We are going to start a new chapter
this morning in Matthew chapter 21. I titled the lesson this
morning, The King Has Come. And when they drew nigh to Jerusalem,
and were come to Bethphage unto the Mount of Olives, Then sent
Jesus to disciples, saying unto them, go into the village over
against you, and straightway you 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, you shall say, the Lord hath need of them. And straightway
he shall send them. All this was done that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell
ye the daughter of Sion, Behold thy king coming unto thee, meek,
and setting upon an ass, and a coat, 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 and set him their own. 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 come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying,
who is this? And the multitude said, this
is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. Now the triumphant entry of our
Lord into Jerusalem was a deliberate declaration of Himself as the
long expected promised King of Israel, the Son of David, the
Messiah. And in the chapters leading up
to chapter 21, you will recall that on many occasions, Jesus
told those that He healed, the blind men and the the halt and
the lame and the demon-possessed and so on, not to say anything
about what he had done. And he was very cautious not
to make any public declaration of who he was. Instead, he let
the works of the Father demonstrate who he was. And you'll recall
in John how he told them over there, he said, if you don't
believe me for my sake, believe me for the very work's sake.
God Almighty confirmed him to be the Christ through miracles
and wonders and signs which God did by him in their midst. And they were reminded of that
on Pentecost. But on this particular occasion,
The Lord God made a strong declaration of who He was. And His triumphant entry into
Jerusalem was a deliberate declaration. This promised seed of woman of
which I am talking about, this long expected one, goes all the
way back to the Garden. All the way back to Genesis chapter
3. where he spoke of the seed of
the woman. And all down through time, he
talks about that seed, the seed of Abraham. And he says this in the book
of Galatians, it's the seed of Abraham to whom the promises
were made. Now that's the key. That's the
key. And he tells us there in Galatians
3.16, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not to seeds as of many,
talking about all the natural children of Abraham, but as of
one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Now that's who this is
that God's declaring, and He's declaring Him plainly by His
entry into Jerusalem. Now you think about Jerusalem,
the capital of religion. This is the center. This is like
the holy lands in the mind of men and women today. And this
man was a walking example. of what they were not. He exposed them on every hand. It was a constant exposure of
them, a constant exposure of false religion, a constant exposure
of how they've been deceived, a constant exposure about their
fathers and how they treated the prophets and so on. This
was false religion and this was the capital of false religion.
And Christ enters in unrejected into this city. His earthly ministry
was now drawn to a close. And that for which he become
a man and appeared among men was now at hand. He must go to
Jerusalem. That's what he told his disciples
in the previous chapters. I must go to Jerusalem and there
be turned over to the hands of my enemies and be crucified and
be buried and rise again on the third day." How many times did
he tell his disciples this? And then in doing so, to carry
out the eternal purpose and design of God who sent him to redeem
his people from their sin. This was the event of all events. This is the time for which time
was brought into existence, and God would not have it ignored.
Not going to have it ignored. That triumphant entry of Jesus
of Nazareth into Jerusalem was a deliberate declaration to all
men that this was the Messiah. And as the Messiah, so his entry
into this city was a fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies
concerning him, and two in particular he calls their attention to.
Now you know, it said He went here or He went there that the
Scripture might be fulfilled. They moved from where He was
born to Nazareth that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. And then
he went to Egypt that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. And all through
there, he did these things that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
And now he gives this commandment to his disciples to go and get
this ass and her coat and bring them to him that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled. What Scriptures? Well, Isaiah
62, 11 is one of them. And Zechariah 9, 9 is the other
one. Both of these Scriptures have
to do with His entry into Jerusalem on His way to the cross. And
if you'll study these two verses of Scripture, you'll find out
that Isaiah tells us why He's coming. Why He's coming. He said, Thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation cometh. And behold,
His reward is with Him. And His work is before Him. Now, I do not ever want to undervalue
the doctrine of Christ. We're commanded to preach it.
We're commanded to examine those who come in here to preach it
or come into our homes to tell it. And if they bring not the
doctrine of Christ, we're not to have anything to do with them.
We're not even to bid them Godspeed. They're false prophets. And I
don't want to undervalue the doctrine of Christ. He told Timothy,
he said, you preach the Word. And you give yourself to the
study of the Word and to what? Doctrine. Doctrine. I don't want to undervalue the
doctrine of Christ. He that abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, the Scripture said, he hath not God. You cannot rejoice
in your heart over something you don't understand in your
head. I've told you many times in my
own experience how I invited this man to church, and he said,
what for? And I didn't have nobody ever ask me that before. They
already knew. But not this man. He wanted to
know why. And I didn't know what to tell him, so the first thing
that entered my mind was, we've got a preacher down here, an
evangelist, and I said, I want you to come hear the gospel.
He said, you wouldn't know the gospel if you met it in the middle
of the road. And I said, what do you mean?
