Matthew 21 and verse 1, And when
they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, they,
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 aught unto
you, ye shall say, the Lord hath need of them, and straightway
he will send them. And 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 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.
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. in the Lord's perfect providence. Our Lord came and fulfilled the
scripture. All of this that was done was
in fulfillment of his word, as it says in the text. And these
ones who would soon, most of them, turn on him and despise
him and cry, crucify him. now praised him. What they said
in verse nine sounds like true praise, doesn't it? Hosanna to
the son of David. And blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. That's true. He is blessed. Hosanna in the highest. You know,
he told one time some that stood by told some to keep their silence
that were praising the Lord. And he said, if they were silenced,
the rocks will cry out. Our Lord's going to be praised.
He's worthy of all praise. He's going to be praised. He's
going to be acknowledged as the Son of David and the Lord in
the name of the Lord. He is the Lord. You don't make
Him Lord. Nobody made Him Lord. The Father
made Him Lord. And all knees are going to bow
and acknowledge Him as Lord. But in verse 10, in this same
perfect providence, These people asked the ultimate question.
Who is this? If you know the answer to that
question, then you're saved. If you can give me an honest
and thorough answer to that question, I'll tell you what all of your
other doctrine is. We know this is the question
of questions. That's not just my opinion. Our Lord asked this
question. And everything He says is perfect.
of his disciples in Matthew 16, you remember, 13 through 15.
He said, who are men saying that I am? What's the word on the
street concerning me? And they said, well, you're Jeremiah
or Elijah or one of the prophets. That's what they're saying. And
he said, who do you say I am? Who is this? And he asked it
there in order to distinguish his disciples from all other
men. And that's what this question does. Your answer to this question
will distinguish which group you're in. And the disciples
told the Lord there in chapter 16 what he already knew, that
they were saying that he was one of the prophets. He knew
that. He knew the hearts of every man. And we see that answer echoed
in our text, don't we? They said the same thing. Who
is this? Well, he's that prophet. He's
the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. He's Jesus the prophet.
And in our text, they answered that question there in verse
11, but we have another answer in our text to this question.
Who is this? But before we look at the answer,
let's consider a while longer the importance of answering that
question. Why did our Lord ask this question
of his disciples there in chapter 16? Why did he ask them that? Who do you say I am? Who is this? Because everything hinges upon
that. Remember why, as we refer to so often, that John said the
scriptures were written? You remember why he said he wrote
what he wrote in the book of John? He gave us an answer there
to our question this morning. Who is this? He said, these are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. Now you think about that with
me for just a minute. John not only gives us an answer
to the question, who is this? But he's saying here that God
wrote this book so that you might be able to answer that question
rightly. That's why God wrote this book,
so that you could answer that question, who is this? He's the
son of God. He's God in flesh. He's the sovereign Savior of
sinners. He's God's Christ who came to save, to seek and to
save that which was lost. This Jesus, named so because
He shall save His people. He's God's Savior, God's Christ,
God's anointed. John gave us the answer there,
but he He tells us these two astonishing things in addition
to that. First of all, that this book is written to answer that
question. And also, that unless and until
you can answer this question from your heart rightly, you
can never have life. This is the confession which
Paul said is unto salvation. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Romans
chapter 10 verse 1. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. My brethren,
according to the flesh, my kinsmen, the Jews, they're lost. God's
gonna have to save them if they're gonna be saved. For I bear them
record, they have a zeal of God. They're talking about God. They're
talking about his word. They've memorized, many of them,
his word from their youth, but not according to knowledge. They
don't know him. Just like religion today, they don't know if they're
talking about God, but they don't know Him. They're being ignorant
of God's righteousness. They don't know how God can be
just and justify a sinner. And going about to establish
their own righteousness, they think that by what they do, they
can merit salvation. Does that describe anybody? This
is not just ancient history. This is going on all around us
this morning, all around us. They have not submitted themselves.
Why? Because the cross of Christ is
foolishness and it's offensive. You're saying I'm helpless and
hopeless without Him. That's exactly what I'm saying.
You're saying I have no free will and I can't make a decision
for God. That's exactly what I'm saying.
