Audio Transcript:

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Hello, welcome to this worship experience online from Mosaic Boston Brookline. We're so glad you're here. If you are a member of Mosaic or a regular attender, thank you for tuning in. We love you, we miss you. We're praying with you personally and as a staff, we're praying with you. I've been using the phrase, "Praying with you with all of my essence and with everything I've got," and I know many of you are struggling and in this difficult time, we need to lean into the Lord like never before.

If you're not part of the Mosaic community, welcome as well. We'd like to use this opportunity to welcome you into the community. We miss the normal. I miss normal. I miss normality, and that's one of the reasons why we this week, are specifically celebrating Holy Week. Today is Palm Sunday. On Friday, we'll together worship the Lord, Jesus Christ and remember his suffering on the cross. That'll be Friday at 7 PM. Then that following Sunday, Easter Sunday, we'll have another service.

I miss normal. I miss worshipping together. I miss singing with everything I've got. I miss my kids going to school. I miss Starbucks. I miss good coffee, not the Trader Joe's coffee. I miss Red Sox and I miss sports and perhaps that's ... I even miss the traffic in Boston. I do. I miss the angry Boston drivers so much.

In this difficult time, we need the normal I think more than ever, and we can rest assured that God hasn't changed. The omnipotent God of the universe is perfect. He doesn't need to change, and we can lean into that stability and anchor our souls and our emotions in that truth. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word.

Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you for this time that you've given us together, to worship together in spirit and in truth because you are God of spirit and truth. Lord, fill our hearts with your love and peace. A peace that transcends all understanding. Now Lord, I pray that you minister those who are struggling. There are many who are struggling. Lord, be close to them. Fill us with your strength. Help us focus on the gospel. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

If you know me, I'm not an emotional guy. I don't express it and this week's been a roller coaster of emotion. I feel like one moment I'm encouraged in the Lord by everything that He's doing and I see so much of what He's doing drawing people close to Himself. The other, like the very next minute, you almost feel hopeless. One moment you're encouraged and excited by God building his kingdom and then sorrowful at all the suffering around us.

I miss preaching to people. Right now, I'm in a room with a camera. I miss the tit for tat. I feel like preaching at Mosaic on a weekly basis is like tennis, you hit the ball and everyone responds and they hit it back. Right now, it's like playing golf, you hit it and it goes God knows where. God does know where. In a week so full of the ups and downs of emotion, I had a conversation with a buddy of mine who is a financial professional. We were talking about the stock market and he said, "It's a roller coaster and the only one that gets hurt riding a roller coaster is a person who jumps off." I encourage you, don't jump off. We're not jumping off, we're in this together.

As we enter Holy Week, Holy Week was a week full of emotion as well. It begins with people screaming out, "Hosanna, God save us. Jesus, you are king. Lord, you are to be worshipped," and then almost immediately, there's confrontation and then betrayal and denial, and trial and scourging, and crucifixion and a tomb, and then it all crescendos with the most electrifying sentence ever uttered, "He's not here. He's risen. Jesus is alive."

Palm Sunday today marks the remembrance of the beginning of the most important week in the most important life of the most important person who ever lived. I challenge you this week to read these accounts. To sit down and read these accounts, perhaps by yourself or with your family in Matthew, it's chapters 21 through 28. In Mark, it's chapters 11 through 16. John, chapters 12 through 21. Read it. Read it prayerfully. Read it and meditate upon these deep truths.

The context is late March, and it's fitting because we've gone through perhaps the worst March of our lives. I've been entertained by all the creative genius that's coming out of this crisis despite the fact that it's a crisis. My favorite memes are the ones where it's a picture of someone at the beginning of March and a picture of someone at the end of March. My favorite one was baby Yoda. March 1st was baby Yoda and then end of March was real Yoda, and that's kind of how we feel and that's kind of the sense that we're about to enter into.

