What Will You Do With the King?: Mark 11:1-11

If you were this morning turning your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 11, and we'll be reading verses 1 through 11 of the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 11, verses 1 through 11.

Mark 11:1–11

And it reads as follows Now when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethheid 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 coat tied on which no one has ever sat.

And tie it and bring it.

If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this?

Say, the Lord has need of it, and will bring it back here immediately.

And they went away and found a coat tied at a door, 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 coat?

And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

As they brought the coat to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, he sat on it.

And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the field.

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 king, 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.

Let us pray.

Father, we thank you again for this day, for what this day represents, remembering your triumphal triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

We thank you also, Lord, for the opportunity to come before the table, Lord, remembering your death, your burial, your resurrection on our behalf.

Lord, we pray that as we reflect on your word this morning, that you would speak to our hearts.

That your Holy Spirit, Lord, would um minister to each of us, Lord, in the way that we most need.

Lord, you know what our hearts stand in need of.

And we're praying that you would apply your word to us this day.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

For the last few weeks, we've been working our way through the Gospel of Mark.

And we've been looking at Jesus as he has been interacting with the disciples and with the crowds and the multitudes and the Pharisees.

And one thing that keeps coming up through this book and through the Gospel of Mark is this phrase that you keep hearing them say, Who is this man?

Who is this person that we're dealing with?

You go through the Gospels and you go through all the various interactions that Jesus has with individuals, and after he's had these interactions, they're saying, Who is this?

Trying to figure this out.

They're trying to trying to wrestle with what they're dealing with or who they're dealing with because you understand they they they're dealing with someone that is flesh and blood.

They see him tired.

They see him as he eats, they see him as he walks, he has to sit down, he has to drink, and the fatigue that comes over him, but then they also notice these amazing, miraculous things that he does.

They're trying to figure out what are we dealing with here.

I know this is a man that's sleeping, but he just healed all of these people.

What's going on?

Who is this?

Got a couple of examples of that when Jesus was preaching in the house and they ripped the roof off and they dropped the man down in front of Jesus while he was preaching and while he was teaching.

And he looked at the man and he says, Thy sins are beforgiven.

And the Pharisees are stopping and they're sitting there, they're thinking, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait.

Only one who has the power to forgive sins is God, who is this man that is standing in front of us, and he says to this man, Thy sins are forgiven.

They like, what's going on here?

You have the example when Jesus was in the boat and the storm was raging and Jesus was in the boat's sleep.

That's what men do.

Gods don't sleep, but a man is in the boat and he's sleeping and they're terrified and they're trying to figure out, okay, are we going to live?

Does he care about us?

And they wake him up and they say, Master, don't you care that we perish?

And Jesus wakes up, he gets up, and then he stands on the boat and he says to the storms that are raging, and this isn't just a little trinkles and thunderstorm, this scare these men to death.

They're seasoned sailors, they're seasoned men on the boat.

They're afraid of what's going on.

They think they're going to lose their life.

And he stands up in the midst of the boat and he says, Be still.

And it just stops.

The water's completely still, the water's completely quiet, the storms have stopped, and they're terrified.

That wasn't some party trick there.

They're like, oh, wait a minute.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Who does this?

Who is this man?

It's a demon-possessed man, and Jesus comes across the river, and this man is so crazy, so so wild, he they put him on the he walks among the graves and the tombs, and he has these chains on him because he cannot be controlled, he cannot be mastered, and all of a sudden Jesus comes and he comes to Jesus, and Jesus asks him, Who are you?

And he said, We're legions.

He has thousands of demons in him, and Jesus delivers this man from these demons.

What in the world, who in the world do we have on our hands?

And you'll notice something as we've been going through Mark, Jesus would often tell the people, he said, Look, don't tell them who I am.

Don't say who I am.

They would acknowledge that you are the Son of God.

He says, Keep it quiet.

