Matthew 21

Sometimes, and I know it's only sometimes, but everything falls into place.

! Do you remember those moments in your life? There's probably only been about three years

! Sometimes it's for a second, sometimes it's for only a minute, sometimes it's for a day

or a week or a month, and everything is good. And it might be that moment where there's a

great sunset, or the sea breeze, or you're on the beach or by the pool, you're

you've got the right drink, nobody seems to be angry with you at that moment. You're

sitting next to someone who really loves you, and life has just fallen into place. Sometimes

you get that on a bigger scale, don't you? Sometimes that happens nationally, sometimes

internationally, where everything comes together. I was trying to think of a national event where

everything came together. It's not easy, is it? It's probably some of you. I remember

in Euro 96, for those of us who were alive. I was a Welshman, but for some reason, everybody,

it was a feel-good summer, England were doing well in the football, everybody, everything

came together. Somebody said, I mean, this was on the moon landings. Some of you were alive

50 years ago, where everybody gathered around their TV sets. And Neil Armstrong said, isn't

it, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. It was as if everyone was together.

It didn't matter what faith or nationality, or what religion you were. People were crowded

around black and white TVs. It was a special moment. You think of South Africa winning the

World Cup, the first one. And that moment when it all came together, black and white, and it

didn't matter where you were from, you were pleased South Africa had won the Rugby World Cup.

Well, here's a moment in Matthew 21 where it all comes together. And where everything seems

right. Jesus comes into his city, and everything seems to fall into place. And this morning we're

going to see that Jesus is indeed our prophet and our priest and our king. And I hope if

not before everything, this morning will fall into place for you. And so firstly, let's see

the gentle king who enters into his city. The king. The gentle king who enters into his

city. And Jesus prepares to enter into Jerusalem. He gives orders to his disciples, they're a little

bit like generals' orders, about to invade the city. Except this mission is a mission of peace.

A thousand years before, there was King David, but now a son of David, the Lord Jesus comes

into Jerusalem. And he's a king of peace. The city of peace. And this Lord Jesus doesn't

come riding on a dozen black stallions. He actually comes, and he comes very deliberately

and purposefully, riding a donkey. The fold of a donkey, a little colt. The sort of colt you see

at the beach. Where kids can ride on it for three pounds a go. And it almost looks silly, doesn't it?

Because you see this man with such a reputation, riding on a donkey. But Jesus specifically

chose that symbol in fulfillment of a prophecy. But in verse 4 and 5, this took place to fulfill

what was spoken by the prophet, saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, look, your king

has come. He's humble. He's mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

Jesus is king, and he's coming into his own city, but he's a very different kind of king.

See, your king comes, not to be served, but to serve. He's a gentle king.

Jesus already said, isn't he? His great invitation to you is, come all you who are weak and weary

and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Because what am I like? I'm gentle and I'm humble

in heart. And this little, this king, this same king, he weeps over a city, Jerusalem.

He weeps over a city that he came to seek and to save the lost and to save and bring peace

to. And this is the kind of king who woos you, who woos you to obedience. You want to follow

him. You want to be like him. A friend of mine runs a youth group, and he asked one of

the girls, who do you look up to? Who do you aspire to be? Who do you aspire to be as a

hero? And she said, I want to be like Jesus. I'm Beyonce. And she got it half right, didn't

you? I want to be like Jesus. The king comes gentle. He's both great and gracious. He is

both strong and sermon hearted. You want to be with him. You want to be like him. And

I have a moment that Penny seems to draw in Jerusalem. It fell into place. Everybody seems to be doing

what they're supposed to be doing. Do you know, that's a very rare event in the Gospels.

So they come with palm branches in their hands, and they lay their cloaks on the ground, and

they follow him. And they lead him into the city. It's like an unplanned tick and tape parade.

You know when a football team wins a division or a cap and they're on an open top bus, and they

parade through a city. It's that kind of thing. There's so much joy. And the people are not

just simply rejoicing, they are praising God. And they're not simply praising, they are doing

it with shouts, and it is loud. And they're not only asking, they're not only praising God,

they're asking for something, they're asking for salvation. So they say, Hosanna, save us

to the Son of David. It's the language of Messiah. It's the language of the long expected

King. The long awaited Messiah. He's here. So save us. Save us. And then we're told that

the city stirs, not like a martini, but like an earthquake. Verse 8. Spread them on the road.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees

and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him

were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest. Yippee! That's my paraphrase. And Jesus, when he entered into Jerusalem,

the whole city is stirred, and they ask, who is this? And the crowds answer, don't they?

