Well, as I've said, this was
the beginning of what we tend to term the Holy Week because,
of course, it culminated in the Saviour being crucified and then
rising from the dead. And also the wonderful occasion
when the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper on that Passover
night. And if we just pause and think
that this had been prophesied and forecast right way back from
the beginning of Genesis in the third chapter in verse 15 there
was that wonderful prophecy and so all those years had passed
by and the Church of God had no doubt been wondering when
it would come to pass and now you see the time had come and
therefore there was this beginning and how wonderful to realize
that the children cried out with that loud voice, Hosanna to the
Son of God. No doubt the enemies of Christ
were indeed upset and distressed because of those words. And really it's a fulfilment
of a prophecy in Zechariah. And again it's good to remember
that the Word of God gives us many prophecies in the Old Testament.
And those prophecies prove to us the truth of God's Word as
they come to pass. And this is one of the occasions,
one of the times when that prophecy of Zachariah came to pass. And Zachariah said in the 9th
chapter of the 9th verse, 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 well it's wonderful really
to realize he was the king the king of kings And as you may
remember, the pilot wrote a notice in three languages and put it
on the cross. And this is Jesus, the King of
the Jews. So many people must have observed
that. And he was told Don't say that,
say he says. The pilot said, what I have written,
I have written. So we're thankful that we had
that. And now as we consider this time,
really Jesus had made his last journey on this earth and and
now he was really travelling to his death. It's a very solemn
and yet very blessed thing to consider. The Lord knew what
was before him, but how willing was Jesus to die that we fellow
sinners might live the life they could not take away. how willing
was Jesus to give. And so what a wonderful thing
to realize that and we see the people here so joyous and the
multitudes as we read before him and behind him in Jerusalem
and they were crying out in those wonderful words Hosanna Hosanna
to the Son of David and yet it wouldn't be well many hours really
I know just a few days but not very long before they change
their tune. And what do they say? Crucify
him, crucify him. And of course that was the fulfilment
for the life of the Saviour. That which again had been prophesied,
we don't go through the words of prophecy, but you might search
them out, you young people, to see that in the Old Testament,
those prophecies with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. All in a relatively short space
of time. And then when he was On that
journey, there was a fig tree. He went to find figs, and there
weren't any figs. And he said, Lord, curse the
fig tree, there wouldn't be any figs. And then as we go farther
on in this account, was the account of the father that had two sons
to do the will of God. And they were commanded to do
God's will. And one said he would, and the
other said he wouldn't. well what a blessing it is if
you and I say we will and then do it because the one who said
he would didn't and the one who said he wouldn't did see the
great power of God in the heart of men and women and then he
speaks about the stone he was of course the chief cornerstone
and he tells us the stone which the builders rejected indeed
the stone which the Church of God rejected, mostly because
they'd been bidden to the married supper of the Lamb. And you may
think, well, what's the analogy for us today? Well, the analogy
is, quite simply, that we are very blessed to be able to come
to chapel, very blessed to be able to worship. And yet, so
often people make excuses. And they're doing this and they're
doing that and therefore they don't want to come Well, what
a mercy it is if God gives to us that? Spiritual desire that
God-given desire to come and worship him and not make excuses
May that be the chief desire in our lives to do God's will
and then as we go on in this account there was the The time
when we're told there was a husband who was married to a wife, obviously,
and he died. And one of his brothers then
took her up as his wife. And that was the order of the
day in that time. And that happened seven times. And the question was asked, well,
in the resurrection, who will these husbands be? Who will be the husband? And Jesus stole them and said
you do err not knowing the truth of God because all those who
are found in glory will be like the angels. There won't be any
marriage or anything like that. We'll be like the angels. It's
good just to realize that. Some people think they'll know
each other in heaven. I don't share that view. There
are texts which confirm that, really. But the great thing is
to recognize that by God's grace, we will be with the Savior, that
one who was crucified in order to redeem our souls. He paid the price, the debt that
we owed, that we could not pay. And he paid it willingly and
freely. It was a great cost, wasn't it?
And then we move on in this same book. And the question was asked,
who is my neighbor? Because the Lord had spoken and
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Again, how relevant
that is in our day. How easy it is to be angry and
annoyed about people and to disagree with them and argue with them.
What a mercy if we love our neighbour as ourself. People don't hate
themselves. We might hate the things that
we do, but we don't hate our old flesh. And then we come to
the time when Jesus told them, the multitude, that when he left
the temple, he said, that'll be completely broken down. No
stone will be left. A prophecy. And of course, we
know it came to pass. It wasn't very long. after the
Lord Jesus went into glory that the Chaldeans came and overthrew
Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. And then we're told he went up
to the Mount of Olives and he spoke there about the the last
times it's good again to recognize that some people don't believe
that the end will come but the end of the world will come and
the Lord gives us some very direct statements with regards to the
end of the world and about the last times and it's when people
least expect it least expect it and then as we go on to the
25th chapter we read of course about the The ten virgins, they
all looked the same. Five of them were wise and five
were foolish. And what was the great difference? I'm sure you will remember, five
had oil in their lamps and five did not have oil in their lamps.
And the oil, of course, is really the grace of God. And all of
us need and must have the grace of God. So may we earnestly pray
that we may be directed to seek God that he would show to us
that we do have oil in our lamps. And then the Lord then took for
the last time the Passover. That Passover which had occurred
ever since the Israelites came out of Egypt when the Passover
was instituted those several thousands of years and now the
Lord Jesus partook of the last Passover and as he was partaking
of it he introduced what we now today consider to be the Lord's
Supper and in that time of remembrance He pointed out that evident sign
of partaking of that bread, the broken bread indicated his broken
body and then the wine represented his shed blood. The Lord Jesus
then instituted this wonderful supper of remembrance and he
tells us that we are to do it in remembrance of him. how easily
we forget what a glory it is the Lord therefore instituted
this Lord's Supper and then he went into the Mount of Olives
and he went to Gethsemane and Gethsemane was a sacred place
because there he prayed to his father his heavenly father he
knew what was before him the time of crucifixion And he prayed,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from, being in agony rather,
he prayed earnestly. And the great conclusion was,
not my will, but thine be done. Submission to the will of his
father. Well, what a blessing it is if
you and I today submit ourselves to the will of God. God has a will for every one
of us. He has a plan for every one of
us and what a blessing if we're given grace to follow the great
pattern of the Saviour and to come and say nevertheless not
my will but thine be done. If it be possible, said Jesus,
let this cup pass from me. but it wasn't possible he had
to pass that way because he was to pay the price for the sins
of his church and then as he came down from Gethsemane there
was Judas Iscariot with that great company of soldiers to
arrest him and then take him to the judgment hall and one
of the saddest things we read then in that account with regard
to his disciples we read this all the disciples fled they didn't
stay they all fled how sad that is isn't it when we think about
good and kind the saviour was and how he'd been with those
people those disciples for those three years and now in the time
as great as our disciples fled. Well that doesn't complete the
whole part of what occurred in those seven days but nonetheless
I thought I'd just run through those points and you can remember
them and you can read them and say from the 21st chapter to
the end of Matthew it's good instruction and it gives us some
insight into the glory of Christ's work, his finished work, his
sinatonic death, and how wonderful it is to believe that through
God-given faith that was done for us. Well may God bless these
few