Thank you. Let's open to John
chapter 19 this evening. At least this is where I would
like to start in the Gospel of John chapter 19. Actually, we're in the middle of a series, just
a brief series, that I started last Sunday evening. In the Old
Testament prophets, God had his servants write about Messiah. And they wrote about Messiah
in a four-fold way, saying to behold him. In Isaiah chapter
42 in verse 1, we looked at this last Lord's Day evening. God
said, behold, my servant, he's God's faithful servant, equal
with God in every way. And yet he willingly entered
into this world to be the servant of Jehovah in order to save the
people of his choice. This service he began in old
eternity as our surety, as our representative. And he pledged
himself that he would come into this world in due time and pay
the debt that we owe to the justice of God on account of our sins. He's God's faithful servant.
His faithful servant. Everything that he did, he did
for the glory of God. That's what a servant does. You
see, a servant labors for the master. A servant has no will
of his own. His will is lost in the will
of the master. And whatever the master says
to do, that's what he does. Our Savior came into this world
as the servant of Jehovah. God Himself speaks there in Isaiah
chapter 42 and verse 1. He says, Behold my servant, mine
elect, in whom my soul rejoiceth. God takes delight in the service
of Christ Jesus because that service is rendered by His only
begotten Son, the servant of Jehovah. His was a service that
was rendered with a loving heart. Faithfully. Faithfully. He willingly did the work that
God called him to do. As he entered into this world,
we read in Hebrews chapter 10, he said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He delighted to do the will of
God. This service to Jehovah was not
a drudgery. It wasn't something that he dreaded.
He set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem to offer Himself
as the sacrifice for our sins. There was no other way for God
to be just and justify the ungodly unless Christ Jesus became God's
servant. And He faithfully did that service
to Jehovah. And as a reward for His service,
God has given him all the kingdoms of this world as a reward for
doing the work that God gave him to do and finishing that
work to God's full satisfaction. God has exalted Him to His own
right hand and given Him a name which is above every name. And
it is sure to be that someday every knee will bow and every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. And then He will, our Savior,
God's faithful servant, He will turn all of the kingdom back
over to the Father. He will present us to the Father
a glorious, glorious bride, having neither spot nor wrinkle nor
any such thing. And He will say to the Father
in that day, Behold, I and the children that thou hast given
Me, and His service will have been fulfilled. And God says,
Behold my servant, my servant. And then this morning we tried
to deal with the subject, Behold the man. It's actually a reference
in Zechariah chapter 6 and we looked at this also briefly last
Sunday evening. Zechariah chapter 6 and verse
number 12. God said, Behold the man whose
name is the branch. the branch. Oh, what an insignificant beginning
he seemed to have. A root out of dry ground from
the family of David, the nation of Judah. God's faithful servant, he's
the man, Christ Jesus. And as a man, he fulfilled the
law. As a man, he subjected himself
to all the temptations that we must face. As a man, he endured all the
testing. As a man, he faced every difficulty. As a man, he faced Satan with
all of his fiery darts. And as a man, he came forth victorious. Behold the man, behold the man. As I said this morning, bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He was really a man. Physically he was a man. He had
the soul of a man. And body and soul he had to endure
the wrath of God. Man singed against God. Man rebelled against his creator. The God-men came to make things
right. Behold the man. Behold the man
in his life of perfection. Behold the man made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. Behold the man
under parental law. Behold the man under civil law. Behold the man under God's law. And all through his life he was
obeying every jot and every tittle of the law. He did exactly what
the law of God commanded. What does the law of God require
of us? Love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Bless the name of Christ Jesus, He did. Indeed, He was the perfect man. And God says, Behold the man! Oh, He used here in John chapter
19, He used Pontius Pilate to utter those words, but God says
to us back in the book of Zechariah, Behold the man whose name is
the branch. Behold Him! Behold Him in His
life! Behold Him in His death! Behold
His work of substitution! Behold Him as the one offering
for sin. Behold Him lifted up. He said,
and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me. This spake
He of the death that He would die. And He was lifted up to
die according to God's eternal purpose, according to His own
covenant promise made in old eternity. Behold the man living,
behold the man suffering, behold the man dying, that God might
be just and holy and righteous in all of His ways and yet show
mercy and grace and salvation and forgiveness to rotten sinners
like you and me. Behold the man. Behold his death. He said in the book of Lamentations,
Behold, is there any sorrow like my sorrow when the Lord hath
afflicted me? Behold the man. Behold him by
faith. Behold him as the servant of
Jehovah. Behold him as the man. This evening
my subject is, Behold thy King. Behold thy King. Next Lord's
Day my subject will be Behold your God from Isaiah chapter
40 and verse number 9. But this evening I want to talk
about Behold your King. Our brother read that to us in
Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9. And I wanted to just draw
your attention to this because this is really the theme of this
passage in John chapter 19. In fact, it backs up even into
chapter 18. As our Lord was, He's been arrested,
He's been taken before the Sanhedrin who is the very highest ecclesiastical
body, judicial body in the land of Israel. He stood before them,
they pronounced him to be guilty of sedition and blasphemy. They hired false witnesses in
order to testify against him. And now they've taken him to
Pontius Pilate. And we read, in fact, back up
into chapter 18 in verse 29. Chapter 18 of John verse 29. And Pilate went out unto them,
to this great crowd of people. He said to them, what accusation
bring ye against this man? By the way, there are about 12
or 13 questions that are asked in this episode, in these circumstances
when our Lord Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate. And here's the
first one, he says, What accusation bring ye against this man? They
answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we
would not have delivered him up unto thee. And then Pilate
said unto them, You take him and judge him according to your
law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It's not lawful for
us to put any man to death. that the saying of Jesus might
be fulfilled, which He spake signifying what death He should
die. Now they accused Him of blasphemy.