This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth and Galilee. And for a moment they get it so right.

God's people recognising God's Son and God's King, Jesus the Son of David. The prophet longed

for, but only for a moment. It's only for a moment. Because this is Palmerston, isn't it?

Here. And within five days they want him dead. In five days they go from wanting to kiss him

to wanting to want him. They go from wanting to praise him to releasing a convicted terrorist

in his place. Weak crowds bullied by religious leaders. Weak crowds bullied by religious leaders

who have their, who have the shallowness of their faith and confession exposed. This is the

ugly side of humanity. Our weak, weak will. And it's not just in others, is it? Don't we sometimes

despise ourselves? Or that part of us that keeps on doing the wrong thing? The Bible says

we need to put it to death. That dark side of our human nature. I think of those who sat

and put their backsides on the very seats you sit. Well, probably not these seats. But they

met with us. They were part of us. They once praised Jesus with us. But no more.

And not because they're in another church, of course not. Not because they're praising God

elsewhere. But they are just nowhere. They're nowhere with respect to Jesus and his people.

They've walked away. Well, why is that? Why does that happen? For a moment everything found

a place for them. But because they were bullied or they allowed themselves to be bullied by their

friends or bullied by their family or bullied by just this world and the pressure of this

world. They are no longer with God's people praising Jesus as their King. And so will you

seize this moment? Will you seize this moment? And remember that sure, Jesus comes into Jerusalem

on Palm Sunday, gentle and lowly, riding on the foal of a donkey. But he will come again.

And when he comes again, the Bible is very clear. He won't come on the coat of a donkey. He will

come riding on a white horse. And he will lead an army from heaven on white horses. And the

symbol of white horses is victory, not just purity. And they will come. And Jesus will

come with eyes like blazing fire. And he will have a double-edged sword coming out of his

mouth. And he will defy and he will deal with any and every enemy of his. Because he will

come to bring war against his enemies. Please know that on his thighs and on his robe there

is dripped with blood. And they are written, these words, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

So sure, Jesus came into Jerusalem gentle. But he will come again. And for those on his

wrong side, they will see and encounter the wrath and the fury of the man. And so remember

that when you're tempted to forget. Remember that when you're tempted just to walk away or

even probably more likely just to drift away, that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

But Jesus this morning is the servant king who woos you. So let those who have ears to hear,

hear.

Secondly, Jesus comes as priest to cleanse his people. So if Jerusalem is the city of David,

then the temple is his dad's house. That's what Jesus says, isn't it? Jesus does what the

priests of this temple should have done. He cleans up the corruption, verse 12. He enters

the temple and he drives out all who sold and bought at the temple, the birra de change.

And he overturned the tables and the money changers are the seats of those who sold pigeons.

And he said to them, it is written, my house, my house, which can be called a house of prayer,

for you making a dead robbers.

The problem is not what is happening, but where it's happening, okay? It's not what is happening,

it's where it's happening. You needed animals for sacrifices. You did. It's the time of the Passover.

There's people there. You needed money changers to transfer currency from coins that have had

images of people who thought they were gods. They were idolatrous. They weren't fit currency

to be used in the temple. So their money, coming from another part, had to be changed.

And so the problem is not what is happening, but where it's happening.

The temple, we know, don't we, if you know the Bible, was the only place in the Old Testament

where God promised that he would meet with his people. It was the only place where, on the

feet of the earth where God had allowed his name to dwell. And nations were invited, they

were told to come to the temple, to this God, the God of Israel, the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ. But his people, the elders and the chief priests, they'd let the business

activity of that portion of the temple crowd out everything else. They'd get the business

part of the temple crowd out where non-believers, where outsiders could come and become believers.

So Jesus cleanses the temple. But if cleansing the temple didn't get up the nose of the temple

priests, then the healing of the blind and the sick certainly did. Jesus can't help himself.

It's like what we see, that Jesus drags a bit of heaven with it wherever he goes in the

Gospels. The sick and the lame, they're normally not able to come into the temple. They're normally

not fit for God's presence. Because they weren't whole, they weren't allowed in to the presence

of God. But now they're being made whole and they're being healed. And so people are being

made fit for God's presence. And so again, for a moment, everything just seems right.

