Well, please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. We'll be in Luke chapter 19 today and we'll be taking a look at something that's very familiar to us. It comes this time of year, the Sunday before Easter. We like to celebrate what we call Palm Sunday. It's called that because of the tradition of the palms being laid down before Jesus. as he rode on this donkey into Jerusalem. And it's a fascinating piece of scripture because there's just so many things, so many details that are important and so many things happening that you feel as you read through the Gospels and hopefully you can read through them in short order. When you do it, just grab hold of one and try to read as many chapters as you can a day until you're through it, because what you'll experience is you will feel the tension growing through the gospel narratives, and you'll feel things getting more intense and coming to this climax. of this last week in which Jesus is crucified and then ultimately raised again from the dead. So we come to a very exciting time because Jesus is going to come and he's going to do something profound and he's going to do it on purpose. And he's going to do it for the purpose of making himself known and revealing himself and for several other reasons that we'll take a look at. So the first thing I want to mention is this important fact that Jesus was marching toward the crucifixion. He was marching toward the crucifixion and there was a time if you take a look in Luke chapter 9 verse 51 you'll see that it says when the days drew near for him to be taken up he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And that's a fascinating That's a fascinating verse for several reasons. First of all, it appears in Luke chapter 9, and Luke's not even halfway through the telling of his gospel account yet, and yet at this point, from here forward, is this trip to Jerusalem in the final week, and then his resurrection is what Luke accounts. So Luke spends more than half of his gospel focused in on this relatively short period of time near the end of Jesus' earthly ministry. But notice it says, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. In other words, this is a steadfast determination to work toward a goal. And this passage in Luke chapter 19, we will see, reveals to us just exactly how deliberate His march toward the cross was. So we're going to take a look initially here at verses 28 through 40, and here's what it says there in Luke 19, verses 28 through 40. It says, when he had said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it, you shall say this, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent away had found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, why are you untying the colt? And they said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down to Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, 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 him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father God, we entrust these scriptures into the Spirit that inspired them. Now may he apply these things to our heart and increase our faith to obey what we learn here, to properly respond, and to fully understand. We thank you for your continued ministry to the saints. In Jesus name. Amen. All right, so we have a profound passage here, an exciting passage, because it brings right up to the surface this conflict with the leadership of Israel. The first thing I want to take a look at is the colt himself. This begins with the colt. This is a young donkey. They use the same word for young donkey as they use for a young horse. It's a colt. And I want to make a few observations about it. First of all, it is a cult that no one had set upon. You'll notice there in verse 30, it says, on which no one has ever yet sat. In other words, it was not yet broken. Now, I know you guys used to have a donkey. Did anyone ever ride that? Some people did ride that donkey. How did it go the first time? Yeah, it didn't go well. And so this is amazing because it's something that was pointed out to me by a preacher I was listening to. Jesus, by doing this, is really showing his mastery over all creation. You recall that he calmed the storm. that he changed water into wine. I mean a fundamental reworking of what that material actually is. And here he is riding upon a beast that would have thrown any of us trying to get on. And this is something amazing and profound. And that had not been pointed out to me before, but that is amazing. And another fact that it had not been set upon before is the fact that this is something precious and dedicated. Do you remember the animals that were presented for sacrifice at the temple had to be without blemish. They had to be perfect. They can't have been like You know, oh yeah, well, you know, we had the rest of it for dinner, but here's what's left over for a sacrifice. No, you had to bring the thing living and breathing and dedicate its use to the sacrifice. And here we have this beast is dedicated to its first ride being none other than Jesus. Something else that's interesting about this cult is it was not unheard of for royalty to ride a donkey or a mule for that matter. You can go back to 1 Kings chapter 1 and you can find Solomon riding upon a mule. And then he is kind enough to let someone else ride upon his mule. And so this is something that was known and done. You didn't necessarily have to ride a horse. And as a matter of fact, sometimes a king would make a statement. by not riding a horse and riding a donkey or a mule otherwise. And it was a statement of, I'm coming in peace, because those animals were not like horses in that they would be suited for combat of any kind. You could get upon a horse and go into war, and a properly trained horse is going to be strong enough, fast enough. It's going to be conditioned enough and trainable enough to endure battle even. But not so much with a donkey. They were a little more unpredictable. And so this is something not unheard of. It is an image that he uses. And something else, and probably the most important point about this cult is this, that this whole thing Jesus