There's excitement at the beginning of Jesus entering into Jerusalem and the excitement is palpable. It's palpable in the crisp, cool, spring air in Jerusalem. Thousands of Jewish spiritual pilgrims have entered Jerusalem from all over the world for the upcoming Passover feast, and the word has spread that Jesus Christ, Jesus this itinerant rabbi, this teacher, this prophet, this healer, he's here. Jesus has just resurrected Lazarus. Brought Lazarus back from the dead by saying, "Lazarus, come forth," and people have seen that. They've heard the message. They've seen Lazarus. Perhaps Lazarus is right there with Jesus as Jesus is entering Jerusalem.

That atmosphere is filled with messianic fervor and also at the same time, mixed in with hatred for Roman rule. Jesus observed the Sabbath from Friday to Saturday evening at Bethany and then he woke up Sunday morning to enter Jerusalem, and this is the first day of the last week of his first earthly life. Would you look at the text with me today? We're in Matthew 21, 1 through 11. Matthew 21, 1 through 11.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowd said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

This is preaching and reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. I want to give you a dose of normality. We're back to our points. I've got four points for the sermon today. We'll talk about Jesus as the rightful king, the gentle king, the zealous king, and the victorious king.

First, Jesus is the rightful king. Just to set the historic and literary context right before this text, Jesus Christ has actually just healed miraculously a blind man. This is the story, Matthew 20, verse 29.

And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" And stopping, Jesus called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened." And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

Now what's fascinating about this text and the reason why it's important that it comes right before Jesus entering in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, is that they cry out and say, "Lord, please save us," and the term that they use is Son of David. It's a messianic title. It's a title that was prophesied centuries before, that the Messiah is coming. The Messiah will be a Son of David, and He will sit on the throne of David and rule eternally.

Every single time that someone actually proclaimed Jesus as a Son of David prior to this text, Jesus always rebuked them and said, "Keep that to yourself. Don't make that public. Not yet. It's not time." Now Jesus, He takes it and He says, "Yes," He responds to the call and says, "I am the Son of David. I am the ultimate king," He openly declares Himself as king. That's the texts that proceeds our text when Jesus, as He's entering into Jerusalem. He sends out two of His disciples and that's verse 1, and he says to them verse 2, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them," and he will send them at once."

Now this is interesting. He doesn't tell them ask for permission. He just said, "Just do it. Go up to this house. You see a donkey, just take it. Don't ask anyone for permission. If anyone says anything, you tell them, 'The Lord needs it,'" and uses the term kurios for himself, "I am the Lord." This is really important because Jesus right here, He is orchestrating. He is directing everything. Nothing here surprises Him. He wasn't surprised by the fact that people are going to welcome Him and proclaim Him as the Messiah. He wasn't surprised by the fact that He would be confronted. He wasn't surprised by the fact that He would be betrayed or denied. He's orchestrating every single one of these details because He is king of everything.

He plainly refers to himself as Lord, and here, we can just apply this to ourselves now. God is sovereign, over every single detail of world history, of every single detail of our lives. We can trust Him, that His plan is good. For those who love God and are called to be His, everything together will work for the good. We can trust Him. The disciples immediately and humbly submit to this command.

In Matthew 21:6, The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

Sometimes the Lord calls us to do something that seems trivial, that seems incredibly insignificant. We've been talking, perhaps you've been talking about essential work and non-essential work, and scripture offers deep theology of work that anything done to the glory of God is essential work. In particular, anything that we do that will obey God is essential work. Caring for yourself is essential work. Caring for those who are close to you is essential work. Husbands to care for your wives, you have that responsibility, that's essential work. Wives tenderly love and respect your husbands, that's essential work. To keep ourselves in the Lord right now, it's essential work to fight sin. It's essential work, there's no excuse right now. There's no excuse. Despite the pandemic, there's no excuse to seek comfort in sin.

