Jesus: Savior Of Sinners And Sovereign Over All - [Luke 19]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Well, some people call this week Holy Week. What is

Holy Week? Do you celebrate Holy Week? Should you celebrate

Holy Week? I know, that�s what I said. For many people,

Holy Week would start today, what�s called Palm Sunday, and work its way through Thursday, what they would call

Maundy Thursday, Friday, Good Friday, culminating with next Sunday, Resurrection Sunday.

And people all around the globe do interesting things to celebrate Holy Week. They either don�t do something, that is, they abstain and fast, or they do something, or some people do both.

Back in the 260 A .D. timeframe, one of the people told the congregation that they needed to fast for 91 days in observation of Holy Week ending in the last seven days.

Some people think Constantine told people for Holy Week, no public business for seven days preceding

Resurrection Sunday. A letter called the Codex Theodenicius said that you could have no court business at the public courts during Holy Week.

Some people like to have palm fronds blessed, and if you can�t find a palm frond or a palm leaf, you get an olive branch, and then you get those blessed on Palm Sunday.

Some folks will have things called tenebrae, and that�s Latin for shadows or darkness, and there will be a slow process of extinguishing candles throughout the week.

Some have Mass of the Lord�s Supper on Thursday of Holy Week, and they top it off with the washing of feet.

Twelve men would have their feet washed, recalling the number of apostles. Some people for Holy Week, they ring altar bells.

Others go from church to church to church, visiting seven churches and praying. During Holy Week, some churches will take an altar that they have, and that they�ll put certain colors on the altar, they�ll take things off of the altar, they�ll have very symbolic things.

Some Christians for Holy Week practice Sabbath, Passover week, a Jewish Passover, Seder.

Others go to the stations of the cross. Some people carry crosses through Jerusalem during this week.

Some folks, even on Friday, have themselves crucified in the Philippines to commemorate

Jesus�s death. Some people for Easter take all the holy water out of the fonts in preparation for a special blessing.

Eastern Orthodoxy, they fast, no dairy products or meat products for that week, no alcohol, no oil for cooking.

It does have a little footnote here, however, fasting is always adjusted to the needs of the individual, and those who are very young, ill, or elderly are not expected to fast as strictly.

Probably the wildest thing during Holy Week is they have a procession, the

Yaqui Indians, and they arrive to their church on horseback, and then begin, according to this account, begin to crawl and dance naked on the floor.

Light begins to go out, and people begin the whipping, screaming, and crying to the sound of ceremonial music of sacrifice.

Children in white robes with painted blue faces and dark hooded figure symbolizing

Judas join the Thursday morning procession to the church, promising three to five years of obedience.

What do you do during Holy Week? Should you be doing anything for Holy Week? Is it a sin not to do certain things for Holy Week?

Seems to me that at Holy Week, what should we be doing? Thinking about the Holy One.

We've turned everything wrong side up, and instead of focusing on, believing on, resting in the perfect work of Jesus, the

Holy One, we now want to do things. I hope, after this sermon today, that this week you focus on who

Jesus is, and you don't have to do anything except rest in Him. And I actually give you permission not to fast this week, but to have a squirrel boil, or eat whatever else you want.

The Christian life is not do's and don'ts, and taste not and touch not. It's a focus on the

Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let the world influence you during Holy Week by saying what you can do and what you can't do.

May Holy Week, if there is such a thing, be for you this week a focus on the

Jesus who saves and the Jesus who's sovereign. Turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 19, please.

Yes, Luke 19, not Hebrews 5. I've been thinking about resting in Christ Jesus, but I thought a lot about Holy Week.

I want you to see for yourselves Jesus during the real Holy Week, so that this week, when all the issues come flying around with their friends and family members who maybe do things or don't do things for so -called

Holy Week, that you can be reminded that Jesus is a great Savior of sinners, and He's sovereign over everything.

