Please turn with me as we turn our attention now to the preaching of God's Word to the Gospel of Matthew. This morning we'll be looking at chapter 21, verses 1 through 11. Matthew chapter 21, verses 1 through 11. If you're using your Pew Bible, this passage begins on page 1049. So hear now the Word of God, Matthew 21, verses 1-11. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them. He will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey and on a colt, the full of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds went before him, and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? The crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Let us once again bow our heads and seek the Lord's blessing. Our great God and our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this text before us this morning, and we pray that as we look at these words, that you would be guiding our hearts and minds. And may we, Lord, may you by your Spirit inscribe your truth upon our innermost being. Father, we do pray that you would bless my mind and my mouth, that I may think and speak clearly this morning. It is in the name of Jesus that we do pray. Amen. Well, every so often when a technological company has a new product, they call a big press conference and they have a big display and they introduce it and then they have this great unveiling. Before that, the weeks leading up to it, there's a lot of hype and stirring people's curiosity and interest. And this also happens when young athletes, as they're leaving high school, if they're really good and they're noticed on a national stage, everybody wants to know, well, where are they going to go play college? Basketball or football or soccer or wherever. And they hold a press conference and they have a few choices and they make this grand announcement of where they're going to play. Everybody's curious and expecting and wanting to know. Well, throughout Matthew's gospel, he's been laying the foundation that this is the Messiah. This Jesus is the King of Kings. He has come to bring salvation to his people. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He has fulfilled prophecy after prophecy of the Old Testament. And he has done mighty works. His teaching is full of the wisdom of God himself. And there have been times when Jesus has healed people. He's done things for you. And he said, don't tell anybody. Don't say anything. Keep quiet. Do not reveal who I am or what I've done. Well, the text we have before us this morning is basically Jesus's big revelation of who he is. It's not done with a lot of press and a lot of horns blasting and newspaper articles written, but it's done in humility. But yet this is, as we'll see this morning, a very bold declaration of Jesus, clearly saying that He is the promised Messiah, that He is the true King of Israel. And so the theme we'll be looking at this morning is the king is revealed in humility. And so you and I, brothers and sisters, are called to come to him and also to call others to do the same. The king is revealed in humility. Come to him and call others to do the same. And we'll be looking at this text in three points. Verses one to seven, we'll look at one point. Behold, our humble king of kings, Secondly, verses 8-9, cry Hosanna to Jesus. And lastly, the third point, point others to Him in verses 10-11. So back at verses 1-7, Behold our humble King of Kings. Now as Matthew begins, he's setting the geographical stage of what's going on. He says, As they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. And then we have Jesus telling his disciples and giving them some instructions of where to find a donkey and her colt tied together and there to bring them to him so that he may ride them into Jerusalem. Now, this is a familiar route, actually. King David actually took this route. In 2 Samuel 19, David is returning to Jerusalem after being driven from his kingdom by the rebellion of his son Absalom." Now, as we think about David returning in 2 Samuel 19, first of all, we read in 2 Samuel 15, the chapter which recounts his actual exodus and leaving and being exiled from Jerusalem, that he goes this same path. He's traveling through the way of the Mount of Olives. And in that text, he is weeping and he is mourning. And then we see in 16, chapter 16, verses one to two of 2 Samuel, that a young man named Mephibosheth comes to David and meets him at his camp, and he brings with him a donkey and her colt, and they're laden with various food items for his people that are traveling with him. And then he says that, and I'm giving you these two colts so that you may ride on them in your journey. Now it's in that context then that 2 Samuel is written, and we have David re-entering Jerusalem. Absalom has fallen. And he's most likely riding those very donkeys that he was given in 2 Samuel chapter 16. Now, as we consider You know, what's going on in this text of why did Jesus do this? Why did he all of a sudden say to his disciples, he stopped and said, go and find these two, the donkey and her young colt and bring them to me. He didn't need it. I mean, he's been throughout the gospels and the gospel of Matthew in particular, been walking around preaching. He just continued a long journey where he and his disciples and the crowds were walking to Jerusalem. Why all of a sudden does he now need a donkey to ride? What is its purpose? Well, Jesus is very purposefully fulfilling the prophecy. It was prophesied by the prophet Zechariah, in Zechariah 9, verse 9. And if you want to, please turn with me to that passage, Zechariah 9, verse 9. We read, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. You see, Jesus, as I mentioned in the introduction, is no longer saying, be quiet. Don't tell people who I am. You see, now has come the time in his earthly ministry where who he is is to be revealed. And Jesus is doing this