Not What You're Expecting

[0:00] please take your Bibles and turn to John's Gospel John chapter 12 if you're visiting with us there's a black Bible in the chair in front of you you can pull that black Bible out go to the back find page 83 they renumber the New Testament so take that black Bible to find John chapter 12 John 12 page 83 in that black Bible John 12 12 12 through 19 the triumphal entry we'll just look at that this morning John 12 12 through 19 we'll study this I'll read and then we'll jump in to see what God has to say to us from his word John 12 verse 12 on the next day the great multitude who come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to

[1:03] Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him crying Hosanna blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel and Jesus finding a young donkey sat on it just as it is written fear not daughter of Zion look your king is coming seated on a donkey's foe these things the disciples did not understand the first but when Jesus was glorified then they remember these things were written of him and these things were done to him verse 17 and so the multitude were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead testified for this reason also the multitude went out and met him because they heard that he done the sign therefore the Pharisees said to one another you look you see you're not doing any benefit at all look the world has gone after him sometimes I really hate shopping online we do it out of convenience it's for those of you like 30 35 and under you don't understand what it's like to actually go into a store and try clothes on and then buy it and then come out of the store you don't understand that but that used to be a thing really really do you remember all of you like 40 and over remember you used to do that you used to go inside a store and try clothes on remember that

[2:45] I'm being facetious here that's a thing of the past so to speak well I guess some people still do that but these young kids they're just so used to buying stuff online but we do it out of convenience you know we have a gift card you buy something you get it and guess what it doesn't fit then you have to send it back your expectations are shot I just bought a pair of pants I had a gift card bought a pair of pants they didn't fit so I had to send them back there you go now expectations aren't bad necessarily but they can be we've talked about this before about expectations what about expectations for God what do we expect from Him Christians people call themselves Christians expect money wealth health good things to always happen to them from God and when it doesn't happen

[3:51] He gets blamed for it you're supposed to give this to me but God doesn't work that way perhaps your expectations are wrong and yet that expectation from God money health wealth good things to come that is the heart that is the heart of the prosperity gospel preachers just click on TBN and you'll see what I mean expect God to give you what you want not what He wants or really God expects us to have what we want that's what's told that's what's preached we expect circumstances to happen our way to go our way people to respond our way life isn't like that is it and yet our culture has geared us up to do that and to think that way so we expect God to act a certain way but He doesn't quite do the things that we expect Him to do

[5:08] He doesn't quite do the things we expect Him to do those things and He may meet those expectations well sort of not how you expected it to be and here in John's gospel His call is to His readers to come and receive Jesus believe Jesus trust Jesus know Jesus but know this come receive Jesus and yet it may not be what you're expecting or even wanting not what you're expecting or maybe even wanting this will be good we're gonna dive in to see the expectations that these people had from Jesus and how this affects us in the 21st century come receive Jesus but it's not what you're expecting or maybe not even what you're wanting

[6:08] I'll put it a different way yes Jesus is the king but He's not like any other king before Him and establishes a very different kingdom than we think yes Jesus is the king but He's not like any other king that's before Him that was before Him and He establishes a very different kingdom than we think it's not a kingdom of political power so we can take back the U.S.

[6:46] and have a Christian nation that's not His goal to have a military that's like this that's not His goal He's not that kind of king He's not a king that's gonna entertain you and give you the things that you want that's not the kind of king that He is and yet those expectations you'll see from the crowds and from the Pharisees unlike the long line of frail weak sinful kings of Israel's past just read 1st and 2nd Kings this king is the God man God Himself coming to reign over His people yet His throne would be a wooden cross and His lifting up would be to receive shame not honor

[7:52] Klink in his commentary was so helpful in this I give him the credit Jesus' throne would be a wooden cross and He'd be lifted up not to receive honor but shame His glory would be humiliation and service Jesus the King has come to save us is what Hosanna means to save us from sin and from death and from hell God's wrath and He'd do that by facing shame suffering death ah didn't expect those things did you weaknesses to this crowd shame suffering death those are weaknesses to this crowd but true strength lies there true victory true honor and true glory is that's where lies this shame suffering and death for Jesus and for those who trust Him this King would bear shame defeat and failure of the cross as one writer says quote

