Let's turn in our Bibles now to Psalm
118.
It is in this Psalm that David prophesies
of that day that Jesus would make his
triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
He begins it by saying, this is the
day that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
It is the day that the Messiah would
present himself to the nation as the King.
When David said, this is the day that
the Lord has made, he's not talking about
just any day.
He's talking about one special day that God
had designed to present to the world His
Son, the Messiah.
The Psalm 118, beginning with the 22nd verse,
actually deals with Jesus as Messiah, but we'll
read the entire Psalm.
I'll read the first and the outnumbered verses.
Pastor Brian will lead you, the congregation, in
the even-numbered verses, and shall we stand
as we read Psalm 118.
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He
is good, for His mercy endureth forever.
Let Israel now say that His mercy endureth
forever.
Let the house of Aaron now say that
His mercy endureth forever.
Let them now that fear the Lord say
that His mercy endureth forever.
I called upon the Lord in distress, and
the Lord answered me, and He set me
in a large place.
The Lord is on my side.
I will not fear.
What can man do unto me?
The Lord taketh my part with them that
help me.
Therefore shall I see my desire upon them
that hate me.
It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
All nations come past me about, but in
the name of the Lord will I destroy
them.
They come past me about, yes, they come
past me about, but in the name of
the Lord I will destroy them.
They come past me about like bees.
They are quenched as the fire of thorns,
for in the name of the Lord I
will destroy them.
Thou hast thrust sore at me that I
might fall, but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and song and
has become my salvation.
The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in
the tabernacle of the righteous.
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
The right hand of the Lord is exalted.
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
I shall not die but live and declare
the works of the Lord.
The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he
hath not given me over unto death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness.
I will go into them and I will
praise the Lord.
This gate of the Lord into which the
righteous shall enter.
I will praise thee for thou hast heard
me and art become my salvation.
The stone which the builders refused is become
the headstone of the corner.
This is the Lord's doings.
It's marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord hath
made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord, O
Lord, I beseech thee, send now salvation.
Blessed be he that cometh in the name
of the Lord.
We have blessed thee out of the house
of the Lord.
God is the Lord which hath showed us
light.
Bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the
horns of the altar.
Thou art my God and I will praise
thee.
Thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
And together, O give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever.
Lord, we give thanks to you because your
mercy is as high as the heavens are
above the earth.
So great is your mercy towards those that
fear you.
We thank you, Lord, that your mercy not
only stretches to the heavens, but your mercy
lasts forever.
Your mercy endureth forever.
Lord, we thank you that in your mercy,
in your love and in your grace, you
sent your only begotten Son to this world.
You sent him, Lord, to bring redemption, to
bring salvation, to present himself to the world
as the King, as the Lord.
Lord, we realize that you came to your
own, but your own received you not.
That though the world was made by you,
yet the world knew you not.
How thankful we are, Lord, that you've come
to us, that we might open our hearts
and receive you and to crown you as
Lord of our lives.
We pray, Father, that this day, this day
in which we remember that momentous day when
you came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey,
the day that you presented yourself to be
the King, that, Lord, this day we will
make you the Lord and King of our
lives.
In Jesus' name, Father.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Tonight we will be studying King Hezekiah, 2
Kings chapters 18 through 20.
Fascinating King.
A lot to learn from his life.
Now, I know that a lot of you,
as you read through the week, you try
to figure out just where is Chuck going
to draw his sermon this morning?
Well, we're going to do something a little
different.
We're not going to draw our sermon out
of 2 Kings 18 through 20.
But if I had, I would have chosen
the verse where Hezekiah took the brass serpent
that Moses had made in the wilderness, and
he broke it in pieces and called it
Nehushtan, because it had become actually an idol,
an object of worship by the people.
And he breaks it and he said, Nehushtan,
it's only a thing of brass, it's not
of God.
And so that's what I would have spoken
on this morning.
And you can figure out what I might
have said.
But because it is Palm Sunday, we're going
to go to Luke's gospel and read Luke's
account of this entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
to present himself to them as the Messiah.
Beginning with verse 29, and this is a
free translation, but I think you'll be able
to follow.
