And when he had thus spoken, he went before ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount called the Mount of Olives. He sent two of his disciples, saying, go ye into the village over against you, in the which at your entering ye shall find a cold tide, whereon yet never man sat. Loose him and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do ye loose him? Thus shall ye say unto him, because the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, why loose ye the colt? And they said, the Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus, And they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus their own. I suppose there'd be a lot of people today in Western Christianity who wouldn't maybe be like those two disciples that maybe say, well, Lord, you not realize how much money I spent on that suit? It's not going on that colt. Or Lord, you not know how much that dress cost? I'm not giving it for you to ride upon the colt and to sit on my good clothes that cost so much. But that wasn't the case with these two disciples. They put their garments upon the colt, cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus their own. Fashion wasn't their God. Fashion is the God of a lot of people today. And a lot of people just, it's all about the clothes. And sadly, they forget about the most important clothing of all, the garment of salvation. Because that's really all that matters at the end of the day. Now we'll read on, please. It's verse 36, and as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even nigh at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen. saying, blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. 100 years ago, the Balfour Declaration was signed. It was sent from the office of the Foreign Secretary in London to William Rothschild, the leader of the British Jewish community. And the Balfour Declaration was, of course, giving the Jews a homeland again. And so off goes this letter from the foreign secretary to Mr. Rothschild. And just about a month later came the Battle of Jerusalem. The British soldiers, the British forces, were fighting the Arabs, the Turks, the Ottoman Empire, we would say. And they won the battle and liberated Jerusalem. and Jerusalem was given back to God's ancient people. General Allenby, Edmund Allenby, led His Majesty's forces into the city of Jerusalem. The general rode up to the holy city on horseback, but before he entered into the city, He stopped his horse and he dismounted and he walked into the city bareheaded. He took off his military helmet, his military hat, and he walked into the city with no military headgear and walking beside his horse. Do you know why he entered into the city of Jerusalem? walking and bareheaded because he said he was not worthy to walk into the same city that the Lord Jesus Christ had rode into on the donkey. He was not worthy to ride into the city of Jerusalem like his savior. Unworthy. Friend, let me ask you, how did you come into the church today? Did you come in feeling unworthy? If the answer to that question is yes, good. I'm glad to hear it. Because you're the kind of person that the Lord can bless. But if we came into, if we entered into the house of God today and through those doors, with our head up and our chest out, thinking that we're worthy to enter into the Lord's presence, then I'm afraid we're only like the publican in the temple, and the Lord will pay absolutely no attention to us, and there'll be no blessing for us. Oh, let's be like General Allenby on this, the 100th anniversary, of the Balfour Declaration on the 100th anniversary of the generals entering into the city of Jerusalem. Let's be humble. Modesty. The Bible says be clothed with humility. No one was ever as humble as the Lord Jesus. And my today on this Palm Sunday, we want to think not so much about Edmund Allenby, but we want to rewind a way back nearly 2,000 years. And we want to think today about the greatest dignitary of all, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. And we want to think about how he entered into the Holy City. I mean, how humble can you get riding into Jerusalem on a little donkey? That's humility. Now, as I look at what we have read today in the scriptures, there are three things that I see. The cult, the crowd, and the critics. All three are there in this passage, Luke chapter 19. Let's think about the cult, first of all. Go ye into the village over against you, in the which at your entering ye shall find a cold tide. This is verse 30. Wherein yet never man sat, loose him and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do you loose him? Thus shall ye say unto him, because the Lord hath need of him. The colt. You know, as we go through scripture, we find that there are some very interesting statements made about colts and donkeys. If you go back to Exodus chapter 13, there's something very important that's mentioned there about the colt. Exodus 13 and verse 13. And every firstling often asks, or to use the New Testament term, the colt, thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck, and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. Now, the colt had to be redeemed, and if it wasn't redeemed, then judgment would fall. Its neck was to be broken. In that verse, Exodus 13, verse 13, you have a very, very clear picture of the choice that is set before every one of us today. We can either be redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus or else judgment will fall. We must be punished. We can either be pardoned in Christ or punished in hell. It's as clear as that. Tell me, which is it for us today? What's your choice going to be? Do you want to be redeemed? Like the little ass, the colt, the donkey? Or are you going to be punished? Are you going to say no to Jesus? We will not have this man to reign over us. You can keep your Jesus. I'm my own boss. Nobody's going to tell me what to do. Well, the choice is yours, but there are consequences. The consequences of refusing redemption through the blood of the lamb is punishment and