1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:06,120 Would you grab a Bible and open it to Matthew chapter 21? 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:11,400 And while you're turning there, before I pray, I need to give 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,160 you a very, very important announcement. 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,239 You should have gotten an e-mail from me. 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,240 If you have not gotten an e-mail from me, see me afterwards so 6 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,520 that I can make sure you're on our e-mail address, e-mail, you 7 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,440 know, thing whatever that's called. 8 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:31,000 If you show up next Sunday on Resurrection Sunday, the most 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,320 important Sunday of the year, where we celebrate the fact that 10 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,280 our Savior who have been crucified on Friday rose on 11 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,000 Sunday. If you show up to this place at 12 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,920 9:30, you're going to be all by yourself. 13 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,800 This service is not happening on Easter Sunday, on Easter Sunday, 14 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,280 Resurrection Sunday for a number of years, I'm not sure how many 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,520 years, but for a number of years now, we have met in the most 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,160 appropriate place to celebrate the resurrection of Christ in 17 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,960 Pittman Cemetery or any cemetery which is about two miles Yonder 18 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,360 way. So if you need directions, I 19 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,240 made a, I made an event on our web page. 20 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,640 So you can go see that and see how to get there. 21 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,680 But we're going to meet there and we're going to meet early. 22 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,640 It's a sunrise service. And so we need to be there at 23 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,600 7:15-ish. Try and be a little bit early. 24 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,560 If you want to bring something to drop a tailgate and put 25 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,280 breakfast buffet on your tailgate. 26 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,360 We'll have a very short service remembering and and celebrating 27 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,440 the resurrection. We will have communion and then 28 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,600 and then we'll have breakfast buffet afterward and it'll be 29 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,840 the most It's my very favorite worship service of the entire 30 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,760 year. So, so please, if you can, 31 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:51,240 please be there next Sunday. OK, Let me pray for us and we'll 32 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:56,120 look at our text on Palm Sunday. Father God, we ask that you 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:57,960 would come and be our teacher today. 34 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,520 We ask that you would send your Spirit in the name of our Savior 35 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,440 Jesus, and that He would take up the Word and that He would teach 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,880 us, build us up, and establish us in the faith. 37 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:16,880 I pray, Lord, that You would give us eyes to see the glory of 38 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,240 Jesus Christ, that we might trust in Him, that we might 39 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:26,040 rejoice in Him, that we might be established in His salvation. 40 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:28,520 So would you teach us today? Lord? 41 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,280 We ask it in Christ's name, Amen. 42 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,320 OK, you're in Matthew chapter 21. 43 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,640 I want to show you three things from this text. 44 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:42,480 The 1st is it's a text themed on Palm Sunday. 45 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,600 And so the first thing I want to show you from this text is a 46 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,240 clear declaration of intent. What is Palm Sunday about? 47 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:51,760 What are we? What are we doing here? 48 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,840 Matthew is going to make it very, very plain. 49 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:00,640 So let's read verses one through 5 where you see a very plain 50 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,480 declaration of intent from the Lord Jesus. 51 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,840 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage 52 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,400 to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent 2 disciples saying to 53 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,480 them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately 54 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,440 you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. 55 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,320 Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, 56 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,280 you shall say the Lord needs them and he will send them at 57 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:29,680 once. And I always think this is funny 58 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,960 to imagine the guy seeing 2 random strangers taking his 59 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,920 donkey like what are you doing? Well the Lord needs these oh oh 60 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,720 OK help yourself. But they that happens. 61 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,240 This took place verse 4 very important. 62 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,240 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying 63 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,840 this is Zechariah 99 and you ought to go back and read 64 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,680 Zechariah 99 and verse 10. Say to the daughter of Zion, 65 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,840 behold your king. If you write in your Bible 66 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:05,160 circle square brackets, your king is coming to you humble, 67 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:11,200 mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the full of a beast of burden. 68 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:18,720 This is a clear declaration up by Christ that he is the king of 69 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,079 Israel. So in the Scriptures it said 70 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:24,680 that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies. 71 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,560 I don't know the exact number if you if you count patterns and 72 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:30,960 symbols and types, it's just infinite. 73 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,640 They're everywhere that everything that the Old 74 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,760 Testament promised and prefigured, Christ fulfilled all 75 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,040 of those. But this is the fulfillment that 76 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,120 gets the most criticism by those who hate our Christ. 77 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:49,120 They say, well, how hard would it be to fulfill this prophecy 78 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,360 to ride into a particular place on a donkey? 79 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:52,520 Like he could have picked anything. 