What Kind Of Savior? (Palm Sunday) // Luke 19

Welcome to Legacy.

We're so glad you joined to worship with us on this Sunday.

And uh it is Palm Sunday, and uh we will be looking at the Palm Sunday sermon today.

But of course, as Pastor Aaron already reminded you, we have Easter Sunday next week, and this is the opportunity.

This is the time to invite out someone who might not come to church.

This is your chance all year long.

Like family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, this is the chance to invite them, and they probably will show up just because it's Easter Sunday.

And so it'll be a wonderful time together.

Don't miss that opportunity.

Two services, 9 30 and 11.

It'll be a wonderful time together.

We're gonna be in Luke chapter 19 in our Bibles.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

If you want to turn there, Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

The title of the sermon today, if you're taking notes, is What Kind of Savior?

I love re-looking at this story each and every year, and it is a joy to reflect on why he came and what his purpose was, what his mission was.

We're heading into Passion Week.

And uh as we start Palm Sunday today, and Passion Week, this is the week leading to Good Friday, which is the day that Christ hung on the cross, was crucified, and buried, and then three days later rose again from the dead on Sunday.

So this is a great reflective week for the Christian.

Passion Week is a reflective week, and it's a good time to dive into the Gospels and to read through the stories of what Christ was working through this entire week.

It'll really bless you.

Again, Luke chapter 19 in our Bibles.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Heard of a story.

Maybe you heard of this one.

There was a man who went to a rancher to buy a horse, and the rancher shows him a special horse he has for sale.

He says, Now, this is the best horse I have, but I have to tell you something.

This horse is a Christian horse.

True story.

The man says, Wow, this is great.

I'm a Christian too.

So the rancher explains the commands are a little different from the normal horses you ride.

He says, if you want the horse to move forward, you tell it, Praise the Lord.

And if you want it to stop, you yell, Amen.

Well, the man says, okay, and he jumps on the horse, he starts testing it out, and he starts saying, Praise the Lord, you know, praise the Lord.

And the horse starts to move and he says, Amen.

And the horse stops.

And so he decides he wants to get the horse really moving, you know, galloping fast.

So he starts yelling, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

And the horse, it's lightning fast.

Before you know it, they're covering all kinds of ground.

And all of a sudden he looks off and he sees a cliff coming.

And he knows he needs to stop, but he's forgotten the command.

And he's getting closer and closer to the edge.

And he cries out to the Lord, I don't know the command.

Please, God, stop this horse in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And boom, the horse slams on the brakes and comes sliding to the stop, and the hooves are just barely not going over the edge.

The man's so overly joyed that he thanks the Lord and he shouts, Praise the Lord.

And off he goes over the side.

Yes.

Thank you.

Today is Palm Sunday, 2,000 years ago.

This would have been the last week before Jesus, our King, went to the cross.

And he was buried and he rose again on Sunday.

Did you know Jesus only did ministry in the public eye for three years on earth?

Can you believe that?

In just three small years, he impacted the old earth to such a degree that we are still speaking about him every single week on the earth.

Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769 to 1821, was by all accounts a giant of history, soldier, general, emperor.

And although no one would add theologian to his list, Napoleon faced a question common to all mankind: who is this Jesus Christ?

History has seen many different answers.

Christians have claimed him as Savior.

Others have considered him just another wise teacher.

Skeptics have deemed him to be a largely mythical figure.

But near the end of his life, the exiled emperor Napoleon came to the following conclusion about the king of all kings.

He says, I know men, and I tell you, Jesus Christ was not a man.

Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions.

That resemblance does not exist.

There is between Christianity and others' religions the distance of infinity, he says.

Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires, but on what did we rest the creation of our genius?

Upon sheer force.

Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men will die for him.

From the first day to the last, he is the same, majestic and simple, infinitely firm and infinitely gentle.

He proposes to our faith a series of mysteries and commands with authority that we should believe them, giving no other reason than those tremendous words, I am God.

Napoleon made this conclusion.

There is none like Jesus.

There are very few people who have walked the earth that will be remembered.

Millions and billions of people will be forgotten, but there is one who made a greater impact than all of man's efforts combined.

Jesus dealt with the one issue no man has been able to deal with, sin and death.

What did Jesus come to this earth to do?

Mark 10, 45, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many.

