Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the true meaning of 'Hosanna' during Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, clarifying that Jesus did not come to establish a political kingdom but to save humanity from sin and self. He challenges the congregation to reflect on their reasons for calling on Jesus, urging them to seek deliverance from their own sinful nature rather than external circumstances. The sermon highlights the importance of recognizing Jesus as King in our hearts and the necessity of clinging to the cross for true transformation. Beach Jr. calls for a deeper understanding of our identity in Christ, which involves dying to self and living through Him. Ultimately, he invites the congregation to embrace the true essence of salvation, which is found at the foot of the cross.

Matthew chapter 21, verse number 11, or verse number 1. And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus to disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied. And a colt with her. Loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. And this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the full of an ass. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches upon the trees, and shrewd them in the way. And the multitudes that went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of God! Hosanna to the Son of God! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. Here's the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem, riding upon a donkey, and multitudes and multitudes of people placed in the pathway palm branches, and they threw their garments down and made a path for the coming King. And there was quite a bit of excitement and stir, but I wonder whether the people properly understood where Jesus wanted to become King. Did Jesus want to become King in Jerusalem at this time, beloved? No. Did Jesus want to deliver the Jews and the Gentiles from the Roman Empire at this time, beloved? No. Did Jesus want to introduce a great way to become economically and socially and politically okay? No. But Jesus was coming to die on the cross, to break a much greater belligerent tyranny than the Roman Empire. Listen, beloved. Jesus was coming to break the rule of something that far surpassed the Roman Empire. Jesus was coming to break the rule of sin and self and Satan and the flesh and the world. Who ruled from the very beginning when Adam transgressed against God and brought every child of every woman into captivity. Jesus came to break that rule. He came to die upon a cross that those who believe in him would die with him. He came to shed his blood, the incorruptible blood of the Son of God, in order to wash away the sins of all who would call upon Jesus out of a sincere heart. Not to be saved from the Roman Empire, not to be saved from political injustice, not to be saved from high taxes and economical crises that were facing these people, but to be saved from sin. This is why Jesus died. Perhaps the Lord would want us this morning to refocus our attention on the Lord and ask ourselves, why do we call on him? Why do we call on him this morning? We have palm branches here, as you all can see, and we have a little story. And we too can take the palm branches as a symbol and we can wave them before God and say, Hosanna, save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and miss it, just like these folks did. Let me tell you, beloved, Jesus did not in vain ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. And this morning, with the help of God's grace, may God show us that Jesus indeed did come as King. He did come to deliver. He did come to tear down an evil empire. But let me tell you something, beloved, it's not Russia, it's sin. And the kingdom, listen, the kingdom where Jesus wants to rule and reign is the kingdom of your heart and my heart this morning. The church is the called out people, who have gone to the cross and understood that through the cross and by the death and resurrection of Jesus, he indeed can be welcomed as King. He indeed can become the Hosanna, the Lord save us. May God help us to refocus our hearts so that we can indeed see Jesus as the King who wants to truly reign in our hearts and in our lives this morning. The reigning Christ comes and reigns in all those who cling to the cross by faith and through repentance and turning from sin, trust in God as Savior. This was the intent of Jesus. The Bible says in 1 John, for this purpose was the Son of God made manifest, that he might destroy the works of who? Pilate, that he might destroy the works of the devil. This is why Jesus was made manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil in your life and in my life, that he may come and usher in his kingdom. Listen, not externally, that's yet to come, but he wants to reign in a kingdom now and that we've mentioned it before, but it doesn't get old. He wants to reign in the kingdom called Ecclesia, the church. That's the kingdom where Christ wants to reign in this hour that we live in today. And beloved, may I challenge you this morning and promise you something by the authority of God's word. If you will ask God, ask and you shall receive. If you will ask God to put in your heart a desire to begin to cry out on this beautiful Sunday, Hosanna, Hosanna. And if you will ask God to deliver you, and if I will ask God to deliver me from crying out to God to save us from that which he didn't come to save us from, but to focus our crying on Christ, save me from myself, from my sin, and establish your rule and reign in me so that your righteousness and your character and your love and your beauty is ever, ever increasing in my life, and the abundance of who you are is flowing through my mortal body, flowing through my speech, flowing through my actions, flowing through my motives. If God could stir our hearts as a people to take these palm branches every day of our life and welcome Jesus to be the king of our heart and cling to the cross by faith, they're yielding up