Turn with me, if you will, to
Luke 19. We'll begin at verse 28. Luke 19 and verse 28. When he had thus spoken, he had
given the parable of the nobleman and his servants to whom he had
committed the pound of his grace, the gospel of his grace, some
cherished the privilege, of having the gospel, others despised it,
and those who cherished it receive eternal life. Those who despise
it are cast into hell. When he had thus spoken, he went
before ascending up to Jerusalem. I love the way the Spirit of
God inspires Luke to describe what's going on here. He tells
us that the Lord Jesus went before His disciples. He always does. He never sends His disciples. He goes before His disciples. If He leads you down a winding,
steep, dark path into a deep, dark valley, He goes before you. If He leads you into the wilderness
of temptation, He goes before you. When He leads you at last
up to glory, He's gone before you. He said, I go to prepare
a place for you. That's the reason I've gone.
The Lord Jesus always leads His disciples, going before them.
Here He is going before them, ascending up to Jerusalem. Ascending. gradually moving up, ascending
up to Jerusalem with a deliberate pace, with a deliberate purpose. He's going up to Jerusalem to
suffer and die as our substitute, and thereby, by means of his
accomplished redemption, he's going up to Jerusalem, which
is above, to receive his kingdom, what he'd been speaking about
before. He's going up not to be made a king, but going up
as a king to receive the kingdom which his father gives him as
the reward of his obedience. All right, read on. Verse 29,
And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphagia and
Bethany, at the mount that is called Olives, he sent two of
his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against
you, into which at your entering you shall find a colt tied, whereon
yet never man sat. Loose him, and bring him thither. And if any man ask you, as they
are sure to ask, why do you loose him? Thus shall you say unto
him, because the Lord hath need of it. No other explanation given. How
would you like to be sent on that mission? Because the Lord
hath need of him. And they that were sent went
their way and found even as he had said unto them. And as they
were loosing the coat, the owners thereof, or those who thought
they were, said unto them, why loose ye the coat? And they said,
the Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus,
and they cast their garments upon the coat, and they set Jesus
thereon. And as he went, they spread their
clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even
now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of the disciples, some of the folks who record the events in
history, Estimated the crowd to be somewhere in the neighborhood
of 300,000 people thrown in the streets. The disciples and all
who were interested. Huge, huge, huge crowd. The whole
multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with
a loud voice for all the mighty works that had been seen. Saying,
blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace
in heaven. and glory in the highest. And
some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him."
Now imagine this. Here are all his disciples singing
his praise amongst all these thronging multitudes, and it
seems that everybody stops to listen to what they're saying.
They're saying that this is the King. He comes and brings peace. He comes and brings peace on
earth. He gives glory to God in the
highest, this King. And when the Pharisees heard
what was going on, the religious folks, the good folks, churchgoing
folks, the theologians and the preachers, they said, Master,
rebuke your disciples. Tell these fellows to stop this
commotion. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that
if these should hold their peace, if they didn't give praise to
me, if they didn't worship me, If they didn't acknowledge me,
the stones would immediately cry out." Now this event in the
earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus is one of very few, one
of very few, that is recorded in great detail by all four of
the gospel writers. In Matthew 21 and Mark 11, In
John 12 and here in Luke 19, all four of the gospel writers
give us detailed description of this particular event. It
is the only event, the only thing that our Lord ever called public
attention to while he walked on this earth. The only event
in his life to which he called public attention and made it
a note or made it a point deliberately to have everybody's attention
while it's going on. Now, the fact that this is revealed
in such a way to us tells us that this is a matter of tremendous,
tremendous importance. We just sang about our Savior's
birth. That was done in a corner. That
was done in a private place. There were a few folks who were
made aware of it. We read in the scriptures of many of His
wondrous works, but most of them done privately. People got attention
only because they saw or they got attention only because people
saw and observed them. But here, our Lord seems to direct
the attention of everyone around him and gathers a crowd to focus
on this great, great event. We ought to read these passages
then with great care, asking God the Holy Spirit to teach
us their meaning. Some things recorded in this
event, recorded about this event in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
are obvious facts. Facts so obvious, so clearly
obvious, that the only way they can be missed is by a deliberate,
willful refusal to acknowledge that this book is indeed the
Word of God, the living Word of the living God. Yesterday,
I was here in the office working, and Will, my grandson, came by
to visit with me for a little bit. He went over and got his
Bible. I keep a New Testament for him
in my office, so whenever they're here, he'll always have one.