And it came to pass, when he was
coming near to Bethphage and to Bethany, at
the mount that is called the Mount of
Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying,
go into the village that is next to
us.
And when you enter, you'll find a colt
that is tied, on which a man has
never sat.
Loose him and bring him to me.
And if any man ask you, why are
you loosing him?
Say to him, because the Lord needs him.
And they that were sent went their way
and found even as he had said unto
them.
And as they were loosing the colt, the
owners thereof said unto them, why are you
loosing the colt?
And they said, the Lord needs him.
And they brought him to Jesus and they
cast their garments upon the colt and they
set Jesus thereon.
And as he went, they spread their clothes
in the way.
And when he was come near, even now
to the descent of the Mount of Olives,
the whole multitude of the disciples began to
rejoice and to praise God with a loud
voice for all of the mighty works that
they had seen, saying, blessed is the king
that comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
And some of the Pharisees among the multitude
said unto him, Master, rebuke your disciples.
And he said unto them, I tell you
that if they should hold their peace, the
stones would immediately cry out.
And as he was coming near, as he
beheld the city, he began to weep over
it, saying, if you had only known at
least in this thy day, as David said,
this is the day that the Lord has
made.
If you had only known in this thy
day, the peace that you could have, but
now it's hid from your eyes.
For the days are coming when your enemies
will build a trench around you.
They will encircle you and shut you up
on every side, and they shall lay you
even with the ground and your children with
you, and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another, because you knew not
the day of your visitation.
Speaking of this day, the psalmist in prophecy
said, this is the day that the Lord
has made.
We will be glad and rejoice in it.
It is the day that the nation of
Israel had been anticipating and longing for, the
day when the Messiah would appear.
It was the day that the Old Testament
was constantly pointing to, that special day when
the Messiah would come, the deliverer of Israel.
This is the day that the Messiah was
to be presented to them.
And as the prophet Zechariah said, Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you.
He is just, he has salvation, but he
is lowly.
He will be riding on a donkey upon
a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Here he is, riding into Jerusalem on a
donkey.
Your king is coming.
The people start singing the 118th Psalm.
They recognize, that is the disciples were recognizing
that he is now presenting himself unto the
nation as their Messiah.
They are singing Hosanna, which is save now.
Blessed is the king.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
And as the Pharisees heard them singing this
Messianic Psalm, they recognized that they were acknowledging
him as the Messiah.
And so they said to Jesus, you better
quiet them, that's blasphemy.
And that is when Jesus said, if they
would at this moment hold their peace, these
very stones would cry out.
This is that one special day in the
history of man.
The day when God would keep his promise
and send his son, the Messiah, into the
world.
Daniel had said that 483 years after the
commandment had been given to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem, the Messiah would come.
It has now been 483 years since Artaxerxes
signed the decree in 445 BC to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem.
In fact, it was 483 years to the
day.
This is the day that the Lord has
made, riding on a donkey, coming into the
city of Jerusalem.
Jesus is presenting himself to the nation as
their Messiah, as their King.
Lowly riding on a donkey.
When Chesterton was thinking about that, he wrote,
when fishes flew and forest walked and figs
grew on a thorn, some moment when the
moon was blood, then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry and ears
like errant wings, the devil's walking parody of
all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth, of ancient
crooked will.
Mock me, scourge me, I am dumb, but
I hold my secrets still.
Fools, I also had my day, one far
fierce day and sweet.
I heard the shouts about my ears, and
there were palm branches at my feet.
The day that the Lord had made, lowly
riding on a donkey, coming into Jerusalem.
483 years from the day the commandment went
forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, right on
time the Messiah is presenting himself to the
people as their King.
But wait a minute, something's wrong here.
As they approach and get near to the
city, the King is weeping.
Why is he weeping?
Is it because he knows that they're going
to reject him?
In the prophecy of Daniel, in which he
told the day that the Messiah would come,
he said, but the Messiah will be cut
off and not receive the kingdom.
In the prophecy of David, in which he
declared, this is the day that the Lord
has made, David said, but he will be
rejected by the builders.
Isaiah, who prophesied of the coming Messiah said,
he will be despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Again, David writing of him said, I am
a reproach of man.
I'm despised by the people.