And you go back into the law of God, those that blasphemed
the name of God, they were to be executed, but it was by stoning. It was by stoning. But our Lord wouldn't die by
stoning. If he was to die by being stoned
to death, he would have died earlier than this because several
times they picked up stones to stone him. No, it was ordained
that he would die on a tree. Because cursed is every man that
hangeth on a tree. He must bear the curse of God's
broken law. He must die on the tree. He must
die on the cross. That's what God ordained from
old eternity and it's going to be fulfilled. They're not going
to stone him to death. He's not going to die any other
way except the appointed way. Look at verse 33, Then Pilate
entered into the judgment hall again, and he called Jesus, and
said unto him, Here is the issue, Art thou the king of the Jews? Remember our subject is, Behold
the king. Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Are
you asking because you want to know? Do you want to know who
I am? Here's what Pilate said, Am I
a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. Here's another question.
What hast thou done? Now the issue of him being a
king has been raised, so what does a king have? A king has
a kingdom. So our Lord Jesus immediately
brings up this subject of the kingdom. Jesus answered, 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. Listen, our Lord did not come
into this world to set up a carnal kingdom. That was never His intention.
He didn't enter into the world so that He might gain influence
and authority over the people and then they would follow Him
and He would lead them into victory over the Romans. He didn't come
for that purpose, though they wanted Him to come for that purpose. They looked for a Messiah who
would deliver them from Roman oppression. But He didn't come
as the Messiah to deliver a people from Rome's oppression. He came
to save His people from their sins. That's why He came. He
said, My kingdom is not of this world. It's not a carnal kingdom. And then here's what Pilate said.
The subject is still about the king and his kingdom. Pilate
therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth,
that is, everyone who is born of the truth, everyone to whom
the truth is revealed, Everyone that is of the truth, they hear
My voice. You know why we hear His voice?
Because He is the truth. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. Pilate, in a smart-alecky kind
of attitude said, What is truth? When he had said this, he went
out again unto the Jews and saith unto all them, I find in Him
no fault at all. Do you have a custom that I should
release unto you one at the Passover? Will you therefore that I release
unto you the king of the Jews? This is still the issue. Is he
the king or is he not the king? And cried they all again, saying,
Not this man. Don't release this man, but release
Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber, and
I don't have time to read all of these verses. Let me just
give you the verses in chapter 19 that mention him being a king. Look at verse 3. Well, I guess
I need to read these verses leading up to it. Pilate therefore took
Jesus and scourged him. And then the soldiers, they plaited
a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, they put on him
a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And then they
smote him. They smote him with their hands. Look down at verse number 12.