He picked it up and was looking at it, and he said, Poppy, does
Jesus live in here? And I started to try to explain
some things to him about our Lord living everywhere, sitting
on a throne in heaven, and then I thought, that's a good question.
If you read it right, he does. This is the Word of God. These events are recorded by
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because, and Matthew tells us
this specifically, they are recorded that the prophecy we read in
Zechariah chapter 9 might be fulfilled hundreds of years before
it transpired. Zachariah wrote exactly what
we just read. He wrote exactly what we just
read. He wrote it as though he were
a historian telling us about what he'd already seen, because
he wrote by divine inspiration. Our Lord Jesus Christ shows forth
here, obviously, so obviously that it cannot be mistaken, that
he is himself the omniscient God. He is the all-wise, all-knowing
God. Now, when you read or hear these
days about, you know, fortune tellers and palm readers and
witches and sorcerers, that's what they are, and they talk
about being able to see things and foretell events. Have you ever noticed that whenever
you see a report on them, they always give themselves a little
hedging room? They give a little wiggle room
just in case this doesn't turn out just like I intended. We
see some things, but not just real clearly. Our Lord Jesus
said to his disciples, you go down here to that village and
in a place In that village, you're going to see, as you walk in
town, you're going to see a donkey tied. You're going to see a colt
and her ass tied there. And it's going to be tied right
here, and some fellows are going to come out and ask you, what
are you doing loosening that colt? You tell them the Lord
has need of him and bring him to me. And they went. Well, looky
yonder. There he is. Just exactly as
the Master had said. Our Redeemer is himself. the sovereign Lord God of the
universe, master of everything. He controls everything, even
the thoughts and actions of men. Everything is His, and everything
serves Him. That includes the ass and her
coat, and the men who thought they owned them. They come out
and say, what are you doing? The Lord sent us. Now, can you imagine, Rex, if
you walk outside this morning and see somebody getting in your
car, fixing to drive off, and he says, the Lord sent me after
him. Well, he didn't tell me anything
about it. I'd suggest you get out of the car, because I'm fixing
to knock you on the ground. That's my car. But the Lord controls
the thoughts of men. and they all serve his interest
all the time. Now those facts are obvious.
Those facts are obvious. Our Lord Jesus Christ always
was, is now, and always shall be king over everything and everybody. He is king by virtue of the fact
that he is himself God. Jesus Christ The man born at
Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, the man who died upon the cursed
tree, that man is God. He is king by virtue of his absolute
divinity. Now he is going up to Jerusalem
as king. Not to be made king, but as king.
Not to ask the Jews if they would pretty please let him sit on
their little throne. He's going as king. and is going
up to Jerusalem to receive his kingdom, the kingdom which he
has earned the right to rule over by virtue of his obedience
unto death as our substitute. Now he goes up to Jerusalem,
and as he goes up to Jerusalem, he prays, Glorify thy son with
thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Now, father, you have given your
son power, dominion over all flesh for this purpose, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Now, those things are facts, obvious to anyone who reads the
story we just read. But there's more to be learned
from this historic narrative than our Lord's triumphal entry
into Jerusalem and these facts. They're spiritual lessons this
story is intended by God to teach us. You remember what the Holy
Spirit told us about Sarah and Hagar and their sons Ishmael
and Isaac? Now, those are historic facts
revealed in Genesis 16 through 21. They really took place. They
really took place. But the Spirit of God says these
things are an allegory. That is, these things came to
pass in history to be an allegory, to be a picture, to be a representation,
to be an object lesson of something far more significant than just
the fact that an old woman had a son by her handmaid and later
had another son herself. They're more important than that.