That's what I want you to remember during Holy Week. Now, I'm doing it for two reasons. I'd like to talk about Jesus for this

Holy Week sermon. And also, next week is Resurrection Sunday. And so I could be in Hebrews chapter 5, but I think

I'm going to do something differently. So invite your friends or family members or other people. And here's what

I'm going to do. We're going to teach all of the book of Mark next Sunday, a jet tour through Mark, which ends with the what?

The resurrection of Christ Jesus. So for people that don't know a lot about who Jesus is, Mark in this great go gospel, this active gospel,

Jesus is on the go, starts off when he's 30 years old. We'll go through the book of Mark, not verse by verse, not every verse, but we'll just go through the sweep of Mark so that you can see who the

Savior is. And other people who are visiting who aren't Christians, they will be able to know who the object of their faith should be.

Sound good? So today is Luke 19, because I don't want to get into Hebrews and then skip next week.

So we'll get into Hebrews 5 in two Sundays from now. Today is Luke 19. This is what we call

Holy Week. Everything in Jesus's life has been driving him toward Jerusalem. He is going to die not too many days after this.

What does he do? How does he go about things? And you're going to see two main issues, that he saves sinners and he's sovereign over everything.

And by the way, that would promote worship. If you realize what a sinner you are and he still saves someone like you, what's the response?

Thankfulness, a desire to serve, praise, adoration, blessing, God, I commit my entire life to serve you till I die.

That's what understanding a savior of sinners would do. And also that God is sovereign over every little detail.

Not just by name, not just by title, but in action and in effect, Jesus is sovereign.

When I was a kid, to me, Holy Week was, you put the big black, like a blanket or something on top of the cross and it was hooked up with all kinds of five pound test line for fishing.

And then on Sunday morning, the pastor would come over with scissors and he would say, Jesus is risen.

And he would cut those little cords and we would all say, he is risen what? Indeed. Maybe that's a good illustration, but forget that.

Here's what I want you to do. I want you to cut all the Holy Week kind of paraphernalia and violet robe tops and marble and carrying on and not eating.

I want you to think Jesus saves sinners and he's sovereign over everything. Chapter 19 verse 1,

Jesus is sovereign over sinners. If I had a spotlight in a big play, the spotlight would be on Jesus.

Now this is going to be hard for us to get our mind wrapped around here in chapter 19 because we think of Zacchaeus as kind of like the star of the show.

When you sing that song, Zacchaeus was what? Everything's pretty much about Zacchaeus and he's climbing and he's moving and he's jumping and he's we and he's all these other things.

Does he jump actually? I don't know. This is all about Jesus.

Keep your eye on Jesus because if it goes over to Zacchaeus, you've missed the point. It's no different than running with the

Yaqui Indians doing weird dances. Can Jesus save sinful people?

Can he save outcasts? Can he save dregs of society? Can he save polished middle class suburbanites with self -righteousness?

Verse 1, he entered Jericho, that is Jesus, and was passing through. Some of us just went to Jericho and you have to go to Jericho at certain areas to get to Jerusalem and he's got to pass through Jericho for several reasons.

Geographically, it has to happen and theologically, he has to do this because there's an unregenerate elect person there and his name is

Nicodemus. And Jesus is going to save this man. Jericho, after the walls came down, was kind of a city that had balsam, palm forests.

Josephus, the historian, called it a divine region, the fattest in Palestine. And it's on the way to Jerusalem and it's got a lot of, like, luxurious goods.

It's a perfect place to tax people. It's a perfect place to get money from rich people as they have to go through to get to Jerusalem.

It's a perfect way to get money from poor people. And behold, verse 2, there was a man named

Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich and people hated him.

You know they did because he's Jewish. It's a Jewish name. And he's taking money from the

Jews to then give it to Rome. By the way, what does

Zacchaeus mean? It's an abbreviation of Zechariah, which means just, means righteous, means innocent, means clean.

