We'll read this morning our verses 28 through 40 of Luke chapter 19 beginning at verse 28. This is the word of God. After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem as he approached Beth Page and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives. He sent two of his disciples saying to them, village ahead of you. And as you enter it, you will find a cult time there which no one has ever written. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why are you untying it, tell him the Lord needs it. Just as those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the cult its owners asked them, why are you untying the cult? They replied, the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus through their cloaks on the ground and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God and loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher, rebuke your disciples. I tell you he cried, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. The word of our Lord. Let's return to Luke 19. The passage we read with John just a few moments ago. Many of you will remember that we have been in Luke 19 before, Luke 1928 before in this exact passage. Before the events of September the 11th, the Sunday before we were in this passage, we looked at the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The message was entitled, was the triumphal entry, a flop, part one, to be followed by part two, but the call of September 11, and what followed, we took several Sundays to address that crisis. This morning we returned. That first Sunday in September, we looked at the triumphal entry in the historical details. We went first by verse and line by line, and we saw a premeditated proclamation that Jesus in a premeditated way was declaring his kingship. We saw a missed and symbolic miracle. We saw an early celebration, an unimformed praise, and a prophecy that would be fulfilled. In that message we looked at the details, the historical details of that event unfolded. I have been thinking about this passage for a month beforehand. We knew that first of all we had to go through the historical details, line by line. But during the month of August I had been thinking standing back from the triumphal entry, and I saw what I had not seen before, and I wanted to come back in part two, and let us look together at that. The last few weeks have intensified that. I have not been able to get it out of my mind, and it gave me even more time to think and to study. This morning, in the next few minutes, we have already looked at the historical details, and if you weren't here that first Sunday in September, please go and get that tape, because it was a message that was necessary and laid the foundation for this morning. But this morning, we are going to stand back from the event. We are going to stand as it were, kind of on a hill, overlooking Jesus going in Jerusalem, on that donkey, and kind of look at the week that followed, I believe that when Jesus rode into the city that day, that what we were going to think about was the exact thing that was on his mind. I am convinced of that, utterly convinced of it, that more than what we talked about the first Sunday in September, that what we were going to look at this morning was exactly what was on the mind of the Lord Jesus. So, before we begin, let's pray and ask Him to speak to us. Our Father, I am a broken vessel, my heart and my mind are dark and sinful. Our Father, I fear that the gospel that is in me is more stained by the sins in me than the stain is affected. Our Father, I want to speak the gospel this morning. I want to speak Jesus Christ, but I can't, but Jesus Christ is able to speak the gospel. He is here. I pray that we will hear Him, that we will hear His voice in our hearts. Our Father so infused the gospel into us, that Father we will be changed. Maybe some of us will be the very first time for His honor and His glory. Amen. Now, does Jesus win His spot? The original title was the triumphal entry of Plot Part 2. But since the events of September the 11th, as we have watched the nation prepare for war, we can understand maybe a bit better if we change the title and we say, how does Jesus fight His wars? He came as a king. He came as a conquering king. He did not sneak into the city in Cognito. He did not come under the cover of night in a clandestine effort to bring a coup. He rode in the city as prophets said to Messiah would come into the city by the prophetic way that He entered. He was openly declaring His kingship. We ask a few weeks ago, was it a flop? Was the king's triumphal entry a flop? That's a good question because one week later he was nailed to a Roman cross and put in a grave. What is triumphal about that? If you had gone to Jesus as he rode in the city on a donkey, and this must have looked like, and I don't mean to be stack religious, but this must have looked like some kind of comic relief. This must have looked like something out of Don Quixote. If a Roman soldier had been watching and asked one of the disciples, what's going on? If one of the disciples had told the Roman soldier, well this is Messiah, this is the long awaited king of Israel, and he's entering Jerusalem as king to take His throne. The Roman soldier would have thought of the conquering Caesars riding into Rome in their great chariots, followed by their legions, followed by the caravans of spoils of their battles. The Roman soldier would have thought of