Well, it's so good to see you here today again and spread out in this auditorium. I know the first service was very full today, but we were able to spread out. Everyone donned their masks and we seek to serve each other this way and in a very dynamic environment where our world is brought into this COVID environment. And I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you caring for one another and doing what you can do to serve one another this way. And I notice that more and more are coming back as we're regathering. And I just want to assure you, we continue to serve you in a way that we're going to fight the virus. We're going to fight and do what the government has asked us to do as long as we can we can do this as long as we can meet so that because of the importance of what we're doing with God's Word there is nothing more important for you than to hear the words of God and when you hear the Word of God you are actually hearing from God and we feel like that is very very important you must hear and you must listen and give yourself to the Word of God and we get to do this every week and what a joy it is to do that it's my privilege to to bring the Word of God to us. So what a great thing. And we have a wonderful text today. Just a beautiful text that stands in front of us. So I want to get right into it. Alright? The meek will inherit the earth. Alright? Matthew chapter 21. It is very difficult for us as human beings to grasp the magnitude of the character and the nature of Jesus Christ. When we turned our backs on God in Eden, humanity only had eyes for themselves. And that brought about a certain blindness. And in that blindness, what was rejected outright was the very character, nature, and the holy integrity of God. And as if we pushed ourselves back away from the God that is. And consequently, what was also rejected was true, transparent fellowship. true communion and the enjoyment of our creator, the sustainer and the maker. And think of this with me this morning. We created ones, we with flesh and bones said to our creator, the one who fashioned us and formed us, we said to him, no, we don't want you. You are not essential. I am essential. What, what arrogance? but what blindness sets in. And so after spending time studying 20 chapters so far in the Gospel of Matthew, some 110 messages I counted up the other day, I think it's interesting to see that Matthew seems to me that he's just in awe of Jesus in such a deep, deep love and esteem and veneration for all that Jesus is. And he is trying to unload his understanding of just who this Jesus is. And one of the true wonders of Jesus that often stands in direct contrast with humanity in general and with organized religion specifically is the complete integrity of Jesus. And what I mean by that is what he preaches is the very character and the essence of his life. And they are the qualities then what mark his kingdom. All that Jesus is and all that Jesus has done is what marks the life of a genuine believer. And in Matthew chapter 5, we pointed this out last week, the first sentence that is recorded for us really sets the stage where he says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who have nothing. Let's be honest. This is where we are. We have nothing. He's the Creator. But today, we get to pick yet another one of Jesus' first words that's found in verse 5. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. And the longer I live, the more I realize just how really foreign the concept of meekness is to the human existence. I mean, I realize that we just don't do well with humility and meekness. And last week I noted that the blind men publicly pointed Jesus, they pointed to Jesus' Messiahship. And if you remember, we brought out the fact that Jesus didn't stop them. He didn't say, hey, whoa, stop, don't say anything about the Messiahship, like he had before. Why? Because he believed that his time had now come. And what we're going to see today is that Jesus comes further out of the closet, as it were, and even more publicly acknowledges his messiahship. And yet, once again, his announcement is not something humanity would easily grasp. Human coronations intrigue us. And what we see here in our text today is a sort of a coronation of the king. In fact, if you have As you look at this chapter, you have the triumphal entry. We'll talk more about that in a moment. But the idea of it is the king has entered the city of Jerusalem. Coronation processes have long hypnotized the minds, especially of we Americans. Myriads of people stand in line in the streets to catch a glimpse of the drama. And this has been especially true in nations that have perhaps crowned a new sovereign to reign over them. They intend to display the wealth and the power of the new sovereign. With such processions, they spare no expense in achieving a sense of awe from their admiring subjects. And our text today, though, shows very little of this kind of pageantry. It is in this setting, though, that it becomes very vital as Christ's followers that we begin to see the unfolding of the two natures that is within Jesus. And we begin to see that this entry is no common entry. Because we learn about the two natures of the King. The first part is that Jesus, true deity, or we could say his true authority, he is God. And because of that, he is the authority for all of life. But notice, secondly, Jesus is true humanity. Or we would say this, Jesus is true lowliness. And so we have these two things going on here, and in theological terms, these two things going on is called the hypostatic union. Now don't be freaked out about that. We can't get tied up knots about theological terms. It's