From the fence forth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews,
the Jews cried out. And remember this in the book
of John. Whenever you read that expression,
the Jews. It's talking about the leaders
of Judaism. Talking about the self-righteous
teachers, the rabbis, the high priests, the chief priests, the
Jews. The Jews cried out, saying, If
thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. Look down in
verse 14. It was the preparation of the
Passover and about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews,
Behold your king. And remember this is the same
man that had said back in verse 5, Behold the man. Behold the
man. And now he says in verse 14,
Behold your king. Behold your king. Verse 15, But
they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate
said unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests
answered, We have no king but Caesar. Now look at verse 19,
and Pilate wrote a title, put it on the cross, and the writing
was, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. This title then
read many of the Jews, For the place where Jesus was crucified
was ninth of the city, and it was written in Hebrews for the
Jews to read, and Greek for the Gentiles to read, and Latin for
the Romans and the learned to read. Everybody could read this. Then said the chief priests of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Is he the king or is he not the
king? Pilate said, behold the king. Well, he is the king. He's the
king of kings. He's the Lord of lords. Go back
to Matthew chapter 21. I'll take you to Matthew chapter
21. Because this is the evidence
that that passage of scripture back in Zechariah chapter 9 indeed
speaks of our Lord Jesus. Hold your place in Matthew 21
and go back to Zechariah chapter 9. And, you know, I knew this
was Cummings. I put a ribbon here so I don't
have to hunt for it. But you might go back to Zechariah
chapter 9 and put a mark here as well. Look at Zechariah chapter
9. This is a passage that Joe read
to us just a few moments ago in verse 9. Zechariah chapter 9 and verse
9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. And then he says, 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. Now, I know this is speaking
of the Savior, and you know it as well, based upon Matthew chapter
21. So go back to Matthew chapter
21. Let's read this and just make a few comments, and then
I'll go back to that passage in Zechariah for just a final
few comments. Matthew chapter 21. Now, this
chapter begins a pivotal week in the life of our Savior, which
will end with His substitutionary death upon the cross. He's crossed
the River Jordan. He's restored sight to two blind
men at Jericho. Thank God He gives sight to the
blind. He gave sight to us, didn't He?
gave us eyes to behold His glory. He gave us eyes to see our sinfulness,
eyes to see our need, our eyes to see something of our wretchedness,
our lack of righteousness, gave us eyes to behold the inward
guilt, the sin that has possessed us, sin that has defiled us. He gave us eyes to see our neediness
and then He gave us eyes to see the Savior. Eyes of faith to
behold Him coming into this world as the Savior of those filled
with sin. He gave us eyes to see Him as
the righteousness we need. He gave us eyes to see Him as
the offering for sin. The one offering that put away
the sins of His people forever. He gave us eyes to see. Thank
God He gives eyesight to the blind. And maybe there is someone
blind here this evening. blind in your soul, blind in
your heart, blind in your mind, you're still in utter darkness
as to the things of God. Oh, that Christ Jesus, the Great
Physician, would give you eyesight to see His glories. That's what's
got to happen. He's got to open your eyes, and
that's what He did. That's what He did as He passed
through Jericho. He gave eyesight to two blind
men. And now, In chapter 21 verse
1, and when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, Matthew 21 verse 1,
were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus
sent two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over
against you. Straightway you shall find an
ass tied, and a colt with her. Loose them, and bring them unto
me. He sent these disciples into
a nearby village to find and bring to him that which is his
possession. After all, he owns all things. He owns all things. Behold his
knowledge. Behold his omniscience. He knew
exactly where these animals were to be found. Behold his sovereign
authority. Bring them unto me. He's the
rightful owner of all things. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof is what we read in Psalm 24 and verse 1. And He takes His possessions
unto Himself whenever it pleases Him. He says in verse 3, And if any
man say often to you, you shall say, The Lord hath need of them. Straightway, He will send them. The Lord hath need of them. That
doesn't mean that without them, He wouldn't be able to make it
any further. The Lord's going to make use
of them. You see, our God doesn't need any of us. He doesn't need
us. We need Him. But bless his name, he makes
use of us. And we want to be used as his
willing servants in the proclamation of the gospel. We're like those
that he spoke to at the tomb of Lazarus. They couldn't, nobody
there could give life to Lazarus. There's so much they couldn't
do, but there was some things they could do. He said, roll
the stone away. I'd like to be a stone roller,
wouldn't you? And he rolled some stones out of the way. Then he
said, Lazarus, come forth. And he which was bound came forth
alive, and the Lord said, loose him and let him go. Be of service
to this one who's been newly born, brought back to life. And
I say to those of us who are the people of God, we want to
be used in the service of the King to roll boulders out of
the way from people, clear out the stones, make the highway
clear, put up signs like they did in the Old Testament to the
city of refuge, go this way, go this way. And we speak to
people and we say, listen, life is in Christ, salvation is in
Christ, forgiveness is in Christ, righteousness is in Christ, come
to Christ! We want to be used of the Lord
in that way. He makes use of us. He doesn't
need us, but He makes use of us graciously. Isn't it an honor? Isn't it an honor to be used
for God's glory in the proclamation of the gospel? You say, but I'm
no preacher. Yeah, but you pray for me, don't
you? Well, yes, I do preach. I tell
you, I'm thankful for you. We need people to pray for us.
