All righty, I'd like to begin
with tonight's handout before we turn to our texts in Matthew
chapter 21. And I put in here from 1 Samuel
21 verse 8 through 9. The title for tonight's study
is None Like That. First Samuel 21, 8 through 9,
and David said to Himalek. Now, Himalek was the high priest
at the time, and David was running from Saul. And he goes, and is
there not here under thine hand spear or sword? And he explains
why he asked. He says, for I have neither brought
my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business
required haste. And the priest said, The sword
of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of
Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
If thou wilt take that, take it, for there is no other save
that here. And David said, and this is what
I wanted to read this scripture to you for, there is none like
that. Speaking of that sword, give
it to me. These are the texts that our
brother in Christ, Tom Harding, had preached on his message,
there is none like that. It is not my intention to repeat
his message, but much of what he referred to is relevant to
our text in Matthew 21. Brother Tom spoke of the sword,
a reference to the Word of God. There is none like that. and
much more in reference to the gospel. There is none like that. And each point he closed with,
give it to me, give it me. And I say, amen. In fact, as
I was listening to that message, I'll be honest with you, there
was a lot of amens. I would have been a disruption
if I would have been in the building with you. But man, it was a good
message. So for tonight, for our focus,
will be none like that as well. but taken from a point that we
see here in Matthew chapter 21. So now if you would turn to your
Bibles, Matthew chapter 21, and join me in reading the first
11 verses. First 11 verses. Matthew chapter
21, Beginning at verse 1 and when they draw when they drew
nigh Unto Jerusalem now remember the Lord was very clear about
what he was going to Jerusalem for He was very clear that he
was going to be going up to Jerusalem He was going to be turned over
to the elders to the chief priest and be killed And be and on and
be raised again on the third day so and when they drew nigh
to Jerusalem and were come to Beth Bethpage unto the Mount
of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them,
Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall
find an ass tied and a colt with her. Loose them, and bring them
unto me. And if any man say ought, Unto
you ye shall say, The LORD hath need of them, and straightway
he will send them. All this was done. that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell
ye the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek,
and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. And
the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought
the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes. And they
set him athreon, and a very great multitude spread their garments
in the way. Others cut down branches from
the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that
went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the
Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when
he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who
is this? And the multitude said, this
is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. We'll spend the rest
of our time tonight in the handout. So we'll pick up where we left
off there in mid-page one, the last paragraph of page one. What
an entrance. What an entrance. Now, as I considered
this throughout the week, it just amazed me at how the King
of Kings The very one who puts kings in their mother's womb,
who raises them to sit where they do, entered in a fashion
unseen of carnal men. None had ever seen a king like
this, triumphant yet meek, all powerful yet needful, triumphant
because he is God in human form, the God-man, and cannot fail,
meek because he chose in his infinite wisdom to set his glory
aside, humbling himself, he became a servant. That's what we read
in Philippians 2, 6 through 5 and 8. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ
Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in a fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Page two. Our Lord knew well
that the hour of his death, the hour of his glory, the hour of
his manifestation was near. The time of his humiliation in
earthly ministry was drawing to a close. The hour was rapidly
approaching when he must finish the work which he had come to
do in this world. Brother Don Fortner wrote this.
He says, his last great climatic work was before him. There was
nothing left for him to do except make atonement for and redeem
his people by the sacrifice of himself upon the cursed tree.
Having assumed our nature, Having fulfilled all other things written
in the book of God concerning him, the Lord Jesus must now
finish his work. He must fulfill all righteousness
by his sin-atoning death. Now he must satisfy justice and
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. Our Lord would have
it that every eye should be fixed upon Him as He came to be offered
up as the Lamb of God. He would have His great work
of redemption known and advertised by everyone in Jerusalem. Folks,
all of creation, all that transpires in creation is for this one reason. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Did you know that in the Koran
book of the Muslims, the Bible of the Muslims, Christ is spoken
of as a prophet in there as well? Christ is spoken of in some form
or another in every book out there, every record book. There was a man who hung on a
cross, who claimed to be the Christ of God. Everyone knows
about that. That's the purpose of this whole
thing, is that Christ's name would be declared throughout
all the earth. His name shall be declared throughout all the
earth, who He is, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. What
He has done, He shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His
people. And where He is now, sitting
at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for
the elect, the Bride of Christ. The sin-atoning blood of the
son was about to be shed, and this great deed was not to be
done in a corner, as it is spoken of in Acts 26-26. Therefore,
he who would not allow his admirers to make him a king now comes
to announce himself the king. in the most public manner imaginable. His death would be his entrance
into his kingdom, therefore he made a royal procession to the
streets of Jerusalem, but not a procession that we were used
to seeing. This royal procession was our
Lord's public declaration that he is indeed the Christ of God.
