Who is the King of Glory?

Happy Palm Sunday. So, we are going to do a special presentation that involves you. We’re going to do a call-in response this morning all about Palm Sunday. So, we want your participation in that. The words will come up on the screen so you’ll know exactly what to say.

We do have the children coming in as well. So, I’m going to ask you all to just stay seated through the reading and through the beginning of our song. And once the kids take their place on up here on the steps, I’ll ask you guys to go ahead and come on, stand up, and join us. Okay. The road bends to Jerusalem.

Dust rises beneath hurried feet. A cult is borrowed. Cloaks are gathered. Branches are cut. And the air is thick with expectation.

>> We have heard stories. We have seen the signs. Could this be the moment? >> Could this be the king? >> He comes not with chariots, not with swords drawn, but riding low, steady, humble, and quiet.

A different kind of king. Still our hearts race. We shout what you say. >> Hosana save us now. >> The disciples walk close, glancing at one another.

They remember the healings, the bread multiplied, the storms stilled. And yet there is something in his eyes that they don’t understand. Is this not victory? >> Is this not the beginning of glory? >> He hears the shouting, >> but his heart carries another weight.

He knows the city ahead. He knows this road leads to a cross that waits. >> We spread our cloaks before him. >> We wave our branches high. We celebrate the king we think we know.

>> Some dream of freedom from Rome. Some long for power restored. Some hope for a throne reclaimed. >> Yes, Lord, bring justice. >> Yes, Lord, bring triumph.

>> Yes, Lord, make all things right. But his kingdom is not what they expect. His victory will not look like theirs. His crown will not be made of gold. >> Still we cry hosana.

>> Still we lift our voices. >> Still we follow not yet seeing the whole path. Even now the shadow stretches across the road. Cheers will fade and voices will turn. >> Can praise become silence?

Can hope become fear? >> Can we lose sight of him so quickly? >> He enters the city knowing all of this. Knowing the joy, knowing the betrayal, knowing the cost. >> And still he comes.

>> Still he rides forward. >> Still he chooses his path for us. >> Hosana is not just a shout of praise. It is a cry for salvation. A plea from hearts that do not yet understand what salvation requires.

Save us, we cry. >> Save us in the way only you can. Even if it is not the way we expect. >> The road to Jerusalem leads beyond the gates, beyond the cheers, to a hill, to a cross, to a sacrifice. >> We will follow through the celebration and into the sorrow.

For the king we welcome today is the Savior who will suffer tomorrow. >> Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. >> The King who saves, the lamb who is given the love that will not turn away. >> Amen. >> Hosana.

Praise is rising. Eyes are turning to you. We turn to you. Hope is stiring. Hearts are yearning for you.

We long for you. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day. In your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. Hosana.

You are the God who saves us. Worthy of all our praises. Hosanana. Hosanana, come have your way among us. We welcome you here, Lord Jesus.

Hear the sound of hearts returning to you. We turn to you in your kingom. Broken lives are made new. You make us new. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day.

In your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. Hosana. You are the God who saves us, worthy of all our praises. Hosanana.

Hosana. Come have your way among us. We welcome you here, Lord Jesus. When we see you, we find strength to face the day. And in your presence, all our fears are washed away.

When we see you, we find strength to face the day. In your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. Hosanana. Hosana.

You are the God who saves us. Worthy of all our praises. Hosana. Hosanana. Come have your way among us.

We welcome you here Lord Jesus. Hosana hosana. Thank you kiddos. You did a great job. I see the king of glory coming on the clouds with fire.

The whole earth shakes. I see his love and mercy washing over all our sin. The people sing. Hosana. Hosana in the highest.

Hosana. Hosana in the highest. I see a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith. With selflessness. I see a new revival stirring as we pray and seek.

We’re on our knees. Hosana. Hosana in the highest. Hosana. Hosana in the highest.

Heal my heart and make it clean. Open up my eyes to the things I’ve seen. Show me how to love like you have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks yours. Everything I am for your kingdom’s cause.

As I walk from earth into eternity. Hosana. Hosana in the highest. Hosana. Hosana in the highest.

Hosana. Hosanana. Hosana in the highest. Hosanana. Hosana in the highest.

The My hand cold and majesty. Let all the earth rejoice. All the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide. It trembles at his voice and trembles at his home.

How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. In days to age he stand.

And time is in his hands. Beginning and the end. The God had three in one. Father, spirit, son. The lion and the lamb.

