Turn back to John chapter 12, title of the message, thy king
cometh unto thee. How condescending that the king
of heaven would robe himself in flesh, come into this world,
this cesspool of sin. right into town on an ass coat,
the foal of an ass. You know, I thought this morning,
of any time that the Lord could have chosen to come into this
world. He could come into this world
and rode into town in a Lincoln town car. But he comes at a time
when it's the most humble time to come. And he comes into town
in the most lowly way, riding a donkey. Isn't that something? That's God. God Almighty's riding
that donkey. Now we have before us the King. It's all about the King this
morning. King of Israel. God's Israel. Do you believe
the gospel? You are God's Israel. This is
our king. We have a king. And what a king
we have. And living in the day we live
in, and all the turmoil and stuff that's going on in this world,
we can go home, sit down, have a peaceful dinner, because our
king is on the throne. Our king is ruling all things. This is very real. What I'm telling
you about this morning is very, very real. We have a king. I know that in about a year,
we're gonna have an election. I can tell you this, our king
is gonna put on the throne up there in Washington, D.C., whom
he will. He's gonna put there whom he
will. It's either going to be for judgment on this country,
or to raise it up, or to let us as a church, his church in
this country, continue to meet freely and to worship him freely. But our king sets up and brings
down. He said, I lift up, I bring down.
I kill and I make alive. I make rich and I make poor.
Our king does that. He does that. And so we have
before us a king of Israel. We see him in his office. We
see him in his person. We see him in his work of salvation
and saving his people from their sins. We see this through the
gospels, what we see, but he doesn't just say, listen, they
was looking for a king or the Messiah to come and save them
from the power of Rome, Rome, America. Government is not my
problem. People are not my problem. Sin
is my problem. You cannot separate me from God. Sin separates me from God. We have a sin problem. And that's
what he came to take care of. This sin issue we have. That's
what he's going to save us from. I need, I need, I need my King
to save this subject from his sins that's what I need I need
to be saved from now on verse 12 on the next day much people
that were come to the feast this is the Passover when they heard
that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem you see they were the men were
required to come to this feast and many women came to it but
the men were required they were required to come But this Passover,
it was unusually crowded because they heard that Jesus was going
to be there and Lazarus, whom he raised. So they wanted I mean,
this really had a stir. There was probably more people
at this feast than at any other time because of him. Because
of him, and rightly so, because this feast is all about him.
The Passover is all about Jesus Christ. They turned it into a
ceremony That's what they turned it into. They turned it into
a tradition, ceremony, and all that. But this pointed to Him. It's all about Him. And this
Passover is going to meet its fulfillment in Christ. It's going
to meet its fulfillment. And it's going to be done away
with. Because Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us, and we don't
offer any other sacrifice. No more sacrifices. That's why
they're not offering sacrifices over there in Jerusalem right
now, is God put an end to it. They don't understand that. That
country over there that does not believe as a whole, I'm sure
there's some there that believe, but as a whole they don't believe.
But they don't understand why they're not doing, they have
the reasons why they're not offering lands, but they don't understand
why God put an end to it. God put an end to it. Because
Christ is the fulfillment of it. The Passover at that time
really lost its meaning. It was just ceremonialism. And I think, and this is something
we need to be careful with. I think something like this happened
in the church at Ephesus. Remember the Lord said in Revelation
1, you've left your first love. Oh, that God not let that happen
here, that we would leave our first love. Our first love is
Jesus Christ. He's our first love. Family can
be second love. But our first love is Christ. Now this crowd, and it's amazing
to watch God work. You know, when you read the Gospels,
when you read the whole Word of God, but especially the Gospels,
watch God work. This crowd is moved to announce
Him as the King of Israel. Pilate wrote that over there.
They said, don't You write right up over there. He said that.