But all of a sudden, here in our text today, in the triumphal entry, Jesus no longer is telling them to keep it quiet.

He's going into this city, he's going into the city, and he's letting them know that your king has come, your king is here.

He doesn't quiet the crowds, he doesn't stop the children from singing, he doesn't stop the people from worshiping him.

He says, I am, and he's saying to them, I am the king.

And the question that Jesus is doing is he's sort of forcing their hand, you might say, because now he's saying to them, You've seen the miracles, you've seen that all that I've done, you've heard my teaching, you've been of you've observed everything that I've done.

Now I'm asking you, what are you going to do with the king?

How are you going to respond to one who is coming in your midst, sent from God above, who demands and who is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords?

What are you and how are you going to respond to the king?

You see, Jesus, when he comes in Jerusalem, when he comes, this it's it's laden with with messianic tones and messianic words.

Our scripture that we read this morning about from Zechariah, let them know Jesus, God was faithful in letting the nation of Israel know how would you identify the king?

How are you going to know that I that the one that stands before you is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, the one that I have sent to deliver you from your bondage?

How will you recognize them?

One of the things he told them, he says, look, he's gonna come on a donkey.

Thousands of years.

He's come riding on a donkey.

In other passages of scriptures in Psalms, 118 and in Genesis chapter 49, there are words of identifying words so that the nations would know, this is the one whom I have sent.

Genesis 49 · chapter mention

And you understand that the Pharisees, they knew their Bibles.

They knew their Bibles.

They understood the prophecies, they understood the words that were coming forth.

The people knew their Bibles, they understood, and all of a sudden now Jesus is saying to them, You know the Bibles.

Now what are you gonna do with what you're seeing here today?

What we want to do this morning is just briefly look at the responses of the people and to Jesus His coming into Jerusalem.

We want to look at the responses of the religious community, the Pharisees.

How did the Pharisees respond?

How did they handle what Jesus was doing?

How do the crowds respond to the king and to his reclamation and this declaring that he was the king by coming in on this donkey and presenting himself to the nation?

How did the disciples respond?

And then there's these praises from unexpected places that we're going to look at, but but not only how did they respond, but the question this morning is for us, how are you gonna respond to the king?

What are you gonna do with Jesus?

So often we tend to think, we tend to look at Jesus and we and we see and we hear these stories, like, well, you know, that's a good story, you know, I like that, and but I don't particularly want to follow that.

I'm I'm gonna go this way, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do something different.

That's nice for you, but ah, not for me.

No, that's not what Jesus is offering here this morning.

You you don't claim, make claims like, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Nobody gets to the Father but by me.

That's an absolute claim.

That's a claim where he's not saying, well, there's a whole number of options that you can choose from.

And if you if you don't like this one, then you can go this way or you can try it.

That's not what he's saying here.

He's looking at everyone here this morning.

He's saying to us this morning, he's saying to the world this morning, I'm not, I'm not, there, I'm not one of the ways.

I'm not one of many kings, I'm not one of many sovereigns in the world.

No, no, no.

I am the only one.

What are you gonna do with that?

And he says that if you reject that, if you if you decide, I don't particularly like that, then he says, do you won't get to the Father, which has implications.

Because not only has Jesus come this first time meek and lowly, but he's coming a second time, and he's not coming the second time meek and lowly.

He's coming the second time to judge the world and the earth.

He's coming the second time to settle all accounts, he's coming the second time to make all things right.

He's coming the second time to ask every last one of us, what did you do with my claims on your life?

And so this is really it's not an option.

I mean, you do have an option.

You can say, you can't look and you can say, I don't know, you know, I really don't believe that, Pastor Mike.

You have that choice.

That doesn't change the fact of who Jesus is.

Just because, you know, sometimes we do that.

You know, just because we think and we say to ourselves, well, you know, I don't believe that.

As if that's gonna change who Jesus is.

As if that's gonna change the fact that he is the Son of God, as if that's gonna change the fact that he will return a second time.