that, and he would have looked at this Don Quixote of a Jew riding on a donkey and he would have laughed in derision. If you had gone to Jesus as entered the city on a donkey, he would have said, if you ask him, what are you doing? He would have said, this is the way I conquer. This is the way I fight my battles. If you had gone to the cross and asked Jesus what he was doing, he would have said, I'm winning, I'm conquering, we must stand off from this event. Look at the whole picture. By entering Jerusalem this way, Jesus was saying, I'm not conquer like other kings, I'm not come like conquering Caesars. During this way, Jesus was not only fulfilling prophecy, he was defining his methodology, he was getting a picture of how he would conquer. The nations of the world, as we were saying before our very eyes, win their battles by physical might, and physical weapons, and money, and elite soldiers, and planes, and shifts, and rightly so, those are not wrong weapons in the hands of a nation fighting a just war. Or we've seen that, but when Jesus comes to conquer, he's always riding on the donkey. Jesus rides in the nations that way. You need to know that Jesus rides in the cities that way, that Jesus rides in the families that way, that he rides into our lives that way. Stand back, let's look at this parade, and let's answer the question, how does Jesus win his fight? First, I want you to see that he came to Jerusalem to conquer by humility. Turn with me in Matthew 21. Matthew 21 is Matthew's version of the triumphal entry. Matthew 21, and look at verse 4, this took place, by the way, this morning. If you're just sitting there, and you know, you came to church and going to hear a message and try to come away with something, if that's it, you won't get it. This is a thinking person's message, and you're only going to get it if you really stand back and look, and if you look at these scriptures, we're only turning to set places in the gospel. They're not hard to fan. If you're not familiar with the Bible, look in the index. They're not hard to fan, hang with it. You'll probably see something you haven't seen before. Matthew 21, forward, this took place to feel what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion, see your king comes to you, gentle, gentle, and riding on a donkey on a cold, the foe of a donkey. You need to know that gentle, and the donkey, those things are synonymous. Now look, no doubt, he is king, daughters of Jerusalem, daughters of Zion, look, your king, he is king indeed. It's not he is to be making, he is king. But look at what he's riding, daughters of Jerusalem, he's riding, cold of a donkey, he comes gentle, meat, and humble. He's a king, but look at how he's coming, he's coming in humility. Now he did not have to come that way, folks. He could have come only to judge. He could have come only to give an eternal sentence without any hope of grace or rescue. The next time he comes, indeed, it will be without humility. He will not be riding the cold of a donkey next time. Turn with me to Revelation, the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 19. Revelation 19 and look at verse 11. Revelation 19 11. I saw heaven standing open there before me. I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and flew with justice. He judges and makes water. His eyes are like blazing fire, and when he's head or many crowns, he has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the word of God. The armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, he will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has his disname written, King of kings and Lord of Lords. Is that not a pure suicide? Well, you need to know. You need to know that's the same Messiah. That is the same one who rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, the very same person. Well, he'd be coming in humility now. Why didn't he come that way the first time he could have? He could have. And if he had, this table would not be here. This church would not be here. This wonderful gospel of grace would not be here. I see Jesus riding into Jerusalem this way, and I want to shout. I even have more reason to shout than the thousands that did that day. They didn't know he was not going to take the throne. They didn't know he was going to cross. They didn't know he would die for sinners. They didn't know how powerfully significant it was that he came on that donkey in humility. Oh, people, let me ask your question. Would you rather see Jesus coming to you on that donkey or would you rather see him coming on that great white horse in revelation? Now, listen, if you have not in him coming on the donkey, you're not ready to see him coming on that white horse. Alfred the Great, ruled England from 871 to 899. For several years, Alfred was locked to the deadly war with the Viking king named Guthram for control of England. And it was a hard-fought battle. Look at one time like Alfred had lost, but Alfred came back, and he conquered Guthram. He could have killed him. He didn't. He could have imprisoned him. He didn't. Alfred was a Christian. And after, as a national leader, he had physically conquered Guthram. He sought to conquer Guthram as a Christian. He sat down with this king he'd conquered. And he laid aside his crown. And he came and sat down with a gospel and said, Guthram, here's the gospel of Jesus Christ and you're a sinner and you need a savior. And you know what? Guthram became a