and that he was about to enter into his kingdom. All four gospel
writers were inspired of God to describe our Lord's triumphal
entrance. into Jerusalem five days before
his death, verifying the prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah. And
I put them in here in our handout to show. Behold, this is Isaiah
62, 11. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, saying ye, say ye to the daughter of
Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work. is before him. Again, another
part of that same prophecy we read in Zechariah 9, 9. Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. He is just, and having salvation
lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of
an ass. All the commentators state that
none but Christ ever made such an entrance. The conclusion that
must be drawn from that fact should be as obvious as it is
undeniable. This is the Christ, Zion's King
of whom all the prophets spoke of. All the city asked this question,
who is this, in verse 10. And the answer to that question
was right before them and are clearly set before us in this
passage. This great king is distinguished
from all others in that he made his entrance in humility. Yet
even as he did so, he demonstrated both his omniscience, all power,
all powerful, and his sovereignty. power over all that is, as our
great God. It says in verses one through
three that we just read in our Bibles, and when they drew nigh
to Jerusalem and were to come to Bethphage and to the Mount
of Olives, they sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them,
go into the village over against you, and straightaway ye shall
find an ass tied, and a colt with her. Loose them, and bring
them unto me. And if any man say, Ought unto
you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them. And straightway
he will send them these words, Declare the future. They were
still just nigh outside the city. And the Lord said, go on into
the city and find these two colts straight away. First off, he
says straight away. That means right away, you're going to come
upon this ass and her colt tied off to a post. As soon as you
come to them, just loose them and bring them to me. He's declaring
the future. You know, I thought about this.
There's another one that he declared the past of. And that's this woman that was
at the well. Remember that story? He told her that, yeah, well,
you've had five husbands. And now you're living with one
that you're not even married to. And she went about telling
everybody. He knows all things. He told
all these things about me, this stranger I've never met before. That's exactly what happened
here. These words declared the future. The Lord is sovereign
over all. This is the last paragraph, page
three. All that is, including the future. We may guess about
these things, but God knows. I was thinking about it as I
was writing that. Our weather folks, they get beat up on so
badly. Supposed to be 100 and something
degrees in this area today. I think we've gotten up to not
quite 80 the last couple of days. It's been really nice weather,
and I'm thankful for that. But those poor guys down there
in the weather department, They can't. They can't tell, but our
God knows. In fact, our God sends the weather
according to His purpose. We may guess about these things,
but God knows. Truly, this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
is himself God, who sees all, knows all, and rules all." Page
four. He instructed two of his disciples
to go into a specific village nearby where they would find
an ass and a colt. And then he said, loose them
and bring them, assuring them that the owner would immediately
surrender his property to them for his sake. But fail not to
notice these words, the Lord hath need. Verse three. Now, I'm sure that those four
words have a greater depth of meaning than this little puny
brain can understand, but there's something that is profoundly
instructive about it. Taking upon himself our nature,
our blessed Savior, while he was in this world, was a man
full of needs. Yet he never relinquished his
deity in the least. He needed to eat. He needed to
consume food. He needed rest. He was resting
when he was on that little ship as it got tossed to and fro in
the wind out on the sea. And they found him resting in
the bow of the ship on some pillows. He was a man of needs as well,
but he never once gave up his deity. need of animals, yet he
never relinquished his deity in the least. He had need of
animals, yet he exercised absolute sovereignty over them. He brought
them into the ark two by two. He sovereignly requisitioned
this man's property, and he made him, the man who owned him, perfectly
willing to comply with that requisition. He sent his disciples to take
what was not theirs, and they went willingly without fear.
All this was done, and the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded
them, as we read in verse 4 and verse 6. To all human reason,
the Lord's orders to these disciples would appear terribly difficult,
even dangerous maybe. They might be taken for thieves
and dealt with accordingly. Folks, it was not a good thing
to be caught as a thief back in those days. Sometimes that
would result in death. Yet the disciples obeyed the
master without the least hesitancy in complete trusting him to prepare
the way before them and make them successful in their task. What an example for you and I.
