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[0:00] So I'll be reading from Luke chapter 19, starting verse 28. You shall say this, The Lord has need of it.

[0:32] So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt? And he said to them, The Lord has need of it.

[0:44] And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And he rode along, and as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down to the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord.

[1:10] Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

[1:22] And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, Would that even you had known on this day the things that make for peace.

[1:33] But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, and surround and hem you on every side, and tear you down to the ground.

[1:44] And you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. If you take your Bibles, please turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 12.

[2:01] And let's pray. Our dear Father God, we are so very thankful that your word is settled in heaven.

[2:14] And you've made it possible for us to take that same word into our hearts and lives. Lord, as we consider this very exciting event in the life of our Lord Jesus, we pray that our minds might, in fact, be anointed by your Holy Spirit.

[2:30] That we might get a fresh glimpse of Christ and his program while he was here. And perhaps even a suggestion of what it means to his present program now, of which we are a part.

[2:41] And of which its culmination one day is yet to come. We pray, O God, that you make me careful on how I speak, and how all of us would listen.

[2:53] We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. In many ways, this was a very exciting and significant event in the time of our Lord and his disciples as well.

[3:06] It's an account that many of us are familiar with, probably too familiar in some ways. It sometimes has been called the triumphal entry. And yet, many believe that it was poorly named.

[3:20] Because within a short time, even though there were fleeting moments of excitement, within a short time, within that very week, there was going to be very, very tragic.

[3:30] It's ultimately culminating in the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. And as such, it was perhaps maybe better a tragic entry. But we have a little background.

[3:42] This was Passover time. It was a time when people came to the city of Jerusalem from all over the world at that time. Jews that had lived the long distance, that couldn't always make it, oftentimes had the dream that one day, one day, they would celebrate the Passover there in Jerusalem.

[3:59] Now, about two months before this, we read that Lazarus had been raised from the dead in a city just two miles away from Jerusalem. And the news spread like wildfire and began to just build up the anticipation of who this person was.

[4:18] And they put that all together with all of his other miracles as well. So popular was Jesus becoming among the common folks that the leaders, the religious leaders of his day, we read at the end of chapter 11, actually began to make plans to kill him.

[4:37] As such, Jesus slipped away to a little town north of Jerusalem called Ephraim. And you see that at the end of chapter 11 as well. But now you find Jesus returning.

[4:49] He's returning for the Passover. And Romans, I should say, John chapter 12, 1 tells us that he came there to be the guest of a dinner party that was in the town of Bethany.

[5:06] And there, in the midst of that meal that they had, Mary, in an act of worship that she probably didn't fully understand, anointed his feet with a very fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair.

[5:22] And Mark chapter 14, verse 8 tells us that Jesus said of her, She has anointed me for my burial. Well, the next day, which was five days before the Passover, on Sunday, preceding the Good Friday, Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem again.

[5:39] In verses 12 and 13, we get a glimpse of the crowd's acclamation of his coming. Let's look at that. It says, Who were these people?

[6:09] Well, we know that they weren't the religious leaders of that day, at least not in the way of the cheering crowd or anything like that. We know from verses 17 and 18 that some of these people were those who would actually witness the raising of Lazarus from the dead, as well as those that lived close enough that they, in fact, had heard about it and believed that it was a fact.

[6:31] Look at verse 17. It says, Now, doubtless, many of the people from the northern province of Galilee, where Jesus performed many, if not most, of his miracles were there at that time.

[6:57] Mosaic law had required that the head of household should come to Jerusalem three times a year, one of them being the Passover, the other two being the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Tabernacles, which we looked at some weeks back.

[7:17] And so as they came to Jerusalem, they heard that Jesus had just raised this man from the dead. They had heard that there was a movement going on to acclaim him actually king.

[7:27] And they began to see this crowd coming together, and so they joined the crowd. And it became quite large. It's estimated it was probably several thousand that day.

[7:39] It's still almost a week before Passover, but the Jewish historian Josephus had estimated that during Passover, it is usually two to two and a half million people that came to Jerusalem for the Passover.

[7:52] And the gospel accounts tell us that the crowd began to take their palm branches and began to spread them and their cloaks in front of him there on the road.