Christian. You know what else happened? Alfred threw a 12-day feast for Guthram and his men, the very army that he had conquered as a national leader. But that's not the end of the story. After the feast, he sat down with Guthram and he said, you're now a Christian brother. And this land is much too large for me to rule. Where you helped me rule England. Stay here and help me rule England. He could have justly killed Guthram as an invader. He could have imprisoned him. But instead of coming in power and judgment upon his enemy, he had already done that. As king of England, he had already done that. And instead, Alfred, representing the gospel of Jesus Christ, came riding into Guthram's life, the donkey key, in maintenance, in jailness, in humility. You look at this picture. He came to Jerusalem to conquer by humility. Secondly, he came to Jerusalem to conquer by dying. Turn with me to Luke 9. Luke 9. Verse 51. We were here a few months ago. Jesus was bringing it to the great Galilee and ministry. Galilee is in the north of Israel. And that's where his ministry has been centered around his home. He's bringing that to an end. And he's starting the journey towards Jerusalem. And in these last few months in our study, we've seen Jesus zigzag back and forth across the land all the time, headed toward this in Luke 19, verse 28, when he would enter Jerusalem. Now, look at 9. 51. As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely, resolutely set out for Jerusalem's time to go. Why was he going to Jerusalem? We've heard him say it over and over again in these last few months. Turned over to Luke 18. I could turn to five different passages, but we don't have time. We'll just turn to Luke 18. I think that's the last one to which we refer. Luke 18, verse 31. Jesus took the 12 aside. And this is months and months later after he's resolutely set out for him. Jesus took the 12 aside. He told him we're going up to Jerusalem. And everything that's written by the prophets about the son of man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again. I want to ask this one. Does that sound like a conquering king to you? I'm going to drive him to conquering by the way, guys, I'm going to die. And I'm going to die in humiliation. I mean, they're going to spit on me and treat me like punts come. Does that sound like a conquering king? It sounds like a man who is prophesying his own defeat. Remember when Patton made his famous speech to the third army? He told his men that battles were not won by dying for your country. He said battles were won by making the other person die for his country. He said it a bit more colorfully. And that's true. Yes. The whirlwinds battles because we make the other person die for his country.
But again, Jesus' way of conquering was the opposite of the world. The kingdom turns always. The kingdom, if the world is like this, turns it like this. It's always the opposite. Jesus did not come to judge and kill and conquer. He came to die and conquer. Let me ask you. The bread and the wine. Are they symbols of defeat or victory? The bread for the broken body of Jesus Christ, the wine for the blood of Jesus Christ. Yes. A body broken by death. Blood shed by death. But are these symbols of defeat? We look at the symbols of his dying and symbols of a great salvation of a great rescue. We say, this, these are signs of conquering. Turn with me to Revelation 9. In fact, I want us just to read this together. Revelation 5.9. We read part of it. We read part of this in our call to worship. Part of this was in the call to worship. We read just a few minutes ago. Let's just read Revelation 5. I don't care what your translation is. Read it. It's not going to matter. Let's read it aloud together. Revelation 5.9. And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Stop right there. If you had gone to Jesus on the cross as he was dying and said, what in the world are you dying? You're a king. You would have said, I'm redeeming of people. I'm rescuing sinners. I'm purchasing a nation. And what was it Jesus said? And if you would follow me. If you want to be a part of that nation, if you want to be a bought sinner, you didn't die yourself. You take up this cross of dying and you follow me. You will follow him. You'll conquer by dying today. I read the story of George Atley this week. George Atley was a missionary with the Central African mission. I want you for a moment or two to pretend that you're George Atley and you're in the heart of Africa. It's a few decades back. You're trying to take the gospel. In fact, you've been taking the gospel of this tribe. And one day you're standing inside of a stream. In fact, you're crossing a stream and you're carrying a Winchester rifle and it has a chamber of 10 bullets in it carrying a loaded Winchester. That's what happened with George Atley. He was confronted by some tribesmen and they were painted up and he knew immediately that they meant to do him horror, but all the head were spheres and knives. He was carrying a gun. What would you do now? Now remember, you're not representing the United States here. This is not a national battle. You're representing the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what do you do? What would you do? Let me tell you what George Atley did. They found him in that stream pierced by the spears, cut to pieces by the knives. What did he do with that gun? He left a message. It just wasn't lying in the stream. He