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[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to Matthew's Gospel. We're trucking through Matthew. Matthew chapter 20.

[0:13] If you're visiting with us and need a Bible, in the chair in front of you, that black Bible, you can pull that out and go to the back of that and find page 17 in that black Bible.

[0:30] Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20 starting in verse 29. Starting in verse 29 of chapter 20 into chapter 21, verse 11.

[0:47] I'm merging these two together. From chapter 20, verse 29, the two blind men into the triumphal entry, the first 11 verses of chapter 21, again page 17 in that black Bible.

[1:01] Let me read and then we'll jump in. And they, going out from Jericho, they had a great multitude follow him.

[1:13] And behold, two men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out saying, Have mercy on us, son of David. And the multitude sternly told them that they should be quiet.

[1:26] But they cried out all the more saying, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David. And Jesus stopped calling them and said, What do you want me to do for you?

[1:38] And they said to him, Lord, that our eyes may be open. And move with compassion. Jesus touched their eyes and immediately they regained sight and followed him.

[1:51] And approaching Jerusalem and come to Bethpage to the Mount of Olives, chapter 21, verse 1, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them in verse 2, Go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.

[2:09] Untying them, bring to me. And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them. Now this happened that the word through the prophet might be fulfilled saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foe of a beast.

[2:35] Verse 6, And the disciples going, they did just as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and laid on them their garments upon which he sat.

[2:49] And most of the multitudes, they spread their garments in the road and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. And the multitudes going before him and those who followed after him cried out saying, Hosanna to the son of David.

[3:02] Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And he entering Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up saying, Who is this?

[3:13] And the multitudes were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. This was some time ago.

[3:28] I think it was this past fall last year. There was a conversation around the table with my family, with my seven younger kids. And somehow we got in the conversation, if you had to lose one of your senses, which one would you choose?

[3:45] Do you remember that? You know, you got hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, and feeling. Wait, touching and smelling. It was five senses.

[3:57] So the consensus, I think even with the five-year-old, four-year-old, was they wanted to keep touch. They didn't want to lose the sense of touch. And most, I think, if I remember correctly, they were fine with losing their eyesight.

[4:16] Kind of a consensus amongst us, because we were talking about discussing and everything like that. And we also talked about, how when you lose one of those senses, like sight or hearing, whatever, the other senses like kick in.

[4:30] Like it's like they kind of go, you know, on steroids type thing. They're like really heightened, because it's your sense of awareness. If you're blind, of hearing and touching, it heightens.

[4:41] That's what normally happens. And then we got into a conversation, I believe, about Helen Keller, who was both, she got that disease, and she ended up going blind and deaf. And yet she was the first deaf, blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

[5:00] Goes to show, you should not underestimate those who are blind or deaf. When I, it just reminded me of, also of another story. When I was in high school, I played football, and we had to play a team that was deaf.

[5:15] Did I tell you guys about this? Have I told you guys about this? The school of the deaf. So you would line up, you know, on the, on the line of scrimmage, and you would hear this.

[5:28] There was a huge drum on the sideline, and if it was, if they went on three, and then they would hike the ball.

[5:40] It was kind of crazy. So you had to really pay attention, because they would, it would be maybe on two, and then they would like, you know, wait. And then you'd be like, oh, they're not gonna hike the ball, so you're kind of like, oh, we do offsides all the time, and we always get penalties.

[5:55] Anyways. It was just interesting. So it made me think about today, so many benefits for the blind, for the deaf.

[6:06] Think about Nancy, who doesn't have a leg. So many benefits that people have today. Imagine being blind, though, in the first century. All they could do was beg.

[6:24] There's no such thing as welfare. No such thing as access. No such thing as long-term care of Arizona. There's no such thing as those things.

[6:36] The only thing they could do to get anything was beg. That's why for some people, they were a nuisance. And yet the striking thing that I want you to see, and I use that on purpose, see, is they, these two blind men, they saw so much more clearly than even the crowds.

[7:02] You see the irony here. Which is why these two parents, I put these two together. And then, it's interesting, you see, remember, Matthew's driving force of his gospel to his readers, to us, bow down, worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, and he's going to describe the kind of king that he is.

[7:28] He's our compassionate, humble king. In these verses today, we will see, he's our compassionate, humble king.