[9:10] Jesus' triumphal entry was for the purpose of defeat and death not overpowering and destroying and defeating Rome that's not why He was there this King would bear the shame defeat and failure of the cross but realize though the irony and the paradox because where there was shame no it was really honor where there was defeat no there's victory where there was failure no there actually was success because His shame would bring you honor His defeat would bring you victory His failure would bring your success you would be saved not necessarily what you expected is it Jesus offers you a kingdom the likes of which you've never seen before because it's unseen

[10:11] His kingdom now believe me there will be a time where it will merge between the unseen and the seen and He'll reign over this world as the King He'll reign with an iron scepter not now not yet no in this kingdom your sins can be forgiven your sins can be washed away your life can be changed so come and He'll forgive you come He'll wash your sins away come He'll change your life that's the kingdom He offers you and when we come to Jesus He calls us to receive that same kind of glory shame humiliation service yet though we face shame and humiliation we will be exalted just like our Savior and you'll see more of that next week and the passage that we'll look at next week and what 20 through 36 we'll see that today we're going to observe three kinds of expectations in the passage two from the crowds one from the Pharisees and we'll see the ironic twist to each of these three kinds of expectations to help us see that God sort of met those expectations but in His own way so let's dive in oh by the way too you'll see embedded in the middle the true nature of Jesus' mission so first expectation you'll see first one number one military slash

[12:00] I put this together political expectations from the crowd they had military and political expectations of Jesus verses 12 through 14 verse 12 on the next day now this is Sunday so from chapter 12 verse 1 through 11 that was Saturday remember they had that celebration Mary was like this is my king I'm going to honor my king I'm going to pour this huge wealthy highly costly amount of oil on His feet remember she did that she anointed His feet and wiped it with her hair this is Saturday now here it's Sunday verse 12 Palm Sunday and by the way this event is recorded in all four gospels Jesus' triumphal entry but John is the only one who emphasizes these aspects so next day Sunday the great multitude had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took the palm branches branches from palm trees and went out to meet Him and they cried

[13:05] Hosanna blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord even the King of Israel now this crowd these are the ones looking for Jesus because they heard of Him raising Lazarus and it's coupled with along with those who came for the Passover for this feast now understand during this Passover time Messianic mania was everywhere I mean there's billboards that says Messiah is coming you know they're everywhere these billboards we didn't really have billboards we just pretend they had billboards they had billboards and all these propaganda type things Messiah is coming Messiah is coming so Messianic mania was everywhere people were excited about it especially because of all these signs that Jesus was doing and they were eager to see Jesus having heard of all the legends oh have you heard Jesus resurrected 5,000 people from the dead no way no they embellished probably who knows what they were saying but the real story was here from John all these legends from Jesus so what did they do verse 13 they got these palm branches now understand palm branches are directly related to the Maccabean revolution remember that in the 140's BC with Antiochus Epiphanes the Syrian king he sacrificed a pig in the temple and the Maccabeans they came they revolted and they took back the temple they took back the land of Israel and they used palm branches during that time and the branches they came to be regarded as a religious and political symbol displaying a victory authority power so God would come to triumph for his people they're saying we need heroes and so they see

[15:07] Jesus he's our hero the people were hoping for ultimate deliverance from the Romans and their foreign occupation of our land of Jewish land deliver us now and waving the branches signaled their nationalistic hope for their hero their nationalistic hope in Jesus and notice it also says in verse 13 they went out to meet him that word meet to meet him it means to officially welcome a newly arrived dignitary so this act with the palm branches meeting him had political royal overtones so put this together the palm branches and meeting him the people herald Jesus as their king and so you're reading this you're like wait wait wait a second remember John chapter 6 when the people were gonna make Jesus their king and Jesus was like no no no we're not doing this well now he's no they're doing the same thing and then they shouted