the wrath of almighty God. Ah, the little colt had to be redeemed, now it was with the lamb. Mark that, Exodus 13 tells us, redeemed with the lamb. That's the way it is for every one of us if we want to be in heaven. If we want to be forgiven, it must be through the lamb, all right? Tell me this, are you trusting in the lamb today? Are you redeemed by the lamb? Now, not only did the cult need to be redeemed, but then the cult had to be released. Because if you go back to Luke chapter 19, notice what Jesus says. Loose him and bring him hither. That's verse 30. The end of verse 30. Loose him and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do you loose him? Thus shall you say unto him, because the Lord hath need Him released the little animal was released You see and the little the little donkey was wasn't really was never made to be tied up God never created this little creature to be to be tethered to a post and You see, God cares for his creatures, and God was in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, you see. His son, who is the image of the invisible God, was walking into Jerusalem, and indeed riding into Jerusalem, and he needed this little animal, and he set it free, he released it. Can you not see the care that God has for his creatures? And so I can just imagine that wee cult as it's released, I can just imagine it skips off and maybe the two disciples, they have to take to their heels and run after it to grasp hold of it and sort of rein it in. It's so happy to be released. Do you know the Lord Jesus came into the world to release the captives. The Lord Jesus came to release people from the dominion of sin. And tonight, God willing, we're going to speak about power in the blood. Power in the blood. Don't miss the evening service. Because there's freedom through the blood of the Lamb. And you see, it's not the Lord's will that any one of his creatures, any person should be in bondage. But you know, there are a whole lot of people in new buildings today and they're in complete bondage. It might be to alcohol. Well, last night out the back of the house, there were cajoling and roaring and shouting away. bondage to the bottle. They only think that they're living, they only think that they're having a good time. But you know, sometimes I say to people, they say, well, I want my alcohol, I want booze, I don't want the gospel. Well, I say to them, drink all you can now because there'll not be a drop of it in hell. Not one drop. Because the rich man said, he said to Abraham, prayed to the wrong person by the way, but he prayed to Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water for I am tormented in this flame. I want him to cool my tongue. But the rich man's prayer went unanswered because he didn't even get a drop of water. And there's not a drop of water in hell, nevermind a drop of alcohol. Oh, the amount of people that are in bondage to the booze. And of course, the reason why the government won't clamp down on it is because they're making too much money out of it. Too many taxes that come into the coffers. So they don't want to, just to do anything that would decrease their income that way. People in bondage to alcohol. People are in bondage to drugs. Do you ever wonder why people hear voices in their heads telling them to do the most outlandish things? I mean, they're people, they're young people today and the enemy is working overtime to ruin their bodies and their souls and to damn them in hell. And you see, They're young people and they're hearing voices in their heads. Telling them to go and take their own lives. It'll be better, just end it all. You'll be put out of your misery. Well, the devil's a liar. And it's going from, they're just jumping from the frying pan into the fire, you would say. Literally. If they don't know Christ, Why is it that they're hearing voices? Is it not because of the drugs, the psychedelic drugs that are just bending their minds? Well, I'm glad today that we have a message that the blood of the lamb can release them, set them free. Is it any wonder we're going to preach about the blood tonight? Preach about the blood every Sunday, or at least we should preach about it. Mention it every Sunday. Sing about the blood. There are people in bondage. They need to be released from drunkenness. I know people today, they've painted it up a wee bit. It's not called drunkenness now, it's called alcoholism. You can read from Genesis to Revelation, you'll not read of alcoholism. No, it's drunkenness, it's a sin. The people in bondage need to be released and Christ can release them. Christ can release them from drugs, drug addiction, pornography. It's so readily available, isn't it? I mean, if there's probably one dominant sin in our generation, I'd say that's what it is, pornography. Okay? So readily available on the phone, the tablet, the television, the internet. I mean, there's just a flood waiting to engulf you if you tap into it. And there's so many people today, and even Christians, yeah, they're saved. Their names are written in heaven, but they're in bondage to this besetting sin. They have dabbled in it, a moment of weakness, they dabbled in it, and then the tentacles of pornography wrap themselves around the person, the Christian, and they're in bondage. Well, the Lord can release them. That individual can't release themselves, but the lamb can release them. So whether folk are bound by alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, we could talk, I mean, about the Grand National yesterday. I enjoy the horse race and I enjoy watching it. I mean, I think it's amazing what God's creatures can do. jump on some of those fences around entry. But I don't like the gambling. Don't like those who gamble and waste their money and then the wee children in the home have to suffer. But there's so many in bondage to betting today and the bookmakers. Well, Christ can set them free. Just like this little cult was released on Palm Sunday all those years ago, you can be released today. Maybe you're struggling with some particular