Well, the congregation this morning, back to Luke chapter 19, we'll continue there. Taking this morning, verses 28 through 44. And this evening, the rest of the chapter. Great help for us in these things as we ponder now the entrance of the Lord, our Savior, our King into Jerusalem. and the particular matters that are necessary for to be, that is, they need to be accomplished for our salvation, including then these things this morning. So Luke 19, and we pick up at verse 28, notice again, after Jesus had said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethpage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of his disciples, saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it, tell him the Lord needs it. Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, why are you untying the colt? They replied, the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it. As he went along, the people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. I tell you, he replied, If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you and your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. Oh beloved, the faithful and glorious and very helpful word of the living God this morning. Let's ask his help as we continue, shall we? O most merciful God, thank you that this week your people have been praying. This is the normal action, the regular pattern for Christians. And perhaps, Lord, a significant part of our praying has been now, this morning and tonight, the privilege that is ours afforded to us by grace of assembly. And that reason of assembly is for hearing, And oh Lord, there is by faith, by hearing faith, and we thank you for that great privilege. And we ask this morning that you would move by your spirit in such ways that faith will either be brought to be, born as it were, or strengthened. Oh Lord, help us. We ask now in Jesus' name, amen. To a congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Palm Sunday is a display of the work done for our salvation. All that is about to happen in Jerusalem begins here. In this next eight days of his earthly ministry, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, he will make proclamations as God's prophet, even as we see in our text. He will provide for our atonement as the high priest, and he will show the authority and glory of the only eternal king. All that, so his people are saved. He must enter in then to the royal city where all that saving work is going to be done. Beloved church, later in the week, Pilate will, from a wicked heart, Pilate will proclaim, behold your king. Though from Pilate it will be out of a wicked heart. But we watch this text with Christ intentionally, purposefully, knowingly, drawing every eye unto himself. We watch him say to us by faith, behold your king. The majestic king manages his own entry to the royal city. The majestic king manages his own entry to the royal city. So he sets the scriptural stage. That's where we begin. It's where our text begins. And as our text begins, verse 28, it makes it clear that of Jesus' three offices, the one that we are shown primarily in our text is Jesus the Messianic King. We know that from the words, quote, after Jesus had said this. That is to say that parable that we took up as our reading of the law of God this morning was Jesus in a certain sense defining and revealing his messianic nature. He is saying it again to the people in the parable, I am the righteous king. I am the one that you must deal with. There is not another one coming, it is me. And then by the end of our passage, he laments that they have ignored him, that they have denied him, that they have rejected him. And he is, in that sense, prophetic about what is coming in the rest of this week, leading up to, of course, Good Friday. He is fully in charge. And of course, he notes what is coming, as we'll see shortly. But being the one fully in charge, I want you to notice this in verses 28 through 31, what he is doing as the one who is in charge. He is bringing the spotlight again upon his own movements, his commands, his instructions. He tells two disciples where, what, and when they find it, how to respond to words that will be spoken to them. And the disciples obey, verses 32 through 34. And it happens exactly as Jesus said that it would happen. He is in that office prophetically speaking about things that need to be accomplished in his messianic kingly ministry. Or to put it now this way, His kingly wisdom and foresight are flawless, just the opposite of every earthly ruler history has ever known. His kingly foresight, his wisdom, his declarations are flawless, perfect. He is the divine king. Now, sometimes, beloved, we come to a passage like this one, and we're, again, I say this often, and I say it so that we begin thinking in this way, a passage about which we are so familiar that sometimes we let the details wash by us. But I want you to pick up those details this morning and say, asking to yourself, why these things? You might be thinking, if you're scripturally informed, that here we see Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecies, and surely he is doing that, and we'll come to those in due course, but it begs a deeper question, doesn't it? Why those Old Testament prophecies that he's here fulfilling? It's not that we just do math and we say, well look, one plus one equals two, it was told and it was promised and he does it, ah, that's nice. Why were those things promised? And why is he now