Matthew 21: 4 and 5, This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"

Charles Jennens in 1741 wrote the lyrics for Handel's Messiah. Incredible work with incredible lyrics. What's fascinating about the lyrics of Handel's Messiah is there's very little content about the life of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus. It's focused on the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the redemptive story, God's redemptive work. It goes from Christmas to Good Friday and there's one moment where the angels sing, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill towards men," and then, "Behold, the lamb of God, who's come to take away the sins of the world."

One thing that Charles Jennens included in the lyrics of Handel's Messiah, one thing he includes is this triumphal entry. He alludes to it by quoting Zechariah. Zechariah 9:9, this is a prophecy written centuries before Christ was even born.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your kind is coming to you: righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

When Jesus mounts this donkey and specifically, a purebred colt as promised, Jesus is presenting Himself as Israel's king, as the promised king. That's why it says, "Behold, your king has come." An even older prophecy written centuries before the one in Zechariah that's often overlooked is when Jacob pronounced the blessing on his son Judah in Genesis 49: 10 and 11.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

The prophecy's given to us in the book of Genesis. The book of beginnings promises that the Messiah will come. The true king will come from the tribe of Judah. In some way, He's going to be associated to the colt of a donkey. The crowds recognized this, that Jesus as He meekly rides in on a donkey. He's fulfilling a prophecy. He's doing what Solomon did in riding on David's donkey in order to begin His reign. This is how the crowds react, verse 8 ...

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

Jesus is the Son of David. He comes in the name of the Lord. He is the Lord of the name that is above all names, and they welcome Him with a procession of praise and they give Jesus exactly what He deserves. They give Jesus exactly what He's worthy of, because He is the true and rightful king. The application here for us is do you recognize Jesus's kingship? Do you recognize that He is glorious king? If so, we are to submit and worship Him. In the same way that the crowds cast down or threw down, laid down their garments, we are to lay down our hearts and lay down our wills in absolute surrender to the God of the universe, Jesus Christ the king above all kings.

We are to welcome His reign. Lord, govern us. Lord, govern our thoughts and our hearts and our wills, our desires. We praise you. Govern everything about our lives. Order everything in our lives. From our feelings, to our finances, to our sexuality, to our understanding of gender, to our understanding of politics, of everything. Lord, govern us.

Verse 10, And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowd said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

Jesus is the rightful king. He's also the gentle king. In ancient times as kings rode into cities after coming back from war, they would display their power and their wealth, and the expectation is that Jesus, if you are the king of kings, where is your mighty army? Where are the spoils of victory? Why aren't you bearing the prizes of this dazzling victory in showing us exactly how great of a king you are?

Well, it's to show us that the rightful king is actually also a gentle king. There's no pomp and circumstances. Humility and meekness, and that's why Zechariah prophesizes and says, "Behold, your king, he's humble or he's gentle." Gentleness is symbolized here by the mode of transport. Kings when they came from battle, they had a war horse, a stallion. Jesus, where's your stallion? He's riding a donkey, a borrowed donkey at that. Donkeys were like the Toyota Camrys of modes of transportation. I can say that because I've driven a Camry for the past 15 years. Love Camrys. Trusty, but it's a Camry. That's what He's driving.

It's to show His gentleness and then also, we see the gentleness of the king and the fact that in the prophecy it says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you." It doesn't say son of Zion, it doesn't say song of daughter. God does that intentionally. What God here is communicating, this is what He's communicating, that He loves us with a tender and gentle love, as a father, a good father has for his daughters.

Been blessed with four daughters and they're all incredible, so precious. Sophia, Elizabeth, Katarina, she goes by Ekat, or Katia, and Melana, 11, nine, five, and two. I love them with this tender love. With all of my strength, I pour into loving them tenderly, and that's what the text is communicating. That's who God is. He loves us with a tender love. Do you know this God? The God who loves with a tender love.

