Matthew 21:1-11

good morning everyone happy palm sunday okay good to see you guys um all right so we're going to be reading out of psalm 147 this morning this verse calls us to sing praises to the lord because he is worthy of all of our praise and all of our worship so i'm going to read verses 1 to 11. you'll see it up on the screen and for the underlined portions if you wouldn't mind reading with me okay so it says praise the lord for it is good to sing praises to our god for it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting the lord builds

up jerusalem he gathers the outcasts of israel he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds he determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names great is the lord and abundant in power his understanding is beyond measure the lord lifts up the humble he casts the wicked to the ground sing to the lord with thanksgiving make melody to our god on the liar he covers the heavens with clouds he prepares rain for the earth he makes grass grow on the hills he gives to the beasts their food and to the young ravens that cry his delight is not in

the strength of the horse nor his pleasure in the legs of the man but the lord takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope in his steadfast love the author of this psalm shows us here that god protects and provides for his creation he intimately cares about us as his people and he's abundant in power and wisdom and he takes pleasure in those who fear and have hope in his steadfast love it's such a comforting and beautiful truth this morning and as we go into worship let's just remember that so we can all stand and get ready for worship [Music] mystery [Music]

is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] broken [Music] cause when we see you we find strength to [Music] all our fears are washed away washed away jose worthy of all our praises [Music] lord jesus [Music] face the day in your presence all our fears [Music] you are the god who saves us [Music] we welcome you here lord jesus [Music] in the name of jesus [Music] his purpose is unshakable [Music] doesn't matter what i see my hope will always be in your promises to me now i'm casting out all fear for your love has set me free my hope will always [Music] and your be i will not

forget what you've done for you have [Music] doesn't matter what i feel doesn't matter what i see my hope will always be your promises to me now i'm casting out all fear for your love has set me free my hope will always be in your promises to me [Music] you'll always be more than enough for me you will always be more than enough for me nothing's gonna stop the plans you made nothing's gonna take your love [Music] away not for me you will always be more than enough for me you will always be more than enough for me nothing's gonna stop the plans you make

nothing's gonna [Music] it take matter what i feel doesn't matter what i see my hope will always be when you promises to me now i'm casting out all fear for your love has set me free my hope will always be and your promises to me doesn't matter what i feel doesn't matter what i see my hope will always be in your promises to me now i'm casting out all fear [Music] set me free my hope will always [Music] your be to me [Music] [Music] there was a moment when the lights went out [Music] when death had claimed its victory [Music] the darkest day in [Music]

a history they made for sinners [Music] before every curse [Music] and it was finished but not the end we could have known for the earth began [Music] sacrifice [Music] is [Music] there was a flash of light was breaking through the king of life [Music] and we're forever [Music] jesus [Music] jesus hair [Music] let us [Music] [Music] before [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] god thank you so much that we can trust that you are holy and that we can learn more and more about that as we study your word and as we approach you in worship and in prayer god thank you

for this time of worship thank you that we get to celebrate your triumphal entry and lord i pray that you would open our hearts to be aware of our own sin and aware of your great holiness it's in your son jesus [Music] as believers our hope and our trust is in the power of god we sing songs like only a holy god that says who else commands all the hosts of heaven who else could make every king bow down who else can whisper and darkness trembles only a holy god there's power in the name of this holy god and we saw in our call to

worship that god is abundant in power paul tells us that it is the power of god to save romans 1 16 and 17 says for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes to the jew first and also to the greek in romans chapter 15 he tells us that we have hope because of the power of the holy spirit may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the holy spirit you may abound in hope and in first corinthians 4 he tells us

that the kingdom of god is one of power for the kingdom of god does not consist in talk but in power and over and over both in the old testament and in the new testament we are reminded that it is the power of god that should inform us with how we live the same power that conquered the grave lives in us lives in me yet how often do we get spiritual amnesia when it comes to this power we start we've been reading with a group of ladies through through the bible starting at the beginning and reading chronologically and we just keep coming back to the

fact that the israelites consistently have that spiritual amnesia like they are they have this wonderful deliverance from egypt and then they immediately forget like less than 40 days later and they have this kind of deliverance and then they forget and this kind of deliverance and then they forget and then god's providence and then they forget and it just happens over and over and over but we do the same thing with god's power we start to listen to the seeds of doubt within us like what if god doesn't provide for my family in the way that i want him to or what if i don't get