fulfilling what was foretold? What's the deeper reason? Well, beloved, it must be, it has to be, so that we by faith would see the king. That's what these words are meant to instruct us. Only, you see, verse 30, only the divine king can look ahead into a village and say, well, here's where you need to go, and this is what you're looking for. And looking ahead with that perfect divine kingly vision, knowing that when they get there and untie the colt, they're going to be asked a question. And when they're asked a question, he gives them the answer. And then that's exactly what happens. A king does this, you see. Only a divine king can do this perfectly. He is the righteous one. And yet also, as the divine king who will enter, he must enter onto a donkey's cult, exactly as Zechariah 9 prophesied. But more than that, a donkey's cult, which no fallen sinner has ever spoiled. Now we need to be careful here, but there are parallels to be made in our text, and both with the virgin birth and his arrival on the scene in Bethlehem. Parallels which, when we begin thinking that way, will just leap off the page. Setting that aside for a moment, beloved, I am, maybe it's just my makeup, but I'm constantly thinking about the way C.S. Lewis portrayed the kingly office of our Lord Jesus Christ in his chronicles of Narnia as Aslan, that unsafe lion. Why unsafe? Well, because the lion is the king of creatures, and you don't come to the lion and demand of the lion what you think the lion ought to be doing, or make some command and expectation unto the lion, which you demand he fulfill. Or the lion roars, and the lion commands, and the lion is in charge. And it's what we see here with Jesus, though, in a rather soft way, isn't it? That all are supposed to bow down before him. And so just before our text, and we read it this morning, is verse 27, which, yes, is in our Bibles. I would imagine that verse 27 of Luke 19 is not one of the top 100 memorized Bible verses. It's probably not one that most evangelists use or think about using, or we don't think about it in evangelistic ways. In the culture in the day in which we're living, beloved, an idea in the minds of common people, fallen sinners, that Jesus would say something like this is absolutely foreign. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here before me and kill them in front of me. Jesus' words. The words of a king. Of a gloriously unbending king. The king who will not be trifled with. The King who takes no buyouts, who cannot be manipulated. He is the Glorious One. And yet, with all of that being true, beloved, all of that being true, notice that He does not ride into Jerusalem on a war horse. He does not come riding in on a chariot with the bands of chariots behind Him. He comes in humility to do battle for our salvation on the cross. Now that being said, tonight we'll see his zeal worked out in fury as he comes into the temple. Don't mistake these things. But this morning we marvel at the king's arrival in the royal city for our salvation. And he secondly parades down the royal road. Verses 35 and 36 go together. They brought it, that is the colt, to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. I would have loved to have been there, not just to see that, but in my kind of strange way of thinking, to walk around to the people and take a poll. I have one question for you, and I'll ask them in my poll. What scripture passage are you seeing fulfilled here? Now, how many of them would have responded, Zechariah 9, 9, even though verses and chapters come later, but thinking in our current modern way of conceiving it, would they have said, this word from Zechariah is what's going on here. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. How many of them would have seen that and known that? What do we see? What do we know? You see, they bow down as laying down a royal carpet of cloaks on the road. And it would have been an extreme honor because they didn't have a closet full of cloaks. One for most people, maybe more than one for the richest among them. But the cloak was an extremely important piece of clothing. It was an outer wear garment used for warmth or maybe to stay dry when the rains come or maybe to keep the sand, the blowing sand out of them. The cloak was a vital and regular part of their clothing. And so what are they doing here? At the very least, beloved, they're making it obvious how important he was to them at this moment. that they would make a saddle for him out of cloaks, the disciples, and then that they would pave the road, a red carpet, so to speak, of cloaks, showing honor given to the one above all others who deserved the honor according to their estimation at the moment. They would honor him, now listen again to what we think about of Bethlehem, they would honor him and give gifts to him. Not now gold and frankincense and myrrh, but maybe even a costlier gift. One, a gift that was vital to their very survival, their cloak. Here we see, as John Calvin puts it in his commentary, a sudden movement of the Holy Spirit, which propels the people to honor King Jesus in a way fitting to fulfill the Old Testament promise of Zechariah 9. I love that Calvin sees the work of the Holy Spirit here, moving the people, moving them to say, here comes the King. Beloved, our King. How do we honor him? With what do we glorify him? What gifts of ours do we give and say, this is my king. He is the glorious one. By his might and authority, he will go to the cross