The Triumphal Entry

And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. We're looking this morning at the triumphal entry of Jesus. As a matter of fact that's the title of the message. I think you're really creative with it. The triumphal entry. Because that's what we're looking at this morning. Jesus has been traveling towards Jerusalem over the last few chapters that we've been looking at.

And as he's been traveling towards Jerusalem it's been for one specific purpose. So that he can come riding into Jerusalem. So that he could take on himself the sin of humanity. And therefore be our salvation. A couple of weeks ago when I was gone. Rick referenced that prophecy out of Daniel chapter 9. Where it said that there were 70 weeks. Decreed for the nation of Israel.

Well as we come to today. We come to the end of the 69th week. That had been decreed for the nation of Israel. Because after the 69th week Messiah would be cut off. But not for himself as it's told to us there in the book of Daniel. And there is. I can't think of the guy's name right now. But he figured up the days to the exact amount. And if you figure up the days to the exact amount it takes us to.

What we would refer to as Palm Sunday. Or the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ. As he moves into Jerusalem. And so as we pick up in chapter 21 verse 1. There's three things that we'll pay attention to as usual. There's going to be the preparation. The triumphal entry. And then the cleansing of the temple. So we pick up in chapter 21 verse 1. As he speaks to his disciples about the preparation.

It says. When they had approached Jerusalem. And had come to Bethpage. At the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two disciples. Saying to them. Go into the village of Bethpage. Go into the village of Bethpage. Go into the village of Bethpage. And immediately you will find a donkey tied there. And a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you.

You shall say the Lord has need of them. And immediately he will send them. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion. Behold your king is coming to you. Gentle and mounted on a donkey. Even on the foal of a beast of burden. Now Jesus again has come right to the edge. Of Jerusalem. We're given a little bit of a location here.

As it says. He's near Bethpage. Which is near the Mount of Olives. Now the Mount of Olives is going to be an important place. For Jesus. Because in a few chapters. He's going to give what's referred to as the Olivet Discourse. And so this is going to be sort of where he settles himself to camp. During this last week of his life. Well he knows that it's important that he come into Jerusalem.

In the right way. As a matter of fact. The timing of everything that he's doing right now is perfect. We'll talk about that in just a moment. When he comes riding into Jerusalem. And they. They cry out Hosanna. But he needs something to ride on. Now you and I. When we think of the way that a king would come into town. Of course we would think of him coming in.

In some sweet black suburban. Or something like that. In today's day and age. Perhaps a Denali. Or whatever the Cadillac version of that thing is. That's what we would think of. When the king comes riding into town. But in the day and age in which Jesus lived. When a king. Especially a conquering king. Came riding into town. If you were part of the Roman cohort.

You would come in. On nothing less. Than a black stallion. You would come in. On a majestic horse. That way everybody knew. You were a conquering king. Coming into town. And it drew the attention of everyone. Now Jewish people viewed this much differently. Because if you were to look back at. The book of Deuteronomy. You would see that. God said. When I give you a king.

He shall not amass horses to himself. The reason why is because. Some trust in chariots. And some trust in horses. But you shall trust in the name of the Lord your God. And so he didn't want their trust. To be in an animal. With majestic strength. He wanted their trust to be in him. And quite frankly. He didn't want them to be men of pride. He wanted them to be men of humility.

Even though they were kings. And so kings in ancient Israel. Rode on donkeys. Well at least the first two kings did. Until Solomon came along. And when Solomon came along. He began to amass horses. You know what else it says. A king wasn't supposed to amass. Sidebar. It also says a king wasn't supposed to. Amass wives to himself. And if you know anything about Solomon.

Well he did that one too. And you may note that after Solomon. The kingdom became divided. Because his heart became divided. It's interesting when you don't obey God. There's always consequences that go along with that. Anyway sidebar. Not the point of what we're talking about this morning. So Jesus knows he needs to come into town. Riding on a colt. Not only because that's what kings did.

But because that's what was prophesied. So he told his disciples. I've got some specific. Directions for you. Two of them he pulled aside. He said I want you to go into the village. That's opposite of you. In other words the village that's right here close by. And as you go through town. You're going to find a donkey. With a colt tied together at a house. You're just going to grab those two.

And you bring them to me. And if the owner of the home comes out. And is like hey what the heck. Why'd you take my donkey. You can tell them. The master the king has need of them. And he'll give them to you. Now I don't know how many times. You've read. This story before. But I always take a moment to pause right here. Because first of all. It's ancient Israel.

I can't imagine that there wasn't more than. One donkey. Right. Are you thinking the same thing right now. How are they going to know which one's the one. That would be the first question I would have for Jesus. How am I going to know which donkey is the right donkey. Maybe it's because. And I've not done enough. Historical or animal husbandry type research on this.