the job that i really want or what if my life doesn't look like i envisioned it when i first started out or what if my marriage is really hard or what if i want to be married and i'm not or what if my child isn't the way that i wanted him to be or expected him to be or i don't know how to be a parent how where is god in all of that and what about when we think about our own lives but then the bigger picture of our world like where is god what where's god's power how will god even be big enough

to take care of our city how will god even be bigger to take care of our government how will god even be bigger to take care of the war across the world but the deception goes on and on because we aren't believing in the power of god and the transformation that he brings through the gospel and as we go into our time of confession i want you to answer or ask yourself where are you not believing in this power do you believe that this power has rescued you and made you a son or a daughter and then invites you to call him father do you

believe that this power can transform that loved one out of the darkness of sin and into his marvelous light do you believe that this power can and does break the sin that you've struggled with for so long and that his power can put it to death because we don't believe in just good advice this is the power of god who saves transforms and comforts us with his great power so take some time to confess where we don't always find ourselves believing or trusting in the power of our great and holy god god we pray that you would remind us of who you are every day

in our daily lives in our families our marriages our relationships with colleagues as we watch the news that you would be reminding us and bringing back to our mind what we've read in your word and what we know about your character we pray that we would be so aware of the holiness and the power of you and that all the other things in the world would fade away in comparison and that we wouldn't be tempted to see it as something much much smaller than it is we love you we pray that you would open our eyes to see what you have for us in your

word and open our ears and the eyes of our hearts to see it's in your precious sense amen thanks all right how are you doing this morning guys great awesome um at this time we're gonna go ahead and dismiss all of our three to five-year-olds to the little district where they will be learning about god's promise to abram not abraham alex remember that if you have your bibles go ahead and open to matthew chapter 21 verses 1 through 11. for those of you don't know me my name is josh i'm one of the teaching pastors here at the district church and it is a joy

and an honor to worship with you guys and to open god's word with you this morning i apologize i'm a little nasally getting over a cold this week so we're just going to power through this and may have to stop and cough and whatnot but we are going to celebrate and learn more about holy week if you're not familiar with what today is it is palm sunday the beginning of holy week or passion week as some of us might know it is the week that ultimately culminates in the death of jesus christ and his suffering on the cross and it crescendos with his resurrection from

the dead and this is where it begins in the triumphal entry and some of you may be familiar with this story some of you may not understand why jesus rides in on a donkey and so i hope for those who don't understand as well as those who do that we can learn more about who god is and what jesus is proclaiming as he comes in on this donkey here the triumphal entry though is an important piece of the gospel story uh it is actually only very few stories that we find in the all four gospels that are reiterated and not only that but each gospel

actually gives about a third of it each book to this last week not just the triumphal entry but also the last week of jesus's life we find in matthew out of 28 chapters this last week starts in chapter 21 where we'll be today mark starts in chapter 11 out of 16 chapters luke starts in 19 out of 24 chapters and then john that gives the longest um uh story of jesus's uh the last week of jesus's life uh is starting in john 12 and gives nine chapters to this last week and so it is an important narrative that we we pay attention to the gospel

writers are drawing our attention to this last week and why it is so important the other thing that's going on in this triumphal entry is that it is the week of passover and so you have thousands of jews who have come back to jerusalem to celebrate what is happening in passover and celebrating that what god has done for israel in bringing them out of slavery in egypt and so you have a multitude of people here you have real people with real longings hopes and expectations for the messiah to come for a king to come and free them from not only their bondage of slavery but

for those who understood the promises that were given in the old testament for the messiah the true one to come and free them from their bondage to sin and the slavery to it and so as we read this passage this morning i hope you keep that in mind is that these are real people thinking that a real freedom is coming as jesus enters into jerusalem so let's read what matthew has to say about this triumphal entry and what jesus is telling us about himself through this humble walk on a donkey matthew writes this now when they drew near to jerusalem and came to bethpage to

the mount of olives then jesus sent two disciples saying to them go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a cult with her untie them and bring them to me if anyone says anything to you you shall say the lord needs them and he will send them at once this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying say to the daughter of zion behold your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a cult the thought the fall of a beast of burden the disciples went and did as jesus

