The Triumphal Entry of the Messiah

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But it's all about God's praise. It's about God's worship. It's about adoring
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Him. And really, this is what this story of the triumphal entry of the
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Messiah into Jerusalem is about. And we're going to look at that. And Jesus did not hold back the praise.
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He did not hold them back, even though He knew that this same crowd would crucify
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Him. But He did not hold back the praise. And He says more about that in Luke's Gospel.
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But we're looking at Matthew's Gospel. Go with me, please. Please open your Bibles with me to the
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Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21. I'm so looking forward to ministering this
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Word to your heart. And I'm preaching to myself as well, as always.
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But there's much that could be said here about praise. But Matthew presents
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Jesus as King. Now, we've got to keep this in mind, the whole Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is presented as King.
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And if you see, Matthew speaks more about Jesus being King in the Kingdom of God than more than any other
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Gospel writer. And there's a reason for that. His audience are Jews. His audience are
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Jewish people who are different than Luke. Luke is speaking to Gentiles, like you and me.
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But the Jewish people had in mind the Kingdom and the King. The coming of the
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Kingdom. You see this after Jesus' ascension in Acts chapter 1. When are you going to restore the
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Kingdom? It's not for you to know the times that the Father has put in.
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That's what He said. So, we need to keep that in mind. That as Matthew writes to a
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Jewish people, therefore, he presents to them Jesus as their true King. Jesus is that true
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King. He is the King of the Jews. That was, as one preacher said, the first Gospel tract that was written in different languages when
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Pilate had it written above Jesus' cross. It speaks of His Kingdom.
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The King in His Kingdom. So, we're looking this morning at the 21st chapter. And I'd like to read the first 11 verses of this wonderful story on this
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Palm Sunday of the triumphal entry to Jerusalem of the
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Messiah. The Anointed One. Hear the word of the
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Lord. God's word says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage at the
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Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.
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Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say,
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The Lord has need of them, and immediately He will send them. And all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
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Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foil of a donkey.
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So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. And they brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them and set
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Him on them. And a very great multitude spread clothes on the road.
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And others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before those who followed cried out, saying,
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Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when
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He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
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And so the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.
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And I'll stop right there. May God bless the reading of His word to our ears this day. Let's pray.
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Our Father, I would pray that You would give us ears to hear what
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Your Spirit is saying to Your church, to Your people. I want our ears to have unstoppable,
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Lord. I pray that may we hear Your word, just not with our physical ears, but with the spiritual ear.
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And Lord, I can only take Your word to the ear.
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You could take the word from the ear to the heart. Only You could do this. So Father, I would pray that You would take
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Your words to the very core and inner recesses of our heart and change our lives forever.
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Give us understanding from heaven, not earthly understanding, not earthly wisdom.
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Father, we need heavenly wisdom. We need the wisdom from on high. And that only comes from You.
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And Father, that we all may see Jesus in Him only. And we will be careful to give
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You all the glory. We would ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Throughout Matthew's gospel, we see that Matthew demonstrates over and over again that Jesus Christ is the promised
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Messiah. We see this time and time again. We're not studying through Matthew's gospel, of course, but we're going through the book of James.
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But when you do read Matthew, it is Jesus presented as king.
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And the kingdom is presented. The kingdom is here. And that's why Jesus says, repent and believe the gospel.
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Over and over again, also again, Matthew points out all the prophecies that he fulfilled.
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He is the promised Messiah. His genealogy, tracing back to David, fulfilled.
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Being born of a virgin, fulfilled. Being born in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread, fulfilled.
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Going to Egypt and then to Nazareth, fulfilled. The prophecy spoke about all these events was fulfilled.
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Being confirmed by the Father and the Holy Spirit at his baptism. All this came to pass.
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And later, even in his transfiguration, he had the correct message. And proved his deity over and over again of who he claimed he was and who he is.
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And again, by demonstrating that Jesus Christ himself had complete power over all disease, over all sickness and other physical afflictions.
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He alone, and even over death itself, he has had and has, present tense and past, absolute authority over both the natural and the supernatural.
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He even had authority to forgive sins, as Scripture says. Jesus fulfilled all the
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Mosaic law to the crossing of the T and the dotting of the I.
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He fulfilled all of the law of God in which no one else could ever do.
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And he even taught, with authority, the meaning of the law. Now we will find more evidence, and some of it even astonishing, that Jesus Christ is the
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Messiah, the Anointed One of Israel. One writer set the stage, and I could not help but think of this, and as I was reading this,
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I could not help but write this down, that as we go into Passion Week, each and every one of us this week would help us to present and get this before our minds.