And so we want to look at the religious community.

We want to look at the Pharisees and how did they respond when Jesus came.

And one of the things we see here is that they were they were constantly pushing and fighting against Jesus.

They were at this moment plotting to kill him.

The thing that they hated about Jesus is that Jesus was moving in on their territory.

The Pharisees had a good thing going.

They dressed nice, they had all the praises of the men in all the nations, they had all these accolades, everybody was worshiping them and they had all the control and they were telling people what to do, and so they had a good thing, and all of a sudden Jesus came, comes, and he makes statements like this.

You have heard it said, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but I say unto you.

And they're like, wait a minute, only one who says, but I say unto you is God.

They remember in the mountain, he gives the commandments.

And he's starting to mess up their thing, he's starting to mess up their movement, and so they're angry and they hate him and they want to destroy him.

And so when the when Jesus comes in on this donkey, the first thing they tell Jesus to do is stop them from praising you.

Jesus says, I'm not gonna stop anybody.

I'm not gonna stop them.

You see, the Pharisees, the Pharisees hated the fact that Jesus was messing with their world.

They didn't like the fact that Jesus was turning their world upside down.

They didn't like the fact that Jesus was making claims on their lives and and on their positions.

He was not, he was saying that you're not the one in charge, I am the one in charge.

They did not like the fact that here was someone who was making claims on their lives, and they fought against that.

That's many of us today.

I want to serve Jesus, but but I don't I don't I don't want him in my business.

I don't want him telling me what to do.

I like the Bible, but I I don't like it when it starts telling me how to live, who to date, who to marry, where to how to spend my money.

I don't want that.

And the Pharisees were angry, they hated that.

They didn't want, they didn't want someone messing with their world.

And the question that we asked ourselves this morning, are your hearts, are your heart functioning and and presenting itself like the Pharisees?

Where you're like, I don't want him ruling over me.

They actually said that.

When Jesus was with Pilate, he was standing before them, and and Pilate says, Well, look, here's your king.

And they said, Well, no, no, no, give us Barabbas.

And he says, Well, why not?

Why don't you want your king?

And they make this statement.

He says, We will not have this man rule over us.

What's your heart saying this morning?

What's the position of your heart?

Are you are you like, well, you know, preacher?

I hear all that, but I'm gonna do what I want to do.

I'm gonna run things the way I want to run them.

You know, I understand all this.

I'm calling the shots in my world.

The Pharisees were men, they were people that didn't want God ruling over them.

Beloved, there may be someone here this morning, you may be here this morning, and that's the posture of your heart.

I don't want him ruling over me.

I'm gonna do what I want to do, when I want to do it, how I want to do it.

I'm in charge here.

And and God is gracious enough to let you and I do that.

You can go ahead and do that.

You can go ahead and do that.

But you do understand that you will stand before him.

You you do understand that that though he gives you that freedom here, that there will come the day when all of us will stand and give an account for how we lived our lives in front of him, whether how we submitted or we we refuse to submit, you will give an account.

You can you can decide now or you can wait till later.

And what's the what's that line?

You can pay me now, you can pay me later.

You can worship him now, or you will worship him later.

And beloved, that's not, I'm not trying to strong arm anybody here this morning.

You might be saying, you know, that's real pushy.

I don't think nobody, you know, this, you're a little pushy there, preacher.

You know, no, that's not what's going on here this morning.

I would be, I would be derelict of my duty if I would let you walk out of here to think that you have the option, and you do have the option to walk away, but that there are no consequences for you walking away.

And understand that that Jesus, the rich young ruler, came to Jesus, stood before him, and he says, You know, I want to follow you, I want to do all this stuff.

And Jesus says, Great, but I tell you what, sell everything you have and follow me.

And that man started counting his money.

Stocks, his bonds, all the things he had.

And he says, Look, that's a lot of money to give up.

I don't think I want to do that.

