If you would remain standing and turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. Luke 19. I'll begin at verse 28 through the end of the chapter. And then following the reading of scripture, we'll sing the Gloria Patri printed for you in your bulletin. So Luke chapter 19, verse 28 and following here, now God's word. After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. And as he approached to Bethpage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of his disciples, saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it, tell him, the Lord needs it. Those who were sent ahead went and found it, just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, why are you untying the colt? And they replied, the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it. And 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 in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in the highest and glory, 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 replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side, and they will dash you to the ground, you and the children, within your walls. and they will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. It is written, he said to them, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. Every day he was teaching at the temple, but the chief priests and the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him, yet they could not find any way to do it because all the people hung on his words. And God will add his blessing to this reading of his word. Let us look to the Lord in one more moment of prayer, let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you and come to your word today and thank you for it, and ask, O Father, that you might instruct us and teach us, that the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts and draw us closer to Jesus. Pray, O Lord, that you'll enable me to proclaim your word faithfully and fully, and that you, O Lord, would be glorified above all else. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. As we come to this event in Jesus' life that we refer to as the triumphal entry, there are two different characteristics of our Savior that I want to draw to your attention as we work our way through this text. The first is the sovereignty of the Savior. It's very important to see that as this story unfolds. And the second thing that we'll see is the sadness of the Savior. And that's another very important thing. to think about. But we see Jesus' sovereignty in the very beginning in that section we read that Jesus orchestrated all the events that took place on that day. It was He that directed them to the cult. It was He that told His disciples to do that. He orchestrated the entire event to accomplish His perfect will. And it was He that allowed the crowds to give their celebration and to direct his path down the mountainside. Now, there have been those who have said, well, the person who owned the cult probably was a follower of Jesus, and that may be possible, that that's why that they were so readily willing to give the cult to him. But nevertheless, Jesus' sovereign purpose was being accomplished And he directed and changed that person's heart to say those things. He's orchestrating the ride into Jerusalem, not just being a part of his will, but to reveal himself. You know that during his life, many times he tells people that are healed not to say who he is. But on this day, Jesus is unveiling himself to all the world to see who he was. There's a Dutch pastor from about a century ago, his name is S.G. de Graaf, and he's written a wonderful set of volumes, four volumes, called Promise and Deliverance. And he's reflecting on what Jesus is doing on this day, and I'd like to read you a couple paragraphs of his. He says, Jesus knew that this was his last journey to Jerusalem, and that now he was entering the city in order to suffer there. Before that happened, he wanted to reveal to Israel who he was. Although the crowds and even his disciples had a mistaken notion of it, He was still Israel's king. The people now had to see him claim that honor for himself, even though the way to his throne would be an entirely different one than they imagined. Here was the fulfillment of all the promises in the history of the Old Testament. Now the true king was coming. Many in the crowds did not truly know him. Their shouts of joy were only excitement at his mighty works, not a recognition in faith of the Redeemer. Yet he permitted all this jubilation. For him it was the prophecy of all the jubilation that would surround him at his ascension. Then down through the ages would come to dwell in the hearts of his own people by his spirit. And then when he would return in glory. Jesus' sovereignty dominated this event. He planned it out, he orchestrated it all to accomplish what he set about to do. Unbelieving writer Albert Schweitzer, in his book, The Quest for the Historical Jesus, made the comment that Jesus was more or less a hapless victim, and that the wheel of history was grinding him down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus Christ sovereignly was turning that wheel. And if it was gonna grind him, it was all part of his will and plan. The second element that we see that reveals his sovereignty is the way he deals with the temple in the latter part of what we read today. Jesus goes into the temple and he sends out all the money changers and he cleanses the temple. And Mark and Matthew put that event as the next day, but I think Luke is putting it here for us so that we understand the character of Christ in his sovereignty and in his power. He wasn't a victim on that day, he was the Lord of glory who was revealing himself and exercising his sovereign will. And so we have this revelation of the glory of Jesus as the sovereign one. But then in the middle of the story, when all the celebration is going on and everybody seems to be having a great time on this parade on into Jerusalem, what do we see Jesus doing? It's something that's surprising and incongruent with what's going on that day. He begins to weep. As he's coming down the