Let's turn in our Bibles today
to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. And when they drew nigh unto
Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then
sent Jesus two 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 aught unto
you, you shall say, the Lord hath need of them, and straightway
he will send them. 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 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. And Jesus went into
the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought
in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers
and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, it
is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but
you have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came
to him in the temple, and he healed them. And when the chief
priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children
crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David,
they were sore, displeased. And he said unto them, hearest
thou what they say? And Jesus saith unto them, yea,
have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected? praise, and he left them and
went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there. The God of all grace, the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, immediately after Adam's
sin and brought sin into God's world, brought sin upon all of
his his descendants promised a savior, a deliverer. And the
writer of Hebrews in the first verse tells us God at sundry
times and in diverse manners spake unto the fathers by the
prophets. And in him speaking by the prophets
to the fathers, he revealed how people would know When Christ
came, when the Deliverer came, he was promised, but how would
we know, how would men know that he was the one who had been promised? A couple of years ago, a young
lady in our congregation, I believe about five years old maybe, she
was going to visit her grandmother. She was going to fly to another
state, and she spoke to her grandmother, I believe, the night before.
And she told her grandmother, you will recognize me. I'll have
a red backpack. And I couldn't help but think,
well, how many people got off that plane with a red backpack? How would we know? How would
we know? How would men know? that this
one who entered into Jerusalem this Sunday that we just read
about, how would we know that he is the one who was promised? Because as Peter says, all the
prophets, he didn't say most of the prophets, but all of the
prophets, the Old Testament prophets, they all spoke of him, they all
witnessed of him. And in doing so, they gave prophecies,
predictions we might call it, but the word prophecy is more
appropriate, prophecies of Him so that when He fulfilled the
prophecies or the prophecies were fulfilled, then everyone
would know this is Him. Don't look for another. This
is He who has been promised over 4,000 years. From almost the
very beginning, when sin came into this world, God promised
a savior, a deliverer. And think about it, you here
this morning. This is what you need. This is
what I need. This is what all men need. We
don't need to win the lottery. Even though they said it was
going to be over a billion dollars, we don't need to win a lottery. The thing that every one of us
need is a savior. Why? Because all of us have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. What does it mean to come
short of the glory of God? God has created man for his glory. And by our sins, we do not glorify
God. We have come short of the glory
of God. We need a Savior. In this passage
that we've read this morning, we'll be looking at, there are
three prophecies that were given in the Old Testament that were
fulfilled this day. Three prophecies, we're going
to look at all of them, but in the reverse order. Not in the
order in which they're given here, but in the reverse order
we want to look at them. First, praise given to him from
babes. Notice that in verses 15 and
16. Praise given unto him from babes. When the chief priests and scribes
saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying
in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were
sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these
say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea,
have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
hast thou perfected praise? You see, our Lord asked them,
hast thou not read? In other words, this was written
in the Old Testament concerning him. Now, as our Lord approached
Jerusalem that day, riding upon an ass, the fall of an ass, the
people began to shout and to cry out, and children especially,
they made a great noise. If you notice in verse nine,
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 then when our Lord entered
into the temple, which he referred to as his house, My house shall
be called a house of prayer. Then the Pharisees and the religious
leaders there, the priests, they were displeased. They were sore
displeased, the scripture says. And they asked him, don't you
hear what they're crying? Don't you hear what the children
here are crying? Hosanna, blessed is he that comes
in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the son of David.
Well, do something. In other words, that's what they're
asked, do something, hush them. And our Lord said, haven't you
ever read? Think about this. These were men who spent their
time reading the scripture where this was written. That was their
job. That was their profession, that
was their life, reading and studying the law, the word of God. But
doesn't that just show us again, my friends, that man by nature
is spiritually blind. And a person can read the Bible
and apart from the blessing, the power, the grace of God,
never understand a word that the scriptures declare. Never
see Christ, just see a bunch of rules and regulations and
moral things to do, but never see the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you never read, our Lord
said? They said, hush these children
up, hush them up, they're making too much noise. It wasn't just
the noise, it was what the noise said. Blessed is he that comes
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna to the son of David. Have you never read that out
of the mouth the Lord hath ordained, out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings thou hast perfected praise? Now this is found in
the Psalm that we read at the beginning of the service in Psalm
chapter eight. And there it is translated Thou
hast ordained strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.
