What is your response to King Jesus?

[0:00] now just before we turn back to look chapter 19 let's pray once again lord david could pray with that desire that he would be satisfied in seeing your face being in your presence and enjoying your glory and lord we pray that the same would be true for each one of us today that you know that we've come here from different stories backgrounds circumstances and situations and for some our hearts are joyful for some our hearts are troubled for many our hearts even now are distracted but lord we pray that you would give us that desire to seek your face and that you would show us more of jesus in your word we pray amen so as we continue on the journey towards easter as we follow the journey of jesus in the gospel of luke we come to what's sometimes known as the triumphal entry jesus approaching and entering jerusalem and our question today is a very personal what is your response to king jesus what is my response to king jesus and especially as we see him come as the king of peace as it happened peace was the theme of our hope explored course this past monday and so we thought about that deep longing that we have as people for peace now whether that's peace out there and we can think about war we can think about hatred we can think about racism and we long to see an end to that and whether the longing for peace right now is is in here in our own hearts perhaps we're full of anxiety and stress and uncertainty or maybe for us when we think of our longing for peace we're thinking about peace between us and we're conscious perhaps of relationships that are strained or broken peace in our time peace in our time is something we are all going to be looking for perhaps we remember in our history at school at the time when neville chamberlain arrived back home to a hero's welcome announcing a peace in our time a great thanksgiving thanksgiving in churches because chamberlain believed he had secured peace a promise of peace a promise of peace from hitler of course that turned out to be a false promise and a false peace and perhaps even that reminds us that as much as we long for peace we also recognize peace is something that's easily lost sometimes all it takes is a careless word sometimes it's the word that's left unsaid sometimes it's words spoken in anger or we go to the attitudes and emotions in our heart perhaps because of pride perhaps because of pride or because of selfishness or an unwillingness to make the first move towards reconciliation we can live with broken peace peace is a fragile thing fragile is a spider's web and all too often it's we that break the thread so we long for it but we recognize how easily it can be lost well today there is good news for us as we consider the journey of jesus because he comes announcing himself as the lord of peace here he is in this bold public triumphant entry into jerusalem coming as the king of peace riding on a donkey and he comes to bring the deepest peace a lasting peace a spiritual peace peace between us and god and he will make peace by way of his blood by way of the cross

[4:00] and as he is on this journey as he comes towards jerusalem we see that there are different responses to jesus and that invites us to make our response to king jesus too how will people respond how did people respond then how do you and i respond today so let's notice and what happens when the king of peace arrives verse 28 to verse 35 we have it there it maybe you've been around and seen the excitement and the crowds that gather when a member of the royal family arrives in a city or a town or maybe a president or a prime minister comes but even if not we've definitely seen it on the television we know that there are crowds and colors and flags and cheering and gifts and honor is shown and we see some of that here don't we this is jerusalem at passover time a great time of national celebration as well as one of those national times of worship and there's always great enthusiasm and hope and expectation at this time wondering will this be the year when god's king will come will this be the year when deliverance comes will we have peace in our time peace as rome is removed most people were looking for a political peace one of the reasons why people missed the significance of jesus but but look with me a few things first of all think about the plan of jesus let's read again verse 30 and 31 these are jesus words to his disciples go to the village ahead of you and as you enter it you'll find a colt tied there which no one has ever ridden it has ever ridden untie and bring it here if anyone asks why are you untying it say the lord needs it so jerusalem's on the horizon and jesus issues these instructions he's setting his royal timetable his plan is put into effect now what do we make of that scene for some people they hear this and think well jesus has planned this in advance so that the lord needs it becomes a kind of password so jesus already pre-arranged it and for others and we hear the lord needs it and perhaps that reminds us here is jesus who is the lord the lord of creation he owns it all he has rights over it all and so the folks that own the donkey recognize the authority of jesus the lord others look at it and say well here is jesus showing that he knows the future he knows what's going to happen when his disciples go into the town he knows the conversation that's going to take place and in a sense we're not invited to know which of these are true and in fact all of them can be true at the same time but what we do know as we put those together is that here is the lord jesus deliberately directing events so that he will make this journey to the cross now that's the ultimate plan that's going on here and as we think about that we need to stop and think about who is this jesus who is directing things towards the cross luke's gospel has been building a profile for us we've jumped in towards the end of his gospel but we can think just for a couple of minutes for example back to when jesus um birth it is being announced to mary his mother by the angels and what's mary told that your son will be the son of the most high will be the son of god and he will sit on the throne of david forever and we can think about jesus baptism and we see the significance of king jesus there is

