SPEAKER_00: Well, Poem Sunday, we celebrate that Jesus enters as the King.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I wore this shirt today.
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to uh Jim for giving me this shirt.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to Palm Sunday when I get to wear my Jesus is King shirt.
SPEAKER_00: And uh one of the things about royal entrances, like we read about in Luke 19, is they tend to come with a fair amount of pageantry.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you really love the British royalty, and anytime there's a major event going on, you are glued to the television to see how all the pageantry will shake out.
SPEAKER_00: Others of you, uh, this past week were gripped by Major League Baseball's opening day.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you even went over to Cincinnati and you were there to see how that was for the Reds and enjoying, like, boy, this is a different kind of royalty.
SPEAKER_00: They don't wear crowns per se, but we treat them like royalty.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, some of you are looking ahead to the Indy 500 and all the pageantry that goes around to the greatest spectacle in racing and everything that leads into that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can imagine uh in January, every four years, at the presidential inauguration, all the banners that are up, and all the people that gather, and all the limousines and the cars, and the band, and everything that goes into the presidential inauguration.
SPEAKER_00: And lots of people celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, not everybody is happy about the royal entrance either.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe one of the greatest pictures of the last 10 years you could see on the screen right here is that uh, you know, the moment of a royal entry, there does tend to be somebody who's grumpy, and that happened to be the case in Luke 19 as well.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the the point of all these royal entrances is that the worth of the royalty tells us that the pageantry, it's not only appropriate, it's far more than appropriate, it's good and valuable and something we look forward to and celebrate, right?
SPEAKER_00: We look forward to that.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's good to do those things, and I can't wait to have more of it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the scene at the end of Luke 19.
SPEAKER_00: It's the culmination of Jesus' ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He has fulfilled his purpose or is there to fulfill his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Like Pastor Rob told us last week when he kicked off our Easter series so well of Luke 19, 10.
SPEAKER_00: Why did Jesus come?
SPEAKER_00: To seek and to save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: I so appreciate his message from uh Luke 19 and Zacchaeus and Jesus and their interaction there.
SPEAKER_00: The fact of the matter is, guys, Jesus came to save sinners.
SPEAKER_00: He came to save sinners like me.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in Christ, he came to save sinners like you.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not yet a Christian, it's really important for you to know that Jesus came to save sinners, not to high-five us along the way, not to lock arms and be your buddy, not to do all sorts of things that our world tells us, but to save us from our sins because we needed saving.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you just track through the Gospel of Luke, it's really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: One of the first people Jesus called was a tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: Here is a guy who is known for his political and financial corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Not long after that, Jesus calls a Roman military leader to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is not the person you expected to be in the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Yes, I have come to seek and to save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: I've come to save sinners.
SPEAKER_00: We find him regularly, what the Gospel of Luke says is dining with sinners.
SPEAKER_00: It's the people he hung out with.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most regular critiques of Jesus, he was a glutton and a drunk, is what the religious people said.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why are you hanging out with those people and why are you hanging out in those places?
SPEAKER_00: Because you didn't understand my mission.
SPEAKER_00: And I came to seek and save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come for the healthy, I came for the sick, he said.
SPEAKER_00: I could put what is broken back into order.
SPEAKER_00: There's an epic passage right in the middle of Luke, chapter 15, three consecutive parables where it just makes it so abundantly clear.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 15 starts in he says, I am the one, the shepherd, who leaves the 99 behind to find the one that's lost.
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm like the woman who leaves the nine coins and I go to find the one that's lost.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that is maybe Jesus' most famous parable where he says, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna seek out the prodigal son who's blown all the inheritance on reckless living, and his older brother, who's totally lost in his religious self-righteousness, I'm gonna come to save him too.
SPEAKER_00: This is the whole picture of the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has come to seek and to save the lost, and to actually do that is gonna require his death.
SPEAKER_00: Because as Romans 6 23 says, the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_00: In order to save us from our sin, Jesus must die.
SPEAKER_00: And so his whole mission is to get to Jerusalem where he will die to pay the penalty for sin.
SPEAKER_00: This is why in Luke chapter 9, as we're getting sort of a geography of Jesus' life and ministry, Luke 9.51 says, He set his face towards Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He was resolute.
SPEAKER_00: I am going to get there.