How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great how great is our God. Name above all names.

Worthy of all praise. My heart will sing how great is our God. Name above all names. Worthy of all praise. My heart will sing how great is our God.

How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great. How great is our God?

How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Oh, we’ll see how great how great is our God. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, oh my soul.

Rejoice, take joy, my king in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. I love you Lord and I lift my voice to worship you. Oh my soul rejoice. Take joy my king in what you hear.

May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. I exalt thee. I exalt thee. I exalt thee, oh Lord. I exalt thee.

I exalt thee. I exalt thee, oh Lord. We exalt thee. We exalt thee. We exalt him, oh Lord.

We exalt thee. We exalt. We exalt thee, oh Lord. Gracious father, that is our prayer. That’s why we come together like this.

We want you to be exalted. We want Jesus, our king, and his name to be known. We want all who have not yet surrendered to him as king, not come to that saving relationship with him and being reconciled to you, Father. We pray for those people that they would turn even this morning, Lord, that they would give themselves over to you, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Lord, I pray that you would give me the words you want me to speak this morning.

Fill me with your spirit. And may your spirit be pervading our midst this morning. Have your way among us. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Thank you. May be seated. Kids are welcome to take off for kids church at this time. Well, good morning. Happy Palm Sunday.

We’re going to be in Psalm 24 this morning. So, if you have your Bible, Psalm 24. You know, I love this season. Psalm 24 reminds us that we’re going into that final week where we remember Jesus purchased our redemption, rose from the dead, all of that. Rose from the dead, in fact, as no one else has.

And that’s the incredible thing we celebrate at Easter. You know, the resurrection is a big deal. As Christians, we love the resurrection of Jesus. We we know that this is everything. Without the resurrection, we’re just kind of a glorified support group that follows the advice of a dead guy.

But because of the resurrection, we have hope. There is only one person in all of history who went head-to-head with death and won, and that’s Jesus Christ, our savior. So Psalm 24, this is going to be a a perfect, I think, entry point into getting into the mindset of the Jewish nation at that first Palm Sunday. We’re going to take a look at what it was like to be in Jerusalem. So, I want you to travel back in time with me 2,000 years to that city of Jerusalem, that ancient city of kings in AD.

33. What would that have been like? I think one of the first things you would notice is that the superior power here is Rome. Rome is in control. No question.

U everywhere you look, there’s armed soldiers marching up and down the streets. There is this Antonia fortress which is overlooking the Jewish temple. Basically having that more exalted perspective. It’s packed full of soldiers at that point because they know it’s Passover week. The crowds are going to swell and we need to control the masses.

And then you would have seen maybe as you’d walk even this this week as you had walked into Jerusalem, maybe you’d seen some Jewish men hanging from crosses because that was a constant reminder that this is what happens if you rebel against Rome and you don’t want to end up like them. And on top of all that, you have the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who has just recently arrived in the city. He came in on horseback wearing golden armor. Very impressive. He had 100 legionaries marching in front of him, 100 legionaries behind him.

And the gates opened wide for him to come into Jerusalem. Pilate controlled taxation, military force, and capital punishment. He decided who gets to be killed and who gets to live. That was Pilate. Everywhere you looked, it was painfully clear, if you’re a Jewish person, we are under the oppressive boot of Caesar.

And they would pay taxes to Caesar. On top of all that, coins that were minted by Rome and had Caesar’s image inscribed on them. Those were the coins they gave to Caesar with their hard-earned money. And so, at this time, if you’re among the Jewish people, you’re just longing for the one they call the Messiah. You have been waiting.

The prophecies are there in your scriptures. You are hoping and maybe daring to ask, “Is Jesus the one? Is Jesus our Messiah? The one descended from David? He’s our only hope.”

People were ready for a king. And in this scene, we see Jesus rides through the gates of Jerusalem. But he’s on not a horse, but a donkey’s colt. It’s a very small animal. The people are waving palm branches just like you saw our kids doing just a moment ago and they’re they’re saying hosana which means save us now.

Rescue us from this oppression we are under. Now here’s the interesting thing about Psalm 24. How does this tie in? Psalm 24 in the Jewish temple liturgy was one of those psalms that was consistently read over and over and over. And it just so happens that Psalm 24 was read on Sunday.