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And I said, this is a great introduction, so here it is. This is what he says that sets the stage for this event of the triumphal entry and those that followed by it, saying, quote,
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It's early in the final week. The props and the players for Friday's drama are in position.
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Six -inch spikes are in the bin. A cross beam leans against a shed wall.
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Thorn limbs are wrapped around a trellis, awaiting the weaving of a soldier's fingers.
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The participants are nearing the stage. Pilate is concerned at the number of the
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Passover pilgrims. Ananias and Caiaphas are restless over a volatile
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Nazarene. Judas views his master with evasive eyes.
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A centurion is available, awaiting the next crucifixions.
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Players and the props. Only this is no play. It's a divine play.
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A plan begun before Adam felt heaven's breath, and now all heaven waits and watches.
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All eyes are on the one figure, the Nazarene, commonly clad, uncommonly focused, leaving
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Jericho and walking toward Jerusalem. He doesn't chatter. He doesn't pause.
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He's on a journey, his final journey. Even the angels are silent.
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They know this is no ordinary walk. They know this is no ordinary week, for hinged on this week is the door of eternity.
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Let's walk with them. Let's see how Jesus spent his final days.
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Let's see how it mattered to God when a man knows the end is near.
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The only important surface, the only important surfaces. Impending death distills the vital.
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The trivial is bypassed. The unnecessary is overlooked.
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That which is vital remains. So, if you would know
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Christ, ponder his final days. He knew the end is near.
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He knew the finality of Friday. He read the last chapter before it was written and heard the final chorus before it was sung.
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As a result, the critical was filtered from the casual. Distilled truths taught.
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Deliberate deeds done. Each step calculated. Every act premeditated.
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Knowing he had just one week with the disciples, what did Jesus tell them?
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Knowing it would be his last time in the temple, how did he act? Conscience that the last stand was slipping through the hourglass, what mattered?
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Enter the holy week and observe. Feel his passion laughing as children sing.
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Weeping as Jerusalem ignores. Scorning as priests accuse.
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Pleading as disciples sleep. Feeling sad as Pilate turns.
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Sense his power. Blind eyes seeing. Fruitless trees withering.
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Money changers hastening away. Religious leaders cowering. Hear his promise.
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Death has no power. Failure holds no prisoners. Fear has no control.
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For God has come. God has come into your world to take you home.
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Let's follow Jesus on his final journey. For by observing his, we may learn how to make ours.
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End quote. Now who else can say that like Max Lucado? He has a way with words, doesn't he?
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I could not help myself but put that down. And I said what a beautiful way to concisely, and I'm talking about bring words almost like pictures of gold and apples of silver and to the point of what this week was all about.
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Passion week. And here we see the triumphal entry. So as we think of those and think that, hold that before your mind as we go into this week.
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Let's look at our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. So here we have in chapter 21, we see the presentation of the king.
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That's what it's talking about. It's the presentation of the king himself, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
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Then in one week, basically it goes to chapter 23.
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That's from chapter 21 of Matthew to chapter 22 and chapter 23.
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That's a one week period. We see this same crowd rejecting
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Jesus and crying out, crucify him. How fickle people are.
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You know, there are four points I'd like to bring out and I'm going to do my best to hit them all if I can today.
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And there's a lot of details I've scratched out, but I believe what the Lord has to say to us will be very significant.
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Pray for me as we go through this, but I believe it will feed your soul and my soul as well. So I'd like to look at four points that I'd like for us to briefly see on the presentation of the king as we look at the
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Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The first point I'd like for us to see, we will see the king's approach.
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I got this from a commentator, so this is not original. We will see the king's approach in verse 1.
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Secondly, we will see the king's preparation in verses 2 through 7.
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Third, we will see the king's reception in verses 8 and 9.
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And then last, with application mixed with it, we will see who is the king in verse 10 and 11.
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So you have the king's approach, verse 1. The king's preparation, verses 2 through 7.
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The king's reception, verses 8 and 9. And last, we will see in verse 10 and 11, who is this king?
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Who is the king? Let's look at the first. The king's approach.
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The king's approach. In verse 1, the Scripture, Matthew says, Now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethage at the
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Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples. Start right there.
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This section marks Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, referred to as Palm Sunday, as we well know.
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It is one of the few incidents that Jesus reported in all the four Gospels, as I said before.
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I didn't know that, but don't you love it when you have all four Gospel writers presenting that same story?
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They were eyewitnesses of what happened. It just verifies it more. Some with less detail, some with more detail, and there's reasons for that, and we will see that later.