SPEAKER_00: I will not be deterred.
SPEAKER_00: I know why I have come.
SPEAKER_00: Must complete my mission.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you would personalize that just a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Like you imagine the Savior of the world set his face on Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to get there on his mission to seek and save sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Could you personalize that by thinking of someone who is really important that perhaps had sought you and found you at some point in your life?
SPEAKER_00: They've been pursuing you.
SPEAKER_00: Like, wait, you came for me?
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways I think about that is, you know, in the cookhouse, we've got uh three little girls.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Danny Tanner Club for girl dads.
SPEAKER_00: And um and so we like to watch the parent trap.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else like the parent trap?
SPEAKER_00: And so at the at the end of that movie, there's um there's the dad who's really important guy, and he's wealthy and good looking and single, and um he he they're on a camping trip, and his his latest girlfriend is on the camping trip as well, and he looks at the the little girls and he realizes he's gonna have to pick his daughters or the fling, and he looks at the girls and he says, I choose them.
SPEAKER_00: T H E M, them.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, the the woman stomps off in a huff, and and the little girls go, Dad, you would pick us?
SPEAKER_00: Wow! Like, what do we need to do, Dad?
SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll we'll do your laundry, we'll do the dishes, we'll make dinner, we'll we'll do anything because you picked us and you pursued us.
SPEAKER_00: And their hearts are melted into wonder, and they'll say, Dad, I'll give you anything.
SPEAKER_00: I'll do anything.
SPEAKER_00: Because I see that you are the important one, you are the worthy one, you are the quote unquote royal one, and you chose us.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the picture of what the whole gospel of Luke is meaning to bring you to as a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: You're the sinless savior of the world, the son of God who is eternally perfect in every way, and you would choose and pursue me, what can I give you?
SPEAKER_00: Anything and everything and melt your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so the main question I want you to hear this morning from Luke 19, the application kind of question is simply this.
SPEAKER_00: Will you give the king all that he is due?
SPEAKER_00: Will you give the king all that he's due?
SPEAKER_00: That's what is leading up to to see the worth of the king, the value of the king, the pursuit of the king, and lead you into all of that.
SPEAKER_00: So as the passage unfolds itself, we're just gonna kind of tell the story of the passage, and uh our outline will sort of follow that, but it's not complicated.
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna see the preparation for the king, the entry of the king, and the response to the king, all getting us back to this question Will you give the king all that he is due?
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's look first at the preparation for the king.
SPEAKER_00: We're here at the beginning in Luke 19, uh, starting in verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you've got your copy of the scriptures open, because we'll go back to this quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, starting in verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: When he had said these things, I mean Jesus saying these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: When he drew near to Bethpage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So they're having this conversation on the way to Jerusalem, a little bit of geography to help you find your bearings here.
SPEAKER_00: They go up to Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_00: So Bethpage is this spot that is near like the peak of the mountain, where the Mount of Olivets is.
SPEAKER_00: It may have even been at the Mount of Olivets.
SPEAKER_00: And so from that spot, they can look actually down on Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: There may be 300 feet above Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's kind of the picture of where they've been hiking up to this.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus gives them instructions from this place called Bethpage, near the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30, here's the instructions.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you'll find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat.
SPEAKER_00: Untie it and bring it here.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone asks you, why are you untying it?
SPEAKER_00: You shall say this, the Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you imagine you're those disciples.
SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting set of instructions you get from the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're gonna go down the mountain, go into the village, you're gonna see this cult, no one's ever ridden it.
SPEAKER_00: Untie it, bring it to me.
SPEAKER_00: And if anybody asks, here's the secret password, the Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, if you grew up in the 90s, maybe you're thinking back to like a lad, and you're like, the secret password, open sesame.
SPEAKER_00: And then, like, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden it goes forward.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know, it seems like a unique thing to be told right there.
SPEAKER_00: There's lots that I wonder about when I read this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how did all that work with the people who own the cult and the disciples and them going?
SPEAKER_00: But what does the passage explicitly tell us?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I think sometimes when we read our Bible, it's easy to get sidetracked onto like speculations of things that we don't know about.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a wrong thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: But God has very clearly told us what we need to know in his word.
SPEAKER_00: What does it say?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what you need to tell the people.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: And that was enough.