It was picked to always land on Sunday. And so I’m not saying I know for sure, but I I think it’s possible. And how cool would it be if while Jesus was going in and being welcomed by the crowds in the temple, they were reciting Psalm 24. And so we’re going to read this together. If you would please stand on your feet for the reading of God’s word.

We like to do that out of reverence for God. Psalm 24. Psalm by David. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all those who dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who’s going to stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. Thank you.

You may be seated. One of my all-time favorite books is Tolken’s The Lord of the Rings. And you know, it just it’s so hard to compete with his storytelling ability. The way he develops the characters and just the vivid description and all the scenes, it’s like you’re entering another world as you read this story. And I would say my favorite character is Aragorn.

Now, Aragorn is introduced first as this guy named Strider. And he’s you know, he’s a little bit of this haggarded looking guy. He’s he’s not dressed well. He’s this ranger who wanders all over the place. He gets dirty.

He gets muddy. He’s this hunter. And he comes in and and he looks like he hasn’t showered for a month. And he’s we first meet him in a tavern and he’s sitting in the shadows and the heroes don’t know what to think of him. Can we trust this guy?

And so the wizard Gandalf sends a message ahead of time. And he leaves them this riddle that says, “All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost.” And the riddle turns out to be prophetic. It’s a way of saying, you know, this strider, he doesn’t look like much.

He doesn’t look very regal. He doesn’t look impressive, but just know there’s more to him. Now, Tolken didn’t want Lord of the Rings to be read like an allegory. He said that. But for me, it’s so interesting how many parallels there are between this strider and Jesus.

You know, both of them, they lived the majority of their lives in relative obscurity. Today, the name Jesus is known all over the world though. And Jesus, you know, this theme of hidden kingship, Jesus did not look the part. Just like Strider, he did not look like the king they were expecting. And yet, he was the king they needed.

Jesus redefined kingship for us. But one thing is clear. By writing into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday those 2,000 years ago, Jesus was making this bold statement. He was declaring for both Israel and Rome and all the world that he is in fact the king that they need. He was saying, “I am the rightful king you’ve been waiting for.”

This ties in with the question that Psalm 24 wants us to answer. First in your notes, who owns the world? Who owns the world? Jesus the king came to reclaim the title for the world. This is why Jesus came announcing the kingdom of God from the very beginning of his ministry.

That’s what he was saying. The kingdom of God has arrived. And this unlocks the meaning of Palm Sunday. Psalm 24, interestingly, was written by King David, who is an ancestor of Jesus. And he was probably writing this originally for the triumphal procession when they were bringing the ark of the covenant, which had finally been recovered from the enemy from this place where it had been in kind of obscurity.

They brought the ark out and they brought it into Jerusalem. And in David’s day, if you want to know where where is God, where do we get close to God? The ark of the covenant represented God’s presence. They even believe that his spirit dwelled between the two angelic cherubam on top of this this golden box called the ark of the covenant. And they were reclaiming it.

They were taking it into the city of David to be placed in the holy of holies. They had to go through Jerusalem’s gates. Verse one says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. One thing one thing I I think everyone can agree on is that planet earth is beautiful.

It we live in a amazing world and sometimes we just have to pause and and look around and see how beautiful it is. Especially this time of year all the colors start to pop with springtime. The flowers, the sun comes out, the birds start singing their choruses. They’re back from their winter getaway. And recently I was at Summer Lake Park and it was just this cool thing.

I saw these malard ducks come swooping down onto the lake and and it is one of the coolest things to see a duck land on that water and then just take off again. Like how they do that is is amazing to me. And I’m not joking. I was just sitting there thanking God for ducks. >> Go Ducks.

Doug couldn’t help himself in this one instance. No, I’m just kidding. No, it was an awesome thing to experience and and you’re you’re taking it in and you recognize all of nature has these moments. I think it doesn’t matter whether or not you claim to believe in God. You’ve had moments where if you’re out in nature, you experience awe.

It’s kind of like the breath just gets taken away from you and you realize how small you are and and the vastness of the universe and and all the beauty and glory around you. And Christianity says that all that beauty and that wonder is not here by accident. It’s not as though it just popped into existence. It’s all there pointing to someone who started it all. If you buy furniture from IKEA, you’ve been through this, but you you know, if you put out all the materials, you don’t just say, “Man, I hope this thing, this shelf assembles itself, right?”