[16:26] Hosanna which means save blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel this is quoted from Psalm 118 verse 25 and 26 and that psalm is regarded as the king's psalm celebrating God's kingdom and the king's role as Yahweh's representative as one writer puts it for us so they are appealing to Jesus for help you're our king save us and in this quote of Psalm 118 the crowd expressed their hopes and aspirations slash expectations for Jesus the one who was coming to save his people they had these political expectations of him they had these military expectations of him he's gonna come he's king and crush these Romans yeah alright yeah yay

[17:27] Jesus is the royal figure in Psalm 118 he's the king oh yes yes yes he would save oh yes yes yes he'd conquer but not how they expected but yet look at how Jesus responds look at verse 14 and Jesus finding a donkey sat on it how did Jesus respond to their acclamation in short he embraced it wait what yeah he embraced it let me explain to you how he does this he did it in two ways first he found a donkey second he sat on it well that's pretty obvious right well the theory goes that Jesus sat on a donkey and so he's rejecting their idea of having him be a king and so he chose a donkey to denote peace not necessarily now we come to this part embedded in here how Jesus true nature of this king comes out this is where we have this point

[18:40] Jesus the king of shame Jesus the king of shame so he sat on it notice the quote here comes from Zechariah chapter 9 just as it is written verse 15 fear not no need to fear because of how this king came he came with power daughter of Jerusalem refers to the entire city of Jerusalem there's no need to fear and fear is a replacement of the quote from Zechariah 9 which actually says rejoice because John's using other verses which says do not fear do not fear look your king is coming seated on a donkey's colt now it's true horses became symbols of military power and authority thus some people think what's happening here is Jesus rejected their idea of him being their king and he chose a donkey to denote peace no actually sort of historical and biblical evidence suggests that a donkey was actually a symbol of royalty a donkey would be mounted by people of high standing like nobility aristocracy prophets royalty and even deity a donkey became a symbol of status prestige power wealth kingship with someone of high standing right upon it so

[20:15] Jesus sat on a foe on the foe communicating that he was that king with authority I am that king I am that king with that power I am that king with authority he's embracing it and by the way the context of Zachariah has nothing to do with the king who humbly comes in peace you can turn to Zachariah if you want I am going to read from that Zachariah chapter 9 starting in verse 4 Zachariah chapter 9 verse 4 this is the context behold the lord will dispossess her excuse me and cast her wealth into the sea and she'll be consumed with fire Ascalon will see it and be afraid Gaza too will wreathe in great pain also Ekron for expectation has been confounded moreover the king will perish from Gaza and Escalon will not be inhabited and a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines oh there's not a lot of peace here do you think

[21:29] I don't think there's peace here do you think there's peace no at verse 7 I will remove their blood from their mouth oh that's very peaceful and their detestable things from between their teeth that's even better then they also will be a remnant for our God and be like a clan in Judah Ekron like a Jebusite but I will camp around my house because of an army because of him who passes by and returns and no oppressor will pass over them anymore for now I've seen with my eyes now the quote rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble and mounted on a donkey even on a cult the foe of a donkey verse 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off and he will speak peace to the nations and his dominion will be from sea to sea and from river to the ends of the earth talk about conquering and conquest here you see that the only peace he will bring is by extending his power and authority defeating his enemies that's in the context of Zechariah chapter 9 so this king welcomes his people into his kingdom under his rule he offers them salvation and justice fighting for his people he's a just king okay that said now it's pertinent to see what kind of donkey

