In 'The Entry of the King,' Peter Allison explores the account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as narrated in Luke 19, highlighting its significance in demonstrating Jesus' kingship and fulfillment of prophecy. The sermon underscores Jesus’ deliberate actions as He enters Jerusalem, willingly heading to His own execution, yet doing so as a sovereign king. His choice to ride a colt and how He orchestrates its acquisition without the owner's prior knowledge exemplifies His divine authority over creation and human hearts. The sermon also reflects on Jesus' humility, contrasting His choice of a lowly donkey with the expected royal horse, fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 and illustrating that humility precedes exaltation. Furthermore, the sermon delves into the praise He receives from the people, who recognize Him as the Messiah through their actions and words from the Psalms, and notes that even if humanity were silent, creation itself would cry out in praise. Allison concludes by emphasizing the sovereign and self-sufficient nature of Christ, encouraging believers to trust in His provision, reject fear, and rest in His justice and care.

Please turn in your scriptures to Luke chapter 19. I'd like Let's begin reading at verse 28. Hear God's word. And when he had said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem, and it came to pass when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mountain called Olivet, that he sent two of his disciples saying, Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tide on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.

And if anyone asks you, why are you loosing it? Thus you shall say to them, because the Lord has need of it." So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the cult the owners of it said to them, why are you loosing the cult? And they said the Lord has need of Him and then they brought Him to Jesus and they threw their own clothes on the cult, and they set Jesus on him. And as he went, many spread their clothes on the road.

Then as he was now drawing near the descent of the mound of olives, The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had been seen saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. But He answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silence, the stones would immediately cry out. May the Lord direct our steps by His Word and let no iniquity have dominion over us. Almighty Heavenly Father, We thank you that you have preserved your word.

Though all else may perish, your word will endure. We ask that you would open our hearts and our minds to hear Your Word with faith. We ask that You would sanctify us by Your Word. And we pray that as we continue to worship, that You might be present to teach us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Please be seated. Throughout Jesus' ministry on the earth up until this point, He has continually told people not to talk about Him. It's somewhat puzzling when we read that given how we're often taught to talk about Christ and talk about His Gospel, to proclaim His name, that Jesus so frequently would tell people not to tell what they had seen. When Peter confessed that Jesus was Lord, Jesus said that flesh and blood had not revealed that to him, but then he also urged him not to tell anybody. When after the transfiguration, they were coming down the mountain, where the disciples, Peter, James, and John, had witnessed Christ in a glorified state, and had seen Moses and Elijah speaking on the mountain there with Jesus, Jesus said, don't tell anyone about what you've seen until the Son of Man is risen.

And when the leper came to him and was healed, he says, don't tell anybody about what you've been done. Of course, the leper went off and told everybody. Because Jesus said that because his time was not yet come. And when people wanted to, And he was wanting to ensure that people didn't treat him like a, or try to make him king. And when they did try to make him king, he would escape and evade them because it wasn't his time yet.

It wasn't time for him to be revealed as the king. But now Jesus acts very differently. Where before he had constantly avoided the publicity, he wasn't there to create a media event and a lot of publicity. In fact, It made it very difficult for Him to minister. And He would have to escape the crowds to be able to have time with His disciples or to have time in prayer.

Or even in one case to have time to eat. He had to escape the crowds. But now it's different. Because now His time has come. It is the time now.

And so, where before Jesus didn't allow people to make Him king, now, now, He lets them. And so this passage opens, this passage after Jesus on His way to Jerusalem. And he has come through Jericho and he's performed some miracles. He's healed the blind man. And he has just finished telling this parable that we looked at last week about the minus that He gave to the ten servants.

And when He had said this, the Scripture says, when He had said this, then He went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. And this begins what we call his triumphal entry into Jerusalem that happened on what we call Palm Sunday. And I wanted to look this morning at this passage and the ten things or so here that demonstrate that Jesus is coming as a king, that demonstrate that He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And the first thing we see in this passage in Luke 19 verse 28 is that He went on ahead, going to Jerusalem. Jesus is going to His own execution by a mob of outraged Jews.

But this passage and a number of other places make it very clear that He is coming willingly. He is coming willingly. He has repeatedly told His disciples what would happen when he got to Jerusalem. Matthew 16 records, from that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and He must suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised the third day." And now Jesus, growing up to Jerusalem, describing this same ascent that we've been reading about, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and He said to them, Behold, we are going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death." Jesus knew where He was going. Luke tells us, just in the last chapter, before Jesus arrived at Jericho, He told His disciples exactly what would happen in verse 31.