They're an allegory. They are earthly events which
were brought to pass in divine providence by the hand and decree
of God to show us spiritual gospel truth, to teach us about our
God and his salvation. Well, this, too, is an allegory. In fact, every event recorded
in this book is written in the Word of God and came to pass
in divine providence for the specific purpose of showing us
something about our God and His great salvation. Now, we are
accustomed to looking upon the events in the Old Testament as
being things designed and intended by God to be pictures of grace. But somehow, when we read the
New Testament and the historic events recorded in the New Testament,
We tend not to think of these things as having the same purpose,
as containing spiritual essence. We tend to read them merely for
historic data, merely for information, and that ought never to be. They
are intended of God to teach us things. They're written for
us, for our learning and for our admonition. Now, let me give
a word of caution. We must never spiritualize scripture. I sometimes hear fellows preach
who take a text of scripture and run here and there with it,
and to me this is what this represents. It doesn't matter what it represents
to me. To spiritualize scripture, to take a text of scripture and
twist it to mean what we want it to say. Even if what we wanted
to say is true, if that is not the intent and purpose of Scripture,
that is a horrible, horrible, irreverent use of Scripture.
Yet, while we must not spiritualize Scripture, we must always seek
to find the spiritual message of every passage in this book.
That is, we must seek from God the Holy Spirit by scripture
to see what his intended purpose is in the thing recorded. Here
we have this event in our Lord's earthly life, and it tells us
spiritual things. In fact, every event in his life,
every word he spoke, every miracle he performed, every step he took,
Every movement he made was done and done according to divine
purpose and ordered by divine purpose from eternity to show
us something of the wonder of his matchless, free, saving grace. When we read the book of God
this way, it comes to life. Celeste said to me going out
the door, I think it was Tuesday night, Until she came here and
heard the gospel of God's grace, all her life in religious circumstances,
she heard stories in the Old Testament, just facts. Just facts. Facts with moral lessons. What
a horrible abuse of Scripture. What a horrible abuse of Scripture.
They are facts with spiritual lessons, intended to convey spiritual
truth. Read the scriptures this way,
the answer to my grandson's question, Papi, does Jesus live in here? He says yes, oh yes he does. And when you read and see him
in the pages of the book, the book comes to life and has meaning. Now, here in Luke 19, we have
such a record. Perhaps you have never read the
story as I'm going to read it to you this morning. If that's
the case, when I'm done, I promise you, I promise you, you will
never read this story the same again. This story of our Lord
Jesus riding the wild ass's coat through the streets of Jerusalem
is really the old, old story of His sovereign, electing, fetching,
irresistible, saving grace. Now let's see if I can show you
that from the Scriptures. Let's look at two texts. Turn
back to Zechariah chapter 9 and hold your finger there and turn
to Job chapter 11. Now this may or may not have been
the reason in their mind why Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
recorded this event. But this is the reason why God
the Holy Spirit inspired them to record the event and record
it in the very words in which they recorded it. First look
at Zechariah 9, verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He comes to you specifically,
and this is how he comes. He is just. Everything he is
and everything he does is just. He never acts in any way except
in a way of strict righteousness, justice, and truth. And this
one who is just is one who has salvation. He comes having salvation. Lowly, lowly. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be
made rich. Here is the King of glory riding into Jerusalem as
a poor, insignificant, despised man. Read on. And riding upon
an ass, and or even 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." In other words, this king
is going to put an end to all warfare for you. He shall speak
peace to the heathen. This king is not only king over
God's elect among the Jews, he's king over God's elect among the
Gentiles as well. And his dominion, it shall be
from sea even to sea, and from river unto the ends of the earth.
Now here the prophet Zechariah shows us that when Christ rode
into Jerusalem, his triumphal entry, made in the way it was
made, was to display the character of his kingdom and his work as
our King. Look in Job chapter 11. Here we see who the wild ass's
code is, upon whom the King of glory rides through the streets
of Jerusalem. Verse 12. Vain man would be wise, wouldn't
we though? Vain, empty, meaningless man
wants everybody to think he's smart. Though man be born, do
you see it? That's how we were born, Bobby,
as a wild ass's colt. That's how we were born. All
right, let's go back to Luke 19. We'll come back to this in
a minute. Let's read the story here, picking
out the highlights. And I want to talk to you a little
bit about King Jesus riding the wild ass's coat. Verse 29, here's the first thing. We read here that He sent two
of His disciples. Learn this and learn it well. Whenever God has someone to save,
wherever or whenever the appointed time comes for him to save his
elect, he always sends a preacher. Always. Always. Folks say, well, God's sovereign
can do what he wants to. He can, but he doesn't bypass
his purpose. It pleases God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It is written in the
scripture, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Well, how? How shall they call on him whom
they've not believed? How shall they believe in him
of whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? No
man can believe the gospel until he hears the gospel, until God
sends someone to preach the gospel to him. Now notice, these disciples
were sent by the Master. They didn't apply for the job.