However, we are not to confuse God's tenderness and His gentleness with weakness. With the same strength that I love my daughters tenderly, I will martial every single ounce of that strength to protect them. I've got lots of strength. Some of you are missing the gym. I'm not. I've got a gym in my basement. It's called the Vezikov Powerhouse Gym. I've been chasing gains daily. If push comes to shove, if someone wants to inflict harm on my daughters, I will martial every single ounce of that strength to protect them. This is what the text is communicating. That God is tender in His love toward his children. However, He's not weak, and He will protect.

The proceeding verses in Zechariah 9 talks about a God who will destroy His enemies. His enemies who want to inflict pain on His children. Following verse after the promise of the gentle king, the following verse in Zechariah 9 shows that He will conquer mighty armies, and this is Zechariah 9:10. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

That's why in Handel's Messiah there's a line that says, "He shall speak peace onto the heathen." The reason why they use that verse, the heathen is a godless pagan and perhaps that word rubs us the wrong way, "What does he mean calling us heathens?" Well, he's saying this is each of us. We're godless pagans in and of ourselves, and Jesus comes offering us peace. He comes offering us reconciliation. Jesus is the prince of peace and the king of kings. He's the universal king, to save people from every people, tribe, language, and nation.

Now the question is, will you receive this peace? Will you receive this forgiveness? Will you receive this acquittal? If so, then Jesus is the prince of peace, and God loves you with a tender love. But peace can only be had if we submit our weapons of war against God. Peace can only be had if we disarms ourselves. If we recognize that deep in our hearts we rebel against God. If we're honest with ourselves, we don't want God to rule over us. Deep inside if we're honest with ourselves, when we look at some of the teachings of scripture, there's something that arises within us. A rebellious spirit. It's like our hearts are full of hissing scorpions when we hear about God's reign.

Jesus comes and He says, "I'm offering you peace. I'm offering you shalom." Shalom is the presence of welfare that's only given after there's an absence of warfare. Jesus says, "I want to give you welfare. I want to give you this presence of universal flourishing, but you need to repent. You need to humble yourself before the God of the universe." He is God.

We are to lay down our weapons against God, and this is what repentance is. God forgive me. God, I have rebelled against your will. God, there are things in scripture, things that I read that I am uncomfortable with, but Lord, I know that you are a God who loves gently and tenderly so I submit to your goodwill and your good purpose. There's this deliberate juxtaposition of majesty and meekness. Meekness of course, isn't weakness. Meekness is actually strength or power under control.

You see that the omnipotent who's gentle and He's gentle with the humble, but He will vanquish His enemies. He will vanquish the proud. For the proud, He has a rod of iron and for the gentle, for the humble, He has a scepter of love. That's why Malachi asks in the day of judgment, "Lord, who can stand before you in the day of judgment? Who can abide at the day of judgment before you?" Jesus here is the one who says, "Those who are in me, those who are mine, those who have humbled themselves before me, they will be protected."

Jesus is our king. Once we enter His kingdom, once we're transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved son, He is a good king. He's gentle toward His subjects. Think of how gently Jesus healed. How gently He healed the blind men who cried out, "Jesus, heal me. Jesus, I'm blind. Jesus, I want to see." When we cry out to God, "Lord, save me," He gently touches us and gives us sight. He gives us spiritual sight.

Think of how gently Jesus heals, how children are brought to Him and He lays His hands upon their heads and He prays for them and He blesses them gently, tenderly. When Peter cuts off the ear of the servant when Jesus was being arrested, Jesus takes the ear and gently puts it back. The same way when we come to the Lord and we ask for His gentle touch, He has the authority and the desire to heal with the same regal grace He helps everyone who comes to Him.

When we come humbly and repentantly, He treats us lovingly. Not roughly or abusively. He rules with a gentle strength that brings healing and wholeness, and when we are disobedient, He gently restores us to the right path. When we are disheartened, He gently encourages us. When we are downcast, He wipes away our tears. He has the power to help in the gentleness to heal. He reigns upon a throne of grace and we have access to this throne of grace even now.

