Let's open our Bibles this morning
to John, the 12th chapter. John's Gospel, chapter 12. Our subject this morning is,
Behold, thy King cometh. John, chapter 12, verses 12 through
19 will be our text. On the next day, much people
that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth
to meet him, and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had
found a young ass, sat there on as it is written, Fear not,
daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's
coat. These things understood not his
disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered
they that these things were written of him, and that they had done
these things unto him. The people, therefore, that was
with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him
from the dead by record. For this cause the people also
met him, for that they had heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said
among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing, Behold, the world is going after
him. Now this is a striking passage
of scripture. It appears out of sync with everything
else that our Lord Jesus did while he walked on this earth.
Everything else revealed about him, about his miracles, his
preaching, his teaching, he seems to have hidden it from the public. when he performed great miracles.
He told folks, don't say anything about this. Don't tell anybody
about this. He called no attention to himself.
But here, he rides into Jerusalem at a time when all the people
of Israel are gathered together in Jerusalem for the Feast of
the Passover. And he rides into Jerusalem rather
strangely. He rides on an ass's coat. And the people of the city cut
them palm branches as they hear that he's coming, and they throw
them in the way, and he rides across these palm branches. They
took off their garments and laid them on the palm branches, and
he rides across these things while they sing, Hosanna! Save
us! Save us! Save us! Behold, thy
King cometh unto thee. Quoting from Zechariah chapter
9, verse 9. The narrative reads like the
account of some great monarch who's riding into his kingdom
to be inaugurated, or a great monarch who perhaps has been
away in battle, and now he's coming back with the conquest
of victory, the spoils of victory, and he's riding in to be greeted
by those people over whom he rules. But this is the Lord Jesus,
the man who is called the lowly Nazarene, the man of Nazareth,
the carpenter's son, this man who was despised and rejected
of men, this man of whom no one had a good thing to speak. Everything
in this passage seems to contradict the whole tenor of our Lord's
life and ministry on this earth. And yet, it is exactly as we
should have expected it. Because now the Lord's hour has
come. The hour of his revealing. He had been all this time secreting
himself from the public, secreting himself from men, revealing himself
only to his chosen disciples. But now the hour of his unveiling,
if you will, is about to arrive. And the Lord Jesus comes to Jerusalem
to finish his work, to finish that for which he had come into
this world, to accomplish his mission. He has come now, as
Daniel prophesied, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to
finish the transgression, to make an end of sin. He's come
now to be cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of His people. His hour has now come, and well
it is that this thing should not be done in a corner. By the
arrangement of divine providence, all the peoples of Israel, And
many of the Gentiles are now gathered in Jerusalem for the
feast of the Passover. And the Lord Jesus comes to make
himself known. His entrance here is his entrance
into his kingdom. If you read Acts, the second
chapter, and hear what Peter says concerning our Lord's resurrection,
his exaltation, his ascension into heaven, and his exaltation
to the right hand of the majesty on high. You'll find that the
Holy Spirit tells us by the Apostle Peter that our Lord Jesus, as
He is riding into Jerusalem on this ass's coat, He is indeed
riding as a king about to be inaugurated into His kingdom. Jesus Christ the Lord goes to
His death at Calvary, and by His death at Calvary, enters
into His kingdom as our Mediator and our King. Now let men say
what they want to about prophetic schemes and about all the nonsense
people talk about in days future about prophecy. Jesus Christ
is king right now. He's not waiting for you pretty
pleased to let him be your king. He is king right now. He always has been king. He is king now, and he always
shall be king, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Ask the
devil. He's king right now. He is king
over all things by virtue of the fact that he is God, that's
certain. By virtue of the fact that he
is the second person of the Holy Trinity, he is king over everything.
The one who rules the universe, he alone is God. Did you hear me? The one who
rules the universe, he alone is God. And Jesus Christ, our
King, rules the universe. And he always has. But pastor,
didn't he earn the right to be king as a mediator? Of course
he did. The triune God says, ask of me
and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance. Psalm 2
verse 8. The Lord Jesus says, Now, father, the hour has come.
Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. Give me
now the glory which I had with thee before the world was, and
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Romans chapter
14, the apostle says, To this end Christ lived and died and
revived, that he might be Lord over all. Well, how can you say
then that he was Lord over all? from eternity, because he's the
Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. And the Father
from eternity committed to his hands the rule of the universe,
and the Savior at the end of his life in John 17. Praise to
the Father, restore now to me the glory which I had with you
before the world was. That is now The Lord God gives
him manifestly and openly the reigns of the universe as that
one who has finished his work of redemption. Our Lord then
deemed it proper that everything here should be done in an open
and manifest way. Openly, not in a corner. And
so all the children of Israel, all the males of every tribe
of Israel, come to Jerusalem. And now many Gentile converts
and many who were interested in what was going on at Jerusalem
are all gathered here for this great time of the Feast of Passover. It was, for the Jews, the holiest
of their times in the years. But for the Jews, they managed
to make their holiest time of the year. Now, when I say that,
I'm saying that because that's the way they looked at it. The
holiest of their festivities was the Passover celebration.
as it is to this day. Sort of like Christmas is to
what's called Christian. And you know what the Jews managed
to do with their holiest time of the year? They made it the
greatest time of business they ever had. Sort of like Christmas
is to religious folks in our day. And everybody was in Jerusalem
because this was the time to make money. Everybody was there.
And the Lord Jesus so arranged at this time to come into Jerusalem
in this way, and have people to cry, Hosanna! The word means
save us! Hosanna! Save us! Save us! Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee! And these are the very same people,
Mark. In six days. In just six days. In just six days. are going to
be crying, crucify Him. Crucify Him! Let His blood be
on us and our children. Very same people. Well, how do
you explain this? How do you explain this? That
brings me to my first point in the message. First and perhaps
most important. Our Lord's sacrifice of Himself was the sacrifice of a voluntary,
willing substitute. His sufferings were voluntary,
willing sufferings. His death was a voluntary, willing
death. That which is written here displays
as clearly as the noonday sun. As the scriptures universally
declare, that the Lord God our Savior holds a sovereign, mysterious
influence over the thoughts and words and deeds of all human
beings. He holds a sovereign, mysterious
influence. I mean by influence, control
over all the thoughts and words and beings of all human beings
all the time. Not only that, he holds the same
sovereign influence over all the demons of hell and all the
universe around us. So that nothing ever comes to
pass, no matter how it looks to you, no matter how it feels
to me, No matter how it is apprehended by the world, nothing ever comes
to pass except that which Jesus Christ, our God and King, brings
to pass according to His will for His glory and our good. Oh, God teach me that. I've got it fixed pretty good
here. God fix it here. Nothing. Nothing. These wicked
men, these godless, reprobate, religious, Jewish idolaters,
and that's what they had become by this time, are all speaking
one day, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Look
here! Zechariah's prophecy is fulfilled! Rejoice, O daughter of Zion!
Rejoice, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee! And here he comes. Just like
Zechariah said he would. The same people who have his
blood in their hearts, desiring to murder him. The same people
who will say, give us Barabbas. We won't have this man roll over
us. The same people said, no, we will not have it. The same
people who said to Pilate, who said, I find no fault in him.
I'm free of the blood of this just man. Behold this man, the
man. Behold this one, Pilate said,
who is the specimen of humanity. Behold the man. And they said,
no, give us Barabbas. and crucify Jesus. Let his blood
be on us. For that matter, let his blood
be on our children. And God gave them what they wanted.