[7:42] Jesus is the compassionate, humble king who came to serve us by giving himself to us on our behalf so that we may have everlasting peace and parade his compassion and humility to the world.

[8:04] This is an outflow of what we looked at last week. Chapter 20, 20 through 28, Jesus talked about his death, predicted his death, his resurrection.

[8:19] And then the two sons of Zebedee, you want to be on your left and your right. And Jesus was like, oh man, what's with you guys? The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.

[8:36] We have a king who serves us. We have a king who's compassionate, who's merciful, and who's humble. That's why we read Philippians 2 have this attitude which was of Christ Jesus.

[8:56] He humbled himself. He took on flesh. So we may have everlasting peace and then what we can do as people, we parade this.

[9:11] We display this compassion. We display this humility to the world. And only, only the eyes of faith can truly see Jesus as a compassionate, humble king who's come to serve humble, needy, blind people.

[9:28] We are humble, needy, weak, vile, blind people. And that's who's he come to serve.

[9:42] He's come to serve us and show us compassion, show us mercy. So for those of you who don't know Jesus, you're not a Christian, take notice of this king.

[9:55] he's come to serve sinners by dying for them, which is why you should come, why you should repent, why you should trust Christ.

[10:07] There is no religious teacher of the world that teaches this. But for those of us who do know Christ, this is a challenge for us.

[10:21] May this challenge us to be a church, Jesus followers, who are compassionate towards each other and who display such great humility and meekness with each other.

[10:34] He saves us for our lack of compassion and then he gives us grace to show that compassion to each other. That's how God works. So you're going to see Matthew present another contrast.

[10:49] These two blind men who knew the exact identity of Jesus versus the crowds who thought of Jesus as a prophet at best, a militant Messiah at worst. It's the irony here.

[11:03] These blind men, they saw Jesus better than those who saw all his great works. Even his disciples, specifically one disciple, Judas Iscariot, was blinded.

[11:19] And you hear these two blind men who saw so, so clearly. Jesus displayed compassionate, humble grace by using his power to serve these two blind men in need by this healing and then by riding a foe, he showed he was the king who came to serve.

[11:43] Two blind men to people who didn't want to do anything with. riding a foe to display his humility. This is the kind of king he was. This is the kind of king he is.

[11:57] Jesus is the greatest example of kingdom greatness and is the very epitome of its values, the king who serves others in grace. Or you can put the king who serves others in mercy.

[12:10] Notice there's two points, pretty simple. First point, number one, our compassionate king. Then we're going to see our humble king. Compassionate King, chapter 20, 29 to 34, this situation with two blind men.

[12:23] They're going out from Jericho, verse 29. They're on their way to Jerusalem. Jericho's 15 miles from Jerusalem. The climb to Jerusalem from Jericho is about 3,500 feet, so it's quite a hoof.

[12:41] There's a large crown following Jesus and notice verse 30, behold, look, two blind men, they're sitting by the road, they're hearing that Jesus was passing by.

[12:53] They began to cry out. Jesus' reputation had preceded him. How did they know about Jesus? They were not told that. But they knew who he was.

[13:07] They could clearly see Jesus' identity and thus, they cried out for his mercy. There in verse 30, have mercy on us, son of David.

[13:19] That phrase at title, son of David, is a messianic title. They knew exactly who Jesus really was and they weren't going to let him pass by because they truly believed that only he as a Messiah could heal them.

[13:35] They knew it. They knew who he was. And notice the irony within this passage between those who lack compassion, verse 31.

[13:49] The multitude sternly told them that they may be quiet. Be quiet. The crowd hated, despised, they lacked compassion for them.

[14:03] But notice they cried all the more. it didn't stop them from crying out for Jesus to have mercy on them. They kept beseeching him again and again and here the second quote.

[14:14] Some manuscripts have Lord in both quotes. Some have, they say Lord here in the second quote, whichever. They're still saying, Master, Messiah, show us mercy.

[14:31] One writer said, these two blind men were highly motivated and persistent. you think? Again, if he truly is the Christ, they knew he could heal them.

[14:44] They knew it. And notice verse 32. Jesus stopped and called them and said, what do you want me to do for you? Well, that's kind of weird. What do you think?

