We'll turn with me and your Bibles to Mark chapter 11. We're going to look at chapter 11 verses 1 through 11 this morning. And if you are using one of the Bibles that we have underneath the chair in front of you, it's on page 177. Here now, God's holy and true word from Mark chapter 11, starting in verse 1. Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem to Beth page 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 cult 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 cult 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 cult? And they told them what Jesus had said and they let them go. And they brought the cult to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road and other 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 Jesus entered and went into the temple. And Jesus entered Jerusalem and he went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. The word of the Lord. You pray with me. Father, we do thank you for this time to be together to sing your praises, to say things to you, to hear things from you. Father, we pray that you would be with us now as we look at this passage. We do pray that you would use this time to transform us, to make us new, to make us more like Christ and to make us more willing and able to run with the gospel to our neighbors and to the nations for it is in Jesus' name that we pray. For the rest of the sermon series on the gospel of Mark, we will be sort of under this theme of eyes on the cross. We are still in the cross shaped life sermon series on the gospel of Mark, but this last part here now that we're entering into is kind of like act three of the book of Mark. Some scholars break up the book of Mark into these three sections and we're entering into that last section. The part that we're looking at today is very often what is preached on Paul's Sunday because we're really going to be focusing on what is really the last week of Jesus' earthly life and ministry. That's what we're looking at today. This triumphal entry of Jesus and the fact that the secret is out. He's boldly declaring something as he does this. His actions speak very, very loudly. His eyes are on the cross. He's doing things now where he cannot turn back. His eyes are on the cross. We want our eyes on the cross. We want the people in the city to get their eyes on the cross too. So that will be a theme that will be running through the fall and even into the spring. One of the things that's so amazing about this passage and looking at Jesus in this passage is the way that we will see two things, two attributes of Christ side by side, two things that don't normally seem to go together because really what we'll be seeing in this passage is Jesus' lion-like courage and at the same time his lamb-like humility. Lion-like courage and lamb-like humility. You don't usually think those things go together. Normally if you think somebody has very, very courageous, maybe they're not as humble or if somebody is very, very humble, maybe they're not so courageous. But Jesus is this incredible person who is fully courageous and fully humble at the same time and the beauty is as we're following him, he calls us and teaches us to be like him. So the main thing we want to focus on this morning is that faith in Christ enables us to have lion-like courage and lamb-like humility at the same time. Anyone wanting courage for something they're facing, we have good news to look at this morning and anyone feeling that they need to be more humble. Again, good news in this passage. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at three things we want to talk about, lion-like courage in this passage and then lamb-like humility and third, the life-changing nature of the cross. Courage, humility and the cross. So let's jump in. We're going to walk right through this passage so keep your bottles open. And looking at verse 1, we're going to start to see here that the triumphal entry is really this demonstration of Jesus' lion-like courage. It's a really powerful demonstration of how courageous he is. Look at verse 1. Verse 1 says, they drew near to Jerusalem to Beth Page and Bethany at the amount of olives. Just one thing to note here that who is they? They is Jesus and His disciples and the crowd that is following Him coming from Jericho where He was last week when He healed Bartimaus of His blindness if you remember that. And so now Jesus with this crowd is walking and they're going toward Jerusalem and they get to the amount of olives and Jesus stops and looking out over the city of Jerusalem. Now He sends His disciples to them. So looking on in the rest of verse 2 and He tells them to go into the village and that they'll find a cult tied up and they should bring that cult back to Him. And if anybody asks that they should just tell them that it's for the Lord and that they'll bring it back immediately and ultimately that's exactly what happens. It's very well laid plan. Everything goes according to plan and then it culminates with verse 7 where the cult is brought to Jesus. They put some of their clothes on it and then He sits on it. And that's how He will then ride into the city of Jerusalem. Now this word that Mark uses for cult is a word that can mean either a very young horse or a very young donkey. And John and his gospel in his account of this story, he tells us it is a donkey. So this is a donkey that is brought to Jesus. And this is what makes this scene so amazing and reveals His courage. Here's what's