You're going to have to submit to His righteousness. Now, you
don't have any, and you're not ever going to have any until
you submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. God didn't write His law to make
you better. God's not that naive. He wrote
His law. His goal in writing the law was
to bring His people to Christ. Christ is the goal of the law
for righteousness now. Sinners can be and will be righteous
before God, have Christ to everyone that believes on him. That's
why he said it. He that believeth on me shall
not be condemned, but shall have everlasting life. From Moses
describeth the righteousness, which is of the law, that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness,
which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart,
who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. He's already come down. dwelt among us God with
us or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up
Christ again from the dead he's risen but what sayeth that the
word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the
word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth if somebody somewhere preaches Christ and him crucified
like Paul said we preach Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling
block, and under the Greeks' foolishness, but under his people,
under his redeemed ones, whether they're Jews or Greek, Christ
is the wisdom of God and the power of God. Somebody preaches
him, and you're able by God's grace to answer this question,
who is this? And you confess with your mouth
who this is, the Lord Jesus. And shall believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. And with that heart, faith, if
you're able to answer this question, who are you confessing? The Lord
Jesus. I said a while ago we had another
answer in our text. to the question, who is this?
Did you see it? God had already answered this question in his
word before they ever asked it. Verse five, tell ye the daughter
of Zion, tell my people, who is this? Tell them who is this? Behold, you are king. Thou shalt
confess with thy mouth, who? the Lord Jesus. Believing in your heart that
that's who He is. Behold, thy King cometh. Meek and sitting upon an ass
in the colt, the foal of an ass. That's what Paul said here in
Romans 10. When you believe on Him in your
heart, you'll confess that He's your Lord, your King. My King
has come. Verse five of our text is a quote
from Zechariah 9, 9. And so we're going to have to
turn there. Because this is God's answer to the question, who is
this? Man had an answer. He's a prophet from Nazareth.
Everybody was saying that. Some, that he was one of the
great prophets of the Old Testament, come back from the dead. One
or the other of them, you know. But who did God say he is? Behold,
your king comes. Look at Zechariah 9. Zechariah
9. Zechariah 9, 9. You look at this
with me now. This is God's answer to the question.
Who is this? Verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. Now there were some among those,
as I said, no doubt that were just part of the crowd. They
had followed him as the multitudes often did, not knowing who he
was. It says, you know, he didn't
commit himself to many of them because he knew what was in their
hearts. These same ones, many of them cried to crucify him
later. But he's also, he's talking to his people there. Not all
of them. Maybe even some who did cry to crucify him were still
some of his people. We all cried that, really, you
know. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem. He's talking to his people here,
his church, his sheep. Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation. Think about that. Having salvation. Lowly and riding upon an ass
and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the
chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the
battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace unto the
heathen. In other words, his people aren't going to fight
with sword and bow. The Lord said, Peter, put up
your sword. This fight's not yours. And I fought that way. His kingdom not of this world.
And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea. Your king, who's king? He's everybody's
king in one sense. His dominion is from sea to sea
and from river even to the ends of the earth. He's going to be
acknowledged as Lord by everyone, everyone, every knee shall bow.
But peculiarly and particularly the king of his people. When
he says there in the beginning, O daughter of Zion, O daughter
of Jerusalem, his spiritual Israel, behold, your king cometh unto
me. Those are the ones who are in
the kingdom, who acknowledge him and own him as king and rejoice
in him as their sovereign. Bow to him now, not when it's
too late, not in condemnation and wrath, but in bowing unto
him, crying for mercy, bowing unto him, acknowledging him as
the sovereign savior. And look at verse 11, as for
thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy
prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. That's who's coming. That's who's riding into town
on a donkey, your king. This is God's answer to the question,
who is this lowly lowly as signified by his riding upon a donkey and
not a great white stallion or such, but nevertheless the king. Isaiah said the government shall
be upon his shoulders. The Jewish government? No. Not
the government of Jerusalem or of any city or any nation, but
the government of God's kingdom. The government of his universe.
He created this place. That this little ball that we
live on is rolling around in and he rules it. as he pleases. Our study next Wednesday evening,
Lord willing, will be in Psalm 2, where God declared in verse
6, Yet, in spite of all of the rebellion of all of God's enemies
in the world, however high and mighty, however influential,
they rose up against this child Jesus. But God said, Yet have
I sent my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Yet, though the heathen
rage against him, and try to break away from his authority.
God said, I'll laugh at their rebellion. He's the king, the
king. He's the king of creation. Without
him was not anything made that was made. And he said to Job,
turn to Job 38 with me. This is a rebuke to all of us
here, isn't it? Job was taking the taking the
heat for us here, representing us. Verse four, we talk about,
we complain about what's going on in God's universe. We're not
happy with the weather or anything that God does in His universe.
He said to Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of
the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding, who hath laid
the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched
the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof?