Matthew chapter 1, verse 21, it was said again that she will bear his son, Mary, and you shall call his name Jesus Yeshua, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

This is what we're remembering this week.

Passion Week, Good Friday, Resurrection, Sunday.

Today we will see Jesus hailed as king, and they will demand and shout that he should save them.

Save now, save now.

They will shout, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hoshana, Hoshana, save now, save now.

But he will not be the king and savior that people want.

Kings have come and gone, presidents come and go, and we never get the leader that we want, huh?

We think the right leader will bring about change, but the truth is only right hearts will bring about change.

You can change the surface of people, but if you don't change the heart, they go right back to doing the same things over and over.

We need heart change.

And the only way that ultimately happens is people coming into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

We're in Luke chapter 19 where we find this triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

We're going to read verses 28 to 40.

Can we stand for the reading of God's word?

There is an amp on in the back here giving me a hum.

Could somebody come and turn that off?

Sorry, I'm very sensitive to all the sounds.

Luke chapter 19, verse 28, it says, and after he had said these things, he was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem, and it happened that when he approached Bethage and Bethany near the mount called olives, he sent two disciples, saying, Go into the village ahead, in which as you enter, you will find a cold tide on which no one has ever sat.

Luke 19:28

Untie it and bring it here.

And if anyone asks you, Why are you untying it, you shall say this, because the Lord has need of it.

So when those who were sent departed, they found it just as he had told them, and they were untying the colt.

Its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt?

And they said, The Lord has need of it.

And they brought it to Jesus, and after they threw their garments on the colt, they put Jesus on it.

And as he was going, they were spreading their garments on the road.

Now, as soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God, rejoicing with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had 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 and the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

But Jesus answered and said to them, I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would cry out.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this story.

We pray now, by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would speak to us through your word.

And as we see the King of all kings ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, as we see the people shout, save now, save now.

That we would find ourselves in the crowd, reflecting on what we want Him to save us from.

And that we would look to the purpose and true meaning of why you came, Lord.

And that you would truly save now, save now.

Hosanna, Hosanna.

Save us, Lord.

We need you.

Speak to us through your word.

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

You can be seated.

Isn't that silence nice?

You hear that?

Nothing, see?

Nice and clean.

Jesus came up to the Mount of Olives with his disciples, and this hill right next to the old city of Jerusalem, where the East Gate is and where the Temple Mount is.

I took this time lapse when I was in Israel.

We're going to put it up here on the screen.

And you were uh we're standing here on the Mount of Olives looking down.

Now the Mount of Olives is a giant Jewish cemetery.

You see all the gravestones right here.

All of these are grave sites.

And this this hill goes up.

And as you look down, you're going to see there's the east gate.

You see, obviously, the dome of the rock.

You can't miss that.

That is the that is uh the Muslim uh temple.

That is um where where they believe Muhammad ascended off the earth into the sky.

Very interesting.

Uh kind of the same thing that happened in Acts chapter uh 1 2 with Jesus.

He's he ascended into the sky.

But, anyways, another story.

Uh, but over here to the right of that is the east gate, and um this is the temple mount.

This is where Solomon's temple was, and over here to the left, all the way over here, the city of David is actually off-screen here.

So the the city of David would be here, um, and the Kedron Valley uh comes through here.

Down at the bottom is the Garden of Gethsemane, right here at the bottom of the Mount of Olives.

But this is where Jesus rode in on a donkey down the Mount of Olives into the old city of Jerusalem where the Temple Mount was.

This is the exact path that he sat on the donkey and rode into, and the people threw palm fronds at his feet.

Um they call it the Via de Rosa, is the place in which he walked, um, but a very similar path in which where Jesus came down uh with the donkey, um, to give you a visual of what's going on there.

And Jesus tells his disciples to go to the town next to him and find him a donkey.

Luke chapter 19, verse 30 says, Go into the village opposite you, where you enter, you'll find a cold tide which no one has ever sat, loose it, and bring it here.

Luke 19:30

Um and I write, is this a joke?

Go steal a donkey.

Um that's what's basically being said, is it's like go to the town next door and just go find a donkey and just take it.

And it also says it's you gotta find the donkey that's actually never been ridden.

It's the one kind of like kicking around, looks kind of young.

Get that one.

Verse 31 says, If anyone asks you why you were losing it, thus you shall say to him, Because the Lord has need of it.

That's all you have to say.

The Lord has need of it.

It's the magical words.