Maybe it's because a donkey and a colt tied together. Not a common thing. Perhaps that was something uncommon at that point. I don't know enough about donkeys. To know that that's the case. Perhaps if you do. You could educate me later. But my first question is. How do they know which one. My second question is. How are you going to go into town. Take a donkey and be like.

Hey don't worry. The master has need of them. And expect no repercussions for that. Right. Like I'm thinking the next time. I'm thinking I need a new car. I should send Lewis. Right. And be like Lewis. Go up to the Reedy Ford. Right. Or excuse me. The Zeller Ford now. And go ahead and jump in an F-150. And bring it to me. And if one of the owners is like. Hey what are you doing.

Be like. Well the pastor at Calvary needs it. They won't say a word to you. Right. Like you think that would work for me. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Then you know what his disciples never say. Are you sure that's going to work. Some read a miracle into this. I think probably this is not Jesus's first trip to this region. And he probably knew someone there.

My guess is the last time he was there for the Passover. Or perhaps the Feast of Pentecost. Maybe even when he was there for one of the fall feasts. He came across somebody and he said listen. Next year around the time of the Feast of Passover. I'm going to need a donkey to ride on. So I want you to know when that time comes. Would it be possible. Would you mind if I used your beast of burden.

To be the one that carries me into Jerusalem. And I bet that person said. It would be my honor. That's what I think probably happened. But still it's kind of a funny scene to think about. Right. And so he sends his two disciples. To go and do this exact thing. But then Matthew gives us this little commentary. Because remember Matthew. Is writing to the Jewish mindset.

Therefore it's important to him. To point out the prophecies. The ancient Jewish prophecies. That Jesus was fulfilling. And so Matthew includes this little commentary. When he says this took place. To fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion. Behold your king is coming to you. Gentle and mounted on the donkey. Even a colt. The foal.

Of a beast. Of burden. This is a quote. Out of the book of Zechariah. As a matter of fact. It's going to say almost the same thing. But just so you can navigate your Bible really well. Let's turn back to Zechariah real quick. If you go back to your left. The first book you'll come to is Malachi. And then you'll go to Zechariah. The second to the last book in the Old Testament.

Zechariah chapter nine.

Verse nine.

It says. Excuse me. Rejoice greatly. O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph. O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold your king is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble and mounted on a donkey. Even on a colt. The foal. Of a donkey. Matthew almost directly quotes Zechariah chapter nine. I think it's important. Because we should pay attention to these messianic prophecies.

In the Old Testament. As a matter of fact. That's exactly what Zechariah. Chapter nine. Verse nine is. It's a messianic prophecy. Why did Jesus choose to ride into town on the colt of a donkey? Well because that's what the Messiah was going to do. He's fulfilling the prophecy. That God had given to Zechariah. So many years before. Of exactly what the Messiah was going to do.

But there's a couple of things that I think. Are really interesting. To point out about this prophecy. The first one I take note of is this. It says behold your king is coming to you. But do you take note of how he's coming to you? Gentle and mounted on a donkey. The word gentle could also be translated lowly. Or meek. Or humble. You see when Jesus came into town this first time.

It was not as a conquering king. When Jesus came riding into town this first time. It was as the suffering servant. As the one who was meek. And lowly. And humble. Because pretty soon in about a week. Even as. A sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. And accepted the punishment that rightly belonged. To you and me. Jesus came in in that very humble and meek sort of way.

You know what I think is kind of interesting about that? Is that that makes Jesus very identifiable with us. It makes him very identifiable with humble man. Even though we don't have humility about us by nature. Yet when we really realize who we are. That we are. But dust. There should be a humility about the way we view ourselves. And yet Jesus. Who took on the form of a man.

Came riding into town in a way that you and I can all relate with. The second thing I take note of is this. It says. That he came into town gentle. And mounted on a donkey. Even on a colt. The foal. Of a beast. Of burden. It's that phrase. The beast. Of burden. That kind of stuck out to me there. Because do you remember what we just talked about last week? We just talked last week about the importance of being a servant.

And as Jesus talked to his disciples about the importance of being a servant. He held himself up as the example. He said because even the son of man did not come to be served. But to serve. And to give his life as a ransom for many. And even the way he came riding into Jerusalem. Though riding in much like the kings of old. Matthew was specific. To point out the prophecy that Zechariah laid out.

That he would come in riding on a beast of burden. A beast that would be the servant. Because that's what Jesus was when he came riding into town. He was that perfect example of the suffering servant. You know there's kind of a third interesting thing that I didn't put in my notes. And I just kind of thought about as I was reading this. If we were to read Mark's account of this.