had prearranged. And what it's doing is it's showing that Jesus was taking deliberate actions in what he was doing. He fulfilled many scriptures. There were many things that Jesus did that the prophets spoke that this coming one would do, but this is the one where we get a look behind the scenes where he actually has this set up. And he tells the disciples, go, you'll find this cult. I'm gonna write this cult into the city, just like it says in the scripture. And the fact is, what he does sets the tone for what happens with the crowd, and even what happens with the Pharisees. So if we turn to the crowd and we look at the crowd, there are several things we can understand from the crowd here. The crowd, first of all, they spread their cloaks on the road. And John 12.13 records that they used palm branches, branches of the palm trees. And this would make sense because people were gathering for a feast and things and camping out and making tabernacles out there on the Mount of Olives and stuff. So they were gathering these things anyway and cutting them off the nearby trees and using them. And so they lay these things on the road. And the placing of garments on the animal and on the road, and the spreading of branches before him, were all part of traditional Jewish receptions of royalty. And just think about what the imagery proposes to you. What it proposes is, you're too good to actually touch this animal. Here, sit upon my clothing. Let my clothing be on the animal, you be on that. And the same is true of the road. You're too good for even your animal to trot upon the dirt. Here, let me lay down my clothes for you. Let me lay down my branches for you that I'm using for other things. But nevertheless, they're for your use to trample upon. So this is all imagery surrounding the idea that he is royalty. And he has done this on purpose. And then it says that the whole multitude of disciples were rejoicing and praising God there in verse 37. And so that they're rejoicing and praising God for the mighty works that they had seen, well, this is normal for the praise of God himself. And so they're praising God for this one and the things that he has done. And this is something that we can take a look at, and we can put ourselves into this situation a little bit, and we can say, you know what, sometimes we lack the raised voice. Sometimes we lack the zeal. Sometimes we lack the rejoicing and praising that would move a person to humiliate themselves by raising their voice in public, no matter what their voice sounds like, and addressing it to God publicly. because we don't have a proper understanding of who it is we're worshiping. And sometimes we lack the zeal because we don't have a proper understanding of the salvation that he has granted us by grace. We sometimes think we have done this. But when we understand our hopeless estate without Christ, we worship. See, worship is not about how much we are moved by what's happening or that we are moved by the music that's being done. Worship is really about how much is heaven going to be moved by our worship. Now look what Jesus has done here in this scene. And consider this, that this day you play the role of the crowd. You have the rest of the story now. You have seen what Jesus has done in your own life. You have seen him take you out of darkness and into light, removing your heart of stone, giving you a heart of flesh, if indeed you are in Christ. You have seen how he has taken hell-bound mankind and is restoring them to their place as imagers of the divine to all of creation. When you begin to look at it like that, that's worthy of an amen. That's worthy of a few things that were said here in verse 38 here. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Why don't we say that together? Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And now address it to God, because He's the one who sent this King. The Father sent the Son. So let's say it to Him again, and let's say it a little louder. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Now you're starting to get the scene. How about this one? Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Let's say that one together. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. The first part is from Psalm 118, and when you read Psalm 118, which I read at the beginning of the service part of it, you can see the relevance of the entire psalm all of a sudden pointing to these things that are being said here on the triumphal entry. The second one, Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest, seems to be a reference to Psalm 148. It may have been another traditional song that they were doing that referenced things and paraphrased them. But in saying these things, the crowd is endorsing Jesus as worthy of praise to the Father. They're endorsing Jesus as king, the king promised to come in the line of David, none other than the one and only Messiah, the Christ. Or were they? Well, that's kind of the question here, because we understand the nature of crowds. We understand the madness that can go along with crowds, especially in our day, as all around the world this very day, people are protesting one thing or another, and we know that a lot of people would show up or, you know, hey, what are you chanting? Oh, okay, we'll chant that too. What is this all about anyway? You see that a couple times in the Book of Acts. It's rather interesting to watch. But, you know, some of that's got to be at play here. Is everyone there recognizing, hey, this guy's claiming to be the Messiah, the King, that would come in the line of David. He's going to come and rule and take over. Well, some of them were thinking that, and some were along for the ride. Because they used to sing these songs on their way to Jerusalem for the holidays anyway. And this is a high holy week here in Jerusalem. And so these pilgrims from all around the nation and indeed all around the world are coming here and singing many of the traditional songs. So they see a crowd. Hey, they're all singing this thing. Who's that guy on the donkey? Oh, he's some kind of prophet or something. He's done miracles. God has sent a prophet