just, hypostatic sounds very fancy in English, but it's simply an actual simple term. It literally means personal. The hypostatic union is the personal union of Jesus' two natures. The hypostatic union is the mysterious joining of the divine and the human in one person in Jesus Christ. Jesus had two complete natures, one fully human, one fully divine. And what the doctrine of the hypostatic union teaches us is that these two natures are united in one person Jesus Christ the significance of this is about to be unraveled for us in the chapters ahead Why because it's important for us to understand that the way God wired us the way God made us He made us to be people who would never find satisfaction and eternal contentment in that which is only human We weren't made and we weren't designed by him to find our complete joy to find our complete end in each other and We were designed primarily to understand that we relate to the deity. We relate to the God himself. And so this union brings God and man together. No one person can satisfy then the complex longings of the human heart. We must understand that. Your human longings cannot be fully satisfied in a horizontal way of living. That's not the way we were designed. And so to bring us redemption, to bring us true satisfaction of soul, and to bring us reconciliation, the eternal God becomes man. Hypostatic union. And this personal union of God and man makes everything from our salvation all the way to the glorification, God's work, personal for each of us then. I mean, this is something that we must grasp. This is foundational to our understanding. It is the bedrock for our stability in a very unstable world. Isn't our world around us so unstable? Why? Because we keep looking for satisfaction in a horizontal way of living. Oh, my friend, we can't afford to do this. And so what we see here, this wonderful truth that lies in our text this morning, that the meekness of our King, The meekness of the king becomes the path to walk towards ultimate glory. Now, I want you to see this this morning because this is a precious word for us today. The meekness of our king becomes the path to walk towards ultimate glory. It is his meekness that will define him as the crucified Messiah. Think about that. The sent one from God, crucified. It's the meek and the modest king. Those two words don't connect, but they do in Jesus because of his two persons. The lowly Lord. We understand the human God. My friend, there's no person like Jesus. This is the point. And if you deny either Jesus' true deity or His true humanity, then the entire gospel crumbles. And the Word of God is powerless when you deny one or two of those. So today, we must see it and embrace Jesus as He is. He's the meek and humble King. Notice, first of all, the meekness of our Christ is seen through his humble obedience to the word. And we find this in verses 1 through 7, and I want us to see this unfold. But look at verse 1 with me. It says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. Understand something. This is foundational to understanding this text. Jesus faced everything with two driving motivations. That he never gets away from. The first motivation is that he is intent upon doing the will of the Father. John 5 verse 30. He is going to do the will of the Father. He says this, I seek not mine own will. Wow, what a statement. This is his humanity speaking. I speak not but doing my own will, but the will of the Father which sent me. And notice those last two words, sent me. The very nature of being sent underlines his true obedience. He himself is under the obedience to the Father. And he says this over and over and over, which gives us a great clue on how we are to live our lives. That if we're going to understand this true meekness, it has to begin with us obeying the word of the father. But notice secondly, there's another motivation that Jesus brings up and it's linked with his obedience to the father. Look at verse four. He says this, this took place to fulfill which was spoken by the prophet. Stop right there. To fulfill which was spoken by the prophet Matthew draws our immediate attention to this even in verse 1 that he's going to follow the words of the prophets He's going to live out what the Word of God speaks And so he says this he writes and they came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives Now to you and me we don't understand that I was supposed to be able to be there at Bethphage at the Mount of Olives back in in March and that that trip got canceled and I'm still holding on that Lord willing we'll get there Lord willing this next spring and I can't wait to get to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives because I want to see right where Jesus is speaking him here but understand something in Matthew's writing this is not by accident He didn't just make this up or, oh, this is a cool place, Bethphage, the Mount of Olives. No. It comes right out of Scripture. And we see this in Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 4. Some of you will remember this when we went through the book of Zechariah. It speaks to this. And it says this, Zechariah writes, On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And so Matthew simply is saying this, if you know the Word of God, if you remember the Old Testament, and the Jewish people would know that, he's going like, guess what, folks? He's here. Jesus is here. Just as he said, this is Jesus. This is the Messiah. Jesus' life is marked by the Word of God. Listen to me this morning. This must characterize our lives. It is so vital as Christ followers that we be given ourselves to the propositional truths in God's Word. Oh