The gospel of Mark. You would see that there was another little addendum that Mark added to it. When he said. This cult was a cult that no one had ridden on before. Now again I can safely confidently say I've never ridden on a donkey myself. My wife teaches in Dexter USA. So people have actually brought donkeys to school before. Which is a fascinating thing.

Sidebar my wife's from Johnson County. Kansas City really wealthy area. So for her to be in Dexter where they bring donkeys to school sometime. I always giggle a little bit when I think about it. But I've never actually ridden on a donkey. I've never really ridden one. But I do know this. Until an animal is broken. It does not want to be ridden on. Because it has to learn to surrender.

And yet this cult. That had never been ridden by anyone else. Was willing to submit itself. Under the hand of the servant leader Jesus Christ. Kind of an interesting point there to be made. Well so we move on from there. And we come now to the triumphal entry. It says the disciples went. And did just as Jesus had instructed them. And they brought the donkey and the colt.

And they laid their coats on them. And he sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road. Others were cutting branches from the trees. And spreading them in the road. And the crowds ahead of him. Those who followed 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 had entered Jerusalem.

All the city was stirred. Saying who is this? And the crowds were saying. This is the prophet Jesus. From Nazareth. In Galilee. So the first thing we take note of. Is that his disciples went and did exactly as he said. They went and they found it. You know they had to have been thinking. Gosh I hope we're going to find the right one. I hope we're going to come to the right place.

I wonder if somebody did stop them. At any rate they went and did exactly what Jesus said. And they brought both of them back. They brought the donkey. And the colt back. And if you will. They used their outer coats. As a saddle for Jesus. So they took their coats. And they laid them on top of the colt. And it tells us that it was the colt. That Jesus rode on.

The one that had never been ridden on before. So Jesus mounts the colt. And begins his journey. Into Jerusalem. You know the second question that I have. Really about all of this. Is the big question that I have is. Who told all the crowds. That Jesus was showing up. How'd they know that? How'd they know to be ready for that? Now don't get me wrong. There would have been a lot of people in Jerusalem.

At this point in time. Because this is leading up to the feast of Passover. And so the population of Jerusalem. Swelled two to three times it's usual size. During the time of Passover. Because everybody came back for the Passover feast. So there would have been a lot of people there. Which is why maybe many people didn't know who Jesus was. But a whole crowd gathers.

And as Jesus is simply riding into town. Something amazing begins to take place. The first thing that begins to take place. Is what they lay in front of him. The first thing that I want to point out to you. That they lay in front of him. Is that they begin to cut down palm branches. And they lay the palm branches down in front of him. Now we would initially think.

Why on earth would they do that? But there's some interesting Jewish history. Where this actually came from. You see in the what we call intertestamental period. There was a time where Jerusalem. Was taken over. And the temple was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes. And when that took place. There was a group of people that rose up. Called the Maccabees. And they were headed by a guy named Judas Maccabeus.

And they not only took Jerusalem back. But they cleansed the temple. Well after the Maccabees had taken Jerusalem back. Judas Maccabeus comes riding into Jerusalem. And do you know what they laid in front of him. As he was riding into Jerusalem. As that guy who conquered and took back the city. They took palm branches. And they laid them down in front of him.

So this was not a completely uncommon thing. For the people of Israel to do. As a matter of fact. Perhaps in their minds it felt very much like. What would have taken place in that time. In their history. When Judas came riding into town. And they laid these palm branches in front of him. And so it was their way of saying. You are our king. And we're declaring you as such.

And we'll talk about why that's important in just a moment. But then there was a second thing that they began to do. Did you take note of. It's actually listed first. Not only did they lay palm branches in front of him. But they took off their outer coats. And they laid it on the ground. And remember. When they laid it on the ground. What was going to be walking over top of it.

Not just Jesus. But a beast of burden. Now I have ridden on horses before. And I do know what happens when you ride on a horse. They do whatever they want to do. Whenever they want to do it. Like if they're like hey you know what. I need to go to the bathroom. I need to go to the bathroom right now. The whole world is their latrine. Right. And so as they're laying down their coats.

They're well aware of something. That coat will never be the same again. Now I bet you and I. Most of us in this room. We own more than one coat. Right. Matter of fact. We probably have a lot of outer garments. And so it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice for us. To lay some sort of an outer garment in front of somebody. We even still might balk at it a little bit.

I don't know if I want you walking on that thing. I don't know if I want you getting all nasty. Maybe. I have a donkey poop on that thing. I don't know if I want that. But in ancient Israel. They were a very poor people. And they probably only owned. One outer cloak. And the people that saw Jesus. Come riding into Jerusalem. Decided that what they would do.