hill of the Mount of Olives, he sees Jerusalem and he begins to weep. We are told in the Bible there are three times that Jesus weeps. Sometimes he's disturbed within him, but there's three times when he cries. The first is at Lazarus' tomb. He already knows he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but as he gets to the tomb and he sees Mary, one of Lazarus' sisters weeping and those with him, some of them perhaps paid mourners, but nevertheless those greeting the death of Lazarus, John writes and tells us that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And then gives us that shortest verse in all of the Bible, John 11.35, Jesus wept. It is the smallest Verse in the Bible and yet contains in a sense as profound a thought as anywhere. Reveals to us Christ. Charles Spurgeon said of that verse, it contains a world of healing balm condensed into a drop. Jesus by his action sanctified our grief. Death is an enemy. It's a defeated enemy at this point because of the work of Christ, but nevertheless it's an enemy. One day it will be put away. It'll be gone forever. But it's an enemy and it brings sorrow and it brings grief into our lives. And Jesus demonstrated by his own grief, he sanctifies our grief. We can grieve and we do grieve the loss of loved ones, family or friends. And we do that without unbelief. We do it because it's a sorrow, it's a true sorrow for us and Jesus receives that. as part of his life. The second occasion chronologically is what we're going to look at today, but the third occasion that's mentioned in Hebrews 5, we're told that during the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Even though the text is translated loud cries, it means strong cries. In other words, it's not communicating a volume, it's communicating an intensity. And most likely what that's referring to is his crying, his praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. As in his agony anticipating his death on the cross, he calls out to the Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. And he was filled with agony. And so Jesus, on these occasions, cries. It's part of his life. But if we come back to verse 41 of Luke 19, where we read here, as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. This is a very strong word for weeping that's used here. This isn't where we kind of cry and our tears flow, but we're under some measure of control. This is the word for wailing. One Greek dictionary describes it for us this way. Our Lord is never said to have wept aloud as if wailing, except when he stood over unrepentant Jerusalem in Luke 19.41. Before the dead Lazarus, he simply cried. But before unrepentant Jerusalem, he shows deep, loud grief and weeping. And he wept over Jerusalem. And he wailed, really, at the tragedy that's going to befall them. And it's surprising that he does this. Why is it that he would cry? There are so many things that day that were things to enjoy and to celebrate, the celebration of the crowd, the worship of the children who he delighted in, his disciples there walking with him, the sight of the temple. The temple would have been a marvelous sight. It was overlaid with gold so that pilgrims, a long way off, when they came over the mountaintop, they could see it, and there it was in grand display. But he weeps. Why does he weep? Well, I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna suggest to you four reasons why he weeps. There may be more that we can think of, but there are four. The first is that all of these people in celebration that day were profaning the promises of God. They were taking parts of the Bible that they wanted and ignoring the rest. They sing part of Psalm 118. Hosanna, God save. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's in Psalm 118, 25, and 26. It's appropriate that they were singing that. It's a psalm that was often regularly sung during Passover period of time. So it's not a surprise that they were singing that psalm, but what is it that they left out? A few verses earlier, before that celebration, they're singing, it tells us, the cry, open for me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter in and give thanks to the Lord. And then it goes on to say, who's gonna open that gates of righteousness? The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The Lord has done this, and it's marvelous in our eyes. The stone the builders rejected is Christ. And there they're singing, Lord save, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, but they had wanted nothing to do with the stone that would suffer. The stone that would be rejected by them. Here we have the Pharisees in this very parade saying, Jesus, you need to tell your disciples to be quiet. Jesus says, if I tell them to be quiet, the stones will cry out. But they didn't want anything to do with that verse. Those verses, they just wanted the celebration verses. And they were profaning the promises. In Matthew's account, remember we saw and noted the fact of the fulfillment of Zechariah chapter nine, the wonderful passage reminding them, rejoice, O daughter of Zion, shout, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you. The king is coming, and later on in that passage, it's gonna talk about that his kingdom, his rule will extend from sea to sea, from river to the ends of the earth. You see, the Israelites, they wanted the sovereign savior to come and get rid of these pesky Romans. They wanted him to push them out of the land so they could have their land all to themselves again. Get rid of those Romans. That's what they wanted. That's what they were celebrating. That's what they were looking for. But Zechariah goes on to say, but he's going to come to you gentle, actually lowly, and riding on a donkey. No, I don't want the lowly one. I want the one that's gonna come on the white stallion. Many rulers, many generals, when they were coming into cities to celebrate their victory, that's how they would ride in, on a white stallion. And we'll see that of Jesus in the book of Revelation. But here, he comes as a suffering servant. He comes lowly, riding on a donkey. And Zachariah