SPEAKER_00: And you ask, well, why did that land?
SPEAKER_00: Why was that the instruction that was needed?
SPEAKER_00: Was there something different about their culture?
SPEAKER_00: Was there something about the town of Bethany where that would be significant?
SPEAKER_00: Would it be this or that?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think we need to complicate this.
SPEAKER_00: I think those first disciples, the ones in Bethany who owned the cult, they understood who Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: And if the Lord has need of it, that's all I need to know.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: Great, take it, take all of it.
SPEAKER_00: It's all his.
SPEAKER_00: God owns it all.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what they knew.
SPEAKER_00: So let's not make this harder than it is.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think sometimes in the American church, we end up with a really distorted view of following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We call that a distorted view of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: What it means to be Jesus' disciple.
SPEAKER_00: We're like, you almost sound like people think they can have Jesus on a leash.
SPEAKER_00: Like he can kind of come with me where I want to go.
SPEAKER_00: He's like my Tesla with assisted driving.
SPEAKER_00: Like when I want to merge lanes and get maybe take a new job or a new house, like Jesus is there to help guide that process so it's smooth and I don't wreck.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus isn't your co-pilot.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the picture in the scriptures at all.
SPEAKER_00: And I think these first disciples understood that really clearly.
SPEAKER_00: And it is good for us in the American Church to hear that and say, if the Lord has need of it, then there's nothing else that needs to be said, nothing else that needs to be asked.
SPEAKER_00: Like they don't come back, it's like, well, Jesus, could you give us your strategic vision for how you want to use this little cult?
SPEAKER_00: Could you tell us why it has to be right now?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're kind of busy right now.
SPEAKER_00: We just sat down for dinner and like, can it wait an hour?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's like if the Lord has need of it, then the Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: You can take it absolutely and go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: He's the creator of the universe and everything is rightfully his.
SPEAKER_00: And if everything is rightfully his, do you know what that includes?
SPEAKER_00: This little cult.
SPEAKER_00: And everything in your life as well.
SPEAKER_00: So one of the ways that we prepare for the king is to recognize that everything in the entire universe is rightfully his.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're honest with ourselves, I think there's a lot of stuff in our lives that sometimes feels like it's ours.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Like I think about this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: I got some time.
SPEAKER_00: What am I gonna do with my time?
SPEAKER_00: It feels like it's mine.
SPEAKER_00: Or you've got a job and it feels like the job is yours.
SPEAKER_00: You've you've got some money and it feels like the money is yours, or you've got a family, it feels like the family is yours.
SPEAKER_00: It really feels that way.
SPEAKER_00: But can I give you some biblical truth this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Your feelings lie to you.
SPEAKER_00: They lead you astray sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: And before we go into like any kind of abstract reasoning about how I know that your feelings sometimes lead you astray, here's a really simple one simple way to know your feelings lead you astray.
SPEAKER_00: Taco Bell was still in business.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's a joke you don't even have to explain.
SPEAKER_00: It's just obvious, yeah, they're still in business.
SPEAKER_00: Like, feelings have been leading people astray for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna keep leading people astray for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: Everything in your life belongs to King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And some of it feels like it's yours, but it's all his.
SPEAKER_00: So if I can just drive a little application right out of the gate this morning, like imagine the various parts of your life, like rooms in your home.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, one of the rooms is your job, one of the rooms is your family, one of the rooms is your sexuality, one of the rooms is you keep going on, all different areas, right?
SPEAKER_00: And imagine Jesus comes to visit you at your house.
SPEAKER_00: And he starts to walk down the hallway.
SPEAKER_00: You got this picture?
SPEAKER_00: Which of those rooms are you hoping he doesn't go into?
SPEAKER_00: Now maybe you think of the room that's really, really messy.
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, that part of my life I've been working on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's a mess.
SPEAKER_00: We got a bunch of stuff shoved under the bed.
SPEAKER_00: Like, just give us some grace there.
SPEAKER_00: And he may look at you in the eye and say, the Lord has need of that.
SPEAKER_00: And are you willing to let him into the mess, or are you trying to clean it up before he can get there?
SPEAKER_00: But I think what might be even more challenging than the messy room is the part of your life that's utterly pristine.