That Jesus the king comes into his city and Jesus the priest comes to his temple in his

dad's house and he cleanses it from its corruption, just like Malachi had predicted. The bodies of

the sick are restored and fit for God. And the children sing. They sing of the wonderful

things that God thinks that God is doing. They're inspired to praise. Hosanna to the

son of David. Three year olds, five year olds, eight year olds going ballistic. It was just

so right. Children and their brothers at home, good way away. It's all so right but only for

a moment. Just one little caveat for it. Let's take a commercial break here. Look at

verse 16. Verse 16 is the greatest argument of having children in worship. If you're a

mum here and you've got noisy children, you're very, very welcome. And your children are very

welcome. Because out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you've prepared praise. And

there's all sorts of things out there that come out of the mouths of nursing infants and babies.

So noisy children, you're welcome. Where were we? The religious leaders, they're resentful, aren't they?

Verse 15. They're resentful of what Jesus is doing. It's astonishing. It's the way the verse is

written. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children

crying out in the temple, Hosanna, save us to the son of David, they were indignant. Funny

that, isn't it? What's really funny is they weren't indignant when people were buying and

selling stuff in the temple courts, were they? When people were being stopped praying because

they were buying and selling, that didn't make them upset at all. But what made them upset

is Jesus healing and bringing holiness and making people fit for the kingdom of God.

And seeing children come and want to praise him, now really got up their nose. Because

they hate what is good and they love what is evil. They hate what is good and love what

is evil. So I think if you talk about how sex is to be a pure gift, to be kept within a covenant

of marriage between a man and a woman, in our culture, that's offensive, isn't it? And

if you say that any sexual activity outside of a covenant of marriage between a man and

a woman, that is forbidden by God. But that is for our good, that is the pathway to blessing,

that is a good law for the benefit of human beings, there's a pro in our culture where

that is missed. They hate it. They detest it. But when we talk about abortion with tears

in our eyes and an unsuspective infant in the womb, we talk about the right to life, what's

the reaction to that? The reaction to that is often hatred, isn't it? And to celebrate

that freedom. Because our culture hates what is good and loves what is evil. Why is that?

Well because our culture does not know the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in this passage, I

want to say to you, it's not the world out there, it's the church, isn't it? Do you see

that? And it's the leaders of the church, it's the priests who should have known better.

And Jesus deals with them like he deals with the devil. And in chapter 4, like he does in

chapter 4, he pulls out the sword of the Spirit, that's the word of God, and he quotes for the

psalm 8. He says, do you hear what these children are singing? The priests are asking, can you

shut these children up, Jesus? Jesus says to them, have you never read, have you never

read under the mouths of infants and nursing babies you prepared praise? He quotes Psalm 8,

which was written by King David. And he turns that very moment of the little ones worshipping

into a prophetic fulfilment. And then he applies Psalm 8 to himself, and he makes himself equal

with God in one simple quote. I love it. I love the way that children have a way of reminding

us of the God we so often forget. And so what that says to you little ones this morning, little

children, if you listen to this, it says this, it says the praise of the most insignificant

kid shuts the mouth of the arrogant. And he always has and he always will. I've got two

images in my mind right now. Let's think of a kind of foolishness that takes place in a

philosophy class at a top university in London. Where they spend most of the first term coming

up with reasons why God doesn't exist. And why you can't know anything. So that by the end

of philosophy, one of the top London universities, you end up thinking you really can't know

anything except the fact that you don't know anything. And now I think of the collective

wisdom you find in our children's Sunday school this morning. Our little ones, little ones

are praising Jesus and thanking him for dying for them. What can wash away my sin? Nothing

but the blood of Jesus. Our God is a great big God. That's right, isn't it, Phoebe? And Jesus

says he loves to hide himself from the wise and the learned and to reveal himself to little

babies. I have a friend who has a five-year-old daughter and she was sharing in family worship

her love for Jesus. My friend couldn't help himself and he said, Manny, you know more than

90% of all the professors in all the universities in the world. He said, why, really, Dad? Wow.