And Pilate delivered Jesus to their will. Our Lord Jesus, then,
dies upon the curse tree as a voluntary, willing substitute for his people. We see our Lord throughout His
earthly life showing this kind of power over men. In Luke chapter 4, passage Brother
Frank was dealing with a little bit ago, the men of Nazareth
wanted to kill it. They wanted to kill it. Because
He told them plainly that they were rejected. And Jesus passing
through the midst of them went His way. In John chapter 8, the
Jews wanted to detain him. They would have laid violent
hands on him in the temple. And here's this huge crowd, a
huge crowd, and Jesus going through the midst of them passed by. John chapter 18, the time came
for his rest in the garden, and the soldiers led by Judas came
out in a band of soldiers to arrest him And the Lord Jesus
says to him, Whom seek ye? And they say, We're looking for
Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. They fell away
as dead men. And he raises them up again and
demonstrates clearly who he is. The fact is our Lord constantly
teaches in the scriptures and in the experience of history,
our own histories, our own day by day lives. He teaches us,
and He's going to make you learn. He's going to make me learn. He's going to make every demon
in hell learn. He's going to make every man,
woman, and child in the world learn. Sooner or later, you're
going to learn what God taught Nebuchadnezzar, the heavens do
rule. Well, I'm the master of my destiny.
Hang on, we'll find out. I control my life, let's see.
I'll meet you on the other side, and I'll tell you, and you will
acknowledge and say, Amen, you're right, I didn't control a thing.
That's exactly right. You mean man has no power? None,
but what God gives him, and God controls how he uses it. No man,
no man. You mean the devils have no power?
None, but what God gives them, and God controls how they use
it. You mean the devil has no power? He's God's devil. He's not in competition with
God. God created him and God rules him. Our Lord Jesus then died upon
the cursed tree in our room and in our stead because he wanted to. because he wanted to. He said
to his disciples when he ate this last supper, he said, with
desire, have I desired to eat this supper with you. He went to the curse tree with
a thirst like no man ever had, who thirsted for water, thirsting
to redeem our souls. But pastor, what about his cry
in the garden as he sweat great drops of blood, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. He was not shrieking from his
commission. He was not shrieking from his
surety ship. He was not shrieking from his
father's will. He was shrieking from the anticipation
of being made sin for us. He says, nevertheless, not as
I will. thy will be done. And he goes
steadfastly on to the cursed tree to die in our stead. You
see, Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, is that one whom the
prophet describes like this, he delighteth in mercy. You wonder whether he's willing
to save? Behold him, willingly going up to the cursed tree.
Behold Him willingly giving Himself into the hands of wicked men.
Behold Him willingly dying in our room and in our stand. Now,
here's the second thing. Not only did our Lord Jesus voluntarily
lay down His life in our room and stand. He did so in fulfillment
of the Scriptures. So that what we read here in
John 12, about our Lord's going into Jerusalem, on this particular
occasion, at this exact time, riding upon an ass's coat, is
a declaration that this book, this book, written on the back
spine, holy, The word is sanctified. The holy book. Now, whenever
anybody else talks about a holy book, laugh at it. I don't mean laugh out loud and
mock folks. Just, you understand, this is
the only one there is. There is no other holy book.
This is the book of God. How can you say that? Because
this is the only book of which this can be said. Every prophecy
in this book is exactly fulfilled at exactly the time and in exactly
the way God said it would come to pass. Every prophecy. No guesswork
here. Well, somewhere maybe along about
2010 or 2,050 or maybe 3,000 or 4,000. This is going to happen. No,
no, no, no. At exactly the time. As a matter
of fact, in Daniel's prophecy, he counted out the weeks and
the days. Said this one's going to happen.
And so it came to pass that Messiah was cut off. Exactly at the time
the prophet said. And in exactly the way they did.
Turn back to Zechariah chapter 9 for a moment, the passage we
read earlier. All this was done not because
our Lord Jesus was incapable of doing otherwise, not because
He didn't control the wills of men, but precisely because He
did. This was done that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. Here in John 12
we read verse 14, Jesus, when he had found a young ass sat
there on, as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold
thy king cometh sitting on an ass's coat. All this was done
that it might be fulfilled, Matthew told us, written in the prophets.