He took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man, they will be accomplished. All the things written by the prophets of the Old Testament about the Messiah, Jesus said, would happen. Jesus was very aware, well aware, that he was going to his own death in Jerusalem. And yet, When he had said this parable, he went on ahead Going up to Jerusalem going up to his death every step that Jesus took on this road to Jerusalem Jesus voluntarily took It wasn't a case where he was unknowingly ambushed or tricked into going somewhere that he didn't want to go or tricked into being captured by his enemies. Not at all.

Not at all. He went on ahead of his own volition, of his own will. You see, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, No one took His life. No one. Jesus said in John 10, Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

No one, no one takes it from me. But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father." See Jesus is the King who willingly gave up his life. He wasn't overpowered, unable to stop an army, unable to stop a mob.

Jesus willingly and voluntarily and purposefully directed His steps to Jerusalem in order that what was prophesied in the Scriptures might come to pass. The second thing we see about His kingship, or that He is a King, is that He exercises authority over servants. Remember the centurion who came to Jesus asking for Jesus to heal his daughter? And he recognized that Jesus was a ruler with authority and that he could simply give the command, that Jesus didn't need to come to his house and do something. Jesus was a ruler with authority, and this centurion recognized Jesus' kingship, that he could command servants, and it would happen.

He said, just speak a word and your servant will be healed. He said, for I also am a man under authority and I have soldiers under me and I say to one go and he goes into another come and he comes into my servant do this and he does it in the centurion's world words he could tell his servant to go and he went He could tell his servant to come and he came. The centurion recognized that Jesus had that authority, the authority of a ruler. And Jesus exercises it here. Go, he said.

He sent two of his disciples and said go. You know God has given authority to other people. So it's an authority that's from Him, but He has delegated that. Civil magistrates have that authority. Parents have authority.

If you tell your children, parents, if you tell your children, come, do they come? If you tell your children, go, do they go? When you tell them to go. If you tell them, do this, Do they do it? Or do your commandments start a negotiation process?

Those who have authority tell their servants do this and they do it. Those who have authority tell those who are under their authority go and they go. Come and they come. Get this done and they get it done. Jesus sent two of his disciples and they went.

He said go into the village. And the text says that's what they did. They didn't negotiate, they didn't ask for better terms or different circumstances. He said go, and they went. That's the sign of a king, the sign of someone who has authority.

This is an authority that is Jesus' own authority. It's His authority as the sovereign God, as the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. The third thing we see about Jesus' kingship is that he directs his disciples to appropriate a donkey, a cult, without the permission of the owner. He said, go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a cult. Loose it and bring it here.

And if anyone asks you what you're doing, just say the Lord needs it. Jesus appropriated this donkey. And He didn't need to ask anyone's permission. He didn't have to make any arrangements or any... He didn't ask anybody, can I have your donkey?

Because it's His. He owns the cattle on the thousand hills, the psalmist says. He owns the gold in all those hills. He made the heavens, everything that exists, He made. He owns, He controls, He directs.

And in this case, He directed His servants to go and get this particular animal because He needed it. And there is no further justification. He didn't have to give any reason, and he doesn't have to account for anybody. He's not accountable to anybody for what he wants to do. He gave the order, and the answer is simply, because I need it.

It's my will. It's what I want. After all, who gave that donkey to its owner? God did. God entrusted that this donkey to that owner to care for it, to keep it and to use it.

He entrusted it to that owner to keep it until such time as He needed it. Because that donkey was His. As is everything that you and I own. It's the Lord's. And when He needs it, it's His to use.

And when He calls us to give it, we give it. Because we recognize that everything we have, all of our donkeys, all of our automobiles, all of our houses, all of our gold, it's all His that He's given to us. And He is the King. He's the Sovereign over it. Now the fourth thing is we see that Jesus knew exactly where this donkey would be without anyone needing to inform Him.

See, because he has authority over all creation in that he governs it moment by moment. It's not just that he owns it and he's not sure where it is. If you're like me, you probably own things like that. You own it somewhere. You might remember that you have it, but you really don't know where it is at the moment.

Especially if it's out of your sight and not in your house. But not so with Jesus. Jesus as the King overall, creation is governing all of His creation all of the time. Moment by moment, He knows where everything is, what every molecule, where every atom is at every moment he knows. You see, he didn't just know that this donkey would be at such and such a place, but he knew when that donkey would be there.

We might know that something is going to be at such and such a place. We might say, go and wait for this to happen. Go and wait for this bus to come. Go and wait for this to happen. But Jesus didn't have to say, go and wait at this place for a donkey to show up.

