of state, in a humbled state, in a derby hat, the people, when they saw him with that kind of love, kept saying, he loves us. He loves us. And Barnhouse says, that was the noblest picture of King George I had ever seen. And when I want to look at the King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, when I want to see Him in His glory, I look at Him dying on a cross for me, says Barnhouse. The King of glory, and think about how remarkable this Gospel is. He speaks of in His high priestly prayer the glory that He had with His Father before the world was. He hit the train of His robe filling the temple, remember. You want to see the noblest picture of Jesus. Look at him here. Hasn't that been what Mark's saying to us? Look at him here. Maybe we've heard the triumphal entry preached so much we can't even identify it. It's just ho-hum, ho-hum. We sort of sit here, standing over it. Do you see it? He's fulfilling the entire Bible. He's fulfilling all of history. of what the Scriptures proclaimed. He's fulfilling Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation. He is lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. That's the noblest picture of Jesus. Because he's been telling us the whole time that that is the path of greatness. Where the Son of Man would not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. This is God's Son. Well, I could stop the sermon here. But maybe I can help you to appreciate this a little bit more. I still have an answer, why the donkey? And I'm not overly dogmatic on what I'm about to say, but I can't help but see that this was told to us all throughout history. The real key, it says, that He had never sat. No one had ever sat on this donkey, this colt. Jesus is entering Jerusalem as we have historically celebrated it and understood it during the Passover week, which would have had many things going on at this time. And we know that there would have been thousands of Passover lambs being prepared this week and brought into the city, Josephus would record that there would be 256,000 of them at this time eaten as part of the feast of all of these lambs that were brought into Jerusalem. Seems like a lot of blood, doesn't it? He comes walking into Jerusalem when all these lambs are being prepared for the Passover, and I got to thinking last week, where does that come from? Where does that instruction come from? Why is this all colliding at the same time? And you know that those instructions for the Passover were given back in the book of Exodus. And they were given to speak of, in anticipation, the Lamb of God who would come and take away the sins of the world. This is fulfillment. But here's what I want you to think about, do you know what God also originally gave in the midst of these Passover instructions? A strange set of laws about the redemption of unclean things. This is where I want you to turn for a minute to Exodus 13. Exodus 13. And I want you to look at verse 11. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are male shall be the Lord's. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. Or, if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. Strange, you say. Now stay with me on this. Here was the law. Every firstborn of clean animals were to be given to the Lord as a sacrifice. God said, you must first give me your firstborn of the clean animals and they will be offered up as a sacrifice. Why? Well, the basic meaning to that was the Lord was teaching them something. The Lord wanted them always to know and remember that the Lord required the death of the firstborn in Egypt. So the Lord said, you must consecrate all your firstborn clean animals to me. The clean would be sacrificed, but what about the unclean? Well, notice what he said. But you can redeem, of all animals to choose of unclean, the firstborn of an unclean donkey. and your firstborn son. He just put a firstborn of an unclean donkey in the same category as your unclean sons. They can be redeemed. The marvel is they could be bought back with what? A lamb. I could tell you there were many donkeys' necks broken in Israel because a young lamb was a high price to pay for redeeming an unclean donkey. but don't miss this donkeys were put in categories with firstborn sons who were unclean so their firstborn sons had to be redeemed they had to be redeemed get that the lord was teaching them he put their firstborn children in the same category of unclean donkeys and they were always to explain this to their children sons you are like an unclean donkey but a price needs to be paid. And just like we're going to redeem this unclean donkey, we can redeem you with a lamb without spot. So we can redeem our unclean donkey. Now think about there's donkeys in Israel during the Passover for a reason. If not, we have to break its neck. But that would be costly. It is costly for us to offer a lamb in the place, isn't it? To be sacrificed. Well, they were always to teach our children this. This is what you deserve. This is what you deserve. You would be lost unless you're bought back. You would be lost unless you're redeemed. The gospel is constantly being proclaimed to Israel in the wilderness. You could be redeemed with the blood of a lamb. So we set apart our firstborn sons to the Lord. They represent all of us who need to be redeemed that was the point it was teaching them that we all need to be now this background is way more in the mind of the jews than we gentiles appreciate it explains why mary and joseph when they first were going up to jerusalem what they were doing with jesus when they took their firstborn and the scriptures quote they presented him to the lord as it was written in the law of the lord every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the lord that's exodus 13. Luke 2. Here's the scene. Now we have learned who He is. He's the Son of God. Eternal. Firstborn over all creation. In front of His disciples, He says, I want you to go get this unclean donkey. This colt. The firstborn of an unclean donkey. I want you to go get it. It's never been written. It's never been backed. It was unbacked, the text says. John calls it a very young donkey. It was a firstborn, and since the Passover was going to be celebrated, it was going to be redeemed. Jesus says, tell them it's the Lord's. They know that history. Jesus is using Exodus. Tell them it's the Lord's. So they untie it, and they bring back the donkey, and they note what they do. They bring the colt to Jesus, and they threw their clothes on it. And in the Luke and the Matthew passage, Jesus was set on this donkey, this unclean animal. They cast their unclean garments on the unclean donkey and Jesus identifies with it. Now listen to Zechariah 9. Say to the