You read this book and you will find that nowhere in this book
was there ever a preacher or a prophet who applied for the
job of preaching. Gospel preachers are men who
are called, chosen, gifted, and sent by God himself and sent
by God to the place where he would have them go. These disciples
were sent on a very specific errand. They were sent to fetch
something for the master. That's what God sends his servants
to do. He sends us to fetch His elect
to Himself, just as David sent Ziba down to Lodibar to fetch
Mephibosheth. Oh, how I thank God that He sent
a preacher to this center. At the appointed time of love
and called me to be in the place where He had ordained from eternity,
I should be to hear His voice at the time He ordained. All
right, look at the second thing. Don't miss this, verse 30. When
our Lord sent these disciples on their mission, He assured
them. He sends them out with an assurance.
He said, Now you go, and I assure you, you will find what I send
you to get. Look at verse 30. Go ye into
the village over against you, in the which at your entering
you shall find a coat tied, whereon yet never man sat. Lucifer. And bring him hither. Men often
raise the argument. I was talking to Brother Rick
a little while before the rest of you got here this morning.
He was talking about folks despising God's grace. Men often raise
the argument against the teaching of Holy Scripture with regard
to God's sovereignty, with regard to electing love, sovereign predestination,
particular redemption, and the sure salvation of God's elect.
Well, if God's predestinated, who's going to be saved? If all
the elect are going to be saved, if all the redeemed are going
to be saved, why preach? Stop and think about how foolish
that is. If I could convince you, if I could really convince
you that everybody who walks through that door at 12 o'clock,
everybody who walks through that door is going to receive $100,000
in cash. Everybody. And you're convinced.
Everybody who goes through the door is going to receive it.
How many of you would say, why walk through the door? Kind of
dumb, isn't it? You see, when folks talk about
religion, they talk dumb, because they refuse to bow to God's revelation. The fact is, We preach the gospel
to all being precisely because our God and Savior has said to
us, go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel.
That's our responsibility and our great privilege, and it is
that which we do in obedience to our master. And as we go preaching
the gospel, we are made aware that it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. God Almighty has ordained
the salvation of His people in this way. And as we go, we go
with this word of assurance. You shall find. I have no interest in trying
to get the whole world saved. That's not what we're trying
to do. I have no interest in seeing everybody saved. That's
not my purpose. The Lord God has sent us to preach
the gospel for the saving of His sheep. And you know who's
going to hear our voice? His sheep. They shall hear my
voice. Now, we don't know who they are,
and we don't know where they are, and we proclaim the gospel
to all. And frankly, most people to whom
I preach, all over the country and other parts of the world,
They come in, sit down, go out, and are unaffected. They never
hear. Oh, but every now and then, I
see their ears perk up. His sheep hear His voice. All
the Father hath given me, He said, shall come to me. You shall find. His sheep shall
be found, His elect shall be called, and they will come. And
I'll tell you something else. God's people, every one of God's
elect, will be found at the time God has ordained and in the place
God has ordained in all the circumstances God has ordained. There were
many, many wells in Samaria, but there was a woman who had
five husbands, and the fellow she was living with then wasn't
her husband, just an old harlot, a cheap harlot, but a harlot.
And the master met her at a certain well, because the time had come
when he must needs go through Samaria to fetch her home. There
were many trees, I'm sure, lining the streets going out of Jericho
up to Jerusalem. But Zacchaeus was found up a
specific tree. And when the Lord Jesus came
to that place, He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for
today I must abide at thy house. He ties his wild asses' coats
exactly where He wants them when He comes to fetch them. Now,
look at verse 31, let me show you a third thing. Our Lord told
these two disciples exactly what they were looking for. He sent
them to find a coat tied a specific cult, whereon yet never man sat. As we're told in Job 11, he sent
them to find a wild ass's cult. Look back at Mark chapter 11
for a moment. As I said, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all give
us this same event, each one adding certain things the other
doesn't include, and that by divine intent. But if you want
to read the whole story and get it all, be sure to read all four
accounts at one setting. Back here in Mark chapter 11.
