our scripture reading and in our sermon we want to focus on the nature of Christ's kingship he gets escorted into Jerusalem the people were expecting one thing but the way Jesus was riding the animal he was riding on everything about how he entered into Jerusalem told them, or ought to have told them, that the King they were expecting, the King they wanted, was not the King Jesus came to be. He came to be the King and the Saviour that they needed, rather than that they wanted. Our scripture reading this morning, Matthew 20, beginning at verse 17, and reading through to chapter 21, verse 17, with our text for the sermon, being chapter 21, 1 through 11. So we'll start our scripture reading in chapter 20, verse 17. This is the inspired Word of God. as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem he took the 12 disciples aside and on the way he said to them see we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and he will be raised on the third day Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he said to her, what do you want? She said to him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one on your right hand and one on your left, in your kingdom. Jesus answered, you do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? They said to him, we are able. He said to them, you will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father. And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be your slave even as a son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and as they went out of Jericho a great crowd followed him And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside. And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David. The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent. But they cried out all the more, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David. And stopping, Jesus called them and said, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Lord, let our eyes be opened. Jesus in pity touched their eyes and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. And chapter 21 verse 1 is where our text starts. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem they came to Bethpage, to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord needs them and he will send them at once this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet saying say to the daughter of Zion behold your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt the fall of a beast of burden the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them they brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them and Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. That's the end of our text, we'll read through verse 17. And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, it is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. And the blind and lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. And they said to him, do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes, have you never read out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise? And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. So far our scripture reading. Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, which Jesus do you serve? Which Jesus do you serve? The Jesus who is the generous uncle who gives you everything you need as well as most of the things that you ever wanted so that you can live a comfortable life. Or do you serve the Jesus who, having died for your sins and having gone through all of that horrible suffering, is now your risen and ascended Lord who promises to sustain you as you too walk a road of suffering before being granted the crown of glory? Which Jesus? do you serve? It's not, congregation, we are to understand at all a meaningless or irrelevant question. Nor is it a question that's just a clever opening to a sermon. It's meant as a genuine question that each one of us should answer for ourselves right now. Which Jesus do you serve, this one or this one? The Jesus that you hope gives you a good life, at least a comfortable life, or the Jesus who tells you to take up your cross and follow Him as He sustains you on your road to eternity? Again, which Jesus do you serve? Because brothers and sisters, if Good Friday at the end of this week and Easter Sunday, next Sunday, are going to teach us anything through the working of the Holy Spirit, it's this, there is only one Jesus. And the real Jesus brings about a kingship that ushers in a peace that is not temporal, but a peace that is eternal. By the death and resurrection of this real Jesus, sin and Satan are conquered, and he is promoted to be the king of the universe. We sang that, Psalm 72. And his kingship means our preservation as we, like him, take up our cross in this life in anticipation of the wonderful, glorious future that's promised to every single one of his children. So our theme this morning, congregation, as we begin to think about Good Friday and Easter, with his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus points his people to the real meaning of his kingship. We're going to consider, Lord willing, three things this morning. First place, how Jesus enters Jerusalem. The words shouted about Jesus as he enters Jerusalem, that's our second point. And finally, our third consideration, the stir Jesus causes by entering Jerusalem. So first of all, how Jesus enters Jerusalem. The Sunday before Good Friday, and I think we know this, is sometimes called Palm Sunday. That's in connection with the palm branches that the people cut down off of the trees to lay down on the road for Jesus to ride over as he enters into Jerusalem. By the end of the week, Jesus will have been crucified, dead, and buried. And so