What a farce. Here's the toll and you've got to stop and pay the toll.

And you've got to pay Zacchaeus. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was.

I mean, Jesus was a famous person. Maybe there'd be a handout or some free food or some fish. But on account of the crowd, he could not because he was small in stature.

And I would imagine that Zacchaeus was thinking something like this. Maybe Jesus could do me a favor.

And Jesus has got somebody in his group that's following him, one of those 12 people. He's a tax collector too,

Matthew. So let's see him. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

If you stand outside of Jerusalem, you'll see this little ravine and it's pretty much the way you have to go from Jericho into Jerusalem.

Here's what you don't do when you preach this or when you read this. Zacchaeus is going to do the right thing.

He's going to seek Jesus. He's going to find Jesus. He's so full of courage. He's just a wee little man, but he's going to nudge and kick and prod and do whatever it takes to get to see

Jesus because Zacchaeus is a great man. He's a seeking man. If Jesus is the

Savior and Zacchaeus knows it, he cannot climb the highest tree in the universe to save himself.

It's not Zacchaeus' actions and Zacchaeus' doing thing. No one is good. No one seeks after God.

Jesus is going to seek after Zacchaeus. Verse 5, And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,

By the way, how did he know his name? To ask the question is to answer it when you have the eternal

Son of God. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today.

And when you hear language like that, I must stay at your house today. Theologians call that divine necessity.

It means there's a mandate. It means if you'd like to back up a little bit and say to yourself, The Father sent

Jesus to go rescue the bride, the elect, the chosen ones, and this is one of those, and the

Son must do it. The Son must be obedient to a point of death, even death on a cross.

He must do what the Father wills him to do, what was given to him pre -Genesis 1 -1, and he has to go do it.

I must come to your house today. Luke loves to use the word must. Jesus loves to use the word must.

Luke 4, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns, for I was sent for this purpose.

Luke 9, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Luke 22, for I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me. Luke 24, the

Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

Luke 24, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

It must happen. And I think

Zacchaeus got saved right then and there because what happens? He received him joyfully.

He hurried. He came down. He received him joyfully. The effectual call of Jesus and when they saw it, oh, great.

Somebody else got saved and forgiven. They all grumbled. Forget Zacchaeus, the focus is on Jesus.

He has gone in to be the guest of a man who's a sinner. I mean,

Jesus comes to town and you think he'd go with the Pharisees and the scribes and the lawyers and other kind of big shots of the synagogue and he goes to the mafia guy's house.

That doesn't make any sense. But it does if you know Jesus likes to save wicked sinners.

And instead of glorified by all, they're grumbling, every one of them murmuring in the original with sinners is in the emphatic position.

Hey, this is Jesus. Birds of a feather, partners in crime.

He's going to this man who's hated, his name's Zacchaeus and Jesus must be same ilk.

John Calvin said, it is thus that the world disregards the offer of the grace of God but complains bitterly when it is conveyed to others.

Now, we say the word sinner, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner. What's the gospel definition for the word sinner?

It's a wicked person. You could almost make your mouth say it in a little bit different way to kind of just show how awful it would be.

It wouldn't just be, I'm a sinner. It's Zacchaeus was a sinner. Kind of just with that awful intonation.

He's not righteous. He's not Jewish. He's a pagan sinner. His life is full of sin.

Well, has Zacchaeus said anything yet? Has the text told us that he said anything?

Well, now Zacchaeus talks. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold,

Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.

The law says that if you take things that aren't yours, you have to give back everything plus one -fifth.

But if you rob people, you've got to give back double. And Zacchaeus is basically saying, God, you've given me a new life, a new heart, a new mind.

I now am showing you the fruits of repentance. And I'm just going to pay back everything that I've stole from people.

It's essentially robbery. He didn't say, I'm going to give you the normal 20 % back. I'm going to give them everything back.

And Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house since he is also a son of Abraham.