[23:04] Jesus rode because from Zechariah chapter 9 I kind of pointed out to you as I was reading there's three words used for donkey colt excuse me donkey colt foe of a donkey three words and the third word used for donkey would probably most likely be a male purebred donkey which would denote not military conquest and elitism but royalty associated with peace not with war so see Jesus is meeting their expectations but not really I'll put it a different way Jesus fulfilled this text from Zechariah he did not reject the crowd's royal greeting he embraced it but it would be accepted in his own time by his own way he'd go to the cross he would save them from sin death and hell it would be by the blood of the covenant with you we read that just a few moments ago out loud verse 11 of Zechariah chapter 9 as for you also because of the blood of my covenant with you

[24:28] I have set your prisoners free from the cistern in which there is no water he's talking about the blood of the covenant that Jesus would go to the cross Jesus embraced it he embraced this expectation but he did it in his own time and by his own way the nature of his kingship would be that of shame not war it would be royal peace with the shedding of his blood a concept that was not understood until after his death and resurrection because notice verse 16 look at verse 16 now back to John chapter 12 John 12 look at verse 16 these things I'm adding even even his disciples did not understand the first nobody knew what was going on not even his disciples the people were correct to see Jesus as a king but they were unable to see the true nature of his kingship and that included his own disciples they didn't get it notice but when

[25:41] Jesus was glorified ah after he was glorified or in other words after he was raised from the dead or in other words after he died on the cross and was raised then notice the next part of the verse then they remember these things were done excuse me were written of him and these things were done to him Jesus fulfilled Zachariah 9 that's what they needed to understand remembered and that the people did these things to him in fulfillment of that prophecy but they wouldn't remember until after his shame his death his dishonoring his disgrace his humiliation as their king you know what's clear from the passage today the whole section verses 12 through 19 what's clear from this passage today is that only

[26:50] Jesus knew exactly who he was and what was his mission only Jesus knew nobody else understood they all had these expectations of Jesus but only he knew who he really was and what he was meant to do which was what he was the God king who had come to do his kingly duty to die to face shame he is the king but not how you expected him to be doesn't God do that to us God does that he does things and kind of meets our expectations but kind of doesn't that's how he does things because he does things in his own time by his own way not in your time and not definitely not in your way his throne would be a wooden cross not a golden throne he be lifted up to receive shame naked on a cross not honor this reminds us of

[28:14] Mary's anointing remember she does the same thing I mean for her she valued Jesus so much she had this costly anointment she poured on his feet and wiped with her hair she saw how valuable he was and yet Jesus says yeah that's actually for my burial it's just who I am but I'm actually gonna die he does the same thing here this is what Paul wrote about in Philippians chapter 2 have this attitude in yourselves but it's also in Christ Jesus who being in the very form of God did not consider himself equality with God something to be grasped but he emptied himself by becoming a slave being made in the likeness of men and he was obedient to the point of death even death on a cross God meets our expectations well sort of not exactly how you may be expecting though in actuality what we see here are the low expectations of the people for their king and that included his disciples actually had low expectations they really had no clue which it's almost embarrassing what you see if they only knew so here you have the these political military expectations for Jesus then Jesus the king of shame embedded right here in the middle and now you have a second expectation that we see look at number two a theatrical expectation from the crowd or entertaining you want to put entertaining expectation verse 17 and so the multitude were with him when he called

[29:57] Lazarus out of the tomb and raised from the dead testified now these were the ones back in chapter 12 verse 9 and verse 11 they came to see Jesus and Lazarus whom Jesus rose from the dead these testified about Jesus because of the sign that he did not necessarily grasping his identity and then look at verse 18 and for this reason also the multitude went out to met him now these in verse 18 seem to be the ones in Jerusalem for the Passover who had heard about this sign that he did in other words raising Lazarus so these went out to meet Jesus too his popularity was growing this gives further weight to the fact that these people did not grasp the true nature of Jesus kingship or the true meaning behind the signs they just wanted to get wowed and see this legendary Jesus but the signs were meant to point you to Jesus that he's the Christ the son of the living God and you must trust him that's the point of the signs throughout his gospel