quite purposefully to fulfill the prophecy mentioned in Zechariah, which clearly states, Behold your King, O Zion. As Jesus gives directions to His disciples, it's clear that Jesus here is showing His understanding, His knowledge of all things. He tells them to go and things are found exactly as He described them to be. And people react just as He described that they would. They give these donkeys to His disciples to come. And they lay their coats on Him, on the donkey. As we consider the prophecy as Matthew gives it to us, as I said, he is quoting Zechariah 9, verse 9. But there are a few differences. First of all, Matthew says, say to the daughter of Zion. He mentions nothing, as Zechariah said, of say to Jerusalem. And really, both of those phrases in Zechariah say the same thing. They're just phrased differently. But then he also, we read, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. Now, if you look back at the Zechariah passage, What's missing there is a phrase, righteous in having salvation is he. So Matthew leaves out after behold, your king is coming to you. He doesn't write righteous and having salvation is he, but skips over that and says humble and mounted on a donkey in the cold in the cold, the full of the beast of burden. Was that phrase unimportant? Was it not worth Matthew writing that aspect of this prophecy? What Matthew does here is he brings our attention to that phrase. Those that would be reading this, those that would be hearing this, as I mentioned to you, they didn't have chapters and verses that we could say a reference to. when a scripture was quoted, it brought to mind the context of that passage. And those that remembered their prophecy well would have wondered, well, he's missing something. So far from it being unimportant, it was left out for emphasis. Why was Jesus entering into Jerusalem? This was the last week of his life on earth before he was crucified, the beginning of it. He was headed to the cross and he knew that. And so he is revealing himself as the King of Kings, as the King of Israel. He is bringing righteousness and salvation to his people. So brothers and sisters, This section of Scripture is Jesus declaring publicly who He is, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, humbly entering Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy of old that this is how Israel's King would come. This is how their Messiah would come in bringing salvation to His people. So Jesus reveals Himself as the humble King who brings his people salvation. Our second point this morning, cry Hosanna to Jesus. Now as the disciples find everything just as Jesus had described it, and they bring the donkey and its colt to Jesus, they place their cloaks on this donkey so that Jesus may get up and ride But then we also see that the crowd that had been growing around them. And remember, this crowd had been growing as people were traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover. So these are people from probably the very area that Jesus was from, as well as others from living outside of Jerusalem, but coming in to Jerusalem. And they begin crying shouts of praise to this Jesus. And not only that, they begin laying their cloaks down on the very road, or cutting palm branches and laying them in the road as sort of a red carpet for this king as he enters Jerusalem. Now the Greek word here is translated as Hosanna, that the crowds begin to shout. It is a Greek rendering of a Hebrew phrase that means, save us now. Save us now. Son of David. We see this phrase used in Psalm 118. Psalm 118, verses 25 and 26. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. So that phrase in Psalm 118, verse 25, save us, is the Greek, what we call transliteration, the Greek way of saying what that Hebrew word that is translated as save us. Now I want you also to consider the rest of those verses in Psalm 118. He says, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The crowd also shouts this. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But then also in v. 27-29 of Psalm 118, the Lord is God and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will give thanks to You. You are my God, I will extol You. I will give thanks to the Lord for He is good and has steadfast love. endures forever. This Psalm 113-118 were psalms typically sung during the Passover. And so this psalm would have been on the minds of those as they were coming into Jerusalem to observe the Passover. And so they began crying out, And consider also verse 27, the Lord is God. He has made his light to shine upon us blind or bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. Jesus coming into Jerusalem to lay down his life as a sacrifice for his people. Now, by the time that you know, Jesus's day in this cry out of Hosanna, save us. It wasn't merely a cry for help, but it had become something of a praise, of a rejoicing and a giving of praise to God. Now, if you consider in our own day and age, if we have an emergency at home, something, maybe a pipe would break and it's flooding our basement. Who do we call? We don't call an electrician to come and make the repairs. We don't call the doctor to come to make the repairs. We call a plumber to come. We cry out to them, save us, help us. It's a cry for help to not only one who is expressing a need, but it's a cry to help to someone who has the ability and the capability to provide that help. So it started out initially as a cry for help, save us now, oh Lord, morphed over time to an expression of praise to God, acknowledging that He is the one who is able and powerful to help. That's what it means, by blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The name meaning all of God's character, His strength, His power, His ability. Only Jesus fits that title. He is the only one who comes truly in the name of the Lord. And so this crowd cries Hosanna to