And he walks away.

And Jesus doesn't chase him, he doesn't run him down and say, Oh man, I'm sorry, I apologize, man.

I didn't really mean that.

I just joking.

You know, you don't you don't have to give me all of it, just give some of it all, but he let him go.

You see, one of the reactions to Jesus coming through on that donkey, coming through to the presenting himself as king and lord of the nation of Israel, is that the Pharisee says, I don't want him ruling over me.

I pray this morning that there may be someone here who you've been thinking that, but that you would yield.

You would you would submit to the only one that can bring you joy.

And the only one that will bring you peace.

But not only that, there were the crowds that were there.

People that were following him and they were wrapped up and caught up in all the action that was going on.

You know, that's easy to do when there's a lot of things, a lot of people going on.

There's action.

We all come and say, What's going on?

What's what's happening?

You know, you just get you just get swept up into the fervor and the fever of it all.

I have to tell my grandson sometimes, you know, when there are fights, you know, first thing they do, fight, fight.

Everybody run to the fight.

Like, man, why don't you work on the discipline of walking away?

You know, it's just that you get caught up in the crowds, you get caught up in the in the activity, you get caught up in the action.

You have these folks here that they were they were caught up in the worship and they they were following Jesus as long as everything was going according to plan in their lives.

You know, when he fed the 5,000, they were there, they were like, okay, this is free food.

I'm in.

You know, I'll follow Jesus as long as he gives me the things that I want and that I'm I'm longing for and that I want, and I have my agenda, and I have this uh a distinct way of what my life ought to look like and my career and my relationships and my money and my my time and my energy, as long as he does those things and we we're on the same page, we're good.

But the moment that Jesus starts touching those things in our lives, the moment that he starts making claims on areas of our lives, then there are the people that say, I didn't I didn't sign up for this.

Maybe it's your health, maybe it's your relationship, maybe it's your family, maybe it's your husband, maybe it's your children.

They go south on you.

You're like, well, I've been doing everything that God asked me to do, and I've been doing all these things, and and this is how he treats me.

I'm out.

That's what some of the crowd.

Some of the crowd were they they were they were there with Jesus as long as Jesus was going according to the plan that they had set for themselves.

We've seen that.

You you've seen that.

That may have even brought up brewed up in your own heart where where you were you were fine with God, but then all of a sudden you went to the doctor, and the doctor told you something that you didn't want to hear.

Or maybe it was your relationship or your marriage, and and all of a sudden it's broken or it goes south, and you're like, Well, I thought that God would, He loved me, and then and then you become bitter, you become angry, you become resentful, and then you're like, I don't need this.

If this is the kind of God that that I'm serving, I need to find me another God.

And there was some in the crowd that would follow Jesus as long as everything went their way, they were comfortable with him.

Beloved, Jesus is not bartering with us.

He really isn't bartering with us.

And again, I don't want this to sound strong-handed, it's but but it really is the truth.

He isn't bartering.

You we tend to think it is because we do our own thing and we just we, but that's that's his grace, that's his mercy, that's his kindness that that that we take advantage of, and we think because he does not demand his his his allegiance right up front that he doesn't care.

Oh, he cares.

That's what the Romans talks about the goodness and the kindness of God ought to lead us to repentance.

We take God's kindness for weakness.

Oh, he doesn't really care.

I'm not giving him my money, I'm not giving him my time, I'm not giving him my energy, he doesn't really care, I'm not giving him my life, I'm not giving him my relationships, he doesn't really care.

No, he really does care, but but it's his kindness, his mercy, his grace that he wakes us up every morning.

In our rebellion that ought to lead us to repentance and to giving ourselves to Him.

But not only do we have those that are there, but we have the disciples who did not quite understand everything that was going on.

They knew that Jesus was the mistake, they knew that he had come from God, they knew that he had power, they were following him, they were giving, but they didn't understand everything that was going on.