No, no, you said it. I never caught that before until
this morning. No, you said it. He is and God
moved pilot. He gave him a little backbone
there for about five minutes, and he wrote that up. There were
all and he wrote in different languages so that everyone could
see that Jesus Christ is the king of the Jews. God's Israel
is what he's saying, God's Israel. And they took palm branches,
they took branches of palm trees, and they went forth to meet Him,
and they cried, Hosanna! And this is the only time our
Lord ever came into Jerusalem with recognition. Always before,
He just slipped into town, or walked into town quietly, nothing
was said, He'd go into the temple, but this time, He comes into
town, because this is the Passover, and it's all about Him. And this
is the King. And He's going to be announced
as the King. They took branches of palm trees and they went forth
to meet him and they cried Hosanna Lord save For God saved the king
And they said blessed is the king of Israel God made him acknowledging
You know, you know someday there's a day coming when everybody's
going to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is King and Whether you
like it or not, whether you like him or not, you're going to say
it. You're going to get on your knee. He said, everybody's going
to bow. Everybody's going to get down on their knee, and they're
going to call him King Jesus. Lord, everybody's going to, every
tongue, he says, is going to confess it. Now, there are some
who confess it now willingly. You love him as king. You confess
him as king. There's a multitude that won't
do it, but they're going to do it. God said, you're going to
do it. I'm going to read you those in
the end of this message. They're going to announce him
as king. Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the
name of the Lord. Almighty God holds the heart
of the people in his hand. Those who are going to cry crucify
him in a little bit right now are going to cry Hosanna. They're
going to announce who he is first. And then they're going to deny. God holds their heart in his
hand. They are fulfilling God's will,
even though they don't know. You know the whole world is fulfilling
God's will. The natural man looks at the
world and he says, it's a mess. You look at the world and you
say it's fulfilling God's eternal purpose. When God created this
world, God had purposed in Christ to have a people just like His
Son. He's going to populate a whole
earth with that people just like His Son. And that's what's going
on. That's what God's doing. That's
the truth. This very crowd, as I said, their
hearts are in the hand of God, and they're going to crucify
Him in a little while. And when they, listen, when they see him
beaten, see right now he's coming in the town and they're putting
down his palm branches in there because they heard of Lazarus.
They heard about Lazarus being raised from the dead. Some there
saw him raised from the dead. They were eyewitnesses to it. And so he's coming into town
and he has this glory. He has to be of God. This has
to be the King of Israel for him to raise. a dead man, to
literally raise a dead man. They couldn't deny that he raised
a dead man. But in a little while, they're
gonna see him, he's gonna see him beaten beyond recognition. And when they see him beaten
beyond recognition, they're gonna look at him and they're gonna
say, we're wrong. That can't be the king. That
can't be our king. Our king, this wouldn't happen. This wouldn't happen. They don't
realize that he's conquering while he's being beaten. He's
beating while he's being beaten. He's winning while he's suffering. They don't see that. You see
that. Many of them didn't see it, but then some did. There's
many here at Pentecost saw it. But they see him, and they're
disappointed. They expected him to be the one
to deliver them from Roman rule. As I said, government's not our
problem. I know it is a problem, but it's
not my problem. I'm going to die and this government's
going to still be here, but I'm not. You know, my dad, and I
would be honest, you know, I could talk honestly with dad, but he
right up to it, he was, I mean, he was, you know, he had his
political opinion, strong. And he was talking about his
social security. I'm about to mess with his Social
Security. I said, Dad, you're 90 years old. What are you worried
about Social Security for? Seriously, I'm about to meet
God. You're about to meet God. Why
are you concerned about Social Security? God will take care
of me. God promised. I read it to you