everything that we are outside of Christ so that everything that Christ is can have his free course in our life. Beloved, your life and your world will change radically. Your life and your world will change radically. This is biblical Christianity that's taught in the Bible, and how privileged we are that the Lord Jesus, through his word and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, would come this morning to remind us that he seeks for us to cling to the cross, listen, that we may possess the promise, what promise? Of total deliverance, not from an evil empire without, but from the evil empire of the power and reign and dominion of sin and self. We live in a day, beloved, when men have called upon the Lord for everything and anything that their hearts desired. And as these people, when it comes time to hang on the cross, crucify him. Crucify him. We don't want anything to do with him because we thought he was going to come and by the strength of, well, I don't know, I don't think he was a very strong man. They must have thought he had some kind of private army, or maybe they thought he was going to do it by his miracles because he did manifest a lot of miracles. They said, get him out of here. Get him out of here. He promised us deliverance, but yet when he had his opportunity to overthrow Pilate, and he had his opportunity to overthrow, he just sat there like a lamb, dumb, and didn't say a word. He proved himself to be a phony. He proved himself to be weak. We don't want some weak man like this. We need someone who's got military might. We need somebody who's able to destroy. We want to get rid of them. And the Holy Spirit brings every person to a crisis where though at first you may call upon the Lord, yet God will bring you to a place where he will cause you to face the real reasons why you called upon him. Do you want him for what he can give you or what you can get from him? Do you want him just to give you a clear religious conscience so that you can profess to know him, but in reality you don't? Do you want him in order to make your life easy and simple, or do you want him in order to by faith get on the cross with him and die to self and forsake sin and follow his way of righteousness and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord? If we listen, listen closely. If I want him as king and if you want him as king, we're going to all meet somewhere at the foot of the cross. If I don't want him as king, I'm going to drop off, back away, say, wait a minute, I didn't get into this for this. Well, God would say to us, then why did you get into it? See how the Savior longs to share his heart, his joy, his victory with us. How he longs to show us the glories of heaven, the riches that are in Christ Jesus. But there's only one place that the movie's playing. It's at the foot of the cross. And as the song goes, there's room at the cross for you. Did you know that God's got a monopoly? Thank God. God's got a monopoly on this whole thing, beloved. There's many false crosses, but God says my cross is the only one. God's got a monopoly. He's got the copyright and nobody can imitate it. You can't know of God outside of the cross. You can't grow in God outside of the cross. You can't experience victory over sin and self outside of the cross. The cross is where we need to go today and cling to it, crying out, Hosanna. You know, the ones who took the palm branches and cried out, Hosanna, should have been there at Calvary. Because that's where the Hosanna really came into focus. And today God can give us a vision of Calvary and we can take our palm branches and fall at the feet of Jesus and say, Hosanna, save us. We've preached it before, the blood cleanses from sin, but the cross crucifies self. You can know of the blood and have experienced forgiveness of sin, but now the Holy Spirit calls you on to follow on to know the crucified one and to know that you have been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we henceforth no longer serve it, but walk in newness of life. This is what the whole New Testament is about. And in this hour, which we live in, the Holy Spirit is calling his beloved back to the cross. Back to the cross, where we let the sweet power of God's Holy Spirit work in as death, that life may come forth. I want to invite you to turn to Romans chapter 6. Perhaps this morning you will be able to read this with greater understanding than you hitherto have. Because what I'm sharing this morning is the core and heart of the New Testament teachings of the apostles and Jesus Christ himself. This is the core of the message. Without it, without understanding it and clinging to it, we fall so short. Romans chapter 6, what then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Now listen to verse number three. Know ye not, don't you know, that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Verse six, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. Who was on the cross with Jesus when he died? You. Did you ever, did you know that? Your old man was crucified with Christ. You were on the cross with Jesus, so that as, listen, so that as Jesus died, we too may die daily. That the life that we live, listen, may not be the life that Jesus died for to do away with, that's the old life, but it may be the new life. Did you know that you have a new identity in Christ? It's not to follow the old life. Your old life is crucified with Christ. It's to be rendered inoperative. Do dead men live? Have you reckoned your old life dead? When it tries to reign, do you say, hey listen, you're dead? You hush up. See, this is the importance of having our identity in Christ. We are, we've died so that the old man might be destroyed. Listen, the life we now live should be what? His life. Christ's life flowing through us. Listen, you don't kill the old man. God does it. Now, when I say the old man's dead, I don't mean he's inoperable, but he's dead as we reckon him dead, meaning by faith we come to the Lord every day and let him