Today, a camel went through the eye of a needle. And here's the purpose statement of Jesus.

You think about this sentence, this verse, this week, as you have friends and family members who are certainly not born again.

This is the focus of Holy Week right here, this demonstrative pronoun meaning Jesus, for the

Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. It doesn't say because Zacchaeus sought, because Zacchaeus ran, because Zacchaeus climbed.

The seeker is the Lord Jesus. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

Rich people can be saved, not because of their riches, but because of the

Lord Jesus. That's amazing. Luke, earlier in chapter 5, records

Jesus' words, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And when he comes home,

Jesus said, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.

Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

The shepherd runs and goes and gets Zacchaeus, not in a field, not by waters, not eating some kind of grass, but up a tree.

The point is Jesus saves the worst, the lost. The ability of Jesus to save sinners.

All things are possible with God. Jesus is on his way to go get killed by divine initiative, and he converts

Zacchaeus. Edward Fisher, in a book called The Marrow of Modern Divinity, said this.

I beseech you to be persuaded that here you are to work nothing.

Here you are to do nothing. Here you are to render nothing unto

God, but only to receive the treasure, which is Christ Jesus, and apprehend him in your heart by faith.

Although you be never so great a sinner, and so shall you obtain forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal happiness.

Not as an agent, but as a patient. Not by doing, but by receiving.

Nothing here comes betwixt but faith only, apprehending Christ in the promise.

This then is perfect righteousness, to hear nothing, to know nothing, to do nothing of the law of works, but only to know and believe that Jesus is now gone to the

Father and sits at his right hand, not as judge, but is made unto you of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Isn't that what happened with Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus, if you'd like to get saved, I want you to pay. I want you to do.

I want you to earn. I want you to work. No, it's by faith and faith alone. This week,

I want you to think to yourself, Jesus Christ saves sinners. I don't want you to think,

I ought not to eat meat until Thursday. You ought to be thinking, there are people enslaved to a work system, who aren't eating meat until Friday, who need to know that Jesus Christ saves sinners by faith and faith alone.

If it's anything but faith, then we're in the equation, and our own sins mess things up.

And by the way, if we could save ourselves by ourselves, then why send Jesus into Jerusalem for Holy Week anyway?

Jesus Christ saves sinners. But not only that, what else can we learn today?

I'm not going to go through verses 11 through 27, but it's called the parable of the 10 minus. I will read verse 11.

These people have began to think that Jesus is going to set up the kingdom right now. I mean, after all, he just healed

Zacchaeus, and so maybe the kingdom is coming right now, and Jesus needs to tell them that's not the case.

And verse 11 helps you understand. And as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell them a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed, based on everything else that's been happening, that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

Hey, he's going to smash the Romans. He's going to liberate the city. It's the kingdom now.

When he taught everybody to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, that's today.

So he gives a parable to say, no, that's not quite right. And we come to verse 28.

Not only is Jesus a savior, think about that this week, but Jesus is sovereign.

Verses 28 and following. This is what we call the triumphal entry.

It's probably best described as the royal entry. The triumphal entry is

Revelation 19, when Jesus comes back. That's the real triumph. And this is called the royal entry.

Now, what's going on at Jerusalem? We were in Jericho, now we're getting to Jerusalem, and it's chaos, it's

Passover, thousands of people. The atmosphere is both festive on the part of the

Jews, and high tension when it comes to the Romans, because there's all these people flooding into the city.

And so what's gonna happen? Maybe they'll revolt. And now we have this king coming. Jesus is moving into Jerusalem.

And all the days where Jesus would say, don't tell anybody about this healing, don't tell anybody what I did for you. Now he's going to tell everybody, he's going to broadcast it by this royal entry.

The public ministry of Jesus is coming to an end. He will, in this section, present himself as the sovereign

Messiah, verse 28. And when he had said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem.

And when you think of up, don't think of north necessarily, think of altitude.

When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples.