No, you know, I Okay, I’ve got maybe three or four hours ahead of me, maybe longer. And that’s how it is with the universe. You You look at it and there’s so much order. There’s so much beauty and design, and all of it is screaming, “There is a creator.” All of creation is proclaiming there is one who did this.

Order does not come from chaos. It comes from an infinite mind. Not only do we see that God exists from creation, but we see that he is immeasurably wise and good. He is beautiful. If creation is beautiful, think of how beautiful God must be.

And here’s the deal. Because he made it, he owns it. It’s all his. If you were to write a story, it would be yours. You’d put your name on it.

If you write a song, that song belongs to you. If you’ve given birth, that baby is yours. And the Bible says God is the author of everything. It’s all his. He gets credit.

He gets the glory. Nobody else can say, “I made a planet.” Only God did that. And this is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” God intends to redeem his broken creation.

It’s been broken by sin. But Jesus came saying, “God hasn’t thrown this planet away. He came to restore, to redeem, and reclaim it as his world.” The Hebrew says, “The earth is Yahweh’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” So Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is not a tribal deity like they had in the ancient pagan world.

He’s not just the God of the rain or the God of the sunshine. He is the God of the whole show. It’s all his. Everything and everyone belongs to him. They are his by divine rights, by creator’s rights.

So this kind of leaves us with a good news bad news situation. The good news is my life has meaning. I’m not just this organic material here by accident that happened to you know organize itself. I was created. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.

My life has a purpose because there is a creator. I’m not just going to you know suck oxygen for 80 or 90 years and then become worm food. Right? I know all of you. This is good news.

All of you have higher aspirations than to become worm food. You say, “I feel like I’m meant for something more.” That’s right. That is the image of God in you screaming that reality out. All of life is a gift.

And that means there’s a giver. There’s one who gets the credit. He’s the one who gave us all this. And this God has a glorious purpose for your life. But you can only discover this purpose if you first come to terms with this fact.

You were made not for yourself but for him. You belong to him. Your existence is all about him. You’re breathing air and your heart is beating because God wants it to. Because he made you.

It’s all about him. Augustine famously said, “You have made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Until we find our way back to the source, the creator of all, and have a relationship with him, our lives will always feel like there’s this massive hole, this thing that we can’t fill with anything else. You didn’t create yourself. You’re not the one keeping your heart pumping right now.

God did that. And you’re made for a relationship with him. And so Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the Lord’s. It’s all his and the fullness there thereof. Everyone and everything is his.”

You have to start there to understand Christianity. First verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So the good news is your life has a purpose. You’re not an accident. The bad news is that means you’re accountable to God for the life you live.”

And that’s the part that humans tend to resent. The Bible talks about this thing called sin. And basically because of sin, we don’t want God to be king. We would rather wear the crown. We would rather be the king or queen of our own lives and not be ruled by a god.

So there’s a big part of us that sin nature that says, you know, I actually resent that I owe everything to someone else. I resent that I belong to this king who made me. I would rather think of myself as self-created and that I can do whatever I want. And since God is perfect, his standard is perfect. That’s the second question Psalm 24 asks is, what does God expect of us?

If we were created by him, what does he expect? God’s standard of righteousness is perfect moral purity. So the fact that there’s a created order implies that there is a moral order. God made the world and so he gets to make the rules. That’s how it goes.

Psalm 24 reminds us that God has certain expectations. Verse three, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who’s going to go into his presence? And who shall stand in his holy place? Who can approach a God who is blindingly holy?

A God who is pure, spotless, perfect. Who can go into his presence, who has what it takes? Verse four, he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. This is the part that should make us feel a bit uncomfortable. Clean hands reminds us that God sees all our actions.

There’s never been a moment of your life that God didn’t see. When my boys come in from outside, they’ve usually been, you know, digging holes or building a fort or whatever. And they come in and their hands are just covered in mud, right? And and I’m I’m proud actually of that moment when they come in all muddy. But, but one thing Whitney and I will say is you need to clean your hands before you sit down for dinner.

Why? Because one of the requirements is clean hands are required to come to dinner. That’s what we have required. And this is a picture of the cleansing we all need. In Shakespeare’s story, McBTH, there’s this time where Lady McBth and her husband work together and they murder King Duncan.

And you know, Lady McBth, she is just filled with this guilty conscience. And she she feels like she can’t get the stain of his blood off her hands. And she even has this nightmare where she’s trying everything she can, scrubbing it with soap and warm water, and it won’t get the stain off. She says, “My hands are covered.” Now, you and I are quick to say, “Well, I’ve never murdered anyone.