Uh and you know, you think this through someone actually stealing a donkey and they catch you, and then you're like, What are you doing taking my donkey?

The Lord has need of it.

Okay, go ahead, just take the donkey.

Again, really interesting story here.

In John chapter 12, verse 14, it says, Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, he sat on it as it is written.

John 12:14

As it is written.

It's an Old Testament reference.

Anytime you see as it is written in the New Testament, you know that the New Testament author is quoting from the Old Testament and pulling a text.

It says, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

This John is quoting Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9.

Zechariah 9:9

Uh, and this was prophesied long ago.

The prophet Zechariah spoke of this very moment that the king, the Messiah, would arrive on a donkey.

Now think about this.

If you were the you were an Old Testament prophet and you're writing down the Messiah, hundreds of years from now, is going to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Um, what a wild prophecy to predict.

You know, I don't know, you you want to predict this today, you know.

Uh the president of the United States in 200 years from now is going to ride into the White House on a crocodile.

What are you talking about?

This is why would you even say that?

This is exactly what Zechariah is saying.

The Messiah will ride in on a donkey.

That's how you know it's Messiah.

This day of Jesus' triumphal entry was actually prophesied to the exact year.

If you go back to the book of Daniel, chapter 9, verses 24 to 26, there's a mathematical calculation there, and we see this prophecy from Daniel giving a timeline of when Messiah will come.

Daniel 9:24–26

So Daniel prophesies the exact amount of years in which it will take for Messiah to show up.

Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, was prophesied 483 years before it happened.

And it's all right there in the Bible.

Can anyone prophesy 483 years into the future right now?

In 483 years, in that year, this the the the president of the United States is going to ride into the White House on a crocodile.

That's that's bizarre.

That's too far.

You can't say that, especially down to the year.

Uh, but if you want to go check this out for yourself, you can GPT it if you want, you can grok it if you want.

Explain to me the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9, verse 24 to 26, and watch the calculation go off.

Daniel 9:24–26

It is absolutely amazing.

I've tried to do it here on Sunday mornings, and everybody feels like they're back in math class again, and they're just like, they did it the glaze.

They're just staring on, they're trying to daydream, there's no windows, they're like looking like so.

I'm not gonna do it.

The foretelling of the events in the book of Daniel has caused skeptics to think all that is written in the book must have been written 400 or 500 years after Daniel because of how perfectly precise it is.

It reads like that of history, not the telling of the future.

How can the Bible be so accurate?

The event before us today, Jesus' triumphal entry, was planned and foretold by God upwards of 500 years before it happened.

So Jesus sent the boys to go find a donkey, the cult, verse 32 in our text.

So those who were sent went their way and found it just as he had said to them.

But as they were loosing the colt, the owners said to them, Why are you loosing the colt?

Why are you taking my donkey?

And they said, The Lord has need of it.

And then they brought him to Jesus and they threw their clothes on the colt and they sat Jesus on him.

So there it is.

Uh Abracadabra, the Lord has need of it.

That's why.

Don't you know?

Oh, actually, we do know.

Somehow they knew.

Somehow they knew the reference to the Lord meant the Lord Jesus Christ.

These guys might have been Christians.

Who knows?

Maybe they were part of the feeding of the 5,000.

Who knows where the connection came, but it came somewhere along the journey.

Maybe one of them were healed by the Lord.

Who knows?

We don't know exactly what happened.

Maybe the donkey fell into a hole and broke its leg, and the Lord healed the donkey.

We don't know what happened, where the connection is, but all they have to say is the Lord has need of it, and they just give the donkey away.

Just as Jesus had said.

Point number one, if you're taking notes, the king came to serve.

The king came to serve.

You know, what is Jesus doing on a donkey?

The king of glory, strong and mighty.

Jesus is in heaven with the Father in all of splendor and majesty, and he comes down to the earth, not born in the nicest hospital, nope, not even born in a warm home, nope.

He was born in a barn.

Jesus was literally born in the shed with the garden tools.

You did a home birth.

We're gonna set this thing up, we're gonna do the you know, the luxury pool, we got everything perfect in here.

We're gonna get the hospital, we're gonna go to the nicest one we can find in town.

We want the nicest amenities, right?

Jesus is born in the shed in your backyard.

Again, he's the king of all glory.

He could choose whatever place he wanted, but he chose this.

