What we think we need, is not always what we truly need.

[0:00] So sorry if I sound a bit funny. I woke up this morning sounding a bit like Johnny Cash, but bear with me. And I'm thankful Helen is going to come and read our passage for us this morning, because that means a little less talking for me.

[0:15] So on this Palm Sunday, we're going to be looking at Mark chapter 11, and we're going to be looking at verses 1 to 11. On this Palm Sunday, we're going to be looking at Jesus's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem.

[0:33] So thank you so much, Helen. Mark chapter 11, verses 1 to 11. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.

[1:05] Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord needs it, and will send it back here shortly.

[1:16] They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, What are you doing untying that colt?

[1:30] They answered, as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.

[1:41] Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, Hosanna!

[1:56] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest heaven!

[2:06] Hosanna in the highest heaven!

[2:27] Well thank you, Helen. Jonathan just reminded me in relation to the announcement again that next week the clocks go forward. So 6.45 is the adjusted time.

[2:42] It's not the old time, it's the new time, if that makes sense. So 6.45 when the clocks are changed, we'll be meeting at the beach. Now speaking of Jonathan, last week while Jonathan was sharing from Acts chapter 3, he made a comment.

[3:04] What we need is often different to what we think we need. Or in other words, what we think we need is not always what we truly need.

[3:18] And Jonathan was sharing last week how this was true for the lame man in Acts chapter 3. What he thought he needed was not what he truly needed.

[3:31] He thought he needed some more coins, but what he truly needed was something far greater than that. What he truly needed was something far more significant than that.

[3:41] What he truly needed was Jesus and the love of Jesus, and of course, that changed everything for him. What we think we need is not always what we truly need.

[3:58] Well, it was very interesting to me that Jonathan kind of highlighted this idea last week. Because I think in many ways, the same thing really shines through our passage this week.

[4:13] With Jonathan's passage last week in Acts chapter 3, and with our passage this morning in Mark chapter 11, in different ways, we get the same reminder that what we think we need is not always what we truly need.

[4:33] We will see this morning that the king that the people thought they needed was not the king that they truly needed.

[4:45] So let's just jump into our passage this morning. So as Tom was sharing earlier, Jesus arrived into Jerusalem on a donkey.

[4:56] Well, Jesus arriving into Jerusalem on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey, actually served as a public declaration of who he was.

[5:12] Jesus arriving into Jerusalem in this way served as a public declaration that he was the long-awaited, promised Messiah King.

[5:26] You see, as Tom mentioned earlier, over 500 years before this, the prophet Zechariah had prophesied that the Messiah, the king, would enter into Jerusalem in this very manner.

[5:44] The prophet Zechariah said in chapter 9, verse 9, that the Messiah would enter into Jerusalem lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

[6:00] So with Jesus riding into Jerusalem in this way, Jesus is, if you like, stepping into this prophecy.

[6:12] One writer said, with Jesus riding in on this donkey, he is claiming this prophecy to be true about himself.

[6:26] So Jesus, I think, really knew what he was doing here when he arrived into Jerusalem in this way. He knew that this would cause the crowds to recognize him as their promised king.

[6:42] Yes, Jesus arriving into Jerusalem was an act of humility, coming in on a donkey. It was an incredible act of humility. But this act of humility was done to publicly announce himself as king.

[7:00] And the people, perhaps with this prophecy in mind, didn't take long to declare Jesus as their king.

[7:15] In what they did and what they said, we see that the people declared Jesus as their king. In what they did and said, they basically crowned Jesus as their king.

[7:28] Looking at what they did first. Verse 8. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.

[7:45] This practice has got its roots in the Old Testament. In 2 Kings chapter 9, when Jehu was anointed king over Israel in place of King Ahab, the people, they blew trumpets, they proclaimed him king, and they took off their outer garments.

[8:07] And they put these garments in Jehu's path. So as King Jehu walked down the steps of his anointing, he walked over the people's garments.

[8:20] And this was done when someone was being declared king. So this here is not a random, spontaneous act that they laid their branches and garments before Jesus.

[8:33] They did this because they were declaring Jesus as their king. Well, to add to what they did, we also see that they declared Jesus king because of what they said.

[8:50] Verses 9 and 10. The people who were ahead of Jesus and the people who were behind Jesus shouted out or cried out words of worship.

[9:21] Worship and praise fitting for a king. Worship came before him. Worship came after him as he made his way into Jerusalem.

[9:34] They shouted, Hosanna, which means, as Tom said earlier, Lord, save us now. So folks, to kind of sum that up, Jesus arriving into Jerusalem in this way was a public declaration that he was the promised coming king.

[9:57] And the people, through word and action, responded by declaring him king. And they responded with excitement and praise.

[10:10] Their king has come. Their savior has come. But, was Jesus the king that they thought they needed?

[10:27] Or was he the king that they truly needed? You see, at this time, the people were desperate for a king, for a deliverer to come.

[10:42] Who would come with force and might and who would essentially lead them in a revolt against Rome. They wanted a military or political king, like Tom said earlier, who would fight back against the Roman emperor.

[10:57] Who would fight back against the Roman kingdom. And many, it seems, that thought that this is what they had with Jesus. They thought that Jesus was this for them.

[11:11] So with excitement, they lavished praise upon him. They laid out garments before him. They shouted out words of praise and worship.

[11:24] But as one commentator said, when Jesus failed in their expectations, when he refused to lead them in a revolt against the Roman occupiers, the crowds quickly turned against him.

[11:46] And within just a few days, their shouts of Hosanna would change. To shouts of crucify him.

[12:00] Isn't that something? I think what we see here is one of the big changes, one of the big contrasts in scripture.

[12:12] The same crowds who hailed Jesus as a hero. The same crowds who hailed him as their king. Who laid garments before him.

