We jump forward in the Gospel of John to Jesus coming into Jerusalem, days before his crucifixion, and what we call Paul's Sunday because of the presence of Paul's there, shown in shadow form in many ways that Jim has just read for us with all the meaning there. Let's put forward to us and now that comes to fruition or reality. Then Jesus, blind, was in all my stuff here. John, chapter 12, beginning in verse 12. This is God's word, eternally true. The next day, the great crowd that had come for the feast, heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it as it is written, to not be afraid of a daughter of Zion. See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's cult. At first, the disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. Here ends our reading. There's a response of thankfulness that's printed for you up here in your bulletin. The word of the Lord. Thanks indeed. Thanks indeed. Let's pray. There were a lot of expectations in Jesus' day. We've talked about that in the last three weeks. We looked at the gospel of John, a lot of expectations that Jewish people had when Jesus came on the scene. One of the things was they had a prophet like John the Baptist. They had many priests, these were anointed people, but they didn't have an anointed king. We confess that as part of our faith and our confessing our faith from the Heidelberg Catechism number 31 there. Why is Jesus called the Christ or the anointed one? What the Jewish people were looking for was this anointed one who would be their anointed king, a son of David. We see as Jesus arrives into Jerusalem for Palm Sunday or for the Passover celebration, one of the Jewish feasts that they are exalting him as their king. One of the first things we want to recognize here, like we talked about last week, when I look at my database of songs and type in king, 90% of the songs are Christmas songs, because we get that right at Christmas because we understand there's a newborn king, but then we forget about that for the rest of the time. But here we just highlight here, look at this. This is talking about Jesus as king. These are the people centered on Jesus' kingship here. And Jesus is not saying, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus is receiving this, this is right praise for him as king. And so if you like to fill out blanks and an outline to help you keep your head in the game, so to speak, and know where we are, number one here. The number of claims to us here through this message in John that he inspired that Jesus is king. Jesus is king. We see this in verses 12, 13, 14, and 15. Now, A here in your outline, you know, God's people at the time, the Jews were rejoicing over the kingship of Jesus. We should see that. That's what's going on in Palm Sunday. They weren't thrilled about palms. The other palms were part of their festivals. They had done this Jim Red to us from Psalm 118, which is a psalm that we... I preached through one Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday when we were back in the dojo a few years ago. Psalm 118 is recounting the time when Jehoshaphat had been faced with three enemies, three nations that had come against Israel. And so he led the troops out in like a faithful king. Jehoshaphat was one of the sons of David who was very faithful. He looked to the Lord and said, Lord, you need to rescue us here. And he looked to one of the Lord's prophets and to see what he should do. And then the Lord went out pleased with Jehoshaphat, the son of David's faith, and had the armies fight each other. And so there was like no fighting left to do. And so then Jehoshaphat and the armies come back into Jerusalem, and that's what Psalm 118 is about. Psalm 118 is this symphony of praise, so to speak. And it was all these things that we see repeated here in Palm Sunday. Where the king, the son of David, comes back into Jerusalem. And so this is very much a scene of recreation scene. A lot of times you see a truth in Scripture, and it just happens over and over again until it happens, you know, this final time in Jesus. But God's people this time were rejoicing over the kingship of Jesus. And so they grabbed palms as they had done during Jehoshaphat's day. If you remember, when Jim was reading, I know that was the first reading that he read there that people had bows in their hand. However you say that word, B-O-U-G-H. In their hand, they were waving this as Jehoshaphat and the army came back into Jerusalem after God had given them the victory over their enemies. But the Jews, as they saw Jesus coming in, and as they had hoped that Jesus would be the Messiah, the anointed one, the king, the Christ, the anointed one, the king. As they had this as their hope, they were hoping that Jesus would be someone who would come and sit on David's throne. Perhaps he was even coming into Jerusalem, perhaps in their mind there, to come into the city permanently and take David's throne again in Jerusalem. The Israelites had not had a king over them for 600 years. And they thought perhaps now is time. And so they proclaimed this, Hosanna, which means save. Blessed is who comes in the name of the Lord. This is what they had shouted to Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat had come back into Jerusalem in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel, they