and sent miracles and everything. Did they understand he was the God-man? Did they understand that he was the Christ, the Son of God? They didn't necessarily understand all that. But many of them did. Many of them were disciples. Many of them would be among the 500 or so that he would appear to after his resurrection. And so we have a mixture in the crowd. And we'll get to more of that later. But look, the Pharisees are upset. These joy killers, as they're known. And can you imagine being in the crowd and seeing this take place? Oh, sing louder. The Pharisees are upset. They're pointing at them. Sing louder so no one can hear the Pharisees. They hate those guys. And you just shout them down. Why? Because that's the Messiah, the King, the Son of God? Just because you hate the Pharisees, baby. But here we have the crowd nevertheless adding to the spectacle of what Jesus is clearly doing on purpose. And that's the focus of the whole passage. Jesus has presented himself to the crowd, to the religious leaders, and to us today through the scriptures as none other than the King. The King of Kings. See, the symbolism here in this passage is both general and specific. It's general in that he's riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, the clothing on the donkey on the road, the palm branches, the singing. All that's a general fulfillment, and it also fulfills something very specific in Zechariah 9-9. The gospel writers understood this to be a fulfillment of what it says here in Zechariah after the coming of the Spirit. The disciples would fully understand this and incorporate it into their Gospels. But here's what it says there in Zechariah 9. It says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Sing aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. And those of you who have been following along with Isaiah, you see that kind of terminology. Daughter of Zion. Daughter of Jerusalem. Those are the ones that are born to the ultimate Jerusalem, the ultimate Zion. Those are the faithful of God that it's addressing. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey. And so he comes and he comes to reign in peace. Look what the next verse says. It says, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. What is the waterless pit? Well, in scripture, the idea of a pit speaks of the place where the dead go. Sheol, the abyss, or hell. That it's waterless speaks of something in the spiritual realm, the immaterial realm. This is spoken of when the demons go out of a person and they go through waterless places. They go through the spiritual realm. And look at this. He says, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Now, if you were reading Zechariah back before Jesus came and really didn't understand fully those things, you could think, oh, this is just being poetic. But on the side of things, we see this to be quite literal. that he brings salvation, a salvation that reaches into the very depths of hell. This is who he's claiming to be by riding into Jerusalem this way. Give me a nod if you're starting to get the weight of this passage. Oh, it's heavy stuff, and it's beautiful stuff. And so here we have this prophecy being fulfilled, and in the Jewish mind, Jesus at this point doesn't even need a clear verse. And this is important for us to understand. To merely accept this treatment and the praise of the crowd would be enough. for him to be making a claim to being the Messiah, the Anointed One, this King from the line of David. And if you were with us when I preached a sermon from Isaiah chapter 11, you would remember that he's the one that would come and bring reform not only to Israel, but he would bring in all the other nations, and he would bring justice to the entire world. He would reign in justice and righteousness. He was going to be everything a king should be. on a global scale. So Jesus did this not just to fulfill specifically Zechariah 9.9, but to paint this entire picture and a whole mountain of Holy Scripture that spoke of a coming King behind Him. You remember on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24, sometime after this, right after His resurrection, He meets with a couple of disciples and He shows them what? In all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself. So why does he do this? Well, he does this for several reasons. And I want to point out some of those. I made a little outline here for you. He does this to, obviously, fulfill prophecy, as we just spoke about. He does this also, I think, to encourage the disciples. Do you ever look back on a time in your life, you know, we all go through the dry patches in our faith, the times when we're not so excited about it, when it seems kind of old to us, and sometimes you cling to a day or a time or something or an event where you had no doubt. When something happened to you that was so profound that you were able to look back on it and say, that was so clearly God acting in my life, so clearly the Holy Spirit within me. Well, He's just handed that to all of His disciples that day. And they could say to one another, when they were hiding in the upper room, and they were concerned because Jesus had been crucified, they really didn't understand it yet, because they didn't have the Holy Spirit yet, and they could say to one another, yeah, but didn't we sing praises on that day? Wasn't there that one day when we just knew without a doubt that he was the one? Now he either is or he isn't. Either we were delusional that day or there's something real to this we just don't get yet. Maybe it was enough that they stuck around to see the resurrection. He encouraged his disciples and they would remember this and the truth of his identity. But he does this for another reason, which becomes apparent here. He does this to force the hand of the opposition. Let's take a look at that in the Scriptures here. If we look at the Pharisees, and if you're ever in doubt whether Jesus claimed to be God, whether Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, if you're ever in doubt about that, just look up Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees in the Gospels. And