Jesus did not spoil himself one bit here on earth, and isn't that interesting?

He came to this earth not to be served, but to serve and give himself a ransom for many, and that was the mission he came to serve.

He shows more meekness and humility by entering this great parade on a donkey, not a Rolls-Royce, no Bentley, no limo, no chauffeur.

He could choose anything.

He could invent a car, you know, he could invent something.

I mean, he could he could just show up in unbelievable ways.

Now, yes, I know when a king would come back from war after a victory, many times he would ride it on a donkey, but Jesus is a king of glory, and a donkey is a donkey.

Have you ever seen those teeth on a donkey?

And donkeys are stubborn animals, but it fulfilled prophecy and I believe showed humility.

Again, he could have chosen the latest gold chariot model G500.

The Clydesdale horse would have been a perfect selection, right?

No, he chooses a donkey.

Philippians 12.

We would never choose a donkey, right?

I mean, no one in the I I'm going for the donkey.

Not a single person in here.

We got to ride a donkey.

When I was staying in Israel, we went to visit Petra.

And um the first time I went to Petra, 30,000 caves underground.

It's amazing.

The Nabataeans built it 2,000 years ago.

The sandstone is this red stone uh mountain that you can walk up with a rock and you can you can chisel into the side of the mountain.

You can just scrape the sand and you'll make a hole just like that.

And so they they carved caves in this underground, uh, this really underground city, and they were able to store water, fresh water under there, and they would sell it to the people coming through and make lots of money.

They became very wealthy uh thousands of years ago.

But anyways, the caves are still there.

We got there.

Uh the first time we went, they don't show you.

This is where some of Indiana Jones was filmed, but they don't show you uh the back part of uh of Petra, but it's the most beautiful place, a place called the monastery.

The treasury is the first thing that you see when you walk through the sick S-I-Q, Treasury.

That's that's Indiana Jones.

But if you make your way to the right and go super far that way, you'll have these Bedouin kids who will come up and say, I got a donkey, and we'll take you to the monastery, and you need a little bit of extra time, you got to pay them some money.

But we jumped on the donkey, me and my buddies.

And like that Donald Duck cartoon where you're going up the cliff and the edge and you're going around, trying to work your way up to the back.

So that was my only experience.

And we rode all the way up to the monastery on the donkey and got off that stubborn mule.

And uh, I would have liked the Clydesdale horse, you know what I mean?

When we went to do the we did the pyramids in Cairo as well, and I chose the Arabian Stallion, you know.

I want I want that horse.

The other guys had camels, but I had the horse, and I was excited about it.

We would never choose a donkey.

Jesus did.

Philippians 12, 4, let each of you not look only to his own interest but to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man, being found in human form, he humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

Jesus came down.

He came down from glory, he became a human, he humbled himself, he took the form of a servant.

He could have taken the natural form of Caesar on earth, like built his own palace and be like, Yes, this is God on earth, yes, I am the Son of God, yes, I am Messiah.

You will only approach me through guards and a palace and all of the rest.

He goes the opposite direction.

He takes the form of a servant.

They don't even know who the Messiah is.

He looks like a normal guy.

You think he'd have the bread pit jaw or something, like you would have something extra.

He takes the form of a servant.

The only way to identify him is Judas has to kiss him.

Which one is he?

Which one of the twelve?

I'll kiss him and then you'll know.

2 Corinthians 8 9 for you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became.

Poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.

That's amazing.

What an amazing king we serve.

What kind of king are you looking for?

These people wanted, these people didn't want a servant.

They wanted a powerful ruler in general.

And he was, but he showed them the greatest way to rule was to serve.

The greatest way was not to wield power, flaunt riches, but to serve others.

He had it all and could have flaunted his power and wealth, but he chose a different way.

He was teaching us.

Everyone wants to be a servant.

Everybody wants to be called a servant until they're treated like one.

What kind of person are you?

Do you reflect Christ?

Are you a servant?

Do you desire or do you desire to be served all the time?

Would you become poor so that someone else might become rich?

Said no one ever.

Except the Lord Jesus.

The best way to love people is by serving them.

One of the best displays of the gospel in your life is by serving others.

This is what Jesus did for us.

How can you do that in real time?

You can serve in your marriage.

You can serve at your workplace.

You can serve at your church.

You can serve your friends.

You can serve your family, and you can serve strangers.

We have some amazing people here at church who serve.