say in verse 13. This is not ambiguous here. This is very clear. Blessed is the king of Israel, verse 15. Do not be afraid of daughter of Zion. See your king is coming. See it on a donkey's cult. Their hopes had been as they shouted these words, not realizing what they were really saying, that their words were more true than they realized. But what they did understand was they were hoping Jesus would be their king. But you see in verse 16 there, this interesting note that John sometimes says throughout his gospel, we didn't really understand what we were doing back then. But after Jesus was glorified, and after he sent his spirit, we got what he was talking about. Or we understood what we were doing there. We were proclaiming the kingship of Jesus, and we didn't really understand the full extent of how that was true back then. You see that in verse 16, at first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified, did they realize that these things had been written about him, Psalm 118, Zechariah 919, 1 Kings 1. These things had been written about him, and the day the disciples had done these things to him, without kind of realizing what they were doing. So here are the different things we see about Jesus being a king. First of all, verse 12, and it's B in your outline. Paul branches were traditionally waved before conquering kings in the ancient world. That's probably why the Jews were doing this in Psalm 118, or second Chronicles 20, is the account of Jehoshaphat coming back into Jerusalem after conquering the three nations that had coalesced to come against him. But Paul branches were traditionally waved before conquering kings, coming back from battle. And so we see Paul branches are used as Jesus comes in, indicating that he is the king. Jehoshaphat was after he came in from the Moabites, Aminites, and Muonites, got this reception. The king's reception was waved to Paul branches. This is what you do for a king who's coming in. See, the people, and this is verse 13, just working down the passage. The people name Jesus the king. They just say it. So they've got the symbolic thing going with Paul branches proclaiming Jesus king with waving palm branches at him, but then they just proclaim it. They say, blessed is the king of Israel. This was kind of a dangerous thing to say, because Herod was king of Israel. He was in the son of David, he was a Roman representative. He had some Jewish blood in him, but he was chosen by Rome, not chosen by God, not anointed by a priest or prophet, like Jesus had been by John the Baptist and anointed by John the Baptist, God's prophet, to be king. And so they proclaim, blessed is the king of Israel. The verge of revolution here, as Israel was dominated and controlled and governed by Rome at the time. D, working down the passage, verse 14, Jesus is riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. Every time I say, I think of Trek. Jesus is riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, which is what David, that's your next blank, which is what David did the Solomon when he wanted there to be absolutely no question in mind. Who was the chosen son of David, who would reign after him, who would take his place on the throne? So we read in first things, chapter 1, Adonijah, when his father's alien and an invalid can hardly get out of bed and can't even stay warm. Adonijah uses the opportunity of David's weakness and proclaims himself to be king. Even though we find out in the passage that David knew that Solomon was God's choice of all his sons, Solomon was his choice to be king next. And he had told Beth Sheba this and his prophet and the high priest knew this as well that Solomon was the one who would be king after David. And so Adonijah proclaims himself king and he gathers everyone around him except the good guys. And he has a secret meeting down away from Jerusalem so that he can be proclaimed king. And gee, why didn't you invite me? Why didn't you invite me? Why didn't you invite me? All the important people, the chief people in the kingdom aren't invited because they're faithful. They won't go along with the devious plan of Adonijah. And so David doesn't know this is going on. And so, Beth Sheba, Nathan, you know, they come up and they say, you know, David, you know, your desire that Adonijah would be king if you changed your plan and you just didn't tell us. And then David says, oh no, Solomon should be king. Call Beth Sheba and Beth Sheba with Solomon's mother. So he assures Beth Sheba whose life was in danger if Adonijah was king, that she would be wiped out because she was the mother of Solomon who really should be king. So he assures Beth Sheba that her son will be king and then David arranges. Okay, here's what you do. And he says, go down to the guy on spring, which was basically the garden of Gethsemane. That's that's where the guy on spring is. It's on the East side of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is on a hill. So if you're looking north, south, if you are, sorry, I gotta do this your way. There we go. So we're in the south, we're looking north and Jerusalem's like on top of this hill. And down here is the kitchen valley and the guy on spring and the garden of Gethsemane. Okay, and then there's a mountain here in this