they come and they show you that he was claiming those things by their reaction to it. And look in these verses here. The Pharisees said to the crowd, or said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples. They're upset about this. Why are they upset about this? Is breaking some kind of a law? No, it's the first day of the week. There's no restriction on the travel or anything else. They're not going to bring Sabbath charges upon him. No, it's because of the content. The opposition here is basically forced into action. And their response shows that they understood the symbolism. They understood the significance of what was being sung and shouted. They were familiar with Psalm 118, and they knew it when they heard it. And they probably, frankly, understood better than anyone else in the crowd. Better than some of the disciples, I'm sure. But the interesting thing about it is we look at Matthew. If we bring in another clue here, in Matthew chapter 26, we see this. It says, the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. They didn't want to do it during the feast. They wanted to wait till after the feast. But Jesus was the Lamb of God. He was on a schedule. And He was going to get it done when He wanted it to be done. And it was going to be done on the Passover, as was proper for the sacrificial Lamb. And you also find some other clues in the scripture which are very important and very profound. And John's the one who really points this out in John 7 and 8. And then later on as he talks about his hour coming, they tried to make him king because he fed everybody. They're like, let's make this guy king. What does he do? He leaves. He didn't let them do it. And the reason it gives is my hour's not yet come. He does this fantastic miracle of turning the water into wine, and what does he tell his mother? My hour's not yet come. In other words, this is public. It's not the timing yet. But here, all of a sudden, he's been saying this through his ministry. My hour's not yet come. My hour's not yet come. Now, all of a sudden, he says, go get a donkey. The hour's here. Say amen. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. hour has come. You understand we're in that hour. You understand we're in that day of which it says, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We are in that day. This is the day that the Lord has made. There's something else that needs said. Since he's plainly presenting himself as King, What then is the consequence for rejecting Him? I think it's worthy to look at. Let's go back to the scriptures and let's look at verses 41 to 44. This is what happens immediately after. It says this, when he drew near and saw the city. So he's coming down the Mount of Olives. And if you look at a map of Jerusalem, this is on the east side of Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. And then you would kind of go around the south, kind of come down the Mount of Olives. And then you would go up to the city of Jerusalem. And so he draws near to the city. He sees the city. And it says, he wept over it, saying, Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace. Now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. You see that? The rejection of the king is rejection of peace itself. It's the rejection of peace itself. Let me take you here to Luke chapter 2, verse 14 in the birth narratives. Everyone say, Merry Christmas. And the angel said, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he's pleased. Now, I've told you about that verse before and how difficult it is to translate the last part of that verse. It is really an enigma to people. I think the ESV gets it closest here, where they say, peace on earth among those with whom he is pleased, rather than goodwill toward men. Because Jesus came to bring peace on earth, right? How's that going? See, if we don't really understand what's happening here, we'll say, you know, this isn't working out, Jesus. I mean, you know, peace on earth and all that stuff, and this place is nuts. But look carefully at what they're saying in Luke 19.38. Blessed is a king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven. and glory in the highest. It doesn't say peace on earth. It's peace in heaven. So why is there peace in heaven at this time? Well, Satan gets the boot, and Jesus returns there to reign, the right hand of the Father. There's peace in heaven. There's not peace on earth, and Jesus said there wouldn't be peace on earth. Let me help you with this a little bit. We go to Luke chapter 12. Look what it says here. I came to cast fire on the earth and wood that were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on, in one house there will be five divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against her mother." And all the daughter-in-laws say, Amen. But you see the clear indication here that Jesus is saying, this is not going to be peace on earth. I didn't come to bring peace on earth. I came to bring division. Why? Because he's going to be rejected. Do you remember where I started this whole adventure today? I started it in Luke chapter 9, verse 51, when he set his face to go to Jerusalem. After that point, he begins to talk as if he's going to be rejected. Up to that point, not so much. After that point, he's speaking to the fact, I'm going to be crucified. And here's what's going to happen. And he starts to tell the kingdom parables. And what this church age is going to be like. And he begins to reveal those things. No, this is not pretty. This is not peace on earth. The kingdom comes with difficulty. With violence. With birth pangs. And so this is the reason for the present struggle between good and evil on earth. The fact that Jesus came and was rejected. Well, what do we make of all this? See, the rejection seems to have been this triggering event for the gospel to turn primarily to the Gentiles, as Paul says in Romans chapter 11, for a time. He refers to it as a hardening. He refers to it as blindness. And he always refers to it as something yet temporary, but something conditioned upon the fact that Jesus was rejected by Jewish leadership. Now, he wasn't rejected by all the Jews. All the early disciples were Jews. All those that came to faith on the day of Pentecost were likely Jews or Jewish converts. And it took some years before it really full-scale and wholesale went to all the Gentiles. And so here we have some encouragements to us. And the first is this, and the first is really a question for you and a challenge to you that I'd like to give you. What is your place in the crowd? Do you know what's going on in the scene? Do you know what's really going on in the world? What's really most important? If you turn on the news today, you'll see a great many things happening in the world. 