this morning. He said, Jacob, I will not leave
you until I have fulfilled the promise and brought you into
the land that I promised. Abraham and Isaac and you, I
promise you, I'll never leave you. I'll do this. I'm not worried
about that, about Social Security and all that. I'm not worried
about that. Government's not my problem. The Lord put away
my sin. My problems are gone. If God
has put away your sin, your problems are gone. The problems you do
have, the trials you do have, just conforming you to the image
of Jesus Christ. That's what God's doing. You're
just not troubled. God sends you troubles. He sends
us troubles in this world. He designs our troubles. They are
divinely designed to fit us like a suit and to conform us to the
image of Christ. So this, you know, Satan's not
my problem. Men's not my problem. They cause
problems. They're a headache, but they're
not my problem. Since God put away my sins, I don't really
have any. I don't have any problems. They're gone. That which separated
me from God is gone. And that's how we ought to live. That's the light we need to live
in. And Jesus, in verse 14, He fulfills
a prophecy. Zechariah 9 9 it's written this
this let me read it to you about 500 years before this took place
Listen here in Zechariah 9 9 rejoice greatly old daughter of Zion
shout old daughter of Jerusalem behold thy king cometh unto thee
He is just this is his character. We'll get to that in a minute
and having salvation He has salvation Lowly and riding upon an ass,
and upon a coat the full of an ass. Everyone that knew him,
knew him to be meek and lowly. Everyone knew him, knew him to
be that way. That was his character. And here
he comes riding into town on this ass, fulfilling this scripture,
fulfilling it. And we find a fuller account
of this in Luke 19. It says here, Jesus, when he
had found a young ass, he sent the disciples out to find this. Let me restate that. They didn't
know where it was, but the Lord did. He told them where to go. They find it tied up. He said,
if the owner there asks you what you're doing, and he did, the
owner said, what are you doing? He said, you tell him the master
has need of him. Did the Lord need that ass? Did
he? Absolutely. You know why? Zechariah 9-9 said that that's
how he would come. He can't go around there. He
cannot go around there. You see, Every jot and tittle
may not mean much to me and you, but it's success or failure to
him. If he doesn't fulfill every jot and tittle, it's failure. That's how much this cult meant. He had to have it. He had to
have it to fulfill that scripture. All scriptures must be fulfilled.
And we see the Lord's omniscience here because Christ knew where
it was. He told him where to go. He told him where it'd be
tied up and what the owner would say. And the owner said to him, he
said, well, take him, take him. You see, we can't miss the little
things. Let's be careful, you know, that we don't miss the
little things that show the great things of God. Let's not just look at the big
things that are happening, but it's the little things that are
also happening that can't be overlooked, that's unimportant. To me, it might make me think
so, but not to him, and not to our salvation. The scriptures
got to be fulfilled. The Lord said this, despise not
the day of small things. This seems like a small thing,
but if he doesn't ride into town on that, on that coat, you're
not saved. That's how, you say, well, that's,
no, because the scripture's not fulfilled. That's how minute
our Lord fulfilled everything. He did so on purpose. As it is
written, Everything our Lord did was written. He never operated
outside the Word of God. You remember the temptation in
the wilderness? Every time Satan came to him, three times, you
know what he said? IT IS WRITTEN. I wish I knew
the Word of God that well, that I could give every answer, IT
IS WRITTEN. Madison asked Jeremy something
one day. It's been some time ago. And she said, Dad, I want
you to answer me. She's asking questions. She said,
answer me this, but don't do it with. She's saying, don't
do it with the Bible, because he was answered all the time
with the Bible. He said, Madison, there is no answer apart from
that. She just won. I know she's in her natural mind
or natural, natural way she's born. You want to reason with
the natural mind. No, this is what God's Word said.
Well, let's not use the Bible. No. Our answers should come from
the Word of God. And we should be that acquainted
with it. Listen to this in Luke 24, 44.