[8:04] Now this practice of spreading palm branches before one was a, oh, I guess a great honor that was given to either kings or conquering rulers and things like that.

[8:15] But as they spread the palm branches, it was significant in that it was indicative of their believing that the animal that was taking this person in never touched the ground, whether they gave a sense of deity or whatever.

[8:29] That's what they were doing at this time. So this is what they're doing with Jesus. And in the midst of the palm branches were very loud and joyful shouts. Shouts of Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna to the son of David.

[8:45] Blessed is he who comes in the name of our father David. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. I don't know if those are all up there, because I'm pulling from all different gospels for that.

[8:58] But this is what was taking place. Now the word Hosanna means to save now. It comes from Psalm 118, verse 25, which says, Save now, I pray, O Lord.

[9:10] And Psalm 118 was part of the great Jewish praised hymn, often called the Great Hillel, which was Psalm 113 through Psalm 118.

[9:22] And every Jew of that day believed that the Great Hillel would be chanted when the Messiah would come. And part of that Great Hillel was the phrase, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[9:38] And that's a phrase that is in fact in all four gospels of this account. It appears that the little phrase, He who comes, had become actually a messianic title, because you find it's three other times in the gospels unrelated to the triumphal entry.

[9:57] And so you find that here they are saying, This is the Messiah. And to remove all doubt, the crowd added there in verse 13 of John, Blessed is the King of Israel.

[10:13] Now you might remember as we were walking our way through John, that when Nathaniel first met Jesus, and he was told that Jesus saw him while he was still under the sycamore tree, that he said, You are the Son of God.

[10:30] You are the King of Israel. The common understanding of the Jews of that day was in fact that the Messiah, when he came, he would be King.

[10:42] And he would free them from the oppression of the Romans. And so now as we see Jesus approaching the city, you find the people crying out essentially, Save now, O Son of David, O King of Israel, become our King and lead us out from under the Roman oppressors.

[11:05] Unfortunately, they didn't understand that their Messiah needed to die. Die for their sins and the sins of the world before he could become their king.

[11:20] They didn't understand that the cross needed to precede the crown. And frankly, that's a truism within the scriptures, not only for Jesus' plan on earth here during the time of he was redeeming us, but rather it's a plan for God for each of us that we ought not to expect the crown before we go through the suffering, the cross.

[11:47] God has designed that for us. An important thing for us to remember here is that the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that day was his public announcement that the Messiah was here.

[12:02] Now this is, if you think through Jesus from many of the gospel accounts, this was totally unlike the tenor of his ministry up to now. If you follow through his teaching and his preaching and his healing, you find that he's constantly retiring from the crowds.

[12:22] And they'd have to actually go looking for him. There were times when he healed folks and he says, don't tell anyone what I've done for you. He was keeping it very silent. But that has all changed. You find Jesus now coming into the city boldly, noisily, and even, you might say, defiantly.

[12:41] You might remember from the reading that Kevin did earlier in Luke 19 that the Pharisees came up to him and said, teacher, rebuke your followers. Tell them to be silent.

[12:53] Do you remember what Jesus said to him? He says, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. Things had changed.

[13:05] It was a dramatic change. And perhaps you might remember from our study in the Gospel of John the often repeated phrase that says, his hour had not yet come.

[13:17] His hour had not yet come. In fact, it occurs some seven to eight times in the Gospel of John. And each time, it's pointing reaching to his crucifixion.

[13:29] Well, now, his hour is almost here. And what kind of hour is that going to be? It's an hour where he's going to be lifted up as a sin offering for your sins and mine.

[13:46] It's an hour in which God the Father was going to lay upon his Son the sins of the world that he might bear them away in his death. Furthermore, the public nature of this and the events that follow in the next few days, quite frankly, make it impossible to deny that Jesus was crucified.

[14:08] Now, many of you, most of you probably in the room would never say that that was the case. But there are those, particularly among the Muslims, that would deny that Jesus ever was crucified. They would say that it's a case of mistaken identity, that someone else died and was crucified then.

[14:27] But my friends, no one can read the Gospels as a historical document in a way that you would read any other historical document and come to the conclusions that Jesus did not die.