And again, in Psalm 69, as David was
speaking again of his Messiah, he said, you
have known my reproach and my shame and
my dishonor and my adversaries are before thee.
Reproach has broken my heart.
I am full of heaviness.
And I looked for someone to take pity.
There was none for someone to comfort, but
I found none.
And they gave me gall for my meat.
And in my thirst, they gave me vinegar
to drink.
It's almost as if David were observing the
scene, though it would not take place for
over a thousand years from the time he
wrote it.
But he could see the King weeping as
he declared, reproach has broken my heart.
I'm full of heaviness.
I looked for someone to take pity.
There was none.
As perhaps a reference to coming to the
garden with the disciples and finding them asleep
instead of praying.
And then to the cross where they gave
him gall for his meat and in his
thirst, they gave him vinegar.
Was it because he knew that he was
to be rejected that he was weeping?
I believe that it was not that he
was to be rejected that caused the weeping.
But the fact that he could see what
tragedy would befall them because they did reject
him.
He went ahead and he prophesied of the
horrors that they were going to experience.
The Roman troops will set a siege against
thee.
They will encircle thee.
And he saw the starvation.
He saw the calamities that would take place
in the people as Josephus describes in vivid
detail what was going on within the city
of Jerusalem as a result of the siege
by the Romans as they became hungrier and
as they began to maraud and kill one
another and and the infighting within Jerusalem itself
as Josephus said they killed more of each
other than the Romans killed.
Jesus could see the little children being dashed
in the streets and he was weeping because
of the tremendous price that they would have
to pay because they did not know the
day of his coming.
If they had only known this thy day
at least Jesus said in this thy day
the things that belong to your peace.
If you only knew what God was wanting
to do for you at least in this
thy day.
But it's hid from your eyes.
Now let me digress for just a moment.
Bear with me.
Let's take a little side road.
We'll come back to the main road in
a moment.
When Jesus was with his disciples four evenings
later having the Passover supper with them.
After the supper as he was talking to
them he was saying things that were very
troubling to them.
He said I'm going to go away from
you now and where I'm going you can't
come right away.
You will come later.
They said why can't we come with you?
Peter said Lord I'll go with you wherever
you go even unto death.
Jesus then predicted Peter's denial and then he
said let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God believe also in me.
For in my father's house there are many
mansions and if it were not so I
would have told you.
And I'm going to prepare a place for
you that where I am there you may
be also.
And where I'm going you know in the
way you know.
And Thomas who never pretended to know anything
he didn't said Lord we don't know where
you're going how can we know the way?
And Jesus said I am the way the
truth and the life and no man cometh
to the father but by me.
And if you have known me you should
have known the father also.
And from henceforth you have known him and
have seen him.
And Philip said unto him Lord just show
us the father and it will suffice us.
And Jesus said have I not been so
long a time with you Philip?
Haven't you seen me?
He that hath seen me hath seen the
father.
Let's go back now.
Jesus is weeping.
Jesus is weeping because the people as the
result of their blindness are going to be
exposed to such misery, such sorrow, such pain.
Jesus said if you have seen me you
have seen the father.
As they saw Jesus weeping over Jerusalem they
saw God weeping over the tragedy that a
man brings upon himself when he rejects the
Messiah as being king in his life.
God said to Ezekiel say to the people
as I live saith the Lord God I
have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked but I desire that the wicked would
turn from his ways and live.
Turn turn from your evil ways for why
will you die O house of Israel?
God weeping over the blindness of the people
because he knows what it will cost them.
God had appointed that they should receive their
Messiah.
This was the day that the Lord had
made he had set the appointment and now
the day has come.
The Messiah is riding in on a donkey
but rather than receiving him he was set
of not by the leaders by the rulers.
They despised and rejected him and thus they
have exposed themselves and their future generations unto
bitter heartache, tribulation, persecution.
Even to the present day they are still
suffering as a nation because they had rejected
God's son whom he sent right on schedule
to be their king.
On another occasion Jesus said O Jerusalem Jerusalem
you have killed the prophets you have stoned
those which were sent unto you and how
often would I have gathered your children together
even as a hen gathers her chicks under
her wings but you would not.