[31:08] John has raised serious doubts to us as his readers that these crowds were truly believing Jesus and actually this is going to be confirmed by the words in chapter 12 verse 37 you can look there now but though he had done so many signs before them they were not believing in him you see that they did not truly believe they expected to be entertained they didn't see the signs that were meant to point to Jesus identity they just wanted to be wowed theatrical expectations Jesus entertain us Jesus do this for us Jesus I need you to do this for me we want Jesus to entertain us not truly give us what we really do need well you see this political expectation you see these theatrical expectations here's a third one which is actually kind of ironic it's actually a true expectation but anyways fame expectation from the

[32:18] Pharisees look at verse 19 therefore the Pharisees said to one another you see you're not doing any good or no profit or no help at all so you contrast the clueless foolish incompetency of the crowd with these religious leaders and then they say here look the whole world or the world has gone after him now obviously they're speaking hyperbolically kind of exaggerating here when they said the world has gone after him which actually just proved their failure to try and seize and kill Jesus now what do they mean they meant all in the Jerusalem area which include all the pilgrims from the Roman Empire they expected Jesus' fame to spread far and wide and thought it was truly happening interesting we've seen this before they spoke better than they knew ah we've seen this all over John's gospel people speaking better than they know because just like

[33:23] Caiaphas they became like prophets because yes indeed the world would go after Jesus because Jesus is the savior of the world not just of Jews ah we've seen this before little did they know that this king would sit on a wooden cross and be lifted up to receive shame this one who would do this would also do this on behalf of Gentiles the whole world yes actually their expectation was right the world would go after Jesus because he's truly is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world not just Jews but Gentiles the church his sheep God does what we're not expecting or even wanting maybe there may be times where he turns your expectations on its head and this is what you see from the passage he did exactly this with the crowds he did this with their political expectations with their theatrical expectations

[34:34] I mean he was doing the signs but they wanted to be entertained but he did the signs that he believed he was a king yes I'm here to save but they wanted him to save them from Rome I'm famous oh yeah he's famous yeah the whole world will go after him yes Gentiles Jesus offers a kingdom the likes of which you've never seen before because it's unseen your sins can be forgiven your sins can be washed away your life can be changed if you're here you don't know the Lord Jesus come repent and trust Christ he'll forgive you of all your sins he'll change your life he'll wash your sins away he'll give you mercy when you should be judged come he'll save you and the way he does this the way he forgives is this way this king would bear the shame defeat and failure of the cross but remember his shame means your honor his defeat means your victory his failure means your success or your sins can be washed away you can be forgiven and you can be changed unlike the long line of frail sinful kings of

[35:53] Israel past this king is God himself coming to reign over his people yet his throne would be a wooden cross and his lifting up would be to receive shame not honor his glory would be humiliation service and now you're going to see more of this next week where he's going to call us if we're going to follow Jesus we need to be ready to receive shame we need to be ready to receive humiliation we need to be ready to receive this defeat we need to be ready for that if we're going to follow him yes yes Jesus is the king but he's not like any other king before him and he establishes a very different kingdom than we think not what we're expecting or maybe even wanting let's ask the Lord to work in our hearts from this message okay our father we come with expectations of you sometimes those expectations they fall in line with your word many times they don't thank you

[37:03] Jesus and when we fall short that's why you had to die because we have these wrong expectations of you so help us help us to trust you this is who Jesus is the king so help us to trust you oh king and what you have for us there may be shame on the horizon there may be defeat and failure on the horizon help us to trust you to know that if there's anyone who understands shame defeat and failure it's you Jesus you did that so we can be saved so you can bring us to the father change our expectations that they may be more in line with your word and help us to trust you when you don't meet the expectations that we have so take these few moments if you would which we encourage you to do this each week just like a minute or so fill your mind with the truth fill your mind with the word revisit what we see from

[38:40] God's word and that your mind will be filled with truth gospel truth let this time be a time between you and the Lord to ponder what we've seen and then we'll sing we pray we do that but let this be a special time between you and the Lord where you can reflect upon what we've seen from God's word do that now please and do that do that we may agree it we may