amount of olives. So Jesus stays, stays here, Bethany and Bethel are over here or I'm sorry, Bethany is over here. Jesus stays there is at tonight, but he's here in the garden of Gethsemane. But David has David's here in Jerusalem and he has Solomon did on his own rule. And he has Solomon anointed his king and Solomon ride up the hill into Jerusalem and all the people proclaim him king and say long live king Solomon. And so Jesus does this. He's done in the same thing. He gets on a donkey down there in the kitchen valley right where Solomon did and he rides up the hill and he rides into Jerusalem through the gate. And this Psalm 24 speaks about this as well. When we sang Psalm 24 this morning, lift up your heads. Okay, lift them up. There's some doors that the king of glory may come in as Psalm 24. And so so Solomon comes in Jesus comes in the new Solomon, the new son of David. Okay, so see all this king stuff come in. So it makes sense. People recognize the scene. This is a stock scene. The king shows who the heir to the throne is by placing the son, the chosen son, the anointed one on his own donkey and having him ride up into the city. And take his throne. And so Jesus comes in so we see this scene. Jesus is riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, which is what David does with Solomon to reveal him is the chosen son of David. Here's your blank king there. If you didn't get that one already to show him is the the chosen son of David king. So another another way we see if we didn't get it before. We get get another way that Jesus is being proclaimed king here. And then he verse 15 John quotes to us Zechariah 9 verse 9. Zechariah was a prophet after the exile. He was he and Haggai were the two prophets present. Malachi comes just a little bit later. So those three guys are after the exile when God's people have returned from Babylon back to Israel. Zechariah is one of the prophets that encourages the people to complete the temple construction. And so Zechariah comes in and he along with Haggai tell the people hey you got the foundation built but you need to build the rest of the thing. And so God's people build the rest of the temple from 520 BC to 516, 515 BC and the temples rebuilt. And that's the temple that Jesus walks in and out of during this time. But Zechariah had also reassured God's people what all the other prophets had reassured the people before they went into exile and Babylon. That is one they would return to the temple would be rebuilt but then three Zechariah repeat this that the other prophets Isaiah and Hosea and Ezekiel talk about that the son of David will rise again and be king over all Israel. And after the exile he will be king over all 12 tribes over all Israel and they will all have one shepherd one son of David over them. And so Zechariah talked about that this is still in play that we as Jews should still expect that the son of David will rise again and will be ruled over by a son of David as king. And so now this hasn't happened for all these years the temples reconstructed by 515 BC and now we're at you know zero or 30 or 27 whenever it is that Jesus is crucified that's our choice 27 or 30 based on the way the days the days work there. And the people and John quotes here Zechariah 9.9 which told of a new king that's your blank a new king for God's people a new son of David coming on a donkey here's what Zechariah had said see your king is coming. Here's assuring people at around 500 BC your king is coming seated on a donkey's cold. Okay so the people hearing Zechariah and 500 BC they knew that the Solomon reference okay this makes sense a new Solomon a new son of David is going to come and rain over us but also now forward we see with Jesus these people knew this as well. They were expecting Zechariah told them that they should expect a son of David to rain over them as king so King King King King King King that's point number one Jesus is king five times over and John shows us that way with BC D and E verses 12 13 14 15 each of those verses has something that's telling us that Jesus is king. Number two number two now the Jews of Jesus day wanted Jesus to be a king verse 13 they say blessed be the king of Israel they wanted Jesus to be a king exactly like exactly like the Old Testament son of David. So they wanted to be a king exactly like the Old Testament son of David one who would a this is what they were expecting take David's throne take David's throne in geographical Jerusalem. So they were expecting reasonable expectation they were expecting a son of David to rise up and you know Jesus had been called son of David as he ministered you know around all Israel but everybody comes and they expected a son of David to come and take the throne in geographical Jerusalem that he would be king of Israel from there and then be they also expected that the king would save them. Now we've talked about this before that savior is not the primary description of Jesus in the New Testament savior we have about 22 times in the New Testament of Jesus king and the one who has the kingdom is about 122 times maybe 140 to depend on how you count it. And so king is the super category of who Jesus is one of the functions of the king in the Old Testament was that he saved his people like has a kaya when there are