my friend, you can't miss this. The key factor in us understanding how God works and who God is are the propositional truths given to us right out of the Word of God. He says this is who God is. This is what God says. These are propositional truths that you anchor your soul to. It is where the stakes of our assurance, our faith, our spiritual vitality is rooted and grounded, so that when the storms of life come, when the difficulties come, our hearts are rooted in what is true about God. Christ was right there, filled with complete knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament Word, and He constantly gave Himself to the obedience of it. He does this perfectly. on our behalf because we don't have the ability to do it perfectly. But thankfully he follows the word perfectly on our behalf and he gives himself to the obedience of it. Now he does this in order for us to follow this generous path of meekness that brings us to glory. So hang on as it unfolds. So notice first of all, notice the preparation for this entrance is one of meekness. All right, go back up to the last part of verse one and you'll see this. I love this. 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. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. Oh, this is beautiful. As we walk through this, keep in mind what I just got through telling you about his deity and his humanity because it's all over this text. Jesus directs two of his disciples to go into the next village and retrieve two donkeys. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But what an eye-opening experience this would have been for these men. I mean, not only does the king give them a task of going getting two donkeys, but we're told that they go and they do it. Now, we don't know which ones of these men had this opportunity to do this. We don't really understand all that went on here. But we do know these guys go do it. And he tells them, when you go, you will find a donkey tied with a colt with her. Untie the colt and the donkey and bring them to me now many commentators debate whether this was a natural working of the king in other words He had already prearranged this and said just go do this. These guys will be expecting you or whatever The other side is it's a supernatural thing Where the Spirit of God had already arranged this and Jesus literally just goes has and and does it Because he knows and he's working in line with the Spirit now The truth is we really don't know and I don't think that's the strong point of this text because the stronger point of this text seems to be found in verse 3 where Matthew records Jesus saying to them if anyone asks that about taking these two donkeys, saying to them, and here's the key words, the Lord has need of them. Now think about this. This would draw from last week's message about the two blind men who couldn't physically see, but spiritually they were given sight and they saw him as Lord. And if you remember, three times They pointed to him and they cried out to him, Lord, Lord, Lord. And this was the complete acknowledgement of his messiahship. So now Jesus is saying, no, acknowledge my messiahship, say the Lord. Now you got to understand this would be speaking of his deity. As Messiah, the Lord, He rules over everything. But notice this, the words, the Lord is followed by needs. And it says it all. His deity needed nothing. But in his humanity, he experienced real needs, just like we do. Here's our great high priest experiencing life's real needs. And side by side, his deity and his humanity exist. Why? Because he is Jesus. There is none like him. He is our meek king. Isn't that beautiful? His meekness is seen on the preparation. Notice secondly, his entrance is one of meekness. His entrance is one of meekness. And we see this in verses four and five. Notice this. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, this is Zechariah, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, humble, mounted on a donkey and on a colt, the full of the beast of burden. Now, I want to show you there's a little difference between what Matthew says here and what Zechariah says. So now I read you Matthew, I'm going to read you Zechariah and see if you can pick up on the difference. Zechariah 9 verse 9 says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he, humble, mounted on a donkey, and a colt, the foal of a donkey. Now, here's what I want you to first notice. Notice that what Zechariah says and what Matthew points out is, your king is coming to you. This is the sweetness. of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God is the great initiator. God created us. I don't know if you've ever thought of this. There's not one person in this room that wanted and planned to be alive before they were alive. You didn't sit there somewhere out in space somewhere and go, I want to be alive. I want to be a person. Nobody did that. God initiated life to you. God gave you life. He's the great initiator. But man sinned. Man turned his back on God. God initiates again. God covered man's sin with a ceremonial system, pointing to his plan of redemption in the one and final Lamb, Jesus Christ. And here the great King, the great Lamb himself, comes to his people. What an amazing thing, that God stoops. And this is something not new, because we understand it back when Jesus was born. He became Emmanuel, God with us. Once again, God coming, taking upon himself human flesh. Deity, humanity, all in one. It's all through this text. But notice, how does he come? Humble, mounted on a donkey. On a donkey. If you notice closely, you will notice that Matthew leaves out this phrase, and I kind of highlighted it for you. Righteous