I want you to see where they found this
coat. And they went their way and found the coat tied, watch
it now, by the door, not in it, without, outside, not inside. And they found him in a place
where two ways met. The Master sent them to find
this colt outside in a place where two ways met. This was
not a fine Kentucky thoroughbred. This was not a Tennessee walker.
This wasn't even a good quarter horse. This colt was the foal
of an ass, a wild ass's colt, an ass's colt whereon no man
had ever sat. What a good accurate, true picture
we have here of fallen humanity, a wild ass's coat. You see pictures of them in the
movies, especially those old Spaghetti Westerns Clint Eastwood
made. And you see old women and old men and little children riding
on donkeys. And you think, boy, that would
be a nice pit if I just had room for one. I don't suggest you
take it up. They're not really nice pets,
not until they have been well broken. By nature, they're mean
and stubborn, and they are wild. They will not bow to the yoke. They will not carry a load. They
sure aren't going to let you sit on them. You try to put them
under a load, or try to put a bit in their mouth, or try to get
them to pull something, and they'll kick and buck and bite until
they're broken. And if all else fails, this you
see, they'll just set out. They'll just set out. In other
words, they're wild and they're useless as they are. Have you
ever noticed that in the Word of God, As the Lord God describes
man in his nature, his fallen nature, he uses words that nobody
can misunderstand. That's the reason they're so
offensive. And pictures nobody can miss. That's the reason folks
don't like them. God never says one good thing
about humanity. Not one good thing. Psalm 14, they are all together
become filthy. Isaiah 1, from the sole of their
foot to the crown of their head, this is the way we're all described.
There's nothing between the two except wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores. Romans 3, their mouth is an open
sepulchre. They're swift to shed innocent
blood. The poison of Asp is under their lips with their tongues.
They use deceit. They don't know God. They don't
understand anything about God or about themselves. They are
nothing but ignorant, useless, waste, vain man. Mother Donna, I go to church.
So when I come away, I feel good about myself. Well, you've come
to the wrong place. God doesn't say anything good about me. Nothing.
And the pictures that he gives are even more debasing than the
words. Let's see if we can find a picture of natural man. There's a man called Lazarus.
He's dead, and he's in the tomb, and he stinks. That's us. was given a vision of an aborted
infant, cast out from his mother's womb, with none to care for it,
none to pity it, rotting and polluted in his own blood, dead
and rotting. What could be a more horrible
picture? That's us. That's our nature. And here Luke
gives us another picture, and it's a picture that's used no
less than eight times in the Scriptures. Man by nature is
here represented as a wild ass's coat. We are born by nature like
a wild ass's coat, foolish, senseless, stubborn, given to lust and debauchery
of every kind, and wild. This is what the scripture says
about the wild ass's coat, about man compared to a wild ass's
coat. used to the wilderness that snuffeth
up wind at her pleasure. That's the wild ass. Just try
to get one to worship God. Watch him kick. Try to get one
to bow to the yoke of Christ. Watch him buck. Tell these sweet
religious wild asses the truth about man, about God, about Christ,
about redemption and grace, and watch them bite. Now notice,
the coat was tied, tied. That's where you are who are
without Christ. Men love to think they're free
and independent. We like to educate folks to be
independent thinkers, free thinkers. That's what they're called in
the academic world, independent. Other parts of society, men like
to think they're free, independent. Young people want to be free.
Oh, I want to be free. Free, on my own now. I recall
the first time I left home, I was 15 years old. Packed up, took
a ride and packed up. I was running in a hurry. I was
in trouble. I got out, buddy, I'm out of
the yoke now. I'm free. You know where I found myself
in just a few days? I found myself sleeping under
a bridge on the interstate, or trying to while trucks went rolling
by, wrapped up in a piece of plastic, freezing to death and
hungry. Free, free, free. Just like all
the other folks who thought they were free. Utterly worthless
and bound. That's man's nature. Every man
by nature is tied and bound. Tied by sin and Satan. Tied by his own corrupt nature.
Tied and bound by religious tradition. Tied and bound by peer pressure. Peer pressure is horrible. We
see that and try to keep our kids from it. Horrible. Horrible. I pause a minute, you young people.