Is take that one outer cloak that they owned. And sacrifice it. At the feet of Jesus. Because that's exactly. What it was for them. It was a sacrifice. And what I'm reminded of. Is that we are told in scripture. That our praise. Is to be a sacrifice. Unto the Lord. And in just a moment. We're going to see them praise Jesus. As they cry out Hosanna. But it brings up a really good question.

At least for me. Do I really make any sacrifice. In the way that I praise the Lord. You see. Sometimes. Sometimes we as a western culture church. And me as a spoiled American. Can sometimes find that I praise God. When I feel like it. I praise God when it's convenient. I praise God when things are going my way. But to me it seems like. That's the exact opposite of what God.

Tells us in scripture. We're told both in the Psalms. And in the book of Hebrews. That we are to bring a sacrifice. Of praise to the Lord. That means that even when it's a little bit. Inconvenient. I offer my praise to the Lord. Even when I don't feel like it. I offer my praise to the Lord. Even when it costs me something. I offer my praise to the Lord. Even when everything seems to be going wrong.

And I don't even almost kind of feel like it. I offer my praise to the Lord. Because it's a sacrifice of my heart. We're to bring to him that sacrifice of praise. And that's exactly what the people do. Here. As they begin laying their cloaks out. In front of Jesus. And so as they're doing this. It's interesting because. I find myself asking more questions. Which again I just highly recommend.

As you read scripture. Ask yourself lots of questions. Well what's going on there? Why would they have done that? Here's some of the questions that I have. Where did Jesus start his ride? Like how far outside of Jerusalem did he begin the ride? At what point in time did people start going. We should lay palm branches and coats in front of him. When did they start crying out.

What they're about to cry out right now. Perhaps some of these could be answered. In some of the other gospel accounts. I didn't spend as much time looking at the other gospel accounts. As I probably should have. But these are all questions that I have. Because this scene is just so fascinating. This scene is just so amazing. But as Jesus is riding into town.

At some point in time. They're not only laying these branches and coats in front of him. But they begin to cry out something. They begin to cry out. Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Now this is high praise that they're offering to Jesus. As a matter of fact. Before we get into the specific language that's used here.

I would like to point something out. This is actually a quote from Psalm 118. What's known as a messianic psalm. Okay. Let's do a little Bible Olympics one more time. Okay. Turn with me to the psalms. And go to Psalm 118. And I want you to look at verses 24 through 26. It takes forever to turn past Psalm 119 doesn't it? Psalm 118 verses 24 through 26. It says this is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. And if you grew up in church. You just started singing that song in your head. Right? We sometimes forget that the day that's being spoken of here. In this messianic psalm. Is the day of the Messiah. The day of the presentation of the Messiah. It says. Oh Lord do save. We beseech you. Oh Lord we beseech you. Do send prosperity.

Blessed is the one who comes. In the name of the Lord. We have blessed you. From the house of the Lord. You see this was a psalm. That they knew they would sing one day. When the Messiah came riding into town. Notice what it says here. Oh Lord do save. Well Hosanna is kind of like that. Because the word Hosanna means save now. Other than that. It's almost a direct.

Quotation out of psalm 118. This is really important. Because this means that the crowds. That are surrounding Jesus. The crowds that are laying out the palm branches. And the coats in front of him. Understand something. They understand at this point in time. That this is the Messiah. Because you wouldn't say this about anybody else. You wouldn't sing this song about anybody else.

You wouldn't make this cry. You wouldn't make this declaration about anybody else. Because that's what this psalm is reserved for. But you know it's a fascinating thought. This exact same group. That today recognizes him as Messiah. In one week. Will cry out something very different. They will cry out. Crucify him. We have no king. But Caesar. Beware of a heart in yourself.

That is easily swayed by the opinions of the crowds. Beware of a heart in yourself. Beware of the world. Whose opinion can often be very fickle. And one day. You may be their best friend as a believer in Jesus Christ. Because you were there for them. When they needed you. But the very next day. They may be cursing you. Because they feel convicted about their sin.

C.H. Spurgeon. As he was addressing students. That would soon become preachers. He said you should neither be swayed. By the praise. Nor the criticism of the people. Because it will change. Like the weather.

And so. Back to Matthew chapter 21. So let's look at what they're crying out to him. Because I think it's really important. So they begin crying out to him. It's out of Psalm 118. They begin to cry out Hosanna. The word Hosanna means save now. If you will. If we were to quote this literally. They would be saying save now son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Save now in the highest. They're crying out for salvation. Well that's great. They should be crying out for salvation. But you know what? They were crying out for the wrong kind of salvation. You know what kind of salvation they were crying out for? They were crying out for political salvation. They were really hoping. That what Jesus was going to do. Was overthrow the Roman government.