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But by this action, as Jesus enters into Jerusalem, He presented Himself officially to the nation of Israel, to Jerusalem, as the
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Messiah, the Son of the Living God. There is a purpose, and that is the very purpose,
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I say, that why Jesus, in coming into Jerusalem, why
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He did that. The Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders wanted Him dead, but did not want
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Him killed during the Passover time. Why?
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Because they feared stirring up the multitudes of that time with whom
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He was popular with. It was very political. So Jesus entered into Jerusalem on His own time, but it was
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God's time, but Jesus purposely does this. You notice this as He walks and takes
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His journey all the way to the cross. He purposefully does these things, and there's a reason for it.
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On His own time, and He forced the whole issue in order that it might happen exactly on the
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Passover day. The reason why Jesus does this, here on the triumphal entry, and also for when the lambs were to be sacrificed,
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He knew His call, His purpose was to die as the
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Lamb of God. He was God's Lamb. So as the Scripture says in 1
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Corinthians 5 -7, Jesus is the Christ, our Passover Lamb, that was sacrificed for us.
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Paul said that. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. So here we see
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God's perfect timing, and all this as God orchestrates it. Isn't it beautiful?
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And at the precise time that God and all, even
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Jesus the Holy Spirit, as all three in one is working together in perfect harmony, nothing out of sync, perfectly orchestrated, ordained from eternity past, before this world was made.
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Every event that was taking place here, lined up directly in perfection.
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Jesus presented Himself to die as the Lamb. You know, this is all the setting actually, starting right here.
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And this chapter is Jesus presents Himself as the King, and here in verse 1 we see the
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King's approach. Now keep in mind, Jesus has His face set like a flint.
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Don't you love that, Ms. Lillian? In Isaiah, that's what He says. But His purpose, you can almost see
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His face. He was more willingly to go to the cross. Nothing was going to stop Him from going to the cross.
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And that was His purpose. Toward Jerusalem, and for some time, and He knows that when
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He does arrive to Jerusalem, and when He arrives, He will suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, this is what the
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Scripture says, the scribes, who finally condemn Him to death. Those were the bloodsuckers.
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Those were the ones that wanted Him dead. And they would do anything that they could to take
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Him. Now, He then will be turned over to the Romans, who will afflict Him and humiliate
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Him, and then eventually crucify Him on a cross. But Jesus also knew that on the third day,
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He would be raised from the dead. And aren't you glad? Nothing could stop
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Him. Death could not hold Him. So there, He did not fear death, but He came and He went willingly to the cross to become that sacrificial
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Lamb of God. Don't you love the story, how it tied in today, from Genesis 22, about how
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I think so often, not only what is going through Abraham's mind, but what was going through Isaac's mind.
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And saying, Father, where's the sacrifice? And then Abraham says,
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God's going to provide the Lamb. And he didn't know, but there was a ram.
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The Lamb was later on. Here's the Lamb. And God had it all orchestrated.
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According to John's account, in John 12, 12, you can read this, Jesus enters into Jerusalem on the next day, or I would say the second day after the
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Sabbath, which is technically on a Monday, you can look into that. But this would be where we pick up Matthew's account.
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Now, the road geographically, this is important for us to get. The road from Bethany approaches
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Jerusalem from the east. So they had now come to the place called Bethpage, I think
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I'm saying that right, meaning the house of unripe figs.
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Isn't that interesting? The house of unripe figs. This is a hamlet, in a sense a hamlet that does not exist today, in today's world, nor is there any evidence for where it existed except incidental accounts in the stories where it is mentioned.
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So from what we know of, from the Gospel accounts, from the
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Scriptures, and that's good enough for me, it was located between Bethany and Jerusalem, on the eastern side of the
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Mount of Olives, geographically, you can see this on your map in the Bible. So as Jesus comes to this little village,
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He knows that Jerusalem would be the next point that He would reach, and this is intentionally where He wanted to go.
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It was ordained for Him to go there. Now He must make sure that He has entrance into Jerusalem and is done properly, and it is.
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And as the part of His preparation to enter
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Jerusalem, Jesus sends two of His disciples. The Scriptures do not tell us, as far as I can see, who those two disciples are.
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Now, not even in the other accounts, but there was two disciples, and they were obedient to the
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Lord's command. So two of His disciples went into that village to do an important errand for the
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Lord. And we see what that errand is, and that leads me to my second point.
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Next, we see the King's preparation. The King's preparation, and we read this in verses 2 through 7, but let me read verse 2 and 3.
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Verse 2, namely, and 3, I'm sorry. And the Scripture says this, Matthew says this, saying to them, go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.
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Loose them and bring them to Me, and if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the
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Lord has need of them. And immediately He will send them.
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Now, Mark records this as a fact that happened in Mark 11, 5 and 6.