I’m not that bad. That’s true. But because God can see all, every sin we’ve ever committed is before his eyes. Everything. You think about this.

Everything we’ve stolen stains our hands. Every door we shouldn’t have opened, everything that is cruel that we’ve texted or written down stains our hands. Every door we’ve slammed in anger, every link we shouldn’t have clicked on. Every time we had an opportunity to serve someone with our hands and we passed, it stained our hands. What do we do?

We have this lifetime of sins staining our hands. How can we enter God’s holy presence? But David goes beyond that. He says, “It’s not just your actions. It’s not just what’s on your hands.

It’s your heart.” You know, we like to say, “Yes, I’ve done wrong. I’ I’ve made some mistakes.” Sure. But at least my motives were pure.

Now think again. Proverbs 16:2 says, “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” He sees the motives. I heard a pastor give this illustration. Imagine that every thought you’ve had for the last week, every motive, every reaction, every private moment was somehow captured on a video.

Captured on a video. Not just what you did, but what you wanted to do but didn’t do because you didn’t have the opportunity. What you thought about people, your jealousy, your pride, your envy, your lust, your irritation. It’s all there on that video. It’s all captured.

And then this video is played for all your friends, family, and church to watch. How would you do? I think we would all want to leave town. See, God sees that video. It’s unedited and it’s in HD.

He sees all of it. Every last bit. Now, here’s what you need to know. The bad news is you don’t want that video to be played. The good news is that Jesus came and by going to the cross, he paid the penalty.

He bore the judgment for what’s on that video. He bore it all. When we say, “Who is worthy? Who’s qualified to come before God in all his holiness?” The answer is plain.

Not one of us. Nobody has clean hands. Nobody has that pure heart. That’s why Jesus came. This is why the gospel is such good news.

It’s a good news of salvation. But you can only accept the good news if you first accepted the bad news about sin. It will not make sense. Jesus dying on the cross will seem ludicrous if you don’t understand how grave and how severe sin is and what it does to us. How it’s caused this massive rift between us and our God who made us.

Only if we understand the severity of sin can we see yes because God is perfect. Because his standard is perfect moral purity. I need a savior. And your heart will cry out, “Who can save me? Hosanna.”

And the gospel tells us that Jesus met that standard. He lived a perfect spotless life. His hands, there is not one tiny spot of sin on his hands. His heart completely pure. You know, he even asked people, “Who can accuse me of sin?”

No one could answer. No one. They didn’t have anything to pin on him except what they lied about. Who has a pure heart like Jesus? The Bible says he was full of grace and truth.

Who can come without a shred of deceit? 1 Peter 2:22 says Jesus committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Jesus only uttered truth. He only thought truth. He only had thoughts of integrity and purity and goodness.

Psalm 24 continues, “He will receive blessing from the Lord. This one with clean hands and a pure heart and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” This psalm reminds us that holiness really matters to God. This is not just some old-fashioned idea. This is not something that, you know, we can put to the wayside because, you know, we talk about better and more important things these days.

Holiness always and forever matters to God. And the Bible says you need to be holy in God’s sight. You need to be holy. And so the only ones who are holy are those who have a record of pure spotlessness. How do we get that?

Who can be saved? That’s the question Psalm 24 asks next. Only those who receive the saving righteousness of Jesus, the saving righteousness of Jesus. See, the only way for me to be pure and spotless in God’s sight, to come before his throne and be welcomed and accepted is if my record of sin has been done away with. If that price has been paid.

But it’s not just that. I have to come with the record of righteousness. This is what justification by faith is all about. Jesus traded places with us. On the cross, he was treated as we should have been treated so that we can come into God’s presence and receive the blessing that Jesus deserves.

The gospel is not good advice of what we should do for God. It’s good news about what God has done through Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection for us. It’s not a message about how to clean yourself up. So many people think of Christianity this way. It’s all about, you know, getting yourself presentable before God.

No, no one can do that. The only one who is pure and spotless and clean is Jesus. And so, it’s only if his record is transferred to me. And so that when God looks at my life, he sees the video of Jesus’s life. Every act of love, every courageous act, every perfect pure thought, all credited to me, that’s justification.