had directed them they brought the donkey and the cult and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road and the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting hosanna to the son of david blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest and when he had entered jerusalem the whole city was stirred up saying who is this and the crowd said this is the prophet jesus from nazareth of galilee this is god's

word let us go to him in prayer and ask him to bless us this morning lord you are good and we thank you for this beautiful story of the triumphal entry where you make known that you are king and that you have a kingdom that you are coming to secure lord i pray that we would have the ears to hear this wisdom this morning and receive from your word so that we may trust you as king of our lives what is your servant this morning i pray that you would speak through me and that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

would be acceptable to you o lord my rock and my redeemer lord it is for you that we come in worship and praise longing to see your glory lord we know that as we continue to make you king of our lives we will have joy in this life and the life to come open our eyes to see this truth this morning to behold these wonderful things that you have given us through your word it's in jesus name i pray amen so just kind of quick background as i've set up this this framework of what's happening on the triumphal entry what matthew has done throughout this

entire book is try to reiterate this theme that jesus is the true king of the universe and in each unique way the gospels try to demonstrate this truth they try to demonstrate this profound longing that israel has but matthew specifically focuses on this long-awaited king who came to restore the goodness of creation by bringing in god's kingdom this is important for us to understand because this trip this walk that jesus makes this triumphal entry that he makes matthew is trying to highlight this very truth that as he's said throughout his gospel book that jesus is king he is trying to then ultimately highlight what jesus

is saying to the crowd that i am this long-awaited king that you've been longing for now here's why this day is so significant and that all four gospel writers use it in their books see this is the first time in which jesus's ministry he proclaims to the people and deliberately makes a matter of great importance known that he is the king that is coming for his kingdom you see when you read throughout all four gospels matthew mark luke and john we see that jesus actually deliberately tries to keep quiet who he is he goes throughout the cities healing the sick and he commands those who

he is healed don't say what has happened don't go out and tell about who i am there are times where demons recognize who he is but he commands them not to tell anyone because it is not the appropriate time and on several occasions he even tells his disciples to keep quiet his true identity even though that has been revealed to him to them but now we find in the triumphal entry jesus who has seemingly tried to keep his identity hidden will put it on full display for israel as well as for us as we read through this gospel account because what he is trying to

do is he's trying to show that the king has arrived this messiah king that you have longed for and waited for has arrived and he's coming to secure his kingdom not in the way that they think but by way of the cross to secure them by his blood now it's important to know and if you know me you know that i love to be able to look at some old testament trajectory and old testament history for us to understand the importance of what riding in on a donkey means so i'm just going to give you this quick overview of why jesus would choose a donkey

it's not just because he's fulfilling a prophecy but what he's also doing is he's showing a symbol to israel that he is king and they would have known it you see in the old testament prophets had a regular custom which they used over and over again when their words had no effect on the people that they were speaking to whenever they refused to listen what the prophets had to do was create something that was so outlandish or so outrageous that they were forced to listen we see this in jeremiah 13 we see this in the book of isaiah and ezekiel over and over these dramatic

actions are taken to get the people of god's attention and jesus's actions in this triumphal entry are no different entering into jerusalem on a donkey jesus was publicly declaring himself to be the son of david the ultimate savior king who is coming to save his people and we find this symbol first in first kings 1. where we find the act of riding on a mule or a donkey into jerusalem proclaimed the king of israel it's the first ride that solomon makes as king of israel as david has proclaimed him to be the rightful heir of the kingdom if you go through the book of first

kings and you see kind of the story that's happening david is getting older and he hadn't publicly proclaimed who would be his his successor and so one of his sons was trying to take that was trying to take that throne but we know from first kings that david had already said solomon would follow in his footsteps would be his successor and so what he needed to do was make a public proclamation to the country to the nation of israel who would be his king and so he set solomon up on this donkey and brings him into israel much like jesus is walking in today with

the triumphal entry making this statement that solomon will be the heir of my kingdom and so this is what jesus is doing today he's making this proclamation that i am the king that i will be coming for my people so this is my main point this morning and this is what palm sunday and triumph the triumphal entry is all about is that jesus is king that he is making this statement to not only israel but also to us 2000 years later that jesus is king and i want to actually have everybody kind of not kind of i just want everybody to say that this morning