SPEAKER_00: You have got that thing completely the way you want it.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is the bed made, the floor vacuumed, if you got hardwood, they've been recently polished, you can basically see your own reflection in it.
SPEAKER_00: And if the Lord Jesus were to walk through and say, the Lord has need of that part of your life, would you be gladly saying, It is not a duty, it is not a discipline, it is only my honor to offer this to you.
SPEAKER_00: These first disciples got it.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has need of it, that's all that needs to be said.
SPEAKER_00: They had prepared in their hearts that everything belonged to King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And when the Lord had need of it, they gladly gave it, no questions asked, and said, It is our honor.
SPEAKER_00: Let me return to our key question that I asked you at the very beginning this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Will you give the king all that is due?
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, this beginning section right out of the gate, we're talking how to apply this to our life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting a little bit in your face talking about every area of your life.
SPEAKER_00: One of the dangers here is you walk out of this Sunday morning, this part of the sermon, without something specifically where you've engaged your mind saying, this area of my life the Lord has need of, and I may not be fully open-handed with it.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I might be totally closed-fisted.
SPEAKER_00: White knuckle in it.
SPEAKER_00: Spark said, Don't let this moment go by.
SPEAKER_00: Close your mind around what that particular area is and recognize that you're going to need to take that to the Lord in prayer and ask him by his grace to open your hands and see that he is the worthy king of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: And if the Lord has need of it, it all belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you prepare for the king.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this brings to the second part of the story where it's actually the entry of the king.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just preparing for his entry, but actually getting to the entrance.
SPEAKER_00: The entry of a king is really an interesting thing to consider.
SPEAKER_00: The kind of pageantry that's used tells you about the kind of king that's going to enter.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the best ways to think about this is if the Indy 500, they're going around, they have the warm-up laps, they have the pace car.
SPEAKER_00: The kind of pageantry, the kind of entrance tells you about the kind of king.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of pace car do they have?
SPEAKER_00: Not a Prius.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the kind of pace car tells you about the kind of other cars to follow.
SPEAKER_00: This year they've got this really slick Corvette that some of you car nerds could tell us all about.
SPEAKER_00: All I know is it's got an obscene amount of horsepower, and I looked it up this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It said it can go zero to 60 in 1.6 seconds.
SPEAKER_00: That just sounds like neck problems to me.
SPEAKER_00: It does sound awesome.
SPEAKER_00: I agree with that as well.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know how they got all that hooked up, but the point is the style of entrance tells you about what's coming behind it, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you know that's entirely appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: So the Jewish expectation was this military king comes in on a tall white horse, symbolizing this dominant victory.
SPEAKER_00: Like you come in on a white horse or you wear a fully white outfit at a spot where you don't anticipate there being much of a battle, much of a mess.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have spaghetti for lunch, not eating a white shirt or not wearing a white shirt.
SPEAKER_00: This could be messy.
SPEAKER_00: You wear a white horse into the battle, you don't anticipate it being real difficult.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna strike them all down right away.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they were expecting.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, the prophecy that had been made about Jesus in the Old Testament would redefine the kind of king that's entering.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the one who comes and he says, I'm a different kind of king for you.
SPEAKER_00: Now catch this.
SPEAKER_00: They thought he was gonna overthrow Rome, but instead he overthrew death.
SPEAKER_00: And in the moment it actually looked like a smaller thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, well, but what about this Rome thing?
SPEAKER_00: It was actually far greater than they ever could have imagined.
SPEAKER_00: It went beyond any category they had for him.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see the kind of entrance that this king receives.
SPEAKER_00: Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a cult tied on which no one has ever sat.
SPEAKER_00: Untie it and bring it here.
SPEAKER_00: There is enormous significance in that little cult, the one that's never been written.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: When we understand the kind of entrance and what it tells us about the king, there is just a huge payload attached to that.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna build that out a little bit here.
SPEAKER_00: On the screen, you're gonna see Zechariah 9:9.
SPEAKER_00: This is the prophecy I referenced a moment ago.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so it's fulfillment of the Old Testament that tells us a little bit about who this Messiah is, who this king is.
SPEAKER_00: But the foal of a donkey is a phrase that oftentimes would have meant a donkey under one year old, which would have made it fairly easy for those first disciples to identify.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's the one.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a picture of what this may have looked like.