And then she said, what is a professor? She might not know what a professor is, but she knew that

God created the universe by the word of his power and she knew that God sent his one and

only son, the Lord Jesus, to the cross to take the punishment for her sin. Thirdly, let's

say Jesus is prophet of judgment. Jesus is not just a king. He's not just a priest, he's a

prophet. And so now it's Monday and on Monday he returns to Jerusalem, back to the city, back

to the temple. He's four days away from Good Friday and he may well be prophet, priest and

king and he may be God in the flesh, but he gets hungry. He's fully human. And so he's

hungry and for the life of me, I don't understand, he wants figs. I can't understand why anyone

want figs, but the Lord Jesus in his humanity likes figs. And he sees the fig tree and he's

attracted to the fig tree again. And it's a fig tree that promises so much. And when he

gets there, it delivers so little. There's no fruit of the vine. And he basically curses

it. And it dies straight away. We're not supposed to get between a man and his food. But Jesus

is not pronouncing this judgment because he's angry or hungry. Why is he pronouncing a curse

on the fig tree? It's because this is the teachers. It's like the prophets of the Old Testament.

They used visual aids, didn't they? Symbols to communicate truth. Particularly Ezekiel, if you've read

that of Jeremiah. And they use visual aids and symbols. And here Jesus is cursing a tree

that symbolizes Israel. The faithlessness of Israel. The people of God. And he issues a judgment

upon it. And he's giving a foretaste of what is to come. It's a warning, as Jesus tells us,

this is a warning of what will take place. So take heed, Jesus comes looking for fruit. Verse

18, very early in the morning. As he was returning to the city, he became hungry and seen a fig tree

by the wasteland. He went to it, found nothing on it, but only leaves. And he said, it may

no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree with it immediately. Jesus didn't spray

it with weed killer and come back a week later and it had wilted. He issued a judgment, a curse

upon it, and instantaneously, as instantaneously as the blind men were healed in the temple, the

tree was killed. Judgment had fallen upon it. And so Jesus comes at the end of a long line

of prophets, bringing his word to Israel. And he's come as the prophet of God, to the people

of God looking for faithfulness and fruitfulness in his people, and he finds so little. Do

you know what? Jesus is still looking for that, isn't he? Today, he looks at his church and

he looks for fruitfulness in his people. The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So we've got to understand that

what God is interested in is fruitfulness. Faith without works is theirs. It always has

been. It always will be. Faith and works are as inseparable as Siamese twins who share the

same heart. You cannot divide them. You cannot have faith that does not resolve itself in good

works. And Jesus has come after a long line of God sending his covenant faithful prophets

saying, turn back, turn back to me and bear fruit, bear fruit. Trust and obey. What did

Jesus say in Matthew 7? He says, on that final day, not everyone who comes to me, who's been

part of church life and says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God. But only the

one who does the will of my Father. And so take note of this judgment on this tree. It's

a loving warning from your heavenly Father. Not just Israel, but to us. Then Jesus does

a really weird thing, I think. The disciples seem to be more impressed with the skill of

the miracle than the point of the parable. And so my last point is this. Jesus is king,

he is priest, he is prophet. And the last point is faith in Jesus who moves mountains. It

gives interest in turn here. To the disciples' amazement. When the disciples saw this, they

are marveled. Say, how did the fig tree wither at once? And Jesus answered them, truly, I say

to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to

the fig tree, but if you take a little mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will

happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive for your faith. I'm surprised

that the disciples are surprised. They've been with Jesus for three years. And yet they're

still surprised. And so Jesus goes to this parable of judgment on Israel, who fails to bear

fruit. And then he turns it into an instruction on faithful prayer. And he inspires us to pray

big. He says, pray to the God who can do the impossible. And here is a promise of the power

of prayer in faith. And Jesus says, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you curse

trees, but you can move mountains. Now, let's think about this. Let's take this literally

for a moment, okay? Should we give it a go? My Everest is just too big. That nervous is too

far away. Let's try Horses and then hell. So who thinks that God can uproot Horses and

hell? And let's say let's plunge it into the south coast, English Channel. Who thinks God

can do it? Not only that God can do it, but God will do it. So let me pray right now that

God does that. Let's make it literally. Should we pray? It seems silly, doesn't it? Jesus says,

if you pray with confidence, that you'll give us whatever we ask and we'll be able to do

it. How do we deal with this? Do we pray something like, you've talked Lord about the actual uprooting

of a mountain and placing it into the sea. And so we give you this opportunity to uproot

Horses and hill and put it in the English Channel. And we pray this for your glory. Amen.

There's no amens. Why didn't it happen?

It's a really flat reading of the text, isn't it? Literally.

It's that there's a lack of faith here this morning.