had taken the rifle before he was attacked and he laid it down on the bank. It was very obvious. It was not just thrown there. It was laid there. It was put there. He refused to shoot them in to whom he was striving to give the gospel. The kingdom of God. When he came humbly to Jerusalem, he was coming to die. The king is coming to die. We sing that hymn, that solo, and we hear that the king is coming. The king is coming to die. It's so rich. Well, that's what they sang that day. The king is coming. But he came on a donkey in humility. He was coming to die. He said, I want to church, and I sent a little velvet pew. The sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden, gilded Bible. He marked it with a silk footmark and said, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself. Take of his cross and follow me. I heard him say that, and I looked around, and no one was laughing at the irony. We take pride that we proclaim Jesus Christ, crucified. The Christ that said, deny yourself. Take up your cross, come and die, and follow me. And we say that all the while. On pews, their cushions are velvet. The minister in the black robe, with all of our riches. Isn't it an irony that no one of them, he came to Jerusalem to conquer in humility. He came to Jerusalem to conquer by dying. Thirdly, he came to Jerusalem to conquer men's hearts. What did conquerors want? What did Caesar want? What did Charlemagne want? What did Ganga's con want? What did Napoleon want? What did Hitler want? They wanted dominion and power over countries, over nations. They wanted to conquer men by forcing men at gunpoint with weapons, with the sword to submit to them. Even if their hearts wanted to spit in their faces, they wanted those men to be submissive, even for those biopression. By the way, you know who was the greatest conqueror of all time? We're talking about land mass. It was Ganga's con, Ganga's con. In 1162, 1227, conquered 4,860,000, because Alexander was second. Attila was fifth. Hitler was sixth. But all of these men conquered by killing, threatening oppression. Jesus, Jesus came, win men's hearts. Jesus came to conquer. Make no mistake about it by causing his enemies. Those of us who were opposed to him by causing us to fall in love with him. There was an example of that that we turn with me to Luke 23. Luke 23. Luke 23 verse 39. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. Aren't you, Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal reviewed him. Don't you fear God? For we're getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. And then he said, and I love this. And we never get the impact on it. These are church words. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. People listen to that. And they say, well, when did he join Jesus? What did Jesus go to hell and end the parody? You know how? I hate that. Because we missed the whole thing. We missed that. This was a criminal. This was a thief. You know how he started out that day? Matthew tells us. You read Matthew 27.44. Matthew says that when those two thieves were put up with Jesus, both of them cursed Jesus. Both of them teased him. Both of them taunted him. And Jesus was not in his robes and he didn't have a sword. He was a naked Jew on an awful Roman cross. And what did this man say before the day was over? He looked at Jesus. And he says, you're a king. And how does he say that? How does he know that? You're a king. You're a king and king. Remember me when you come into your kingdom? What had happened? Jesus naked on a cross and had conquered that man's heart. Jesus, he came to Jerusalem to conquer in humility. He came to Jerusalem to conquer by dying. He came to Jerusalem to conquer men's hearts. Fourthly, he came to Jerusalem to conquer with love. Now look at Luke 23 verse 34. Luke 23 verse 34. Jesus said, father, forgive them. So they do not know what they're doing. Now don't miss the last part of that verse. And they divided up his clothes by gambling. And thanks when he entered Jerusalem that day in humility on that donkey, he knew that he had come to die. That he had come to conquer men's hearts. But what made him come? What drove him to come? He was compelled by the love that we see here. They divided up his clothes by gambling. He knew we would drive the nails. He knew we would gamble at his feet while he died. What kind of people gamble at his feet for his clothes as he dies? He knew we would do that. And he came anyway. And he looked at these hard, cruel men that had even gone shallotly driven the nails. And they were in their crusty hearts were sitting in the gamble. He looked at them. He turned his head to his father. He said, father, you see these raiment soldiers. You see the members of the sandadrin that are spitting on me and taunting. You see that father? That's how he still conquers. Earlier this year, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Lauder visited independent from Inverness, Scotland. Scott Lauder is an elder in the Smith and Church in Inverness. It's a church with which we're building a relationship. God is really blessing them. I think for the next two years that God's going to use that in a powerful way. And one evening as a satan talked to Scott, he told me about how Christ had conquered his heart. He was a college athlete. He was a man's man. He thought kind of Christianity was a woman thing. Then someone gave him a book entitled Through Gates of Splendor. It's a book