God from Matthew chapter 21, verses 1 through
17.
Matthew 21, verses 1 through 17.
And when they drew near unto Jerusalem, and
were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of
Olives, then sent Jesus to disciples, saying unto
them, Go into the village opposite you, and
straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and
a colt with her.
Loose them, and bring them unto me.
And if any man say anything unto you,
ye shall say, The Lord hath need of
them, and straightway he will send them.
And all this was done, that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold,
thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting
upon an ass, and a colt the fold
of an ass.
And the disciples went, and did as Jesus
commanded them, and brought the ass and the
colt, and put on them their clothes, and
they set him thereon.
And a very great multitude spread their garments
in the way, and others cut down branches
from the trees, and spread them in the
way.
And the multitudes that went before, and that
followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of
David, blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, all
the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the
prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
And Jesus went into the temple of God,
and cast out all them that sold and
bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables
of the moneychangers and the seats of them
that sold doves, and said unto them, It
is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer, but ye have made it
a den of thieves.
And the blind and the lame came to
him in the temple, and he healed them.
And when the chief priests and scribes saw
the wonderful things that he did, and the
children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna
to the Son of David, they were very
displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what
these say?
And Jesus saith unto them, Yea.
Have ye never read, Out of the mouth
of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
And he left them, and went out of
the city into Bethany, and he lodged there.
May our praise of Jesus Christ not just
be from our lips, may it be from
our hearts.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, all
the city was moved.
That word move that Matthew wrote is an
interesting word.
We get one of our English words from
that word moved, it's the word seismograph.
A seismograph is an instrument that measures the
intensity of an earthquake.
And so you could translate Matthew chapter 21
verse 10, and when he was come into
the city, all the city was stirred like
an earthquake.
There was an earthquake in Jerusalem, a spiritual
earthquake, and Jesus was the one who caused
it.
At this point somebody says, well why worry
about it, it happened centuries ago.
Well we have to concern ourselves with anything
that deals with Jesus.
If Jesus caused a spiritual earthquake in Jerusalem,
maybe he wants to cause a spiritual earthquake
in Chicago, or in your home, or possibly
in somebody's life today.
An earthquake has a way of shaking up
the foundations, and perhaps somebody here is building
his life on the wrong foundation.
An earthquake has a way of showing up
weaknesses and revealing faults, and perhaps someone of
us here today needs that kind of work.
When he was come into Jerusalem, all the
city was moved by a spiritual earthquake, and
the people were saying, who is this?
Who is this?
I'd like to do that today.
I'd like to go back to Jerusalem with
our little tape recorder in our hand, and
talk to some of the people who were
there, and find out what kind of responses
there were in that city, because Jesus Christ
rode on in majesty.
And so with our tape recorder in hand,
let's start where we ought to start.
Let's start with a Roman soldier.
When this crowd was gathering to magnify the
Lord Jesus, the Roman soldiers began to signal
to each other, and they picked up their
spears, and they watched, because you never knew
when a Jew was going to start some
kind of a demonstration.
And the great rule of thumb for the
Roman soldier was peace and safety.
The crowd that was with the Lord Jesus
came from three different sources.
There was a mass of humanity that came
down to Passover from Galilee.
These were people that Jesus had ministered to
in Galilee.
And then John tells us there were a
group of people who had been present when
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
They were quite excited.
They'd seen a man come back to life.
And then there was a crowd that came
out from Jerusalem, some of the resident persons
who were there.
There was kind of a mingling of these
three groups into one group, and the Roman
soldiers were looking and watching, saying, is this
a premeditated riot?
But it wasn't.
The Roman soldiers must have, well, the only
response I can think of for a Roman
soldier watching the so-called triumphal entry is
scorn.
Can't you just see him standing there in
his lovely armor, holding on to his spear,
and watching, and smirking?
So this is a Jewish parade.
Look at it.
Here is an unemployed carpenter sitting on a
colt, and the mother of the colt is
there, and they have put their garments, a
bunch of old clothes, in the road.