Amazing people.

Can we give them a hand?

Come on, let's give a hand to everybody who serves, huh?

They put in hours that no one will ever see.

They sacrifice a lot for this church, time, money, gifts, resources, and ability, and they do it all for the kingdom, all for Jesus.

They're not asking for a plaque.

They're not asking to be seen.

They do it in the hidden, in the secret.

No one will ever see it.

No one knows the frustration they're working through.

And if you don't know what that is, all you have to do is step into serving a little bit, and you'll discover that very quickly.

Are you known as a servant?

How do people view you?

John Piper said, humility serves.

Humility gets down low and lifts up others.

Who wants to be the greatest?

Remember the Jesus boys arguing in Luke chapter 22?

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Listen to the disciples argue.

Are you ready?

They begin to argue amongst themselves who would be the greatest among them.

I'm the greatest.

No, I'm better than you.

No, I'm the greatest.

Me, me, me, my, my, my.

I did better things.

One time I did this and I did that and I did this.

They just keep one-upping each other.

You know what I mean?

Jesus told them in this world the kings and great men lorded over their people, but they are called friends of people.

But among you it will be difference.

Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.

Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves?

The one who sits at the table, of course, but not here.

Not here.

For I am among you as one who serves.

And we remember he displayed it, didn't he?

I'm not interested in sitting at the head of the table.

I'm not interested in sitting with all the best people.

I'm going to take the I'll be the servant boy over in the corner.

I'm going to come and wash all your feet.

And then Jesus told them, He says, Happier are you if you do this.

Matthew 9, 35, sitting down, Jesus called the 12 and said, Anyone who wants to be first must be very last and the servant of all.

Jesus said, I came to this earth not to be served.

I came here to serve myself and to give myself a ransom for many.

I'm here to serve.

That is my joy, my peace, my rest.

That's what the Lord says.

Spurgeon said, if we would serve God, we must forget self.

Man, that's hard.

We love ourselves, don't we?

No, I hate myself, actually.

I don't like myself at all.

Not true.

Because when we take a group picture, the first person you look for is you.

Let me see that picture.

That's not a good one at all.

I don't like that.

What do you mean it really looks great?

Nah, it's a terrible one.

We've got to do another one.

Jesus read a donkey, no clothes, Clydesdale horse, a donkey.

Jesus had no place to lay his head, no mansion.

He didn't even have a house.

He chose not even to buy a home.

Isn't that wild?

The only clothes he had were the clothes on his back that they gambled for.

It's just, I mean, the picture is just amazing.

When you have the king of all glory in the palace of heaven comes down here and goes as far the other direction as you possibly can to try to teach humans it's not the way.

What?

It's kind of mystical, but very fascinating.

The most random line I've ever seen.

We were living in Mexico, it's 20 years ago.

John Corson, the guy leading us, said, we had a donkey in Mexico.

Her name was Ginger.

And she was a loud one.

Hee-ha, hee-ha, all day and night.

And she had the teeth, you know, big, giant, giant donkey teeth.

And John goes, There is a cross on the back of every donkey.

Did you know that?

He said, We're like, there is not a cross.

He said, Go out there and look at Ginger's back.

And we all ran out there to go and look.

And this is what we saw.

There is this odd line that goes down the shoulder of a donkey.

You see that?

Let's go from the top real quick.

So the top, look at this line.

The top of the head to the bottom.

And then you have this random shoulder line.

Why wasn't it like six inches further back so we can get a nice, you know, a nice plus sign, right?

No.

It randomly hits the shoulder line and comes down.

Go back to the other one.

And look at it, just stops.

It just stops on the shoulder.

What is going on here?

Did God know in eternities past that his Messiah would come in on a donkey?

Of course, it was foretold by Daniel, Daniel chapter 9, Zechariah chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention Zechariah 9 · chapter mention

Of course he knew.

I did ask.com, why do donkeys have a cross on their back?

And it said there is no scientific explanation for the cross found on the donkey's back.

Genetics seemed to play a role in this sense.

All donkeys feature this cross.

I GPT'd it and I grokked it, and it says the same thing.

It just says it's genetics.

It was programmed into the donkey.

I wonder who programmed it.

Call me mystical.

I don't care.

It's absolutely amazing.

I wonder if on the back of Jesus' donkey, as he sat on it, there it was.

He was getting he was getting on the donkey, making his way to what?