[14:40] He must certainly die. It was a wide, open, public event that took place. Publicly, you find him entering into the city here. Publicly, you find him on the next day cleansing the temple, which we'll be looking at later.

[14:55] Publicly, for a day, you find him actually teaching in the temple. And publicly, as we move to Passover, you find him getting arrested, being tried, and taken out, and crucified on Calvary's tree between two thieves.

[15:15] As this triumphal entry is kicked off, we find it is bringing forth a whole panoply of different events that were all public to make us all aware that this was an open, public nature of Christ's death for us and the world.

[15:33] Now, as we think of this great public acclamation, the crowds that are giving Jesus all this praise, we note a couple other things that I just want to briefly bring to your attention.

[15:47] The first is, would be the fickleness of human nature. For in less than a week, many of the people who were crying out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, would be crying out, crucify him, crucify him.

[16:08] Folks, I don't know about you, but I have found that there's nothing more worthless than public acclaim. Please don't get caught up in the trap of thinking that being popular is something wonderful.

[16:24] It's not. It can disappear overnight. You can see it in sports, you can see it in politics, you can see it in the workplace.

[16:36] It lasts only for a moment. You see, the same crowd that wanted to crown Jesus King was in a very short time going to be crying for his blood.

[16:48] Just a few days. The final thing that I want to highlight here is that God the Father is causing a growing testimony to be given to the kingship of his son Jesus.

[17:04] When Christ was born, you might remember, we kind of sang some songs about that today. When he was born, there were wise men who came a long distance who went to Jerusalem and asked King Herod, where is he who was born king of the Jews?

[17:23] And you might remember that Herod, along with the leaders of that day, were shaking in their royal robes with such a question as that. But you have these very learned individuals acknowledging Jesus as king of the Jews.

[17:43] Now we hear the crowds crying once again, saying, Hosanna to the king of Israel! And that got the Pharisees in a panic as well. And we looked at the wise men who were looking for the king of the Jews, and now the crowd was, in fact, proclaiming him the king of Israel, which was totally psyching the Pharisees out and putting him into a panic.

[18:10] But the interesting thing, in a few days, you're going to find that Pilate, the Roman governor, who found no fault in Jesus, Jesus, but ultimately turned him over to the Jews to be crucified, insisted on putting a plaque over his head that said, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.

[18:37] And one glorious day, my friends, the whole universe is going to proclaim Jesus as the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

[18:49] My friends, this isn't the age for that to be taking place right now. We have our Lord there up in heaven interceding for the saints, but this is not the time where he's exercising his kingship.

[19:01] We know from such passages as Ephesians 2.2 that there's the prince of the power of the air that is oftentimes moving the chess pieces around here on planet earth right now, but we never want to forget the fact that at some point, one day, Jesus is going to come to do just that, to exercise his kingship and set everything right in this world.

[19:23] And here we get a glimpse of the praise and the acclaim and the honor that is going to be given to him when he comes on that day. Hosanna.

[19:35] Now I want to move on to verse 14 and 15 where we get the prophetic explanation of the event. We read there, And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's coal.

[19:54] The important thing I want you to note right here is that this was a fulfillment of the prophetic word. In Zechariah 9, 9, Zechariah is giving a prophecy to the people of Israel about their coming king.

[20:08] It says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation. He is the humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

[20:25] And John, the inspired writer of this gospel, is telling us that this event right now was a fulfillment of prophecy. A prophecy that was given some 500 years before this event.

[20:41] There was no king when Zechariah was given this prophecy. prophecy. But he was promising Israel that it was going to come a day when their king would be coming.

[20:53] I believe there's something of real importance for us here, namely that the events that we're seeing with Christ's first coming in many ways were minutely told, foretold, there in the Old Testament.

[21:07] Many details about Jesus' ministry was given to us hundreds of years before he came. For example, he was to be born in Bethlehem. He was to be born of a virgin of the house of David.

[21:19] He was going to be despised and rejected of men. He was going to be crucified between two criminals. And even the year that was going to be taking place where he was going to be cut off was predicted by Daniel 9.

[21:30] He was to be buried in a rich man's tomb. And he was to be raised before his body saw corruption. And there are many, many, many other of these different kinds of prophecies. It's estimated that over 300 were given with regards to Jesus' first coming.