What an example for us. We ought to obey our Lord. If
He sends us on an errand in His name, He'll both prepare our
way and make us successful in performing the work to which
He sends us. Obedience to Christ must be unquestioning and unhesitating,
genuine obedience. That obedience which arises from
true faith must be blind obedience. Listen to this from John 2, verse
5. His mother saith unto the servants whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it. Or how about these words from
Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 10. Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all
thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be
not wise, and though not in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and
depart from evil. It shall be healthy to thy navel,
and morrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase, so shall thy
barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out
with new wine." Page 5. all this was done as we read
in verses four and five that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken of by the prophet saying tell ye the daughter of zion
behold thy king cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an ass
and a colt the foal of an ass all this was done not because
our Lord Jesus was incapable of walking the distance to Jerusalem,
but that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet. Then our Lord Jesus puts the
two Old Testament passages together in Isaiah 62, 11 and Zechariah
9, 9, which we've already read, but I'll read a second time.
Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say
ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold,
his reward is with him and his work before him. Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just in having salvation
lowly and riding upon an ass and upon the colt of a foal of
an ass. The Bible is without question
the word of God fully and perfectly inspired and without error. It
says, In 2 Timothy 3, 16-17, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man
of God may be perfectly, thoroughly, perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. And then in 1 Peter 1.20, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you. Zechariah's prophecy
was made more than 550 years earlier, and it is here fulfilled
in every detail. How clearly we see, by example,
the complete harmony of the Old and the New Testament Scriptures.
Listen to these words. Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
behold, the king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon
an ass in the colt of a fowl. And the disciples went and did
as Jesus commanded them, and brought an ass in the colt, and
put their clothes, and they set him therein. Page 6. And a very
great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut
down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way.
And the multitudes that went before and that followed cried,
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." That's
verses 5 through 9. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
king over all things by virtue of His obedience to God as our
substitute. John 17 2 we read this and as
thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him Romans 14 verse
9 for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that
he might be Lord both of the dead and living and also in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 21 and 22 far above all principality, and power,
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church. Philippians 2, verses 9 through
11, wherefore God also hath exalted him, and given him a name 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. Brother Don,
again, a quote from him, let us ever worship and obey him
as our great king. Let us ever throw off our filthy
garments of self-righteousness before Him and worship Him, saying,
Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." The
word Hosanna is an exclamation of adoration and praise. But it is more than that. The
word means, literally, save me. We worship and adore Christ as
our Savior. only when we bow to Him as our
King, and we bow to Him as our King only when we worship Him
and trust Him as our Savior. Page 7. Laying everything at
His feet, just as these multitudes did, they spread their garments
in the way. Others cut down branches from
the trees and strawed them in the way. They did this before
the king. Robert Hawker suggests this.
He said the Feast of Tabernacles was so celebrated to denote holy
joy in the gathering and all of the Lord's blessings. And
some have thought that this feast was particularly typical of this
entry of the Lord Jesus. For it is somewhat remarkable
that at this feast They carried branches, which they called hosannas. In verses 10 through 11, we read
these words, and when he was come to Jerusalem, all the city
was moved, saying, who is this? And the multisuit said, this
is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. Again, I quote from
Brother Don. He states this. He says, our
Savior had been here before, but never had such enthusiastic
crowds surrounded him with acclamations of praise. You'll recall, most
of the time, the crowds, when they surrounded him, wanted to
chase him off for when he called himself God, or when he spoke
words that claimed that he was the son of the living God. Not
this time. They surrounded him with praise.
It seems that, Don goes on to say, that they were moved by
some secret uncontrollable impulse to go out and to meet the king
who came to their streets. Perhaps they were moved by nothing
more than curiosity. Perhaps they had only some passing
interest. Whatever their motives, the Lord's
appearance here stirred the whole city. to a degree that all the
city was moved saying, who is this? Who is this? No better,
more needful question has ever been asked. Let none find rest
until he knows in the experience of faith that this is Jesus,
the prophet of Nazareth. Until he is made to know that
this man who is God our savior and king is the Christ of God,
who has fulfilled all the will of God as the center substitute,
by whom alone all the blessings of God come upon men." Now, I
don't suggest that the multitude had any idea what they were saying
was right or not, but listen, we know that Caiaphas, the high
priest, his words were recorded as we read in John 11, 49-52.