armies coming against us it was the king who led the troops out and saved the people. It was David the king anointed in first Samuel 16 by Samuel who goes out in the next chapter first Samuel 17 and fights the battle against Goliath he saves the people that's what the king does the king saves the people as one of his functions. And so in Psalm 18 what the people say is to has a kaya is that you've saved us in this passage we see here that verse 13 the people shout Hosanna and I think all of you have in your foot notes there it shows you that that word means save. This was the expectation of the Jewish people during Jesus day on Palm Sunday that Jesus would take the throne in Jerusalem geographical Jerusalem and save them from the Romans. Save them from Roman taxation save them from the Roman military make them a free and independent nation. And so they they shout Hosanna save us just like the people had shouted when johosha fat that come back into into Jerusalem in his day so be they expected Jesus to save them by militarily that's your next blank there militarily kicking out to save them by militarily kicking out the Romans. From Israel in our little next line there notice Bob there's not a one or two there so it's just independent Bob and I were talking about this. Hosanna means safe talking about this next about the proper way of outlining when you don't have a B point you don't have an A point you just put a second line there so there we go you outline fans are smiling I see you out there. But Hosanna means save and so but we know that Jesus didn't come to be this kind of king just simply an Old Testament David that is just like the temple showed lots of truths but it was limited your sacrifices in the temple weren't sacrifices that covered all your sins for all your life. But Jesus once for all sacrifice is one sacrifice for all your sins for all your life so the temple shows us something the writer hebers calls it a shadow but calls it the sacrifice of Jesus the reality. So the reality is here and that's the actual physical thing if you have a light over here you know you you could see that this is a hand if I put my hand sideways then you could see over here if there were a wall here you could see the shadow of a hand with five fingers if this were the wall here and you could see this shadow and say I perceive that there's a hand somewhere over here. Yep there it is. Okay and so that's that's what the writer of hebers is talking about. The Old Testament is like looking at that wall I'm seeing the shadow and I don't know whether that's a black person or a Native American person or a white person or an Asian person because it's a shadow but I know it's a hand but then when I look at the hand I can see more detail. I can see exactly what size the hand is you know what color the skin is on the front in the back all how old the hand is and so yeah I'm getting old I'm looking at my skin like man that's like old person hand there but this is the reality here and this is just a shadow of fuzzy picture. Okay so that was true the sacrifices but it's true the kingship as well. David in his pinnacle epitome of a king in the Old Testament he's just a shadow he's not he's not all that a king should be and he's not perfect in his kingship but but but Jesus is and so Jesus doesn't come just to just to be out thrown into Jerusalem just in over one country over one geographical area area over one group of people basically one race and tack-ons. Ruth and you know Ray have and you know some tack-ons people have come and become is realized by religious conversion but but Jesus doesn't come just for that. He doesn't he doesn't come just to save people from a political system like Rome or to save people from a physical army. David did that and that was saving the people. Joseph that did that and that was saving the people but Jesus comes for something much greater something much something much bigger that is number three number three. Jesus came to be a different kind as your blank there a different kind of king. Now he's in the vein he's that you know that the shadow the things we learn from the kings of the sons of David David in the Old Testament those become true of Jesus in magnified fashion but Jesus is not just what David was king over 12 tried king over just those who were descended from Jacob from Israel. Jesus comes to be much more a king that the different kind of king and expanded David so a the throne Jesus came to take the throne Jesus came to take was not David's earthly throne in Jerusalem. He's not interested and so Jesus doesn't talk politically and he's not concerned about how what he says affects him politically. So he's not bowing down to the Pharisees who held the political power among the Jews. He's not bowing down to Herod or to Pilate. He's saying the things that will get him crucified because his eyes are on another throne not to throne in Jerusalem and probably what gets Jesus crucified just practically speaking is that he's not going to die. He's not speaking is in this last week he makes it abundantly clear he's not there to take a throne in Jerusalem. And so because they expected the anointed king to take the throne in geographical Jerusalem they say well he's not the guy and they go on from there and they reject him as their