Just like the judges of old. Just like Judas Maccabeus. With those that invaded Jerusalem. They were hoping that Jesus. Was going to overthrow the Roman government. That he would set them free. From the political bondage. That they lived in. And that he would rule and reign. Like the Messiah was supposed to. In the way that they wanted for him to. If you will.

They were looking for a savior. But they were looking for the wrong kind of savior. Do you know what I get nervous about right now in church culture? I get nervous that we're looking for the wrong kind of savior. I get nervous that we're looking for somebody. Who's going to make America great again. I get nervous that that's the kind of savior. That we're looking for.

We're looking for the savior. Who's going to set us free from high gas prices. We're looking for the savior. That's going to set us free from inflation. We're looking for the savior. That's going to set us free from being the laughing stock. Of the political and military world stage. That's the kind of savior. We're looking for right now. And we think he's going to show up.

Wearing a flag pin on his lapel. And brothers and sisters. We can't look for that. We can't look for that. for that kind of a savior. Don't get me wrong. When it comes to elections, we have been blessed with the ability to vote for candidates that we feel like most line up with biblical ideology, that most line up with biblical moral principles, and we should absolutely exercise that right,

and we should campaign for those, I believe. We should fight for those who, wait, I can't say the word fight. We should work for those, I don't want to get myself investigated. We should work for those that are going to promote godliness, but listen, that's not our hope because we can't legislate righteousness. We can't legislate all of these things that we want to see changed.

The only one that can do that is Jesus, and so brothers and sisters, let us as the church today not be like ancient Israel when Jesus was there looking for the wrong savior, but you know, I think sometimes we as, as individuals can find in our lives that we're also looking for the wrong kind of savior. We're looking for the kind of savior that's going to make my life happy. We're looking for the kind of savior that's going to make my life free from trouble. It's going to bring some sort of fulfillment that I just don't have in anything else in my life.

Brothers and sisters, that's not who Jesus is. Don't get me wrong. There is joy in my heart because I know Jesus is my savior. My life is more fulfilling. It's more fulfilled than it's ever been, but it's because he wasn't the savior I wanted. He was the savior that I needed because what I thought that I wanted was a happy life. What I thought that I wanted was fulfillment.

What I thought that I wanted was someone who would answer all of my prayers, but do you know what I realized I needed? I needed someone who would set me free from my sin. I needed someone who would give me freedom from the guilt of sin that I have inside me. Someone who would then give me an identity that had nothing to do with the things of this world, an identity that I was originally intended to have in Christ that was absolutely wiped out by sin.

He wasn't the savior that I wanted, but he is the savior that I needed. And if that's you this morning, if you've been looking for the wrong kind of savior and you still find that perhaps your life as a believer is not as fulfilled as it should be, then maybe it's because you need to start seeing him as the savior that you needed. And so they're crying out, Hosanna, save now, son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

What a crazy scene. Okay, let's set all that stuff aside for just a minute. And I want you to just allow yourself to kind of think about what this scene would have been like. As Jesus comes riding into town on the colt of a donkey, as Jesus comes riding into town, so many times when they tried to make him king, so many times when they said, when's it gonna be?

So many times he said, my time's not now. The time has not come yet. Don't tell anybody what I've done for you because my time hasn't come yet. I've set you free from demons, but don't tell anybody because it's not yet my time. But now it's his time. And he comes riding into Jerusalem. And as he's riding into Jerusalem, palm branches being laid down, coats being laid down.

Can you imagine what his disciples had to have been feeling? The feeling just rushing into there, their chest, the excitement of the fact that the entire city of Jerusalem is singing the praises of the man that they love so much, of their best friend, who they have found to be the savior that they needed. The feeling that they had inside of them as they're watching all of Jerusalem sing the praises of Jesus. And Jesus, though he knew the heart of man, the joy that had to have filled his heart to hear the praises be sung.

What an amazing scene this would have been. I often wonder if some of those prophets, I know there's a chasm between earth and heaven and they can't always know what's going on down here. I just wonder if God allowed for some of those prophets like Daniel and Zechariah just to have, for a moment, have the curtains be pulled back so that they could see what they'd prophesied. So that they could see everything that they had been saying and didn't fully understand.

All they could do was write down what God wanted for them to. If they could maybe for just a moment get a glimpse of Messiah riding into town. Well, notice the effect on the city. It says, When he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? Some of your Bibles may translate that all of the city was moved. Do you know what the Greek word there is?