He knew exactly where that donkey would be. He said, go and when you get there, which means he's sovereign over their whole journey, that he would know when they would get there, he would know everything that they would encounter, not just know about it, but direct it and control it. Otherwise, he couldn't tell them, when you get there, this is where this donkey will be. Or when you get there, there will be a donkey right here. He didn't have to tell them, go there and wait for something to appear.

He said, go and when you get there, it will be there. He's sovereign over the actions of all of His creation. Even though we are free moral agents, He is sovereign over our actions. And he directs everything that happens. The next thing we see about Christ's kingship is that he provides His disciples with a response that asserts his lordship over the donkeys in the event they are questioned.

The Lord has need of it. That's all that has to be said. The next thing we see is that he turns the heart of the owner to allow his cult to be taken with no warning and without protest. If somebody calls you up and says, hey, can I borrow this thing that you have? Can I borrow your car?

And you say, okay. Then when they show up to take your car, you're willing. But if somebody just shows up out of the blue and makes off with your car, you would probably be a little bit upset. A little bit at least surprised. Wait, where are you going?

But Jesus turns the heart of this owner, of this donkey, such that when the disciples show up and start loosening this colt without asking anybody, without asking Him, and He says, what are you doing? And they say, well, the Lord has need of it. He says, okay. And doesn't do anything. He doesn't question.

He doesn't say, well, who's the Lord, that I should loan him my donkey? Who are you anyways? See, the heart of the king is like a channel of water in the hand of the Lord, and he turns it whichever way He will. And He directed the heart of this owner of this donkey so that when he asked, what are you doing with my colt? And the disciple said, the Lord has need of it.

He accepted that. Now that's something no earthly king can do. No earthly king can just change somebody's heart and make them willing in that day. That's why they carry guns. Because people aren't willing to do what they want them to do.

But the Lord exercises His sovereign control over the heart of this owner and His will. And He makes them willing to allow this donkey, His donkey, to be taken. Now when we say that God is sovereign over our hearts and over our wills, we don't mean that we are not exercising our will. It doesn't mean that we are not exercising our will. It doesn't mean that we are not freely making choices according to our desires.

God is sovereign over our wills and over our choices. He governs them. He determines what we will do and has determined from before the foundation of the world, even the good works that we do, He has ordained those works that we should do them. But that doesn't mean for a minute that we are not free moral agents, freely making choices and decisions according to our desires. You see, these two things are not incompatible.

The scriptures teach both of them. They go together. We've been given a will, and we've been given the freedom to make choices according to what that will desires. But we see here in this example how God is sovereign over even those choices. And in a way that we cannot understand or fathom, right?

It's a mystery, how can God do this? I mean, we can come up with silly analogies and weak examples. But like a computer, like this computer, this Deep Blue, that's the old computer, I think IBM's, several generations down the road, but They built this computer that can play chess. But some men designed it that knew the basic rules of chess. They tell the computer, program it, and this computer can beat the best people in the world at chess.

None of the Guys that wrote the code can do it. In other words, a computer is making these decisions and it's doing things. And yet it's still exactly programmed, doing exactly what it's been programmed to do. Now that's a bad analogy in some ways, because we're moral agents, a computer's not. Computer doesn't have a soul, it doesn't have a will of its own.

It's not a moral agent, it's not accountable for what it does. We're all those things. But it is a little example of how even on a human scale, there's something that's making decisions, but it's also been determined. So in a much greater and far more glorious and mysterious way, the Lord is sovereign over the choices and wills of people without eliminating, without removing their ability to choose. For those that want the philosophical term, it's called compatibilism.

Those two things are compatible in the scripture. They go together. Now the next thing we see about our King is that he comes with great humility. In verse 35, he is riding on a donkey, a colt, A little donkey. It's not a horse.

A donkey is not a royal animal. A horse is a royal animal. There are places that Christ is pictured on a horse as a conquering king on a horse. But in this case, he's coming on a donkey, a lowly animal. It's the animal, it's a beast of burden for those who are poor.

Those who are wealthy would have draft horses and oxen, but a donkey is a beast of burden for those report if you've traveled in other countries I'm thinking like in Central America and in South America. Remember, you can see going down the road, this array, there are people that have trucks, there are people that have donkeys pulling trailers, there are people that have donkeys pulling loads without trailers. How does that work? They just have to drag it on the ground. The donkey is walking down the road and it's dragging the load behind it because they aren't too poor to afford A trailer.

All they can afford is the donkey. And then of course there are people that are carrying the load themselves. They can't afford even the donkey. But a donkey is a lowly animal. Now this is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your King, your King, the Messiah, is coming to you. He is just and having salvation. He's the Redeemer, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. That's the prophecy of Zechariah.