king. He wanted a king on the physical throne in Jerusalem so they reject him and sure put him on a cross. It's no good to us. He's not going to take the throne in Jerusalem and kick the Romans out. No good to us put him on a put him on a cross. So throne Jesus came to take was not David's earthly throne in Jerusalem but the throne but is thrown over over the whole world in heaven. Jesus came to take his heavenly throne at the right hand of God so Hebrews 1, 3, Jim reddit force. After he had made purification for sins after he died in the cross he sat down at the right hand of God in heaven. That's the throne he came to take. And so if people kill him on earth that's just a vehicle for him to get to the throne he intended to get to because he was not going to be just a king over geographical Israel. He was going to be a king over the whole world whoever would take him as their king whether they've lived in Ukraine or Zimbabwe or Canada or Japan or Australia. So he can reign as king overall who are citizens of heaven through faith in him from his heavenly throne. But the Jerusalem throne the geographical throne is much too small much too much too limited. So Revelation 5 we see the scene where it's the scene of heaven before Jesus is ascended. And those dead saints who are there are worried because the book of life which contains the names of all who won't be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity is sealed with seven seals. And if your name is within that and no one is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals your name can't be read. And so there's great stress in the first three verses of Revelation 5 and they say who is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. And John seeing the scene starts to get worried and he's told worry worry not look a lamb as if one who's been slain is coming and he sees Jesus. And Jesus is declared worthy to take the scroll and to open his seals that's Revelation 5 and then he starts opening them. Chapter 6 opening the seals of the scroll and then when it gets that seventh seal you know that seven seal is that's final battle and final judgment. And so then all seven seals the book of life all the names of those who were written on the lambs book of life you know are open now. And seven seal you know read it in Revelation 6 and then Revelation 8.1. The seventh seal is opened and Jesus can read the names better written on the book of life that the father has written but that he had to die and spill his blood to buy. So Jesus arrives in heaven and he's bought he's worthy to take the scroll because he's bought it with his blood. With his blood he bought all the names but all the people whose names are on that elected by the father before the foundation of the world of Ephesians 1-4. So he takes that scroll and right now our era is all these things so those six seals right is all bonus material for you. Wars and rumors and rumors of wars and pestilence and poverty and hatred between men and all these things going on but then when that seven seals open that that scroll gets opened up and final judgment happens and he reads those names. Revelation 20 that great scene of the great white throne that Jesus is on it says in verse 5 and anyone whose name was not written on the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. And so yeah heaven yeah before Jesus is ascended a little bit worried what's my name is you know I'm here in heaven so I know my name's in there but it finals judgment I need my name to be found on the book of life. And so I need somebody worthy to take that scroll and open the seals and so Revelation 5 is this that Jesus rises up into heaven and he takes the scroll and he sits down at God's right hand. His throne. So the throne Jesus came to take was not David's earthly throne Jerusalem but his throne over the whole world is thrown that's in heaven. Now be be the battle Jesus came to win the conquering he came to do was not over the Romans but over our true enemies are more significant enemies Satan death and hell. Those are enemies those are the things that human being should fear Satan death and hell so Colossians to 15 it says of Jesus he disarmed the powers and authorities Satan and he made a public spectacle of him triumphant over him by the cross. So Jesus triumphs over Satan at the cross he was 214 and 15 since the children us have flesh and blood he Jesus to shared in our humanity that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death so Jesus destroys Satan our enemy that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. And then this statement from Revelation 118 Jesus says I am the living one that is the one who's defeated death I'm the living one I was dead and behold I am alive forever and ever I hold the keys of death in 80s no longer does Satan have the power of death I've ripped the keys from him I hold the keys. And so Jesus comes not to fight the Romans that's what we need imagine that you know today if we heard that was the good news that Jesus defeated the Romans back 2000 years ago it says so what how's that effect me we needed him to defeat Satan and death and hell and so he he does that for us so what's the result of this the Jesus this great king comes to be a different kind of king who has this heavenly throne and