The Greek word is seismic. The idea is that all of the city quaked. In other words, there was a rumbling in the city of Jerusalem because of Jesus. He shook the city when he came in there. And everybody started asking the same question. Who is this? I wonder if a dude's like laying down a palm branch. He's like, yay, bless this. Here comes the name of the Lord.

Who is this guy? Right? Because that's who we are as humanity. We're like, oh, the whole crowd's doing it. Let's join in as well. They're like, who is this? And the crowds were saying, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth, Galilee. Basically, they said, this is the most common man you can imagine in all of your life. We don't think about that when we read Jesus from Nazareth.

We don't think about Nazareth in Galilee. But that's exactly what it meant, right? I've tried to bring this up before, but the name Jesus transliterated into English is the word Joshua, right? And so basically, they're like, who's that? Well, that's Joshua. I know a lot of Joshuas. Everybody wanted their kid to be Yahshua. Yahweh is salvation. So there's probably a lot of Joshuas in the area right now.

They're like, who is this guy? Well, that's Joshua. And where is he from? He's from Nazareth in Galilee. Remember what they said about Nazareth? Does anything good come out of Nazareth? Right? Like, that's like the armpit of Jerusalem or the armpit of Israel, right? It'd be like saying, who is that? Well, that's Joshua from Ark City. Everybody's like, come again?

How common is this? And yet, that's who Jesus was. Well, there's one thing he wants to do while he's in Jerusalem. He's going to cleanse the temple. There's a lot of things he's going to do, but this is the first thing. So verse 12, it says, Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers

and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a robber's den. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief, the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done, the children who were shouting in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they became indignant.

Said to him, do you hear what these children are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have prepared praise for yourself? And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and he spent the night there. So Jesus comes into Jerusalem and he sort of comes in to quote a great songwriter.

He kind of comes in like a wrecking ball, right? Because this is what he does. It says he entered the temple and he drove out all those who were buying and selling. I love that Matthew gives no fanfare about this, no explanation about this. He just lays it out there. Jesus enters the temple. Now for us to really understand what's going on, let's paint the picture of what the temple looked like

at that point in time. The temple had an outer court. It was called the court of the Gentiles. Then you move forward. You've passed that to the court of the, I believe the court of the women is next and then the court of the Jews. And then you went into the place that only the priests were allowed to go into the actual temple itself, which would have very much mirrored the tabernacle.

So this outer area was called the court of the Gentiles. In other words, anybody could go there. But what they would do is in this court of the Gentiles, they would set up places where they could buy and sell. They turned it into a marketplace. You see, many would be traveling from a long ways away and they wouldn't be able to get a sacrifice for themselves.

And so they had to purchase one in the temple. Well, you know as well as I do because you've been to Silver Dollar City or the ball field or something like that. And they tell you, you can't bring food in here or something along those lines. You can't bring your outside food and drink in. Therefore, I'm going to charge you 525 for a Dr. Pepper. Right? Same sort of thing was going on there.

The second thing that would go on, is that there would have to be an inspection process, which was absolutely true. If you brought your sacrifice, it had to be without spot or blemish. But you know as well as I do, that if I want to make money, I'm going to find a spot. That's wonderful that you brought your own sacrifice. Let's have Rabbi here take a look at it for you

and make sure that it's kosher. Make sure everything's good to go. Here's the problem. We found a little spot on this one, but we have good news for you. We have pre-certified, sacrifices, certified pre-owned, sounds pretty good. Anyway, pre-certified sacrifices for you, for a fee. We'll take this one off your hands. Shh, we won't tell anybody. And then you can purchase one from us.

And they would gouge the people. And then there was a third thing that went on. Everybody had to pay what was called the temple tax. Well, they would not accept Roman currency, which is what everybody carried at that point in time, to pay the temple tax. So you had to bring, bring your Roman money and exchange it for a shekel. And you know as well as I do, exactly what they did with the exchange rate.

Same thing we're doing now. It was exorbitant. And so they were constantly making money off these things. But do you know what the real problem was? In order to get from the outer court of the tabernacle to the inner court of the tabernacle, you had to go through all of the merchandisers. In other words, you had just cut off access to the tabernacle. Not only that,

this is the court of the Gentiles. Meaning who all's there? People that don't know God are there. People that don't have an understanding of God are there. Therefore, they are tainting the name of God in front of all of these people who have no idea who God is. They now view God in the same way that most of the working world views pastors. A bunch of people that want your money, right?

I used to share with you that that's how everybody felt about me when I worked construction. Well, what do you want to be, Ryan? I want to be a pastor. Oh, because you want all that tithe money, right? Because that's how the world viewed it. Because that's what we've done to people. And that's what they were doing in the tabernacle or in the temple courts at that point in time.