The cross that week, of course.

Jesus is on the donkey, verse 36, and as he went, many spread their clothes on the road.

Ancient way of paying homage to a king.

Matthew 21, 8 says, A very great crowd, multitudes spread their clothes on the road.

Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The palm fronds going down, palm branches are a symbol of joy and salvation.

Remember, the great multitude of people came and they were in town because of Passover.

There were potentially upwards of a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand people in town in Jerusalem because it was Passover week.

Passover week dates back to Moses.

The Jews are celebrating Passover, and it just happens to be the week that Jesus is going to the cross.

What was Passover?

Passion Week, they aligned perfectly.

Remember, the Jews were celebrating the Passover lamb, the blood on the doorposts.

You have to kill the lamb.

Take the blood, put it on the doorposts of your home, and when the angel of death comes, he will pass over your house the blood of the lamb.

John the Baptist, behold, there is the Lamb who takes the sins away from the world.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Jesus, he is the Passover Lamb.

You got to put his blood on your doorposts, and the angel of death will pass over and you will enter into heaven.

What a beautiful picture.

Take a look at what the crowd does.

They take it one step further in the first 37.

Then, as he was now drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

John's gospel says in chapter 12, verse 13, that they shout, Hosanna, Hoshanah, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

Save now, save now, they chant.

They wanted Jesus to save them from their political powers.

Hoshanah is the Hebrew.

They wanted saving from the political powers.

They were hoping for a new king in the land.

The people in that day wanted saving from the Roman government because they were suppressing them.

But he didn't come to save them from that, huh?

That wasn't their greatest need.

The greatest need, our greatest need is not a new government, it's not better laws.

California.

Our greatest need is a relationship with God.

If the whole state comes into a relationship with God, this whole place changes.

You see that?

The whole thing changes.

I get it.

We set a couple better laws in place, things kind of get a little bit better, but humans are still in place.

And they still have wicked hearts, and so they're just going to keep turning it the wrong direction.

So we need heart change.

We need revival of the heart.

Point number two, the king came to save Matthew chapter 1, verse 21.

Matthew 1:21

She shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Acts chapter 5, verse 31, God exalted him to his right hand as prince and savior in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

Acts 5:31

John chapter 1, verse 29, the next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Look, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

John 1:29

They wanted a king, but not the king whom Jesus was.

They wanted a king who would save them from the oppression of the Romans, but Jesus came to save them from far greater their sins, a far greater oppression.

And many times that is the chant of the crowd today.

They hail Jesus as king because they want him to save them from their finances, or save them from their troubled hard lives, or save them from whatever issue they have looming over their head.

But Jesus did not come to save you from your boss or your debt or even the challenges in your life or even your government.

He came to save you from your sins.

Now, listen, walking with the Lord many times does save us and deliver us from our hard situations.

It illuminates our eyes and our mind and our hearts.

We see differently and we stop creating problems for ourselves.

We start walking in wisdom and things change for our lives.

But he ultimately came to save us from our sin, to bring us into relationship with the God who made us, because now we can navigate all the storms of life with the God who made us.

R.C.

Sproul said, we want to be saved from our misery, but not from our sin.

Charles Spurgeon said, You are a great sinner, but he is a greater savior.

He is the greatest savior.

And that's what he does.

I bet if you had all of your exterior problems solved, your money problems, your conflict problems with relationships with people, your sickness problems, whatever it may be, the difficulties of life, no doubt you would then start complaining about your sin problems.

Christ came to deal with the heart first, and it starts to transform everything else.

He promised you he would be with you through life, not necessarily give us an easy life.

Don't forget that.

Do not be surprised.

In this life, you will have tribulation.

Jesus promised it to us.

But take heart, I've overcome the world.

Do not be surprised.

You will have problems, you will have tribulation, but he's also promised that he's overcome it all.

And he's going to be with you through it.

What kind of savior are you looking for today?

We are not to make up a king in our minds that we want Jesus to be.

You don't get to determine the choices of the king or me either.

He determines the choices after all, he is the king, isn't he?

Many would say, Well, I don't like that kind of Jesus.

I'm looking for this kind of Jesus, or I want that kind of Jesus, as if he's some type of car with different options to purchase.

I want a custom Jesus that fits my life.

This is the American church.

They think they get to pick their kind of king and savior and Jesus, but that sounds like the person picking the king is now the real ruler, king and God.