How are we to serve this king? We are to do it with gentleness. Gentleness is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit and we are to live lives demonstrating the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. Scripture says, "Let your reasonableness or gentleness be known and evident to all." We worship a king who rode in on a donkey. Some people are still at war with this king, because we're still sitting on our high horse. We are to get off and get on our knees and cry out, "Lord, save us."

The same gentleness actually changed the life of Handel, of George Frideric Handel, naturally he wasn't a gentle man, actually he was difficult to work with and harsh in judgment. Yet after composing this work, he donated all of the proceeds of this work to the poor and needy. According to an 18th century historian, he says, "From that time to the present, this great work has been heard in all parts of the kingdom with increasing reverence and delight; it has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan ... more than any single production in this or any country."

Though humble and modest, Jesus is still king. "Behold, your king is coming to you." Here are the texts, this is what God is ... He's forcing this issue. He is humble and He gentle but He is not modest. Jesus is actually the most immodest person who has ever lived. He declared Himself the king of the universe because He is the king of the universe. He's riding a donkey, but He's still the king. Why? This gets to the heart of the gospel.

Sin is us usurping the throne of the king. The servant taking the place of the king. We don't want you to rule over us. We don't want you to define life. We don't want you to define reality. We don't want you to tell us what to do. God sees our hardness of hearts, and He sends His son Jesus Christ and Jesus is the king submitting to the punishment that the servant deserved. That's what happened on the cross. Jesus Christ died on a cross for our sins, bearing the penalty that we deserve for our rebelling. It's the king dying for the servant, to forgive the servant, to pardon the servant, to make the servant a child of God.

Jesus says, "I'm the king but I'm not a king like you think." What if Jesus did free the people of Israel from Roman rule? That's what they wanted. They didn't want pardon of sin. They wanted Jesus to take over. They wanted Jesus to free them from the Romans. Imagine if Jesus did that. Imagine if Jesus today, if the only thing He offered was to save us from Corona? That's not our greatest enemy. If that's all He did, what would happen to our guilt and our shame? What would happen to the spiritual emptiness we feel inside? What would happen to the emptiness in the sense of nakedness that we feel before a Holy God? What would happen with our desperation to prove ourselves to justify our existence, to justify our morality, to justify ourselves? What would happen?

Jesus didn't come just to free us from the Romans or from Corona, He came to free us from sin and liberate us from death. Matthew 21: 8 through 10 ...

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

Hosanna in the Hebrew, it means save us. Oh Lord, save us now. Please save us. Psalm 118: 25 and 26 ... Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

Jesus is the rightful king, He's a gentle king and He's also a zealous king. In the text immediately following our text verse 12 ...

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."

Jesus began His ministry by cleansing the temple and this is the second time He cleanses the temple. He began his ministry, John 2, by doing this, John 2: 14 though 16 describes this cleansing in verse 17 of John 2 it says, "Zeal for your house has consumed me." Zeal and love are intertwined. They're the opposite sides of the same coin. The more you love someone, the more zealous you are to protect them from harm. Jesus here is zealous for the glory of God and He's zealous for people to know the true God, to know the true way of salvation.

You could just imagine this scene, there's lots of people and talking about crowds now just doesn't make any sense. Just go back to the summer in Haymarket. There's thousands of people and that's what's going on in the temple. In the Passover week, people would come and bring a sacrifice to atone for their sins according to the Old Testament, ceremonial laws and in a typical week, 255,000 animals were bought and sacrificed.

Now people saw an opportunity to make money off of these spiritual pilgrims and their laws made that Roman coins were unclean and they couldn't be used and that's why you have money-changers who are making money off those transactions. These people are selling animals as people traveled to the temple, they couldn't carry animals or bring animals with them, they had to purchase them at the place. It was the only place to purchase the animals so obviously, the prices were absurd. They're making money hand over fist and they're profiteering off of these people who want to meet God. They want to worship God. These profiteers are preying upon those who want to pray to God.