So Bethany, you probably remember, Lazarus was there with Mary and Martha. And now he gets to the top of the

Mount of Olives, this ridge, 2 ,600 feet high. And when you stand on the

Mount of Olives and you look down, you can just see Jerusalem. Today, you can just see the Dome of the Rock, you can see the city, you can see the valley, the

Kidron Valley, and you can see the valley of Hinnon, Gehenna on the side. And it's just that picture that you get that you always see when it has

Jerusalem in the center. And what did Jesus say up there on that mountain?

The mountain he's going to return to, by the way, at a second coming. Go into the village in front of you, where on entering, you will find a colt tied in which no one has ever yet sat, untie it and bring it here.

Now, so far, everywhere Jesus has gone, he's walked. Okay, boat rides.

But short of that, he's walking everywhere. This is gonna be very symbolic. And when you know the Old Testament, you're gonna be thinking, oh, there's some prophecy, isn't there?

There's something going on in the background. Why does Jesus now not want to walk down the Mount of Olives? I've walked down the

Mount of Olives a bunch of times. It's not like it's some kind of crevice where you've got to have some sure -footed donkey or llama or pack, alpaca, pack animal.

Can you ride alpacas? I don't know, but during Holy Week, I heard they're good eating. Jesus does things for reasons.

And so there's a reason why he wants a colt. There's a reason why he wants the foal of a donkey. It's going to convey something.

Now, if you were told to do this by Jesus, you would just go do it. I mean, other things with the, find somebody with a pitcher of water and do this, that or the other.

But I've stood there at the Mount of Olives and although it's more crowded now than it was back then, just, okay, just go, which direction?

This is almost like saying, Abraham, just go out. You're gonna find a colt tied there, nobody ever sat on it, untie it, bring it here.

Matthew 21 records Jesus's words. And immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her, untie them and bring them to me.

And when you hear the word colt, I don't want you to think about, it has to be a horse because colt, polos is the

Greek word, it can mean young animal. And here we see the donkey and the donkey of a, the donkey's offspring.

And if you were thinking, if I can make up a word, Old Testamently, you would be thinking, if there's an animal that's never been used or ridden or plowed, it must mean it's for a special reason.

It must mean it's for a holy reason. Deuteronomy 21, and there shall be that city which is nearest to the slain men that shall take a heifer of the herd which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke.

Things that aren't used, things that are set apart. Now, therefore, 1

Samuel 6, take and prepare a new cart and two cows on which there has never been a yoke and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home away from them.

Something that's pristine, something that's virgin, something like the virgin womb, holy, sacred.

That's what you should be thinking. Verse 31, if anyone asked you, by the way, they probably would, wouldn't they?

Why are you untying it? You shall say, the Lord has need of it. And what

Jesus said in Mark 11, you should say to them, the Lord has need of it and it immediately,

He will send it back here. So you're gonna go immediately find this, and by the way, it's gonna be a man that you're gonna talk to because He will send it back here.

Now think through this. We have to think special purposes. There's some animal to be ridden that's never been ridden.

Also think what kind of animal is in the Old Testament that might signify what Jesus is going to do.

Also think to yourself, all right, here comes the king into the city. What kind of animals do kings ride on?

And what prerogatives do kings have? Kings have this prerogative, that horse over there is mine, that donkey over there is mine, that cow over there is mine.

He can press people into service for anything at any time. And by the way, this is all the sovereign hand of God.

This is all done perfectly, prearranged. The sovereign king, the omniscient king, the providential king, every one of these little tiny details.

If one of these things didn't happen, Jesus isn't the savior because He's a manipulator. He's a liar.

Matthew 21, it says, and the disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. Yes, sir, the heels click.

I mean, I've walked around Israel before down the Mount of Olives. I wonder what these men were thinking.

Windy streets, right down by the city of David and Hezekiah's tunnel. Verse 33, as they were untying the colt,

I bet you they were looking over their shoulder. Its owner said to them, why are you untying the colt?