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. They all got to be fulfilled
and he did he did and here's what he says in verse 15 fear
not You're not I didn't you know
one time the disciple said you want us call fire down out of
him John was one of them John the one who leaned on his breast
John who we think was such a beloved person said you want me to call
fire down out of heaven burn these guys up He said no, I didn't
to come to destroy men's life, but to save them Your life has
already been destroyed. It got destroyed in Adam It got
destroyed in Adam You know, Madison, I was picking
on her this morning. She told me she wanted to marry
a very good looking man and a very intelligent man. I said, he died
in the garden. He died in the garden. There's
no such man except Jesus Christ. He's the only one. Fear not. What do we have to fear? Children
of God. What do we have to fear? He knows
the hair of your head. He knows how many hairs on your
head. A fly, I'm not exaggerating, a fly can't light on you without
his permission. Can't do it. If we fear God,
we have nothing else to fear. If we have a right fear of God,
we have nothing else to fear. We need not fear men. You know,
our Lord said this, DON'T FEAR THEM WHO CAN DESTROY THE BODY
FEAR HIM WHO CAN CAST BOTH BODY AND SOUL INTO HELL THAT'S WHO
YOU FEAR DON'T FEAR MEN WE DON'T FEAR SATAN HE'S GOT TO GET PERMISSION
WE DON'T FEAR DEATH I HOPE BY GOD'S GRACE WHEN IT
COMES TIME FOR ME TO DIE AND THAT TIME'S COMING THAT I CAN
DO IT WITH REJOICING rejoicing all of these have been conquered
now they're just they're used of god to accomplish his will
they're used of god to conform us to the image of christ everything's
used of god you know everything that exists are his servants
everything satan's his servant you don't like it but he is i'm
telling you he is You think when he went after Job that God was
standing back there going, oh, I hope he makes it. He's conforming Job to the image
of his son. And Job said this, at the end
of it all, he didn't curse God. He didn't blame God. He said,
by the hearing of the ear, I've heard of thee, which everybody
in this room, you have. And he said, but now, man, I
see of thee. Some of you see. Some of you see the Lord. You've
been given an eye of faith. You see Him. He's very, very
real to you. He's very real. Now, the fear
not here is not to everyone. It's to His Israel, those who
believe they are the Israel of God. It's to the daughter of
Zion. Behold, thy king cometh sitting
on an ass's coat. And notice how the king of glory
comes into town. He comes in on this colt. Listen,
this colt had never been ridden before. And this demonstrates his power
over all things. I've ridden unbroken horses before
when I was younger. I had a Tennessee Walker that
I broke. And you rode a lot of horses, Doug. But he got up on
that hook, they put him, and Matthew says they lifted him
up, they put him up on it, his disciples did. They exalted him,
put him up on this coat. He didn't even have a saddle
on it, they just put their clothes on it. He broke this coat by his own
power. This coat submitted, this wild
ass's coat, submitted to him. Submitted to him. Sinners are
broken by him. Our Lord doesn't ride on sinners
that somebody else broke. I'm not the one who breaks you.
If God saves you, I ain't the one doing it. And then He comes
in, takes over. He's the one who does the breaking.
He's the one. I'm just a herald. Behold the
King! Some time ago, I was watching
a movie that had a king in England. And the guy walks, opens these
big doors, and he walks in, he says, the King! And everybody's
in the room, they all bowed like that. They all bowed. That's
all I am. I'm telling you this morning,
behold the King. Our King. Our King. He cometh, that's his
prophesied of Him. Christ is our King. Now let me
give you a few things about our King. Our King. You see, listen, Adam was the
first king revealed in the Garden of Eden. God told him to have
dominion over all the fish in the sea, the fowls, everything.
But he didn't last long. He rebelled against God, and
that was taken from him. But the Lord Jesus Christ is king,
and He always has been, over all the earth. There's no place
He's not a king. No place. ALL THINGS WERE CREATED
BY HIM, FOR HIM, AND BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST. Colossians Chapter
1. ALL THINGS ARE HELD TOGETHER BY OUR KING. HIS REIGN IS UNIVERSAL. You can
read that over in Daniel 4.3 and John 17.2. He's been given
power over all flesh. HE HAS NO BOUNDARIES. OUR KING
HAS NO BOUNDARIES. ALL OTHER KINGS HAVE BOUNDARIES.
OUR KING HAS NO BOUNDARIES. He has complete control and rule
over all flesh. He sets up kings and he brings
them down. He does. Our king does that.
