He Chose the Road

Mark 11:1–11 NASB 2020

And as they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them just as Jesus had said, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks on it; and He sat on it. And many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. And those who went in front 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 Jerusalem and came into the temple area; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

Intro

Christ does not call us to a road which He was unwilling to travel down Himself.

Hebrews 4:14–15 NASB 2020

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let’s hold firmly to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.

Truth

I. Christ was intentional about taking the road toward the cross (1-6)

Christ knew He was headed to the cross and He in fact paved His own path towards His own suffering for our sake.

Christ always walked by the Spirit in the perfect will of His Father, even while knowing the outcome would be difficult.

Christ’s perfect example of obedience, dedication to His mission, and perseverence in the face of trials is a wonderful picture for us of what it means to be truly human.

Philippians 2:5–8 NASB 2020

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

Not only was Christ intentional about orchastrating His own road to the cross, He had planned it long beforehand.

John 12:14–15 NASB 2020

Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “do not Fear, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

Zechariah 9:9 NASB 2020

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

II. Christ received worship with joy (7-10)

Christ clearly understood Himself to be God in the flesh and He had no problem being openly worshipped by the crowds.

Luke 19:40 NASB 2020

Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!”

2 Kings 9:12–13 NASB 2020

And they said, “It is a lie; tell us now.” And he said, “Such and such he said to me, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ’ ” Then they hurried, and each man took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king!”

Hosanna in Aramaic literally means “Save us Lord.”

Jesus knew exactly what was being insinuated about Him and refised to stop it.

Psalm 118:25–26 NASB 2020

Please, O Lord, do save us; Please, O Lord, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

III. Christ is the King who has come to rule forever (10)

The people clearly expected Christ to drive out the Romans and establish a Messianic reign on earth right there in that moment, but He has a different sort of Kingdom in mind.

His kingdom is from Heaven and is eternal rather than temporal. He aims to upend not just Rome or any other unjust governments of man, but the entire establishment of this world in Adam.

John 18:36–37 NASB 2020

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”

Christ is a different sort of king; one who conquers by giving his own blood for his enemies rather than by taking the blood of his enemies.

By redeeming fallen humanity, Christ not only reclaims what is properly Him, but He puts His enemy the Devil and all of his fallen angel cohorts to absolute shame.

All of the Devil’s work will come to naught. Try as he might to blaspheme God and defame His image which was put into humanity, in the end humanity will glorify God and we will glorify Him in way that was even more glorious than if we had never sinned.

Because Christ has redeemed us from sin, His glory shines brighter than ever.

Consider all of His attributes which have been put on display through the cross, empty tomb, and ascention.

Gospel

Who is God? He is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the true King from David’s line who comes to restore all things which were lost in Adam.

What has God done? He has orchastrated His road to the cross, has gone to the cross for our sake, has risen, and is ascended to His throne. By His example He has shown us the way to life.

Who are we? We are those who have been called by Christ to follow Him down the calvary road, taking up our crosses and dying to the sin nature in Him that we might also follow Him into resurrection life and His coming kingdom.

What do we do? We leave the road leading to destruction utterly behind by repentance and belief in the gospel, and follow Christ down the passion road; choosing obedience to Christ and enduring the scorn of the world which comes with following Him, but recieving eternal life as our reward.

Challenge

What we learn from Palm Sunday is that Jesus willingly walked the road towards the cross. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus and be saved from this crooked generation must also be willing to walk the road to the cross. We can never have the resurrection life unless we are willing to die. As Christ died to free us from our sins, we must allow our sin nature to die on that cross with him that we might rise to new life with Him. Have you turned from the highway to hell and gotten on the road to life yet? You will have to pass through the cross to get to your destination, make no mistake. Even so, the momentary sufferings of the road through the cross with Christ are nothing compared to the glory He has won for you. The greatest this world can offer you is nothing compared to the worst moment with Christ in heaven.

My challenge to all of us today, is to do whatever it takes to go down the passion road with Jesus. Don’t waste another moment of your life serving Adam, Satan, and the culture of death in this world.