[12:22] Who shouted out praise. Would in a matter of days call for him to be killed. What a change a few days will make.

[12:37] When Jesus didn't turn out to be the king that the crowds thought they needed. Their shouts of Hosanna changed to shouts of crucify him.

[12:55] What a sobering picture of just how broken mankind can be.

[13:09] If we don't get what we think we need, well, we can often turn sour and bitter. And I think that this can be true from a young age right up to an elderly adult.

[13:28] When we don't get what we think we need, we can turn sour. When we don't get what we think we need, we can often get very, very upset.

[13:40] And folks, I can definitely think of times in my life when I thought I needed something. You know, I just really needed something.

[13:51] I needed the Lord to do this. I needed the Lord to do that. And when it didn't happen as I wanted it to happen, well, I can think of times when I got sour and kind of bitter, only to look back and to see that the Lord in his wisdom had something better.

[14:14] Maybe not always easier, but always better. I think in the present, maybe you can relate to this, in the moment we can often be so sure that we really need something.

[14:29] You know, we just need this to happen. We need that to happen. I need the Lord to do this. I need the Lord to do that. I need the Lord to do this. I need the Lord to do this. Only to look back and see that we didn't really need it at all.

[14:45] Only to look back and see that what we needed was something completely different. What we think we need is not always what we truly need.

[15:02] Much of the people at this time, the crowds, they wanted Jesus to burst onto the scene with a great show of military power and might. And it seems that even the disciples at this time had something like this in mind, because we'll see a little bit later, after Jesus would go to the cross, after he would rise from the grave, the disciples at that point would ask Jesus, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

[15:32] It seems that even they had something like this in mind. the crowds, they thought they needed a conquering king, who would lead them with weapons and draw blood if necessary.

[15:49] But they failed to see what they truly needed was just the opposite. What they truly needed was someone who would not shed the blood of another.

[16:03] what they truly needed was someone who would go to the cross and shed his own blood as a once and for all sacrifice for the sins of the world.

[16:19] They thought they needed a military attack. And I think that if we were there, we would probably want and think the same thing.

[16:31] Someone who would overthrow the Roman kingdom. You know, that's what victory looks like. Rome coming down. What they needed, however, was someone who would conquer something much more significant by laying down his own life.

[16:53] What they needed was someone who would conquer sin, death, and the enemy by laying down his own life. What they needed was someone who would conquer hearts and minds and spread his kingdom not by force, but by love and grace and mercy.

[17:17] The king that they thought they needed is not the king that they truly needed. And they would soon turn on him.

[17:30] I think the interesting thing is that they were right to cry out, Hosanna, Lord, save us now. But they had the wrong idea, it seems, of how the Lord would save them.

[17:45] And when they didn't get what they wanted, their shouts of Hosanna would change the shouts of crucify him.

[18:01] Well, I think that there is a lesson in all of this for us. What we think we need is not always what we truly need.

[18:12] As Jonathan mentioned last week, we all have things that we think we need in life. You know, we all think we need this, we need that, we need the Lord to do this for us, we need the Lord to do that for us.

[18:24] It could be more opportunities, it could be more finances, it could be a better situation in one way or another. It could be anything. I think on a daily basis even, there are a bunch of things that we think that we need.

[18:43] And sometimes, these things will happen, and we can thank God for them. But if these things don't happen, and if we don't get what we think we need, I just want to encourage us not to get sour and bitter.

[19:08] I want to encourage us not to get kind of completely derailed. I want to encourage us not to in some way turn against our God.

[19:21] I want to encourage us to instead trust that our Lord knows what we truly need, and in his care and love and wisdom and sovereignty, he will not withhold from us his precious children anything that we truly need in his timing.

[19:43] We won't always get what we want or what we think we need, but let us be encouraged that in his care, his wisdom, his sovereignty, our God will give us everything in his perfect timing that we truly need.

[20:05] And of course, what we needed more than anything else was a Savior who would lay down his life for us so that we could be forgiven and set free. We didn't need a Savior to overthrow Rome or overthrow the equivalent today, even though our Savior can do that and the day will come when every knee will bow.

[20:26] What we needed more than anything else was a Savior who laid down his own life. And we have been given that.

[20:38] Our God has not held that from us, that what we truly need most. He has given us his only Son so we could be forgiven and set free.

[20:53] Well, just to finish, seeing as he has given us that which is most precious to him, he surely will not stop at giving us anything else that we truly need.

[21:06] I really love Romans 8, 32. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?

[21:23] He has given us his Son. He surely will not stop at that, at giving us everything else that we truly need. Maybe not everything that we think we need or everything that we want or maybe not the most comfortable road.

[21:37] The most comfortable road is not always the road that we need most. I think it would have been so much easier for the crowds if Jesus did come and overthrow Rome. I mean, they wouldn't have to pay taxes.

[21:48] They wouldn't be under Roman rule anymore. But it's not always the most easy road that we need most. But we can know that whatever it is, he will give us in his wisdom, in his love, in his grace, what we truly need.

[22:10] So I just want to encourage us, let us remember that what we think we need is not always what we truly need, but the Lord will give us all that we truly need and so we can trust him as we move forward in life.

[22:28] Ah, I got there. Well, let's pray and then we're going to worship our Lord together. Lord, we thank you for your word and thank you for all that we see in your word.

[22:44] And Lord, help us on this Palm Sunday and as we enter into this week, as we think about your death and your resurrection, help us to remember that you came and you did for us what we truly need.

[23:01] And although, in the end, you went to that cross in many ways alone, we thank you that you did it for us so we could be forgiven and set free.

[23:12] And as we move forward, we thank you that as your precious children, you will give us all that we truly need so we can trust you in all things.

[23:23] In Jesus' name, Amen.