Ermai I'm Henry and it is my joy to bring God's word to us. So, yeah, we are starting from Zechariah chapter 9, verses 9 to 17. Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion, shout, daughter Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly riding on a donkey, on the coat, a fall of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim, and the war horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bell will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations, his rule will extend from sea to sea, and from the river to the end of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoner from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope.
Even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow, and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your son Zion against your son Greece, and make you like a warrior sword. Then the Lord will appear over them, as arrows will flash like lightning.
The sovereign Lord will sail on the trumpet, that he will march in the storm of the self, and the Lord Almighty will shield them. They will destroy, and overcome with slings stones. They will drink and roll with wine. They will be full like a bow, and use for sprinkling the corners of the altar.
The Lord, the God will save his people on that day, as the shepherd saves his flock. It will sparkle in his land, like Jules in the crown, how attractive and beautiful they will be. Grain will make the young men's lives, and new ones, the young men. Young women.
And the second reading is from Matthew, chapter 21, from verse 1 to 17. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Beth Fage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her code by her. Unhide them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.
This took place of the Phil wars, spoken through the prophet, say to those who took the Lord's eye on, see your king comes to you, gentle and riding on the donkey, and on the code, the foe of the donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the code and placed the cloaks on them, for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
The crowds that went ahead of them and those followers shouted, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, who is this? The crowd answered, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. Jesus entered the temple court and drove out all who were buying and selling there.
He overturned the tables of the money changes and the benches of those selling jobs. It is written, he said to them, my house will be called the house of prayer, by you making a den of robbers. The blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the Lord saw the wonderful things he did, and the children shouting in the temple court, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant.
Do you hear what these children are saying? They are some. Yes, they replied, Jesus replied, replied, Jesus, have you never read? On the lips of the children and infants, you Lord have called forth your praise and he left them and went out to the city, went out of the city to Bethany where he spent the night.
This is the world of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Good morning. I'm Jordan.
I'm one of the more college team that's been here all week this week. And let me just echo you's comments and say, thank you so much for having us here this week. It's been such a joy and such a privilege to partner in the gospel with all of you here at some Phillips and down at the garrison, to see the area one for Jesus Christ. It's such a privilege to do that ministry together.
And our prayer and I hope your prayer as well is that we can continue in that partnership to see more and more people come to know the love of Jesus for the salvation of their souls. And if you stop and think for a moment, what enables us to be able to do this partnership together? What enables us to be welcomed so generously by you who don't know us? What is it that can allow that to happen?
Well, it's only one thing. It's Jesus Christ. It's being followers of him together. And that is what being a Christian is.
Now you go around and you ask 100 different people what being a Christian is. And you'll get a lot of different answers. You'll hear it's about being a good person. It's about social justice.
Looking after the environment, you'll hear it's about having good morals and good teachings. But what the Bible says being a Christian is, isn't primarily any of those things. It's about a person, Jesus. But the way we can understand Jesus is often colored by the lens that we see him through.
If you're someone that thinks Christianity is just about good moral teaching, you'll see Jesus as the nice man who lived 2,000 years ago who taught everyone to love each other. But you'll never hear him speak about heaven and hell. Or if you think that Christianity is about overthrowing social injustices, you'll only see Jesus speaking against worldly institutions, but you'll never see him condemn sin in everyone. Now my point is we have to put our own lenses to the side and see Jesus in the Bible for who he really is, to understand what it means to be a follower of him.
So who is Jesus? We're in the lead up, to Easter coming this next week, this Sunday is Palm Sunday. And it's because of this passage we've just read. One of the other eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life that we have recorded for us, tells us that the branches that the crowd lay down in front of Jesus as he's writing in are Palm branches, Palm Sunday.
There you go, I've made that connection. And in this recording of Jesus' life in Matthew, we have a question that's asked by the crowds that see him. And that's going to be our question today to understand what it really means to be a Christian. And the question is down there in verse 10, keep your Bibles open, have a look down in verse 10.
And like Justin said, if you don't have a Bible, make sure you grab one. In verse 10, it says, It says, Jesus, that is the question that demands an answer. He shows himself to this city and his very presence just begs the question, who is this guy? And as Jesus shows himself to you today, as you read the words of the Bible, you too have to answer the question, who is this?