What they're doing is, and this is what makes Jesus so angry, they're selling access to God. They're selling access to God through themselves and Jesus here, if you're not familiar with Christ, if you're not familiar with the readings of scripture, you might be surprised that Jesus here is so angry. One of the reasons why you might be surprised is because you don't attribute anger to God. God is the Holy God, of course.

Anger in and of itself is not sinful. There's holy anger and there's unholy anger. Jesus here feels anger at people mis-characterizing God. Why? Because He loves God so much and He loves people so much. If God is mis-characterized, then people can't meet God, the true God. We as believers, we are to feel a zeal as well. Back in the Old Testament, people are selling access to God and saying, "This is how you can be made right with God, buy these sacrifices."

In our day and age, we have the opposite problem. The pendulum has swung in the completely opposite direction. Back then they said, "You have to make yourself right with God through these actions." Nowadays, mis-characterization of God is you don't have to do anything to be made righteous before God. There's no need for sacrifice. You're fine. The only thing that you need to do to go to heaven is die. You die. You go to heaven. That's a lie. It's a mis-characterization of God.

Jesus here is zealous for God. He's zealous for the people and He's angry at the extortion or He's angry that people are making money the holy of holies. He goes and He cleanses the temple in Jeremiah 7: 8 through eleven. He says, the prophet says, "Behold, you will trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!' - only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?"

Jesus walks into the temple and says, "This is my temple. This is my house." He's the rightful king, He's the gentle king, He's also a zealous king. He says, "You can't just go living your life any way that you want and then come to me, pretend that you worship me and continuing to live in abominations." He goes and He tips over their holy cow so to speak, their holy cow was money. It was the financial system. This is what God Jesus killed. Jesus tipped over their idol.

We have other idols in our day and age. For some, it's money. Others, they submit to the God of the universe because of God's teachings on sexuality or the family. Those are our holy cows. If Jesus ... Jesus is here today. Jesus is tipping over that holy cow to show us, "Do not mis-characterize me. This is my house and I get to rearrange the furniture anyway that I want." Jesus is humble and He's gentle, but He's the most immodest person who ever lived, and He's forcing this issue of His identity. "Do you know what I am? I am the king of the universe. Have you come to terms with that? Do you accept my rule or do you reject it?"

Jesus will not just be liked. A lot of people say, "Yeah, Jesus, great. I like Jesus. Big fan of Jesus." Jesus says, "You either crown me or kill me. You either love me or hate me," but Jesus will not allow us to settle in this tepid lukewarm understanding of who He is. He's the God of the universe. Jesus doesn't just do this in Jerusalem, goes and cleanses the temple. He does this with each one of us.

He enters, He comes into our lives, and He says, "I am the king. This is my house. I'm going to rearrange the furniture." Many of us are happy with Jesus as consultant, as counselor, as comforter, as friend, as redeemer, as spiritual support, as a shepard, as a brother, as a guide. He is all those things, but only if you first realize Jesus is the king. He's the sovereign God of the universe.

Revelations 3:15, God says, "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Jesus will not accept a tepid response. Perhaps this isn't sitting well with you. I got a lot of good feedback from my sermon last week. I also got a lot of pushback. I'll tell you this, if I wanted to be liked, if that was the number one priority in my life, I would've become an ice cream truck driver. I would've become a driver for Uber Eats and I would've been on time every time.

The Lord has called me to be a minister of the gospel and I'm literally just reading what God said. Jesus is saying here, "Either crown me or kill me." We worship a God who was crucified. Why was He crucified? This is exactly why He was crucified. Jesus is confrontational and Jesus says, "You are my temple." Scripture actually says that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

First Corinthians 6: 18 through 20 ... Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Glorify God. Repent of sin, accept God's rule and live to glorify Him. If you have a God who never challenges anything that you believe, if you have a God who never convicts you, if you have a God who doesn't have a hard edge to His will, if you have a God who doesn't make you uncomfortable at times, if you have a God who agrees with absolutely every single one of your decisions, you don't have a God, you have a cheerleader. That God is actually a fabrication of your imagination. That's not the true God.