You contribute to the gospel, don't you? Yes, preacher, I do.
Well, we're thankful for you. I can't do much. You can come
and attend, can't you? You see, when you attend, you're
an encouragement to me. It's beneficial to you. when
you attend and when you hear the Word of the Gospel, it's
beneficial to you, but it's encouraging to me. It's encouraging to people
around you. And I would say the most vital
part of a believer's life is public worship. Because here
we honor God. Here we gather our voices together
to praise Him. And here we seek His face. Here
we call upon Him. Here we read His word. Here we
preach the gospel of His free and sovereign grace. Thank God
He uses us in a way of setting forth the truth. It's a great
honor, isn't it? And I speak for every preacher
of the gospel. We're the most honored men on
this earth, aside from the salvation that God's given us, and that's
the greatest honor of all, to be called a child of God, to
be forgiven of our sins. The next greatest honor is for
God to say, now, you go preach my gospel. You go tell people
about my son. You go brag on the King. That's
the greatest honor in the world. Just preach Christ and Him crucified
and see the faces on God's people, to see their smiling faces and
their receptive faces. And I can tell, oh, I'm not infallible. You may have a pleasant expression
on your face and your mind may be a million miles away, but
I can pretty much tell when people are, you know, they get it. They
get it. They love the message that they're
hearing. So you're an encouragement. It's
good that God uses us in this way. And the Lord says to these
two disciples, you go and get these animals. Well, I tell you
what, if the Lord of Glory, if He said to me, sweep the sidewalk,
I'd be honored to sweep the sidewalk for Him, wouldn't you? If the
Lord of Glory said, change the light bulb, I'd be glad to change
the light bulb for Him. If He calls me to play the piano,
of course, I don't have any talent to do it, but I'd go over there
with one finger and try to do it if He called me to do that,
or try to play the organ, or at least turn the pages for somebody.
And if He calls me to preach the gospel, then I'll tell you
what, I'm just going to try to do it. I'm just going to try
to do it. If he's with you, you can't fail.
If he's called you to do it, he'll give you the strength to
do it. Go get those animals, he said. And they did. Now, look at verse
4. All this was done that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. What prophet?
Zachariah. saying, Tell ye the daughter
of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee meek. He said, I'm
meek and lowly, 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 coat and put
on them their clothes. They took their coats off, their
outer robes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread
their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from
the trees and strawed them in the way." You know, up to this
point, So often when the Savior healed
somebody, did some mighty work, you know what He would say? Don't
tell anybody. Don't spread the news of this. But now, now's the time for the
King to enter into Jerusalem. And He Not only, and I don't
particularly like the word allowed as far as the Lord's concerned.
He doesn't allow this to be done. He has ordained this to be done.
And people just, they line the streets of Jerusalem, great multitudes
Multitudes that went before and followed Him. There's a bunch
of people up there, there's a bunch of people behind Him. And they
cried saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna! Be propitious! Save us, we beseech thee! Were they genuine in that cry? I think most of the folks in
this crowd a little later on in the week are going to be crying,
crucify him, crucify him. But I tell you, for the elect
of God, for needy sinners, we say, Hosanna to the son of David. Oh, be propitious to me. Be a
mercy seat for me. The mercy seat, underneath the
mercy seat, the ark of the covenant. in the ark of the covenant was
the law of God which we've broken. The law of God cries out against
us. The soul that sinned shall die. Our Lord Jesus came. He's the
mercy saint. He's the mercy saint. That was
the lid of the ark of the covenant. One time a year, the high priest
of Israel would enter into the Holy of Holies, but not without
blood. And he would go in there and
he would He would face, he'd go around and he'd face the Ark
of the Covenant, face the mercy seat, dip his hand in blood,
and sprinkle that mercy seat seven times. Oh, that pictured
a perfect propitiation, a perfect satisfaction to the justice of
God. No, that blood didn't render
perfect satisfaction, but it pictured the one who would render
a perfect satisfaction to the justice of God and remove all
the sins of God's elect. Oh, Hosanna to the Son of David. Be propitious to this sinner. Be my mercy seat. Isn't that
your cry? Be my mercy seat. Blessed is he, this is what they
said. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. When
he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who
is this? And the multitude said, this
is Jesus. He's the prophet of Nazareth
of Galilee. Behold the King. Now go back,
let me make just a couple of comments back here in Zechariah
chapter 9. In verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Have you ever noticed in the
scriptures, you who are the people of God, you who've been washed
in the sin-atoning blood of the Savior, you who've been robed
in His righteousness, have you ever noticed in the scriptures
how often we're told to rejoice? Rejoice. He doesn't just say rejoice either,
he says rejoice greatly. There's great cause for joy,
my brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus. And the great cause is
this, the King has come. And he settled the issue of our
salvation. The command is shout. O daughter
of Jerusalem, shout. What kind of shout is this? It's
a shout of victory. It's the shout of praise the
Lord. It's the shout of hallelujah.