80 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,440 He just sort of arranged the mule. 81 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:58,200 There isn't a miraculous component to it. 82 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,720 Like at his birth when the sovereign God of the universe 83 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,400 took a despot named Caesar Augustus, who loved to tax his 84 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,840 people, and he uses that guy to ensure that the Holy Family make 85 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:13,840 their way to Bethlehem so that that prophecy might be 86 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:16,320 fulfilled, that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. 87 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:21,080 This is not like that. Jesus just says, go in there and 88 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,160 get me a mule. So what's going on? 89 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,560 Well, what's going on here is that Jesus is no longer being 90 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,600 coy about his kingship. You know, all of those texts, 91 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,240 right, where Jesus heals somebody and they come to him 92 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,120 and say, thank you, Lord, thank you. 93 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,960 And he says, whatever you do, don't tell anybody, right? 94 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,400 Don't tell anybody because his his hour had not yet come. 95 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,280 Go and tell no one. And of course nobody ever 96 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:48,600 listens to that. They all go and say Jesus did 97 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,080 something amazing for me. But all throughout his life in 98 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,640 ministry, he's been hinting at, he makes clear declarations too. 99 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:59,920 But typically he's very coy whether or not he is the king. 100 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:06,800 From this point forward, Jesus is not being coy. 101 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,360 He is declaring as authoritatively as can be 102 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,960 possible that he is the king and that he's coming to his capital 103 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,880 city and that he is declaring and announcing crown rights. 104 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,680 That's what is going on in this text, that he is declaring 105 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,160 himself to be king. You notice that while kingship 106 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,520 is the theme, remember in verse 5, say to the daughter of Zion, 107 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,800 behold, your king is coming to you. 108 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,920 So Matthew says this is all about Davidic kingship that 109 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,960 Jesus is taking onto himself. But even though the theme is 110 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,680 kingship, the mystery is humility. 111 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,440 What kind of king are we going to get here? 112 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:56,440 Well, it's a humble king. This is the greatest warlord 113 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,360 that there has ever been riding into Jerusalem to do single 114 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,280 combat with Satan and with all rebel forces. 115 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:06,480 Have you ever noticed that that like on the in the Passion Week, 116 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:11,760 it's not, it's not Jesus the doormat of heaven just coming to 117 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,880 take it on the chin. It's a new and better David 118 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:19,480 walking onto a battlefield with a much worse Goliath and he's 119 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,200 going to take him in single combat and crush him. 120 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,880 Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to conquer the world and to 121 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,520 establish the greatest Kingdom that the world will ever know. 122 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,440 A Kingdom that Daniel said. When this Kingdom comes, it's 123 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,600 going to be a stone cut without hands. 124 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,480 It's going to strike all of the man made kingdoms in the world. 125 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:42,520 In the world. They're going to disappear and 126 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:45,040 turn into dust. And that stone is going to 127 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:49,320 become a mountain, a mountainous Kingdom that fills the world. 128 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:54,400 This is a king and a Kingdom to end all other kings and 129 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,120 kingdoms. But how does this warlord come? 130 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:05,600 The sovereign of the universe. He comes on the full of a 131 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,480 donkey. He's not riding on Bocephalus, 132 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:10,880 the untamable steed of Alexander the Great. 133 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,040 A horse of this of Alexander the Great that is more famous than 134 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:17,720 most warriors that there have ever been. 135 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,320 Jesus doesn't come on the White Horse. 136 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,120 Jesus does not fly in on Air Force One. 137 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,400 He does not wave from the safe balcony of Buckingham Palace. 138 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,200 Jesus comes to his people as one of the people on a humble 139 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,840 donkey. He is a lover of the lowly who 140 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,679 happens to be mightier by far than the mightiest that the 141 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,640 world has ever known. And so it's worth just stopping 142 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,360 for a moment and reminding ourselves that if we as 143 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,800 Christians do not hold both of these attributes of Christ in 144 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:56,200 tension, we lose Christ. We we lose him all together if 145 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:57,920 we don't hold these two things together. 146 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:04,440 If you think Jesus is just the humble lover of the little guy, 147 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,000 that's all he is. He just loves everybody. 148 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,960 He doesn't have any enemies. He doesn't ever lose his temper. 149 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,400 You're about to see that not to be the case. 150 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:16,680 But if you think that that's Jesus, then you need to go read 151 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,560 what this Christ does to his foes in the Book of Revelation. 152 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:22,200 And I'm glad you asked. I'm going to read it to you. 153 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,880 Don't turn, just listen. Then I saw heaven open and 154 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,480 behold, a White Horse. He's no longer on the donkey, 155 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,480 He's on the White Horse. The one sitting on it is called 156 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:36,640 faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and 157 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,680 makes war. His eyes are like a flame of 158 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:43,800 fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has the name 159 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,360 written that no one knows but He himself. 