And does who he is have any impact on me? Now, Jesus says that understanding him rightly or wrongly has eternal consequences, eternal consequences. So who is Jesus? Well, God's going to show us three things about who Jesus is in this passage this morning and what we should do in response.
Firstly, Jesus is a humble king. Secondly, Jesus is on a mission and thirdly, Jesus is worthy of praise. Firstly, he's a humble king. Have a look back down at your Bible verses one to 11 with me.
It shows a lot of aspects of who Jesus is. And when we look at them at the same time, it is incredibly illuminating as to who he is. Starting in verse one, as they approached Jerusalem, stop Jerusalem. Don't worry, we're not going to go for words at a time.
Jerusalem, that's giving us the place this whole event is happening. Now, this is a real place in the world, as I'm sure you're aware, because the Bible is unique in its claims compared to other religions, in that it locates its events in time and history so that you can investigate it and see its truth for yourself. So we're in the city of Jerusalem. What's so significant about Jerusalem in the Bible?
Well, the Old Testament is the account of the ancient people of Israel. God chooses them to be his people that heal bless and through them he's going to bless the whole world. And Jerusalem is the city of the king of Israel. It's set up by a king in the Old Testament named David, who's the greatest of all the Old Testament kings.
And Jerusalem is the place where the king presides, it is thrown, in a sense. And God says to King David back into Samuel chapter seven, he says, David, when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. God makes a promise to King David that someone in his family line would be king over his people forever.
And so these Israelites are here looking for this king, who's one of David's descendants, who will rule them forever. And Jesus comes and what do they call him? Did you catch it? They call him son of David.
They recognize that he is the king, he's one of David's descendants and he's come to rule. And a king isn't a king without a kingdom to rule. And Jerusalem is the capital of that kingdom. And so Jesus must go there because he's coming as the king of Israel.
The people get this right, they lay the palm branches down in front of him, that's the ancient equivalent of rolling out the red carpet. They recognize he's the king. They get something right, but they also get something wrong. The people in this city who've been waiting for this promise king to come, were expecting a powerful king.
Now they've been living under the thumb of Rome for the last little while, and their king to come is going to free them and make them a people again, a powerful people. Except that's where the second image in this section of the account comes in, because when a king enters a city, it's usually a fair bit of pomp and circumstance, but fanfare, a big entry. But what does Jesus do? He comes in riding a donkey.
Now why does that matter? Well, it's the fulfillment of that prophecy that we had read earlier, a prophecy that was written hundreds of years before, before Jesus to the Israelites in the book of Zechariah. God sent a word to his people Israel through a man named Zechariah, and it's recorded for us. If you still get your finger in Zechariah, turn back to it with me to chapter 9, verse 9, the first bit that we read.
It says, Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. Shout, daughter Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you. Righteous and victorious.
Lowly and riding on a donkey. On a cup, the foal of a donkey. God promises that a king will come, and verse 10 says, He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.
This king will rule over the whole earth, but he's coming peacefully, on a donkey instead of a war horse. On the animal of the humble worker, not the mighty king. I was talking to Mac last week about this very scene, and here's an algae was, it's like turning up, not in a Ferrari, but a Ford Fiesta. I like that, shout out to you, Mac.
Jesus doesn't turn up as the warrior king to take over the world. He turns up peacefully on the back of a donkey. Now, this is just an incredible picture of who Jesus is. He's both the king, but he's gentle.
His power is shown in his humility. You can't have a simplistic view of who Jesus is. You can't dumb him down to gentle Jesus, make him mild, who taught people to be nice. Jesus, as he's truly shown in the Bible, says he's way more than that.
He's the king of everything. Now, if you misunderstand this aspect of who he is, you can dismiss Jesus pretty easily. But if you really see what the Bible is saying about who Jesus is, you cannot dismiss him. Jesus is the rightful king coming into his city, but he doesn't humbly, riding on a donkey.
And the people of Israel are looking forward to this king's coming, because he would free them, but he doesn't come in militaristic might and power. He doesn't force people to bow the knee to him. His mission is far greater. They're expecting a king to come and free the people and rule the earth, and the crowd gets this partially right, but also terribly wrong.
Because this is the second thing to see about who Jesus is. He's the humble king and he's on a mission to save. Now, they think Jesus is coming on a mission to liberate them. The people of Israel, this point in history, have been living under the rule of this great superpower Rome.