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Having just arrived in Bethpage, here in verse 1, Jesus would have had no opportunity to make arrangements for the use of the animals.
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I read some commentators on this, and they even said that Jesus possibly made arrangements.
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But I personally believe He did not make arrangements. Why? Because Jesus knew precisely the location of the animals.
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He even knew the disposition of the owners. And such detail tells us that our
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Lord had foreknowledge reveals His divine omniscience. We see this a lot in Scripture, don't we?
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Nathaniel, he knew under the tree. He knew this. You see time and time again, as Jesus is meeting,
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He knows these things. He knew what was in man, but He has divine omniscience even in flesh because He's God in flesh.
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But the question arises is why did He need these animals?
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These are humble animals, and it's interesting that He chooses these animals. And the answer is that Jesus would not enter into Jerusalem just as a pilgrim or just as the rabbis had done in the past in a procession.
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He does something completely different here. Yes, amen.
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And that's the way Jesus takes it purposely. His whole life is a life of humility.
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Isn't that beautiful? And Jesus would do this time, this time, enter into Jerusalem in this manner that would declare who
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He was. Did not He say, I am meek and lowly in heart?
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That is Jesus' character. That is who He is. He is meek.
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He is lowly in heart. And He comes purposely doing this in this manner, choosing these lowly animals.
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And verse 3, it's very important to notice this, that the instructions to the disciples that Jesus refers to Himself in a different manner that He had before.
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Many people refer to Him as Lord, but some out of a simple respect, see, and some out of a sense of understanding that He might be the
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Messiah, and therefore God in human flesh. But I want you to think of this.
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Jesus did not refer to Himself in quite this manner before.
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But here in this verse, Jesus tells them to specifically say, the
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Lord, as Brother Keith mentioned, the Lord has need of them.
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He didn't say, I have need of them. Of course, He did have need of them. But the way He speaks to the disciples, you see what
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I'm saying, the way of communication. He says, you say, the Lord has need of them.
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Jesus gives them detailed instructions to say that. The Lord, the
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Lord. Implying, I believe here, that Jesus wanted to make sure that they use the proper title.
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And that proper title is the Lord. The One who is ruler over all.
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The Lord. The Master. He has need of these two animals.
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Their response was not to be a request in hopes that the owners of the animals would grant it.
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It was a statement of fact that the owners of the animals needed to submit to.
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He is the Master. The Lord. We should keep that in mind, shouldn't we, in our own personal lives.
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That He's the Lord. And when He gives a command, it's not a suggestion.
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It's a command. We should keep that in mind. Jesus does not need to request to us, does
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He? Or plead with us. Or beg us to obey Him.
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He is the Lord. And when we gain no merit by agreeing to abide by His commands, all
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Jesus needs to do is state what He wants from us and then it's our duty to obey Him.
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Because He is the Lord. We are under compulsion.
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Let me say that. Compulsion to obey what
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He commands. And I'm telling you, so many people in Christianity, and we need to remind ourselves of this.
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We've been bought with a price. And He's the Lord of our lives. He is the
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Lord of all. And He is Lord Jesus Christ. People in the churches need to hear this.
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He is Savior. But you can't divide His Saviorhood from His Lordship. He is Lord and Savior.
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Lord and Savior. And He demands submission. Not a request.
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To all that He says, and all His commands, and simply because of who
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He is. And we need to know that. We need to be reminded of that.
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I need to be reminded of that. We all do, don't we? To submit to Him. He is
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Lord. And I tell you what, through all eternity, that will be the divine name.
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He is Lord of lords and King of kings. All, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is
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Lord. To the glory of God the Father. That's His title.
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And that's who He is. Well, verse 6 tells us that the disciples did exactly what
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Jesus told them to do. The accountant Luke tells us that the owners did indeed stop them and ask them what they were doing.
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Isn't it interesting? And the disciples responded just as Jesus told them and the owners immediately consented.
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So, in verses 4 and 5, Matthew tells us exactly why Jesus needed the donkey and the foil.
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Because, look at it in verses 4 and 5, it was to be a fulfillment of prophecy.
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Jesus, if you notice this, through His journey, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
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He said that at His baptism. He told John, John says, Who am I to baptize you? He knew who
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He was. He was more than just a cousin. This is the Lord. This is the
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Lamb of God. He just said this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And He said,
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I'm not even worthy to unlatch your shoe latches. Wouldn't you feel, I'd feel worse than that. Oh my goodness.
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But here's John the Baptist, the great godly man. This man was called of God and he preached like a fiery prophet and he even said that.
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Jesus said, Suffer it to be so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Oh, the humility.