Here in Zachariah chapter 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy king! Not the fellow
who wants to be your king. That's not what it says, is it,
Skip? It says, thy king. Back here already in Zacharias'
day, he is the king. As I told you earlier. Behold,
thy king cometh. Not this man is coming so that
you can make him your king. But rather, the one who's coming
is your king. Thy king cometh unto thee. He is just. and having salvation,
lonely, and riding upon an ass, and upon a coat the fold of an
ass. Yes, this book, this book here,
is the Word of God. All Scripture given by inspiration
of God. God breathed. God breathed. Word of God Preserved for us
in our language God breathe so when you sit down tomorrow morning
and you Have you reading or tomorrow evening whenever you set aside
to read the book and you read something you Man, I don't I
don't see how that could be Do you know I read a lot of things
in this book and I don't see how they could be I don't see
how they could be. It's God breathed. And whether
I understand it or don't, that doesn't change anything. My understanding
the book doesn't determine the truthfulness of the book. My
ability to prove what's written in the book doesn't determine
the truthfulness of the book. My ability to replicate what's
written in the book doesn't determine the truthfulness of the book.
I remember hearing on the message Brother Donnie Bell preached
to you the Sunday morning or Sunday night, he said, somebody asked him,
do you believe that the whale swallowed Jonah? And Donnie said,
if the Bible said Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd believe it. Well,
the fact is, that's just the attitude we ought to have toward
this book. Just exactly the attitude. This is God's Word. This is God's
Word. Understanding it doesn't come
by investigating it. Understanding it comes by believing
God. Comes by believing God. I recall,
shortly after Shelby and I started dating, she had been in Bible
college, you know, and I was just a 17-year-old kid, went
behind the years, hadn't been in church much, been saved just
a little while. And I studied the scriptures. I read and studied, read and
studied. And I had decided I was going
to do a study. I was going to do a study on the ark. I was
going to study the ark. I was studying Noah's ark. Noah's
ark, what I thought I studied. And I got a concordance. You
remember, Brother Frank, I was telling you about danger of using
concordances? Well, I got me a concordance and looked up that
word ark. And I found out that ark was about the size of that
coffee table. And I couldn't figure out for
the life of me how on this earth Noah got on that thing, much
less all those animals. Now, stupid? Yes. Dumb? Yes, on my part. Ignorant? Yes. But what on earth
is this? You can't imagine how embarrassed
I was to have to go to my wife and ask her, what's wrong with
this? She says, honey, you're studying the wrong ark. I'm talking about the covenant,
measure and document of the covenant. And the difficulty of my understanding
was my ignorance of the Word, not the Word of God. And so it
is in my silly youth as a believer that multitudes in their brilliance
as men stumble over the stumbling stones God lays in their way
as they trip up and go to hell. You'll either believe this book
or you'll perish in your sins. There is no other revelation
of God. All right, here's the third thing.
Having said that, I want you to understand and understand
clearly that the object of faith is Jesus Christ himself, our
Lord and our Redeemer. Back here in John chapter 12.
Back here in John chapter 12. Verse 16. These things understood not his
disciples at the first. But when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that those things were written of him. and that they had done these
things unto him. There are multitudes who vainly
imagine that faith in Christ is faith in doctrine, or faith
in knowledge, or faith in an experience, or faith in history. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Now, I know there are some folks who are going
to get a hold of this and they're going to run wild with it, so I'll set
it straight to start with, but that won't change a thing. They'll
still run wild with it. You cannot believe God and deny the truth
of God. You can't do it. I've never believed,
nor do I now, that there's any such thing as a will-worshipping
Arminian who knows God. Say, well, I was one. No, you
weren't. No, you weren't. No, you weren't. You do not come
to know God by a false gospel. But there are multitudes, there
are multitudes who believe all the right facts and all the right
doctrines who don't know God. And there are lots of God's people
in this world who believe God and are poorly instructed in
much truth and understand very little. Understand very little. They trust the true and living
God. They trust Christ revealed in this book. They would not
think of making Him a failure. They would not think of somehow
making salvation dependent on them. They would not think of
somehow making salvation dependent on their works. They know better.
