Luke 19:28-41 AM

[0:00] Let's pray together as we stand. Lord Jesus, you are the stone that the builders rejected.! I pray we see today how you are actually the cornerstone, where you sit.

[0:31] It would be really helpful if you grabbed one of the Bibles in front of you, if you're in the room, if you're online. You can go in your browser, you can open one next to you. We believe this book is God speaking to us.

[0:43] The way we know anything about God is He tells us through this book. So if you come this morning and you want to know about God, if you're spiritual, if you want to discover God, the way to find God is through this book.

[0:56] That's why we spend so much time reading it and studying it and talking about it. And we're going to look at a really big story today. We've already heard it. We've seen it acted out. And it's in Luke chapter 19, and that's on page 878.

[1:09] It would be really helpful if your Bible was open and you could follow along as we go. Well, I want to welcome you. And I want to welcome you specifically if you're a visitor with us this morning.

[1:20] We're thrilled you're here. I like to think we're a pretty friendly group, and we really do love it when new people come. So welcome. We come to church today in the midst of all the joy in this room.

[1:34] It's the reality that there's very little joy outside this room today. We're in the world that's in the middle of quite a bit of turmoil. There are wars.

[1:47] There are rumors of wars. There are tariffs. There are rumors of tariffs. Global political tension is high.

[1:58] The markets are crazy right now. Up, down, up, down, up, down, down. All of this, of course, is on top of all the other problems we already have been experiencing.

[2:09] This is where our world is right now. We're swimming in uncertainty, with storm clouds swirling and the waves rising.

[2:22] And that's actually where the Jewish people were as well 2,000 years ago, when a man rode a donkey down a hill of olive groves to enter Jerusalem. See, the armies of Rome had come and they had conquered Jerusalem.

[2:36] And Judea needed a savior, a champion, a king who comes in God's name to free them from the oppression of their overwhelming enemies.

[2:47] And that's what our world needs today as well. It's what I need in my life. It's what you need in your life. Our world seems to be spiraling out of control, and we feel helpless and hopeless in the midst of the mess.

[3:06] We need some good news this morning. I suspect all of us need a little more joy in our lives. And we get it here in Luke chapter 19. Where we read about a king who comes in God's name.

[3:22] Our text is about God's chosen king coming to us, coming to the world, entering into our world of deep darkness to bring his peace and his joy.

[3:35] In our passage, we see that Jesus is the king sent from God to save the world. Sounds completely ridiculous, doesn't it? What an unbelievable claim.

[3:48] But over the course of the next week, we will see together that it's true. Grace and truth come through Jesus, the king. He comes to bring us peace and joy.

[4:03] So this week, our text is all about Jesus, God's king. And it shows us first, in verses 28 to 36, his humility. But also, at the exact same time, his sovereignty over all.

[4:18] Then, in verses 37 and 38, we see that Jesus is the king all of us need. Because what he offers to bring us is peace and joy. And then lastly, in verses 39 to 41, we see Jesus' heart.

[4:33] We get this intimate picture into the heart of God's king. And we see that Jesus is the king who weeps for our broken world. So Jesus is the king who comes in God's name.

[4:46] He comes in humility and sovereignty. He's the king all of us need to experience peace and joy. And finally, he's the king who weeps for the brokenness of the world he has come to save.

[5:00] So first, Jesus is the king who comes. In verse 29, the very beginning of our passage, Jesus approaches Jerusalem. And as he does, he sends ahead two of his disciples. And he gives them very specific and very strange instructions.

[5:16] Typically, when someone important approaches a major city, they send messengers ahead to prepare the way, to prepare the city for the arrival. It's like a PR team or a marketing firm.

[5:29] You know, think about Taylor Swift coming to Vancouver in the fall. It was crazy. They closed downtown down. Her lyrics were like these massive letters all over the city. It was so much publicity.

[5:40] Everyone knew she was coming. Well, in ancient times, these people would send ahead of the king heralds, or literally evangelists, which means good news spreaders.

[5:52] And they'd run ahead into the middle of the town or city, and they'd cry out, Hear ye, hear ye. Don't be afraid. I have good news. The king is coming. Get ready.