I mean, Jesus knew. He knew where the colt would be, that they'd find it immediately, what the owners would say. And they said, the

Lord has need of it. The owner says, you have no rights. The Lord has need of it and it's done.

Mark 11 says, they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them and they gave them permission.

And they brought it to Jesus and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

And now friends, Jesus is going to ride in Jerusalem and to quote Julius Caesar, the die will be.

Why is any of this happening? This took place, Matthew 21, that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your

King is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

This goes back to Zechariah chapter nine. When the Messiah comes, when the King of Israel comes, he's going to be riding in on a donkey's colt.

The King is coming to town and the King of Kings owns all donkeys. But he knows I must, as I publicly present myself for ministry here, for my final ministry, the last week,

I'm not going to walk in. People aren't going to carry me in.

I'm going to fulfill what was written 500 years in the past. Zechariah chapter nine, verses nine and 10.

Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I am the Messiah. I am the King of Israel. In the past, a man named

Judas Maccabeus, not in the scripture, but in history, came to town to Jerusalem on a war horse.

Conquers come into cities on war horses, or maybe they march in foot ahead of all the troops.

But Jesus comes as the Messiah, the Messiah of peace. No crowns, but with all authority of the humble

King and royalty. And I wonder if you were watching Jesus come into town, you'd be thinking, in about five days, he's crucified.

Here comes the King and they all knew it. There's probably 200 ,000 people there during Passover in Jerusalem.

30 years later, Josephus said during Passover, 2 .5 million would show up. And you wouldn't have to go very far before you just see blood everywhere because of the

Passover lambs were gonna be slain soon. Well, this is interesting.

Verse 35, and they brought it to Jesus throwing their cloaks on the colt. They set Jesus on it.

And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. That's what you do for Kings.

The King is here. When we talk about royalty or somebody special, sadly, some celebrity, and we wanna give them the first -class treatment, what do we say figuratively?

You roll out the red carpet for them. That's this. But don't miss it, congregation.

God's sovereign over every one of these details. I don't think it was Sunday. I think it was

Monday. And the people have their Passover lambs in their homes already. You find the colt.

It's not ridden. It's tied. The people will ask. You ask them. You tell them the Lord has need of it.

They will give you permission. Make sure nobody has ridden on it. By the way, nobody since Solomon has ridden a donkey in Jerusalem, they would say.

Every particle, every person, every presidential election, every budget bill, every sickness, every cancer cell, every, every, every.

God is sovereign over everything. I mean, as I step back and think

Holy Week and people who are enslaved either don't touch or do something else, I'm thinking, you know what?

During my Holy Week, Jesus saved sinners like me and other people, and He's sovereign over everything.

You can trust God so much that He even had the death of His Son work together for good, our good and for His glory.

And they're spreading their clothes on the ground. I mean, can you imagine? How fast do you wanna take off your cloak and throw it on the ground?

This is the way to welcome a sovereign. 2 Kings 9, they hurried. Each man took his garment, placed it under him on the bare steps and blew the trumpet saying,

Jehu is king. Now they're throwing them on the ground. Verse eight of Mark 11 says, and many spread their garments in the road and others spread leafy branches, which they had cut from the fields.

Everybody's happy. The king is here. Homage, glory. And I'm sorry I'm a product of pop culture.

They're all thinking, ding dong, the witch is dead. Rome, you're gonna be out of here.

Here comes Jesus. Matthew said, twigs were put down on the ground.

Mark said, kind of the straw and leaves. John uses a different word, featherly fronds, palm branches.

I mean, you wanna know the tribute to this King Jesus in heaven, Revelation 7, 9. After these things,

I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the land clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands.

Hallelujah, the King reigns. Even in Psalms 92,

Psalm 92, the righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. Leviticus 23, now on the first day, you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches, and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God for seven days. And what was the praise?