But ask them about various points of theology, various points of
doctrine. Sometimes I'll be in churches.
Y'all wonder why my tongue's so short. I bite my tongue. I
know you think I don't. I bite my tongue. Somebody'll
walk through the door and sit down and say, well, I'm Ron Wood. We live in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.
Well, what do you believe about the lapsarian views? I'm not lying, I've heard fellas
ask that. I've heard them ask that. Well, what's your position
on progressive sanctification? I've even heard women ask men
such things. As if they had a clue what they're
talking about. I tell you what I'd like to do,
I'd like to understand, what do you think? What do you understand about
those things? The issue is, who do you believe? Do you or do you not believe
the Son of God? Do you or do you not trust the
Christ of God? Salvation is not what you know
about Christ, it's knowing Christ. God help you to understand this.
Salvation is not your feeling and experience, it's Christ.
This is life eternal, that they should know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. He that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ. Do you know who believes that
Jesus is the Christ? The person, the man, the woman,
the child. who, looking to Christ, believes
he actually did what he came here to do. It's finished. Believes
he actually did fulfill the prophets. That he actually did redeem his
people from their sins. Believes that he actually did
bring in everlasting righteousness. It's a sinner who looks out of
himself to the Son of God for everything. For everything. I've
told you the story before, but it'll bear repetition. You won't
mind it. Back in those days, and it still
goes on in some places, when fellows had to be examined before
they come in the church. I've got an article about baptism
on the front of the bulletin. If God's given you faith in Christ,
you let me know. You can confess him whenever
you want to. And you don't have to answer any questions to anybody.
Matter of fact, anybody here starts asking you questions,
I'll tell them to shut up. They'll shut up. let the baby grow a
little bit. At least let him start crawling.
A fella was walking down the street one day and he heard some
women singing a tune. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. He heard that thing
one time and he couldn't get it out of his mind. Before long
he was going about his business, peddling his wares, whistling
that tune. And after a while started attending church services
and he heard the gospel. He did what they did in those
days. He applied for membership and the pastor said, well, we'll
have to meet with the elders and examine you. And so they
met with the elders and they started to ask him various questions.
He said, well, Brother Jack, what is your confession? He said,
I am a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all in all. And he said, yeah. And so I said,
is that all? He said, what else is there? Well, what do you believe about
this doctrine or that? He said, I don't know. But I know this, I am a poor
sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Well, Brother Jack, tell us about
your experiences. He said, I don't know much about
my experiences. He said, I do know that I am a poor sinner
and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Well, that just won't do. Don't
you ever have any highs or lows? And he said, well, I am a poor
sinner and nothing at all. I don't guess I can get any lower
than that. And Jesus Christ is my all in all, and I don't think
I'd get any higher than that. And they finally gave up, exasperated,
and let him in the church. And then on he is known as Happy
Jack. This is Happy Don. I am a poor sinner. and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Learn more than that,
rejoice in it, but don't grow above that. As ye therefore have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. All right,
let me show you something else here. Our Lord Jesus here is declared
as thy King. Thy King cometh. Turn back again to Zechariah
9. Zechariah 9. I want you to look at the text
which is quoted here. This verse of scripture is quoted,
and this event is recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I take that to mean, sit up and
pay attention. I take that to mean it's something
we ought to study often, read often, meditate on a lot. Behold
thy King cometh. All right, Zechariah 9, verse
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem! That's just another name, or
another names for God's church and kingdom. Zion is the kingdom
of our God. Jerusalem, which is above the
mother of us all. The scriptures in the Old Testament
use Zion and use Jerusalem and use Israel and Judah as pictures
of the Church of God, the Temple of God. That which is spiritual
is represented in that which is carnal. Behold, thy King cometh. Zachariah is talking about the
Lord Jesus. He says, Rejoice, thy King cometh. Daniel calls
him Messiah, the Prince. This is the sum of all the good
news of the gospel. Hold your hands here and turn
to Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 31. I want you to see this. Oftentimes the scriptures and
the prophets use terms like fullness of corn and wheat and grain and
olive trees and wine and peace and such things as that. The
folks being freed from war and sitting down in times of peace
as pictures of that which is spiritual. And certainly that's
true here in Jeremiah 31, speaking of our Lord coming as our King.