with me so on the count of three we are going to say jesus is king altogether all right one two three jesus is king that was awesome i love that so if you're taking notes and you want to write down those three words that is my main point where everything will flow out of is that jesus is king jesus who is god our savior and redeemer is the sovereign lord and king over all the universe he did not come to jerusalem to be made king he came to jerusalem triumphantly as the king and was going by the way of the cross to secure his kingdom

but guys it's important for us to understand that he was already king our lord jesus christ is always was and always will be king over everything and this is his public announcement that he is king that he is coming to secure his kingdom by the way of the cross so what kind of king do we see in these past in these in this verse throughout this passage well he is the king that comes with authority but he is also a king that comes with peace so let's take a look at those first three verses again matthew writes now when they drew near to jerusalem and

came to bethpage to the mount of olives jesus then sent two disciples saying to them go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied to a donkey tied and a cult with her untie them and bring them to me if anyone says anything to you you shall say the lord needs them and he will send them at once in verse four this took place to fulfill what was already spoken you see there are a few things that we can highlight from this passage about jesus as the messiah king but for the sake of time what i want to

elevate this morning is the absolute power and sovereign authority that jesus has as he sends his disciples to get this cult as he sends his disciples to pick up this donkey he sends them where he wanted he sent the disciples to whom he knew was going to have the donkey prepared and he also knew to the tea how those people would respond because ultimately this is a part of the plan that god had from before the foundation of the earth to redeem his people this isn't just something where somebody knew of jesus and they were like i'm going to just give you this donkey no

this is a part of the authority that god is showing that he has as king now how could he do this well again as you walk through the book of matthew one of the themes that you find walking through matthew's story of jesus's gospel is that power and authority are throughout this book you see three times matthew gives this reader us as well as the israelites confidence to see in the authority that god has that comes from his presence with his people matthew 1 opens up they will call him emmanuel which means god with us matthew 18 where two or three come together in my

name there i am with them also in matthew 28 as jesus gives the great commission all of authority in heaven and on earth have been given to me go therefore and i will be with you until the end of the ages god's presence is our confidence because he has authority over all things because he is king of this universe but not only do we see just in the presence that matthew shows us jesus has this authority we see it throughout his healing of people with with sins and sicknesses we see it as he teaches to israel that they say he has a different authority than

any other prophet that has come before him the crowds were filled with all the pharisees and sadducees tried to challenge this authority and finally as i quoted already the greatest express expression jesus gives to us is that he is has authority over all things and that he will be with us as he sends us out over and over the gospel of matthew is trying to show us that this king of the universe has ultimate authority over all creation and in his triumphal entry and even just sending his disciples to get a donkey for him to ride on he is exercising that authority and exercising this

plan that he is a part of from the foundation of the earth to save his people now what i want us to be able to pull from this understanding of christ's authority is that he has when you submit to him authority over your life and over all things that you choose to do choose to say choose to think of from your family who you're going to marry who you're going to date where you go to school to your influences in your life your relationships how you speak what you watch how you act all of it should be in submission to christ as king because he

has the authority as abraham kuiper once said there is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which christ who is sovereign over all does not cry mine this is important for us to understand that it's not just certain things that we give to christ as king but it is our whole lives but not only is it our whole lives internally but it's our whole life externally as well and i think sometimes there's a dichotomy that we have where if we're just pursuing christ internally we don't necessarily need to live externally in preaching the gospel sharing with our friends going i

mean just basic evangelism that jesus calls us to or sometimes it will be hey i'm so close with a bunch of non-believers and i can share the gospel but my life does not look like the holiness that christ calls me to but christ's likeness should be our entire life from our internal pursuit of holiness to our external pursuit of others we need to not only acknowledge christ as king but we need to live this out in every area of our lives and we see this in christ's example right christ has the christ has the 12 disciples that he is discipling and preaching to and and

showing the nature of his kingdom but also as you walk through the gospels jesus is is called a glutton and a drunkard because he hangs out with sinners and what does he do when he hangs out with sinners he doesn't just become like them he shows them that in all of their tryings and all of their searching for meaning and life they could never find it here but they can only find it in him and this is this is a part of our call as believers is to not just be in this world and not to be like the world but to be able to