And now some of them are chopping down
branches from the palm tree to a Jew.
A palm was a sign of victory.
Victory?
Victory over what?
We're still standing here.
We still have our swords and our spears.
Rome is still in control.
The Roman eagle is flying over Jerusalem.
And look at this parade.
A bunch of peasants, a bunch of nobodies,
putting their old garments on the road, singing
an old Jewish song from Psalm 118, Hosanna,
save now!
And that Roman soldier just folded his arms
and looked with scorn.
You know why?
They would never do that in Rome.
When they had a parade in Rome, they
had a parade.
In fact, they had an official parade written
down in the Roman law books called the
Roman Triumph.
The Roman Triumph was Caesar's equivalent to our
ticker tape parade, except they didn't have ticker
tape.
And that was a joyful thing to the
people who swept up the streets.
If a commander-in-chief of a Roman
army on foreign soil won a complete victory
and killed at least 5,000 people and
brought home great spoils of battle as well
as illustrious prisoners, he was given a Roman
Triumph.
He was put into a very special chariot.
In some cases, it was a chariot that
was gilded with gold.
And they would start outside the city, and
the parade route was worked out just like
for the president's inauguration.
And in this parade would be the soldiers
of the triumphant general.
In this parade would be some of the
prisoners.
In this parade would be the Roman priests
waving their censers with incense burning in them.
In this parade would be some of the
spoil that he had brought home.
It was a triumphal procession.
It always ended up down at the Colosseum
or the circus.
And the prisoners were thrown to the lions.
And the citizens were entertained in this triumph.
So I can just see this Roman soldier
nudging his buddy and saying, parade, this is
a Jewish parade.
These people don't know what a parade is.
They should come to Rome and see a
Roman triumph.
But there's something that that soldier did not
know.
This was a triumph.
Oh, I know when you look at it
the way a newspaper reporter would look at
it, it doesn't look like much.
A motley group of peasants, a bunch of
garments, some torn down branches, a couple of
animals.
Doesn't look like much, but it was.
It was the beginning, as our hymn said
this morning, the beginning of his triumph.
You're going to keep a marker in Matthew
21 and you're going to turn to Colossians
chapter 2 and verses 14 and 15.
This is what our Lord Jesus did for
us on the cross.
Colossians chapter 2, 14 and 15, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it
out of the way, nailing it to his
cross.
It should have been my cross.
I had broken God's law and I should
have been on the cross.
But he went to the cross and on
that cross he nailed down once and for
all victory over the law, verse 15, and
having spoiled, that's a good word, having spoiled
principalities and powers, that means the devil and
his crowd, he made a show of them
openly, triumphing over them in it, in the
cross.
And when our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem,
he was riding to Calvary, and that Roman
soldier scornfully says, look at that parade.
They should see a Roman triumph.
And the angels from heaven say, Mr. Roman
soldier, this is a triumph.
That's Colossians 2, 14 and 15.
Now we will turn to 2 Corinthians 2,
14 and 15, where the Apostle Paul says
the very same thing and applies it to
our lives today.
2 Corinthians 2, 14, Now thanks be unto
God who always causes us to triumph.
Allow me to retranslate that, will you?
Now thanks be unto God who always leads
us in a triumphal procession in Christ and
makes manifest the fragrance of His knowledge by
us in every place.
Here he's talking about the triumphal procession.
Not only was Jesus riding in triumph, not
only did Jesus win triumphal victory on the
cross, but He says to me, come on,
join the parade.
Editors tell me when I send the manuscripts,
beware of using the word always.
Only God knows what is always.
Paul doesn't hesitate to use the word always.
He dares to tell me that in Jesus
Christ, there can always be a parade of
triumph.
I don't have to be the victim of
sin.
I don't have to give in to my
desires.
I don't have to be defeated by the
world and by the flesh and by the
devil.
Thanks be unto God who always leads us
in the triumphal procession in Jesus Christ.
In other words, we Christians are not fighting
for victory.
We are fighting from victory.
He's already won the battle.
Well, we've talked to the Roman soldier and
his response to this is scorn.