160 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,840 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which 161 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:55,160 he is called is the Word of God. This is our Christ. 162 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:58,560 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and 163 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:00,760 pure, were following with him on white horses. 164 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,560 And from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down 165 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:08,240 the nation's. He will rule them with a rod of 166 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,520 iron. He will tread the winepress of 167 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,720 the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 168 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:19,320 And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of 169 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:25,960 Kings and Lord of Lords. This dude on a donkey is not a 170 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,840 doormat. This is the Warlord, the 171 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:34,960 sovereign of the universe. And yet, and yet if all you have 172 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:40,440 if your entire knowledge of Christ as God, who is vengeful, 173 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:44,160 coming to bring wrath, a destroyer of evil, then again 174 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,960 you lose out on Christ. He is the one who both shatters 175 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,800 the nations. Like is mentioned in Revelation 176 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:52,760 19. He shatters the nations like 177 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:54,680 rebellious clay pots that they are. 178 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,880 He also in Psalm 2 is the one that promises those nations. 179 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,320 Blessed is the nation that takes refuge in the Lord's Christ. 180 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,560 In the Gospel, Christ is not portrayed as either simpering 181 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:09,360 Savior or as a dominating despot. 182 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:15,360 Rather, he is shown to be the sovereign Lord who loves to save 183 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,240 humble people. This is why, brothers and 184 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:24,560 sisters, pride is the great sin because it puts us in opposition 185 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,600 to the Lord. God opposes the proud, but He 186 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,960 gives grace to the humble. And so think about as our nation 187 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,560 comes into the middle of our year, we come into June and we 188 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,880 call it, as my favorite author has called it, goeth before the 189 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:44,160 fall month, right? Pride month where we take the 190 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:46,880 symbol of God's wrath against sin. 191 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,720 That which he said I'm not, not that he's not going to hold 192 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,720 accountable, but he's not going to destroy the world anymore. 193 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,400 I'm going to put my bow in the sky to remind you every time it 194 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,000 rains that I'm not going to do what I did at Noah's flood. 195 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,040 Not that he's laid aside His Holiness or his justice, but 196 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,000 he's not going to do that again. And in our pride, in our 197 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,600 nation's pride, we take that symbol of God's war and God's 198 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:13,120 wrath, and they wear it and painted on the faces of 199 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:18,760 Sodomites pride. The reason pride is the great 200 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,640 sin in the scriptures is because it puts us in opposition to the 201 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,440 wrath of God, to the person of God who opposes the proud. 202 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,800 And so these are people who don't understand that it will be 203 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,360 payday Sunday. When you make pride your boast, 204 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:38,360 you ensure your own damnation. When Jesus rides into Jerusalem 205 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,960 on a donkey, he is declaring in the language of sacred Scripture 206 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:47,040 as clearly as possible that the Kingdom of heaven has arrived 207 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,880 upon the earth and the king has come. 208 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:54,680 Now I want to show you, secondly, A savvy crowd that 209 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,080 ends up having a short, a short fuse the crowd. 210 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,680 So so Jesus claims kingship by riding it on a donkey and the 211 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:05,560 crowd knows exactly what they're doing, what he's doing. 212 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:09,800 Look in verse 6, the disciples went and did and did as Jesus 213 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:11,680 directed them. They brought the donkey and the 214 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:15,360 cold and put on them their cloaks and sat on them and and 215 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,000 he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their 216 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,080 cloaks on the road, others cut branches from the trees and 217 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,720 spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before 218 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:28,600 him and that followed him were shouting hosanna to the son of 219 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,720 David. Well, what does that mean, son 220 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,720 of David? It means King, it means Messiah, 221 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,640 it means the anointed of the Lord that will sit upon the 222 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,680 eternal Kingdom, house and throne of David. 223 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,360 So when they see him coming in on a colt into Jerusalem, they 224 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,400 say this is King, this is who he is. 225 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:50,680 They know exactly what he's doing. 226 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,920 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the 227 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,840 highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, 228 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,320 the whole city was stirred up saying who is this? 229 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:06,800 And the crown said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of 230 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,000 Galilee. So you have a clear declaration 231 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,520 of Christ. I am the king. 232 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,840 And the crowd knows exactly what this means. 233 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,000 Son of David tells you everything you need to know. 234 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:21,440 Jesus has right here claimed the throne of David, and they are, 235 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:25,640 the crowds are affirming that. And therefore it's not a bad 236 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:30,120 place to remind ourselves of CS Lewis's most helpful argument, 237 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:35,280 not most helpful, but very helpful argument against merely 238 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,440 thinking well of the person of Jesus of Nazareth, right. 