How do you know that God is in your life? He's constantly rearranging the furniture in your life. He's constantly cleansing. Truth faith by Christ's definition always involves surrender to the will of God. Today, we don't have a temple. We don't have sacrifices, we don't have priests. Why don't we have that? Because Jesus is the ultimate temple, He is the ultimate high priest. He is the sacrificial lamb who sacrificed for us. He takes us into the holy of holies and he's the final atonement for our sins.

Jesus is the rightful king. He's the gentle king. He is the zealous king. He's also the victorious king. This is Zechariah 9:9.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Should aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he.

That phrase right there, "Having salvation is he," that's a weird turn of phrase. What does it mean that he's righteous and having salvation? Well, in the original Hebrew, it's translated, "He is righteous and saved, that He has been saved." Here you got to ask the question, does the rightful king come to save or does He need to be saved? Is He bringing salvation or does He somehow need to be saved Himself?

Now strange enough, according to the prophecy, the king Himself will be saved. What does that mean? Well obviously, He doesn't need to be saved from His sins because it says that He is righteous. Jesus is righteous. Perfectly righteous and keeps all the commandments, has kept all the commandments. He's lived the perfect life that we couldn't and wouldn't live. He completely obeyed all of God's commandments. Submitted to God the Father's will perfectly.

First Peter 2:22 ... He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. In what sense did Jesus Christ need to be saved? Scripture tells us He was saved from death. That Jesus truly died, fully God, fully man, He died. He was saved from death by the resurrecting power of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 72: 12 through 13 ... For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.

Jesus's life was saved and because He was resurrected, He now has the resurrecting power to bring us back from the dead. Perhaps the best translation of this verse is Zechariah 9:9 in the revised English bible, revised standard version, "See, your king is coming to you, his cause won, his victory gained."

Once we understand this is what Zechariah meant, that he is prophesying centuries before Jesus was even born, the scripture's prophesying that He will be brought back from the dead. "See your king is coming, he has won, his victory is gained." Once we understand that's what Zechariah meant, we understand why Matthew has not included that part of the prophecy in the text.

Matthew 21:5, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden."

And leaves out that last part about Jesus coming back from the dead. Matthew in his mind, he saw this verse, but he understood that Jesus's victory did not come on Palm Sunday. Jesus's victory was not complete on Good Friday, but on Easter Sunday when Jesus was resurrected, when he came back from the dead, he triumphed over Satan, sin and death.

Because He did, we now can trust in the fact that when we submit to Him, when we repent of sin and trust in Him, that we will live for all of eternity with Him. Now how to enter into this victory? Cry out what the people cried out. Cry out, "Hosanna, Lord, save us. Save us from our sins. Save us from our rebellion. Save us from everything that bristles within when we think about a God who has absolute control and sovereignty over us. Save us from that pride. We humble ourselves before you. Lord, we cry out Hosanna, save us."

We're not asking for just physical deliverance. We're not just asking for political deliverance. We're asking for spiritual deliverance. Save us from our sins. Save us from ourself. Oh Lord, save us. Friend, would you cry out to Christ today, even now. Simple prayer. A prayer is just talking to God. Say, "Lord Jesus, you are king. I have rebelled. I repent on my sin. I repent on my rebellion. You're the rightful king. You're the gentle king. You're the zealous king. You're the victorious king. Lord, forgive me, I trust in you. Thank you, I love you."

Let's pray. Jesus, all we can ask is save us, empower us, encourage us. We thank you for your love that's gentle towards your children. We pray that you continue to minister to us in this season. Pray this in Jesus's name. Amen.