He doesn't realize the triumph that we have
in Christ.
Now, let's take our little tape recorder and
go down and talk to some of the
people in the crowd.
This multitude that was milling around the Lord
Jesus.
What was their response to the Lord Jesus?
Hope.
If ever a group of people were in
a hopeless situation, it was the Jewish people
during the time of Jesus.
It's no wonder that Matthew, when he talks
about the ministry of Jesus, says this.
The people who sat in darkness have seen
a great light.
And they who were in the shadow of
death, the sun has risen on them.
When Jesus came to his people and his
nation, he found the most hopeless people you
could ever want to find.
First of all, they were under Roman rule.
The proud Jewish nation, the nation of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob, was under the heel
of Rome.
That's the first thing.
Second thing is their temple was corrupt.
The glory of God was not in the
temple.
Out in the court of the Gentiles, where
the Jews should have been winning the Gentiles
into the true faith, the Jews were peddling
their religious objects.
The money changers were there.
The dove sellers were there.
The sacrifice sellers were there.
The temple was empty.
Until Jesus came into that temple, the glory
of God had not been there.
Until Jesus began to heal and minister, the
power of God had not been there.
Until that children's choir moved into that temple
and began to sing his praises, no true
praise of God had been there.
And so the people politically were in a
mess.
Spiritually, they were in a mess.
Economically, people today are worrying about inflation and
prices.
Back in those days, a man worked hard
16 hours a day to earn enough money
just for the next day.
They lived a day at a time.
Jesus said, you pray, give us day by
day our daily bread.
They knew nothing about bank accounts or dividends.
They just lived from day to day.
And so economically, there was no hope.
Prices were getting higher.
Jobs were getting scarcer.
Taxes were increasing.
And all of this without political conventions.
No hope.
Now, you can imagine the economic...
Well, you can live with the economic.
You can even live with the political.
But you can't live with that spiritual hopelessness.
A man says, I have to know where
I'm going.
A man says, I want to know what
goes on after death.
A man says, I have to do something
about my sin.
I go down to the temple, but all
they have are the blood of beasts.
And that blood can never take away my
sin.
Then Jesus came.
But there's a sad note here, a very
sad note.
This crowd who had heard him teach and
watched him perform miracles, this crowd did not
want him as their spiritual leader.
You know what they want him to do?
Deliver them from Rome.
I'm afraid that when this crowd sings, Hosanna
to the Son of David, they are thinking
politically.
The word hosanna means save now.
Save now, O Son of David.
Blessed is He that cometh in the name
of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
What they were saying is, Oh, Jesus, You're
the only One who can change our situation.
Can You deliver us from Rome?
Can You deliver us from economic instability?
Can You deliver us from taxes?
Oh, You are the One we've been waiting
for.
They tried this once before.
Sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, John
tells us that when Jesus fed the 5
,000, the 5,000 appointed a committee and
the committee said, Here's the man to make
king.
If he can take a few loaves and
fishes and multiply them and feed all these
people, he's the man who ought to be
king.
We will never have to worry about food.
And if he can do that, we don't
have to worry about our enemies.
He is the one to make king.
People are this way today.
They want Jesus to do everything but save
them.
I've visited people in hospitals and they say,
Oh, Pastor, if Jesus will just heal me.
Well, let me talk to you about your
sin.
No, no, I need to be healed.
What good is it to be healed and
go back and live in sin and die
and go to hell?
People are forever telling Jesus what they want
him to do.
They're not saying, Lord, what will thou have
me to do?
And the crowds had a response of hope,
but it was an ignorant hope.
They didn't even know who he was.
Did you notice that?
Who is this?
Verse 10, And the multitude said, This is
Jesus.
Now, there were hundreds of men named Jesus
in that day.
Jesus means Joshua.
Joshua is a great name among the Jews.
This is Jesus the prophet.
The prophet?
Yeah, the prophet.
Haven't you heard him speak?
Haven't you seen him do miracles?
This is Jesus the prophet.
The multitudes in verse 9 said he's the
son of David.
David had many descendants.