[8:08] the spirit comes down upon him and as the father announces this is my son i love him i'm well pleased with him when you think about the ministry of jesus and what do people recognize in the ministry of jesus they see don't they his power and authority as he teaches his power and authority in his miracles here is one who has power over sickness and storms over disease and over death itself so that people were frequently asking who is this and then we can think about the mission of jesus last week we heard him say at the house of zacchaeus that he'd come to seek and to save the lost he announces in the gospel multiple times he has come to suffer and be rejected and to die and to rise in order to bring forgiveness and eternal life and so here we have this powerful king this one with all authority this one who is god in the flesh who deliberately chooses to ride on a donkey towards his own day and so we think about all that we're told about jesus in the gospel we need to ask ourselves why why that journey why the donkey and that takes us to a really important prophecy jesus is a very conscious that he has come by the plan of god according to the promise of god's word and he's come to fulfill scripture so think about it even today and whenever a royal is moving around or a prime minister or a president their transport is making a statement it's always expensive grand there's always a grand entrance just make it a statement in jesus day when a triumphant king was riding into a city you expect a war horse and you expect this great procession you don't expect a donkey and remember jesus is lord jesus is lord over all creation if he wanted a horse he could have had a horse he chose a donkey so why is he making this statement and that's where we need to turn to the old testament and we need to turn to zechariah chapter 9 verses 9 to 11 to help us to see this so we have the words of zechariah 9 9 to 11 up there so i'm going to read them for us where we read rejoice greatly daughter zion shout daughter jerusalem and that's the picture we have at the triumphal entry see your king comes to you righteous and victorious lowly and riding on a donkey on a colt the foal of a donkey i will take away the chariots from ephraim and the war horses from jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken he will proclaim peace to the nations his rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth as for you because of the blood of my covenant with you i will free your prisoners from the waterless pit why does jesus choose the donkey he chooses the donkey to announce i am this promised king the promised king we have here in zechariah the one who comes righteous jesus is the only truly righteous person ever to have lived never sinned always lived for the glory of god lived in full obedience to his father's will here is jesus the king who is victorious he is coming to wage war on those

[12:12] great enemies of satan and sin and death those enemies that we are powerless against but he will win a victory through the cross and the resurrection he is all powerful and yet he is humble and gentle and lowly and he comes riding on a donkey and he is the king of peace and he proclaims his message is a message of peace and not just peace for some but peace to all nations his rule and authority extends to all nations so he is the hope for all people he's the hope for you and for me today so in choosing the donkey jesus is announcing that those hopes of deep peace that you and i have in our hearts those longings that we have they are met in jesus in jesus we can be reconciled to god our relationship with god broken by our sin can be restored through faith in him why is it good news that jesus comes riding on the donkey well it's good news if we see for ourselves the problem of sin and the lack of peace we have with god because of our sin when the bible speaks of sin it speaks of us breaking god's good laws god is our creator and our maker and he has designed how life is to work at its best and we break those laws sometimes accidentally but often deliberately sin is rejecting god's good rule the bible declares that god is our king and we owe him our loyalty and our worship but sin is when we turn our back on god when we'd rather live our own way now we'd rather not follow him sin is when we replace our one good god with an idol where we choose to make something within creation whether that be a person or our work or our hobby or whatever it might be more important to us than the living god we find our our security and our sense of identity and purpose in a created thing and not our god the bible says that's idolatry and that's sin sin is when we resist god's good and loving will sin is when we choose darkness over light and the bible is clear and actually jesus is clear that the consequence of turning away from the light and choosing darkness is to face eternal darkness is to be cut off from god and all that is good and all that is loving forever it's the reality of hell as jesus speaks about it in the bible and so when we understand the problem of sin and the problem that it brings with our hearts and we can have no peace with god by ourselves then it's good news that jesus comes as this king bringing peace and if we're ready to listen we can receive the solution we even find it here anticipated in zechariah 9 so he will proclaim verse 10 he'll proclaim peace to the nations and then in verse 11 we're told about the blood of my covenant with you here's the reason for jesus journey to the cross last week in church we celebrated the lord's supper and every time we celebrate the lord's supper it's a picture of the work of jesus we take bread and it represents jesus said his body which is broken for his people we take a cup of wine which represents his blood shed for us and and jesus said this cup