and having salvation is he. And while you read commentaries, a lot of them will say that maybe he was just unintentional, he just forgot about that particular part I would say no I think it's very intentional Matthew knows what he's saying and while it is true that Jesus does come in righteousness and he does bring salvation but in Matthew's mind this is no triumphal entry now understand something Jesus will have a triumphal entry in the future. He is going to return as the king that he really is. This is not the time where he's coming in a triumphal way. But in fact it is a humble and meek entry. There's nothing triumphal in this entry. The donkey gives us this clue. He comes on a donkey. They are lowly creatures. And in their own way, they say a lot. They are slow. They're stubborn. Scripture calls them here a beast of burden. It's an animal owned mainly by the poor, a very common mode of transportation. And let's be honest, they're not too handsome of creatures. They're just kind of weird, ugly, sort of, but cute. You know, so you just kind of look at it and go, oh, you know. But that's kind of what it is. And here we have Jesus, loudly pronouncing to all his divinity, he's king. And yet seen from human standpoint, a very humble, meek king. It is as if Jesus wants us to be seen as He really is. He really is Emmanuel. He is the God with us in a truly human way on our level. He is God on a donkey for us. This would have seemed weird. This would have been crazy. But it's the King in His meekness. Notice his acceptance is one of humility. You see this in verse 6 and 7. Look carefully at this. The disciples went and did as Jesus directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, put them on their cloaks, and he sat on them. This is beautiful. The disciples do just as Jesus bid them. It's amazing how humility begats humility. Oh, I wish people in our world would understand this. I wish parents would understand this, that if you want to inculcate humility in the hearts of your children, you be humble. And so Jesus, they've watched, these guys have watched Jesus do the will of the Father. They have watched him be obedient to the word. And so Jesus goes out and he asked them to do something crazy. Go get donkeys. And here we have two simple, clear principles for every Christian servant. And I wish we would grab hold of this. Young person, let this be something that just invades your heart and your mind. First of all, whatever Christ commands, I will do. Jesus comes to them and says, go get donkeys. There had to be something human about them that would go like, what? Why donkeys? Why two of them? What's going on here, Jesus? We don't see that. We just see him go do it. Secondly, whatever he is pleased to use that he's entrusted to me, I give it. I'm entrusted to go get something as menial, something as seemingly insignificant as a donkey, and I go do it. You see, my friend, selfishness, stubbornness, and self-affirmation must never mark the heart of a genuine Christ follower. We must be people who simply do what God has bid us to do. And by His grace, in His kindness, Jesus included these men in His unfolding plans. And in that same way, we get to serve Him faithfully. His meekness must become our meekness. The donkeys come and Jesus sits, not on the mother, but on the foal. The one who has not yet been bridled. Another head-scratcher. Why would you not sit on the mother? She's much larger. Why would you sit on this poor little guy who hadn't even ridden anybody before, most likely? It was the smallest and the lowliest of the two. And Jesus accepts his role then with even greater humility. And you can see the stair step down. as He gives of Himself, as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. And He doesn't demand the pomp and the ceremony of the earthly king, but comes in a very lowly, humble entrance. Oh, my friend, will you get this down into your own heart? That the way we come to Christ and the Gospel is not in our pomp, not in our ceremony, not in pointing to our works, but in humble submission. to the humble and meek king. So this meekness is shown in how Jesus begins to prepare to come. But notice secondly this meekness of our Christ is seen in his reason to enter Jerusalem. And we see this in verses 8 and 9. His reason. Why is he going there? What's going on? Well, look at verse 8 and 9. 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, that followed him, were shouting, Hosanna, the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Now the choice of the donkey serves, I think, for one other symbol that carries with it. And that is the symbol of peace. Jesus had already made it very clear why he would enter Jerusalem. If you remember back in chapter 20, verse 28, he states it clearly. Let me restate it again with you so that you understand there's a connection here. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. This is why he was entering, and this was the reason that he was coming. Coming into a city right at the Passover would mean for Jesus quite an undertaking in order to serve in a way that only his deity could serve with integrity. He knew what it meant to be coming into this city to serve them in a way they would not grasp. And they wouldn't appreciate it. He entered Jerusalem, not to take David's royal throne, like they thought, in the capital city itself, but he enters Jerusalem to lay down his life upon a cross. The Messiah, Di, the deity, succumbs to death. Not just any death, but the death of the cross. The crowd could not, the crowd would not grasp this. Most of the crowd laid down their cloaks and placed palm branches down and this was something that they would have seen before and knew about clear back in the history of the Jews back in 2nd Kings chapter 9 when Jehu would be anointed king following the horrific reign of Jehoshaphat. And so great change was about to take place when Jehu would come in rule and reign. And in verse 9 of 2 Kings, he tells us that they laid down their garments, they blew a trumpet, and all proclaimed, Jehu is king! And it was a day of great peace brought into the land because things were now going to be righted. And this must have brought great delight to these religious followers in Jesus' day, as they would reminisce. They've done this before in history. Now, they begin to shout something very similar. Hosanna, the son of David! Hosanna is a word that is most loved even by us today. We speak these words around the Easter season. It is an Aramaic expression that literally means help, I pray. Save, I pray. It was the idea that I cannot fix life. We need a savior. And in their way, it's the new king coming to the throne of David. And so this whole Prayer, this whole shouting thing, became a liturgical chant. And it's literally given to us in the Psalms, particularly in Psalm 113 through 118. And it's called the Hallel. It's the portion of the Psalm that were chanted in the temple while Passover lambs were being slain. Now just get the picture. Little lambs were having their throats cut. opened up blood everywhere and so in the temple there would be these chants of Jesus coming to save they would say Hosanna they would say save us and they would sing this song now I'm I I'm not one who enjoys well the death of a little animal I I don't understand men standing in the field taking aim at a gun with a poor Bambi there and we shoot him he's just minding his own business just doing what's natural to him and then we shoot the poor thing I mean I don't I don't understand that the little pig in the farmyard we we we you know like you can't read charlotte's web and understand what's going on there and not feel something about this poor pig that's about ready to go to the chopping block. I mean, it's just, it's a gory detail. I mean, I, I'm, I love fishing sort of, but every time I catch a fish, I hold it in my hand and I go, I'm sorry. That's how I feel. But if you can imagine, they're killing these lambs and they're chanting. These things about salvation, about peace, the Levites chanted and the people responded by repeating it over and over and over. Private families at the feast of the Passover would sing it after every evening. And it was probably the hymn that they sang at the end of the Passover Supper that we'll read about in Matthew chapter 26. But all through the Passover week, this is what will be sung, this Hallel. This was a very inspiring hymn and the words pointed to their hearts, to the one who would bring peace, the one who would solve their dilemma, the one who would save. But what is interesting is as time begins to unfold, and we'll see through the counts ahead, The vast majority of these people would never make the connection that Jesus is the one who would bring that salvation. That it would be Jesus. And so these people who are now singing hymns and singing this halal and now shouting and bringing the palm branches down, they would be the same ones who would yell out, crucify him! Crucify him! Let's stop for a moment and let's meditate on this idea of meekness for just a moment. According to Strong's, this word meek is also translated gentle. It's the opposite of self-assertiveness. It's the opposite of self-interest. And it literally stems solely from the realities that God's goodness and God's sovereignty rules over everything. And one of the reasons that Jesus can sit on the back of a donkey, knowing that what would be happening in the next few days, that these people who are now cheering for Him would be chanting against Him, And he could do this with some solemnity, with some courage, and with some peace in his heart, was that he was persuaded beyond a shadow of a doubt that God the Father was in complete control. This, my friend, is real peace. This is what separates the true believer in Jesus and the one who just claims Christianity and just wears the buttons, wears the external accoutrements of religion. No, the one who believes in Jesus can sit through knowing what is in front of them and they can trust Jesus, the gentle, are not occupied with self, but are convinced in the deepest parts of their soul that there's something of greater consequence going on than just what is right before them. Jesus understood, and scripture says later, that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. He knew there was something bigger going on than just what was right before Him. And this is, of course, this is not of human will. This is speaking of his deity ruling his heart and mind. We often seek to protect ourselves with a particular routine for life. And it is there where we seek to operate out of control, isn't it? We're then calm when it goes according to our routine. And then suddenly the routine is shaken and you become nervous and you become an anxious wreck. Everyone around takes the brunt of your actions and reactions. Homes are left with great discomfort. Children look up to mom and dad and there's this fear that begins to grow, but they're being taught on a regular basis that there's something that is bigger and more powerful than God going on here. And when we give ourselves to this fear, We can give a message, a constant message, that God is not in charge, that God is not powerful. But the meek, on the other hand, looks at any surprise that life deals them and says, this must be something kind from my God. My friend, this is