Thou hast ordained strength. Now the picture is babes and
children usually do not have the strength to make a lot of
noise, to praise like these children were praising. And it shows that
the power of God enabled them this day to do what they were
doing. This wasn't just a little, little
volume. This was a loud praise. And it
was evident that the praise was under the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, because here was a son of man who has come and all things,
as that Psalm tells us, all things are under his feet. I like the way Luke, in the Gospel
of Luke, the way that he records this, it's a little bit different. He said, the Lord, when they
said, make them be quiet, the Lord said, hast thou not read? I tell you that, I said to the
Lord, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, If these
children would not cry out, the stones, the stones, God would
give the stones a voice to cry out. What is he saying? He's saying that God's word will
be fulfilled. He's saying that God is faithful
and God had prophesied that the children out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings would praise him. And he says, now, if they
didn't do it, if it were not the case today, the very stones
would cry out. You say, well, stones, how can
stones cry out? How can a donkey speak? How can a donkey speak? Balaam's
donkey did. With God, all things are possible. And the thought that comes to
me here is what a foundation, the Word of God. God's Word,
God had declared it, God had promised it, prophesied it, and
it's going to take place. Why? Because God is faithful. Because God is the truth. What
a foundation for our faith, brothers. What a foundation is the word
of God. Nothing else. I would not trust
in faith, faith in a dream. Well, I dreamt this, or I had
a vision, I wouldn't trust that for a minute. Visions, so-called
prophets today. When I used to go out to the
television studio to make programs when we had a television program,
there was a young man that worked out there. I got to know fairly
well, and we had a good relationship, and his wife left him. And he told me one day that he'd
gone into a church building and the preacher prophesied and told
him his wife was going to return. I told him, I said, that's not
going to happen. He said, what do you mean? He said, preacher,
that man didn't know me. There's a big, big church, wasn't
a small group of people, a large group of people. I knew in my
heart the man was a false prophet, and his prophecy turned out to
be just what it was, fake. There are no prophets today. If a preacher is called a prophet
to desire prophecy, it's speaking about preaching, just what I'm
doing here today, taking the word of God that's been delivered
unto us. And it's a complete message and
expounding and speaking from this word. But these men that
stand up and thus saith the Lord, don't be hoodwinked by those
people. You've got the scripture. You've
got the Bible. This is the foundation of our
faith. And oh, how great it is. How
more can he say? to you who have fled to Jesus
for refuge. How more can he say than he has
said in his word? Yes. Here's the second prophecy
that was fulfilled. We see in this scripture in verse
14, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and
he healed them. This fulfilled a prophecy that's
found in Isaiah chapter 35, verses four and five. Let me read it
to you. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, fear not, behold. Now listen, your God shall come
with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and
save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame leap as a deer. The prophecy was God would come. Your God shall come. That's who
had come this day that we read about here in Matthew 21, who
came to the temple that day. Their God, God manifest in the
flesh had come. Yes, and it shall come with a
vengeance, the prophet said, taking vengeance upon the enemies
of his people, Satan, death, sin, hell. He came taking vengeance,
conquering. the enemies of his people. And
he came with a recompense. That is, by his service, there's
a recompense given, which is eternal life, forgiveness of
sins, and all the many blessings that are the people of God. In that prophecy, the eyes of
the blind shall be opened. That's what took place that day.
