See Your King

There is an outline on page 11 and the text is on page 10 of what we're looking at today from Matthew's gospel It is the word of God and so please listen as I read to you what God himself would say to you As they approached Jerusalem and came to Beth page on the Mount of Olives Jesus sent two disciples saying to them Go to the village ahead of you and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her cult by her and Tie them and bring them to me if anyone says anything to you Tell him that the Lord needs them and he will send them right away This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Say to the daughter of Zion see your king comes to you gentle Riding on a donkey on a cult the full of a donkey The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them They brought the donkey and the cult placed their cloaks on them and Jesus sat on them a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road While others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted Hosanna to the son of David Blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest When Jesus entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred and asked who is this? The crowds answered this is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee Jesus entered the temple area And drove out all who were buying and selling there he overturned the tables of the money changers and the Finches of those selling does it is written he said to them my house will be called a house of prayer But you are making it a dinner robbers The blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things that he and the children That he did excuse me and the children shouting in the temple area Hosanna to the son of David They were indignant Do you hear what these children are saying they asked him? Yes Jesus replied Have you never read from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise

Long long long ago Jesus a God promised to send a Savior a Deliverer who would crush the head of the serpent of the devil Long ago he confirmed that promise by way of covenant to Abraham Isaac and Jacob That it would be through their seed through their descendants that God would keep this promise And he made the same promise and renewed that covenant with David the king the great king over Israel saying to you One of your sons will sit on my on the throne and will rule my kingdom The prophets all reminded the people Isaiah spoke of him this way And you know the text For a child will be born to us a son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders And his name will be called wonderful counselor Almighty God eternal father prince of peace There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom To establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness Then on and forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah Behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will rise up raise up For excuse me when I will raise up for David a righteous branch And he will reign as king and will act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land He spoke through Ezekiel My servant servant David will be king over them And they will all have one shepherd and they will walk in my ordinances and keep my statutes and observe them They will live on in the land that I gave Jacob my servant in which your fathers lived and they will live in it They and their sons and their sons sons forever and David my servant will be their prince forever And on the prophets go speaking of this one who would be the king And we know from the gospels that Jesus is indeed that king That Jesus is the one who would come to crush Satan's head The descendant from Abraham Isaac and Jacob the son of David the one the prophet spoke about He came He is the king of kings It's interesting and John's gospel when Jesus is put to death Crucified on across the inscription over his head reads this is Jesus the king of the Jews Of course the chief priests and scribes and leaders of the people they didn't like that at all They said do not write the king of the Jews but that he said he I am king of the Jews He was The king of the Jews and he did say I am the king of the Jews That's what our story is about this morning Jesus is the king and I want us this morning to look and see Our king our Lord Jesus See your king purposefully fulfill prophecy This passage verses one through nine tell us about it it outlines very easily and verses two and three Jesus commands get the cult get the donkey and the cult Matthew by the way makes that a little clearer than the other Gospels Matthew and verses four and five interpret it. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Verses six and seven the disciples do as they are told they get the donkey and her cult and they put their garments on Them and presumably Jesus sits on the cult not the donkey the not the mother but the untrained never Written upon cult and their cloaks are there and he sat upon them the cloaks that were on that one And in verses eight nine the crowds receive their king Jesus shows his sovereignty. It's intentional. It's with great purpose that he commands his disciples Go into the town You'll see the donkey and it's cult and get it Bring it here If someone says something to you don't worry about it. Just tell them the Lord has need of it and they'll say okay And they did Jesus did this on purpose Jesus knows What Zachariah nine nine says Jesus has been very careful to wait until this moment There's a story in John's gospel where early on in his public ministry after feeding the multitudes they They're delighted with this new king. This is the man we want him He if he's got power to multiply the lows and the fishes That's the kind of king we want And they wanted to take him by force and Jesus eluded their ability to keep him and force him to be king and for many years you know he was Healing and saying don't say anything raising the dead don't say anything But now Now the week before he will be crucified