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That's the kind of humility we should have. Like John the Baptist before our Lord Jesus Christ.
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But in verses 4 and 5, he said this, All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet
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Sion. And this is what the prophecy says. In verse 5, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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This is a direct prophecy which occurs in Zechariah 9 .9. A direct prophecy.
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It's also found, I believe, in Isaiah as well. It's repeated, but Zechariah 9 .9 basically states it that the daughter of Zion, this is a reference to Jerusalem.
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Jerusalem. And often called Zion because it's a reference to Jerusalem and Zion is because it's the name of the city's highest and most important hill,
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Mount Zion. It's the highest of the hills. There were many prophecies concerning the
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Messiah. This one noted the manner which came as King Jesus would ride into Jerusalem in a lowly, humble manner on a colt of a donkey.
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And in riding into Jerusalem in this manner, the Lord Jesus made a deliberate, unveiled claim to be the
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Messiah, the anointed one of Israel. Commentator Lang, I wrote this as one commentator, is really good.
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He says this, quote, He fulfills intentionally a prophecy which at this time was unanimously and uninterpreted of the
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Messiah. If he has previously considered the declaration of his dignity as dangerous, he now counts silence inconceivable.
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He goes on to say this, It was hereafter never possible to say that he had never declared himself in a wholly unequivocal manner.
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When Jerusalem was afterwards accused of the murder of the Messiah, it should not be able to say that the
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Messiah had omitted to give a sign intelligible for all alike. End quote.
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So this was the manner that was expected and was not the manner,
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I'm sorry, was not the manner that was expected that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.
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That was the least of what was in their mind, right? Well, you know this as well.
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How would a king go into a procession and a triumphal entry, would he go riding on a donkey?
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He goes in on a stallion, a horse. A conqueror king, a conquering king would come riding on a war horse instead of at least carefully groomed, like a white stallion
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I should say that is all groomed and you know how the stallions look and you see a king on it, a white horse.
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And beloved, don't you think that when Jesus comes back as king of kings that's exactly what's going to happen.
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He's going to come back on a white stallion from heaven. And when
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Jesus returns in all His power and glory with all the holy angels in Revelation 19 tells us that He will return on that white horse riding at the head of the armies of heaven as king of kings and Lord of lords.
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But here, that's not the case. For this entrance into Jerusalem Jesus did not come as a leader of a victorious army but as a humble servant who was yet king.
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He comes lowly. Another commentator put it this way, He makes
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His entry unarmed with unarmed followers on a peaceful animal.
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Must either be already in knowledge as ruler or He must aim at the dominion in such a manner as it excludes all force and all political power.
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And that is so true. That certainly fits Jesus to the T. And that's what
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He does. He's already ruler though not acknowledged as such but the manner in which
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He would gain dominion would not be by force of arms or by political power.
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You see, Jesus came not in wealth but He came in poverty.
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He doesn't come in grandeur but He comes in modesty. He doesn't come at this time as the judge but He comes as the
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Savior. The next time He comes will be the judge as the
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Passover but here He's the Passover Lamb of God. I might add a footnote here.
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We find that Matthew's account differs from Mark and Luke's. It's interesting. As I was going back and forth with the references
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I said this is so good but it's interesting as they each one give their account.
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And it's so similar but some adds and some doesn't say this but they only mention the cult.
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Let's look at the cult. Here they only mention the cult where Matthew mentions both the cult and its mother.
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Only Matthew mentions both animals. Now, as I was reading this
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I also read the commentators say critics have changed that this proves Matthew was wrong. Really?
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It amazes me that they attack Matthew who was present, who was the eyewitness.
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Mark and Luke do not exclude their being two animals.
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They don't exclude it. They just don't mention it. But He mentions it. They just mention the other gospel where He just mentions one.
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That doesn't mean it doesn't line up. Matthew just happens to put the other one in there.
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And it only makes sense, doesn't it? So why? I was thinking. Well, if you think of the cult's mother would be present it also for them to take alongside the cult calm because as Mark and Luke mentioned the animal had never been ridden before.
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If you take along the other one it calms it down.
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Now, everything is right where it should be. The disciples return from their errand with these two animals.
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And they take their cults off. They lay them on the cult and Jesus mounts on the animal.
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And they continue on their way to Jerusalem. So this leads me to my third point. Look at the king's reception.
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Look at the king's reception in verses 8 and 9. Look at 8 and 9.
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And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road and others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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And the multitudes who went before those who followed cried out saying Hosanna to the
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Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
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Now, keep in mind too remember that the large crowds would gather to Jerusalem for the Passover. Now, this is amazing when
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I studied this. I've never thought of this before. How many people there?