[14:55] I'm not being facetious. Why would he do that? Why would he ask them that? He knew? Because he wanted to draw out their trust publicly and personally.

[15:13] Their faith in Jesus and in his ability is truly eye-opening and shocking. Lord, they said, that our eyes may be opened desperately in need of help.

[15:32] I'll tell you, those are the kind of people God loves. Those are the kind of people Jesus loves to be around because the people who they know that they're dependent on Jesus and there's no hope for them and they just say, I need you.

[15:52] They're desperate. And look at Jesus, verse 34, move with compassion. Again, Jesus exemplified what he just taught his disciples.

[16:10] I did not come to be served, but to serve. Remember that lesson, John, James, ten disciples? I just told you that a few minutes ago.

[16:22] He showed mercy and compassion to these blind men while the crowd saw them as a nuisance. Maybe even the disciples did. He came to serve the weak, the destitute, the nobodies, the unimportant.

[16:45] It doesn't mean he doesn't come to go after those people who are in Congress, or politicians, or actors, or they're not saying that.

[17:00] But it's the people realize, I am weak without you, I am destitute, I'm a nobody, I am unimportant compared to you, I need you, I'm desperate for you. See, when Jesus sees the weak humble themselves and cry out to him for help, he will answer, Jesus welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor.

[17:27] Oh, man. But he's on it, look at this kid. Pew, pew, pew, pew, you go, Aaron. We just sang that.

[17:40] He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor, our sins there are many, his mercy is more. There's a reason why we're singing that song, because it connects so well here.

[17:54] What an example of lowly service. And look at verse 34 again. Move with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes.

[18:08] Because he could have spoken it, that would have been very easy, but he actually physically touched them on purpose in a personal, compassionate way, and they were healed instantly, in an instant.

[18:23] Prove that Jesus truly was the Messiah. Messiah. You can write down, if you want, Isaiah chapter 35, Isaiah chapter 35 is the promise that when the Messianic age would begin, the lame would walk, the deaf would hear, and the blind would see.

[18:43] That's how you know Messiah was here. That's how you know the Messianic age has come. The Messianic age would begin when the blind received their sight.

[18:54] This should have been a clear, sure sign to the crowds, but especially to the twelve. Oh, look at you. Notice the last part of verse 34.

[19:08] They regained sight and followed him. So to what extent did they join the other followers? We're not told, Matthew doesn't tell us this. The irony though is that they saw them and they followed. Maybe this is signifying that when spiritual blindness is cured at least to following Christ, maybe.

[19:28] But we know that the confession and the healing should have directed the huge crowd, especially the twelve, to who Jesus truly was. And the twelve knew it. Remember Peter in Matthew chapter 16?

[19:42] Some chapters ago, probably a few months ago, a year or so ago from when they were with Jesus. Peter declared that you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. But they still did not understand that he had to suffer.

[19:54] They still did not understand that he had to die. And they would be shown this even more because in just a few short days they would quickly realize Jesus' destiny.

[20:10] Because you have the triumphal entry happening here which leads to our second point, our humble king on Sunday. Palm Sunday, our humble king, chapter 21, verses 1-11, Bethpage, was located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, looking up to Jerusalem.

[20:32] Verse 2, and into verse 3, Jesus sent two of his disciples, untie and bring a mother donkey with her colt, a colt that had never been ridden, and when asked to them, what is needed.

[20:45] Notice Jesus' supernatural knowledge of this whole thing. Some commentators say that Jesus kind of set this whole thing up. I really don't think so. I think Jesus was orchestrating all this under his control because he's God.

[20:56] God can do stuff like that. He can. But we see both his sovereign control but also his deep humility. Notice there in verse 4, this happened that the word to the prophet might be fulfilled saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you gentle and mounted on a donkey.

[21:17] Matthew quotes from Zechariah, a prophecy from Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 coupled with Isaiah chapter 62 verse 11.

[21:33] Israel's great king coming king would ride on a donkey to show humility.

[21:44] This was a major public contradiction. king, donkey, those don't go together. We'll talk about that a little bit more in just a moment.

[21:56] But it's going to confirm Jesus' purpose. It's going to confirm his character. It's going to concern. It's going to zero in on his focus.