Now remember, And I don't think he knew the
Lord either, but the Lord caused him to speak these words. And
he said, and one of them named Caiaphas, being the highest priest,
the high priest of the same year, said unto them, they were railing
on this one called Jesus. And he stepped up and said these
words. Now, what do you think made him do this? Listen to what
he said. He says, you know nothing at
all, nor consider that it is expedient for us. That one man
should die for the people. That's what the Lord was claiming. And that the whole nation perish
not. And this spake he not of himself,
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation. Page eight. So we see Caiaphas
did the same, in a way, did the same thing. The Lord can make
people speak in any, he made a donkey turn around and speak
for him. And not only the nation goes
on Caiaphas, but also he should gather together and one the children
of God that were scattered abroad. This multitude in their actions
and words declared Jesus of Nazareth prophet and king, whether they
knew it or not. So in closing, I would be lacking
if I did not bring out the grace in revealing this one Jesus as
a king like no other. This very fact that he is king
is truly a mystery to the carnal mind. Natural man, only by his
grace can one know him for who he truly is. He is declared to
be God in the flesh, but only one with God, given spiritual
life, knows him as king, as my king. The Apostle Paul, writing to
the saints of Ephesus, wrote this, wherefore I also, after
I had heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto
all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers. And here's the prayers that he
prays, and he consistently prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. You're not going to get that,
folks, by just reading God's Word. There's a lot of people
who read God's Word who don't know anything about Christ as
their God, as their King. It comes through the spirit of
wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened, shone, illuminated, that ye may
know what is the hope of His calling. What is the hope of
His calling? Salvation is of the Lord. There's
nothing in this flesh of any good that God would accept in
any way in regards to our salvation. It is all of Christ and all of
grace, the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints. I have everything. If
I'm in Christ, I have all that I need. Not only will He send
me where He wants me, not only will I go where He sends me,
He'll prepare the way for me, just as He did those two disciples. Go and get something I need. What? And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us? You know, the greatest miracle
of God is the fact that the new birth comes to those, life comes
to those that were dead in trespasses and sin by His Son, the Lord
Jesus. What mighty power! which he wrought
in Christ, it says, when he raised him from the dead and set him
at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality. Folks, everything is under the
authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, all principality. Newton's
law, that's Christ's law, the law of gravity. That's the law
of God. He's the one who's caused gravity,
not Newton. far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of
him that filleth all in all, Ephesians 1, 15 through 23. Folks, our declaration does not
make us saved. Christ in Him crucified has saved
His people. Yet if we are saved, we will
declare Him in truth, according to His truth. Sovereign God of
all that is, saved by His grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Page
9. Man in our natural state think of kings as glorious, royalty,
majestic, powerful, and Christ is all that. Yet the Lord Jesus
was a man of sorrows, rejected of men. Instead of a crown of
gold and jewels and precious stones, he wore a crown of thorns. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. God Almighty, the very one that
John 1,1 speaks of who created all things, nothing was created
without Him, became, was made, sin. I can't even comprehend
a spark of what that means. But I'm thankful for it. I'm
thankful that He was made sin for me. that he was made sin
for a people that would be made righteous, the righteousness
of God in him. I am the good shepherd, said
our Lord, and know my sheep. In another place in the book
of John, he told some unbelieving Jews, you're not my sheep. My
sheep hear my voice. He says, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I laid down my life for the sheep, and
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be
one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I laid down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me. But I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father, John 10, 14 through
18. When we are in our natural state,
when we in our natural state think about kings, we think of
one who commands. And the Lord Jesus certainly
does that. Yet he also provides all that
he demands out of love for his sheep. Folks, the wages of sin
is death. And as we just read there in
John 10, 14, our great shepherd, the one who knows his sheep to
every hair on our head, laid down his life for the sheep that
he might take it again. He provides all that He demands
out of love for His sheep. Listen to these words from Ephesians
2, verses 4 through 10. But God, oh, I love that. I love that. I love that. I love
that. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love were with He loved us even when we were
dead in sins. Now, I want to stop there for
just a moment. Think about this. How many kings have you ever
heard of who claimed and provided and did all that was necessary
for people who completely rejected them from the day they were born
and walked this earth? Zero. There is none like this. No king has ever walked this
earth like the Lord Jesus Christ in so many ways, even When John
Reeves was dead in sins, the Lord hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. This is the gospel. This is what
Brother Tom Harding preached on. There's no other gospel like
this. There's no other king that ever walked this world like this
very king here that we see entering into Jerusalem, that in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship. created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. There is no king like Him. What a mystery to natural men. Amen.