And he said, well, if you know the gospel, what is it? And I
couldn't tell him. For the first time in my life,
I realized I didn't know the gospel. Now, my friend, you might
be duped by religion, but I'm telling you, as plain as I know
how to tell you, you can't rejoice in your heart over something
you do not understand in your head. It comes through the head. Now, it don't stop there. Religion
stops at the head. This doctrine comes through the
head, and then it goes to the heart, to the heart. But I'll tell you this, if your
doctrine does not lead you to the person of Christ, it's of
no value to you. No value. It was not a doctrine
that rode into Jerusalem on this day. It was Christ. It wasn't
a doctrine that bled and died for you on the cross. It was
Christ. It wasn't a doctrine that took your place before the
awesome justice of God. It was a person. The person of
Jesus Christ. And that's what we preach. That's
what Paul said set him apart from all these other men. He
said, we preach Christ. We preach a person. We preach
the Son of God, the Son of Man. We exalt Him. We tell men about
Him. We're not out to make a big congregation
or a big name for ourselves or accumulate a big bank account
or be famous in this world when we die. Be published. Be looked at. Be honored. We
are out to point men to Christ. Point them to Him. Here He is. See this. See Him. Look to Him. Here is life. Right here. See and hear. And that is what
this prophet says, Thy salvation coming. You sit sometimes and just be
quiet and listen to men when they talk about their profession.
Listen to what they're saying. Key in on their words. What are
they talking about? Are they talking about a doctor?
Are they talking about a person? Of course, the glory is in the
person. It's in the person. Thy salvation cometh. What a
proclamation. To be saved, the scripture said,
is to know Him. To know Him is eternal life.
To know Him. Not about Him. To know Him. That's
eternal life. And to be saved is to know Him.
It's to trust Him. I trust a person. I don't trust
a doctrine. I knew doctrine before I learned
this doctrine. And if doctrine is all I have,
one smarter than me is going to come along, and he's going
to convince me, and I'm going to accept his doctrine. And pretty
soon, I'm going to be blown about, is the words the apostles use,
with every wind of doctrine. But if you know him, if you know
him, you'll learn doctrine. And you'll learn it right. And
it'll mean something to you. It's to rejoice in him. to bow
to Him, to love Him. You read the Scriptures and see
how they talk about salvation. It all has to do with Him and
your union with Him, your oneness with Him. His work is the work of the substitute. His work is before Him. He must
be brought as a lamb to the slaughter. He must take the sinner's place
before the holy and just God who cannot and will not clear
the guilty. He must stand in their room instead
and bear their sins in his own body on the trip. He'd fought
the battle, and the battle was won. Satan's lying schemes had
been exposed. Christ had exposed them. False
religion had been clearly pointed out to his disciples. And our
great federal head had been tempted in all points like as we are
yet without sin. He lacked only one thing before
ascending to his throne. He must give Himself a ransom
for His people. He must stand before the holy
justice of God, bearing our sins. His work was before Him. He came
into this world to accomplish the redemption of His people.
And Isaiah said, Thy salvation cometh, and His work is before
Him. And then Zechariah tells us how
He would come. And to what end? In Zechariah
9.9. He will come lowly, the prophet
said, and riding upon an ass, and upon the colt, the foal of
an ass. Listen to what Paul says here
in Philippians chapter 2. He said, let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This one
who sat upon this pole of an ass, who came riding meekly into
Jerusalem, yet triumphantly. He came in meekness. This was
no less than God Himself. God Himself. He 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 fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, And every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It doesn't stop there,
does it? To the glory of God the Father.
The way to the throne is the way of obedience and humility. The way to the throne is the
way of suffering and death. The way to the throne is to glorify
God the Father. And every other king, I'm telling
you, every other king, you can read about them in world history
and you can read about them in the Bible. These Babylonian kings,
Nebuchadnezzar, the kings of the Medes and the Persians, all
these kings from these four great nations who rose up and took
Jerusalem captive, they didn't ride in on a foal of an ass.
They rode in in pride and glory and honor and the captives out
before them, running along before them. Rode in in their chariots
with the king's crown on the head and all dressed in royal
affair. Not this king. This king sat
on the foal of an ass and he rode into this city that's his.
Jerusalem was all about him. It wasn't about religion, it
was about him. And he rode into this city, the
city of Jerusalem, sitting upon the foal of an ass. He came lowly. He came in humble
obedience to the Father. And yet at the same time, God
honored him as king, mediatorial king, the king priest. And they
sang out, those who would not say anything, who feared him,
They feared him even to come to the feast lest the Jews would
kill him. And those same people who were
afraid to even mention his name out of persecution now climbed
up trees and cut down branches and strawed the road with their
own clothes and branches before him as he came into Jerusalem.
And what did they shout? Hosanna to the king. Like the invisible Spirit of
God had moved into that city and took captive every mouth.
Every mouth. And all of a sudden they all
began to confess Him and own Him as God's King. God honored Him as King. Mediatorial
King. The King Priest. And they cried,
Hosanna to the King. Behold, He said, thy King cometh
unto thee. He's the king of glory, the scripture
said. He's the king of providence.