239 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,960 We are the American culture. What we love to do is we love to 240 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:43,840 speak in glowing terms about Jesus. 241 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,400 We love Jesus, He's a good, good man. 242 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,800 We love us some Jesus. We'll pray in his name. 243 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,840 We'll, we'll, we'll, you know, we'll use his name as an 244 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:56,520 expletive. We'll, we'll hold it in high 245 00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:00,560 esteem. But the problem is, mere words 246 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,000 of respect towards Christ are not enough. 247 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,000 Politicians will pray in his name, asking for blessings right 248 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,120 before they utterly disregard the crown rights of he who is on 249 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,280 the throne. Muslims and Mormons alike claim 250 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,920 to honor Jesus as a very great man and a prophet. 251 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,520 Indeed He is great. He's He's the best man that's 252 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,120 ever been. But Jesus never claimed to be 253 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:26,800 those things. He claimed to be something so 254 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,200 much more. He claimed to be God in the 255 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:34,080 flesh, Yahweh of old who came to establish his Kingdom, the 256 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,920 Kingdom of heaven upon the earth so that the will of his Father 257 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:41,040 God would be done here as it is in heaven. 258 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,880 That's what Jesus claimed. He claimed to be very God, a 259 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,800 very God come to this world to rule. 260 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:54,120 So Lewis is helpful. He says Jesus is either wrong or 261 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:56,440 he's right. And if he's wrong, then we have 262 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,880 two options. He's either a liar, which makes 263 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,720 him the worst ever. He knew he was not Messiah, so 264 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,680 he's merely a liar. We should vilify his name. 265 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,520 Don't hold him in high esteem. Good teachers never lie. 266 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,040 Good teachers don't mislead billions of people to hang their 267 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:16,560 eternal hopes on him. He's not a good teacher if he's 268 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,040 wrong, He's either. At worst, he's a liar. 269 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:24,200 At best he's a lunatic. OK, at best he's a lunatic. 270 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,320 Or he's right, which would mean that he is. 271 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:33,200 Lord Jesus of Nazareth leaves you and he leaves me with no 272 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:37,160 third option. So we ought to either hate Him 273 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:41,280 as the worst of liars, we should pity him as a lunatic that was 274 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:45,480 crucified for a mental derangement, or we should 275 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:49,920 worship Him as the Creator and Redeemer and King of the cosmos. 276 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:52,760 He is the King who sits upon the throne. 277 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,560 And you cannot listen to me, brothers and sisters, you cannot 278 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:00,480 like this guy. It's not enough for us to say 279 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,000 I'm I'm a big fan. I love me some Jesus. 280 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:09,520 You must render your allegiance and swear fidelity. 281 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,800 You must be baptized into his triune name. 282 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:18,000 Bend your knee and obey. You must endeavor to honor Him 283 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,079 in thought word. Indeed, Jesus is declaring His 284 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:25,640 eternal kingship and authority. And so the question is, will you 285 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:31,200 hold out some wrinkle of your life in which you will not honor 286 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:38,000 him as king when he cries mine over all things? 287 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,600 Last thing I want to show you is the unreadiness of Israel to 288 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,600 receive their king. So Jesus declares his kingship 289 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,600 by coming on on a colt. All the crowds know this is 290 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,160 exactly what he is intending. And then you're going to see an 291 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,800 unready Israel. So look in verse 12. 292 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:01,680 And Jesus entered the temple and he drove out all who sold and 293 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:03,760 bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of 294 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:06,480 the money changers in the seats of those who sold pigeons. 295 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,480 And he said to them, it is written, My house shall be 296 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:13,160 called a House of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. 297 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,160 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he 298 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,640 healed them. But when the chief priest and 299 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,680 scribes saw, watch what they see, two things, the wonderful 300 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,480 things that he did, and the children crying out in the 301 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,720 temple, hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. 302 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,400 And they said to him, do you hear what these are saying? 303 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,640 Implication. You need to stop them because 304 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,640 they're worshipping you. And Jesus said to them, yes, 305 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,360 have you never read out of the mouths of infants and nursing 306 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,680 babies? You have prepared praise? 307 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:48,440 Leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged 308 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:53,240 there. So Israel, the decree by 309 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,880 Almighty God is that Israel would be a light and a blessing 310 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,040 to the nations. God said when He called Abraham 311 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,120 in you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 312 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,240 But Israel's not a light and they are not a blessing to the 313 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,200 Gentiles. They are a deception. 