And so when Jesus walked in, now listen, this isn't the first time Jesus has walked into the temple. He would have walked into the temple a bunch of times. But have you ever seen something going on and you've let it go a bunch of times, but this one time it catches you where you're like, you know what? Normally I would let this go, but I just can't. And a young man,

when I taught Bible a few years ago, a young man that slept every day in my class. Now y'all know I don't get too worked up about people sleeping. Listen, if what I do for you is give you rest here on a Sunday morning, I'm okay with that. I get it. Listen, I had a teacher in Bible college that said, Jesus told his disciples, sleep on. And so I tell you, sleep on.

Just know there's a test. Anyway, so I had this one young man and he fell asleep every day in my class. And not just kind of fell asleep, like he fell asleep. Well, one day he's sleeping in my class and he like, he didn't even open his Bible. He didn't participate in any of the class discussion, nothing. He just laid down and began to not so gently drool all over the table.

And this particular morning, it just fired my biscuits, right? I was like, and so I'm a pretty gentle guy for the most part. And I just yelled his name and I think three kids wet their pants because they don't ever hear me respond like that to anybody. My oldest daughter, I told my oldest daughter this story and she's like, that's because they don't live in our house.

So I just holler his name. I'm like, stand up in the corner. Okay, let's finish this story real quick and then I'll go back to scripture, I promise. So I make him go stand in the corner and he stands there and he goes and slowly slides down the corner of the wall and then lays over and falls asleep on the floor. And one of my students goes, Mr. Nichols. And I was like,

at some point, all you can be is impressed and you just move on with life. And I never said a word to him again. But that's kind of what happened with Jesus, right? He comes in this time and he's like, I can't do it anymore. I can't take this. It fired me up this time. This isn't the first time he's done it, at least not according to my opinion of the way I study scripture.

Because he was told in John chapter two that he did this exact same thing where he drove them all out. So he sort of began his ministry and ended his ministry the same way in cleansing the temple, showing that he is Lord of the temple, right? And so he goes in and he sees these guys. The first thing it says he does is he drives out those who are buying and selling.

He overturned the tables of the money changers. What an interesting picture of Jesus this is, right? I remember seeing this meme on Facebook one time. It says, next time you ask yourself, what would Jesus do? Just know overturning tables is absolutely within the realm of possibility. I thought, yeah, it's kind of a good point. We view Jesus as this really gentle guy.

And he was. He just came riding into town. He came riding into town lowly, gently, humbly, meekly on the colt of a donkey. And yet when business needed to go down, he had no problem getting with the program. And so he's grabbing tables and he's turning them over. Can you imagine all of the sheep and doves going nuts right now? Right? Like just running all over the place.

Like, oh, sheep just going nuts everywhere. Money flying all over the place. A couple of people going, oh, sheep just going nuts everywhere. Right? That's what Jesus, he drives them out. It drives them nuts. Why? Because they had just made God's house something it was not intended to be. Because what does he say next? He says, and he quotes, my house shall be called

a house of prayer. What does he mean by that? He means the house of God should be a place where people can seek God. Without the distractions of the world, without the distractions of the things, and without the idea that they might be taken advantage of. My house is supposed to be a place where anybody can seek God. My house should be a place where everybody feels welcome

to seek the Lord. And there should be nothing that hinders that. And may I say, it is my continual prayer that if there is anything that we do at this church that is keeping people from seeking the Lord, that we immediately stop doing it. Because if that's not what we are here, if we are not a place where we can meet with God, then we should close the doors because we are no longer doing what God has called for us to do.

We've just become a really sad social club.

He says, but what it was supposed to be, you've completely changed it and you've turned it into a den of thieves, a robber's den. He said, you've taken advantage of the people. You know, there's an interesting point that's to be made here because Jesus at this point in time cleansed the temple. And we know from the book of 1 Corinthians what you and I are. We are the temple

of the Holy Spirit. And so I suppose we should all be paying attention to whether or not our temple needs cleansed. Not only that, but we as a church should always be asking, Lord, what needs cleansed out of this temple? Because I think the cleansing that he did both at the beginning and end of his ministries was not something that he intended to ever stop.

That anything that keeps us from seeking the Lord should be wiped out so the real ministry can take place. And that's exactly what happens. Notice what it says in verse 14. And the blind and the lame came to him and he healed them. I love this because he drove all of the people out that kept the real seekers from coming. And what was the first thing that happened?