written by Elizabeth Elliott about her husband Jim Elliott when he took the gospel to the Alka Indians in Ecuador and it's about how he prepared and then right at the beginning as he took the gospel in there. He was cruelly very cruelly killed by those Indians. Now that's not what God's got Lauder. What captured him was the fact that Elizabeth Elliott, not ten years later, but Elizabeth Elliott, went a few months later to live with that tribe that had killed her husband. She took the gospel. She sat down with the gospel. She sat down with an individual man that had killed her husband and gave him the gospel and that blues got lower away. He could not understand that. Where did Elizabeth Elliott learn that? It wasn't because she was a woman and had her mother's heart. She learned it from Christ. She learned it from Jesus at the cross. I remember a picture taken at the Billy Graham Conference on Evangelism at Lausanne and Elizabeth Elliott was there on a stage before thousands of people and she introduced to that great audience. She introduced. She took the man's hand and she introduced to that crowd the very man who had killed her husband. She introduced him as her Christian brother. He came to Jerusalem to conquer in humility. He came to Jerusalem to conquer by dying. He came to Jerusalem to conquer men's hearts. He came to Jerusalem to conquer with love. And finally, he came to Jerusalem. He came to Jerusalem to send out a great army that would conquer men's hearts with love by dying with him in humility. Turned with me to one last. We're done. John 20. Matthew, Mark, John, we hadn't looked at John yet. John 20, verse 20. After he said this, this is after the resurrection. He appears to the disciples. After he said this, he showed them his hands and he sighed. Marked that. He showed them his hands and he sighed. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Then Jesus said, peace be with you. As a father sent me, I am sending you. I love this thing. He showed them the scars of his humility. He showed them the scars of his dying. He showed them the scars of his love. As they were looking at those scars, he said, the father sent me. And just as a father sent me, I am sending you. You know, we like the fact that he came in humility for what we could be saved. We like the fact that he came to die for us. We like the fact that he conquers with love. But we're not so enamored when he shows us his scars. And he says, as the father sent me, these I have these scars because the father sent me, as the father has sent me, I'm sending you. We're not so enamored with that. Are you a Christian? I think most of us would say in this room this morning, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. Yes, I'm a Christian. Well, if you are, then he's called you to be a part of that army. He's called you to be a part of this great people to whom he has shown his scars and said, as a father sent me, I'm sending you. As we see our nation together, our forces, we're all gathered into this war effort in the United States, in noble effort. And it's a good effort. But we must remember that Jesus has called us to fight in even a greater war. He has called us to conquer by humility, to conquer by dying with him. To conquer means hearts with him in love, the war in which we're engaged as a country is important. It is a just war that all Biden and Godly men must support. But the war in which we're engaged as the Church of Jesus Christ, as independent Presbyterian churches, far, far, far more important. For this war has eternal significance. I know that you. But I don't like the way Jesus fights, do you? I don't like to come in humility. I like to go and die. I don't like love, my enemy. George Sweeney wrote a book entitled The No Guilt Guide for Witnessing. He tells about a man named John Courier who in 1949 was found guilty of murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later he was transferred and paroled to work on a farm near Nashville, but he was still kind of prison type of thing. He had to work on this farm. In 1968, John Courier's sentence was terminated. It was over. And the letter bearing that good news was sent to him that John never received a letter and he wasn't told anything about it. And life on that farm was hard and it had no future. But he kept going. He kept doing what he was told even after the farmer for whom he had worked died 10 years went by and state parole officer came across the letter. And just out of curiosity, he looked up and he found out that Courier was still working on that farm. And he found him. And he told him that years ago, your sentence was terminated and you're a free man. Now George Sweeney told that story and then he asked his question, would it matter to you if someone sent you an important message, an important message of your life, a message of salvation for you and someone sent you a message and you're after a year, the urgent message was never delivered. Jesus wrote into Islam on a donkey in humility. He conquered with that humility. He conquered by dying and he conquered with that love. And I think the reason that many of us don't conquer that way or we don't conquer and we don't go out and we don't deliver the message is because we don't want to deliver a message that way. We don't want to be that humble and we won't want to die and we don't want to love like that. But folks, that's the only way. That is the only way the message will be delivered.