[6:04] Roll out the red carpet. Tell your friends. Well, Jesus doesn't do that. He doesn't tell anyone he's coming. Instead, Jesus sends two of his followers, his disciples, ahead, and he tells them, Don't go into Jerusalem, the city where I'm heading towards, but instead go into the next sleepy little village on the way, and as soon as you enter, grab a young, untrained donkey, a colt, and bring that to me.

[6:33] This is not how you would imagine God's chosen king would enter the capital city. Jesus' instructions are strange. Go to a small town outside of the big city and grab a donkey.

[6:47] So understated. You know, if Jesus is who he says he is, the son of God, God's chosen king, the savior of the world, the humility of entering the capital city on an unridden colt is incredible.

[7:06] Before the kids' talk, I was thinking, it'd be like if King Charles came to Vancouver today completely unannounced, riding a borrowed children's pink bicycle over the Arthur Lang Bridge.

[7:17] Maybe a scooter. It's embarrassingly humble and lowly and unbecoming for a king who comes in the name of the Lord.

[7:29] So Jesus is the king who comes to us, and he comes firstly humbly. He doesn't come with a mighty display of power, with an army or a four-horse chariot.

[7:40] You know, the angelic host of heaven doesn't appear and surround him as he marches into Jerusalem. He doesn't come in his divine form, full of glory and majesty and might.

[7:52] Jesus, God's king, comes humbly, an unremarkable, normal-looking guy, riding a donkey down an olive grove. Jesus does not take Jerusalem by force.

[8:07] He comes inconspicuously. He does not force people to accept him, then or now. He comes to us humbly, and he gives us the freedom to receive or reject him.

[8:21] Jesus is the humble king who comes into our messy world. In our text, the animal Jesus rides is called a colt, which is an unusual word and a really specific one that refers to a young male donkey who is older than one but younger than four.

[8:38] Very specific. And the reason the narrative highlights it's a colt is to show us this is fulfilling that promise of Zechariah we heard about in the kids' talk, 500 years before Jesus comes.

[8:52] And this is what Zechariah says. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, because behold, your king is coming to you.

[9:03] Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt. There's the word. The foal of a donkey. Jesus comes as the humble king, mounted on a colt, as God's promise through Zechariah says.

[9:21] And he brings with him righteousness and salvation. But Jesus doesn't just come with humility. Our text also shows us he comes sovereign over everything.

[9:34] Did you notice there's an emphasis in verses 29 to 31 about the incredibly detailed instructions Jesus gives his two disciples to go get the donkey? There are five things Jesus could not possibly have known that he tells his disciples with perfect knowledge.

[9:51] First, he knows there's going to be a colt right inside the next village. Second, he knows it'll be tied up. Third, he knows this colt has never been ridden before. Fourth, he knows that when the disciples start untying the colt, people will ask them what they're doing.

[10:07] And fifthly, maybe most incredibly, he knows that when the disciples tell the owners the Lord has need of it, that'll be enough to secure the animal. The owners will be fine with that explanation.

[10:20] Now, a skeptic could say Jesus must have preplanned the whole thing, the whole colt owner thing beforehand to trick people into thinking he was all-knowing and in control.

[10:31] But that doesn't make any sense because if Jesus had preplanned the whole thing, then the owners of the donkey would not have asked the disciples what they were doing. They would have been expecting them. Jesus here has impossible, supernatural knowledge that shows us he is sovereign over everything, including what is about to happen to him.

[10:54] No one could have known about the colt. It's a miracle. He displays divine knowledge, including knowledge of the future, down to every detail of one random donkey's life.

[11:07] Jesus is seemingly all-knowing, omniscient. He is in total control. Part of what makes our lives right now so anxiety-inducing is the uncertainty of what tomorrow holds.

[11:23] None of us knows what the future will be. None of us knows what will happen next week, tomorrow, in the next hour. And the uncertainty of tomorrow can paralyze us in the present.

[11:37] Our passage reminds us that Jesus is God's king, but more than that, Jesus is sovereign. He knows the future. He orchestrates future events with supernatural knowledge.

[11:51] He comes to us from God because he himself is God. He is God's son. His ways are not our ways. He's humble, and yet he holds the future in his hands.

[12:05] Nothing surprises him. Nothing happens outside of his knowledge or his plan. We're told the disciples go into the village and everything happens just as Jesus told them it would.

[12:17] Did you notice verses 32 to 34 are like an exact repetition of verses 29 to 31. Every single detail is told again immediately after his instructions to underline it's exactly as he said it would be.