daughter of Zion, see your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He's just and having salvation. He's saving. The Lamb of God has come. Riding on a donkey. They understood that. They got that. They knew this history. God is offering His Son to buy us back. It's a presentation. This is how the heavenly kingdom comes. The message was everywhere in the Old Testament. How about this? Abraham, take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and take him to Mount Moriah. You know that's where the temple is. That's where it would be. Offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and he split wood for the burnt offering. The donkey carries his son to the place of sacrifice. And on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place of Pharaoh. And Abraham said to his two men, stay here with the donkey and the lad and I will go yonder. The lad and I will go yonder and worship. Wood is then put on Isaac's back he carries wood to the place of sacrifice. Abraham's firstborn son, your only son, is put on the altar and as immediately as the knife is raised, God says, stop. Stop. I've got to substitute. And he puts the ram on the altar. And the fire of God's wrath fell right there on that sacrifice. Well, there's the story in fulfillment. Here's the story of all of redemptive history coming to fulfillment. Jesus rides on that donkey and has to go up Himself with wood on the back, the cross. And He becomes the substitute. Now you understand, I hope, That even if the whole donkey connection you're struggling to see, the main message of this is so clear. We're all unclean. All our righteousness is like that and it's an amazing moment for what He had come to do. But the people didn't see it. Mark wants us to see that, that many spread their clothes on the road and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. and then those who went before and followed cried out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. That's what they would sing at the time of the Passover. But listen to what comes after in Psalm 118. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord. He's given us light. bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. They didn't sing that. Abraham, I'm not going to require the death of your firstborn son who represents all of you. He can be bought back. Dear Christians, the triumphal entry says, I'm not going to require your death. I'm going to give my son in your place as the sacrifice. He's going to be bound with cords to the horns of the altar. And that's exactly what would happen. They would take Him. They would bind Him. They would put big nails right through His wrists into the cross. He would become our altar so that us being unclean can be a purchased possession and brought back into God's favor. That's the Gospel. And the consequence is, open to me the gates of righteousness, says the psalm, and I'll go through them and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you for you've answered me and have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Here he is. It happened. I don't think it's wrong to say again that this is not the Jesus that people wanted. Isn't it sad? We've learned that in Mark. The desire for glory, the desire to see the kingdom come in power not by way of a cross, but by way of a conquering warrior restoring the kingdom now to Israel would not even leave them at the ascension. Lord, are You now finally going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Are you going to finally now do it? I think there are a lot of worshipers today who are the same. What they expect in this life is that Jesus is here to make their experience great. That Jesus is here to do nothing but pander to their desires. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many Christians in this land today worshiping, hoping that Jesus will finally make America great again. But that's not what Christianity has ever been after. He had accomplished by his life, death, and resurrection opening up heaven to you. That's what he did. To all the nations, he paved the way. And he identified with us and did it. I hope you see what he's done for you today. All of this teaches us. It's not about what we offer to God in our life. Our lives are learning to, as we have sort of come full circle and mark, our lives are learning to receive and trust in the one who would go to such depths for us and confident that we would enter through His blood. Unless we receive the kingdom that way. Notice, kingdom. Blessed is he who comes. The kingdom. Unless you enter the kingdom of God as a little child. Think about that statement. Unless we receive it as a little child. Whoever does not receive the kingdom as a little child will never enter it. Have you entered today? That's the question. Have you entered today? You entered the gates of righteousness. In keeping with this theme, you enter with a broken and contrite heart. You enter recognizing and receiving Him who knew no sin but became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That's what we celebrate in Christianity. This is Christianity. And that's the driving point of the passage that Jesus went for you in your place to the place of sacrifice. That when Barnhouse looked at King George and saw him in that little hat and saw him weeping over the hurt of the people, said that's the noblest picture of George I'd ever seen. This is the noblest picture of Jesus as we go through the wilderness for us to see now by faith. And one day you'll see Him resurrected in glory. So I hope we all say today, Lord, wash me. He says, come, let's reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Praise Him that He was bound to the altar for you. And that He became your sacrifice so that today instead of wrath, you receive love and salvation. Heavenly Father, we bow the head this morning and You are simply telling us to receive Him. And it's a wonderful message that You've proclaimed to us all throughout history. Thank You that the Son of God identified with sinners and took on all of our sins to pay for them and became the substitute so that we'll never have to know the wrath of God. That should leave us here with the most joyful hearts ever. But we also know you'll have to take away the dullness of our hearts to see where this glory is. Thank you, O Lord, as we are traveling pilgrims, looking for the new heavens and the new earth, that that has been open to us. And that now we can have confidence because of Christ that when we are absent from the body, we're present with you and have the hope of the future resurrection of glory. Thank you, Father, for your faithfulness in proclaiming to us this today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.