happening. Jesus now is going to ride this donkey into Jerusalem and He's entering Jerusalem as if He is the king of Jerusalem of the Jews. In doing this, that's what He is saying. That's what these actions are saying. He is entering Jerusalem as king as if He is the king of the Jews. And we'll talk about why this is so courageous. But here's what's happening in the Old Testament. We know that some of the kings, at least in the beginning, would ride donkeys. That was their means of transportation. If we look at 2 Samuel 7, we see David was given donkeys for which to ride upon. And then David's son Solomon, another king of Israel, was also seen riding donkeys in 1 Kings 1. But the big thing is that the kings didn't always ride donkeys. Eventually they had other means of transportation. And kings among the nations, they would always ride big war horses and have a presentation when they would come in. But there was this prophecy that a king would come to Israel in a certain way. And that prophecy is quoted in Matthew's gospel and in John's gospel. Mark doesn't quote it. But here's what it says. I think Mark knows that it just looks exactly like what we see. And so it's in Zechariah 9, 9 and 10. You don't have to turn there. I'm going to read it for you. But here's the prophecy. Zechariah prophesied that this would happen. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you righteous. And having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey on a cult, the full of a donkey. He shall speak peace to the nations. And his rule shall be from sea to sea. So for centuries, there's been this prophecy that a king would come, a very, very special king whose rule would expand from sea to sea, and he would come riding on a donkey. So for Jesus to do this, it is a very, very bold and courageous statement. It's him saying, I am king. You know, we have all these political ads on right now because it's election season. Anyway. And so you see all these different ads and people saying, here's why you should vote for me. Here's me in a construction hat looking like I'm doing something good and then vote for me, right? And so that's what happens. And but they're always saying, here's why you should vote for me. I want an opportunity to lead, right? What Jesus does in riding in on this cold, this full of a donkey is he's basically running an ad that says, I am king. He enters as king. And not only that, it's his entry on the donkey declaring that he is king, but also the way that the people with him, the way the crowd that's with him responds, they respond to him like he is king as well. So let's talk about this. In second Kings 9, 12 and 13, you see a very interesting situation, especially in light of what we see in this passage. In second Kings 9, 12 and 13, what happens is a king named Jehu is is anointed as king of Israel. Then in haste, every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps. And they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, Jehu is king. So when this one particular king of Israel was anointed, immediately all the people standing around took off their coats and threw them on the ground. And then they started shouting, Jehu is king. Now look at verse 8 and following, look what happens, right? Jesus is riding on this donkey and verse 8 says, and many spread their cloaks on the road and other spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who were following were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Do you see it? The crowd that is with Jesus is treating him like he is the king. They too believe he is the king of Israel. Now mind you, this is a different crowd than the crowd a week later who will start yelling, crucify him, crucify him. This is the crowd that is coming with Jesus from Jericho. And so Jesus is riding like a king. The crowd is shouting like a king throwing their coats down like they would for a king. It is absolutely amazing. And it is such a powerful picture of his lion-like courage because this is the point of no return. After this, he can't turn back. Let me explain what I mean. RT France is an author. He says that this first dogmatic public gesture, remember, up till basically this point, Jesus has kind of had his disciples keep it quiet of who he is. Now this is very public. And so RT France says this first dogmatic public gesture therefore has placed the Galilean preacher firmly in contention for the title King of the Jews. And that title will be at the center of his Roman trial. Remember, which we'll see later in the series why he ends up on trial because he's acting like he is the king of the Jews. So Jesus here passes the point of no return. Those three predictions of his death now are going to come true because why? When the crowd that is in Jerusalem, the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious elites, when they get wind of what Jesus has done, they are going to stop at nothing to take them out, which is what happens as we'll see as we continue through this sermon series. So where does this courage come from? Where does Jesus have this courage from? How does the world tell you that you should get courage or have confidence? The world always tells us that we should believe in ourselves, right? That we need to psych ourselves up and believe that we're strong, we can do it and have all this, basically have a high view of ourselves. If you want to be courage, you need to have a high view of yourself and your abilities. That's what the world tells you and me. Let me show you something that is just amazing about Jesus and his courage. Look back at verse 2. Notice that the cult is tied and Jesus says to untie it and bring it. This is amazing, okay? This is connected to a very important prophecy that goes even before what Zechariah said, it goes back to Genesis 49. In Genesis 49, 9 and 10, there's a prophecy. It says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet and it goes on a little bit and ultimately what it's talking about is the ruling the authority will not depart from Judah's line. So we know that Jesus is from David's line but even farther back, he's from Judah's line. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And so this prophecy is talking about this person that will come and it later says that he shall to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. So there's this leader, this ruler that will come from Judah's line and he'll have the obedience of the nations. And then it says, in verse 10, binding his fold to the vine and his donkey's cult to the choice of fire. In other words, for generations the people of Israel knew that this ruler would come and by the way, there will be a donkey tied up involved in it. Isn't that amazing? So this is all part of a well laid plan. That extends back before David's time, even before Judah's time. So all the way back to the very, very beginning, God's plan of redemption that has been unfolding throughout the generations, generation after generation. And so Jesus's mind, therefore, is not on himself. It's on his mind is on God, his mind is on God's plan and how he's carrying it out and bringing things to bear one thing after time. That's through generations, all through the generations. In one sense, you can say that Jesus' courage doesn't come from thinking highly of himself but rather of thinking highly of God and his plan. It is always unfolding because of his ability to bring about the things that he's planned to bring about. Hannah and I went to a show at SeaWorld. It's if you've been to SeaWorld lately, maybe you've been to it's called a lure, the allure of the ocean. It's good. And anyway, it's one of those shows that's got a whole lot of acrobatics, like people doing all sorts of crazy things that you're sort of the whole time. You're like, oh, that's dangerous. But you watch and you're kind of drawn in and then there's this moment where this man is standing next to this woman and a rope comes down and he grabs the rope. And he grabs her and then the rope goes up and they go up. Okay, and so now they're not tied to anything. They're just dangling there and he's hanging on the rope and he's hanging on to her. And they start doing all these maneuvers and they're swinging around. They do some sort of flippedy floppy thing. I think that's a technical term. And so they do the flippedy floppy and all of a sudden she is just kind of soaring through the air laying down simply on his feet. And this is like way up in the air that's like higher than our ceiling here, right? And so she isn't holding on to anything. He's simply hanging on to her with the top of his feet on her stomach and she is just totally soaring. It's an amazing moment and you think, man, that takes a ton of courage. But courage in what? Courage that you can fly? Courage that if she falls that she'll bounce? No. Her courage is all wrapped up in him hanging on to her. Her courage comes from the fact that he, this man knows the plan and he knows how to hang on to her. And so her courage doesn't come from a high view of herself. It comes from a high view of the one hanging on to her. And it's the same for you and me. Christ like courage doesn't come from a high view of self. It comes from a high view of God. It comes from a high view of God who is bringing his plans to bear a God who knows how to hang on to you and how to hang on to me.
So what is that thing, I wonder, that's on your list of things to do, that you've not yet done because you've been lacking the courage and maybe even today would be the day you decide to go for it, maybe even writing it in the next steps part of your sermon notes. Going for it, trusting that God will be with you, that it's all part of his plan that he's been unfolding and that he knows how to hang on to you. It's not about having a high view of yourself. It's about having a high view of God and his ability to carry out his will. Now, here's what's so amazing about that. If you have a high view of yourself in order to have courage, there's a byproduct. You can't really have a low view of yourself and be humble, right? It's kind of hard to be humble. If you're thinking in your mind, I'm awesome, I'm awesome, I can do this, right? And this is where we see the complete breakdown of the wisdom of the world to have courage by thinking highly of yourself. It doesn't work because it makes you not humble. What we see in Christ is the ability to be courageous and humble at the same time. That's what's so beautiful. When our courage comes from a high view of God and not a high view of self, we can also be humble. And that's what we see in Jesus. So let's look here and talk about lamb-like humility. Lamb-like humility. And what we want to see here is that the triumphal entry is also a demonstration of the humility of Christ. Think about that. Again, in verse 7, he just sits on this donkey. Think about the way that a ruler or a president would enter somewhere. Clip clapping on a little donkey. No, when we think of the