And the lame, the lame shall leap as a deer. Now, the scripture
just tells us that the blind and the lame came to him in the
temple and he healed them. I think about that man in Acts,
I think it's Acts chapter two, that Peter and John looked upon
him and Peter said, silver and gold have I none. Silver and gold have I none. That's an apostle, two apostles
of Christ. Isn't it amazing today that these
men who claim to be pastors and preachers, and all many of them are after is
silver and gold? And the apostles of the Lord
Jesus Christ said silver and gold have I none. But I say unto
thee, rise up and walk. And that lame man, it doesn't
just say he walked, does it? It says he jumped up and started
running and leaping like that prophecy there says shall leap
or run, leap as a deer. Have you ever seen those deer
as they leap over a fence? And I mean, this man, yes. God, the Lord had come in fulfilling
that prophecy and he healed. And that was just one time that
we read about that. If you look back in Matthew chapter
15, just a few pages back. Matthew chapter 15 and verses
30 and 31. We read, and great multitudes
came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind,
dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus'
feet, and he healed them. In so much that the multitude
wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to behold,
the lame to walk, the blind to see, and they glorified the God
of Israel. So that prophecy was fulfilled
this day. But now the last, the third prophecy
is the first one that we read about in this passage, verses
four and five. All this was done, all this was
done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet
saying. I want us to turn back to this
prophecy. It's found in the book of Zechariah. It is next to the last book in
the Old Testament. If you turn back before Matthew,
we have Malachi and then Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9. Here it is. Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. I want to point out five things
to us in that prophecy. First of all, Zion, the daughters
of Zion, the daughters of Jerusalem. This is, of course, speaking
of the Lord's church, and we're called to rejoice. We're called
to rejoice because our King comes. Now, we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ as the one and only mediator between God and man has three
offices. He's a prophet, he comes to reveal
God unto us. He's a priest, he comes to reconcile
us to God. And he comes as a king to reign
over us. This is what the scriptures declare
in his threefold office as mediator, prophet, priest, and king. Now of these three offices, as
you read through the scriptures, it seems that it is his work
as king, not so much his work as a prophet or his work as a
priest that calls forth rejoicing, rejoicing. And all men who know
him as their king, they should rejoice. We should rejoice. because
we've been translated out of a kingdom of darkness into his
kingdom, the kingdom of God's dear son. The scripture here
says, rejoice, shout for joy. Zion's king came. And that's
the question that I put to every one of us here this morning.
Who is your king? Who is your king? We all have
a king. We all have someone who's ruling
us. Either we are ruling ourselves,
or Satan is ruling us, or the Lord is ruling us. I remember
Brother Ralph Barnard used to say, don't tell me who your Savior
is, tell me who your Lord is. When you look in the New Testament,
and you find these two words together, Lord and Savior, Lord
is always first. A lot of people want to have
Jesus as their savior, but he will not be anyone's savior that
he is not their Lord. He's a king, and kings have subjects,
and his subjects are those that he saves. He applies the salvation,
the redemption that he has accomplished unto them. brings them under
their banner, under his banner, I should say, under his banner.
Rejoice, rejoice. He didn't come to condemn the
world. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. And if you're here this morning
and you're saved, aren't you so thankful that he sought you? and not only sought you, but
found you. The shepherd finds his sheep. The sheep do not find the shepherd.
The shepherd finds his sheep. Many times he finds them in a
service like this. And yes, you hear my voice, but
if God is speaking to you, you hear his voice, not audibly. But you hear his gospel, you
hear his word. And he says, come, come unto
me. And without moving out of your
place, without, as the old preacher said, without moving a hair,
you come. to Christ, you trust in Him as
your Lord, as your Savior. Rejoice, the command is. Rejoice, your King comes. And then notice these other few
things. Zion is to rejoice for her King
is just. This word just is also translated
many times righteous. And when I think of Him as just,
I think of him in these three ways. First of all, as God, he
is essentially just. He is essentially righteous. God is holy, and he is God. As a God man, he is the author
of the righteousness that God imputes to those who believe
in him. Think of it like a Coke. like
a garment, a garment of salvation. And when a person comes to Christ
and trust in him, then that garment is placed upon him. And in the
eyes of God, a believer is as holy as his son is. You say, how can that be? Because now we are in his righteousness,
in his robe. We are accepted in the beloved,
in Christ. And then thirdly, think of this
righteousness, this justness as the fact that he is the judge
of all. The father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto him. And this is an awesome thought,
a very solemn thought this morning, but you know, Every one of us,
one day we're going to appear before Christ. Every one of us. He's the judge of the whole world. And we'll be there. I want to be found in Him, don't
you? Not having mine own righteousness.