You've got two choices in life. You can either follow the crowd
and try to keep up, or you can do what you know you ought to
and say, come along if you want to. But there's a worse bondage
than that of peer pressure, religious tradition, a tide in place where
two ways meet, life and death, heaven and hell, grace and works.
Now, look at verses 30 and 31 again. The Lord Jesus sent his
disciples to loose this wild ass's coat. You see that? He
said, loose it, bring him here. And if anybody asks you why you
lose him, tell them the master has need of him. We read back in Zechariah when
the king comes, he said he will send forth your prisoners out
of the pit where no water is. That's exactly what the prophet
said was going to happen. The Lord Jesus, the gospel of
God's free grace, Faith in Christ is the most lucing thing in the
world. Lucing. Well, you can't do that.
Surely you've got to put some restrictions on them. Religion
binds. Oh, yeah, it binds. Most of you
had some experience with it. It lays down rules and regulations.
Tells you what to do, where to go, when to get up, when to go
to bed, when to read, when to pray, how much to read, how long
to pray. Tells you what you ought to do with your money. Tells
you everything. Religion binds like they tried to bind the Gadarene.
But Christ comes and sets men free. I'm in the loosing business. I'm here to loose folks. to proclaim a gospel that sets
men free, altogether free in Christ. They loosed the wild
asses coat and they told those who asked them, why are you doing
that? The master has need of him. And when God Almighty sends
us on a mission run. All hell obeys when we just say
the Master said. Willingly or unwillingly, everybody
obeys. Everybody bows to Him. But I
find it wondrous that the Lord Jesus, the God of glory, He who
created the ass and her coat, has need of Him. What possible need could he have
of an ass? What possible need could he have? A wild ass is caught, like me,
like you. He has need so that he may see
of the travail and be satisfied. He has need so that He may glorify
His Father in the saving of sinners. He has need so that He can mount
the wild ass and ride it as a perfectly tame, submissive beast through
the streets of Jerusalem, garnering praise to Himself as the King
of grace. The Master has need of Him. And
they brought Him to Jesus. Turn over to John 12, let me
show you something else. The disciples went and found the
ass and brought it to the master. They did. They sure did. Now
let me read you something that just totally contradicts that.
I said that facetiously because people like to find contradictions
in Scripture. John chapter 12, verse 15. Well,
skip down to verse 14, I won't read the rest of it. when he had found a young ass
sat there on." Now wait a minute. We just read back yonder that
these disciples found that ass. Is that what you read? He sent
them and said, you go find him and you'll find him. Here it
says the Lord Jesus found him. Back there we read that the disciples
sat him on the ass. Here we read that he sat on the
ass. Well, how can that be? Because
when God Almighty condescends to use such worthless things
as we are for anything, the work's not ours, it's His. He found
the ass. He sat on the ass. He rode the
ass. And then, look at verse 35, the end of chapter, they cast their garments upon
the coat. When a sinner is saved by God's grace, not only is he
washed in the blood of Christ and robed in his righteousness,
robed with the garments of salvation, when he's brought to the Master,
into his house with his people, he's brought into the company
of a people who will receive him and love him just like he
is. and give them the various shirts
off their backs where it's needed. Just before I was 17 years old,
when God saved me, He brought me into His house.
A young rebel. Nobody had anything to do with
it. And when I came into his house,
you know what I found? I found a group of men and women
who received this worthless wretch just as though I were as good
as them. Because they knew in Christ I
am. Loved me. Took me under their
wings. taught me, fed me, encouraged me, took care of me. And then
they sat the master on the coat. And he goes riding through the
streets of Jerusalem. And again, the prophecy of Zechariah,
he said, he said, now when the king comes and he mounts this
wild ass's coat, And he goes riding through the streets of
Jerusalem. These folks are going to act like they're full, as
full as bowls at the altar, but full of new wine. They're going to go through the
streets singing Hosanna. Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord. Look at him riding his colt.
Look at him. He's the king of glory. But the Pharisees, the religious
crowd, they saw what was going on. They saw the crowd and the
tumult and heard the shouts of praise to God and the blessedness
pronounced upon Christ the King, and they didn't have a clue what
was happening. They didn't have a clue. I don't know what all the excitement's
about, and they still don't.