Jesus. Save us, but also praising Him, because He is the one able to help. The crowd again says this, and it's a second time, Hosanna in the highest. Just making clear from where this help comes from. comes from God Himself, the Most High. Now, brothers and sisters, as we continue on in our life, if we have professed faith in Christ and we are believing in Him for our salvation, if we have been saved through the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ, it's important for us not to stop there. and think that, well, I've believed and I've been saved and that's enough. I can do everything else on my own. No, we are saved and justified, declared holy and righteous by God through faith in Christ. But then we are also molded and shaped more and more into the image of Christ. We are sanctified by Him also through faith in Christ. So let's not only cry out to Jesus at the time when we first believe, but we must each day, brothers and sisters, cry out to Jesus. Save us. Continue to work within us, O Lord. Molding us more into Your glorious and holy image. So brothers and sisters, let us continue to cry out to Jesus. Hosanna. Who alone can save us. This brings us to our final point, the point that there's others to Him. Now hopefully you can imagine this scene in your mind as this throng, this crowd, is following Jesus, almost surrounding Him. Some are laying their coats down in palm branches and they're crying out over and over again, Hosanna. And as they're approaching Jerusalem and they're coming in, What we read here in the text is in verse 10. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Now, as the text here says, the whole city was stirred up. And the translation thereof, stirred up, is really a little bit weak compared to what the original is saying. The Greek word there is often translated as an earthquake. It's a violent shaking. It's a violent trembling. A fear and trepidation. So the whole city was stirred up, in a sense, as an earthquake would stir up a city, even in our day, as we can see in the news. But it's not simply that there's some excitement going on. It's a fear aspect that is missing here. of what Jerusalem in the city itself is beginning to experience as the king enters its city. If we consider also the historic context, we can understand why they might be afraid. The people in Jerusalem, if they're good Israelites and they went to the synagogue every seventh day of the week and they heard the The Scriptures read to them and expounded to them. Most of them might have some remembrance of a prophecy of a king coming into Jerusalem in such a manner. But then you also consider the time in which they lived under Roman rule. Now, other areas of Israel had a local governor or king that was established, but not Jerusalem. Jerusalem was under direct Roman rule by a Roman governor. And so you have this city that is under the direct oversight of the Roman Empire, and you have this crowd coming in proclaiming the fulfillment of a prophecy that the King of Israel is coming to Jerusalem. Do you think that maybe they were afraid of some Rome exerting its pressure and authority to squash any such type of rebellion. Rome clearly did that in 70 AD, as we can look back in history, when Jerusalem was completely laid waste after a rebellion had risen up. And so the city is stirred. It trembles. Because Jesus is very clearly displaying and declaring that he is the king of Israel coming to Jerusalem. Now as Jerusalem, the city asks, who is this? And then the people answer, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Now it's kind of, it's interesting that they focus on Galilee. This is probably the region where this crowd came from. And there's a sense of pride in kind of the response of, Well, this is the prophet Jesus of Nazareth. He's one of us. He's one of our people. He's not from Jerusalem. He's one of us. They're making kind of a distinction. And what we need to realize is that we can often kind of read this text and it follows so quickly into the coming chapters where Jesus begins to be persecuted and suffer and then is crucified. This most likely is not the same crowd that will, at the end of the week, cry out, You know, the crowd that answers, this is the prophet Jesus of Nazareth that was shouting, Hosanna, praise in the highest. Let's not confuse them with the crowd of Jerusalem that at the end of the week will cry out, crucify Him, crucify Him. But as we consider their answer, they're only partly right. See, this is the prophet Jesus. But let us not lose sight of the fact that they do yet point these people to Christ. This crowd has seen Jesus teach wondrous truths. They have seen Him heal people miraculously. And they point people to Him, not yet knowing or understanding who He is in its entirety. Yet they point to people who ask to Him. My brothers and sisters, what we're called to also in this text, not only to trust and to continue to call on this Jesus to save us, to sustain us, to sanctify us by His truth. We're also called, each one of us, to direct people to Him. For the past few years, we've been praying each week for the cities of Portland, Boise, and Vancouver with the hope that maybe the ward would one day establish RP churches there. That we would one day be able to have a Pacific Northwest Presbytery. As we pray for these cities, we must not lose sight of the fact that we live here in Seattle. We each have a particular direct community that we are all involved with and that we make contact with. on a daily basis. And God, being the sovereign God that He is, has put all of us in these situations to speak for Him when given the opportunity. To a friend at school, to a co-worker, to a neighbor. Whatever the opportunity arises to speak for Christ and to direct people to Him. We know more fully than this crowd that followed Him did at this point. We know that not only