and he will secure our salvation, but he will go there as a lion of the tribe of Judah to roar and to die to give his life for us. And in that death, that which the crowd, not the disciples either, can right now understand, in that death he will defeat and conquer, he will destroy and kill, sin and hell and the devil and all our sins. And so how do we honor him? With what vital item or gift Do we begin to think he is worthy to receive? And I'm not talking about money. God doesn't need our money. Yes, of course, giving is important, but God doesn't need those things from us. May I suggest we begin by giving things that we can't get more of? Because you can get more money. Begin by giving him your weeks, your days, your hours, I think it's a really good thing that God doesn't reveal to any of us the date, I'm thinking year, month, day, maybe hour of our coming death. Wouldn't that be terrible? Are you certainly gonna die on this particular day? What would you do if you knew that day? I think for most of us that would be a very bad thing, very negative. And so of course the implication is is that we don't know. And once today is gone, you don't get it back. So what a precious gift time is. Ought that not be the gift that we give to our God, our Lord? In particular now, I'm thinking of what we do on the Lord's Day, Sunday morning in worship service, Sunday evening in worship service, because we want to say, Lord, the gift of this day is something I want to give back to you. A complete picture now of my giving of my all to you, of giving everything I potentially have to you because of what you have done to save me. What a precious thing. What a beautiful thing that we hold nothing back. We give him our whole life and Sunday, this has been historically true in all good reformed Presbyterian polity and practice, Sunday and our way of handling it is a presentation, representation of what we think we owe to God as a way of thanksgiving. Now, I go on about this, beloved, because of what we all know is coming in this week. Now, I'm thinking the week of Jesus' ministry. We know what's coming, don't we? It's actually one of the saddest weeks in terms of human regression to be listed for us in the scriptures. Well, thirdly, he allows the messianic proclamations. Look with me at verse 37. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Now, we need to remember the importance of movement in the narrative sections of scripture. Movement in the narrative passages is very important. We ought to say, now, why is this movement going on? What's the purpose? What's the significance of it? And in this movement, he is moving downward. There's a descent going on here over the crest of the Mount of Olives and down toward the entrance into the city. It will be the last time the crowds laud him as the messianic king. Remember what we just said about the saddest week recorded for us in the history of humanity in the scriptures, because by Friday, and you already know this, they will be crying out the demand for his crucifixion. Could we Take a poll of that crowd. And ask them what they are thinking. Well, at least here now, Palm Sunday, as we like to call it, triumphal entry day, Psalm 118 verse 26 must be in mind. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, because that's exactly what is recorded for us in verse 38, isn't it? From the house of the Lord, we bless you. And this is told to us also in verse 38. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Where do we find that in the scriptures? Can you go back with me to Bethlehem again? When then, there in Bethlehem, it was the angelic choir Trumpeting. Praising him peace to God, glory in the highest and two men on Earth. That piece is needed, isn't it? Why were they doing this verse 37? Praising God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen, there's a slight. Problem, I'm going to be a little picky at this point with our NIV translation of the original language here. I don't always speak Greek words from the pulpit, but I do this one because it will be familiar to you. The Greek word here at verse 37, translated miracles, is dunamis, from which we get the English word dynamite. means power, probably best here, power in terms of authority. Now, it is true, then, of course, that his power and authority is that which dispels demons and brings healing to people. Yes, of course, that's true. But I think in the flow of the passage, a better word that fits here might be that they praised God in loud voices for all his authority they had witnessed, authority of the king that they had seen and been dealing with. The king who perhaps we would say should be riding on a war horse or on a chariot, but rather as with the cult like the virgin birth and the gifts like the Magi gave to him so to hear the angels over Bethlehem and the crowds together sing the messianic praise of peace from God, glory in the highest. Messianic proclamations. Things being said about him that can only be true of the Messiah who has come to save sinners. And do you see again that he allows it? Long ago, somebody penned words in a book about what Jesus allows, these kinds of messianic proclamations that he allows, and the author of that book said that you must come to one of three determinations about Jesus Christ. Either he is liar, or he is a lunatic, or he is the Lord. What does he allow here? He's not crazy. Insane people allow other people to say all kinds of things about them. He's not a liar. He