SPEAKER_00: That's just not a picture of military strength.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't strike me as zero to 60 in 1.6 seconds.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's not what you would imagine.
SPEAKER_00: And what's really fascinating is in the Old Testament, an animal that had never been ridden, a beast of burden that had never had any burden placed on it, symbolized an additional level of sacredness and honor.
SPEAKER_00: And so here is Jesus on this sacred, honored animal, and yet one that is humble and lowly, almost to the point, like it's not hard to see on that animal a man riding it and almost kind of like walking with it, like a kid on a balance bike.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's just like shattering your expertise, like king, high, holy, victorious, low, humble.
SPEAKER_00: Not exactly what I thought was coming here.
SPEAKER_00: And so instead of this military victory to overthrow the government, Jesus comes as this humble king on a colt, the foal of a donkey, to change and melt hearts.
SPEAKER_00: So the principle, the idea here is this that Jesus, in his kingly authority, has the right to demand your life from you.
SPEAKER_00: Everything belongs to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is rightfully his.
SPEAKER_00: He has the authority to demand all of it from you, and yet in his humility, instead of demanding your life from you, he lays down his life for you.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a switch that is crazy to wrap your mind around.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible language for this throughout Old and New Testament is that Jesus is both a king and a priest.
SPEAKER_00: And when you get the king and the priest together, it will utterly transform how you see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So just stick with me for a second because this is a really rich picture of who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And if I get a little emotional, like I don't often get super emotional, this is one of the things that actually makes me a little bit emotional to think about.
SPEAKER_00: Like his king and priestness together.
SPEAKER_00: So as a king, there's a picture of strength and authority.
SPEAKER_00: Strong, authoritative, justice must be maintained.
SPEAKER_00: In a school context, kids, teenagers, this is like getting called to the principal's office.
SPEAKER_00: You go down there, and no matter how much you think that you're good and you've been on time and you haven't skipped class and you haven't failed to turn in assignments and you haven't been like whatever, you're still a little nervous, your heart rate is a little higher, your blood pressure is ticking.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what happened?
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
SPEAKER_00: Because to be in the presence of the authoritative one just makes you kind of nervous.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, he's not just a king, he's a priest.
SPEAKER_00: The ministry of priest was a ministry of service and of sympathy, a ministry of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And if you place it back into the school context, it's a little bit like the math tutor, who comes alongside you in your weakness, is always encouraging, is not afraid to roll up their sleeves and help you figure it out no matter how many times you failed the quiz, and always has those like good jolly rancher candies there to reach out in kindness, even when you didn't study as hard as you should have.
SPEAKER_00: And these are two radically different roles, right?
SPEAKER_00: Two radically different people.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus unites them in a shocking turn.
SPEAKER_00: And if I place myself in that spot, I'm almost nervous knowing that the principle is the same as the math tutor.
SPEAKER_00: I'm nervous to tell all my secrets to the math tutor because then the good cop could go bad cop and get me in trouble, right?
SPEAKER_00: And all that shows is my own weakness, how I can only see the bad version of the unity instead of a glorious vision of that unity that Jesus brings.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in Acts chapter 2, after Jesus has gone up, and it's the first sermon that's ever preached to Christians who believed in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what Peter does?
SPEAKER_00: Peter turns to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 110, and he preaches a sermon from Psalm 110 that talks about Jesus being king and priest at the exact same time.
SPEAKER_00: Like the first opportunity he has to preach to Christians, he says, you got to get who Jesus is, the king and the priest at the exact same time.
SPEAKER_00: It is mind-blowing if you'll get it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the principal who thunders the law, and the tutor who comes alongside and comforts you.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he's the lion who roars, and the lamb who is gentle, who has this righteous anger over your sin and boils over.
SPEAKER_00: The righteous judge who demands justice from the guilty.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the priest who makes payment for you by becoming guilty for you in your place.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he became sin who knew no sin, so that in him you might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here is the king who shows up to the religious people and says, Not just you've kind of missed the way, he says, brood of vipers, venomous snakes, poison.
SPEAKER_00: And he thunders authoritatively at them.
SPEAKER_00: And he comes to the little girl who's dead in her bedroom.
SPEAKER_00: And in utter gentleness, he says, little girl, it's time to get up.