[22:11] Christ did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life. As all the law and the prophets have spoken about, God's servant will suffer and then he'll be vindicated.

[22:25] Notice specific words, daughters of Zion, which is Jerusalem and her inhabitants. your king is coming to you gentle, mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foe of a beast.

[22:38] Interesting, in Zechariah, the context of this, her king would come to bring justice and salvation, but also being humble. And Matthew only highlights here the humility of Jesus.

[22:54] He does this on purpose. Zechariah's prophecies highlight Israel's troubles and God's love and concern for Israel's people. There's passages in Zechariah about God's coming to Zion that the Gentiles would join with God's people.

[23:08] And in the last days, Zion's Messiah king would be worshipped by all the earth. The king would reign with great glory. That's kind of the Zechariah's, it's the prophecies.

[23:19] But here, a little tidbit here. First, humility. But unless they were attentive, they would not understand that the Christ had to suffer and die first.

[23:38] He had come to serve by dying, by showing his humility. Notice what happens here in verse 6, the disciples going to Jesus, Jesus directed them.

[23:51] Verse 7, they brought the donkey and the colt, laid on them the garments, so he laid their garments on the donkey and on the colt, and Jesus sat on them, meaning the garments, not on the two donkeys.

[24:02] He can straddle both. And here's the irony. Usually, kings do not come riding on colts, but horses.

[24:16] a humble king on a foe, a victorious conquering king parades gloriously into a city on a war horse, not on a donkey.

[24:34] Plus, his attire would be glamorous. And here's Jesus, plain clothes, no splendor, wrote a colt.

[24:48] He is the meek, humble king, not an aggressive, warlike king. The garments on the animals and the road along with the palm branches marked the acknowledgement of Jesus' kingship, and yet they were clueless, they were blind to what's going on.

[25:08] Notice, it says here in verse 8, they spread their garments in the road, others cut in the branches. Verse 9, the multitude is going before him and those who followed after him are crying out saying, Hosanna to the son of David.

[25:28] This is from Psalm 118 verse 26, which actually in the context is a cry for help. But idiomatically it means, as one writer put it, great praise.

[25:40] They were giving great praise that their Messiah king had come. He was riding into Jerusalem. And yet, oh, how shocked they will be.

[25:55] Notice, it says what they're crying out, Hosanna to the son of David, again a messianic title, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

[26:07] You say, in the name of the Lord, in the name it's representing the person and that they come in order to set forward that person's purposes.

[26:18] Okay? So, the name of the Lord was to come representing God and set in motion His purposes. Really? Really? What was their expectations of Jesus?

[26:33] of God's purposes? What about us? What are our expectations of God?

[26:46] We sometimes put our expectations that God should be doing this and this and this and this and that's far, far from the truth. The second Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, is echoing Psalm 148 verse 1.

[27:01] And they were all correct. And yet it was insufficient. They correctly cried out these messianic titles, but as we will soon find out in just a few moments, it was an insufficient conclusion.

[27:20] And one writer says, he calls them the deliriously happy crowds. Why? Because of their political aspirations. Christians. I mean, yeah.

[27:33] Jesus is coming in. He's going to kill all these Romans. Awesome. We're going to reign supreme. We're going to have a cool party. Woo! But didn't they take notice of the animal that he rode?

[27:46] Didn't they take notice of his attire? No. It's a reminder. God is doing so many things we just won't understand.

[28:00] One writer says, God is doing 10,000 things and you are probably only noticing two. God is doing so many different things.

[28:14] What were their expectations of God? Were they putting their expectations upon God? Did they even realize what was going on? No, notice how they were blind. sadly their excitement would only last for a few days.

[28:31] A couple days. This was not a response of their commitment or devotion to Jesus as true followers because he's merely a prophet, nothing more. It was all about him fulfilling their political persuasions even though Jesus did not come to lead a revolt against Rome.

[28:52] Another great reminder, let's be careful how we hold our political views because it's not about politics, it's about the gospel. Look at verse 10.

[29:04] He entering Jerusalem, he stirred up all the city. The whole situation brought a huge uproar to the city. They wanted to know who this guy was who was making such a huge fiasco.

[29:15] They were concerned. Who is this? And yet the crowd, notice, they did not answer according to what they just said.