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I was just thinking of crowds as you've seen in the stories about the triumphal entry. Maybe a few hundred.
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Oh, man. That doesn't even compare to the size of the crowds that's coming into Jerusalem.
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This is a big event that's taking place. Why? The Passover. The Passover is estimated based on the numbers of sacrifices.
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If you base it on the numbers of sacrifices recorded and projection that there could easily have been 2 million people in an area on a
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Passover. Two million. Now, we don't know the amount, do we?
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But that is basically based on the statistics of how many sacrifices. While there are not that many yet at this time there still is a great amount of people.
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And I'm assure you we don't know. I can just guess at it. I'm sure there's more than a few hundred.
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There's a lot of people. There's crowds here. And imagine for a moment the commotion.
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And all this would have caused. People are coming in for the Passover. Jerusalem is in quite a state of excitement already just because of the preparations being made for the
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Passover and all that's taking place. And then you hear and then you see this huge crowd of people coming over from the
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Mount of Olives and down the road through the valley to enter into Jerusalem and through the east gate as some commentators say.
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And people are cutting down the palm branches. They're making way and they're putting their coats in front of Jesus as a sign of honor.
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And at the same time everyone is shouting out loud as loud as they can. And you know when you have that many voices blending in it makes a big noise, doesn't it?
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It's a choir. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
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You notice when it says these in the Bible it's explanation points. It's loud.
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And what people were shouting was really fitting to the occasion and the fact of the fulfillment of the prophecy as well.
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And Jesus didn't stop them. But what was said,
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I read one commentator on this and I wrote this in my own words, but what they were saying was taken actually from Psalm 118 which is part of the
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Hallel. And the Hallel is from Psalm 113 to 118. So you see this.
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Which were psalms of praise for the Lord's deliverance which that's what they were thinking of.
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This is the king. This is supposedly their king.
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But they're thinking of deliverance and in addition they say Hosanna which is an explanation a word meaning save now.
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Save now. It's a word of deliverance. Give thy salvation.
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And the phrase Son of David as you well know is a direct reference to Jesus being the Messiah. So Jesus is coming as Lord and the one who was from the highest heaven was bringing them salvation.
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And that is true. Now, let me throw a question in. This is going to turn the whole sermon in another direction.
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You may know where I'm tracking and where I'm going. Did the people truly understand all that they were really saying?
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That's really the question, isn't it? Were they really understanding what they were saying? You know, sadly, unfortunately not.
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And I'm going to tell you why. And you may know this and I believe you do know this.
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Because they were still looking for a king who would save them from Roman oppression.
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That's the kind of king they were thinking of. Roman oppression.
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Political. Not someone who would bring them salvation from their sins and sins of oppression.
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They weren't thinking of that. What they were shouting was true, but they neither understood it nor did they believe it.
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And it is still the same thing. Amen. We still see it today, don't we? In the midst of all this huge crowd of people shouting
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Hosanna, Son of David. They're saying all this. And yet, they really did not believe it.
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Now, this is where these other gospel accounts really help us. Go with me to Luke chapter 19.
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You're going to really love this. Notice what
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Luke says. Now this, again, gives us direction of what we're talking about and everything that's being said here.
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And they're saying all this, but what kind of mood was Jesus in? Even though He did not hold back the praise, what kind of mood was
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Jesus in? Yes, He was. He was not giddy.
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Only Luke records the weeping of Jesus here over the city of Jerusalem. He weeps over Jerusalem right here.
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Now, you never see this in people that do plays and all this stuff about Palm Sunday right now that many are probably doing.
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They're not going to talk about Jesus weeping. But actually, that's what He does. Notice here, Christ was grieved over Jerusalem at least two other occasions.
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You can read this in Luke 13 .34 and Matthew 23 .37. But the timing of this lament may have been appropriate with the triumphal entry, but it reveals that Jesus knew the true superficiality of the people's hearts.
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And His mood was anything but giddy as He rode into the city. And notice what it says.
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He says this in verse 38. Notice this. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the
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Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. That's basically what hosanna means. And some of the
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Pharisees called to Him from the crowd. Notice what the Pharisees said.
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Teacher, rebuke your disciples. But He answered and said to them,
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I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.
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And believe me, it would. And what else is said? Verse 41. Now as He drew near,
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He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace.
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Now could you imagine Him saying this and He's weeping at the same time? That's what's happening. He's weeping and He's saying this.
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But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you and surround you and close you in on every side.
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He's talking about a prophecy there that would take place in A .D. 70 from Titus. And level you and your children within you to the ground and they will not leave you in one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation.