Well, I do want to say this. I don't think there has been recorded in the history of the

church mountains being moved in response to prayer. Some of you are better church historians

than I am, but I can't find it. As far as I know. You may correct me, but it's never

happened as far as I'm aware. We also know, don't we, we let the Bible interpret the Bible.

So we know that Jesus asked for things which he did not receive. In the Garden of Gethsemane,

he's going to pray, let this cup pass from me. That was his request, but he didn't get what

he asked. We also know that the Apostle Paul, on three occasions, he prayed that the thorn

in his side would be removed. He asked for something, and it didn't happen. He got, the

only answer he got was, my grace is sufficient for you to live with it. Well, that is already

qualifying. And what we have here, trusting in Jesus, who is our prophet, priest, and king,

and God. Of course, our God can move mountains, we know that. And so what is Jesus' purpose

at the end of this section? It's quite obvious, isn't it, that the thrust of this point is

that you will pray big. And that you and I will pray confidently in the God who can do

the impossible. Now, we've seen that. It's the prayer of faith that has moved some of you

from being hard-hearted, anti-God, atheistic beings who hated the notion of God, and God

has moved you to being gentle children of God, who love Jesus and want to tell others about

you. You've seen that in our own lives, haven't we, as the people of God?

God, in moving us from being guilty and condemned to being forgiven, and children of the king

of kings, who experience the privilege of knowing that we are children of God. So has God not

turned fear-ridden, anxious little lambs into ferocious lions for Jesus? I've seen that.

I've seen the timid ask God to transform them into children of the king who are proud to boast

in his name. I've seen God answer and provide in the most remarkable ways, in ways that we

couldn't have believed or imagined were possible. And so do you know what I'm afraid of? I'm afraid

of that we rightly pray at the end of our prayers, your will be done. But the reason why some of

us do that is, why some of us pray that is because we're afraid to expect anything from

God. And so we've used the right prayer for a wrong reason. And that prayer, your will be

done, is not to restrict the vision. You can pray what appears to be the impossible and

allow God to do his wonderful work. But I think we protect ourselves. If I don't pray too

big, or I pray your will be done, that I don't have to really expect it, and I therefore

don't need to know the deep disappointment of God saying no. And so I have decided as a

result of this passage to pray big prayers. To pray that the Lord would grant to this church

that we would multiply over the next ten years. That the church planted in Ebb's Bridge would

not just be planted, but it would grow and thrive and become a church which plants churches.

Big, hairy, audacious press. That I submit to a God, and I know that that's in line with

his will. That he wants people to be saved. He promised that he will build his church.

But I do, for your will be done. And I'm prepared to accept whatever the verdict. And so don't

we want Jesus to come riding as a king into the hearts of people in West London. To move

their hearts from being anti-God. Of course we do. And so I'm tired of praying a small prayers.

Please help me to get through today, you know. You know we're in LA to be good and for you.

And for them to have a good day in school. That's a good prayer. It's a very little prayer,

isn't it? Your will be done. What is God's will? That his people would honour him. And to honour

the name of God. For his people to be jealous of his glory. And we all want one or two, do

we? We want them to know thousands. So that Ealing and Hanwell and Greenford and Exquid would

be transformed and that people would see the results of that. So will you pray big with

me? Of course your will be done. But let's not hide behind it. I don't want to pray too

much in case I'm disappointed. Pray big prayers. So what are we? We're about, I don't know what

we are, we're about 150. We eat this morning. Let's pray that we fill this building. That

it would be packed by fruitful believers. Let's pray that the church plant would get established

and blossom and fire. Club 16 wants to come on, 20 kids at the moment. Let's pray for

40 by the end of the year. Ignite, it's got 15. Let's pray for 30 by the end of the year.

In this language class, that's pretty big. Let's pray big prayers because we have a God

who can move mountains. He's not interested in moving mountains, he. But he is interested

in moving hearts. So let me encourage you this morning. Why don't you today draw up a list

of 10 impossible prayer points? 10 things that aren't impossible for God, but you kind

of feel that they're impossible. You know the person you've given up on, the father, the

brother, the sister, the work colleague. And pray every day. And see how many of these

impossible prayer points he's made possible by his friend next year. God loves to answer

prayer that's consistent with his will. And so that's your application today. It may be

someone you've given up on. It may be your neighbor who's just been so aggressive to you.

It may be your boss who's so difficult. It may be the loan that we have in the church that

it'll be paid off in the next year rather than 20 years. Pray big and pray every day.

And pray to the wonderful God who will do the impossible. Let's pray.