defeat him. We need Satan death and hell for us number four trust in the great king trust in the great king Jesus do you think three things why it's so important and a joyful thing for us like these people with the palm branches it's a joyful thing for us to trust in Jesus or why that makes sense to us it's a smart thing for a person to do if he has eyes that are open. So we trust in Jesus because a with Jesus as your king you need not fear with Jesus as your king you need not fear John writes last think back to last three sermons in the book of John John writes to Jewish people who had become Christians and he writes to them in about AD 90 and the Christians have been called out by the Jewish nation to the Romans. You see the Jews had this special status in Rome they were considered a licensed religion and that meant they could worship as they pleased and when the emperor at the time division said everyone in my kingdom needs to acknowledge me as God and to give me worship which division was doing the Roman emperor was doing an AD 90 the Jews were exempt because they were part of a licensed religion. But now the late 80s and into the into about 90 the Jews had gone to the Roman government and said these Christians they are not part of us they are not a denomination of Jewishness and so now Christians were losing their lives physically losing their lives by the Roman government because they would not bow their knee and declared a mission divine they would not declare him divine divine and give him worship this was a thing of fear but we hear from John here that they didn't have to fear John writes this to them so they didn't have to so they didn't have to fear verse 15 look there he quotes to them he quotes to them from Zechariah do not be afraid. I just think about that little nuance there if you're a Jewish Christian Christian person Jewish background in an AD 90 your king is coming that means if I lose my life to the lions in the Roman Colosseum my king is coming for me I'll be okay because even though the world and the Jews have rejected him he rose he's king he's raining he's at the right hand of God and he will come for me this is true for us if we would lose our lives or whatever would happen for us for our faith our king is coming he is at the right hand of God and in the end he will sort all things out he will not abandon us he is our king who Hosanna is us he saves us that's his job the job of the divinity king save your people save all those who are citizens of heaven so number one you need not fear in life because Jesus is ruling now over the earth you need not fear in life because Jesus is ruling now over the earth right Hebrews one three after he made purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of God he's ruling now revelation five we saw it in John's vision Jesus when he ascended he took his place at the right hand of the father so you need not fear now in life because Jesus is ruling now over the earth protecting you that's your blank protecting you that's what the son of David does if invading armies come into Israel the son of David like Joe Hosha fat gets the armies and they go out and fight so that you can you know say it if you're a mom and you got two year old you can sit in your house and not at the worry about the the ammonite coming and burning your house down with you in it so you don't have to worry because Jesus is on his throne protecting you if you look there and you're confessing our faith we are one of Jesus' roles one of the roles of Jesus is king is that he protects us he protects and descends us who are citizens of his kingdom so Ephesians 122 says and God the father placed all things under Jesus' feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church Jesus is ruling now over everything for the church and this is how Romans 828 is true all things work together for the good of those he called according to his purpose you've been called to the gospel you've been called to Jesus you've been drawn to him by the spirit of God and you came to Jesus in faith and that means all things are working together for your good this is Jesus on his throne at the right hand of the father protecting you in life this means when bad things happen to you when you get a bad medical diagnosis or you lose your job or a child dies or your mother or father died or whatever it is God is working we have this assurance Jesus is still on his throne that's one of the big points of the book of Revelation it's a suffering under dimension the Roman emperor Jesus is still on his throne and he's still protecting his people and that's true for us today he's protecting us he's at the father's right hand he sees everything he's protecting us he is over Ephesians 122 over all rule and authority and that's that's reference to not only earthly rule and authority but Satan and his demons we are protected people and sometimes he sanctifies us through suffering but it's under his protection under his protection so we need not fear in life anything that's going to happen to you anything that has happened to you is under God's sovereignty out of his love for you even when those things are really hard it's not saying those things aren't hard it's not saying those things aren't difficult it's not saying those things aren't painful many of