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Now this is the triumphal entry. He says this. He weeps over them.
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But He told them the truth, didn't He? And it's interesting. The same crowd would be in one week saying, they would be more than saying, they would be crying out another loud,
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Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
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You see? The same crowd. Well, verses 10 and 11 show us that though they were proclaiming
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Jesus as the Messiah, the One who would save them, they did not really believe what they were proclaiming.
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And we see this today, don't we? Leads me to my last point and I'm going to pull in some application here.
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Verse 10 and 11. When He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved.
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Be emotional about it. Who is this? Who is this? So the multitude said,
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This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. You know, there's an interesting note right here that the whole city certainly must have been stirred by the procession that accompanied
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Jesus into Jerusalem. But what an opportunity for those who knew something about Jesus to tell those who would,
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His King. Remember that most of those in the crowd were praising
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Jesus. Hosanna was either from Galilee, where Jesus had done a majority of His miracles.
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Think of this. They saw Jesus do all these miracles. And they were the ones to present
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Jesus, that saw Jesus raise
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Lazarus from the dead. And they had seen so much evidence demonstrating who Jesus was and they heard
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Him teach in a way that no man could ever teach. They even heard
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His teaching. They saw His miracles. And they saw Him raise a man from the dead. And only minutes before been shouting,
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Before Hosanna, Son of David, the Messiah, the Promised One, it simply became the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.
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Jesus was a prophet, yes. But He was much more than a prophet. Wasn't He?
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Much more. Jesus even said that. The King was there.
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The prophecies were fulfilled. Messiah had come and they had even shouted out themselves.
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And yet they still failed to discern who He really was and who
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He is. This is so important. You know, we must have discernment to really see who
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Jesus really is. And we see this in Scripture. We only can know the Christ of the
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Bible by reading the Bible. And pondering the Bible. And meditating the
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Bible. You know, there's people of all sorts, like we mentioned a minute ago, that say the same thing about Jesus.
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They say true things about Jesus. You run across people like that, but they don't love Him. They do not really believe who
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He claims to be. The way, the truth, the life.
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God in the flesh. The Son of the living God. And Jesus says, no one comes to the
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Father but by Me. That's what He said. He made a claim no one else claimed. John MacArthur says this, the gospel is by nature exclusive.
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Christ Himself declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
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In John 14, 6. And then MacArthur says this. So why do so many believers prop up the frail facade of unity within other beliefs?
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Why is ecumenism more valuable than the purity of the gospel? How can anyone claim to love the truth while aggressively mixing it with error?
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So true. Yes, I agree.
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Fear of man. And how many people claim Jesus as their Savior today, and yet they're still busy stirring to save themselves through some other means, and you see them leaning on something else, the arm of flesh, and they don't lean solely on God to save them.
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They feel like they can earn it. You still have people like that. Oh yeah, Jesus is the man upstairs.
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I even know a guy right now that works. He's a manager in a Dollar General, and he's a deacon in a church, and he's a deacon in a church, and he calls
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God the man upstairs. Every time I hear that, I cringe. And I think to myself, this man does not really know who
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God really is. Amen. Their piety, their good works, are done out of a response of love for what
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Jesus had done for them, but out of a heart still burdened and trying to earn God's favor. We can't earn
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God's favor. It comes by the free gift of grace. Sovereign grace.
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Titus 3 verse 5 and 6 says, Not by works which we have done, but according to His mercy
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He saved us by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our
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Savior. Other people claim to love Jesus, yet they refuse to give up their sin and follow
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Him. How many people you know like that? They can talk it, but there's no walking it.
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They don't want to give up their sin, their precious sin. They don't want to live a life of painful repentance.
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The cost of following Jesus. The cost. The cost. In truth, people like that are liars because Jesus Himself says,
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He that has my commands and keeps them, He is the one that loves me. And then
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He says this, If anyone will love me, he will keep my words, and he that loves me does not keep my words.
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It's that crystal clear. Isn't it amazing that Jesus draws a line of demarcation?
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Over here He says, Those are the ones that love me, those that keep my words. And the ones that don't love me, they don't keep my words.
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How much more clear can you get? Amen. There are others that may even really believe
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Jesus, who He claims to be, but out of fear, they will not tell others that.
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That. I'm sure that there are those that was in the crowd that day that they were thinking
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Jesus was the Messiah, but were afraid to say because of fear of the chief priest and the
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Pharisees and so forth. They were fearful of man. I think Brother Keith nailed it.
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God has not given us the spirit of fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
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That's Scripture. And Jesus said it. We're not to let fear control us.