It's Zechariah who tells us who he is.
Verse 4, All this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the
prophets, saying, and here's a quotation from Zechariah
chapter 9 and verse 9, Tell ye the
daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh.
Thy king cometh unto thee meek.
He ought to come conquering.
Thy king cometh unto thee meek and sitting
upon an ass and a colt, the foal
of an ass, the fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecy.
Behold thy king.
Within a few days, Pilate would be saying,
Behold the man, behold your king.
And this multitude, not the same multitude, but
some of them, not the same people, but
some of them, would be crying out, we
have no king but Caesar.
Jesus himself tells us who he is in
verse 3.
The Lord.
If anybody says, why are you taking these
animals?
You shall say, the Lord has need of
him.
And when Jesus said the Lord, he's saying
Jehovah God.
Who is he?
He's Jehovah God.
Who is he?
He's Jesus, the Savior.
Who is he?
He is the king who comes in the
name of the Lord.
Now, who is he to you?
How many times have we sung, King of
my life, I cry.
Crown thee now, thine shall the glory be.
And then go right around and do anything
we want to do and never ask him
if it's right or wrong.
To the Romans, the response, scorn.
To the multitudes, hope.
But ignorant hope.
Let's take a minute to go and investigate
the Jewish leaders.
We'll take our little tape recorder and go
down to the temple and there up in
one of the high places of the temple
is the official council.
Here are the members of the council that
run the religion.
They run the temple.
They run the supermarket that was going on
down there.
And they're watching this demonstration.
And they've been watching Jesus for some time.
In fact, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the
dead, this crowd got together and said, kill
him.
Kill him.
And so here's this demonstration.
And the common people are praising.
And people are being healed.
And one priest turns to the other priest.
John tells us this in John chapter 12
and verse 19.
Behold, you can do nothing.
The whole world has gone after him.
And John doesn't record this, but I'm sure
it happens.
Someone said, no, we can do something.
We can do something.
Did you ever stop to realize that when
Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he did something he'd
never done before?
He precipitated a popular demonstration.
All during his earthly ministry, he'd never done
that.
He would heal somebody and say, keep your
mouth shut.
He would slip off by himself and try
to be hidden, but he could not be
hidden.
He would say to someone, don't tell them
who I am.
He said to his disciples, don't tell anybody
what you've seen and heard.
Until after my resurrection.
And now for the first time, our Lord
Jesus permits people to be involved in a
public demonstration.
Why did he do that?
Do you know why?
He was precipitating his own death.
The rulers of the nation had said, we'll
take care of him, but not during the
feast.
We'll do it after the feast.
But the prophet said, no, it has to
be during the feast.
The Lamb of God has to be slain
on Passover.
And so my Lord, when he came into
Jerusalem, precipitated his own execution.
Would you go into a parade if you
knew it was going to end on a
cross?
He did.
What was the response of the Jewish leaders?
Fear.
He had exposed their sin.
He had dealt with their treachery.
In the days to follow this event, he
would do so even more.
He deliberately challenged his enemies and he knew
it would end in death.
Now, this may come to you as a
surprise.
Did you know that when Jesus rode into
Jerusalem, he was not declaring war?
He was declaring peace.
There's a law back in the book of
Deuteronomy that the Jewish people were supposed to
follow.
Let me read it to you.
Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 10.
Moses gave this law.
When thou comest near unto a city to
fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
And it shall be, if it make thee
an answer of peace and open unto thee,
then it shall be that all the people
who are found therein shall be bond servants
unto thee and they shall serve thee.
And if it will make no peace with
thee, but will make war against thee, then
thou shall besiege it.
In other words, the armies of Israel first
declared peace.
And if peace was not accepted, then they
declared war.
God still does that.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
God declared peace, peace, honor.
Men declared war.
Herod said, who is this down there?
And he tried to kill him.
When my Lord Jesus came into Jerusalem, He
declared peace.
Luke tells us in Luke chapter 19 that
my Lord wept.
He said, if in this day, this thy
day, if only you would have known those
things that make for peace.