314 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,440 OK, When Jesus comes into the temple, if you, if you don't 315 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:18,520 know this, you had the temple had a a series of gradations of 316 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,160 closeness to the presence of God. 317 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:22,760 You had the Holy of Holies. Outside of that, you had the 318 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,000 holy place outside of that, you had the, the court of the Jews 319 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,720 where Jewish men could enter. Outside of that, the court of 320 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,760 no, the court of the Jewish men. Outside of that was the court of 321 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,560 the Court of the Jews, where Jewish women could enter as 322 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,520 well. And then outside of that, the 323 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,000 biggest walled section of the temple was the Court of the 324 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,800 Gentiles. It's where all the room was. 325 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:48,720 And so when the Jews set up in the temple, the money changing 326 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,880 tables and those who are selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, when 327 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,080 they set those things up, they set them up in the Court of the 328 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,640 Gentiles. And so if you're just some dumb 329 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:03,040 Goeme and you hear. That God, God is the God of 330 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:04,680 Israel, that he is blessing this nation. 331 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,600 And so you come to Jerusalem to try and learn about this God. 332 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,000 The only place, the closest place you can get there, get to 333 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,160 that God is the place where they're doing all of their 334 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:20,200 business and you can just drink in the cynicism of like this is 335 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,160 all business. It's all for profit. 336 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,080 You, you have experienced the same thing when you come to a 337 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:30,320 church and every Sunday is about how you need to sacrificially 338 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,160 give so I can get a raise. Like you're just like, man, I 339 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:37,080 want, we want to worship God and you're making this a House of 340 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,640 commerce. By the way, it's the first ever 341 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,360 exercise in stadium pricing, right? 342 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,880 Where you, where you pay to park and then you pay to get in the 343 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:49,520 gate. And now that they've got you in 344 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,920 the gate and if you're hungry or thirsty, you got to pay their 345 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,600 prices. And so the, the, as you come 346 00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,360 into the sacrificial system, you might bring your sheep or you 347 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:03,280 might bring your sacrifice. And the, and the priests at this 348 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,760 time, we're going to tell you, no, those are not justified. 349 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,400 They're not, they're not examined. 350 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,000 They're not proper temple sacrifices. 351 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,040 And so you have to go, you have to go buy one from us that's 352 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,800 exorbitantly priced. And so you say, well, I've got 353 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,360 to worship gone. So I'll go and I'll pay this, 354 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,280 I'll pay this price. And you as a Roman citizen, you 355 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,240 take your denarius to go buy that sheep or buy that oxen or 356 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,280 buy that pigeon. And they say, no, no, no, no, we 357 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,160 cannot take coinage that has Caesar's image on it. 358 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:33,640 You got to go change your money. So it's like going to the 359 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,880 airport and they've got you. You can't, you can't shop around 360 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,880 to the greatest exchange rate. It's just whatever, whatever 361 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,640 they say it is. So they're exorbitant in their 362 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,120 exchange rate and then they're exorbitant in their pricing. 363 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:51,040 And the Gentiles are watching all of this saying the God of 364 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,040 Israel is a joke. And Jesus comes in and he sees 365 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,960 that going on in the in the in the court of the Gentiles. 366 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,720 He doesn't wring his hands. He doesn't ask politely for them 367 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,800 to stop it. Would you please stop this? 368 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,720 Jesus entered the temple and he drove out all who sold and 369 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:09,880 bought in the temple. John says he made a whip of 370 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,800 cords and he drove out man and beast. 371 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:19,240 So picture sweet Jesus, meek and mild, whipping men and driving 372 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:22,360 them out of the temple, those who sought and sold and bought 373 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,840 in the temple. So they're not a light and a 374 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,320 blessing to the Gentiles. They're a deception. 375 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,840 They are not liberation and refreshment to the poor, but 376 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,800 they're a domination. It's very interesting, John, 377 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,320 when John talks about Jesus clearing the temple, he mentions 378 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,880 sheep and he mentions oxen and he mentions pigeons. 379 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:45,360 Matthew, as the former tax collector, mentions only one. 380 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,320 He he the seats of those who sold pigeons. 381 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:53,560 He he overturned them. Pigeons were a provision for the 382 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,440 poor. You have to sacrifice for sin. 383 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,640 You have to, you have to make an offering to the Lord. 384 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:00,920 And if you're wealthy, it's no big deal. 385 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:02,880 You can afford it. But if you're poor, you can't, 386 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,640 you can't afford a goat. You can't afford an ox. 387 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,600 So what do you do? Well, and according to law, 388 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:10,320 there's a provision for the poor. 389 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,280 It's turtledoves. It's it's, it's birds. 390 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:13,720 Cheap, right? Easy. 391 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:18,120 Anybody can afford this. They are set up and they're 392 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:20,800 oppressing the poor. They're not, they're not a place 393 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,720 of liberation and refreshment, but a place of domination of the 394 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,240 poor. It's not a place of intercession 395 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,360 and prayer, but it's a place of commerce. 