He is king over all principalities. Look over in Colossians chapter
1. In Colossians chapter 1, look
in verse 15. Who, that is, Christ, is the
image of the invisible God. You know, when God created Adam,
what did He say? Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
That was accomplished in the man, Christ Jesus. You see, unto
us a son is given, but the child is born. The child was created.
The humanity of Christ was created in the image of God. Who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominion,
principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. He's before all things, and by
Him all things are held together, consistent. He's the head of
the body, the church, who's the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things He, our King, might have the
preeminence. He's over all principalities.
Satan's not out there running around loose. All the demons
of hell are not running around loose. They are literally on
a chain. Somebody said this one time,
I thought it was good. In my mind, my imagery, I could see
it. He said, Satan was nothing more than a pit bull on a chain.
And I could see that. God let him go so far, pull him
back. He's on a chain. And listen,
he's also, he's the king of saints, especially. He's king over the
world. He's king over principalities. He's king of saints. He's our
king. He's our special king. We have a special king. Revelation
15, three, and they sing the song of Moses. The Servant of
God, in the Song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are
thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou
King of Saints. Now, brethren, we have a King,
and we seek His will in everything we do. We seek His will. Lord, what
did Paul say when he wrote to Beth? Lord, what will you have
me to do? I'm yours. Where would you have
me to go? I'm yours. I'm yours. And his kingdom, listen, is not
of this world. John 18, 36, Jesus answered,
my kingdom is not of this world. Pilate was talking to him. And
he told Pilate, he said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should
not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. It's a spiritual kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. Everyone,
everyone here that believes God, you believe the gospel, you live
in a spiritual kingdom. I know I'm in this world and
I know I live in among the kingdom of man. But my life is in the
kingdom of God. My thoughts, my motivation is
not of this world. I know it gets in the way sometimes
of that old nature. But it's a spiritual kingdom.
It's a very real kingdom. Now here's the character of our
king. He's a good king. Is he good or bad? There are
not many good kings. Go over and read the Old Testament.
you read very few good kings a lot of them was like they walked
not after their father they evil not many good kings here's the here's the king here's
the character of our king matthew 21 5 tell you the daughter of
zion behold thy king cometh unto thee meek i looked that up one
of the synonyms for that is lamb like I thought that was a good
description, lamb-like, meek, sitting upon an ass, a colt,
the foal of an ass, and then our king is righteous, and he's
a king of peace. You ain't gonna meet too many
kings that are king of peace or righteous, but ours is. Hebrews 7, 2, to whom also Abraham,
speaking of Melchizedek, whom also Abraham gave a tenth part
of all, first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, because
you know Melchizedek was a type of Christ, no beginning of the
days or end of life, no mother, no father, no heritage. Some
believe he was a pre-incarnate Christ, he was the Lord pre-incarnate. But he's a King of Righteousness
and after that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. You know what our king is that
no other king has ever been? King-priest. Our king intercedes
for us. Our king offered up himself as
a sacrifice for us. Our king did that. Our king fought
for us. He said, the battle's not yours,
it's God's. He fought for us. He redeemed us. He took us back
from the curse of the law and Satan, the power of Satan, the
power of darkness. He pulled us out of that. You've been translated
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear
son. God did that. God did it. It wasn't me. Me
and God, God did that himself. But he's a king priest. He not only reigns for us, he
prays for us. And the Jews didn't make him
king. Nobody made him king but God the Father. And a person
ever existed that made Jesus Christ their Lord. Make him your
Lord. You can't do that. You can't
do that in any way, shape or form. Acts 2.36, Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly, know this, THAT GOD
HATH MADE THAT SAME JESUS WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED, BOTH LORD AND
CHRIST. God made Him King, King of the
Universe, King of all Principalities, King of Saints, King of Glory. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of Hosts. He's the King of Glory. He was
king. God made him king. He was born
king. The wise men said, where is he
born king? He's not going to become king.