90% of them are to distract you from what's really going on in the world, the things that are taking place behind the scenes, the plots that are being made and done by leaders of this world. But that's not really even what's happening in the world. What's happening in the world is that by trial and tribulation, God is wringing out of it a people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language to know Him and glorify Him forever. And we have but this tiny little window of our lives to see which course we're on. It's a short time. And it goes by quickly, and all the more quickly as you grow older, and the older say Amen. What is your place in this crowd? Do you know who this is? And here's the question, and the most important question, will you be in His kingdom when it fully comes? You remember the thief on the cross? He didn't understand a lot. He didn't have real deep theology. He didn't have the opportunity to be baptized or teach Sunday school or any of those fun things that we get to do as believers usually. But Jesus promised him he'd be in paradise. What was it he said to Jesus? When you come into your kingdom, remember me. Will you be remembered in the kingdom of God? Will you be known by Jesus when you are presented before him for the final judgment? That is the singular most important question. And once you have secured the oxygen mask for yourself, then help your neighbor and ask the questions of them. Jesus had made such clear claims in the Gospels, and he displayed it, and he set it up, and he fulfilled it. And the nation of Israel, by rejecting him, brought about the destruction of their temple 38 years later. 2,000 years of the Gentiles trampling over their land, 2,000 years without sacrifice. They've been without home. They've been without God. They've been persecuted throughout the world everywhere they've gone. So why would you think that you, without the promises of Abraham, without the heritage that would suggest you might have some hope, why would you think you'll get off better rejecting the same king? And that's a challenge we have to put forth to people, is what makes you think God goes through all this trouble? He writes all these thousands of pages of scripture. He takes all these thousands of years to set this up and explain it, and to set prophecy and fulfill it, and to describe a type and to fulfill it, and then to finally bring him and to suffer and die on the cross. And you're going to find some other way to heaven? It's insanity to even entertain the idea. And as God's people, we should not accept it from others. We should challenge them with this. Look, God has lifted up his son, and he has made it clear that whoever gazes upon him will indeed be saved. But those who don't, they'll perish. And so we can challenge people. What say you, then, to stay? So assuming you're settled and you know where you are and you're part of this kingdom, well then, my suggestion is this. Worship the king. Worship the king. He is worthy of this. Look at his march to the cross. Jesus is not concerned for what unbelievers think of him. Do you understand the humiliation that he went through? The nakedness and the abuse with never defending himself, appearing guilty before the world, hung up with the criminals. How much more should we, his people, knowing the truth now of who he is and seeing what has happened, follow in his footsteps? To care not what the world would say about what we do in following Jesus. See, what was at stake when Jesus went to the cross was not just his pride or his reputation. He gave those up. It was not just winning the game, winning an argument, even winning a kingdom. It was not the championship round for him. It wasn't about fame or legacy. It was about life and life eternal for you and for me, for all who will believe. It was about nothing less than the restoration of mankind to the dominion, holding, ruling, worshiping, loving image of God, reigning with Him forever in glory. And our following of Him and the mission to make disciples is no less a matter of eternal life. the king who lowered himself more than anyone else, made himself a servant, suffered the most humiliating death on the cross, bleeding for us under the wrath of God that we deserve for our sins, and offering atonement to pay the price for our sins, if we'll but repent and trust in him. Let me put it up there and say it with me again one more time. Say it with me, starting with blessed. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you and praise you for bringing us together. We thank you for the opportunity that you have presented us to see these scriptures, to read them, to study them together. And I thank you, Lord, for the fellowship it has brought and the glory it has brought to your name. Lord, may we worship you as we come to a time when we traditionally celebrate the crucifixion and the resurrection. I pray that, Lord, you would give us even more understanding than ever and open our mouths that we may proclaim the truth to all those around, that we may worship you without shame to all those who would see. Lord, we praise you and thank you for your ministry through Jesus Christ this day. We thank you for bringing us together. We thank you for those who will believe and so be saved. I pray that you'll move our hearts to respond in obedience this day And any decision we've made, Lord, I pray that you'll give us the faith to share that with another this very day before we leave. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.