will go on to talk about, he says, it's because of the blood of the covenant. It's this one who's going to come lowly who's going to offer himself as the blood of the covenant. He's going to suffer. But they didn't want any part of that. I just want the big things, the victory. I want the conquering. That's what I want. He comes as a suffering Savior, and they didn't want any part of that. And so while they're celebrating, they're profaning the promises because they're picking a few things they like, but they're ignoring the rest. The second reason why he wept is in verse 42, if you, even you, had known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. They can't see it. Jerusalem means the city of peace. And God had promised peace for them, but they had committed adultery with foreign gods. And they turned away from the Lord. And so they didn't have peace. They had the burden of sin. They had the bondage now to this foreign army. They were happy to have David, the son of David, the Savior King come, the Messiah King come, but he was coming as the Prince of Peace, and the purchase of the peace was gonna be with his own blood. And they couldn't see it. Jesus weeps, saying, if you only knew what would bring you peace, But now it's hidden from your eyes. They don't see it. They're not paying attention. They're not listening to the Word of God. They're not listening to what Jesus has had to say. A third reason for his weeping was that judgment was going to come and fall on them. In verse 43, the days will come. when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side, and they will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls, and they will not leave one stone. on another because of their unbelief and their ungodliness, the curses of the covenant were going to be poured out on them. And in the generation of people that are standing there hearing this, they are going to see the judgment of God come upon Jerusalem as it did in 70 A.D. And Jesus weeps because these are his people, these are the people of Israel, and they're going to be suffering to such an extent. The children who are singing praises to him on that day will in one day, years from now, they're going to be dashed against the rocks. Instead of peace, judgment's coming. Instead of blessing, their unbelief is judged. And they'll experience the wrath of God in pouring out the curses of the covenant in themselves because they didn't believe in the one who bore those curses for them to believe on Christ. And so Jesus says, if you only knew, if you only understood, And the fourth reason he wept is because they didn't recognize the time of God's coming. The last part of verse 44, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. God's peace was there, but they didn't see it. Judgment is on the horizon, but they don't believe it. And God is coming to them. Ever since the fall of man, God has been coming over and over and over again to his people, sometimes in large dramatic ways, oftentimes in the small ways. But God is coming to try to address his people, to get them to pay attention, to get them to see, and they miss it. God is there and they don't see him. They don't recognize the time of God's coming to them, even though there was evidence in Jesus' own miracles, in the testimony of John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They had the evidence in front of them and they refused to see it. And so Jesus weeps and wails at what's gonna happen to them because they didn't recognize the time of God's coming to them. God comes to you every week in the preaching of the word. God comes to you when you read his word and meditate on it prayerfully. God comes to you sometimes in the circumstances of your life to make you pause and reflect on what God is doing in your life and rest in Him in the midst of whatever it is that's going on. But we don't see it. So the question for you, as it was for them, is do you recognize the time of God's coming to you? Not dramatic things, very simple things. that God comes to speak to you and address you and bring you his truth. And so as Jesus enters this Jerusalem this time, he weeps. Just to anticipate, thankfully, when Jesus comes again, for all his people that are waiting for him, there won't be any tears on that return. It will be the joy of his people and the joy of the Savior together. So do you and I appreciate and see the grace and the grief in Jesus' life at this time? On another occasion, Jesus makes his appeal. He's not weeping at this time, but he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not. The amazing love of our Savior that even when they're killing his messengers, he says, I still want to gather you together under my wings to come in repentance, to mourn for our sins. You and I need to weep and to mourn for our sin. and know that he will receive us. Blessed are those who mourn, Jesus said, for they will be comforted. And when we come to Jesus, mourning for our sin, trusting in him and his work, he receives us. And one author has said, a weeping sinner does not need to fear a weeping savior, because he will welcome you into his presence. He will welcome you by his grace. So in all this celebration and activity, let us remember the truth of God's word, all of it. This is not just the parts we like, but all of it. Let us remember Jesus is the Prince of Peace, who paid for our peace by his blood. Let us remember the warning of judgment, Jesus endured that so we wouldn't have to. Take that seriously and don't miss the time of God's coming to you. Let Him gather you together under His wing and experience His peace. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we rejoice in your glorious name for the wonder of your love. Thank you for sending your son. Thank you that he embarks on a week of tremendous suffering so that we might have your peace, that we might have your forgiveness and have your love poured out into our lives. May we see and understand the time of your coming to us. and experience that grace and that love through our Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's in His name we pray, amen.