SPEAKER_00: And he takes her by the hand and he walks with her and says, Let's get some sourdough.
SPEAKER_00: And they eat a sandwich together.
SPEAKER_00: High and holy, low and gentle.
SPEAKER_00: This is what theologians through the years have this two-word phrase I love, they call his diverse excellencies.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, diverse excellencies.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really hard to see all the facets of the jewel together.
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways that I've thought about this, and I think I've told you this story before, but it's worth going back to.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in college on our basketball team, our coach had a rule that the team captain had to do the laundry after basketball games.
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, oftentimes the team captain is one of the starters, scores the most points, all that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, imagine a guy scores, you know, 25 points, and then the laundry room was right next to our coach's office.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so after the game, what would happen is there would be recruits who would be in visit in the coach's office, mom, dad, son, and uh, and this team captain would walk by, and the son and the dad would look like, you scored 25 points today.
SPEAKER_00: You hit five, three pointers.
SPEAKER_00: That dunk was incredible.
SPEAKER_00: They're seeing his highness, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, wow.
SPEAKER_00: And then he's carrying the laundry, and the mom looks over and is like, you mean the high scorer of the day does the laundry here too?
SPEAKER_00: And you could just see it in their eyes and in their body language.
SPEAKER_00: The victory of the captain with the humility of the captain together warmed their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And that was often the moment where the family said, This is the place for us.
SPEAKER_00: I want my kid to be there.
SPEAKER_00: Because the dad's like, Yeah, I want my kid to shoot like that, and the mom's like, I want my kid to serve like that.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it was flip where the mom's like, I want my kid to dunk like that, and the dad's like, I want to be a servant strong leader.
SPEAKER_00: But the diverse excellencies melted their heart and said, I want to be part of that.
SPEAKER_00: That's how Jesus embodies this for us.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens for us, I think a lot of times we tend to see one part of Jesus as bigger than the other.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's the king and also kind of the priest.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, how you see Jesus matters immensely in this.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you see him as mostly the king and only a little bit the priest, you're gonna quake in fear and never approach him with boldness, like he says to.
SPEAKER_00: And if you see him as mostly the priest and a little bit the king, you're gonna see him like a substitute teacher in the third grade, where you can kind of do whatever you want and never have to be afraid of the discipline that comes from disobeying.
SPEAKER_00: And if you see him as a distant, just kind of like big man upstairs, you just try and do a little bit to appease him around Easter time so he stays out of your business.
SPEAKER_00: And if you see him like a vending machine, then you're just gonna try and look for like the code to punch it in and get whatever you want out of the vending machine.
SPEAKER_00: You have to see Jesus rightly, and here in his triumphal entry, you see him in his diverse excellencies as king and priest, as high and authoritative and low and humble in entering in.
SPEAKER_00: Even if you go back to the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: This is so fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 19.
SPEAKER_00: I know we've been in Luke and in Romans before that, so go back to Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 19.
SPEAKER_00: This is right before the Ten Commandments, right before the law comes.
SPEAKER_00: And God comes down to Moses on the mountain, and it's like a combination of a fierce tornado and a fireball.
SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely terrifying for all the Israelite people.
SPEAKER_00: This is the thunder of the authority of the king of all the universe about to give the law to his people.
SPEAKER_00: It makes you quake.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the whole mountain shakes with an earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what happens at the other half of the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: You find Jesus on another mountaintop, absorbing the full fury, full wrath of God, another earthquake that he absorbs so that that fireball and that tornado and that earthquake don't wreck you because it did wreck him.
SPEAKER_00: And then he can offer you freely this gift of life and say, I know you've missed the mark.
SPEAKER_00: I know you haven't kept these Ten Commandments, I know you haven't kept one of them, but I have, and I've absorbed the wrath of God so that you can come and enter into my house in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the way that Jesus enters as a king on a lowly donkey tells you so much about his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the best thing to do is to not walk out of a sermon with like stuff to go do and application points, but just to look at Jesus and look a little more and keep looking right at him and try and take it all in.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed from one degree of glory to another.
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, there's stuff you need to do in your Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: But the most important thing you can do is gaze upon the glory of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And in seeing his blinding beauty, his diverse excellencies, him as king and as priest, as the principal and as the math tutor coming alongside, that's what actually melts your heart and says, everything is yours, and I gladly give it all to you.