way the world works, there's these big productions. It's always a display of someone's power or their might. Just think about Aladdin. The movie Aladdin. Think about the scene when Aladdin wants to marry Jasmine. And so what does he do, right? He finds the lamp and he gets the genie to make him into a prince. And then he gets this great outfit. You know, this is Aladdin. He's just a riffraff, a street rat, even though he doesn't buy that, right? But think of it though, what does that scene like? What is Aladdin's scene like when he's coming in as Al Yabaab war? There's elephants. There's camels. There's people with swords and dancing people in monkeys and music. And even the genie's singing, Prince Ali. My idea is he Al Yabaab war. You know, you love it too. Come on now. Here's the ironic part. The entire time, it's just Aladdin. The street rat. And the absolute opposite of that is the king and creator and sustainer of all things entering as king on a donkey who can barely walk and doesn't even have a saddle. That's beautiful humility. So where's that come from? Where's his humility come from? His humility. It stems from the fact that he's not thinking about himself in this moment. He's thinking about you and he's thinking about me and the things that you and I need to know about him so that we can run to him for salvation. If he was to put on this huge, huge display, we would be petrified, but instead he is showing his humility so that we can be drawn into him. I can go up to a person like that. He's thinking about you and me and how we need to see not pomp and circumstance from our king. What we need to see is a righteous him being righteous and having salvation as it says in Zechariah, humble and mounted on a donkey. We need to see that he was willing to pass that point of no return and ensure his death and our life. And to know that he is humble and approachable and that we don't need to fear. Tim Keller says humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. It's a great line because in this moment Jesus is not thinking he's worthless, but he's thinking about the worth he can give you by dying for you and giving his righteousness to you. So Christ's humility doesn't come from a low view of self. It comes from a high view of others putting others ahead of us doing the things that they need focusing on them, getting your thoughts off of yourself and on to them. Jesus, it says in Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 that he's the founder and perfect of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and it's seated at the right hand of the throne of God. In other words, he was thinking about his joy as he had his eyes on the cross. What's his joy? You and me reconciled to God through faith. So there's a humility that's available to us by the power of the Holy Spirit and following in Jesus footsteps and that's what makes the cross the life changing the cross the more that we understand it the more we believe that what Jesus did on the cross he did for us it changes us because it helps us to see that on the cross Jesus showed his lie in my courage protecting us. And his lamb like humility giving his life for for our life. And that changes you. There was a man named Dory Stoddard who was 76 years old and he was he's married to married to Mavie. Mavie was little younger 75. And Dory and Mavie on January 8, 2011 went to the grocery store where they lived in Tucson, Arizona. Dory was thought of by his kids as a Mr. Fixit. They always thought he could fix everything and he was just like a very good selfless family man. Well, on the same day that Dory and Mavie went to the grocery store that day in January of 2011, a young troubled college dropout named Jared Lee Lawfner also went to that grocery store and pulled out a gun and started to fire indiscriminately. Remember Gabrielle Giffords the US representative Gabrielle Giffords she was shot in the head that day and by a miracle, you know, she has had an amazing recovery. But as the shots rang out, Dory standing next to the love of his life, Mavie took his large construction worker arms, wrapped them around his bride and brought her down to the ground with the intentions of shielding her from bullets. Which is exactly what happened and he was shot and he was killed and Mavie is here today to tell the story. What an amazing picture of both courage to protect her and humility to give his life for her and that's what we see in the cross. This amazing courage to face the wrath of God which would destroy us and this profound humility in choosing to give his life. Jesus gave his life so that we could not lose ours and that's how the cross and Jesus is the reason and the power behind our courage and our humility. Courage comes from a high view of God not a high view of yourself humility comes from choosing to have a high view of others and both come from an ever increasingly high view of Christ and his cross. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you again for your word and its power. We thank you that our Lord Jesus has demonstrated his courage in ways that are mind blowing but also he shows us his humility so we know that we can come to him all who are weary and heavy laden and we can find rest. We can approach him because he is humble and weak. Help every one of us in this room especially those who are not walking with you in faith would you would you continue to open our eyes make us new give us courage give us humility. We pray in Jesus name Amen.