God treating me as Jesus deserves. One thing we know is Jesus was consciously fulfilling prophecy as he rode in to Jerusalem. The reason we’re compelled to see these Old Testament connections to Jesus from places like Psalm 24 and other places is because Jesus made those connections for us. He said that it’s Moses that wrote about him. When the Pharisees challenged him, he said things like, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

It’s they that bear witness about me. Don’t you see? It’s all about me.” Jesus says, “It’s important for you to see. It’s not just Psalm 24.

You can begin at Psalm 1. Psalm 1 describes the blessed life. What does that look like? Well, ultimately, that’s Jesus. You read Psalm 1, the man of Psalm 1 is Jesus.

Psalm 2, we read about God installing his king in Zion. Was actually his son. It says in Psalm 2:7, I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

That’s just the first two Psalms. You jump ahead to Psalm 22 and you read about this very graphic description, most graphic description of crucifixion, in fact in the entire Bible written by King David where he says, “They’ve pierced my hands and my feet.” And he describes the shame and the anguish of hanging there on the cross. How could he do that? That was written 1,000 years before Jesus, hundreds of years before crucifixion was even invented.

And he’s saying, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” This is a supernatural book. And then we read about God as our good shepherd in Psalm 23. Who but Jesus comes to mind when you read Psalm 23? So, by the time you get to Psalm 24, we are primed and ready to see this fulfilled in Jesus.

And in Psalm 24, there’s this procession of this king of glory through the gates of Jerusalem. Now, another passage that any faithful Jew would remember is Zechariah 9:9. How is the Messiah going to enter Jerusalem? When our king shows up, what’s it going to look like? Written 500 years before Jesus was on earth, Zechariah says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation. Is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the fo of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the waror from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

That’s all the earth, everything. And Jesus, when he asked his followers, “Get me a colt, the f of a donkey,” he was intentionally staging himself as the fulfillment of this prophecy. But notice how underwhelming this would have looked. Like Strider, Jesus didn’t have that regal appearance. He didn’t look like a king should look in their minds.

Unlike Pilate, he’s not riding a waror. He’s not wearing golden armor. He’s wearing the tattered robes of an itinerant rabbi who’s been traveling all over the place. He doesn’t have troops marching before and after him. He’s just got 12 disciples.

That’s it. Just 12 men hanging out with him. People are waving palm branches because that was a symbol of national identity. In fact, at this time, Jewish coins would have palm branches on them, and it was a way of anticipating their coming king. Waving palm branches said, “We welcome you as our king.

You are the new David. You are the new Solomon who would bring peace.” When human beings think of a glorious king, they tend to think in terms of great power display. Like Pilate, when he rode into Jerusalem, it was very evident, this man has power. He has authority.

He has control. Look at his troops. Look at his armor. Who can contest that? But Jesus is glorious in a different way.

He came to show God’s glory through sacrificial love. He came and when people looked at him, they didn’t see all the regal attire. They saw a man who was intent on establishing peace between God and humanity. And he intended to die to accomplish that. And so the question hanging over this moment is, will Israel receive Jesus as the king he is or as the king they want him to be?

Is he going to be welcomed as the long-awaited Messiah? Verse 7 says, “Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.

Just like we did that antipal response earlier, this is a question asked and a question answered in this psalm. Who is this king of glory? The Lord. He’s the king of glory, strong and mighty in battle. But Jesus isn’t armed for battle.

Or is he? He came armed with righteousness, love, and resurrection power. And he made war on all our enemies. All those greatest threats that humanity faces, he made war on all of them. And so as he was doing that triumphal procession riding into Jerusalem, he came like a champion ready for battle.

He would triumph over sin, death, and hell through the cross and resurrection. Jesus took on our greatest enemy, death itself. And he won. He won the victory. And after writing into Jerusalem, you know what the gospels say he did?

It says he cleansed the temple. Now throughout all the scriptures, the one who gets to plan and build and cleanse the temple is the king. So Jesus, as he’s writing in as the king, he then does what a king should do. He says, “This temple, this place where humanity and God are meant to meet together, you have made it a den of robbers. This is my house, my father’s house, and you have tarnished it with sin.

And he cleansed it. He drove them out. Now, that didn’t make the people happy. They They were on board up until that point. They see Jesus.

He’s coming as our Messiah. He’s fulfilling Zechariah 9:9. But what is this? Now, he’s driving people out. He’s saying, “We’re doing the sacrifices wrong.