[12:34] He has divine knowledge. He has planned everything that's happening. So our text first shows us that Jesus is the king who comes to us humble and yet sovereign over all.

[12:50] Second, we see Jesus is the king we need. As Jesus rides this unridden colt down the Mount of Olives toward the city gate, the whole multitude of his disciples begin to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they have seen.

[13:06] Declaring the key to our passage in verse 38. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

[13:18] The disciples are quoting Psalm 118, our first reading, which was a national song of praise to worship God for delivering his people from their enemies.

[13:29] And the psalm points to a future king who will bring God's salvation. Verse 37 of our text tells us the disciples see Jesus as that promised king of Psalm 118.

[13:44] And we're told the reason they think that is because of the mighty works or the miracles they have seen Jesus perform. These people have seen God act powerfully through Jesus.

[13:58] They have seen the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers cleanse, the deaf hear, even the dead are raised up and the poor have had good news preached to them.

[14:10] They've seen evil overcome. They've seen heaven ripped open and the spirit of God descend upon Jesus and God's own voice declare over creation, this is my son.

[14:24] These followers of Jesus have seen enough to conclude that he is the Messiah. He's the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And as Jesus now arrives in Jerusalem, that holy city that was once the seat of Jewish kings but now is controlled by Rome, they want the world to know that God's king has come.

[14:46] If you look at verse 37, you notice in the passage the emotion the disciples are feeling as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. They're rejoicing. They are so full of joy that it's overflowing.

[15:02] They can't keep it in. That's what happens when you follow Jesus and you understand who he is and what he has done for us. Jesus, the king, comes to give people great joy.

[15:17] I had lunch a few weeks ago with someone who has just become a Christian and they were asking me questions of their personal experience. to try and understand what was happening to them.

[15:29] And they described how the things that used to bring them joy and pleasure are now repulsive to them. They can't stand the thought. And now all they want to do is spend time with Jesus and grow in their faith.

[15:42] And the person said to me, in the last couple months I now cry all the time. Being a believer has turned me into the biggest baby. The smallest things now move me to tears.

[15:56] We sing a song at church I like and I start weeping like a baby. What's wrong with me? Well, nothing's wrong with them. They're so full of joy knowing that Jesus is the king that their emotions explode out of them.

[16:13] They can't keep it in. And that's the response of the disciples in our story. It reminds me of when the angels come during the Christmas story. You know, way back in Luke 2 when the angels appear over the shepherds?

[16:27] When Jesus is born, heaven's messengers are sent to the least likely people you could imagine. Shepherds. Social and religious outcasts, outsiders, men who are considered unclean because of their dirty, lowly work.

[16:43] And the angel shows up with music and declares, I bring you good news. Do you remember what's next? I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

[16:58] Great joy. This is what the good news of Jesus' arrival offers us. This gospel brings great joy and it's meant for all people.

[17:11] King Jesus brings great joy. recognizing who Jesus is and praising God in response fills us with great joy because it's what we were created to do.

[17:25] We're told in that Christmas story that the multitude of the heavenly host, that same word multitude is in our text describing the disciples, that multitude of the heavenly host shows up in the sky and it erupts in praise to God.

[17:39] They say, glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those among whom he is pleased. Compare that message now with what Jesus' disciples sing as he arrives in Jerusalem in our text.

[17:53] They say, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord and now listen, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. In the starry Christmas night, the angels praise God saying, peace on earth.

[18:07] On Palm Sunday, the disciples declare in the parade, peace in heaven. And in both scenes, everyone sings, glory to God in the highest. Jesus' arrival brings great joy because Jesus the king brings great peace on earth and peace in heaven.

[18:27] He's bridged the gap. His arrival has made a way for God and humanity to be at peace, for sin to be forgiven, for the kingdom of heaven to come and cover the earth.

[18:43] A couple minutes ago, I read the prophecy of Zechariah, a member of that promised future king who will come riding a colt. And it started with the command to rejoice greatly. There's the joy.

[18:54] Well, if you look at the next verse, the prophecy goes on to describe what this king will do. In Zechariah 9, verse 10, it says, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem.

[19:05] The battle bow shall be cut off, and now listen, and he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea. It's the motto of Canada.