He wants to go into Jerusalem Proclaiming clearly I am the king See your king who fulfills Bible prophecy He comes the crowds understand it they rejoice greatly they do See him as the king they understand what Matthew makes plain. Hey, here's this is the fulfilled prophecy That's Matthew's thing this fulfills prophecy. He says that more than any of the other gospel writers And they get it the crowds they sing their hosanna Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord they quote Psalm uh 118 as they Celebrate the fact that here is the king They receive him and not brings us to our second point number two see your king receives of appropriate praise He not only sovereignly fulfills this role as king and chooses the time where he declares it But as the people praise him he receives it and there's really there's two parts to this receiving a praise There is the crowds and remember this is this this time of year Multitudes of Jews from the whole world would come By pilgrimage into Jerusalem and so from wherever they have been they have been streaming into Jerusalem And so the closer you get to Jerusalem the thicker the crowd is right and there are people all over the place So that the people see the cloaks on the animals and the king coming in and they've heard the reports The word has gone forth that there is this Profit this one who raises the dead this one who performs many miracles And here he is now on the donkey and they they break out into jubilant praise those who are in front of him And those who are behind them and Luke's gospel makes it very clear that that not only the children But the crowds the multitudes And cite the Pharisees and the leaders to say Jesus rebuke your disciples Why are you allowing this? But Jesus receives it This was this was an encouraging word to me. I was kind of in a glum glumy mood this week saying we you know Here we are Palm Sunday singing oh Hosanna Hosanna and making it a big day and Really the people are fickle by the end of the week They or they're either the one staying crucifier the ones keeping their mouth shut when another crowd is doing it

Don't they know What kind of victory what kind of triumph this king will bring obviously not Why do we celebrate it as a big and happy day and my wife humbly reminded me mark Jesus received their praise and defended them And I was like oh yeah And so we can praise God and our Lord Jesus Christ That he is the king of kings the sovereign And while we may get it right that he is going to die and be raised from the dead It's a little bit of help with the gospels and all on that one How much of it do we miss and yet Jesus rejoices in our praise God Excepts the praises of this people who with cheerful hearts bring praise to him

And Jesus said to the Pharisees and Luke's gospel when the adults were praising hey if these are quiet the rocks will cry out Oh may God give to us not a hardened heart but a tender heart That cries out the praises of the most high king But there is also the children And verses 15 and 16 that that cry out to the Lord and and the chief priests and the scribes the the writers of the law the keepers of the law they say Something to Jesus don't you hear what these children are saying And the implication is what is spoken in Luke's gospel Why are you accepting this you should be rebuking them

There's there's the insinuation there is the implication look Jesus you're no king

And besides that you know we are under Roman occupation. What are you trying to do In fact if you read Anywhere from you know a chapter before what we call the triumphant entry and any of the gospels you want through This last week you see Jesus in a sense Bullying the chief priests and scribes and Pharisees Pushing them because they're all saying we want to kill them, but not during the Passover. We'll create a riot Will wait will wait will wait and Jesus is saying no you won't no you won't

They insinuate you are no king and there's two dangers for them There is the danger of the Roman government There's also the danger that if Jesus is the king and sets up his rule then they will lose their power and authority It's a lose lose situation from their vantage point

Jesus defends the kids and he puts it back in their face when he quotes Psalm 8 It tells us just this little bit Jesus replied Have you never read from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise, but if you go and you read what Psalm 8 says It starts this way. Oh Lord. Oh Yahweh are adonai. Oh god most high. Oh sacred name of god are Lord How majestic is your name and all the earth who have displayed your splendor in the heavens from the mouth of Infants and nursing babies you have established strength because of your adversaries to make the enemy And the revenge you pull to cease That's in your face He says oh, well you see I am the king I am the sovereign king I and the father are one and He is willing to receive the appropriate praise of his people see Your king is worthy of praise and receives it favorably Number three see your king exercises authority We talked about the fact that people are coming as pilgrims From all over the world into Jerusalem thousands and thousands of people the the city of Jerusalem Welled during this time of year and they had a bit of a racket going as well

they Stocked the shelves like Walmart for the day after Thanksgiving With all sorts of animals for sacrifice

So full that you could hardly get in And then what they would do is

You know this whole thing about clean and unclean and ceremonial clean and What they would do is say hey if you want to ceremonially clean lamb to offer You can have to get it from the temple from our stocked shelves nowhere else