He’s calling us greedy. He doesn’t like the way we’re charging these exorbitant rates for sacrifices. In that act, Jesus was declaring his kingship. He was saying, “I am the king. I am in charge and this is how I am to be worshiped.

This is how the father is to be approached.” Jesus acted as one who was in charge because that’s exactly who he is. They didn’t like the way he exposed their sin. But Jesus was making it clear. This is the kind of king I am.

I am the king who comes and reigns not just externally over the nation, over these troops. I come to reign over your heart. I need to be welcomed not just into your city. I need to be welcomed into your soul. So raise the gates.

Jesus says, “Raise the gates. Let me in.” Who is Jesus? Final question. Jesus is the king of glory we each must welcome.

The Bible calls Jesus King of kings and lord of lords not just because he was the supreme king over all other kings but because he was redefining kingship for all time. Jesus came to suffer before he would reign. Well, the people didn’t want a suffering king. They wanted a king who would cause others to suffer, to conquer. And so everyone left him when it came time to suffer.

He was abandoned by nearly everybody. Just a handful of people were there. His closest followers were there at the foot of the cross and saw him die. But the psalm once again calls for the gates to be opened up. And it asks that same question over and over because it wants to be resounding in our head.

Who is this king of glory? Who is Jesus? Do you see him as the king he came to be? He’s not the king everyone expected. He’s the king we all need.

And everything Jesus, the spotless and righteous one, accomplished, he did in behalf of his people. His clean hands were pierced with nails. His pure heart was crushed with grief. And though he wasn’t immediately recognized, he did this for you and me because he knew our true need. Everything Jesus did, he did for us.

The crowd shouted, “Hosana, save us.” on Sunday, but then on Friday, they shouted, “Crucify him!” And you know, we can look at the crowds there and think, “Man, they’re so fickle.” But we can actually be the same way. We we can want Jesus to meet our expectations.

Like, “Hosana, Jesus, fix my situation in life. Hosanna, help me with my finances. Hosanna, help my plans work out. And then when Jesus doesn’t do what we think he should do, we may not crucify him, but we ignore him. We think, you know what?

Jesus hasn’t done what I thought he should do for me. And so, we treat Jesus as a consultant that we can fire instead of a king. We worship. Palm Sunday is about seeing Jesus not just as a wise teacher or a faithful friend or even as a savior. Although he is all those things, it’s first about welcoming Jesus as your king.

Saying Jesus, you reign over me. You call all the shots. My life is now surrendered to you and I get to worship and serve you. That’s what Palm Sunday is all about. And by the way, our King is coming back.

And there’s going to be a day, and again, just like they weren’t ready for him on that first Palm Sunday, there’s going to be some who aren’t ready. And the question is, are you ready today if Jesus came back as king? The question I’ll leave you with is, what barriers have kept you from welcoming Jesus as your king? All kinds of things, all kind of gates can go up in your heart. Things that you think, you know, not into this area, Jesus.

This is the area that I I have for myself. This is my part of my life. You can have the rest. What is a barrier in your life where you’re holding something back from Jesus? Let’s pray together.

Lord Jesus, you are our king. You came to suffer and to reign. You came first to be the sacrifice we all need and then to sit upon the throne. You are King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And Jesus, I pray that our eyes, the eyes of our hearts would recognize you for who you are.

You are the King of glory. You are the King most need. And I pray that we would surrender. That if there’s anyone here, Lord, who hasn’t yet given their lives over to you, that they would recognize this is the moment. This is it.

This is the time to say, “Lord, I am a sinner. I have blown it. But you are a savior and you came to rescue me. You died on the cross. You bore my sin in my place, took the judgment and wrath I deserved, and you rose victoriously from the dead.

And I can put my faith in you, Lord. Lord, I pray that that would happen even this morning, that people would find full and final forgiveness in King Jesus. We pray in his mighty name. Amen. Would you stand and join us as we close, Joyful, Joyful, we adore you, God of glory, Lord of love.

Hearts unfold like flowers before you, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness. Drive the dark of town away. Giver of eternal gladness. Fill us with the light of day.

You are the one who saves. You are the one who saves. You are the one whose hands lift us from the grave. You are the light of life. The everlasting day.

You are the one who takes all our sins away. You are giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed. Fountain of the joy of living, ocean depths of happy rest. You are the one who saves. You are the one whose hand has lift us from the grave.

You are the light of life, the everlasting day. You are the one who takes all our sins away. Jesus, you are my rescue. Jesus, you are my rescue. I give you everything I am.