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted
for joy, where were you then? If a tree falls, you know, and
there's no man there, does it make a sound? God said there
was sounds being made before you were ever born. They don't
need you there. The sons of God were shouting
for joy, and you weren't there. What do we got to say about what
God does? Or who shut up the sea with doors
when it break forth as if it had issued out of the womb? When
I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a
swaddling band for it, and break up for it my decreed place, and
set bars and doors, and said, hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. I got to see some of the beauty
of his creation recently, for the first time, where we were. The waves came up on the shore
there, and they came to a certain spot, and then they turned back.
You know who told them where to stop? The King of Creation
did. Thou commanded the morning since
thy days, and caused the day spring to know his place, that
it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked
might be shaken out of it. It is turned as clay to the seal,
and they stand as a garment. And from the wicked their light
is withholding. and the high arms shall be broken.
Just like he stays the waves and tells them how far they can
go, he says the same thing to the wicked, to every man. Hast
thou entered into the springs of the sea, or hast thou walked
in the search of the depth? Just looking at it scares me
to death, doesn't it you? The ocean, his sea. It's intimidating just to look
at it, especially at night. Have the gates of death been
opened unto thee, or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow
of death? Hast thou perceived the breadth
of the earth declared, if thou knowest it all?" We know nothing. We just stand in awe of the King
of Creation. And He's the King of Providence.
He made this world exactly the way He wanted it, with everybody
in it, everything in it, and He rules it all in His sovereign
providence. exactly the way he pleases. David
said in Psalm 145, 16, thou openest thine hand and satisfies the
desire of every living thing. The God, the King of Providence. We talk about how hard we work
and how we earn our living. I get up early every morning,
go to work hard. I earn every penny that I get.
If God doesn't open his hand, you will have nothing. You will
have no job to do, no strength to do it with, and not even the
will to do it until God opens his hand. The lot is cast into
the lap, Solomon said, but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. I looked up that word disposing. You look at that sometime. It
means the deciding of the matter. When the dice are cast, is it
going to be a seven? or a ten, or snake eyes. You know who decides that matter?
Not the odds, not your luck. God does. There is no such thing
as luck. There is no such thing as chance.
There are no contingencies or odds. There is the king on his
throne who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. He turns the heart of the kings
of this earth in his hand as the rivers of water wither so
ever he will. And I wish I knew how to talk
about this rite, to say it in such a way. I know that I can. I pray that God would speak it
to our hearts. The one that rode into town that
day is the king of salvation. Zechariah said in 9.9, Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion. O daughter of Jerusalem, behold,
thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and he has salvation. What does that mean, he has it?
It's his to give. He has it in his hand to give. As he will, when he will, to
whom he will, One day when they objected to him saying to a man,
thy sins be forgiven thee, the one who has power on earth to
forgive sins, just by speaking it, just by willing it, he declared
it to be so, and it was so. That man's sins were forgiven
him. Thy King cometh. Thy King. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord, Jesus the Lord didn't wait on anybody to do
anything He just does He just does as he pleases with whom
he pleases when he pleases thy sins be forgiven thee And he
said when they objected To him saying that he said the reason
I said that is because you need to know that the Son of Man has
power Authority you need to know that your Kings come And he has
authority on this earth to forgive sins. He said in John 5, 21,
as the father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even
so the son quickeneth whom he will. The king does what he wants
to do. David said, our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. And he said, I'll give life to
whomever I please. In verse 11 of that text, in
Zechariah 9, we see how he saved his people. As for thee also
by the blood of thy covenant. Paul said in Hebrew, it's the
blood of the everlasting covenant wherewith you're sanctified.
That's how you can be righteous before God, as we read a while
ago. That's the righteousness of God in Christ. By His precious
blood, He sanctified His people. He redeemed them from their sin.
That's how He can say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, because He
paid for them with that precious blood. By the blood of Thy covenant,
I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit. Have you been
released from that horrible pit wherein is no water? You're a
goner. You're hopeless. You can't climb
out of it. The more you do, the deeper it
gets. But you're going to be set free
out of that pit if he shed that blood for you. By the blood of
thy covenant. That's what Paul said in Romans
8.33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. How can God justify a sinner
though? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather than is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
For us, it's the precious blood of Him that died that has saved
us, redeemed us from our sins. And notice again how Paul answered
his own question here. Who is He that condemneth? Why
is there no condemnation? Because of who it is. That's why this is the ultimate
question. Who is this? Who is this? Paul said, because it's him,
because it's Christ that died, I have no sin. If it's the Jesus
of religion now who died for you, then you may or may not
be condemned, depending on what you do. But Paul said, if this
King of salvation died for you, you can never be condemned, period. Who is this? Who is this? He's the King of salvation. He's
the one upon whom you can rest your soul. Paul said, I know
whom, I know who this is that I've believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. I know who it is. Do you? Who is this? God answers this
question from heaven. in Matthew 3, turn there with
me. Because I want you to know if you're familiar with it, we
just, well I say we just, it was probably a year ago or two
that we were in Matthew 3. But Matthew 3, 13, I want you
to notice the language here as it pertains to our text. Verse 13, then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. He could have said it becometh
me to fulfill all righteousness, and that would have been true.