SPEAKER_00: The entry of the king tells us who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, we see in this passage how the people in the story respond to the king, how they respond to the king.
SPEAKER_00: For sure, the disciples, the Pharisees, they respond in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: We'll take them in order, but before I read, it's it's almost like the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: If you imagine their response, it's like an explosion in wonder, like a whole batch of pop rocks in your mouth at one time.
SPEAKER_00: They just can't contain themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's the 21st century version of what we're gonna read here.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they had pop rocks back then, but anyways, verse 36 hear the full explosion of worship.
SPEAKER_00: As he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road as he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_00: The whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 37 says there's a growing number, the whole multitude.
SPEAKER_00: And what's the action they take to show their worship?
SPEAKER_00: They take their cloak, their clothes, and they throw it on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And others throw it on the colt because he's worthy of a dignified entry.
SPEAKER_00: He shouldn't be riding bareback on this animal.
SPEAKER_00: And the animal shouldn't have to walk on the dirt.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if with their lives and their actions, they're saying this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, when your donkey walks on my clothes, when your donkey leaves its droppings on my clothes, when your donkey grinds my clothes into the dirt on this mountain, it's not an insult, it's an absolute honor.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's all yours, and we are thrilled to bring it to you.
SPEAKER_00: Luke's account doesn't mention any of the palm branches, but other accounts do that, right?
SPEAKER_00: So the idea as I put these accounts together, it's like I got these clothes, I take them off, I throw one thing on the ground, I take my other jacket and I throw it on top of the donkey, and I'm looking at it like I need more to bring to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the king, I see his diverse excellencies.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a palm branch.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start snatching these and throwing them down.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go get some more, snatch these, throw them down.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what can I find?
SPEAKER_00: Pop rocks, worship, everything I have.
SPEAKER_00: And how can I go find some more to lay at his feet?
SPEAKER_00: And with his words, they they continue on.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace, glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: It's an utter delight.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't duty, this isn't white-knuckled spirituality, this is not grit and willpower.
SPEAKER_00: Absolute joy over who the king is.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, when you see Jesus in all his diverse excellencies, this is the response.
SPEAKER_00: How can I go find something else to lay at your feet?
SPEAKER_00: Because I want to give you everything I've got and I want to give you even more.
SPEAKER_00: Words of praise, laying down possessions, grabbing whatever else you can find.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of the first time I saw the Rocky Mountains.
SPEAKER_00: Remember driving out there?
SPEAKER_00: We drove into Denver.
SPEAKER_00: I look up as the sun was setting, and it was stunning.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely stunning.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately I'm just like blubbering praise.
SPEAKER_00: Emily's right there in the van next to me.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't even know what to say.
SPEAKER_00: It's like unbelievably beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't really articulate sentences.
SPEAKER_00: And like, we haven't even gotten to our hotel, and I'm already planning like, how can I spend more time and more money in a future year to come back and see these again?
SPEAKER_00: How can I give of my stuff to come and behold this beauty?
SPEAKER_00: That's what the disciples are doing here.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, their heart is bent away from themselves and towards the king.
SPEAKER_00: Where they spent their entire lives with a heart turned inward.
SPEAKER_00: A heart bent inward, like one of those mirrors you see at like the children's museum that distorts yourself and all of a sudden it got flipped the other way and it turns your eyes towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Will they give Jesus all that he's due?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: All of it and more, and it is their joy and their honor.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, we come back to our question that we started with.
SPEAKER_00: Or will you hold out a little bit for yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Of course, not everybody was excited for King Jesus to enter.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse uh 39.
SPEAKER_00: What do the Pharisees say?
SPEAKER_00: Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Reading between the lines, this is too much.
SPEAKER_00: It's a bit premature.
SPEAKER_00: Could everybody chill out for a minute?
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of uh like last September, October, IU Football was off to a good start.
SPEAKER_00: And all the analysts, let's chill out a little bit here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this Cigneti guy doesn't know what he's doing just yet.
SPEAKER_00: And in the long run, they look pretty foolish for withholding honor where it was due.
SPEAKER_00: May we not be like those national analysts withholding honor from King Jesus where it is all due to him.
SPEAKER_00: Catch this about the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: At this juncture, they don't say that Jesus is a heretic.