contrary to just normal human thinking. It's easy to sit in a room like this and agree with me that this is what should happen. But when what we think should happen doesn't happen, it unnerves us. And so we then begin to assert ourselves. And this comes from within, and we begin to ask ourselves, all right, what do I need to do? What do I need to think? How can I grab onto this and fix this? But the one who is filled with the spirit of meekness doesn't do that. Steps back, asks the spirit of God to work in me a gentle, meek, and quiet patience and says, oh, there's something bigger going on here than just what I'm seeing. I may be seeing this, but this is not all that's being done. Do you understand this is the way it is right now with all this COVID stuff? Do you understand that God is at work using a little virus to stimulate in his church the necessity of trusting and the necessity of we being people who are meek and humble. And so we ask, instead of what must I do, simply say, God, I need a spiritual response here. I need a supernatural response here. Please, Lord, speak in me and speak through me. So Jesus rides into this frenzy filled Passover crowd and they're responding to him, not from a knowledge of who he is, but they responding to him of who they want him to be. And he knows this. And the providence of God in our lives right now begs for people to be driven by this meekness and this confidence in the one true God. What is driving you? Are you really confident that God himself knows what he's doing in our world today? Jesus understood this. So he's not coming in as the triumphal king, he's coming in as the meek and humble king before God and before humanity. And that brings us to our third point, because this meekness of Christ results in confusion for the people. And it shouldn't surprise us, because it's confusing to us now, isn't it? We live in so much confusion and disruption in our thinking. But look with me in verse 10, where Jesus goes on, or Matthew goes on, and he's writing here, and he says, when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, saying, who is this? Who is this? That's a natural question, wouldn't it? Because on one hand, he's coming in, and everyone's throwing those palm branches down and putting their garments down, and they're going like, who is this? And notice what the answer is. Look at verse 11. And the crowds say, the crowds are having a say here. This is the prophet Jesus from the Nazareth of Galilee. Matthew writes here, and he uses this idea of the city was being stirred. He uses a word from which we get this word, seismic. And it's the city literally shook. It has a lot to do with earthquakes. The city shook with an excitement of a possible Messiah in their midst. Oh good, our salvation is coming. This has got to be great, but he's on a donkey. What in the world? And what we notice here is of great importance as we consider religious and even Christian movements in our own day. If excitement counted for true spirituality, then Jerusalem would be off the scale right now. And while excitement is wonderful, it cannot ever be the barometer of truth for us. Please understand that. When we be a people who are submitted to propositional truths, there's certainly wonderful excitement about that. But what happens to the church in America over the years has been a revulsion against propositional truth and a desire for excitement. My friend, the truth comes and it is exciting. We can't be people who pursue that. We must come to be pursuing what is true, not the excitement. And so what we see here is people who've given themselves to this excitement. And this is evident in the multitude's perception of Christ during his entry. And they're turning from him less than a week later. And it brings me much grief to understand that those who would wave the palms and cry, Hosanna, son of David, you are the Messiah, save us, are the same ones who cry crucify. How does that happen? Well it happens because in the days ahead there would be things that would happen that would cause these people to realize that Jesus was not the king they wanted. He wasn't the king that they wanted. He didn't fit their paradigm. And this is the way it is, so they turn on him and they turn on his kingdom righteousness. You see, the real Jesus is what is missed in every religion, in every organized religion, in every cult, and in very, very weak churches. The reality of who Jesus is and what is done is overlooked. You must recognize Jesus, and we often do with some theological accuracy, but when you see the claims that he has on your life through his written word, oftentimes we go, this is not the kind of God I want. I don't want a king who has the right to tell me what to do. I don't want a king that tells me how I should think. I don't want a king that tells me how I should act, or how I should spend my time. I don't want that kind of king. In essence, what you are saying is, He is not my king. This Jesus is not my king. This Jesus is not my Savior. I'm going to come up with my own Savior. My friend, let me lovingly and carefully tell you, that is the furthest thing from the truth. He is king. whether you recognize it or not. He was king in their world, but they didn't recognize it because they had a different view of the king that they wanted. And so it comes down to this question, who is this man? They don't recognize him as the God man. He's not divinity and humanity. They're not sure at this point what he is. But what an opportunity for true followers in the multitudes to give the true confession of Christ and to clearly identify him as the promised one who would bear our sins in his own body and face a divine