[29:28] They just called him son of David. They just called, said, blessed is one who comes in the name of the Lord. They just said all those things. Notice how they described and the multitudes were saying this is the prophet?

[29:42] What? The prophet from Nazareth of Galilee? I mean, Jesus is a prophet, that's true, but it was inadequate.

[30:00] I came up with a phrase, they were correctly insufficient. They failed to see the genuine historical truth taking place right in front of their eyes.

[30:11] Notice the irony of this. Here's these two blind men, son of David, they knew Jesus could heal them and then they're calling Jesus son of David and yet they say, oh, here's the prophet. Wait, what? You just were calling him Messiah and now you're not calling him Messiah?

[30:24] Are you guys like schizophrenic or something like that? What's going on? It doesn't make any sense. His triumphal entry, excuse me, the crowds were more blind to Jesus' identity and mission than those two blind men.

[30:42] His triumphal entry historically displayed kingdom values and how counter cultural Jesus truly is, was, is, the great and powerful ruler of this world humbled himself to serve others and yet they did not get it.

[30:59] Friends, he is our compassionate, he's our humble king. He came to serve us by dying for us. Unfortunately, they had their false hopes set on their own personal assessment of the kind of Messiah they dreamed Jesus to be.

[31:18] A great conquering military hero, not one who would suffer, not one who would die. But that's how God shows us his mercy.

[31:31] That's how God shows you his grace. That's how God shows you his compassion by his very humility. He became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

[31:46] And yet, at the same time, ironically, to speak of Jesus as a prophet, it kind of clues us into the fact that what would happen with prophets in the Old Testament? Well, not a lot of good things actually.

[32:02] Prophets were persecuted and martyred. So they are more accurate than what they realized. he would die. As great as this triumphal entry was, his exit would not match it.

[32:20] One writer put it like this, his, quote, exit will not be his entrance. The crowd unknowingly spoke truthfully, and yet Jesus would dash their dreams to bits, which is possibly the reason why the religious leaders were so able to sway the crowds.

[32:44] Because they weren't ready for a humble king. They didn't want a humble king. They didn't want a guy who's going to do what they wanted him to do. We're not like that.

[33:01] Hallelujah, what a savior. He shows us mercy. Jesus is the compassionate, humble king who came to serve us by giving himself to us on our behalf so we may have everlasting peace and parade his compassion and humility to the world.

[33:19] So he saves us, he's our savior in that way, by showing us his compassion, his mercy, by being the humble one who died on our behalf, he served us in that way, so then we, when we embrace him, we have everlasting peace and then we parade this same thing, we display this same compassion and the same humility to each other.

[33:42] Another way, may this challenge us to be a church, Jesus followers, who are compassionate towards each other and who display such great humility and meekness with each other. Yesterday when we were at the men's breakfast, I was sharing with the guys, I've been camping out in my prayer time, I've been camping out in Ephesians 4 verse 1 and 2, we walk worthy of the calling and Paul says with all humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance.

[34:18] And we were talking about that and we were encouraged as men at men's breakfast because that's really, that's a display of the gospel. That's how Jesus showed himself to us. He was gentle with us, patient, forbearing, and so full of mercy and compassion.

[34:37] Right? Let's pray. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father, for showing us such great mercy and thank you, Spirit, for applying that to us.

[34:55] Applying that to us in our hearts and lives as your people and we ask that you, Spirit, would keep working in us and keep applying this gospel truth that as Jesus, as you have saved us by your humility, by your compassionate humility, let us be a people who display humility, who are gentle, who are kind, patient, and forbearing just like you are to us, oh Father, through your Son.

[35:44] Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for your compassionate mercy towards us. We glory in this cross. As we do each week, I want to encourage you to have this, take this moment of silence over the next couple minutes and let your mind dwell on the things of God's Word.

[36:21] Maybe this will be a time for you to pray, maybe read through notes, maybe read the verses again. Fill your mind with God's truth.

[36:35] Think on these things. After a few moments, we do our time giving, worship through giving, worship through singing, worship to praying.

[36:46] We do those things which are important. Also, that you might take the next few moments to let your mind be filled with the gospel truth. Do that, please.

[36:58] Yes. Yes, I wish I did that. Now, Thank you.