They too had pushed out the little guy so to speak

Sorry, I don't mean to slam Walmart tonight today. That's not my

So Jesus sovereignly goes into his temple the king Goes to his home Think of the the parables around this about a king who is going to receive his kingdom How Jesus taught about this this time in history when he would come to his throne And here is the king coming to his throne and when he comes in he's expecting something He knows it's not that way, but oh does this heart delight in something He quotes two passages of scripture well worth your Reflection today one is from Isaiah 56. I want to read it to you Versus 4 through 8 he just quotes a little piece my Father's house should be called to house of prayer. This is a bigger portion of the text starting at verse 4 for thus Says the Lord to the unix who keep my Sabbath And choose what pleases me and Hold fast my covenant To them I will give in my house And within my walls a memorial and a name that is better than that of sons and daughters I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off Also the foreigner who joins himself themselves to the Lord To minister to him and to love the name of the Lord To be his servants everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath And holds fast my covenant Even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful In my house of prayer Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples The Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel declares yet others I will gather to them and those to those already gathered you see the heart of the king He wants to come to his house where true worship is taking place Where the the unique that person who is disadvantaged from the the culture who who is looked down upon But who is faithful who who keeps the Sabbath who knows what the Lord delights in and seeks after that

Who keeps the covenant God wants to bless him it wants that person to be in the house of prayer The foreigners The aliens the refugees the disadvantaged they should be in the house offering praise offering prayer Their house should be full of people bringing their sacrifices Those who love the Lord and delight in him and hold fast as covenant But when he goes there what does he find? Not alibaba in the 40 thieves or however many thieves there are not to pirates and pirates of the Caribbean and you know cut throats and iron all that sort of stuff Not gangsters religious people Doing religious things committing religious sins

And he calls them a dinner fees That's the king's analysis

from Jeremiah Chapter seven it's a quote from Jeremiah chapter seven and in verse 11 Again, please indulge me. I'm going to read more but listen carefully The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim their this word say hear the word of the Lord all you of Judah Who enter by these gates to worship the Lord thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel amend your ways and your deeds and I will let you dwell in this place Do not trust in deceptive words saying the temple this is the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds if you truly practice justice Between a man and his neighbor If you will not oppress the alien the orphan the widow And not shed innocent blood in this place and not walk after other gods to your own ruin Then I'll let you dwell in this place in the land in the land that I gave your fathers forever never You hold your trusting and deceptive words To know avail Will you steal murder commit adultery and swear falsely and offer the sacrifices to bail and walk after other gods That you have not known and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say we are delivered Hosanna That you may do all these abominations Here it is has this house Which is called by my name Become a den of robbers in your site Behold I even I have seen it Declare is the Lord Oh for Jesus to quote those words to these people Starvest day see your king Exercise authority As he cleanses the temple And before I see your king exercise righteousness and justice Verse 14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple and we healed them We won't spend much time here. I just wanted to point this out if you were here last week You remember we talked about three words from the Hebrew. I'll just give you the English Mercy I can't do it. It's gotta be has said. That's a wonderful word for me the Faithfulness living kindness steadfast love mercy These kinds of words loyalty But then justice and righteousness And we've seen it throughout the text of what the Lord is looking for and here he is And let me just two passages from someone 46 we often sing that hallelujah praise Jehovah O my soul Jehovah praise From verse seven and eight versus seven and eight he Who executes justice for the oppressed who gives food to the hungry the Lord sets prisoners free the Lord opens the eyes of the blind The Lord raises up those who are bowed down the Lord loves the righteous And again job 29 14 and 15 Job defending himself. I have done what is right says I put on righteousness and it clothed me my justice was like a robe and a turban I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lane You see Jesus While he exercises his authority and casting out Those who were Taking advantage of God's people and God's name Received the humble The foreigner as it were the unit as it were the the disadvantaged as it were The ones needing justice he could be just in condemning what is wrong and speaking to it And he could be just in defending that which is the rights of the poor And minister to them See your king exercise exercise righteousness and justice and then number five See your king triumph Through the cross See your king triumphed through the cross Colossians to 13 through 15 when you were dead in your trust Sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature God made you alive with Christ He forgave us all our sins having cancelled the written code with its regulations That was against us and stood opposed to us He took it away nailing it to the cross and having disarmed here it is and having disarmed the Powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them triumphant over them By the cross This is critically important. I don't know why we called this the triumphant entry I googled that question why triumphant entry the best article I read I didn't read very many But the best one was the first it was a Wikipedia just tons of stuff didn't answer my question But very informative if you want to read it it talks about how this is celebrated and in All sorts of branches of Christ church east west all over the place All over the world There's a little bit there. I know some of the translations translate One of the words in Zachariah as Triumph that the king will come and triumph But I don't know I don't get it He's coming to die