[16:16] is the new covenant in my blood so jesus has come to bring us back into restored relationship with our god he has come to make peace but he can only do that through his blood and that explains why jesus rides on a donkey it explains why he journeys to the cross so that he might out of sheer love and mercy and grace cover our sin that he might be the sacrifice that absorbs the wrath of god that we deserve to face instead it will fall on jesus his is the blood that pays the redemption price so that we can know freedom and not slavery and not live with fear jesus experiences rejection jesus tastes death so that we might have peace that we might have peace in here in our hearts knowing forgiveness from god knowing there's no condemnation for us knowing that guilt has been removed and that we can enjoy through faith in jesus a peace that passes all understanding a peace to guard our hearts and our minds come what may but it's not just peace in here the cross actually provides peace between us between us and god there's a wonderful little section in colossians chapter 1 verses 19 and 20 it says for god was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him jesus is fully god and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross reconciliation peace through the blood of jesus and when we by faith trust in jesus the war is over between us and god peace breaks out and joy breaks out perhaps we remember perhaps when the the berlin wall fell and the celebrations that happened perhaps we've seen scenes of street parties at the end of world war ii well by faith in jesus as our peace is restored there's a greater joy for the people of god but it's not just peace in here it's not just peace between us that jesus came to secure it's also peace out there peace in the world by trusting in jesus as jesus comes to bring in his kingdom we can look forward with hope as the people of god to jesus future kingdom of perfect lasting peace a place of wholeness and completeness of security and tranquility when he comes to establish the new creation when he comes to deal with sin once and for all and when we get to live with peace hope and joy and perfect love so the king of peace arrives but the question still remains what will the response of the people be and more importantly for us what will our response be to this king who brings peace two responses we recognize the first is that of rejoicing there is a group who are rejoicing over the king of peace here is jesus again he's boldly publicly entering into jerusalem and these actions are calling for a decision and there's one group who bring out the royal carpet verse 35 and 36 they brought the colt to jesus through their cloaks on the colt and put jesus on it as he went along

[20:18] people spread their cloaks on the road now this is the way for people in those days to show honor to give a glad welcome to give the smoothest ride possible perhaps for us the closest we get is towards the red carpet treatment but the way jesus is welcome to jerusalem is the same you can go to the old testament second kings nine and you'll discover that's how jehu is welcomed and honored so there are some who rejoice because god's king has come and then they join this royal chorus in verse 38 blessed is the king who comes in the name of the lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest so that first part of the verse from psalm 118 verse 26 so there are some who are singing those psalms of ascent festival psalms and they recognize here is jesus the royal king who arrives to jerusalem with honor think about those verses that we sang jesus is the king who saves jesus is the king who demonstrates the love and goodness of god jesus is the lord's king and so there are some people as they're singing that psalm they recognize this is true of jesus and so they are rejoicing but then they also find themselves shouting peace in heaven and glory in the highest and that is very reminiscent of the song of the angels as jesus is born and as the angels appear to shepherds looking after their sheep that first christmas and we find in chapter 2 verse 14 glory to god in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests peace and glory in earth and in heaven why because god is reconciled to the human race through jesus who is totally god and totally man there is joy for those who recognize that the events of easter are the only path to true peace that jesus has come as promised to bring lasting peace the crowds as they rejoice they do so for two reasons in verse 37 they praise god in loud voices for all the miracles they've seen so they've either been there or they've heard by reputation the wonderful powerful things that jesus has done and they conclude well this isn't any ordinary person this is none other than god's promised messiah king and so they rejoice they also sing because they recognize here is one who fulfills all those old testament promises and they're reading or they're hearing the scriptures read and they're recognizing this is fulfilled jesus and so they have joy because they see jesus as the answer to their longing for peace much deeper than just a political peace peace in their hearts peace in the world peace between them and god because jesus has come and so they sing for joy just as we began with that great hymn of praise praise my soul the king of heaven to his feet thy tribute bring why because we've been ransomed healed and restored and forgiven who like we his praise should sing the people of god rejoice