Rome had overtaken them about 60 years before, and there is all that's being physically, financially, religiously oppressed. And tensions against Rome are getting pretty high. But on top of that, there's another thing going on in this passage, because this is a really special time for Israel. This is six days before their big national festival, where they get together to celebrate what's called the Passover.
To celebrate a time when God rescued the Israelites out of Egypt. This is their big national day. Think Australia, the boxing kangaroos, or American 4th of July fireworks. All these Jews are coming from far and wide to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate this festival.
We're sitting on a nationalistic powder keg here that's just ready to explode. There's this big, excited, antsy expectation from among the people, because they're expecting this king to come and free them from the Romans who are ruling over them. And this Jesus guy's coming. He's been doing some pretty good signs.
Maybe he's the one. And so what do they cry out to Jesus as he's entering the city? Have a look at verse 9, The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest heaven. Hosanna are we sung before? Is a word that means save us, save us our king we pray. What are they crying out to Jesus to save them from?
They recognize that he's the one who's been promised to come and save them and rule is their king. But they're thinking politically and militaristically. They want to be saved from Rome. Did you see in verse 11, as you keep going down the crowd calls him the prophet?
That's another reference back to Old Testament to a man named Moses. Moses led God's people out of Egypt and he led them to victory as Israelites escaped. And Moses told them to look out for a prophet like him who will lead the nation with God's words in his mouth. All the signs point to Jesus.
They think he's the one he's coming to lead the Jewish nation out from under the oppression of Rome to enjoy freedom and peace and rule the world. But they've made the same error that we can make and they've cast Jesus as who they want him to be, not who he says he is. Why is Jesus going to Jerusalem? What's his mission as the king?
It is to save his people. But it isn't the type of saving that the crowd expects. Just a little bit before Jesus tells his disciples why he's going to Jerusalem. If you've got your finger still there Matthew, flick back.
It's probably only one page back back to Matthew chapter 20 verses 17 to 19. It says, now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way he took the 12 aside and said to them, we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.
On the third day he'll be raised to life. Jesus is going to Jerusalem to die. Doesn't seem like a very victorious king that certainly won't overthrow Rome. But Jesus says that is his mission to die.
Why? Now why? Well it's because he's come to free them from a far greater enemy. He's come to lead the people out, not from slavery to a foreign power, not Egypt or Rome.
He's come to save them from their sin, to free them from the consequences of their sin, death forever and to make peace on their behalf with God. In the next section I will see they don't worship God but they've turned away from him and that is what the Bible calls sin. Because they've turned away from him, they don't have peace with God even though they may think that they do. I wonder if that could also be you.
Think about the timing of these events. Remember this is at the Passover Festival. They're big national festivals celebrating a moment in history when God told them to sacrifice a lamb as a symbol of something else taking their sin and punishment. Jesus intentionally comes at this very time to say to the people I'm dying as the lamb in your place.
He's going to die in place of anyone who sins that they might have peace with God. Do you want peace with God? That's a real offer because he dies for you too. Jesus dies to save people from the biggest problem.
His mission isn't only for this life. It's not only about social justice or freedom or making you a good person. It's far bigger than that. His mission is one that has eternal consequences that matter far more than life here and now.
Anyone who bows the knee to him as their king can be saved. Have you done that? If you haven't done that, do it today. There's no better day for it.
Jesus the humble king has gone on a mission to save your soul. Will you bow the knee to him? Now this brings us to our third thing to see about who Jesus is from this passage. Thirdly, he's worthy of praise.
Have a look down at verse 12 to 17 with me. This is straight after the king enters the city. The peaceful humble king and he goes straight to the temple courts. The temple courts are the center of Jewish life.
The physical representation of the very core of their identity. This is where God is with his people. And what does Jesus do there? He kicks out the people behind installing and he starts flipping tables.
Imagine someone who you've invited to your house for dinner starts rearranging the furniture. That's just wrong, isn't it? Because they don't have the authority to do that. But Jesus acts with authority in God's house.
When you're in your own house, you're in charge, you're roof, you're rules. And he sees what the people of Jerusalem are doing. And he reacts so strongly against it because again, this passage challenges our assumptions about Jesus. He is gentle and make, but he isn't accepting of everything.