those things are but it's under God's great sovereignty for you he wasn't when bad things happen to you it wasn't because Jesus took a nap and it's all crud that happened hope he doesn't find out but number two number two you need not fear either in death you need not fear in death and so you know Jesus is conquered death Colossians 2 14 15 we and Hebrews 2 14 15 which I just quoted there Jesus crushed death he holds the power of death for us and so we no longer need to fear it Hebrews 2 15 like everybody else in the world fears death thinking that death is the worst possible thing that could happen to them and we as Christians with renewed minds from this book say no death is the greatest thing that could happen to me because then I get to see Jesus face to face then all my needs get to be met then I don't get to have to be persecuted anymore then I don't get sick anymore whether it's heaven before he comes back or whether whether it's being with him in the new heavens in the newer so we don't need to fear death second thing be why we trust in Jesus as our king because with Jesus as our king we can have peace with Jesus as your king you can have peace so it's a good thing and what John is showing us here is that it's a good thing for Jesus to be your king because you need not fear and then the flip side of this coin is that we can have we can have peace so number one there be one but we all see another clue here that Jesus was a bringer of peace it's the donkey and so the donkey that's your blank there again donkey the donkey in the world back then was a symbol of peace let me explain this to you if you were a warrior you weren't riding a donkey you wrote a donkey in a time of peace it's like if you ever seen Jerry Seinfeld's bit about ponies what are ponies good for he said you never see a police officer on a pony in crowd control hey stop that King's wrote donkeys to show that we are at peace I'm not on a war horse coming back from war we're not in the midst of a war and battle and so Jesus comes in and this is a symbol of peace like a dog the donkey was a symbol of peace it was a time where you could ride on a donkey or a pony and be okay because you weren't being attacked and you weren't having to defend you weren't having to defend yourself Solomon by the name the son of David that name Solomon means peace it's just a version of Shalom that SHL you know Solomon there and so Solomon is his peace bringer and it's you know Solomon rides in and he's on this mule of David's because Solomon is this great king of peace which we saw in Psalm 72 last week as well okay and so Jesus is this king of peace or shall we say Prince right we know he's the Prince of peace and what were the Prince of Peace ride but a donkey he's the new and final son of David riding on a donkey seated on a donkey's cult as we see here in verse 15 so David would rise again as Zechariah said and the people would know that David was risen again as their king son of David when they would see him coming into Jerusalem riding on a cult and here it is number two with Jesus as your king you can have peace in life Jesus says yeah in the world you have tribulation but in May you have peace peace John 1632 or you know from from Galatians 522 that the spirit that Jesus has sent and Jesus produces in you the fruit of love joy and peace I'm see a peace in life because Jesus is your king if he's not your king you don't have peace in life you're nervous you don't know what to do because you don't have his law you don't have his protection you don't have assurance that things will be okay for you that all things will work together for your good so there's no no peace and also number three there with Jesus as your king you can have peace and death and this is our declaration of the gospel this morning you can see it there on the front of your bulletins therefore since we have been justified through faith got into that justification box there through faith we have peace with God through a Lord Jesus Christ so we want Jesus as our king because he's the one who gives us peace the Old Testament Kings had symbolized this they had been a shadow of that if they had a faithful son of David they lived in an era of peace and if anyone came to attack them the troops of David or his son went out and God gave them success and so I could live in my home in Zebulin or Ephraim or Asher wherever it was in peace because the son of David was faithful and he was providing me peace by his righteousness and then see third thing why we trust Jesus is our king why this is smart thing why we rejoice over this with palms waving at him and shouting his praise see with Jesus as your king you can have victory so on 1827 palm branches were the reception that a geosha fat had gotten after his victory in second chronicles 20 implied in their shouts of praise was their joy over the fact that Jesus's conquering king was going to bring them peace now the Jews who were shouting this and even the disciples who were shouting along with them didn't understand how the peace would come they were thinking Jerusalem thrown Romans kicked out it was only later in verse 16 that they understood that he was not coming back from victory he was actually coming into his battle his battle to face death and to overcome it so with Jesus