But now they're hid from your eyes.
Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have
gathered you together as a hen doth gather
her brood and you would not.
This was their day of opportunity.
God was offering peace on earth.
But Luke 19 tells me that they were
not saying peace on earth.
You know what they were saying?
Peace in heaven.
There's no peace on earth, but there is
peace in heaven.
And there can be peace in hearts for
those who will turn to heaven.
Peace in heaven, hosanna to him who comes
in the name of the Lord.
To the Jewish rulers, this demonstration brought fear.
When it could have brought peace and Jesus
wept over them.
Religion still sends people to hell.
Traditional man-made religion still sends people to
hell.
Legalism.
Here was the Savior with the offer of
peace.
And here were these Jewish rulers saying we
will not have this man to reign over
us.
And the result was 40 years later, their
city was ruined.
The Roman armies came and wrecked the city
and burned the temple and slaughtered the people.
Well, God declared peace and they declared war.
And when you declare war, that's what you
get.
And some of you are declaring war.
I will not have this man to be
my Savior.
We have one more interview.
To the Romans, a scorn.
To the multitudes, ignorant hope.
The Jewish rulers, fear.
Fear that turned into violence.
What was our Lord's attitude in all of
this?
How did our Lord respond to all of
this?
There's only one word I can think of.
I don't know of any other word that
will describe my Lord in the midst of
all of this.
And that word, you'll excuse me.
It's a word that's used so often that
we forget sometimes what it means.
Love.
In love, he obeyed the word of God
and came into the city.
Sealing his own death.
As you read the Gospel of Matthew, you
find this marvelous writer, this Jewish writer using
one phrase about a dozen times.
As it is written.
Because it is written.
Everything Jesus did, he did because it was
written.
Call his name Jesus, it is written.
He went to live in Nazareth because it's
written.
He did this because it is written.
He went to Galilee because it is written.
He got on this colt and rode into
Jerusalem because it's written.
But Lord, if you do this, you will
die.
That's why I'm doing it.
Is his reply.
In love, he obeyed the word.
In love, he forced the leaders to act.
That he might be crucified on Passover.
In love, he looked down upon the city
and he wept.
Can you imagine that?
The children are singing.
The disciples are praising.
The pilgrims who have come to Jerusalem are
rejoicing.
Hosanna!
And he's weeping.
You know why?
He could see what they couldn't see.
Judgment.
He could feel what they couldn't feel.
The burden of the sins of a blind
people.
And thank God he could do what nobody
else could do.
Die.
As you today think about the triumphal entry,
what do you see?
What's your response?
Is yours the response of scorn?
Then you will never know the triumph of
Christ.
Is your response the response of ignorant hope?
I want Jesus to get me a job.
I don't want him to save me.
I want Jesus to heal my body.
I don't want him to save me.
Then you'll never know what it means to
have him as the king of your life.
Is your response one of fear?
The earthquake has hit your heart and turned
over the foundations of your life.
There's nothing there.
Nothing there.
I trust that your response today will be
one of faith.
I trust that we will come to him
and lay before him our lives.
And say to him, as we have said
many times, but this time really mean it,
King of my life, I crown thee now.
Thine shall the glory be.
Because you and I have only one thing
we can give him.
Our lives.
And you have only one life.
May it be that today we will give
that to him.
For after all, he gave his life for
us.
Heavenly Father, we marvel at the love of
the Lord Jesus.
When we were sinners, he died for us.
When we were without strength, he died for
us.
When we were enemies, he died for us.
And today we would, by faith, give ourselves
afresh to him for whatever it is he
wants us to do.
Strip from us, O God, all pretense and
hypocrisy.
All business as usual ministry.
And may we today find ourselves prostrate at
his feet, available for his ministry.
Rejoicing in his will.
Glorifying his name.
Call that one, O God, who needs to
be saved.
Speak to that rebellious, disobedient believer who needs
to come back.
Encourage that Christian who is dedicated and obedient
to keep on.
And as we worship in this closing hymn,
may it come from our hearts.
For Jesus' sake, Amen.