SPEAKER_00: They don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: They don't even say he's a really, really bad guy.
SPEAKER_00: They just yawn and then gripe a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's not that big of a deal.
SPEAKER_00: Like maybe, maybe, maybe you guys are just a little too intense here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you should back off a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Park said, could I ask you, does your heart yawn towards Jesus in any way?
SPEAKER_00: Is your heart towards Jesus room temperature?
SPEAKER_00: Because these were the guys who had drilled their scripture memory.
SPEAKER_00: These Pharisees were.
SPEAKER_00: And they yawned towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: These were the guys who aced the theology exam.
SPEAKER_00: They had been middle school youth leaders for 26 years running.
SPEAKER_00: They had checked all the boxes.
SPEAKER_00: And they yawned towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I remember some years ago my mom told me one of her greatest fears in life is she would get to the end of her life and realize she was a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: And that was a fairly shocking thing for me to hear from my mother, because she's about the most unpharacetical person I think I've ever met in my life.
SPEAKER_00: But I think what she saw was in passages like this one that it's really easy for people who believe the right things to have a heart that isn't a flame for God.
SPEAKER_00: And so I do wonder this morning if that's you and it's starting to strike close to home.
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I I don't think my heart is hot towards God like it used to be.
SPEAKER_00: Like it was at summer camp at that one point, like it was on that one mission trip.
SPEAKER_00: Justin, what do I do with that?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm gonna tell you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Just write down Psalm 51 in your notes.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 51 is one of the best passages to go to in this spot because you're gonna look at three verses, verse 10, verse 12, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10, David prays, Create in me a clean heart, oh God.
SPEAKER_00: Because I realize my heart is really dirty.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 12 of Psalm 51, he says, Return to me the joy of my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Give me the joy I once had.
SPEAKER_00: I want that joy in you, God.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 17, he comes back and he tells the Lord, Lord, I know what a sacrifice looks like to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who says, I don't have it together and I need your help.
SPEAKER_00: Look, if you're like new to Parkside, maybe you just came for the kids' program or something.
SPEAKER_00: Like this church and any true church is not marked by people who got it all together.
SPEAKER_00: It's marked by people who say, I don't have it all together.
SPEAKER_00: And I know the sacrifice that God wants is a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want you to stack up all your offerings here, all your service here, all your obedience here, all your Bible knowledge here, but will regularly come saying, broken heart, contrite spirit, I need grace.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's looking for.
SPEAKER_00: So if that's you this morning and your heart's not as hot as it used to be, take yourself back to Psalm 51 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Read it, pray it, it give some silent time for God to speak back to you, listen for a bit, go and read again and a slow immersion there.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe exactly what your heart needs.
SPEAKER_00: Take your time.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's your morning devotions every single day this week.
SPEAKER_00: Slow meditation in Psalm 51, asking God to kindle a fire in your heart and stir it to a level of heat that it hasn't been.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus says to him, He says, Look, guys, I could tell my disciples to knock it off, but like the rocks, the cold, lifeless, dead rocks, they're gonna burst out.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're gonna burst out like daffodils in late March, springing forth with color, springing forth with life, springing forth with warmth.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, Isaiah 55, it says, the mountains and the hills, they're gonna start singing.
SPEAKER_00: The trees, they're gonna start clapping.
SPEAKER_00: Like nothing can stop the praise coming to the king.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's worthy of all of it.
SPEAKER_00: So why don't you get on the train?
SPEAKER_00: That's where the whole universe is going.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the universe was created.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you were created.
SPEAKER_00: So join in on what you've been called to do.
SPEAKER_00: He's worthy of all of it.
SPEAKER_00: And look ahead to where it's going.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what we do in all of our life.
SPEAKER_00: You turn on the NCAA tournament, what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: The road to the final four.
SPEAKER_00: Picture the nets being cut down.
SPEAKER_00: Look ahead to where you're trying to go, right?
SPEAKER_00: Look ahead, Christian, to where you are going, gathered around the throne, singing the worthiness of the Lamb with a people from every language and tribe, tongue and nation, gathered around the throne room of Christ for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Is he worthy to receive glory and honor, power and blessing and might?
SPEAKER_00: Is he worthy?
SPEAKER_00: He is.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.