step into dark places with the light of the gospel and not have it influence us to where we lose our integrity we don't live in christ's likeness but the reality is we also need to step into that part of the world we can't just live in a holy huddle where the only thing that we're pursuing is our internal holiness there's there's no way that the gospel goes forth if we don't live in christ's likeness and trust that he is with us and he has authority over all so christ's likeness looks like the pursuit of holiness in the pursuit of evangelism in sharing the gospel and

sharing our lives with one another the second way that jesus comes as king is that he comes with peace you remember jesus coming in on this donkey was not only a symbol that he was proclaiming that he was king but it was also the fact that he wrote in on a donkey that symbolized what type of king he was and what type of kingdom he was seeking to establish as john calvin puts it jesus was intending to show by solemn performance what was the nature of his kingdom by riding in on this donkey you see what we find in zechariah 9 9 which we just

read describing jesus as a peaceful king as a humble king he's claiming that this this kingdom that he's bringing in and the type of king that he is is one of peace and today we might look at this donkey and think that this isn't very significant that jesus would ride in on a donkey i mean have you ever seen a grown man try to ride a small donkey it it it's it's humbling right but this is how jesus is riding in in humility showing that he yes is king but he is coming in peace you see most of the time what would happen in way

of the ancient world especially when a king would come in or a ruler would come in they would come in on a war horse most likely because this is the beginning of passover and because as even matthew describes there was a great stir among the city jerusalem during passover would bring in thousands of jews to this city and the roman empire would take notice and so it's understandable as you read through the accounts of the gospel that pilate is there that herod is there that that rome has sent some of their leaders there to make sure that nothing crazy any type of anarchy would happen

they wanted their presence there and so most likely what would happen is they would have come in on a horse reminding them you're under roman rule but jesus comes in on a humble donkey to signify his his kingship and the kingdom that he sought to establish so two things i want us to see about jesus being this king of peace as he came in during passover this week this first one is that jesus is the true passover lamb that makes peace between god and his people remember as i said earlier jesus didn't draw a lot of attention to why he came to earth and what

was his purpose like he's doing here but by making this symbol known he is desiring for the people of israel as well as for us knowing the connections of our old testament the unmistakable importance of what he was about to do on the cross the unmistakable importance of his sin atoning death as the lamb of god you see god's providential plan here isn't that jesus is coming in just so happens to be the beginning of passover no jesus is coming in as a symbol to show that what you are celebrating in passover i am fulfilling and completing that land that you are taking up taking

part of and eating i will be that ultimate sacrificial lamb for you on your behalf i am the true passover lamb that has come to this holy city to make atonement for your sins because apart from it and without it you cannot be saved as jc ryle puts it this way thank god for the incarnation and the birth of jesus christ treasure up all his gracious sayings seek to imitate his holy life cherish his blessed intercession and priesthood look for the second coming long for that second coming but that one mighty mysterious work to which our lord jesus called the attention to his disciples called

the attention to the whole world is this it's the crowning act of god himself his death on the cursed tree as our blessed substitute jesus is calling our attention to the fact that he is king and that he is coming into jerusalem coming to secure his kingdom by the way of the cross there is no other action that jesus highlights in this way and what he's saying as he comes in on passover is that he is the lamb of god who will make peace for all mankind and he has made peace for us for those who have placed our trust in christ and hold him

as king over our lives romans tells us there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus paul tells us in colossians through him he reconciled all things to himself having made peace through the blood of the cross and paul reminds us again in ephesians 2 for he himself is our peace over and over and over the scriptures remind us from the old testament to the new that jesus has come as our peace he has come as the substitute to make peace between god and man atoning for our sins guys may we prize this reality every day when we take communion later

on may we sit in that truth that because of the blood and because of the bread because of christ breaking his body and shedding his blood we now have peace with god because that's what we need there isn't anything else in this world that we need except peace and to be reconciled back to god because of our sin and christ has done it for us on the cross and may we prize this reality day in and day out but jesus is also showing something about his kingdom as you walk through the book of matthew jesus talks a lot about the kingdom of god but the

reality as i said earlier is when kings during this time period wanted to show that they were in strength they would come on a horse but jesus coming in this coming in this way in humility on this donkey gentle and lowly shows us that the type of kingdom that he calls us to is one of peace he shows us that this is how the citizens of god should live that we should be ambassadors of peace that because of the reality that we have been made right with god that we have peace with him therefore we should be pursuing peace with one another the the sermon