we recognize, congregation, that a lot happens in this final week of Christ's life. It's a week on which the whole of world history, we can say, from creation to the final triumphant blast, all of history hinges on this week. That means that every event during this week is worthy of close consideration as we seek to understand what our God is doing. And that's most certainly true of the events of our text this morning. But in understanding our text and in understanding the particulars of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, we have to, congregation, consider the context. That's why we started our scripture reading in verse 17 of chapter 20. there Jesus is telling his disciples that he's going to go to Jerusalem and that that means his death and it's not going to be a quick and easy death if ever there was such a thing no verse 18 and 19 of chapter 20 the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified He tells his disciples that they're going to go to Jerusalem. He tells them why they're going to go, and it's not at all a pretty picture that Jesus paints. But congregation, the disciples don't get it. They've been caught up, you see, in some of the excitement surrounding this rabbi, Jesus, who happens to be their master. He is, after all, the most popular rabbi of the day, maybe even the most popular one ever, and now he's on his way to Jerusalem, he's on his way to the capital city of God's nation, and so the disciples and so many others with them are thinking, does this mean Does this mean, and they're hoping this too, that perhaps and their eyes start to sparkle as they think about it, think about all the prestige and all the glory, maybe the disciples are thinking that too. What does this mean? Does this mean we're going to have a new king ruling over us now? Chapter 20 verse 20 and following reveals clearly how the disciples are thinking as well. their sinful limited understanding they were serving a a type one Jesus the one to give a good and comfortable and even a perhaps a prestigious life and so Jesus counts as the requests for places of honor in his kingdom with a question verse 22 of the previous chapter you do not know what you're asking, are you able, asks Jesus, are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? And congregation, you see the answer there in verse 22, they don't hesitate, not even for a second, we are able, they say, we are able. then Jesus goes on to explain what real kingdom citizenship is all about. Real kingdom citizenship is not all about comfort or ease or prestige. No, real kingdom citizenship is about service. Verse 26 through 28 of chapter 20, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be your slave even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And then, right away, Jesus goes on, verse 29 and following of chapter 20, Jesus goes right on to demonstrate the true nature of his kingdom. How does he demonstrate that? By healing the two blind men. That's verse 29 and following. That happened as Jesus went out of Jericho, we read, on his way to Jerusalem. And now in our text, chapter 21, Jesus and his disciples are approaching the city that's Jerusalem. And just before arriving at Jerusalem, one encounters the Mount of Olives on which, or on the approach to which, was the little town of Bethpage. they're approaching this little village Jesus gives his instruction, verse 2 and 3 of our text, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her, untie them and bring them to me. Verse 3, if anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. It's important to note here, congregation, the events that lead up to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. We need to note particularly that these events are not just things that happen to happen to Jesus. No, it's not as if Jesus was just caught up in the excitement. It wasn't in the first place a spontaneous show of enthusiasm for him that just happened to happen. We notice congregation, and we have to notice this carefully, Jesus here, verse 2 and 3, we just read it, Jesus is directing things, Jesus is giving the instructions. He's exercising, here too in our text, he's exercising his sovereign kingship over all, he's setting this whole thing up. The disciples, we read it at verse 6 through 8 of our text, went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. All of this happens, we're told by Matthew, verse four and five of our text, was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. There's a lot going on here, congregation, and we've got to pause and take careful notes. And Jesus has set the stage He's deliberately and purposefully coming into Jerusalem, the city of God's choice, the city of the temple of God. He's deliberately coming into the city, the capital city of God's chosen people. He's deliberately, he's purposefully coming into that city at this moment on the back of a colt. he does so, not just so that the Old Testament prophecy about this event could be fulfilled, yes the Old Testament prophecy from Zechariah 9 is indeed being fulfilled here, but that prophecy back then about how Jesus would enter into Jerusalem on this final Sunday before Good Friday, was a prophecy we are to understand about what sort of King this Jesus of Nazareth is. For sure, it's true, the crowds, they're all hyper-excited. When we piece the record of the four different gospel accounts together, we can actually piece it together this way. There's actually two crowds of people that converged on Jesus as he was on his way into Jerusalem. There was one crowd that came out of Jerusalem. They were pilgrims who had arrived at the city previously. They'd heard about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, John chapter 11, and now that they'd heard that it was this Jesus who had just raised Lazarus, when they'd heard that it was this Jesus who was coming to Jerusalem, they head out of the city to meet this Jesus. They come pouring out of the eastern gate of Jerusalem to meet him. We know this from John 12. And then there was a crowd that came from Bethany and Bethpage and were accompanying Jesus and his disciples as they made their way down the Mount of Olives and up into Jerusalem. The crowd that came out of Jerusalem was then probably ahead of Jesus. The crowd that came with him from Bethany and Bethpage was coming behind Jesus. Verse 9 of our text suggests that. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him. You can sense the excitement here. It's at fever pitch. And at face value, the source of the excitement is clear as well. The people are thinking that finally they have in Jesus the King, the earthly King, that they had been so longing for. Oh yes, they knew the Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah. They knew that they, as God's covenant people, were anticipating a Messiah King. And if this is He, if this Jesus is the one, then of course there's reason for excitement. This, this is huge. But corrugation, What they didn't understand is what type of king Jesus would be. And we saw already that the disciples even didn't fully grasp that. They didn't understand it either. The people walking in front of and behind Jesus as he rode on that colt into Jerusalem What did they want? They wanted a Type 1 Jesus. They wanted a Jesus for this life. They wanted a Jesus who would establish an earthly reign that would in turn liberate them from the rule of the Romans. They wanted a type one Jesus, a Jesus who would use his power and his influence to make this life a life of ease and pleasure and perhaps a bit of prestige. Think of the two disciples again wanting to sit, one on Jesus' right and one on Jesus' left. Something, congregation, something's drastically wrong with the picture that's before us. An exuberant and excited and boisterous crowd shouting themselves hoarse, surrounding a king who's riding on a colt. The fall of a beast of burden. That doesn't make any sense, because a type 1 Jesus, a type 1 king, who's arriving in the capital to establish an earthly kingdom, and who's going to mobilize an earthly army to overthrow an earthly occupying force, such a king should be riding on a horse! a stallion of splendor, and what's more, he should be surrounded by his captains and his most elite guards, not a band of 12 fishermen and axe tax collectors. But here comes Jesus, verse 5, humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. Jesus is very deliberately congregation linking himself and his entry into Jerusalem to the prophecy of Zechariah and he does so congregation so as to reach out to his covenant people even in that moment of excitement and show them that they don't want and neither do they need a type one Jesus who will give them a wonderful earthly life Because listen, my people, says God to us this morning, to behold, your king is coming to you, verse five of our text, quoting Zechariah 9, verse nine, and take note, congregation, take very careful note of how he's coming into Jerusalem. He's coming on a colt. On a colt. On a colt, I'm coming to you as your king. The king you really need, see, isn't the king that comes proudly in riding on a mighty war horse. The king you really need isn't one who's going to bring about some sort of temporary ease to your life. That's what the disciples and the crowds were hoping and thinking. Bring it on, Jesus, they were thinking. Let's throw out these Romans and restore Israel to her glory. And for us, congregation, for us, the type of Jesus you want and need isn't one who can promise you a comfortable house and an early retirement. The type of Jesus you want and need isn't one who's going to go toe-to-toe with our Prime Minister and undo all the damage of the last couple of decades, or put on the brakes of all the damaging and dangerous legislation that's been passed over the last number of years. No corrugation, no. You and I, we need a Jesus who's humble and whose mount is a cult, a symbol of peace. You need a Jesus who can do something about a much deeper problem than a house that needs repair or a broken bone that needs to be reset or a down payment that you just can't seem to get together. Congregation, it's that that's hanging in the balance here in our text. By coming into Jerusalem in this way, Jesus is pointing his people to what his kingship is really about. He's portraying himself clearly as the Messiah King that Zechariah prophesied so gloriously about. But it appears, sadly, that his true identity remains hidden from his people. Even his disciples aren't getting it. Why? Because they're all buried under this desire for a king who's gonna make their here and now life better and more comfortable. And so, congregation, we have to pause and ask. Is Jesus' true kingship hidden from you? Is Jesus' true kingship hidden under your desire for a Jesus who will just help you fill in all the potholes of your life? Is the real kingship of Jesus hidden under your desire for a Jesus who will lay out the red carpet for you. You understand congregation, it's an urgent question. Which Jesus do you serve? The one who you hope will make life comfortable, pleasurable, Or the Jesus of our text who came on a colt to solve your much deeper problem and then tell you to take up your cross and follow him. We come to our second point. What a day this was for the crowds in front of, behind, surrounding Jesus as he enters into Jerusalem. And maybe congregation you can picture the scene in your eyes, you can sense the excitement here, you can feel the crush of the people all moving in unison towards that common goal of crowning this prophet Jesus as King in Jerusalem, the capital city of the downtrodden but still proud nation of Israel. And listen to what they're shouting, verse nine of our text. Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The people pick up the word Hosanna from the Hebrew of Psalm 118, verse 25. It means save now or save we pray. It's a shout of praise and a confident prayer. Hosanna to the son of David. The people referred to this Jesus riding on the colt as the son of David. The two blind men in chapter 20 verse 30 had used that title for Jesus as well. It's a title that we know is filled with messianic hope for the entire nation. Psalm 118, which is quoted here, is very definitely a messianic psalm. We'll sing more of its stanzas in a moment after the sermon. You see congregation, the crowds know what they're shouting, and oh how it filled them with a sense of excitement, their hearts are thumping in their chests, they giddy with anticipation, and then they add Hosanna in the highest. That's a line picked up from Psalm 148 verse 1. Oh yes, to be sure, Congregation, the crowds are right, they're correct in what they're shouting. And the disciples are in there too, shouting the same thing. This is indeed the Son of David. Indeed, Congregation, shout Hosanna! And yes, He is, He has come in the name of the Lord. They had that right too. He is the Messiah. He really is the Messiah of Psalm 118. It's all true, congregation. It's all gloriously, gloriously true. But again, there's something drastically wrong with the picture. They shout. They're excited. What they said and shouted was so beautifully true, but yet they had it so tragically wrong. You see, they had earthenized the Messiah. They brought him down to earth's domain. They'd earthenized the Messiah that had been promised. They'd taken this glorious prophecy about the coming Son of David and they had remoulded, they had reshaped him into a Messiah that would bring about an earthly peace, a peace by bringing about that freedom from the Romans as he sat there on an earthly throne. They reshaped the Messiah They turned him into a type one Jesus who would bring about a limited earthly peace, some return of glory to their proud nation. Where most of God's people back then failed was congregation. That they forgot to keep connected what Jesus had connected for them. We read it from the previous chapter, verse 17 again. He was going to Jerusalem not to be crowned as a king. Verse 17, he was on his way to Jerusalem to die there. Verse 18, to be crucified there. He went there to Jerusalem in order to gain an infinitely more powerful kingship. One that defeats an enemy infinitely more sinister than the Roman occupiers, to gain a glory corrugation infinitely more glorious than a golden throne in an earthly palace. What the crowds, what the disciples failed to understand is, that if they managed to make Jesus the earthly king that they wanted in that moment, they would have robbed the world of a savior. You see, they failed to connect Psalm 118, which they were shouting at the top of their lungs, with prophecies like Isaiah 53, a Messiah who would have to suffer and die to pay for the sins of his people. They wanted the Messiah from Zachariah's prophecy but they failed to recall that part of the prophecy that said that he was coming to cleanse them, that's his people, from sin and uncleanness. Chapter 13 verse 1. They wanted a Messiah. Oh yeah, they wanted a Messiah. But they did not want a messiah who had to endure Good Friday's suffering and be buried. Who wants that sort of king, a dead and buried one? See, they wanted a type 1 Jesus who could solve the earthly problems, like the occupying Roman army. To them, that was the biggest problem by far. That was their most pressing need. But oh congregation, oh how short-sighted they were. How tragically sad their own blindness, their own short-sightedness made them unable to see their biggest need. made them unable to perceive their most urgent and their most pressing problem, they couldn't see their need for a saviour. They failed to recognise their own sin. And as long as one fails to truly recognise that, And acknowledge that as one's biggest and most urgent problem. If you fail to recognize your sin, then you don't need a Messiah. Then you'll just stick with a Jesus who you hope can patch over the rough spots in your life. Who can mend perhaps some of the tears in the fabric of your life. So we pause once more as we look forward to Good Friday, as we look forward to Easter. Which type of Jesus do you think you need? What sort of king do you need ruling in your life? Do you need a Jesus who will just make this life the best it can be? No corrugation, no. You and I, we know the answer. That's not the sort of Messiah King we need. There's a much, much deeper issue, a much more pressing matter that needs resolution. And it's only the true Messiah King who can heal that brokenness. The lead up to Good Friday and Easter is always then a good time for us to pause and examine our hearts. Am I serving the right Jesus? Again, we'll agree that's an important question. We come to our third point. Jesus is riding on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden as he enters into Jerusalem. He's surrounded on all sides by an excited exuberant shouting mass of people. Out of their mouths come the loud and clear, verse nine, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And here he is, congregation, here he is, he's now in Jerusalem, and says, verse 10 of our text, and when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, who