And John 12, 16 tells us this 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 had and had been done to him.

They didn't understand everything up front, but as as time went on, they begun to understand more and more of what it was, who he was, and what his claims were on their lives.

And that's some of us here this morning, as Christians.

We have embraced, we have given ourselves to Christ, and and we are followers of Christ and we want to serve him, but but we don't understand, and we haven't really understood just how much control he wants in our lives.

As I said this morning, you know, with with with Vision 2026, you know, we were we were fine with the way things were going, but all of a sudden you're you're asking us to do what?

Give more of my time, my talent, and my money?

And Jesus is, yeah, and more.

And more.

You see, God, and again, for us who are truly Christians, one of the gracious things that God does and has done for us is that even in our ignorance, he continues to bless us.

But he's, as you grow, as you mature in your walk, he's gonna start putting his hands on more and more things in our lives.

Things that you and I are not even aware of, that we are hoarding, we are worshiping, we are in control of.

And he will begin to say, I want that too.

And I want this.

And oh, yeah, yeah, that that over there.

I want that.

Because he's the Lord.

And the question to us this morning is, What are you gonna do with the king?

What are you going to do with the king as he came into Israel?

He was presenting himself to the nation of Israel.

What are you going to do with the king?

And finally, there were there were there was worship coming from unexpected places.

Here we have this in Luke's gospel, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them.

But but when the chief priests and the scribes saw wonderful things that he did, the children crying out of the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant.

And they said to him, Do you hear what these are saying?

And Jesus said to them, Yes, have you never heard out of the mouth of babes and infants, the babes and infants and nursing babies, you have prepared praise.

That's Matthew 21, 14 through 16.

All of a sudden they're worshiping, and these infants and babies are worshiping and praising God.

And they're like, the Pharisees are like, don't you hear what do you hear what they're saying?

And Jesus says, Yeah, I hear exactly what they're saying.

And then he quotes from Psalms chapter 8 and verse 2.

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

And Psalms chapter 8 talks about God.

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

This is God speaking, God talking about his glory and his majesty, and God saying that I can from babes and children bring praise.

And he says this to the Pharisees, the Pharisees, no, I'm claiming to be God here.

Listen to what it says here in Psalm chapter 8.

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

It says, Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouths of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, so still the enemy, to still the enemy and the avenger.

God claimed that back in Psalms.

And Jesus says, Don't you know what the Psalms said?

Out of the mouth of babes and infants, I will bring praise.

They know that.

They won't bow, but they know that.

But not only that, in Luke chapter 19, another Luke's um narrative of this story.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

In verse 36, and he rode along, and they spit they spread their cloaks on the road, and as he was drawing near already on the way to the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that he had seen, that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

Jesus says, Look, I'm not running short on praise.

You can keep your mouth shut.

You won't have to say a thing.

The whole creation can keep his mouth shut.

All the people in the world can keep their mouth shut.

But creation will speak.

He doesn't need you to praise him.

He gives us the privilege to bow down and worship him.

That's a gift.

To see the King of kings and the Lord of Lords and to bow the knee and to worship him in all his glory.

Just listen, listen to these Psalms just for a moment.

Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice.

Let the sea roar and all that fills the all that fills it.

Let the field exalt and everything in it.

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, who for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in faithfulness.

That's Psalms 96, 11 to 13.

Listen to this one.

For you shall go out in joy and be led in peace.

The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

God is not begging or or or sitting in heaven and saying, I wish somebody would praise me.

That's not what's going on.

The stars are praising him, the angels are praising him, the heavens are praising him, the mountains will sing forth with praises, the trees are clapping, the wind is praising him.

Paul is bringing praise and glory to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Matter of fact, the devils and the demons even know who he is.

He's not hard up for praise, folks.

It's a gift, it's a privilege that he gives us.

And so if you sit there, we sit there and we say, No, I'm not gonna do that.

I don't wanna, I don't, I feel funny.