You see princes become kings after their father dies, after
the king dies. Christ was born king. He's not
waiting for anybody to die. Our king died for us is what
he did. And he's appointed king. God
said this in Psalm, I believe it's Psalm 2. Yet, yeah, Psalm
2, 6. Yet have I sent my king, God's king, my king, upon my
holy hill of Zion. And he was king before he came.
He's king when he came. He was king when he arose. He's
king when he went back. He's king now. And he's going
to be king when he comes back again. He's the king. would you want to know a sad
note you want to know a sad note he came to israel and for this
little brief time god moved him to acknowledge him as king but
they rejected him as king and god said this over in isaiah
1 3 the ox knoweth his owner the beast knows his owner and
the ass His master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people
does not consider. The ox, the beast in the ass
is smarter than you are. When he came, they rejected him.
He came to his own and his own received him not. God said even
a beast is smarter than what you people are. Speaking to Israel,
they rejected him. And then last of all, I'm all
closed. These things understood not His disciples at first, and
here's the reason why we study the Word of God. But when Jesus
was glorified, when He's lifted up, Jesus Christ glorified this
morning. Has He been glorified this morning?
He'll open the Scriptures to you. When He's glorified in your
heart, you'll say, I see, I see. But when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that these things were written of Him. They
said, ah, it says that in Zechariah 9, 9. That's who that's talking
about. You see, he's the key of knowledge. Jesus Christ is
a key of knowledge. He's the key to all scriptures.
You'll finally understand the Bible when you come to know him. And he's glorified in your heart. IT DOESN'T SAY THEY BELIEVED
NOT THERE IT SAYS THEY REMEMBERED THEY THAT THESE SAYINGS WERE
WRITTEN OF HIM AND THAT THEY HAD NOT AND THAT THEY HAD DONE
THESE SAYINGS UNTO HIM THEY REMEMBERED IT YOU SEE THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND
YOU SEE THESE SAYINGS UNDERSTOOD NOT HIS DISCIPLES HE DIDN'T SAY
THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE HIM HE JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND IT I DON'T
UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING I BELIEVE DO YOU? YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING
YOU READ IN THE WORD OF GOD? NO YOU DON'T But I believe it. It's God's Word. And in time,
He'll give me an understanding if it pleases Him. If I need
to know it. I'm on a need-to-know basis.
If I need to know it, He'll make it known to me. After our Lord was glorified,
They were given understanding. And the people, therefore, that
was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him
from the dead, they bear record. They have no excuse. They had
eyewitnesses. And for this cause, the people
also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
They believed the report, but not the truth. Big difference.
Big difference. They believed the report. I believe
everybody in this room believes the report. raised under the
gospel. You believe what you hear, you
believe God created the heavens and the earth. You believe Jesus
Christ came into the world, you believe Jesus Christ died. It's
one thing to believe the report, it's another thing to believe
him. That's the difference. And the Pharisees perceived and
said among themselves, if we don't do something, the whole
world's going after him. Well, you can do whatever you want.
Those whom God saves throughout this world is going to go after
him. And I'm gonna close with this. If you haven't bowed now, you
will. Romans 14, 11, for it is written,
as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God, so that every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. Philippians 2, 9, 11, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, given him a name of which
is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth. And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. And Isaiah 45, 22, 23. Look unto
me and be ye saved, right now, right now. Look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there
is none else. I have sworn by myself, because
he can swear by no greater. I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Jesus Christ
is Lord. I thank God Almighty that He
has given me a heart and some of you a heart to bow right now
in submission, in glad submission. And I hope He does some more.
But I can say this, you will bow. You will bow. I'd rather bow now than later. All right.
About John Chapman
John Chapman is pastor of Bethel Baptist Church located at 1972 Bethel Baptist Rd, Spring Lake, NC 28390. Pastor Chapman may be contacted by e-mail at john76chapman@gmail.com or by phone at 606-585-2229.
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