[21:46] And that should tell us something in many ways as believers today that since the prophecies of Christ's first coming had been so literally and minutely fulfilled, so the prophecies of his second coming will be literally fulfilled.

[22:01] And the same prophets who wrote of his suffering also wrote of his glory to come. This afternoon you might want to read Zechariah 10-14 to see that.

[22:13] That they gave a full scope of what was going on. But that's not going to happen just yet. But it will one day take place. There will be a literal second coming of Christ when he will set all things right.

[22:28] And my friends, that ought to give you and me confidence in the prophecies of the second coming. when we see how minutely the various details of his first coming were fulfilled.

[22:42] Now at this point in verse 16 it tells us that the disciples didn't understand what was going on. We read, his disciples did not understand these things at first but when Jesus was glorified and that's a reference to his crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

[23:05] So in many ways this event was in a real way the disciples' preparation for their future ministry. They remembered that in fact though they didn't understand during that time now that this was taking place and on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came, he gave them understanding.

[23:28] They remembered that this had taken place and they took on the understanding of what not only Zechariah had said but all of the Old Testament prophets had said with regards to Jesus and they not only began to believe that, they began to trust and live it out with enthusiasm that Christ said he's coming again, the prophets said he's coming again and began to preach that, that Jesus, our Jesus, our Lord, our Master was coming again.

[23:56] now the ministry of the Holy Spirit is for us today as well is to bring to our remembrance those things that Jesus has said and done.

[24:10] We read for instance in John chapter 14 verse 26 but the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in his name will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

[24:24] Now that's not a text for young people or anyone really that's in a schooling setting right now to claim that promise if they haven't been studying for their exam that God's going to somehow or other by his Holy Spirit bring to remembrance those things that you need for that test.

[24:39] Sometimes there are those that have tried to claim that but it doesn't apply. Really the text tells of us of the business of the Holy Spirit to bring to mind those things that Christ said and those things which he done in our hour of need.

[24:58] Whether we're talking about the need for encouragement the need for courage the need for wisdom those things that you have hid away in your heart the Holy Spirit will bring to your mind and consciousness at the right time.

[25:14] At the same time if we don't put the word of God into our heart and our mind if we don't let it dwell in us richly then we don't give the Holy Spirit a whole lot to work with in those trying times.

[25:28] Maybe I just will throw this out for you we're into December now and it's not too far away from a brand new year that some of you might put the stake in the ground and say this coming year I'm going to make a commitment to begin to hide God's word in my heart.

[25:44] I'm going to uptake my scripture memory program. Maybe I'm going to commit this year that I'm going to both read and meditate through the Bible this year but get God's word into you so that you give the Holy Spirit something to work with in the times that you need it.

[26:03] Now I'll come real quickly to verse 19. We've seen the crowd's acclamation in verses 12 to 13 as well as 17 to 18. We've seen the prophetic explanation of the event.

[26:14] We've seen the disciples' preparation for their future ministry and now we see the enemies of the Lord being pulled up short and they're in a state of utter frustration.

[26:26] Look at verse 19 that says so the Pharisees said to one another you see you are gaining nothing. Look the world has gone after him. You get the picture?

[26:37] You can almost hear the groaning that's going on on the part of these leaders right now as they stand off and they watch the parade go by and hear these people proclaim the kingship of this person that they couldn't stand as they hear Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel.

[27:02] As already been noted the Pharisees in Luke 19 had commanded Jesus to tell his disciples to be quiet to stop this stuff.

[27:13] Do you remember what Jesus said to them? He says I tell you if these were silent the very stones would cry out and you can combine that with the fact that we find at the end of chapter 11 that they had issued a warrant for his arrest so they wanted to get this guy and bring him in and here the people are running after him the whole world is going after him and proclaiming him king quoting that passage from the great Hillel that would be proclaimed when the Messiah came and they're just totally beside themselves it's like what a revolting development what a revolting development this is not going according to plan the people were supposed to get a hold of this guy and bring him into us arrest him but here we find him proclaiming him as king and what I believe here is a foreshadowing of that day when Christ's enemies are indeed going to be confounded are going to be frustrated disappointed and ultimately condemned at the second coming of the king let me read just a few passages here as we wind down in Revelation 19 we read this and when I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse the one sitting on it was called faithful and true and righteous he judges or in righteousness he judges and makes war when a conquering king went off to war he went to war with a magnificent war horse and when he came back as the victor very often he rode on a donkey as a sign of peace the people would spread out palm branches before him but tragically on this day we find that the people of Israel did not recognize the time of their visitation as we read in our scripture reading this morning subsequently they rejected their Messiah and ultimately put him to death and therefore