396 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:32,360 They're they're doing business. They're not on their knees 397 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:36,440 before a holy God saying forgive us, use us, bless us, draw near 398 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,080 to us. This is one of the most 399 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:46,240 jaw-dropping indications that they are not prepared to receive 400 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,400 their Christ. They are not a place of glad 401 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,480 healing, but of religiosity that disallows God. 402 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:57,440 Look in verse 14 and imagine this, right, verse 14, The blind 403 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:01,200 and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. 404 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,720 Imagine coming to church. You're just here to worship and 405 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,080 all of a sudden blind people start coming in and start 406 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,280 seeing, and people with crutches start like dropping them and 407 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,160 they can dance and they can worship God like God is moving 408 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,680 here. And the chief priests and the 409 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,960 scribes, when they saw the wonderful things that he did, 410 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,840 and the children crying out hosanna to the son of David, 411 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,680 they were indignant. They were mortified. 412 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,360 We got to stop all this. This is not what this place is 413 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:35,600 for. They were disallowing the very 414 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:37,280 work of God. I heard a story one time of a 415 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,000 church service that was going on and a drunk man, doors open in 416 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,880 the back, a stumbling, stuttering drunk guy comes in, 417 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,320 sits on the back row. The whole church is kind of 418 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:49,560 disturbed. What do we do? 419 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,000 There's a drunk guy in our midst. 420 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,920 And so the deacons or the elders, whoever they were, they 421 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,840 do the holy thing for God and they get up and they go ask him 422 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:58,720 to leave like you're, you're disturbing. 423 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:05,240 So they kick him out. And the story goes, a man got up 424 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,320 and in the name of Christ followed him out and took him to 425 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,320 get a meal. Which is the accurate 426 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:15,920 representation of God, right? If you have problems, this is 427 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,600 not the place for you, right? If you have sin that needs 428 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:20,400 forgiven, you need to go somewhere else because we're the 429 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,560 good people here, right? If you have healing, if you have 430 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:25,840 brokenness in your past, we have trauma. 431 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,800 Like this is not the place. This is a place where serious 432 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,800 people worship a serious gone. Christ says no, this is a place 433 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,280 where I'm going to meet with my people and I'm going to heal 434 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,320 them if they need it, and I'm going to give myself to them. 435 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:42,640 And it made the religious leaders super angry. 436 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,320 And I'll just point out in passing the two things that they 437 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,400 hated. They hated seeing the wonderful 438 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,560 things that he did because they were jealous of those things. 439 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:54,680 They also hated seeing children praising Christ, which means 440 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,800 it's the greatest thing in the world for a church to be full of 441 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:02,680 babies disturbing us as they shout their praise because out 442 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,200 of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have 443 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:10,480 prepared praise. So Jesus is the King and he has 444 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,920 come into his Kingdom and they were not ready. 445 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,880 So there's a, there's a mysterious but an obvious truth 446 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:21,720 here that I want to talk to you about before I wrap this up In 447 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,200 the Gospel of John, at the very beginning of the Gospel of John, 448 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,760 right after Jesus's first miracle and the wedding of 449 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,760 Canaan of Galilee, Jesus goes into the temple and he cleanses 450 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,080 it. He drives out, he does this, the 451 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:37,800 cleansing of the temple. And then Matthew and all the 452 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,840 other synoptic gospels, Mark and Luke, they have Jesus cleansing 453 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,160 the temple at the end of his ministry. 454 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,720 And So what gives? Like did he, did he do it twice? 455 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,400 Or did John just like miss, like John just forgot? 456 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,880 No, it was at the end, not at the beginning. 457 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,880 Well, were there two or was there just one? 458 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:04,520 And and why the other question is why does every account of him 459 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:09,080 cleansing the temple, why is it followed by the religious 460 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,840 leaders asking him by what authority he can do these 461 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,000 things? Look in verse 23 of chapter 21. 462 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,440 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the 463 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,360 people came up to him as he was teaching and he's and they said, 464 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,760 by what authority are you doing these things? 465 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:25,720 Who gave you this authority? You can't do that. 466 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,000 You're not in charge, you who gave you this authority? 467 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,440 Well, it's a question of authority. 468 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,080 And again, the the theme is kingship. 469 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:39,080 The mystery is that Jesus as David's son and heir is taking 470 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,680 to himself in this and these verses, not just the kingship of 471 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:48,480 the Davidic kingship, but he is also taking up a priesthood. 