He's the only righteous one. He's the only man that ever lived
who ever did always those things that pleased the Father. Whoever
lived a holy, spotless, perfect life before God as a man is only
one. Thus it becometh me. And no,
he didn't fulfill all righteousness just for him. He did it for us.
He becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered. Oh, boy. And Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from
heaven saying, Who is this? This is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased. God can only be pleased with
somebody who fulfills all righteousness. And there's only one. That's
His Son. But He did it for us. He did
it for us. As He was fulfilling all righteousness
for us, the Father answered our question. Who is this? Who is
this? He's the one who fulfilled all
righteousness. And as we saw in Zechariah 9
there, He did it for His people. And as we saw in Zechariah 9,
by the blood of His covenant, He washed us from our sins. He
freed us from the pit of depravity and condemnation and the wrath
of God. Do you see why Zechariah said
he hath salvation? Only the one who can fulfill
all righteousness and who by his precious blood can set the
prisoners free can be said to have salvation. Do you need salvation? There is one who has it. And
he said, I didn't say that, he said, ask and you'll receive. Seek and you'll find. He said, whosoever calleth upon
the name of the Lord shall be what? He hath salvation. Only the one who hath salvation
can say that. You call upon me, I'll save you.
It's not your calling that saves you. It's the one upon whom you
call. Who is this? That's the question.
If it's Him that you're calling on, He'll save you. Psalm 24. There's so much. Turn to Psalm
24 with me. Verse 7. Psalm 24, 7. Who is this? He's the King, God
said. He's the King of creation, the King of providence, the King
of salvation. He's the King of glory. Verse
7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors. and the king of glory shall come
in. You know the significance of
that? David asked in the beginning of this psalm, who can stand
before God? We're all helpless and vile and
wretched in his sight. The sinner can't stand in here.
If you mark iniquity, Lord, who's going to stand? But you know
who shall stand in his sight? The one with clean hands and
a pure heart. The one in whose mouth no guile
was found. Who can come into the presence
of God at all? This King of Glory is coming
in to the presence of God. Be ye lift up, ye everlasting
gates, ye everlasting door, O ye gates, be ye lift up, because
the King of Glory is coming in. That's who's gonna stand before
Him, and He's gonna do it for us. He stood in the presence
of God for us, having brought something to offer as our high
priest. not the blood of bulls and of
goats, but with his own blood, he stood as our representative,
as our high priest, as our sacrifice, and obtained eternal redemption
for us. This is who he is, the king of
glory, the Lord strong and mighty. Who is this? There's our question
again in verse eight. Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. You know who he is? God said,
your king is coming. This King of Glory is coming
unto you. And you know who he said it about?
Jesus of Nazareth that rode in on that donkey into Jerusalem
that day. The Lord's mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. That's who's gonna stand in the
holy hill of the Lord. Who is this king of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. And David said, stop and think
about that for a while. Selah. Well, we don't think about
that much, do we? Acts 17, 1, it says that when
the disciples of the Lord had passed through Amphipolis and
Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of
the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three
Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen
again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto
you is Christ." Who is this? Jesus. Christ. The King. I believe Mary knew
the answer to the question, don't you? Who is this? Martha knew
then that he was important, that he needed to be waited on. We
need to fix a nice big dinner for him and, and you know, but
I'm pretty sure Mary knew who he was because the Lord said
she had chosen that good part. And the only thing we know about
Mary in that whole text is that she sat at the feet of the Lord
Jesus and heard his word. And the Lord said, she's chosen
that good part that will never be taken away from her. Who is this? If you know, I believe
you'll take your place with her. And I will too. At his feet,
hearing his word. I believe that leper in Matthew
5 knew the answer to the question, don't you? He knew that Christ
was the one who, if he only would, could make him clean. I believe
that centurion in Matthew chapter 8 knew that his king had come.
He said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under
my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed
because I'm one under authority and I have some that are under
my authority. And whatever I please, all I
have to do is say to my servant, go and they go or come and they
come. Lord, you just speak the word.
And my servant will be healed. I can't say that. I can say go. I can say come. I can't say be
healed, but you can. And he will be. Your king cometh. That's what old centurion said.
The king, all he has to do is say the word and it's done. I
believe Thomas answered our question maybe the best of all. Who is
this? My Lord and my God. Let's pray.