Those who were in the most need found their way to Jesus. The blind and the lame. Those that perhaps society called outcasts found themselves gravitating towards Jesus. You know what it says he did for them? He healed them. I like to lay this challenge down a lot, but as a church, I think we should be completely willing to invite the outcasts to sit next to those

who don't smell like we do, who don't look like we do, who don't think like we do, because those are the people that need Jesus just like you do. And once our temple is cleansed, ministry can take place because there's nothing keeping people from seeking the Lord any longer. Well, of course, he goes on from there, Matthew does, to tell us about a situation that took place with the chief priests. It says, but when the chief priests and the scribes saw, and I love how Matthew puts this, saw the wonderful things that he had done and the children who were shouting in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they became indignant and said to him, do you hear what these children are saying?

And Jesus said, yep. Have you never read out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes? You've prepared praise for yourself. I love this because he says, you've seen all the wonderful things that they've done. And what did they become? Indignant. Their hatred for Jesus was so great that no matter what he did, they were going to be angry about it. And so they come to Jesus

and they're like, do you hear what these kids are saying? And Jesus said, I sure do. They see what you don't. Isn't it amazing? What has Jesus been telling us the kingdom of heaven is made up of? What has he been telling us that we should become if we want to become a part of the kingdom? We should become like children. And who are the ones that recognize Jesus the most?

Children. These learned scholars, these men who could have quoted all of the quotations that I just gave you there, didn't recognize that Jesus, the Messiah, was standing right in front of them. It's interesting, if you were to look at, I believe it's in Luke's account, they were kind of told something similar. The religious leaders came to Jesus and they said, you need to tell all these people to quit singing your praises.

You need to tell your disciples to stop saying what they're saying right now. Remember what Jesus said? If they stop singing, then all of these rocks, they're all going to cry out. You can try to stifle the praise of the people, but you'll never really be able to. I think we kind of have seen that over the past couple of years, have we not? That when God's people

truly want to praise him, nobody's going to stop it. And so, it says, he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and he spent the night there. And that's where we'll close for today. But as we close, I would like to do so with two thoughts, hopefully some thoughts that are not provoking questions. Number one, what kind of savior are you looking for? What kind of savior right now,

as we sit here this morning, are you looking for? Are you looking for a political savior? One who's going to make the nation like you want for it to be? Are you looking for a savior who's going to make your life happy? To give you world peace in your own apartment? Like the Barbie savior? Or are you looking for the savior that you need? The one who can deal

with the root of every problem that we face. Because the root of every problem that we face is sin. But listen, brothers and sisters, you can look for whatever savior you want to, you'll only be the savior that you really need. Number two, does your temple need cleansed? I think that this, one of the commentators that I read, I don't remember which one it was,

proposed this question. And I thought, what a thought-provoking question. Does the temple of my heart need cleansed right now? Are there things that have gotten in there that are keeping me from seeking Jesus? Are there things in my heart that are preventing me from knowing him the way that he wants for me too? Because if I'm willing to bring my heart to Jesus,

he's completely willing to overturn the tables. He's completely willing to drive out the things that are keeping me from knowing him. He's completely willing to make me different. You know that I'm not the wildest fan of the chosen, but there's some great scenes in it. And I was waiting for the rest of the scripture journals from my Bible class to come in the other day

and I didn't want to start lecturing until they had their scripture journal. And so I found that episode of, I'm teaching them the book of Matthew as well. I found that episode of the chosen where Jesus calls Matthew. And that, there's a great scene at the very end. Right when Jesus calls Matthew, he looks back at the tax collector's booth and he says, Matthew,

follow me. Matthew comes out of his tax collector's booth and starts to follow him. And Peter goes, do you know what you're doing? Do you know who he is? Jesus said, yep, just like I knew who you were when I called you. And he said, but that's different. In the line that I like at the very end, the line that Jesus gives is get used to different. Brothers and sisters,

if your temple needs to be cleansed, he can come in and make you different so that you can get used to different. Amen. Let's all stand.

As I mentioned, school is back in full swing this week. So please be in prayer for all of these young minds that need to know the truth of Jesus and the Christian teachers, many of which we have in this congregation here that get to be witnesses for you. Amen. Let's pray for him every day. Father, we come to you and I do lift up this upcoming school year and the teachers that are going to be teaching,

students that are going to be learning, and I pray for your grace to be upon them. Lord, that you would send out revival in so many of these schools today. And Lord, I pray for each person that's here this morning that you would do your work in their hearts, Lord, as you have begun, that you would continue. Father, we thank you for who you are and thank you for your continued grace in our lives.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. I say, Lord, there is none who wants to praise the wonders of your strength.

Shout to the Lord. Bow down at the side.

Shout to the Lord. Lord, bless you. Have a great week.