And that is exactly what Jesus does here. He's doing this so that it might be fulfilled, which was written about Him. See, the context of that passage in Zechariah is that the Lord would destroy the enemies of His people, Syria, Tyre, Sidon, Ashkelon, the Philistines, the Canaanites. God would destroy these people. God said, I will camp around My house because of the army, because of Him who passes by and who returns.

No more shall an oppressor pass through them. For now I have seen with my eyes." And then comes this promise in Zechariah, "'Rejoice greatly, for your king is coming to you lowly and riding on a donkey.'" You see, humility comes before honor. Proverbs teach us that. Proverbs 15, 33 and 18, 12 both teach that before honor is humility. You see, Christ humbled Himself in the incarnation, in coming to earth.

Paul told the Philippians, Philippians 2 verse 8, In being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. Therefore, notice the connection, this humility precedes exaltation. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. See, Jesus came humbly.

And even in this triumphal procession, He's coming on a donkey. Not The usual mount for a king The apostle Peter teaches the same principle of humility, that humility is before honor. It's true of us as well. Peter says, therefore humble yourself in the sight of God that He may exalt you in due time. It's God that exalts.

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Christ came lowly, Zechariah said, lowly, riding on a donkey. We see next that in this triumphal procession that Jesus is exalted as a king by the people. They put their coats on the donkey for Him to sit on. They threw their own coats, verse 35 says, on the donkey.

And they set Jesus on him. And as he went, many spread their clothes on the road. And they laid their coats, they laid their own clothes down on the road so that Jesus could ride over them with His donkey. That's significant symbolism, Significant sign and recognition of His kingship. This is what the people did when Jehu came out and announced that the Lord had made him king.

They asked him, remember this prophet had gone in the inner room and anointed him king. And when he came out they were like, what did he do? What did he say? And Jehu initially said, nothing. And then they said, well that's not true.

And then he said, and thus he spoke to me saying, Thus says the Lord, I have anointed you king over Israel. And then each man hastened to take his garment and to put it under him, under Jehu, on the top of the steps. And they blew the trumpet saying Jehu is king. This is a sign that they recognized Jesus was the King. And they exalted Him as the King.

And they praised Him because He did the mighty works of a triumphant king. It says that the people praised him. They began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen him do. Establishing, proclaiming His kingship over all manner of things. They saw Him cast out demons.

The demons trembled before Him, but they obeyed Him. They saw Him rule over sickness, causing People that were lame to walk, the blind to see. Even rich people, who Jesus said it was harder for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle, than for a rich man to be saved, they saw Him saving rich people. Then they saw Him, not too much earlier, raise Lazarus from the dead. They saw him call a man who had been dead and was stinking, bound hand and foot in a tomb.

They heard him say, Lazarus come forth. And this man bound hand and foot, he was dead, heard, and walked. Walked right out of the tomb. It was only after he got out of the tomb that Jesus said, well now, unloose him, untie him. They praised Jesus for all the mighty works that they had seen.

John says the same thing in John 12. For this reason, the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign, this raising of Lazarus from the dead. So you had two things going on here. You had a crowd going up with Jesus, with him along the way, and you had this crowd coming out of Jerusalem that was meeting him because they heard that he was coming and and they heard all these wonderful and mighty signs that he had done that demonstrate his sovereign authority and rule over all things over people and animals creation the wind the waves. Jesus demonstrated His authority over it all.

He did the works of a mighty king. And so He's greeted as a king by the people. In saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of The Lord, as they sang in verse 38, they are using the very words of Psalm 118. Let me read you that passage. This is the gate of the Lord.

Psalm 118 verse 20. Through which the righteous shall enter, I will praise you for you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected, he became the chief cornerstone. Remember, the Pharisees rejected Christ. They were seeking to kill Him.

They sought at every turn to discredit Him, to make Him look foolish and ignorant. They disliked Him. They did not receive Him as the King. This, Psalm 118 says, this was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

There's the phrase. We have blessed you from the house, oh Lord. And they also say peace in heaven and glory in the highest, using a theme from Psalm, using the words of Psalm 148. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the highest.

That psalm goes on to talk about all creation, praising God. Both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted. His glory is above the heaven and the earth. You see these people recognize that Jesus was the King. And they used the Old Testament Psalms and the Old Testament prophecies to praise Him.