[29:16] God judged them through the Roman legions in 70 AD and leveled their place he did not leave one stone upon another but the Bible says that there's a time yet future when Jesus is going to come again no longer as a baby in a manger no longer coming in peace appealing to the hearts of men but coming with a sword a sword of righteous judgment in verses 12 to 16 in Revelation 19 we read this his eyes are going to be like a flame of fire and on his head are going to be many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God and the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses from his mouth came a sharp sword with which he would strike the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron he will tread the winepress of his fury and the wrath of God almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written king of kings and lord of lords another passage that speaks of this coming of Christ to redeem the world from all the chaos and wars and stuff that are going on we read this it says this is in 2 Thessalonians 1 it says when the Lord is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus

[30:56] I don't know about you if you're sensing the unbelievable contrast between what is described when Jesus comes back as the conquering king as opposed to the suffering servant you might remember that when he was there dying on the cross he was surrounded by his enemies they were hooting and hollering and calling him names and everything like that and he said father forgive them for they know not what they do but my friends the day is coming when Jesus Christ is going to return with blazing fire and it says in verses 9 to 10 of 2nd Thessalonians it says they will suffer punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might and when he comes on that day to be glorified in the saints and to be marveled at among all who believed because of the testimony to you was believed my friends I hope you're getting the sense that

[31:58] Jesus is coming again you remember the passage in Philippians 2 you know the one that so graphically describes how Jesus humbled himself and became a servant and obeyed even to the point of death going to death on the cross amazing passage and yet it doesn't stop there you might remember in verse 9 it starts with the word therefore therefore because he did come as a baby because he did come humbly because he did suffer rejection and insults because he did go to the cross to die for you and for me therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth and every nun should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father wow praise God the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem on that day so many years ago should serve as a reminder of another entrance of Jesus into the world into Jerusalem someday but that intervening time right now he is still inviting men women children to come to him to put their trust and faith in him to take up their cross and to follow him and some questions that

[33:32] I believe perhaps the spirit of God maybe would have us ask ourselves is when Jesus does come what will be our relationship to him when he comes will we be excitedly looking forward to him as our beloved savior one that we are excited about following him through life and introducing him to others or are we going to be one that are going to reluctantly bow the knee in subjection and confess Jesus Christ as the Lord whom we rejected I don't know all of you here today friends but if for whatever reason that's where you're at you haven't received the Lord Jesus Christ as he's reaching out with his arms right now for you don't wait to his second coming because he comes the second time as judge he wants you to receive him now and you know as we move into the Advent season that looks with anticipation we've been talking about with Jesus first coming marked by a life of humble servanthood!

[34:53] I hope that we're also looking forward in many ways to the greater with even greater anticipation for his second coming when he's going to majestically reign and rule as king of kings and lord of lord let's pray our heavenly father how we thank you for the historical record that tells us of our blessed savior who was willing to die that we might live who was willing to take a lowly place in order that we might be exalted to a high position father we confess that this story a story that's all too familiar to many of us sometimes we take for granted and we ask your forgiveness for that lord as it reminds us of the great event which is yet to come when jesus returns this world no longer as a babe in the manger and no longer as a suffering servant on the cross but as a conquering king i pray oh god that you'd give us a desire a burning desire to be among those who will be with him when he comes back rather than being the objects of his righteous judgment and wrath i pray father god that if there's anyone here who has not yet received your son as your gracious provision for their salvation may today be that day so that they can come and look up with joy versus look away with fear at your coming may we eagerly eagerly anticipate instead of nervously dread the sure second coming of our great god and king jesus christ oh god we pray that may we be truly ready and watching for his return and encouraging others to do the same for we ask this in his most precious and majestic name amen a ending

[36:56] Thank you.