Behold your house is left unto you desolate
for I say unto you you shall not
see me again until you say blessed is
he that comes in the name of the
Lord.
I believe that Israel is coming to that
point with all of the tragedy and the
problems that they have with all of the
terrorism and their seeming inability to stop it.
With all of the nations of the world
seemingly opposed to them taking the proper and
necessary means to stop the terrorist.
I think that they're getting close to the
place where they're going to say blessed is
he who comes in the name of the
Lord.
The Antichrist is going to come he's going
to deceive them for a while but after
three and a half years their eyes will
be open they'll realize this fellow's a fraud.
Their worst times are yet to come they're
going to be driven from the land.
They'll find refuge over in Jordan but there
they will begin to cry blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord
and their king will come again.
This time he will come with all of
his saints in the clouds of glory to
establish the kingdom upon the earth and this
time they will receive him.
But oh the pain and the misery that
they've experienced through the centuries because they didn't
know the things that belonged to their peace
in this the day that God had made.
A day of rejoicing but it turned into
a day of sorrow because though he came
to his own his own received him not.
The promised Messiah.
I believe that there is a day in
every man's life that Jesus presents himself to
that person as king.
And when that day comes and this could
be your day a person either receives or
rejects him as king but as many as
receive him we read God gives to them
the power to become the sons of God
even to those who believe upon his name
but to those that reject we read in
Hebrews that if you continue in your sins
after you've come to the knowledge that he
is the Messiah God has made no other
provision for your sins so all you have
to look forward to is that certain judgment
and fiery indignation of God's wrath which he
will destroy his enemies for if a person
despised Moses' law they were put to death
how much greater punishment do you suppose the
person will receive who is trodden under his
foot the son of God who has disdained
his blood which was shed for our sins
who has despised the spirit of grace for
the writer said we know him who said
vengeance is mine and I will repay and
again it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God as
Jesus presents himself to you as king either
you crown him Lord of your life or
you turn your back you despise the spirit
of grace you count the blood of his
covenant as something that you're not interested in
you trodden under your foot the son of
God and there only awaits for you a
certain fearful judgment of God that will come
upon all of those who have rejected the
king because God has made no other provision
for a man's salvation than through Jesus Christ
as he said to the disciples I am
the way the truth the life and no
man comes to the father but by me
this could be your day he is presenting
himself to you you can do one of
two things receive him as king or reject
him as did the jews and miss the
peace of God that God would grant to
you today miss the blessings that God wishes
to bestow upon you the blessings of knowing
God and fellowshipping with God miss the joy
of God's presence in your life for in
his presence there is fullness of joy this
thy day Jesus said if you only knew
the things that belong to your peace this
is the day that the Lord has made
we will rejoice and be glad in it
a day of rejoicing for those that receive
a day of sadness for those that reject
let's pray father we thank you for the
way that you keep your promises that your
promises do not fail that even as you
had promised 483 years after arctic xerxes signed
that decree the king came riding in on
a donkey to present himself to the people
Lord even as you come to us this
day we pray that we might receive you
as king of our lives submit and surrender
ourselves to you that we might know the
joy of fellowshipping with the living God I
pray father for those that are here that
they too will join in receiving and acclaiming
you as Lord of their lives in Jesus
name amen shall we stand this is the
day that the Lord has made for you
and as you leave the church today you
either leave it having received him as king
or having rejected there are no other ways
if you'd like to receive him as king
and Lord of your life the pastors are
down here at the front of the church
to pray for you and I would encourage
you as soon as we're dismissed that you
would make your way forward and down to
the front where these pastors are waiting for
you and they're wanting to pray with you
that you might experience the joy and the
peace that only Jesus can bring to a
troubled heart to a troubled life your opportunity
to crown him the Lord of your life
and so we pray that God's spirit will
work in a very special way and that
you would respond to it by surrendering your
life to Jesus now may the Lord be
with you watch over and keep you in
this week that is so important to the
church the week in which we remember his
death and we rejoice in his resurrection may
God bless you and just watch over you
and keep you in his love the Lord
bless thee bless thee and keep thee the
Lord make his face to shine upon thee
and be gracious unto thee and be gracious
unto thee the Lord lift up lift up
his countenance upon thee and give thee peace