Being gentle and peaceful doesn't mean never judging whether something is right or wrong. And so what's going on here? What's bad enough to get the peaceful king flipping tables? Will the Jews are preventing the outsiders from worshipping God properly?
People would come from all over for this festival and part of it was sacrificing animals to God. But if you're traveling from way out in Woot Woot Woot, you can't bring all your animals with you. So you've got to buy them when you get to the city. But the Jews in the city have set up the markets in the very place that these people are supposed to come and worship God.
Can you imagine trying to pray to God standing in the middle of paddy's markets? These people are stopping people worshipping God. And that's a very opposite of the thing that they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be bringing people to worship God.
But instead of making it a house of prayer and worship, they've made it a den of robbers. And Jesus comes in and he fixes it. And the reaction in verse 15, the children cry out again, Hosanna to the son of David. That save us our king.
And while the people in the temple are indignant, the Bible says, Jesus says, praise is the right response because he is worthy of praise. He'll lead the people in worshiping God rightly as their king, because that is the king's role. But not only does Jesus lead them in praising God, he actually takes that praise on himself. Jesus says, the children have got it right, the ones praising him.
He quotes a Psalm from the Old Testament in verse 16, it says, out of the lips of children and infants, Lord, you have called forth your praise. You in that Psalm is God. Jesus says, they're praising him and they're right to. So the children are praising him.
And he says, they're praising God. Jesus comes into the temple, God's house in Jerusalem and he acts with authority. And then he says, the children are praising God when they're praising him. He's saying he's God.
Who is Jesus? That's the question we started with. He's worthy of praise because he's God. And he's God come to earth as a man, the ultimately humble thing he could do.
He rides as the king on a donkey into the city. He's not going to sit down on a throne to save his people from Rome and bring peace. He's going to get hung up on a cross and save his people from sin and death and bring peace with God. Isn't that a king worth following?
One who is God himself. Now, what do we do with this? This Jesus, who's a humble king, he calls you to bow the knee in praise of him. He saved you from your biggest enemy, sin and death.
And he calls you to trust him. He says, come to me. You who are weary and I will give you rest. Trust me, I'm your king, but I'm not harsh or overbearing.
I've sacrificed everything for you so that you would have peace with God. Do you want that? I think one thing that often makes this hard for people is their previous experience of authority that has mistreated them. I'm sure you can think of an example in your own life.
But Jesus is a good king. That's who he is. He's worthy of praise because he's God. But he's not just God who sits in heaven indifferent to your needs.
He came to you gentle and lowly. He can deal with you gently. He knows your needs. He knows your greatest need.
Again, our expectations of what the God of the universe might be like are just flipped. You may expect God to be aloof and completely disinterested in us. You might look around at the world and wonder, does God really care? Does he know what's going on?
But he isn't aloof. He does care deeply. He cares enough to come in humility that he might bring you back to have peace with him and call you back to himself lovingly. That you might bow the knee to him as the good king.
Now, if you're someone who has already bowed the knee to Jesus, there's still meat on this bone for you too. Because the city welcomes Jesus because he is who they want him to be. But then he starts flipping tables and he isn't the Jesus they want and they end up killing him. Do we only welcome Jesus initially?
But then when he challenges what we believe, we decide he isn't right and cast him aside. If you find that the Bible always seems to agree with your opinions and never challenges you, it could be an indication that you haven't seriously bowed the knee to him. You've turned Jesus into a puppet king that just says what you want him to say and what you already believe. We have to continue to remain soft to the things of Jesus.
He'll continue to shape our thoughts, our actions, our lives and our lives. Delight admiration of Jesus isn't enough. Jesus calls for complete surrender. But he does that as the good king over everything.
Surrender your life to him. A little bit earlier in Matthew, Jesus says, whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will find it. Can I finish today by inviting you to come back next week?
Next week is Easter. On Friday we'll look more at Jesus' mission to die to save you. And on Sunday we'll celebrate his resurrection. And what that might mean for you.
Let's pray. Lord God, you are so good. You are the God of everything over all creation. You are worthy of all glory and honor and praise.
We're sorry that we haven't always given you that praise that you rightly deserve. Forgive us for this we pray. Thank you that you don't leave us in our sin, but you come to us in your Son, lowly and gentle, so that you might save us and make peace with us. God, we surrender our whole lives to you.
Please help us by your spirit to do that every day and to do so joyfully because you are our good king. Amen.