Verse 12, Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of
Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord.
We've come together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for
wine, for bread, nourishment, and for joy, for oil, and for
the young of the flock. and of the herd, and their soul
shall be as a watered garden." Their soul shall be as a watered
garden, fruitful, plenteous, tinging with fruit. And they
shall not sorrow any more at all. All right, back here in
Ozetta. or back in Zechariah, Hosanna
in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Zechariah says, Behold thy king
cometh. And certainly that refers to
our Lord's incarnation. Certainly that refers to our
Lord's coming in His second advent. But as it is used in all four
gospel narratives, it doesn't refer either to His incarnation
or to His second advent. Read them. Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. Not one of them refers to his
incarnation, using this phrase. Not one of them refers to his
second advent. You see, in the prophets, our
Lord's coming into this world, we divide it up into his first
advent and his second advent. We divide it up into his incarnation,
his entrance into the world in the flesh, and his coming again
in glory. Again, coming in the flesh. Coming
in final day of resurrection, glory, and judgment. The theologians
who like to divide up groups to follow after them, they call
themselves theologians. Theologians, that's a fellow
who's a master of the study of God. And they get their boxes
and they build their little empires and they divide things up. But
in the scriptures, our Lord's coming is one. You will find
yourself totally incapable of identifying Which the prophets
are speaking of when they're talking about His coming. Are
they talking about His incarnation? Talking about Him coming in grace? Or
is that talking about Him coming at the end of the world? Yeah,
that's what it's talking about. Did you get that? That's what it's
talking about. His coming is one. He comes in
our nature. And He comes to us as being the
one who indwells our nature. And takes up His residence in
us in saving grace. And He comes to us in the daily
sweet manifestations and experiences of His grace. And one day, He's
coming in His glory, in the power of the resurrection. But here,
Zechariah, as he is quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
is talking about something in the present tense. In the present
tense. Behold, thy King cometh. Thy King cometh. unto thee. I like that. That makes it personal. Thy King cometh, skipping across
the mountains, leaping and dancing like a roe or a young heart. You open the Word, and behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. Not always, but bless God as
He will. He comes. You call on Him in
prayer. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He comes in His mighty
operations of grace to the soul that needs Him. He comes in saving
power. We observe the ordinances, confessing
Him in baptism, confessing Him in the bread and the wine, and
oh, how often He comes dancing to our souls. We come to the
house of God, and He comes to us. Our souls languish, and He
revives. He comes to restore us in His
goodness, in great faithfulness, and in tender mercy. Behold,
thy King cometh. In adversity and in trial, He
comes. He comes in darkness. and causes light to shine. But
as long as we think we're walking with light when it's barely able
to see outside. It'll come. Read the 107th Psalm. He brings down your heart with
labor. Causes you to reel to and fro
as a drunken man. Brings you to your wits end. This is it. So there's nothing
you can do. I was talking to Todd, Brother
Jerry's son, last week at the hospital. I think he'd been here
once before. I didn't recognize him. I don't
have any idea where you regularly go to church. But I'll tell you
something, I'll guarantee you. Two weeks ago, you were praying
like you hadn't prayed before. Never ask it. Guarantee what?