Psalm 148 speaks of even the inanimate creation praising God, From the hosts of heaven to the heavenly bodies, to the sea creatures, to the earth itself, and everything that is in it, even the mountains and the hills. You know, this is a characteristic of those who are God's people. That our mouth is filled with His praise and His glory all the day, that our mouth tells of His wonderful works, that we recognize His wonderful works when they happen. You know, we can become so dull and insensitive that miracles can happen in front of us. God's wonderful works can happen in front of our eyes and we become insensitive to it.

But when we recognize that Jesus is the King, our King, then we take pleasure in studying His works. And we begin more and more to recognize His works, they're all around us. His mighty works, His providential works, His saving works, His works of grace. And our mouth is filled with His praise and His glory just as these people were. The last thing I'd like to point out this morning about our King is that he is completely self-sufficient.

He didn't need these people to praise him. It's our joy. It's our duty. It's our privilege to praise him and to tell of his works. But he doesn't need us.

He's the author of speech. And as he says there, he can bring forth his praise from the rocks. It doesn't need us. In fact, really, that's what he did, if you think about it, that's what he did when he created people. The Bible says that he took some of the dust of the earth and he shaped it together.

And he formed Adam, which means dirt, Earth. And then he breathed into this dirt, the breath of life, and man became a living soul, able to praise God. So God does it's not something that theoretically God could raise up praise from the rocks. He already has. We're but earth.

And when we die, you've heard the phrase, ashes to ashes. We die and we turn back into earth. God already has raised up in His people, He's raised up His praise out of dirt. And that's what He tells the Pharisees. The Pharisees are envious, and we'll look more at this Lord willing next week, if God tarries.

They were envious of Him. And they said, rebuke your disciples. Don't let them praise you as the king. Don't let them praise you as the Messiah. That would make yourself equal to be God.

Rebuke your disciples. Any time humans receive worship, godly humans receive worship, they immediately reject it and stop it. John tries to praise a created being and that being said, no. No, I'm just a created being. There were people that tried to praise the apostles on different occasions thinking they were gods and they always said no.

And so the Pharisees here are telling Jesus, rebuke your disciples, they're calling you God, they're acknowledging that you are the Messiah which would be to acknowledge him as the King of Kings and Jesus says no, no. I tell you that even if these should keep silent the stones would immediately cry out because God is the sovereign King and He can take out of the dust of the earth and fashion His praise. So what can we learn from this? Well, we can learn first that Christ will prepare the way for us. When Christ directs us to some task, when He calls us to some duty, when He sends us on some mission, we can go knowing that everything that He says is true, everything that He has promised will come to pass, and that He will prepare the way before us.

That He will give to us all that we need to do what He has called us to do. That there is nothing that can stop us when we are doing what God has called us to do. Because there is nothing that can say to the Lord, what are you doing? So it's Christ, our King, that controls the animal kingdom. It's Christ, our King, that controls the hearts and the actions of people and that makes them willing to come to Him.

Until we can speak of the Gospel and testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. Because it's not us, it's not our power that will persuade people, but it is the irresistible power of God. And secondly, we don't need to fear. We don't need to fear. We don't need to fear what people might do to us.

We don't need to fear a deprivation of the necessities of life. Because God is the sovereign King. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. And he can direct the animals. He tells them where to go and when to beware.

And he can even use them to bring food to his people. And he has done that. So we do not need to fear, because Jesus is our King. And He will provide all that we need, all of the necessities of our life. And thirdly, we can learn that He will bring justice.

He will bring justice. And we will see that in more detail in the next couple of weeks with some of the what happens here with what Jesus says and what he does. But may the Lord deliver us from anxiety and fear and may He put His praise and His glory in our mouth all the day. Heavenly Father, we just praise You as those whom you have created, as those whom you have made out of the earth and breathed into us the breath of life, you have given to us life. And it is your power that sustains life in us moment by moment.

So we praise and Thank you for the gift of life. We thank you for the new life you have given to us in Christ, that you have redeemed us, that you came lowly and on a donkey, you came with salvation. And you are strong to save. You are the captain of our salvation, the first fruits. Father, please forgive the fears that so often overtake us, that we know are not our groundless, and yet we still experience.

Father, we ask that we might more and more learn to cast all our cares upon you, for you do care for us. You are all sufficient for every need that we ever could have. You are more than sufficient. Lord may we learn to rest in your arms, to rest in your power and learn to ask for those things that we need. Lord how slow we can be at times to ask of Your goodness and of Your bounty.

Let me thank You that You have looked upon us with a bountiful eye and have richly blessed us in so many ways. May we not be insensitive to that. But may we learn that lesson well that even as the lilies are clothed in great beauty and do not do any work, so Lord, you are able to satisfy the needs of your people. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.