[19:17] And from the river to the ends of the earth. This promised king riding on a colt shall bring peace to the nations and his rule shall cover the earth. See, Jesus is the king all of us need because he's the only king who can bring the whole world joy and peace.

[19:35] He shall speak to the nations. He shall rule from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. Jesus enters Jerusalem to bring joy and peace in the midst of geopolitical and religious conflict and uncertainty and fear.

[19:51] And he offers us peace and joy. If you are experiencing a deficit of peace and joy in your life this morning, I have good news.

[20:03] Jesus comes as a king sent from God to bring you both. That's why he comes. In Hebrews 12, we're told Jesus endured the cross despising the shame for the joy set before him.

[20:19] The joy of bringing peace on earth and peace between God and humanity is why Jesus came. It's why he entered Jerusalem that day.

[20:31] It's why he orchestrated and allowed all the events leading to his death. It's for the joy set before him that he endured the cross and he now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.

[20:44] Jesus died to bring peace and joy. His kingdom and his reign bring peace and joy that will cover the whole world and will never end. That's why we celebrate today. And you're invited to receive this king and to share in his gifts of peace and joy.

[21:03] So first we saw Jesus is the king who comes full of humility and sovereignty and secondly we've seen that Jesus is the king we need because he brings peace on earth and peace in heaven.

[21:15] He comes to extend his kingdom and his reign will be defined by overflowing never ending joy. And now we have a bit of a surprise. This is where I came into the kids talk.

[21:28] We read that not everyone is so ecstatic about Jesus' arrival. In verse 39 we read that the religious leaders the experts of the Bible are offended by Jesus.

[21:40] They see the disciples proclaiming Jesus as God's king and they think it could easily lead to a Jewish rebellion against Rome and inevitable violence and suffering. these religious leaders don't believe Jesus is the Messiah because he's not the kind of king they're looking for.

[21:59] Jesus spends his time with scoundrels and sinners he teaches God's word in a powerful way that opposes their authority and he criticizes the Jewish religious leadership publicly.

[22:11] They're offended and they tell him to cut it out stop it and Jesus' reply in verse 40 is to say if my disciples keep quiet the very stones will cry out.

[22:23] Stones he's talking about are probably the stones of the temple complex which would have been right before them as you walk down the Mount of Olives. The stones of the temple will praise God and recognize who I am even though you do not.

[22:39] One commentator writes that which is lifeless knows when it sees God even though that which is living does not. So far we've seen Jesus the king come with humility and sovereignty.

[22:51] He's the only king we need because he brings us peace and joy and now lastly finally we see that Jesus is the king who cries for the city. In verse 41 we are given this beautiful intimate picture into the heart of Jesus into the very heart of God.

[23:10] Jesus' reaction to the city of Jerusalem is to weep over it. And he weeps because he knows the city will reject him. He knows that he is the only way we can experience peace and joy and yet the city will reject him and instead choose violence and death and misery.

[23:33] Jesus knows the city will kill him in just a couple days. But he also knows that Jerusalem will be completely destroyed in 40 years. he knows that unimaginable suffering and loss of life will flow out of the sin of this city.

[23:48] So as he marches down the Mount of Olives and sees the temple he weeps because that temple which was built to display God's presence with his people has become the center of a man-made religion and it will become a ruin that 2,000 years later has still not been rebuilt.

[24:08] He weeps that those who reject him will die. Jesus comes that you may have life and life to the full a life of overflowing joy and eternal peace.

[24:22] He comes to share with you his kingdom to adopt us as children of God to forgive our sin and replace it with his righteousness. He comes to give you his Holy Spirit to make you like God to fill you with all the fullness of God full of peace and joy forever.

[24:45] But he knows that Jerusalem will reject him. They will reject his offer of grace. And to reject Jesus is to reject life.

[24:58] It's to reject salvation. It's to reject God and his grace and thereby forfeit any peace or any joy and instead to receive judgment and death.

[25:12] And so he weeps. Here we see the heart of the king, the heart of God. Jesus weeps for the brokenness of the world. He does not celebrate when evil people are destroyed.

[25:26] He weeps that they did not turn to him and live. This is who Jesus is. This is why Easter matters. He comes humbly and yet he is Lord over all.

[25:41] He comes to die on a cross to win you never ending life with God that is defined by joy and peace. He weeps for his world because he comes that in him we may have life.

[25:57] Thanks be to God. Amen.