I don't want to look funny, I don't want to.

That's all right.

The wind's blowing, praising him.

The sun's shining, praising him.

He will be praised.

Now, as I close, some of you are wrestling.

You may be wrestling right now.

You're saying, okay, Pastor Mike, I want to, I know this this is true, and I want to serve, I want to worship him, but but there's that part of us that we're like, what's he gonna do?

What's he gonna do to me?

I mean, because we like control.

I like control.

I don't like to be out of control.

I don't like somebody else controlling my destiny and what's going on.

I like to be in charge.

And you're saying to me that as he comes in on that donkey, he's saying that I am the king of kings and that you must bow down to me.

I'm the one.

How is he is he going to take care of me?

Is he gonna care for me?

How was he gonna do?

Let me just give you two quick examples.

Ask Peter what he's gonna do in the Gospels.

Peter was his disciple that walked with him, he saw him do all these miracles, he saw him, he walked on water with Jesus, he did all these various things, but but at the end of Jesus' life, in this last week of his life, Jesus says to Peter, Peter, you're gonna deny me three times.

Jesus, Peter says, No, that's not gonna happen to me.

Those clowns, they'll do it.

He was pointing at the other disciples, they're gonna deny you, but not me.

Jesus is standing there beaten and bruised.

And and the cock crows, and and and Peter denies and curses him, and Jesus looks at Peter.

He looks at him.

Jesus dies, he's risen from the grave, he comes back, he looks at Peter and he says, Peter, do you love me?

Lord, you know I love you.

Feed my sheep.

Peter, do you love me?

Lord, you know.

Peter, do you love me?

What kind of king is this?

This is a king that even though I fail him, even though I betray him, even though I may curse him, that he is gracious enough to look at me and say, Do you love me?

He'll take care of you.

How about the apostle Paul?

The apostle Paul was he was running hard to kill Christians.

He was standing right at the feet with and holding the coast when they were stoning Stephen and on the road to Damascus.

He was on his way to get him some more Christians to kill.

Jesus cries out.

Paul, Paul, why Saul Saul, why are you kicking against me?

And you know what Jesus did?

He redeemed him, saved him, a murderer.

And he says, Come sit at the table.

That's that's the kind of king that the scriptures are asking us to bow down to, a king that loves you.

He came in on a donkey.

Most kings don't come on, they don't ride on donkeys.

You see the president riding around, they got all these big SUVs and bulletproof things.

I mean, they're not riding on donkeys coming into the kingdom.

Jesus rides on a coat.

Humility.

He's saying to us now, he's saying, look, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your soul.

You tired?

You tired of running and trying to make it work?

You're tired of trying to figure out how life is gonna work out, and and you, you know, you just you know, you're jockeying yourself and trying to get a position so that you can get your blessings, whatever it is.

Are you tired?

Are you so tired?

Come unto Jesus.

And dear ones, come while you have time.

Because what we need to understand as we close is that the invitation is not always going to be there, it's not always gonna be there.

In Psalms chapter 2, it says, look, he says, kiss the sun while you have time.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

Do it now.

Bow the knee of your heart now.

Let it go now.

Don't take his kindness for weakness.

Let it go.

Has he been tugging?

Has he been saying let it go?

Has he been saying submit?

Do it now.

Before he comes back.

Because then it's too late.

Now is the day of salvation.

Now is the time to bow the knee.

Let us pray.

Father, we thank you that you are a good God, that you sent your son Jesus to be a payment for our sin.

Father, we are grateful, Lord, that um that you are giving us time to repent.

Jesus, we thank you that you are a savior and a Lord and a King, that you mean us no harm.

You will do us well.

You tell us, come unto you, as we're tired and we're weak, and that you will give us rest for our souls.

Take your yoke upon us and learn of you.

Lord, we pray, Lord, this morning that we would let it go.

And that we would yield ourselves to you.

Thank you for your mercy, your patience, and your grace.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.