work this experientially in us. See, the problem with us in this day that we live in is we thank Jesus that he died for our sins, but we don't take the next step and thank God that we died with him. It's okay when Jesus died for me, but don't ask me to die with him. That's a different story. You know, I thank God Jesus died for my sins afar off, but you know, he died for your sins, not so that you can continue in sin and yet say, well, I'm forgiven, although he will forgive. He died for your sins that you might enter into his death and be free, that the life that you live may be the life of Christ himself flowing through you. So now we see a different light in the story this morning, don't we? You want to cry out now, Hosanna, save us? Do you want to cry out? Hosanna, save us. What does that really mean? Lord, I'm crucified with you. My old life is finished. I want new life in Jesus. That means in the home. That means with my husband and wife and children. That means with my dealings with other people. That means in everything. Now it's different. We don't see him now as one who's going to give us an advantage politically or economically or socially, but now we see Hosanna, save us. That means, Lord, I come to the cross. I accept my identity in Christ, which is death to the old man. Everything about my old life, the sins, God, that's to be on the cross daily. And then daily, as an exchange for my old life, I experience Christ life, holy ghost life. You want holy ghost life? You want the springs of living water to flow through you? That's what I want. Listen, oh, everyone that is thirsty, that's what he's saying this morning. Are you tired? Hey, let me tell you something. It's easier to live like a dead man in Christ than to be dead and continue to live in self. You're going to discover that. I'm going to say that again if I can. It's easier to live like a dead man in Christ. I forgot the other half. It's easier to live like a dead man in Christ than to be alive and live your old life and know that it's dead. One more scripture. Watch this. Second Corinthians chapter 5. Jesus only wants people to cry out Hosanna when they understand it to mean this. Save us, Lord, by helping us to appropriate the death that was wrought the moment we believed. Let me tell you, friend, you've got no right to live anymore because God has reckoned you dead. Who do I think I am? Who do you think you are to continue to live when God says reckon yourself dead? I tell you, beloved, if we get a hold of this big time from God, it is gonna really shake us up. God says you're dead with Christ filled with his life. Watch this now. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us or controls us. Watch this now. Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. If one died... Now who's the one? Right. Now if the one Jesus died for all, then what does that mean about us? We're all dead. What does that mean? In other words, Jesus put away sin once and for all. Our old man is crucified with him. Listen, our identity that was once known independent of Christ, that's the life outside of Christ with all of its sin and flesh, it's reckoned as dead. You're dead. Christ put it away. It's dead. It shouldn't live. That's why Paul says, therefore, mortify the deeds of your body. In other words, get your body to understand what has happened the moment you believe. You're dead. Your whole life is dead. You don't have an identity anymore outside of Christ. Now this can only be gotten by the Holy Spirit, but if you get to chewing on it and get to thinking about it, God will quicken it to you. You are dead. Then we're all dead. And listen to this now. And that he died for all, they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. Why shouldn't we live unto ourself? Because our self is crucified with him. That's the dead part of us. We should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Victory over the old man is not overpowering him by your own strength. Here it is. It lies in this, and we're going to close. Very simple. Listen closely. Getting a revelation from God about what God said your old life is. It's dead. The more you can understand by revelation of God's Spirit that you are to reckon your old life dead, the less power it will have over you, because the less freedom you'll give it to operate. Be quiet, dead man. God says you're dead. How dare you rise from the dead? The only resurrection in me is Christ. I can't resurrect. I'm crucified forever with Christ. I'm there. I'm crucified with him. If I want salvation, it's got to be deliverance from the old man into Christ, which is life in the new man. Now we know why Paul prayed that the believers would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. This is the message this morning, beloved. The palm branches are here, but may the palm branch forever represent in your heart now something far different and greater than looking to Jesus as a way to get deliverance from something other than self and sin. And may the words, Hosanna, to your heart once again mean the biblical meaning of what God intended. Hosanna, save us from sin. Save us from Satan. Save us from self, and bring into us thine everlasting life, where we can forever live and have our very life in thee, O God, filled with thy blessed Holy Spirit. Hosanna, save us. Let's pray. Now, beloved, pretty heavy this morning, but I want to say this. It's a gift. Number one, it's a gift. You can't earn it. Number two, God makes you worthy. And number three, all he asks is that you call upon him from a sincere heart. Are you willing to respond to the Holy Spirit and say, Hosanna, I want the true deliverance from the evil empire? And you'll find it at the foot of the cross. If you want to respond this morning, you may at your seat, or you may at the altar. We're going to sing this song, and we're just going to ask the Holy Spirit to quicken his word, bring us out of the valley of decision, and cause us to take a stand for Jesus and true cross-crucified living.