on the mount is found in matthew it's jesus's longest sermon that we have recorded how does it start blessed are the poor in the spirit blessed are the peacemakers blessed are the meek jesus is showing this is the type of kingdom that i have called you to as my citizens to be peacemakers to be meek and this is how you are to live not like rome not like the world that seeks power and self-preservation and strength but you are to live in weakness in peace and in humility striving to put on the full display of god's kingdom now i will say this this reality that

we are to live in peace that jesus is coming on a donkey that we see in the triumphal entry is a beautiful truth but if we know how this ends there is also a beautiful reality that jesus does come on a horse and one day he will return not to wage war but he will come back in victory because the war is complete defeating satan defeating the evil in this world and once again will claim his people as his own to live in the new jerusalem where there will be worship for eternity as the old hymn says as we've been there ten thousand years bright

shining like the sun there's no more days to sing god's praise than when we first begun this is what the reality we have to hope in as christ comes because when he comes again he's coming in victory and that is the hope that we live in in the here and now that when christ returns he's returning in victory over the injustices in the world over hate and shame miscarriages cancer abuse all that pain all that shame all that brokenness will be gone and all of it will be made new i know how i pray i hope that we have this prayer every single day as

john prays maranatha lord come soon so that all of this will be restored so christ will return but he's not coming in peace he's coming in victory and we have that hope to hold on to today and finally as jesus comes in authority as he comes in peace jesus's announcement as king demands a response look at the last three verses of this passage starting in verse 8. 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 out before him and followed him were shouting hosanna to the son

of david blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest and when he entered jerusalem the whole city was stirred up saying who is this and the crowd said this is the prophet jesus from nazareth of galilee so one of the reasons jesus's public proclamation is done in this way is that he is forcing a response he's forcing a response he's forcing a response from jerusalem from the jewish leaders in the city and he's forcing response two thousand years later answering this question who is this and if there's anything that i've thought about this week it's that that question

who is this who is this jesus who is he to you who is he to me is he king or do you respond like the crowd i want you to i want you to see there's three maybe four responses i'll include the fourth one in in just the actual passion week narrative but there are four types of responses that we see the first one is an ignorant hope you see even though psalm 118 is being shouted hosanna to the son of david blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest when you read through this story and you read

how matthew is writing this story what he is revealing is that there are some in the crowd who have seen jesus do miracles he's seen him heal he's seen him give prophetic authority and what they see is an ignorant hope that he is coming to take over rome he's coming to take over their circumstances in the current life that they live that he's coming to restore israel as the nation above all nations this phrase hosanna to the son of david blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest basically means save this king who's riding on the donkey but

it's not a save as in lord we want you to save us it's a save this guy because we need his power to take over for our circumstances it's very much like save the queen if you've ever heard that phrase as britain would shout that out save the queen it is not asking for salvation from the queen it's asking that the queen would be saved and this is what's being shouted here by the crowd save this powerful and authoritative man so that he can relieve our current circumstances but that's not what jesus came for that's not what jesus intended for in his life but then

there's also the ignorant or the apathetic you see those who are asking this question who is this shows us that there is a crowd in which they choose to do nothing about jesus in a time where jesus is healing he's his authority he's been to jerusalem before his name is around the countryside to ask this question reveals there is an ignorance about who this man is and maybe even a choice that i'm not really going to pay attention to him i don't need to and then we find later in the gospel story specifically in matthew 26 there is opposition to jesus's announcement as king the

jewish leaders as they saw jesus begin to stir up the crowds then sought to kill him as we read through the gospel story of jesus saving lazarus last week in john 11 and 12 we find that because of his raising lazarus from the dead the jew or the jewish leaders sought to then kill him and put him to death so there is opposition to this king and then there are those in the crowd who have full hope and trust that jesus is the king that he is proclaimed to be the messiah that has come that will actually free the people of god from their sin

and slavery and bondage to it jesus's proclamation of being king demanded a response and it still demands a response today so how do you respond how do you respond to this question who is this tim keller says jesus is the most incredibly humble man that you will see but he's also the absolute immodest person that you will find he orchestrates his entry to show that he is king and his message to everyone is that you can either crown me as such or kill me but there is no middle ground there is no middle way and the same is true for us today when we hear