That's a bunch of filthy rags. But His righteousness. Yes, he's
just. Your king cometh. Rejoice, O
Zion! Your king cometh. He comes as
a just one. Rejoice, because your king comes
having salvation. Actually, this really teaches
that he is salvation. He is salvation. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. He is salvation. To his father
he prayed, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. He is salvation. To know Christ
is to know God. And to know Christ is to know
forgiveness. To know God as our Father and
as our Lord. To see him is to see God. And one day we will see him. Yes. And then number four, Zion
is to rejoice for her king is lowly. That's what the text tells
us here. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just. and having salvation lowly. Now this word lowly, it teaches
us that he is of a sorrowful disposition, a sorrowful. He's a man of sorrows in Isaiah
53, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. One writer put it like this.
Had this august king been as sorrowless as he was sinless,
had he been a robed angel or crowned monarch, the poor, the
suffering, could never have approached him with confidence, for he could
not have sympathized with them in their sorrows. But when he
comes to us as one who can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, we can welcome him with joy and understand why we
are called to rejoice. Rejoice because he comes to us
as a lowly king. He's approachable. He's a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. No one is afraid of a lamb. They
have petting zoos. They always have lambs there,
don't they? Why? Because little children. Christ
is a lamb. He comes to us lowly, approachable,
and no matter what sorrow, what affliction, what difficulty his
people go through, he can sympathize with you, empathize with you
because he's lowly. You know, there's some men in
this world, if you had a problem, they couldn't sympathize with
you because they were born, as someone said, with a silver spoon
in their mouth. They've been all through life,
you know, and luxury and servants and all of that. How could they
sympathize with a person that's out here working Seven days a
week trying to make a living. But the Lord, he came lowly. He's approachable. And the last
thing Zion is to rejoice for her king is the last Adam. And I say this because, as the
Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, And so it is written, the first
Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Now the word Adam means man. Adam, we talk about our father,
Adam. He was the first man. Christ
is this last Adam. There'll never be another man.
as those two men were, never again. He's the last man. But I thought about the fact
that when Adam was created and placed there in the garden, you
remember God brought all the animals before him and he named
them. And I say the Lord that day,
he sends two of his disciples ahead of him and says, go into
that village and you'll find an ass tied there with a foal.
And you bring them. Now, if you've ever had any experience
with a horse or a donkey or an ass that's never been ridden,
you know, they don't much like that. And most of them are bucking
and kicking and doing everything in the world. Just as the first
Adam had power over those animals, they all came before him so that
he named them. So we see the last Adam had power
over this animal. So that he sits on his back and
rides into Jerusalem. Yes. Let me close with these
thoughts. some practical lessons from this
history. Number one, Jesus of Nazareth
is the Savior who was promised to come. There's no question. There can be no doubt. This is
just three of the prophecies. There's many, many, many more.
And they all pointed to him. And number two, Christians have
cause to be happy. We do, we have cause always to
be happy. Why? Because our king is not
some wannabe king. Our king reigns. The Lord reigneth. Yes, God's people, we have cause
to be happy. And third, the righteousness
brought out by Christ is the ground of the believer's joy. Our joy, our rejoicing is grounded
in the fact that we have a righteousness that God has accepted. How do we know he accepted it? He raised him from the grave.
Yes. And number four, lastly, God's
suffering people may find comfort in knowing they have a savior
who suffered. who suffered and may be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, whatever they are, whatever suffering
God calls you to go through. You have a savior, a king, who
can be touched with your feelings. Amen? All right, we're going to We're
going to sing a hymn, and then we'll have a very short, brief
meeting.