And it's momentary this this time of praise

I do get the fact that he triumphs over sin and death I see that he he wins at the cross and I want to point out to you that this is consistent and it's very important to the way we live our lives today

Because God has always dwelt adult this way It was his people in bondage in Egypt that he delivered and and when they sang Their hymn of praise it was at the red sea remember maybe I won't sing it to you But Miriam and and those I will sing unto the Lord for he is triumph gloriously the horse and rider He is hurled into the sea right And then came suffering in the wilderness Which turned out to be for 40 years before the promised lion Here is our Lord Jesus And he conquers sin and death Not with the sword Not with power of the military might He comes humble gentle And while he has such power and authority that he can cleanse the temple and not be stopped and respond to his antagonist and put them to shame And he can call down ten thousands of legions of angels to deliver him from the moment He wins the victory by humblings it himself to the point of death even death on a cross And it's out the cross that he conquers and crushes Satan's head

That's important for us Because we are the body of Christ We are the church triumphant We are the ones who are spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth and there's more people coming to Christ today Than ever before There's more dying In the name of Christ today than ever before And they both go on And this should not surprise us this was the way Of our Lord Jesus and this is what he taught us if anyone wishes to come after me He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it And whoever loses his life or my sake He is the one who will save it And on that text goes I think of his servant the Apostle Paul Mighty man preaching the gospel He goes from arresting them and persecuting them and having them put the death of people of God the being Persecuted and beaten and thrown into prison and and what his thorn in the flesh was Whether it was from being beaten senseless too many times or or some other thing some in dwelling center Whatever it is we don't know but we do know That he went to God in prayer three times this person who could pray for the healing of other people I said God, I'd like you to take this away But God's message to him is my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness

Paul got it and so he said therefore I would rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ made dwell in me Therefore I'm well content with weaknesses With insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulties for Christ's sake For when I am weak Then I'm strong The passage we'll look at on Resurrection Sunday Is from Philippians where Paul says More than that I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus his whole heritage Everything he had had

Knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them But rubbish so that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own to ride from the law But that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith That I may know him and the power of his resurrection And the fellowship of his sufferings Being conformed to his death That I may in order that I may attain To the resurrection resurrection from the dead Brothers and sisters in this life that's how we will win the victory In our homes not through power of strength To the humility and gentleness of Christ Not in the workplace by power in might But in humility not in the church By winning the argument And being proven right But by following Christ That's how the gospel goes forward today the church is receiving more persecution than it ever has And is growing faster than it ever has But today is the day of salvation today is the day to believe in him If you've never received this king into your life today is the day It's it's a momentary time It may have been two thousand years since the cross But we don't know how much time it is And we know that when he comes again the time is over And it whether it's two thousand years or three thousand years It's totally short compared to the billions upon billions of years If we can measure eternity in any sense Because when he comes again it will not be on a donkey John wrote in the book of Revelation When he told us the rest of the story Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse And he who sat on it called faithful and true And in righteousness he judges and wages war His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadims And he has a name written which no one knows except himself And his clothe and he is he is clothe With a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and his enemies which are in heaven or I'm sorry and his armies which are in heaven clothe and fine linen white and clean were following on white horses And from his mouth comes a sharp sword So that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule with an iron Rod of iron and he will tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty And his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of kings and Lord of lords he will come again And you will see your king That's pray Thank you, Jesus That you are our king

O give us hearts that are faithful That persevere The don't cry hosanna one week and crucify the next

But hearts that say Jesus is Lord Come Lord Jesus Grant us O God that faithfulness to praise your great and mighty name with our lips and our lives For your glory So for your glory