the question who is this do we have an ignorant hope that if we trust in jesus that our current circumstances will just be relieved of but i don't have to worry about the sin in my life as long as he heals me physically as long as he gives me blessings of wealth and health and prosperity but i don't have to trust him when it comes to my sins i don't have to give him my entire life or is there an ignorance and apathy towards christ as king you're not really going to do much he's a good prophet he's a good man i like some of

his teachings but i don't really care about what he calls me to live like or is there opposition that you are like no i'm not going to call christ king because i understand the call that he calls me to come and die to everything in my life and i just don't want to do it or is your response that one of faith that you are constantly pursuing christ's likeness in holiness and external living that you are sharing the light of the gospel with the dark and dying world around you while pursuing the holiness that he calls you to but ultimately understanding that we still have

sin in our lives but as we mature as believers we are repenting of that we are giving that over we are seeking to put that to death he can either be king of your life or nothing john reminds us in the book of revelation as he writes to the church of laodicea that you either need to be hot or cold but you can't be lukewarm because what happens when we are lukewarm is that god will ultimately spit us out of his mouth he will ultimately say you are not my children so you can't just like this jesus you have to crown him or kill him

it's one of the other so who he who is he to you i want to close this morning with the taking of communion that we take every single week and and we are reminded of what christ has done for us on the cross we are reminded that he has come as the this king of our lives and he has come and secured us as his children as his citizens in this kingdom by the way of this cross and so we are reminded by it but we also celebrate in it that every time that we take communion we are celebrating that we are citizens of this

kingdom that we are like the people in revelation at the wedding feast of the lamb celebrating the kingdom that we are in under the king who has secured us by his blood and the breaking of his body this is a visual representation of the work of christ that we get to celebrate each and every week and we get to look around and we get to say those who are taking this with me are going to be with me in eternity and i get to worship here and now and i get to worship with them in the future because this king has secured us so if

you don't have the elements go ahead and stand up and grab them and we're going to celebrate communion together that christ has secured us as citizens of this kingdom and as you're getting the elements for the lord's supper i just want to help us understand the weight of this right christ has secured us as the citizens of his kingdom but he also calls us in his word to examine ourselves in this time he encourages those who are in conflict with one another to par to not partake of communion before you have reconciled with a brother because it is it is important that we understand the

relationship and the nature that we have with one another as sons and daughters of god and i would encourage those who have not placed their trust in jesus's king to to refrain from taking communion to understand the weightiness and understand the celebration that the citizens of god receive and if you want to know more about what that looks like i i would love to share dwayne ransford would love to to show you what it means to be a citizen of this kingdom and what it means to proclaim and celebrate the lord's death until he returns so go ahead and take communion and partake in it

and then i'm going to close this in prayer and we're going to continue to worship him in song this morning lord you are good and lord you you came with authority and you came in peace the lord your word also reminds us that you came in love and in joy the author of hebrews reminds us that it was the joy that was set before you that you endured the cross you endured the shame you endured the wrath of god being poured out onto you for our sake so lord as we take communion as we think through this week of what the triumphal entry means for

our lives lord i pray that we would remember just that that it was with joy that you went to the cross to secure your kingdom lord i pray that that joy would inflame our hearts would encourage us to live in such a way that shines the glory of god to the world around us and lord that we would pursue what christ's likeness looks like not just in the pursuit of holiness but also in the pursuit of being able to share the life share life and the gospel with those around us who don't know you as king and that we would be encouraged to go and

make disciples because we know that you are with us and you are king over all that you have authority over all lord i pray that you would save and that you would give us confidence in our ability to share this good news it's for your name's sake pray amen would you guys stand to worship continue to worship this morning [Music] we've come to join the song sung long before our lives to raise our [Music] a king who bled [Music] generations you are worthy lord of all unto you the slain and risky we lift our voice worthy [Music] our endless praise will cry jesus [Music] jesus

[Music] of a thousand generations [Music] worthy [Music] you are worthy [Music] worthy [Music] highest is highest [Music] highest [Music] is [Music] [Applause] if you're worthy [Music] generations who are worthy [Music] worthy [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are worthy [Music] worthy [Music] dear god thank you so much for the truth that we know thank you for the message that was preached this morning i pray that as we go into this week that we would be pondering your entry your time in jerusalem and also your death and resurrection which we'll get to celebrate next week it's in your precious sunset