[24:18] over the king of peace but that's not the only response and we also need to consider the second response because we see there are those who reject the king of peace for those of us who like football i wonder if you've ever been the away fan in the home end when a match is being played if so you've probably had the uncomfortable experience of of not joining in the same songs that everyone else is singing you don't celebrate the same goals as they are scored you stick out different emotions different responses well here there is a crowd joyfully praising and then there are the pharisees you can almost picture them can't you with their arms folded and they're scowling and they're ready to rebuke jesus teacher they say in verse 39 rebuke your disciples here is a group of religious leaders so they've read their bibles they study their bibles that's their life but they refuse to recognize jesus as worthy they reject his claims and they would actually rebuke jesus the son of god and jesus responds verse 40 i tell you if they keep quiet the stones will cry out those stones i have better judgment than the pharisees jesus saying those stones if they had voice they would worship their creator but the pharisees stand there scowling they've been blinded by pride they don't like that people are listening to jesus and he speaks with a greater authority than them they've been blinded by prejudice he comes from an unimportant time from an unimportant family and so they do not want this king who brings peace that brings us to the city of jerusalem this city whose name means city of peace we see that they too will by and large reject the king of peace and in verse 41 to 44 jesus does two things first the first thing we'll consider is that he announces future judgment verse 43 the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side they will not leave one stone on another future judgment destruction of the city which happens in ad 70 just like in the old testament god's people they were in covenant relationship with him and they were told if you live in obedience to me if you honor me and worship me then you'll enjoy blessing but if not you will experience curse curse for turning their back on god and what we got here jesus knows here he is he is emmanuel he is god with us he is god actually with them he's come down to love them to save them to restore them but verse 42 if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace but now it's hidden from your eyes they didn't see jesus as the one who came to bring peace verse 44 why does the judgment come it comes because you did not recognize the time of god's coming to you god came in the flesh in the person of jesus but the door

[28:18] was locked no red carpet was laid out rejection of the king and so he announces future judgment but he also weeps for them verse 41 as he approached jerusalem and saw the city he wept over it and in this moment jesus shows us the heart of god god declared i do not take delight in the death of the wicked here we find jesus longing for them distressed that they would turn their back on their creator and their savior he doesn't gloat over his enemies who will gladly conspire to judge him falsely and to put him to death rather he is the savior who weeps and it reminds us of the tragedy of their response to jesus the scandal of their response to jesus as god's king and god's savior is rejected so the journey of king jesus because it's so public is deliberately calling for response and so today this journey of jesus is calling for our response jesus rides on a donkey and that donkey helps us to appreciate more of the gospel story here is jesus coming as god's humble king a servant king a king who would bring peace and how would he do it by journeying to jerusalem by journeying to the cross to pay for sin to face our judgment before rising again for our justification and to give us eternal life what does he invite us to do he invites us to put our faith in him to trust in him that we might have peace with god and in that journey as we've considered it he's calling each one of us to decide which side am i on in this story in this response to jesus am i rejoicing over jesus today or am i rejecting his rule and authority today in part invites us to decide on his identity do i today think that jesus is god's son and god's king who brings peace and salvation or do i not and how we respond to that will then probably determine how we respond to following him or not his identity and his mission matters life and death matters as luke records this for us in his gospel he's inviting us to heed the warnings that we find here i think we see at least three warnings one a reminder and a warning it's not enough to just be around jesus it's not enough just to be around his church we need to personally respond in repentance and faith and we can say this because these many in this crowd who are so joyfully it seems welcoming jesus will in the next week be crying crucify him crucify him caught up in a moment but their hearts were unchanged it's not enough to just be comfy to be in church and to be around god's people and to enjoy singing songs and to find friendship we need to find friendship with jesus it's also a warning to beware that same pride and prejudice in the pharisee's heart can rest in our hearts too perhaps when we think that we're fundamentally good and so we're okay with god regardless of whether we trust in jesus perhaps it's in failing to see peace with god as our greatest needs we have other things on our agenda rather than getting right with god perhaps it's failing to see sin as our deepest and most serious