is true in everything. So the only conclusion left is that he's Lord. And indeed. So how should we praise him? In a little bit, I'm going to ask you to pick up your Psalter hymnal. You've heard that hundreds of times, thousands maybe. Is that part of our praise of our God, to sing using our voices? Yes, of course. Are we encouraged to praise him with our gifts of time and talent and treasure? Yes, absolutely. But what else? Is there more? Well, yes, there is. And to explain that, beloved, we need to go back now and deal just for a moment longer with the parable, which He speaks that precedes his entry because we need to notice from that parable that when he returns, meaning when he comes and makes an assessment of our lives, the king, the judge, all will be examined, you see. Everything about us. Do we say this morning, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord? Do we say that by our actions? Even our actions done in private and secret? Do we use the gifts that he's given to us? Now, I'm not talking about treasure, but yes, I am talking about time and talents. Do we use those gifts and say, the gifts God has given to me by grace can be multiplied I can reach other people. I can impact their lives for good and for His glory. I want to be, in the right sense of the word, a kingdom citizen. Do you see that what he says in the parable is of the three being evaluated? Two of the three are kingdom citizens. They belong, they are a part of, they honor and laud and extol and love the king. The third of the three is A betrayer, a hypocrite. Hiding in plain sight. Paul gets a hold of this in Romans 12. When he says, offer yourselves, you know the rest of the verse, a living sacrifice. Holy, pleasing to the Lord, why? Because by the time Paul gets to Romans 12, he has dealt with all of the significance of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in the previous 11 chapters, extolling what Jesus Christ has done for the believer so that then what comes because of salvation is a life lived for the glory of God that is sometimes painful and sacrificial. And our God loves that. That's what he says in the parable. Well done, my good servant. Twice, well done. Which are the words we want to hear. And fourthly, he prosecutes their future rejection. Because in the parable of the righteous king, there's that third group. The group has decided that King Jesus is not worthy of praise and they are better off, they're wiser, they're in a better condition if they rule their own lives. They know what to do, they know what's what. Don't tell me how to live my life, they say. They don't want him as king. At verse 39 of our text, we begin to meet them. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. I tell you, he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. I love that. Stones will cry out. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. Why? Because like with the parable, verse 22, they are wicked servants. Put them together, beloved. See what it is the Lord Jesus Christ here is revealing about all humanity. So that as he approaches Jerusalem now, verse 42, and weeps over it, he says, if you, even you, had known on this day what would bring you peace, that's me, he is saying, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. He's back to being the prophet here, or maybe better, the king speaking prophetically about something that's going to happen 37 years later. And you can check, Google it by the way, you can check history to see what occurred in AD 70 in Jerusalem. Because what occurred in AD 70 in Jerusalem is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ here says would happen. Historical records prove that Jerusalem was totally destroyed. The Romans came in and razed the city, leaving not one stone upon another. What does he say in the parable? Everyone who has more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has, or we would say what he thinks he has, will be taken from him. And the Pharisees will lead the crowd. They will whip them up to a frenzy by Friday. And the lion will be bound to the cross. Oh, dear church, behold your king. Behold your king who owns full rights to us. Do we see his majesty? Do we sense his lordship? So that right now, from the text, looking at the King, we can see him over our lives, in our hearts right now. He is Lord. He has been enthroned as the King of kings and the Lord of lords over us because of what he has done for us. So that we don't play at church. That is, pretend or go through the motions But rather we say, oh, he has for me done all that needed to be done. He has saved me. He's going down now, as it were, in a sense, to the bottom, which will be the cross. He will be raised up Easter Sunday and ascend thereafter to the Father's right hand but he's coming down again. One more time. May we be ready. Amen. O Lord, our King, you are majestic in your sovereign rule and reign, the King not to be trifled with. But O Heavenly Father, likewise, and even more so we would say, a gracious and kind and benevolent King, which we know full well because of what happens on Good Friday. That you would die for us, to save us. Oh Lord, as we extol you here in your triumphal entry, may we extol you every day and say there is no other king over me but Jesus. We ask in his name, amen. Let's continue worshiping our God in song now, congregation, 349. Hosanna, loud hosanna. We'll stand and sing. Our doxology then will be 301 stanza four. But let's begin at 349.