472 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,080 He's also taking up a priesthood. 473 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,080 Whose job is it to cleanse the temple? 474 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,640 It's not the king, it's the priest Jesus is taking. 475 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,840 And the book of Hebrews bears this out. 476 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,120 Psalm 110 bears this out, that Jesus is taking up the 477 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:09,240 priesthood of Melchizedek, which the the author of Hebrews says 478 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,600 that the priesthood of Melchizedek both preceded and 479 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,600 superseded the the Levitical priesthood, right. 480 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,680 So if you remember the story, Abraham goes to war to rescue 481 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:22,080 Lot, and when he's coming back, he's met by two men. 482 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,000 One is the king of Sodomites and the other is the king of 483 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,760 Jerusalem and his name is Melchizedek. 484 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:33,880 And Abraham is met by these two guys and Melchizedek is called, 485 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:38,000 he's the king of Salem and he's called a priest of the Most high 486 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,840 God. And Melchizedek blesses Abraham 487 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,080 and Abraham gives Melchizedek a tithe of everything he's got. 488 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,960 And Melchizedek very interestingly brings Abraham a 489 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:50,600 gift. Abraham comes back with all of 490 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,360 the spoils of war and, and Melchizedek comes to Abraham 491 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,160 with two things. What would the, what would the 492 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,480 king and the priest of Jerusalem, the prefigurement of 493 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,720 Christ? What would he bring Abraham? 494 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,080 Would you be shocked to know that he'd bring him that he 495 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:05,640 brought him bread and he brought him wine. 496 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,280 The Melchizedek brought Abraham communion and he brought him 497 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:15,400 communion centuries before the, the father of the Levitical 498 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:20,200 priesthood, Levi was ever born. So, so this Melchizedek, it's, 499 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:24,160 it's really bizarre. He's a Gentile guy living in the 500 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,320 future capital, exactly in the place where Jesus will be 501 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,520 crucified and win the world and risen and win the world. 502 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:35,080 And he's ruling there and he's being a priest there. 503 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:40,200 And so when David comes into the throne, another really helpful 504 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:41,760 text, but David is coming to the throne. 505 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,240 He's bringing the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem and he 506 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,400 lays aside his kingly robes and he puts on an effort, a linen 507 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,440 effort. That's the the garb of a priest 508 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:56,800 and his wife Saul's daughter says, oh, she mocks him. 509 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,000 You, you've distinguished yourself before the eyes of the 510 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,160 maidens. You've laid aside your kingly 511 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:04,240 robes and you're you're dressed as a priest. 512 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,400 What are you doing? Well, David was taking up the 513 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,640 order of Melchizedek, the the, the priesthood of Melchizedek. 514 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,520 And Jesus is doing the exact same thing. 515 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,160 Now, what's what's marvelous is according to the Levitical law, 516 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,120 if your house had a disease in it, you were to call the priest 517 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,680 and the priest would come to your house and he would look at 518 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:30,280 the disease and he would take out every stone out of the wall 519 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,800 that had a a disease on. If it was mold or whatever it 520 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,720 was the priest, it was a priest's job to cleanse that 521 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:36,680 house. He would take out all the 522 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:38,760 stones. He would put new stones in that 523 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,320 place and then he would leave and he would come back later. 524 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:48,320 And when he came back later, the text says, and this is Leviticus 525 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:53,240 14, let me make sure, yeah, Leviticus 14, that the priest 526 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,880 would come back again later on. And here's how this text reads. 527 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,760 He's going to go back and re examine the house and re examine 528 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,960 all the stones that he had taken out in the plaster that he had 529 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,040 put in there. The priest shall go and look. 530 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:10,120 And he says, and if the disease has spread in the house, it is a 531 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,280 persistent leprous disease in the house and the house is 532 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,040 unclean. And he, the priest, listen to 533 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:21,600 these words, He shall break down the house and its stones and its 534 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,320 timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry 535 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,520 them out of the city to an unclean place. 536 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,240 Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall 537 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,920 be unclean until evening. Whoever sleeps in the house 538 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,880 shall wash his clothes. Whoever eats in the house shall 539 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,760 wash his clothes. Jesus at the beginning of his 540 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,240 ministry comes and cleanses the temple and then he leaves and he 541 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,840 comes back at the end of his ministry to see if that if that 542 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,840 cancer of self righteousness, of oppression of the poor, 543 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:56,760 disregarding God in his word. Has this cancer metastasized or 544 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,320 has it been healed? And he comes the second round of 545 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,000 the temple, and they are just as sick, if not more so. 546 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,680 And so he promises in just a few verses in Matthew, you see that 547 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:09,400 temple I'm going to take. And he said he uses the exact 548 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:13,080 same words. Not one stone will be left upon 549 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,280 another. The whole house is unclean. 