[32:18] problem perhaps it's simply failing to take jesus seriously to write him off as not being worthy of consideration i think the third and in many ways the most solemn warning that we find in luke's gospel from jesus is a pointer to the reality of future judgment what happens to jerusalem is a foreshadowing of future judgment which is real which is inevitable which is painful and which is tragic for all who would choose to reject jesus as king jesus the most loving man who ever lived spoke about the judgment of god and the reality of hell more than anyone else in the bible it's so important for us to find peace with god through jesus and to do that today so there are warnings for us to respond to but we're also invited to rest and to rejoice peace in god's promises in god's peace and it's wonderful you think about the contrast with perhaps the fragile peace that we feel in our own relationships or in our own hearts so often in contrast to the struggle and the failures to find lasting peace in the political realm we need to recognize that jesus has secured for his people peace with god through his blood that is a finished work our faith rests in past completed actions of the lord jesus and they mean peace with us peace for us for now and for eternity but it's not just about the past think about what difference the work of jesus makes to our present we're gonna have peace in our hearts today and think about the transforming power of that as we receive grace and mercy day by day as the people of god as we know we have been forgiven by god's grace doesn't that give us the capacity to bring healing in our own relationships to pursue reconciliation and to live with hope and perhaps that's the last great promise is the hope of future peace so here luke invites us into this royal procession which in some ways is a very humble procession as jesus rides on a donkey but we have the promise that when jesus returns things are going to be very different there'll be an infinitely more glorious royal procession to come jesus will return as king of kings and he will lead his people those who put their faith in him he'll lead his people into the new jerusalem the new creation a place of perfect eternal lasting peace that's our hope the king of peace is our hope in life and in death so as we finish what's our response today will we reject jesus or will we receive him and rejoice in him let's pray together lord god we ask that in your mercy and by your spirit you would give to each one of us

[36:18] a clear vision of who jesus is to see him as your son to see him as your promised king to see him as the one who came to seek and to save the lost who came to lay down his life for sin and for sinners so that by faith in jesus by trusting in him by turning away from our sin and turning to jesus we might have peace with you we might be reconciled to you indeed we might be adopted into your family help us to see the significance of who jesus is and to understand what jesus did that in dying on the cross in giving his blood as the new covenant he made a way for sinful people like us to be restored to fellowship to relationship with you a holy god help us not to take that for granted help us not to become complacent about that for those of us who are christians may that always be the foundation of our hope and lord for those who are not christians may you give them eyes to see the beauty of the salvation that is found in jesus lord we pray today for our family and friends who won't be in church today who won't be worshipping you today whose hearts are far from you lord we pray for our city and our nation and the nations of the world lord as jesus came as the king of peace extending his rule to all nations authority over all peoples may there be many even today who would turn to trust in jesus to recognize the wonderful free gift of salvation found in him lord may you renew and revive may you awaken spiritual interest and lord help us who are your people to be good witnesses for you to be faithful in the way that we live and the way that we speak so that we might point others to the hope that we have come to find for ourselves lord as we're invited to pray for one another we remember different churches across the country we remember this week galspy up in the north we thank you for preserving them over the last couple of years and we ask that as we look ahead to the end of restrictions for churches that you would give them wisdom and vision to know how to communicate the good news of the lord jesus to their village and the villages around lord we also remember the church of bon accord we pray for its witness in the city center we pray for their hope explored course soon to begin lord asking that you would draw many who are hungry for truth to be gathered there lord we also remember the work of dumasani the theological institute in south africa and we pray that this would be a term of good learning of people growing in their faith growing in their understanding growing in their ability to communicate the truth of the bible to a needy world and to the church that the church might be built up and lord we also pray for the church in japan and we remember the nakahashi family and we remember ken who

[40:19] was in our own congregation and others lord recognizing that the church in japan is small and declining in numbers and increasing in age lord we pray that you would do a new thing that you would cause men and women and boys and girls to want to know jesus as lord and savior may you equip and encourage the small churches to be faithful in sharing good news lord again we remember places with war again we remember ukraine and we cry to you for mercy we cry for an end to war for the beginnings of real peace lord we pray for the ongoing refugee crisis for those whose needs at the moment are immediately physical lord we pray for those whose needs are emotional and we pray for people's spiritual needs as well lord as there are millions pouring to different countries we pray for your mercy we pray for your people among them that you would comfort them and sustain them lord thank you that in your providence this month is a month where the the bible society is going to be delivering bibles to ukrainian soldiers how much they need to hear that message lord thank you for the good news that in your providence there were many ukrainian children that were able to receive jesus storybook bibles over the last year lord we pray that those words of truth and love would speak hope and peace that you the prince of peace lord jesus that you would rule and reign in hearts and lives we pray in jesus name amen amen