Jesus, you are my rescue. Jesus, you are my rescue. I give you everything I am. Jesus, you are my rescue. Jesus, you are my rescue.

I give you everything I am. You are giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed. Mountain of the joy of living. Ocean depths of happy rest. You are the one who saves.

You are the one whose hands lift us from the grave. You are the light of life, the everlasting day. You are the one who takes all our sins away. You are the one who takes all our sins away. You are the one who takes all our sins away.

Amen. Great singing. Okay, I’m going to ask the Okconors to come join me. Thank you. Many of you, you can have a seat.

Many of you have met Patrick and Shaylin before and so I’m gonna Thank you for coming, by the way. I’m gonna ask Patrick if you would. Yeah, thank you. If you would mind just giving us a update on how things are going in your ministry. >> I will and we will.

And thank you Jason. Thank you for your ministry. Thank you. It is I’m going to move forward to this little guy. Watch out when you give me a pulpit I cut loose.

>> Now Patrick and Shaylin, we are your missionaries down there at the south border of Texas. We live in Alamone, Texas at the border. Persons ask us, “Why would you leave another area to move to the south border of Texas?” It’s their way of saying, “Why would you go therefore and make disciples?” Is there a way of saying why would you apply the parable of the talents that says or tells us the talents that were given the resources the capacities the gifts why would you use them for an interesting place along the border where there are persons on both sides of the border who desperately need Jesus and that’s why we move to the border and that’s why we live there full-time or as I turn this microphone over to Shaylin I think of what Jesus said at the end of John chapter 12 where he says where I am where Jesus is where I am my servant also will be and that’s why Jesus wants persons like us missionaries along the border because he’s there he’s reaching out to people on both sides of the border and that’s why we live at the border as your missionaries so thank you for being a part of our lives >> that’s right thank you so much and exciting we’ve been talking to Pastor pastor and others here at the church who were working on having any of you who want to join us later this spring, early summer, see what God is doing.

He’s he’s moving. The harvest is is ripe and the workers are few. And we’d love to give anybody an opportunity wants to come to the border and just see what God is doing and how God can use you for his greater purpose. Like we talked about, made for a purpose or on purpose for a purpose. And so we’re going to be meeting I think in 102.

>> That’s right. >> Room 102 right after the service. Come and hear how you can be a part of what God is doing on the border. >> Thank you. And as we wrap up thinking back to Jason’s sermon a few minutes ago, verse nine, I says it says that the King of glory may come in.

The King of Glory wants to come into our hearts, live through us. And that’s again why we go to the border. So thank you for praying with us. We’re just up here for a few days, about six days or so, to welcome our latest grandchild. My youngest daughter, Catherine, just had our first baby, Eliza.

And so now we’re welcoming welcoming that grandchild before we go back to the border in about six days or so. So again, thank you for being a part of our lives. We’re always only a phone call away or a text or an email or we’re going to be in that back room to tell you guys how you guys can come to the border as you ha have in as you continue to do. Thank you. >> Thank you.

That was pretty quick. You did well. >> I’m going to pray for Patrick and Shaylin now. Our great God, King of glory, we thank you for Patrick and Shayen. Thank you for the calling you have given them and the way you have tasked them with reaching these folks along the border.

These people need Jesus and there is a ripe harvest. Lord, I thank you that you are sending out harvesters, workers like Patrick and Shaylin. I know they are partnering with many people there. Lord, I pray that you would continue to forge strong relationships with folks in that region. Help them to get the gospel to these people that they could see Patrick and Shaylin living out the gospel of Jesus, sharing it with them and honoring the King of Glory.

What an awesome gift it is to have them here. Thank you for their ministry. Please continue to bless it in a mighty way. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen. Thank you, Jesus. >> Thank you. Appreciate you both. And then finally, just as a reminder, so Good Friday service is at 7 o’clock this coming Friday.

So please come join us. We’re going to have time of worship and a brief devotional. My dad is actually going to be giving a devotional at that time. And then Super Saturday is on Saturday, this coming Saturday from 10 to noon. I know that there’s still going to be a need for some volunteers.

So, if you have it in you, if God’s laying it on your heart to to come and be a part of that, there’s going to be a sign up as well in the breezeway. And then, of course, Easter Sunday, invite friends, neighbors, family. Thank you. And, enjoy serving the king this week. Heat.

Heat.

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