judgment. But they wouldn't say that. He was no longer the son of David. He was no longer the one that is the Messiah, the one who would come and take away the sins of the world. It is all changed now. Look at verse 11. This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Of course he's on a donkey. It's Nazareth. He's a prophet. Yup. He is a prophet, but he's more than a prophet. Indeed, Jesus Christ is the prophet that has revealed God to us. Hebrews 1, 2, in the last days, God has spoken to us in his son. He is also priest that has mediated the way to God for us on our behalf, becoming both the sacrifice and the one who offers it. Just a mind boggling truth. And he says in Hebrews 7, for it was fitting for us to have such a high priest. We needed this high priest. Why? Because he was holy and innocent and undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. He was deity. He was God who does not need to daily give sacrifices like those high priests. Why? Because first of his own sins, he had no sins. but then he gives up his life for the sins of the people. And because he did this once for all, when he offered up himself, he finished it. Those three favorite words of mine, it is finished. Jesus did it all. He was the great high priest. And then he's King, the one who rules forever over an eternal kingdom. Revelation 19 6 and on his robe and on his thigh. He has a name written king of kings Lord of lords and I will tell you this my friend. This is the Jesus of the Bible He is the king over every king or he is no king at all He is the Lord of all lords or he is no Lord at all. He is truly all in all or he is nothing and Who is this man? Who is Jesus? Every hour of every day, when we live our lives, when we make our decisions, we pronounce to all that would see us, all who would hear us, we pronounce who this Jesus is. Is he merely a prophet? No, my friend. He is the prophet. He's the final prophet. But he's also the priest. He's also the king. He is the Lord. These are people who are not people who haven't heard. They did hear, and many heard him personally pronounce his lordship and his kingdom. These were folks who would not believe, and this ought to stir in our own hearts this morning. the realities that we must be humble, meek people, that God works this grace of humility into us, and that we be people who believe. John's words are much more blunt and to the point. In John 8, chapter 47, he says this, whoever is of God hears the words of God. Pretty simple. If you truly are of God, you'll hear the words of God. But he goes on to say, the reason why you do not hear them is because you are not of God. The reason they didn't understand who he was coming in on the foal of a donkey that should have taken him back to Old Testament scriptures, should have pronounced him loudly to all that would hear, is because they were not of God. Does that not stir in your hearts the necessity for Jesus to come and move in your hearts and bring you life. Jesus Christ came in the triumph of humility and meekness, but he came in the divine purpose of the cross. But this is the scene of our eternal triumph. If Jesus doesn't come, we have no pathway to glory. But He does come. And He comes in meekness and in humility. And to those that humbly and with meekness trust in Christ and they rest in His redemptive work, they too will find that reconciliation. They too will find that peace. And Christ will indeed be the meek and gentle King. And only the meek indeed will inherit the earth. Do you understand that? It's not the proud that struts their stuff. It's not the ones who demand that they be right and that they push everybody aside. No, it's the one who comes as Jesus did, humble, lowly, riding on the foal of a donkey. But that only comes as Jesus lives in us and through us. That's by his great grace. But those that refuse him shall discover his rule of iron. He's the king. Do you know Him as your Redeemer? Do you know Him and love Him and serve Him as your Savior? Do you bow before Him in obedience to Him and His Word? My friend, this is what Jesus has given to us in the grand news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He did come and He did die. He is our King. Will you pray with me this morning? Father in heaven, we rejoice today that the Lord is our King. Thank you, Jesus, for your kingdom rule Thank you, dear Father, for the way that you showed to us this true humility and meekness. Father, forgive us this week as we have so prone to want to control life. We're so prone to want and demand our own organization. to rule our own understanding, to dictate life to not only us, but those around us. And we do so not demonstrating true humility and not demonstrating the heart of Jesus. We do so by demonstrating our own desire to have our own way. Father, we need your grace. We need your mercy. We need your presence within. We need this divine humility and meekness of Jesus to be ours. And the only way is a supernatural transformation of heart that comes by grace through faith in Christ. And so for those that today would hear the Word of God, would you grant them hearing? Would you grant them life? Would you grant them peace? And may we, like Jesus, live in that peace in such a way that the world around us sees and marvels not at our good works, but they glorify our Father. which is in heaven. Father, you be our God, you be our King, change us, transform us, let us be a church that is bent on serving the Word of God, bent on doing the will of the Father, because Christ lives in us, and we get to live Him out. Oh Father, thank you for this Word. Thank you for this Savior. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.