He's the king of salvation and the king of grace and mercy.
He's king of kings and Lord of lords. He's the blessed and only
potentate. And he showed it on this day.
He's lowly, yet exercises divine sovereignty and power even in
his lowliest state. Now you think of this. Our Lord
told those two disciples. None of this had been prearranged
except by God. He said, you go into this place,
and as soon as you get there, you're going to find an ash and
the fold of an ash tied up in this man's yard. He said, you
just go up and unloose it. He didn't tell them to knock
on the door and ask permission. He didn't say, go tell. It would
have been just as easy to knock on the door first, wouldn't it?
Say, could I borrow this? The master has need of it. No,
he said, you go get it. You untie it. You bring it back. And if anybody says anything
to them, you tell them the master has need of it. Now, only one
who owned these things could do that and still be just before
God. Is that right? Only one who's
sovereign even over the hearts and minds of men could do this.
And if you'll read all four accounts, this is one of the few things
that all four gospel writers record. If you'll read all four
of these accounts, you'll find out the man did ask him what
they were doing. What mean you by unloosing this
ass? And they said, just what he told
them to say. The master has need of it. Go
ahead. Go ahead. Is that not divine
sovereignty? Now, I guarantee you, I could
tell you to go down here to somebody's house, unloose a goat, and bring
it up here to me, and when they caught you, they'd haul you off
to jail. And these were people who despised
him. At the very least, were afraid
of him, and very superstitious about him. And here they are. Here, take this. Take it and
go. Take it and go. That's divine sovereignty. And what about the very capital
of false religion now cutting down these trees and throwing
the very clothes out before him out into the road? And what about
this? He rode in on a wild ass's coat. Never been rode before. Never
been rode before. And they put their clothes on
this ass And the Son of God, they set Him right up on top
of it, and that ash didn't buck. It didn't jump around in the
road. It didn't try to bite Him. It followed them right where
they led Him, right into town. That's sovereignty. God could
have displayed His sovereignty in another way, but that's not
how God displays His sovereignty in the Gospel. He just rides. He just rides by His Spirit the
wild. He tames the wild as He's called,
don't He? He don't ask permission. He overcomes
the will. And He works in the hearts of
men. And all the rest of the world just see a meek man coming
into town. They don't see the work of God,
the work of this sovereign King. And as he came into Jerusalem,
that whole city cried out, who is this? Who is this? Oh, I would to God. He'd speak
in the hearts of some here this morning and call you to ask that
question. Who is this? Is this just something some old-timers
made up? keep folks from being as evil
as they could be just made this manner? Is he just a figment
of men's imaginations? Is this just more religious superstition? Who is this man? Who is he? That's the very first question
that you'll ask when God gets a hold of your heart. Who is
this? Who is this? No better, more needful question
could ever be asked. Before the Lord ever revealed
himself to me, my question was always, what? What? What must I do? What must I feel? What must I know? What must I
give? What must I sacrifice? What must I believe? What, what,
what? That was my question. The question
is not what. The question is who. Who? Who is this? Who is this? Who is this man? Where did he
come from? Whose son is he? Is he the son
of Adam or the son of God? Is he all man to the exclusion
of deity? Or is he all God to the exclusion
of his manhood? Who is this? And I wonder, as I've gone through
this gospel testimony and set before you the birth and life
and teaching of Christ, His miracles and His parables and all of these
things, if we've gleaned a little bit to answer this question,
who is this man? Who is He? Who is He? Now listen to their response.
The multitude who had been following Him, they said, this is Jesus,
the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. Not a prophet. Not even a great
prophet. This is the prophet. This is
the prophet. Paul begins the book of Hebrews
by telling us that God spake to our fathers through the prophets.
But we go into the book of Acts and he tells us that all the
prophets spoke of Him. To Him give all the prophets
witness. All of the prophets talked about the coming of the
One like Moses, he said, going to come. Moses spoke of him. He said of Abraham, he said,
thou art not quite 30 years old, and you're talking about being
before our father Abraham. He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day, and he saw it and was glad. This is the prophet. Everything the Old Testament
prophets had to say was about the prophet who was yet to come. And then Paul tells us that in
these last days he has spoken unto us. The interpretation literally
is in son. That is in the language of his
son. Heir of all things. Creator of
all things. The brightness of the Father's
glory and express image of His person. And what did they say
about this prophet? He said that all things were
upheld by the Word of His power which He demonstrated when He
purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of God. Let
me give you this Scripture now quick. 1 John 5, verse 20. Turn over there with me and we'll
read this very quickly and I'll end the lecture. I think every saved man can say
this, and he can say it from his heart. I John 5, verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
Him that is true. And we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. May the King of glory ride triumphant
into our hearts today and cause us to cry out even as they, Hosanna,
Hosanna to the King. You know what that word Hosanna
means? It means save me, save me. You heard that expression,
God save the king? That's where it comes from. That's
where it comes from. Except in the original, it's
not God save the king, it's God save me. God save me. Thank you.