Was it specific? Yes, verse 37 of Luke 19. And he was drawing near already on the way down the

Mount of Olives. The whole multitudes of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God. Yes, with palm branches, with praises, with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying.

They knew what Jesus meant. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the

King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Mark says some people came with Jesus and other people were meeting

Jesus and they met together and they were all praising Jesus. Mark 11 says, present imperfect tense, on and on and on,

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. I mean, we sing that song, Hosanna. I've met Hosannas before.

First name, Hosanna. What's it mean? Save now. Roman people are here.

Here comes Jesus the King. Save now, over and over and over. This is right from Psalm 118.

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Finally, we have the ultimate

David. Finally, we have the King of Kings. He's coming.

He comes in the name of the Lord. He's sent, he's the sent one. And his name's

Jesus. He's the King, the King of Kings. Even the King of Israel.

Verse 39. I mean, we don't want to get too wild about this, so these

Pharisees in the multitude said to Jesus, teacher, rebuke your disciples. This is offensive.

Only God should receive praise. Remember that little acronym, hand for the deity of Christ?

H, the honor of God. A, the attributes of God. N, the names of God.

And D, the deeds of God. It's that first one they don't like because if you bow down and worship someone as God, that's called blasphemy.

Unless he's God, quit it. These people are blaspheming. They're saying you're

God. And what does Jesus say? Don't you love it? Here's the King. He answered and said,

I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. Jesus didn't say, by the way,

I'm not really God, I'm the Son of God. I'm like a created being. I'm like the half -step kind of God.

I'm evolved into God. These people are worshiping you, Jesus. Tell them to stop. No. If they don't stop, if they do stop, the stones will cry out that I am

God because I am. Matthew 3, it says, we have Abraham as our father.

For I say to you that God is able to raise these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

These stones will cry out personifying Jesus is God. If the nation won't do it, these inanimate objects, stones, would be called to testify for him.

Is Jesus God? Yes. Is Jesus God? Amen. The boulders shout, as it were,

Jesus is God. And how does

Jesus respond? Verse 41. And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.

There might be peace in heaven, but there's not going to be on earth. Not for now, but now they're hidden from your eyes.

For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade. 40 short years later,

Titus comes to destroy Israel around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.

And they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation.

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.

And he was teaching daily in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words.

And Jesus comes and he rebukes those false teachers and the city he cries over and weeps over because of sin and because of his love for sinners.

As 1 John 4 says, for God is love. This week, when you think about Holy Week, ask yourself the question, why do

I need a palm frond? You say, well, I can taste it, I could touch it, I could feel it,

I could smell it. You know, there's only three materials that God has given us tactfully to remember who the

Lord Jesus is, the sovereign savior. And it's called water for baptism, bread for communion and wine.

That's it. And so the desire for everything else needs to be suppressed.

And even those three elements need to point you to the one, the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves sinners and he's sovereign over them.

Jesus weeping for the lost. I hope you preach the gospel to the lost this week. I hope you think about that infinite greatness of God's love song written by Lehman.

Could it be with ink the oceans fill and were the skies of parchment made where every stock on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky. The savior of sinners loves sinners, the sovereign savior loves sinners.

Why don't we pray? I thank you Father for our time in your word. Left to ourselves we'd be enslaved all kinds of do's and don'ts for this week and every other week.

Yet the just shall live by faith. Jesus is the one who saves sinners like Zacchaeus, like me, like these dear people here.

And we wanna give you honor and praise and glory. If rocks are supposed to cry out, we wanna cry out.

There's no one like you. There's never going to be anyone like you. And you are the savior, the author, the finisher, the king, the high priest and the ultimate prophet.

And Father, we would also commit our time this week to you as a demonstration of your sovereignty.

When you bring things into our life, we pray. Father, I pray that you would help us see every problem, every interruption, every person like your son would, a divine appointment.

We pray this in Jesus name. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.