is this? The whole city was stirred up, The Greek word here for stirred up is related to our English word seismic. It's a word in Greek which denotes the shaking of the earth, like the earthquake. It's the same word that's used in that context when Jesus was on the cross, Matthew 27 verse 51. So there's no question, given the choice of words that Matthew picks here, there's no question the city of Jerusalem is stirred up, it's shaking as it were with excitement, with the intensity of the moment. The whole city is alive with this talk of this Messiah King who's just arrived on a colt with the crowds around him shouting and praising God. And the question everyone is asking is, verse 11, who is this? this man who's on this cult, who is he? See that's the question of the hour there in Jerusalem. Who is he? Who is this? And Jesus leaves no doubt as to the correct answer to that question. In the verses after our text, we read that, that's why we read the verse 17. Jesus leaves no doubt as to the correct answer to the question. He enters into the temple, which he calls my house, and overturns, verse 12, the tables of the money changers, the seat of those who sold those pigeons. He left no doubt, congregation, as to the correct answer to the question, who is this? He left no doubt at all, how? By healing the blind and the lame that came to him in the temple, verse 14. And when the chief priests And the scribes who refused to face the question that everyone else was asking, when they became indignant in verse 15, we read that too, he told them clearly who he was by quoting from Psalm 8, and he says this in verse 16 of our reading, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise. Jesus is saying to them, this is who I am. This is who I am. I am the one. I am the one who is worthy of all praise. I am the true Messiah King. But despite all this, despite the stir that Jesus' entry into Jerusalem causes among God's covenant people, they still did not arrive at the right answer to their own question in verse 10, who is this? All they could do is come up with this answer, it's in verse 11 of our text, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. And it's true enough. Jesus was indeed a prophet. He even called himself a prophet. It's all true what they said. It's also true that he came from Nazareth and that's how he was known from Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth. None of that was particularly new to the residents of Jerusalem. But congregation, that's as far as they could go. Or that's as far as they would go. Because as true as their answer is to their own question, it was so flat an answer. Their Jesus you see was the type one Jesus, the miracle worker Jesus. Their Jesus was the Jesus who could smooth out the rough edges of their life. As John notes about those who went out of Jerusalem to meet Jesus as he was approaching the city, they only went out, John writes this, to him because of the sign he'd done in raising Lazarus from the dead. John 12 verse 18. See, congregation, that's what they were after. They were after a miracle worker, Jesus. And so the residents of Jerusalem, in their blindness, remained unable to identify who Jesus really is. They wanted one type of Messiah King, but what they so desperately needed was the Messiah King. They wanted one type of Jesus, but they needed the real Jesus. and they couldn't see the real Jesus because they saw their problems as merely earthly problems. And if, congregation, you see your biggest problems as bad health, or low income, or singleness, or inability to do what you wanna do, or whatever other earthly problem you encounter, then the Jesus you'll serve is the one who you hope will do something about those earthly problems. What most of the residents of Jerusalem didn't do on this Sunday before Good Friday, Palm Sunday, what they failed to do was see their biggest problem for what it was, their spiritual state before God. You see, brothers and sisters, if you understand in faith that that is our biggest problem, if you and I understand in faith that our biggest problem is rebellion against God. Then, then you'll turn to Jesus and find in him the true Messiah King. who went the way of suffering, Good Friday, in order to be taken up into glory, the resurrection and the ascension, then you'll see the Jesus who is the Jesus of Scripture and that Jesus will be your Savior. So corrugation for the last time. Which Jesus will you serve? And the answer you give to that question will be determined by whether you and I in faith acknowledge what our biggest problem is. This Good Friday and Easter, will you again in faith acknowledge that you need the Jesus who can pay for your sins? And then, yes, we repent from our sins. And then you can know that, yes, your King came to you humble and mounted on a donkey. And having done that for you, he then promises you this, that as you take up your cross in this life, yes, with its suffering, with its pain, with its potholes along the way, then you have this promise, He will sustain you day by day as through this life of suffering He brings you into the glory that He already has. Revelation 7, let me finish with these words. Revelation 7, 9 through 10. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every tribe, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and then listen congregation with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb that's the Lamb congregation that's the Lamb that we will serve Amen Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for sending Jesus Christ to this earth to be the Messiah King that the Old Testament scriptures foretold so clearly. Father, we have to confess that it's easy for us too.