is He just a prophet, He is the King. He is our Priest. He is the very Creator of the universe. He is holy and just, and He has laid down His life for His people. And as we have been saved by that grace that He has shown to us, we are called then to go and to call others to Him. This is very difficult in the city of Seattle. Last week, we looked at a passage of two blind men crying out to Jesus, Son of David, have mercy. And in that text, we looked at, okay, what is our own life? How can we apply it to our own situation of what's keeping us and blocking us from Christ? But another way we can apply that is to those who are outside currently the body of Christ, those who have not yet believed. Scripture clearly teaches us that apart from Christ, we are blind. We cannot see. In the sad state of most of our, well, not most, but any of our friends that do not yet know Him, or any family members that don't know Christ, or co-workers, or classmates, is not only are they blind, But they're blind to their blindness. They're doubly blind. They don't understand why they have a need. They don't understand why I need to commit myself to Christ. Why do I need a Savior? I'm fine. This world is fine. And why do I need to follow this man who walked the earth 2,000 years ago? Well, brothers and sisters, as we live our life before these people, as they know that we are Christians and they see how Christ has been working in our life and what His work is doing in our life, let us also speak and say the words in calling these people to Jesus Himself. This is titled in most scriptures as the triumphal entry of Christ. I titled this sermon, The Humble Revealing. I think the title, The Triumphal Entry, should maybe be reserved for Revelation 19. Jesus here is showing His humility. His kindness. His mercy. Now is the time to come to Christ. Well, He can be found. Now is the time to come to Him. while He is merciful and loving. In Revelation 19, we see Christ coming back in His glory. And it's not on a humble donkey. It's on a white horse. And He is coming to judge all the earth. That is our Jesus, brothers and sisters. And while our King is coming in humility, now is the time for people to turn to Him. For when He comes in His magnificent glory, it'll be too late. And so we're called to direct people to Christ Now, as this is a difficult task in any situation, it is very fearful. And we must not overlook that. But let us take great comfort in knowing that we are not alone in our fear and trepidation of taking that step and telling people about our faith in Christ and calling them to repent before him. The great and mighty Apostle Paul after he wrote in Ephesus describing the armor of God. He ends that section pleading with the church in Ephesus to pray for the saints and to pray for me also that I may have boldness to speak as I ought to speak. That's the Apostle Paul. No Christian is alone. in their fear and trepidation of taking that step and calling people to Christ and sharing the gospel. What we must do, brothers and sisters, is again, to cry out to Jesus. As Paul calls us to cry out to him, that he would give us the strength and the boldness and the word to speak, to take and make the most of the opportunity that he gives us. to share the gospel with those that He has placed around us who do not know Him. Let us be lights to those who cry out and call, Who is this? This is Jesus. And so, brothers and sisters, what we have here is Jesus revealing Himself that He is, in fact, the King of Israel. He is the promised Messiah. Behold, O Zion, rejoice, for your King comes in humility on a donkey, bringing righteousness and salvation. As we have bowed our knees to Christ, let us continue to do so and to cry out to Him to save us, because He is the only one who is able to save. And as He continues to work and to mold us and shape us into His glorious image, as He continues to whittle away all that keeps us from Him, as I mentioned last week, those, what we might call the cataracts of our soul, those cataracts, physical cataracts, kind of blind our vision or obscure it slightly. Let us pray that He would remove those, that we may see Him all the more clearly and know ourselves all the most clearly. Let us also pray for boldness. He would give us boldness to speak for Him as He gives us the opportunity to speak. The King is revealed in humility. Let us each one come to Him and call others to do the same. Amen. Our gracious and almighty King, Lord, we Praise you for your gracious yet all-powerful rule. You, Lord, are a mighty king and a powerful king. But you have come in humility. Your burden is light. Your yoke is easy. Forgive us, Father, when we have not When we have tried to take up that yoke upon our ourself and do it on our own and not take up the yoke of Christ. His work that he has done already for us. May we Lord cry out all the more to save us. May we rely on the more. Upon your grace through faith in Christ. To be molded and shaped more into your image and be sanctified by your truth. And Lord, may we also call others. You, Lord, have placed us in our circumstances for a purpose. We are called to be lights in each situation. We are called to speak for you with our mouths and with our lives. But Lord, as you know, as even the Apostle Paul cried out, it is a a fearful thing at times, to speak for you. And so, Lord, we pray that you would give us boldness and wisdom and the gracious words to speak. May we not in any way offend because of our own personalities or words that we use, but Lord, if people are offended, may they be offended only by your gospel. But Lord, may you use us to convict others of their sin, that they might know their need, their blindness for Christ. And may they see and understand and bow in humble submission to the King of Israel, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. In whose name we pray, amen.