550 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,920 I'm going to tear it down and I'm going to start over. 551 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,880 And that's the very thing that he does. 552 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:26,440 So Jesus comes as king and as priest to the temple to inspect 553 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,320 for disease. He cleanses it once at the 554 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,960 beginning of his ministry, leaves, comes back three years 555 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,920 later, the disease is still there and he promises to take 556 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,160 take the whole house down. OK, So what three things in this 557 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,560 text. First of all, Jesus is king. 558 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:50,120 He is king over all of it. So you and I need to repent of 559 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,760 our sin, we need to trust in him, and we need to be saved. 560 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,480 And then we need to put everything that you are and 561 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,440 everything that you have under this King's authority, because 562 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:05,200 he can be trusted as his greatest attribute is humility. 563 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:06,520 Let me ask you something, brother. 564 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,800 Sister, could you trust in a sovereign king who uses his 565 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,800 sovereignty to take your sin off of you and to die in your place 566 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,040 so that you could go free? Could you trust that guy with 567 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,680 everything you've got? Yes you can, and yes you must, 568 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:26,520 and so must I Jesus is king. Secondly, Jesus is priest. 569 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:32,320 He has given the answer for sin once for all and has ascended 570 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,800 into the heavenly Tabernacle where he lives forever to make 571 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,480 intercession for us. The author of Hebrews again says 572 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,840 that the Old Testament Tabernacle was made after a 573 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,880 pattern that God had showed Moses a heavenly pattern, a real 574 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,360 thing in heaven, that God showed him the pattern and Moses made a 575 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:52,000 copy of it. But there's no, there's no seat 576 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,840 in the heaven, in the in the earthly Tabernacle, but there is 577 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,320 one in heaven because Jesus finished it and he sat down. 578 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,560 He lives forever to make intercession for us at the right 579 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,840 hand of God. So go straight to the Father in 580 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,840 the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. 581 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:12,320 Do it with confidence because he as our great high priest, he is 582 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:14,800 who he says he is. He really made an end to your 583 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,080 sin and he's really given you access to the Father. 584 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:24,080 And lastly, he is king, He is priest, and Jesus is the prophet 585 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,800 who not only speaks the word of God faithfully, He is the very 586 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:33,000 word of God. When Jesus speaks, God speaks. 587 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,320 So trust him and obey. As prophet, priest and King, 588 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:40,120 Jesus gives us all today an invitation that carries the 589 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:42,960 weight of a command. Say that to you again. 590 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:47,639 He gives you an invitation, but it carries the weight of a 591 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:50,080 command. When the sovereign of the 592 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,760 universe says, hey, you can do this, why don't you do this? 593 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,159 You better do it. It's a command. 594 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,360 And this is the command that you come to the table. 595 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:04,640 This bread, this cup is the bread and the wine of the new 596 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,440 and better Melchizedek. Who will bless it in the name of 597 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,800 God Most High. Bless us in the name of God Most 598 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,560 High, if we will humble ourselves and come to Him. 599 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:17,840 But this bread and this wine is better than the Old Testament 600 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:19,480 bread of and wine of Melchizedek. 601 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:23,840 Because this bread and this cup is His body which was broken for 602 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:25,440 us. It is His blood which was shed 603 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:29,960 for the forgiveness of our sins, and it is freely given to all 604 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,560 who will humble themselves and come to Christ. 605 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:36,520 So let me ask you, brother, sister, would you be fed today 606 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,080 by the King of heaven and the King of earth? 607 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,200 Would you have him feed you? Would you have him bless you in 608 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,160 the name of God? Most high me too. 609 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:51,440 So come, eat and drink in remembrance of Christ. 610 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,800 Come and welcome to King Jesus. Let me pray for us. 611 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:04,080 Father God, we marvel to see both the sovereignty of Christ 612 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:09,760 that he is the the answer to all the hopes of humanity throughout 613 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:14,520 all the centuries. He is sovereign, but unthinkably 614 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:16,400 he's also humble. And he meets us in our 615 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,960 brokenness. He meets us in our sin, in that 616 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:24,760 great cost to himself, rescues us from our sin and our 617 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:29,760 separation and our shame, and unthinkably comes to us with 618 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:34,280 bread and wine, with gift, blessing us in the name of God 619 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:38,360 most time. And so we pray, Father, in the 620 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,840 name of your son and in the power of your spirit, that as we 621 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:45,400 come to this table to be fed by Christ, prophet, priest and 622 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,520 king, would you sanctify this table to us. 623 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,520 But this would be a real participation in the body of 624 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:57,840 Christ together and that you administer to us at the table 625 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,240 through these things. We trust you for that and we ask 626 00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:03,480 you for it in Jesus name, Amen.