Who's leading here?

You or Christ?

What kind of king are you shouting for today?

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hoshanna, Hosnah.

What are you saying, save now?

Save now, save me from.

And then when he says no, you're like, I don't want that savior.

Some people don't get what they want from God and they leave church.

They leave Christianity and say it didn't work for me.

Look what happened to the Jews, Jesus' own people.

The people were cheering for Jesus, exalting him as king that day, as a ruler and a conqueror, a political figure.

But just a few days later, they would not chant Hosanna anymore or save now.

They would start chanting crucify him.

And this is what people do in the church all the time because God doesn't bow to their beck and call.

They get angry with God and they leave him.

Because life didn't turn out the way that you wanted it to, you thought it was, you start getting mad at God, and you you turn your chant from save now to crucify him.

Crucify him.

Why would we act as we if we know better than God?

And that God has to submit to our plans.

Isaiah 55, 8, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

My thoughts are not your thoughts.

For some reason, we always think our thoughts are God's thoughts, as if we're God, which is classic human being.

We are the center of the universe.

He is the center of the universe.

And my thoughts are not his, and my ways are not his, and I need to align my ways and my thoughts with his.

In closing, the king used a donkey.

A donkey for his triumphal entry.

All creatures of all things use the donkey.

Yes, to fulfill prophesy, to proclaim that he was king, but he could have just hovered in floating on a cloud, but he used a donkey of all creatures.

Where's the lions or tigers?

Where's the elephant?

Where's the rhino?

The rhino would be my selection.

What a beast of an animal, you know.

The giant horn on the front.

It's a tank, it has armor on it, you know.

Just it says something loud.

I like the rhino.

But what a lucky donkey, right?

Did you hear the story about the lucky donkey who was picked to be hired for a day?

I love this story.

I know Josh, you tell it every year.

There's new people, you know.

This isn't about you.

Story goes out of the stable full of donkeys.

He was picked to be the one hired out for the day, not knowing what for.

After the donkey did his job, he came back to the stable, and the rest of the donkeys asked him, How was your day?

The donkey was thrilled.

He said, It was amazing.

The crowds were lining up on both sides of the street.

Everyone was cheering and praising.

They were throwing pom fronds down before my feet and shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, as I passed by.

I couldn't believe it.

The crowd was huge, it was unbelievable.

The rest of the donkeys, just amazed at the day.

The donkey said to all of them, you know what?

After all of that, I think they're gonna make me king.

Family, this donkey had it mixed up, huh?

He thought that the commotion was about him rather than the one he was carrying, the Lord Jesus.

And it's the same with us sometimes.

If there's commotion among the people about you and your ministry, or something you did well that everyone is praising you for, remember it's not you the commotion is about, it's the message you carry.

We're just donkeys carrying the king.

Amen.

Ephesians 2 10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared for beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What kind of king and savior?

We are to be servants as he was a servant of all.

Jesus has not come to be served, but to serve and give himself a ransom for many.

That was his mission.

First Timothy 1.15, this saying is trustworthy and deserve a full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

The king came to serve, the king came to save us from sin, and the king uses donkeys like us.

Augustine said, I have read Plato and Cicero, sayings that are very rise and beautiful, but I have never read, and either of them come to me, all ye that are labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The king and savior we serve has come to give us rest.

We're going to enter into communion now, and we're going to seek to find communion with the King who made us, find rest in Him today.

Let's pray.

Lord, we turn to you now with all of our hearts, and we say thank you.

And we ask God that you would minister to us through communion now as we commune with you, as we worship you, as we reflect on the elements, Passover, the Last Supper, the bread and the cup.

Lord, I pray for forgiveness in this place.

I pray for those who need your forgiveness and your grace, that they would call upon the name of the Lord and be saved now.

There might be some in the crowd today who need your forgiveness right now, who believe Jesus, on your death, burial, and resurrection, who believe that you are the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, and want to call upon the name of the Lord now to be saved, asking for forgiveness of all they've ever done, asking that you would show them grace, you would give them the gift of heaven.

Lord, all you ask us to do right now is to turn away from our sinful ways and to turn to you with all of our hearts from this day forward, to make you Lord and Savior over our lives.

And I pray now, God, as we partake of communion, that the gospel would be fully applied and that we would enter in to a relationship with you.

We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.