How do you know? Because my daddy's laying in
there dying and there's not a fragile thing I can do for him. Nothing
I can do. Nothing. Wondrous goodness of
God that benches me to my knees in my soul to lean on my Savior. And so it is, thy King cometh
unto thee. He brings you low that he may
lift you up He strips that he may clothe. He empties that he
may fill. He causes thirst that he may
quench the thirst. He makes your soul to hunger
that he may fill the hunger. Behold, thy King cometh. And
he comes just. This is my King. He's just. Alan, he never does anything
but what's right. That's all he ever does. How
can you say God did that? How can a good God do that? God's
good! And what He does proves that
He's good, no matter how you see it. No matter how you see
it. Oh, the floods and the earthquakes
and the tornadoes and the hurricanes and the upheavals in society,
I don't pretend to understand, but God did it, and God's good,
and He comes in all things to you, children of Zion. not to
the world, not to everybody, to you. And you see him coming. You see the clouds and the dust
at his feet. You see the whirlwind and you
say, my God, moving across the skies. He comes just, just because
he's always just and true and having salvation. He comes in
grace to save sinners on the grounds of justice satisfied.
He comes having salvation. You see, He, with His own blood,
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. And now, He comes having salvation. One more thing. I'll wrap this
up. Look at this whole thing as an allegory. We ought never
to spiritualize Scripture. I mean by that, you don't take
this book and read it and say, well I believe this, this is
what that means to me, and make you say whatever you want to.
But you have read this book altogether wrongly if you don't read it
spiritually. If you miss the spiritual message
of the book. Everything in this book has a
spiritual message. It's all about Christ. His grace. His redemption, His salvation. Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and
Isaac are presented to us in scripture as an allegory. Read
Galatians chapter 4. An allegory is another word for
parable. A parable, a heavenly story illustrated
by something earthly. A heavenly story illustrated
by something earthly. Our Lord uses the parable of
the 99 sheep. He uses the parable of the lost
coin. He uses various parables. Parable of the pearl of great
price. All kinds of parables to speak of his work. The fact
is, every historic thing, and every prophetic thing, and every
legal thing in this book is an allegory. It's intended to teach
us something spiritual. Thy King cometh, just and having
salvation, riding upon an ass's coat on which no man ever rode. That's how he always goes, in
his saving grace. It takes a wild ass. You folks who like those old
spaghetti westerns by Clint Eastwood, and you see that Two Mules for
Sister Sarah, and you see those nice little gentle donkeys, oh,
they're so nice. You try telling that to a fellow
who owns one. No, they're wild, and they'll
bite and buck, and you can't put anything on them. They won't
do a thing for you. They won't do a thing for you.
They just bite and buck, sit down, nothing, until something
happens. Somebody has got to break them. And these horse farms around
here, I learned shortly after I came to Kentucky from the Bob
Lips told me, said, we don't break our horses. He said, we
gentle them. That means you get them so you
can put a saddle on them, but they still don't want to be rode.
They still have got all the spirit of the horse in them, the wild
spirit, because that makes them run fast. The old Westerns show
a better picture of what I want to illustrate, or what I want
to illustrate. I thought I'd take a saddle,
catch that horse in the wild, make some kind of a rope harness
around him, strap him down so he couldn't move, hardly put
a saddle on him, and ride him, and get thrown off, and ride
him, and get thrown off, and ride him, and get thrown off,
until the horse just couldn't throw anymore. And after a while,
he wants to be ridden. That's what God in His grace
does for the wild asses caught. So, Brother Dunn, that's not
a very good picture of me. Believe me, I'm being polite. Just wild ass, that's all. That's
all you are, all your son is, all your wife is, all your husband
is. That's all. Just a wild ass. Good for nothing. Good for nothing
except that you are briars. Nothing else. Nothing. Until
the Son of God comes. And lays hold of you by His omnipotent
grace. And rides you. until your will
is broke, until it took the stubborn out, and you want to be ridden. Oh, so come, Son of God, and
ride this wild ass to eternal glory, for the honor of your
name. Amen.