sin. I can't set you free. You can't set yourself free. But the King of Kings, His Majesty, the Lord Jesus can set you free. Because Jesus is stronger than Satan and sin, and Satan to Jesus must bow, therefore I triumph without and within, Jesus saves me now. For those who are struggling with besetting sins, may the Lord give us victory over them. May we all know the release that only Christ can bring. The colt was redeemed, released, it was ruled, ruled. You see, whenever the little animal was brought to the Lord Jesus, we read there in verse 35, and they brought him to Jesus and they cast their garments upon the colt and they set Jesus there on And the colt took off like a scalded cat. Is that what it says? No. He was in perfect control. The little donkey meekly obeyed him. Now, we don't have time to look at it today, but there's a verse in Job, and it says that the colt is a wild animal. Its native habitat is the wilderness, where it just runs wild. It's wild. But yet, how is it that here's a little animal that the Lord immediately tames? The moment he sits on it, it's tamed, completely tamed. He's ruling it. You know, whenever the Lord Jesus releases us and saves us by his grace, then he ought to be our ruler. We must be ruled by him. You all know Psalm 23, don't you? Oh, what is it? The Lord is my shepherd. But I wonder, can we say it the other way round? The shepherd is my Lord. Can you honestly say that? Can I honestly say that today? The shepherd is my Lord. He's number one. Nothing comes in front of him. Are we ruled by the shepherd king. Well, if not, I'm not gonna make you feel bad today and make you feel guilty. I'm not here to do that. But I'm here to say, let's pray that this week that he will be our ruler. That we will be ruled by this gracious king. this wonderful Lord, this tender shepherd who has done so much for us. May we be ruled by him this week. May others see Christ in us this week. May the waters of grace quench the flames of nature this week. And may we be like Jesus, do his bidding. Lord, What do you want me to do this week? Where do you want me to go this week, Lord? What wilt thou have me to do? Well, we need to move on. We thought about the cult. Don't know whether we'll get through it all, but we'll try. What about the crowd? You see, there's the crowd that day in Jerusalem. Verse 37, and when he was come now, even now, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Ah, doesn't it just sound so sweet? Everybody loves Jesus. Well, it only lasted a few days. Because as I said at the beginning, on Palm Sunday they were saying heal him, but on Good Friday they were saying nail him. Man is fickle. He's so changeable. The very best of Christians even are so changeable. And that's why we should not be surprised when people who are with us one minute are totally against us the next. I mean, we've just got to accept it as part and parcel of life down here. And we've got to accept that we're just the same as that other fickle person. We're all in the same boat, because I'm fickle, you're fickle. I mean, the whole planet today is fickle. The whole universe is fickle apart from one person. It's the Lord himself. He's not fickle. He doesn't change. He doesn't change with the weather. He's not moody. He's the one who changes not. Therefore, we're not consumed. Oh, the crowd was fickle. And this smiling crowd on Palm Sunday, they turned to a rabble, a mob on Good Friday. And on Palm Sunday, they were singing the praises of the incarnate God, but on Good Friday, they were baying for his blood. Oh, what a fickle creature man is. That certainly would take pride away from you, wouldn't it? But let me finish with the critics. Critics. Verse 39. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. Here's the critics. Brother or sister in the Lord, please don't be surprised if people criticize you. You've got this group of believers here on the Mount of Olives, and they're just praising the Lord, and it's true worship, and they're just loving it, and they just want to praise Him so much. But then you've got these old Pharisees. You know, these misery guts. I mean, they're as miserable as the day is long. Miserable as a wet weekend, you would say. And, you know, you get that in churches today, don't you? Oh, you get the sincere Christians who want to praise the Lord, and they want to go through with Him, and they want to just give Him back what they can, because He has given them so much. But then you've got the others who kind of snipe, and criticize, and, well, some faces are like thunder. This presents going over the top of it. This Bible studies, I mean, it's too much. This outreach, I mean, that's too much money to be spent on the outreach. I mean, hold on, that's too much money to give to the missionaries. Let's just give them a used teabag instead. You've heard about that, didn't you? Told you about that before. Somebody sent a used teabag to a missionary. I mean, I don't know what kind of mentality they had. You've always got the critics, those who hold back. What was it that the Pharisees wanted to do on Palm Sunday? I'll tell you. They wanted to silence the believers. Lord, tell these boys to keep quiet. Lord, they're not allowed to say that. Lord, they're not allowed to do that. I mean, Lord, do you not see them? Do you not see what they're saying? Do you not hear what they're saying? Lord, tell them to be silent. Do you ever find as you serve the Lord that sometimes people come and say, don't say that. You can't say that. In 2017, you're not allowed to say such a thing. I want to silence you. I want to put duct tape on your mouth. Well, I want to encourage you today. I just want to urge you today. Don't let anybody silence you. Speak out for the Lord. and especially when it comes to praise on the Lord's day. My, how we should praise him. It was old John Wesley said, I'll praise my maker while I've breath. You see, friends, there's coming a day when the breath will go. Not be able to praise him then. Now is the time to praise him. regardless of the critics.