as your king number one there see one with Jesus as your king you can have victory in life Jesus said in John 524 it said this case John chapter 5 so before Palm Sunday he said I tell you the truth whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned his crossed over from death to life so in life what happens Jesus is saying if you hear me that means God has turned the lights on and he has regenerated you and you have spiritual life and you now by the spirit of God have the ability to walk in God's ways instead of the law just being a thing of frustration for you the laws of guide to your life like we talk about the third use of the law and the law shows us yeah I shouldn't cross the street when it's busy without looking both ways we're grateful for the law but we've been given the spirit of God Lawson's 2 13 puts it this way you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature but God made you alive with Christ he forgave all our sins so we have victory over our spiritual death now as Christians we were spiritually dead and Christ our king gave us victory by his spirit by granting us to spirit he gave us victory over our spiritual death so that we are now spiritually alive listen again you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature but now God made you alive with Christ you have victory over death already one of the things we'll see in the gospel of John as we go through it is that eternal life is talked about both as a present reality for us that is we have spiritual life that goes on into eternity but also eternal life sometimes is talking about what happens to us after death that we live on after this but now we possess this life that will not be killed not be put to death we have victory over this second death Roman date 13 Paul speaks of the same kind of thing he says by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body so that's the reality for us is Christians because we have God's spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body that means the temptation comes to us and we pull out our sword and say oh no I'm not doing it die temptation we say what's what's that in princess bride I am I am my name is you killed my father prepare to die yes you're at temptation you're outside God's will for me prepare to die yeah that's what we do with temptation we've been given life we've been given his spirit and we are putting to death Romans 8 13 putting to death the misdeeds of the body and so just a few verses later in verse 37 of chapter Romans 8 verse 37 Paul writes in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us so Jesus our king makes us more than conquerors he makes us people who are putting to death the sins we used to do and will never be perfect in that but we'll see this progress in our life where we're able to put to death things that we were doing habitually in our lives regularly in our lives or occasionally in our lives that we begin to extinguish those behaviors in our lives because we're more than conquerors through Jesus who has given us his spirit by which we put to death those misdeeds so in life we have victory secondly number two guess what with Jesus as your king you can have victory in death with Jesus as your king you can have victory in death again right right before going into Jerusalem for Paul Sunday chapter 11 we're in chapter 12 but in chapter 11 chapter 11's the Lazarus raising to be raised from the tomb chapter and Jesus says there 1125 Jesus said to her I am the resurrection in life he who believes in me that's us will live even though he dies so we have victory in death we will die unless Jesus comes back but Jesus says even if we die we will live he who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die so with Jesus is your king you can have victory in death so here's your summary here's your summary Paul Sunday was about Jesus being king now the Jews in Jesus day as they proclaimed Jesus king even as disciples as they proclaimed him being king they didn't have a defined quite right they were still thinking shadow king old testament kind of king but in fact we find out verse 16 it meant much more and that's what John indicates here and so John uses his gospel to show greater ways in which Jesus is king so God's people didn't understand that the Jews didn't understand that at the time yet the church after Pentecost saw this and they understood this so the message for us is this your next line there in your summary you should trust Jesus as your king that is we rightly shout of Zanna blessed is he who came in the name of the Lord blessed is the king of Israel and Paul calls the church is real you should trust in Jesus your king for your life and your death trust him as your king in your life trust him as your king as your approach death for in both and life and death he means for you so some total what what what the what's the cash in value of Jesus is peace that's your first blank peace in life peace and death victory victory over sin and life victory over death in death and then thirdly freedom from fear in life because Jesus is on a strong protecting you and freedom from fear and death because your death is just your venue or just your avenue into life forever more Jesus is a good king and he makes David look small and that's good news let's pray