He says, Behold thy King. Thy King. The King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords. He who has been king from all
eternity, thy king, he cometh unto thee. He came the first time to save
us from our sins. He comes to us by his spirit
to reveal that salvation to our hearts. Behold, thy king cometh
unto thee. And you know what? I was thinking
of this earlier this afternoon, I was looking over this passage
again. Whenever we meet together for
worship, and the Spirit of God is with us to lead us and show
us the things of Christ Jesus, isn't that the King coming to
us again? Isn't that the King revealing
himself to us? As we met in the morning worship
service, Didn't the king come and meet with us? You see, this
is a king who's, he's not ashamed to be associated with his people.
Oh yes, he's the king high and lifted up. Listen, he's not ashamed
to call us brethren. And though we're his enemies
by nature, he calls us friends. That's the way the king treats
us. The king of kings, he has condescended to save us by his
blood and by his righteousness and to associate himself with
us. He's the friend of publicans and sinners. The king is. What
other king would do that? What other king would leave his
his heavenly throne. What other king would leave his
throne and come to associate himself with a bunch of rebel
rousers like us? What other king would do that?
What other king would come and become likened to the ones that
he came to save? Except that he had no sin. What
kind of king is this? He's a gracious king. He's a
loving king. He's a saving king. He's just. He's always just. And he justifies in a just and
righteous way. By his death, watch it, and having
salvation. He has salvation. He's got it. And he's given it to some people. He doesn't have to give it to
You, and He doesn't have to give it to me, but He's given it to
some people. You know who He's given it to?
To needy people. Sinful people. Wretched people. Not self-righteous people, no,
because they don't need the Savior. But He's got salvation to give
to those who need it. And by the grace and the power
of the Spirit of God, I say, oh God, I need your salvation. I need it. I need it. I need
Him who is my salvation. He not only has salvation, but
He is salvation. And He's lowly, riding upon an
ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And he says, I'll
cut off the chariot for me for him and the horse from Jerusalem
and the battle bow shall be cut off. In other words, he's going
to defeat all of our enemies. And I get this and he shall speak
peace unto the heathen. Now he made peace. How do you
do that? By the blood of his cross. That's
how he made peace. And you know what he does through
the preaching of the gospel and by the work of the Spirit of
God? He speaks peace to the heart. He speaks peace. He says, my
peace I give unto thee. Not as the world give it. I give
you my peace. And he can say to the troubled
soul here tonight, just like what he said to the Sea of Galilee
when it was all angry and stirred up and the wind was blowing and
the waves were crashing. He can say, peace be still, and
your heart will be still. You say, it's okay. We visited
Brother Eccles at the service this morning, and his daughter
said, last night he just roused a little bit, and he said, the
Lord reigns. The Lord reigns. He went right
back to sleep. I tell you, if you believe the
Lord reigns, you can go back to sleep. You can sleep peacefully
knowing the Lord reigns. Who reigns? The King reigns. The King reigns. He can speak
peace to you. Watch this, in His dominion,
wonder how far His kingdom extends. Well, it's from sea even to sea
and from the river even to the ends of the earth. That's how
extensive His kingdom is. And you know how He brings forth
the prisoners out of the pit? In verse 11, by the blood of
Thy covenant. That's how He brings us forth.
By the blood of the covenant. That blood which we are remembering
this evening as we take the Lord's Supper. Because that wine speaks
of His blood, the blood with which he brought the prisoners
out of a pit wherein there's no water. Boy, that's the effectual
power of the blood. It brought us out of the pit,
set our feet on a rock, established our goings, robed us in righteousness. God the Father said to his son,
well done thou good and faithful servant. I say behold the servant,
behold the man, behold the king, They hold Him with eyes of faith,
they hold Him and worship Him. Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord. Let's sing a hymn before we have
the Lord.