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Matthew 10, 33. This is a sobering verse. Whosoever shall deny me before men, I will deny him before my
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Father which is in heaven. That's a serious verse. So let us not be like these fickle people in Jesus' day that proclaimed, said one thing and the next thing.
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They were yelling, crucify, crucify. You know,
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I have to ask the question, where would we be in that time period? That's examining.
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That's a very insightful question, isn't it? Where are you? Actually, I picked this up from Pastor John MacArthur.
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They replay in a series, they do this on Grace to You, the trial of Jesus. And he says really all of us are there somewhere.
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He said, where would you be? And I thought about that and I said, which crowd would I be in?
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Would I be in the crowd here shouting, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the
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Lord. And then next thing I know, I'm thinking, okay, He's not the Messiah. He comes riding on a donkey.
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He doesn't look like the Messiah. He should be a king riding on a horse.
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And then a week later, he looks like a failure and he's not doing what he's supposed to be doing.
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And he's going to a cross. He did something that God threw a curveball that no one knew.
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Where would I be? Would I be on that side of fickle people? I'm praying,
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Lord, deliver me if I would. God knows our hearts, doesn't
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He? And you know why I say that? Because our hearts are deceitful. It's convicting, isn't it?
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Because I think to myself, where would I be? That's a question I have to throw out there.
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But let me close with this. The most important question I think ever is, who is
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Jesus? Who is this Jesus? And Scripture gives us the answer, doesn't it?
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My time's about gone, but Peter answers that, doesn't he? Matthew. Notice Matthew presents
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Him as king. You're familiar with Matthew chapter 16? You can go with me there, but you're very familiar with what is said here.
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Peter makes the great confession, beloved. There's a great confession that Jesus is the
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Christ. In verse 13 of chapter 16, notice what this says. And this is really where it gets down personal.
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Now, as a Christian here, you know where I'm going with this, but it still rings true. We must always examine ourselves and see if we're in the faith, right?
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No matter how many times we hear it, we need to always examine our hearts because our hearts are very deceitful and wicked.
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When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
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Who do men say that I am? That I, the
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Son of Man, am? Isn't it amazing how Jesus, He knows how to ask questions to set them up and pull them right into where He wants to take them.
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And notice in verse 14, so they said, Well, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some others say
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Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. You notice that's what they said right there?
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They said He was a prophet. But notice what Jesus, He goes to what
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He really goes after. He gets personal. Verse 15, He said to them,
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But who do you say that I am? Wow.
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I said, Lord, you got me. Who do you say that I am?
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Simon Peter answered, and he said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living
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God. Oh, Peter, you came up with that one. That's a good one. You're really intelligent.
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Peter, wow. You said it, Peter. He didn't take credit.
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Jesus even said, You didn't say that, Peter. No, sir. Jesus answered and said to him,
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Blessed are you. He said, you're blessed. Simon Bar -Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.
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Don't you love that word revealed? I love that word. But my
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Father who is in heaven, God the Father revealed it to you. You didn't come up with this on the top of your mind.
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God the Father revealed it to you. Then Jesus for the first time mentions the church right here and also say to you that you are
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Peter and on this rock, and we know who that rock is, right? It's not Peter. Peter's a little stone.
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Jesus is the boulder. The rock. I will build my church.
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Boy, don't you love that? And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
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I'll stop right there because I get to preach and I forget about time. But I'm telling you, don't you love that verse?
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All hell cannot prevail against it. That's the church. But what am
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I getting to? Who do you say that I am? The most important question.
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And this is a good one to ask anyone, isn't it? Go up to your people that's lost in your family.
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Who do you say Jesus is? Who do you say Jesus is? And you listen to the answer and then you'll find out where they stand with God.
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I can guarantee it. Praise God. Praise God.
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May we keep that before us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank You that this is all about You.
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The Gospel is all about You. The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. You even said,
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Jesus, through Your Son, You chose us and we did not choose You.
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Lord, if it had been left up to us, we would have never chosen You. As a matter of fact, we would have gone right into hell.
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But You chose us. You reached out to us. You came. You pulled us in irresistibly.
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But we thank You, Father, that You came to us by Your great mercy, full of compassion, full of love, undying love, and undeserved favor.
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And now, as the text says, You have need of us.
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We're like these animals. Lord, You use these animals for Your glory and use them for Your glory.
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And You chose to use us in Your kingdom. What a glorious thing.
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And being in Your kingdom, we even have the privilege to pray. May we not forfeit that.
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There are so many blessings right before us, and sometimes we throw it aside. Lord, may we draw closer to You in communion.
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Be with us now as we break bread and drink the fruit of the vine. And be with us and be close to us as we pray in Jesus' name.