Receive the True King

But his citizens hated him. Sent a delegation after him saying we don't want this man to rain.

That's that's kind of the backdrop in fast-forward verse 15 the king returns He ordered his servants to come and give an account And here's where the action really starts picking up.

The first one came before him and he says Lord your minor has made ten minus more He said him well done good servant

You have been faithful. You have done what I said. He got involved with business. He took the one that he was given and he made 10. Notice the transaction.

Because you've been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities.

Now, the exchange rate. Three months salary for a city. That's generous, right? You are faithful with one minor, one three-month salary, and in exchange for every one of those that you multiply, that is 10, you're gonna be given authority over a city. That is an incredibly generous reward for just doing what you're supposed to do. You were a good servant. Notice he calls a second one, verse 18.

When the second came, Lord, your mina has made five minas. And he said to them, you are to be over five cities.

Again, an incredibly generous reward. The reward was robust. And the goal there, he's given them a mina, he's given them a command to do business, and we can see that these two were faithful in doing what he commanded. And then we see a contrast, verse 20.

Another came saying, Lord, here's your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief.

All right, I'm no businessman, but that seems to be the opposite of doing business. If there's other businessmen here, they can correct afterwards. Maybe we can have a panel on what business looks like. But the opposite of doing business with what the Lord has given them. He gave them the actual money. He gave them what they needed to do the business. And the others, they were obedient. They multiplied by doing what he said. And this other one, well, he hid it away in a handkerchief. Verse 21. Notice the reason.

For I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and you reap what you did not sow.

Now that's kind of confusing, right? One, if you think he's a severe man, why wouldn't you just obey his commandment? the wrong view or his own interpretation of what his nobleman is, who's master is, who's given him this mina, it should lead him to do what the other two guys did, and that is to invest, to do business, not hide it away. We see here that the view he has of him is that he's a severe man, and so he was afraid, and he was paralyzed. He didn't do anything. Notice how the king now, he's a king as he comes back.

He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words.

The king is not affirming that he's been described accurately. He's simply saying, as you have described me, I will treat you. I'm going to use your words to make a judgment on you. Is he a severe king? This third servant seems to want to say, you're a harsh king, therefore I was afraid to do anything. Was he harsh to the first two guys, or was he generous, kind? I don't believe this king is agreeing with the description. He's simply saying, since this is what you have said, I'm going to judge you with your own words. I condemn you with your own words, he says. You wicked servant. The good servants did what the king said. And now the wicked servant is wicked only because he refused.

You knew that I was a veer man taking what I did not deposit, reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? And at my coming, I might have collected with interest.

He's making it clear, why did you not at least follow along with what you believed of me?

And he said to those who stood by, take the mina from him and give it to the one who has 10 minas. And they said to him, Lord, he has 10 minas. I tell you, to everyone who has more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This king, he's kind. He's been clear. He's given them what they needed to actually do the business, the mina. He's given them the clear instructions. He's given them an expectation. But he's also just. He takes away from this wicked servant who was disobedient. And then he even takes what he refused to do business with and he gave it to the faithful servant. Let's back out for a moment. Let's remember, he's telling the disciples this. as he's about to enter into the last week of his earthly ministry here. The final step where he's going to enter triumphantly as a king, he's going to die triumphantly on the cross, he's going to rise triumphantly from the grave. He's telling them this parable to make sure they understand what's about to happen. It's not what you expect in terms of an immediate powerful kingdom that's going to overthrow Rome. No, he's telling them. What's about to happen is going to establish you to be faithful servants, to be about kingdom business. He's here warning them, do not think this is the end of this time, this is the end of the time of sin and the fallen world. No, it's going to change, a significant change takes place. He's going to initiate with the Lord's Supper the new covenant that we now get to enjoy. He's going to tell them later on, your new business, the primary work that you're supposed to be serving in faithfully is disciple making. That's kingdom business. The most basic job description for those who are going to follow Christ, be disciples of Christ, is to make disciples. A disciple is someone who denies themselves, carries their cross, and follows Christ. Someone who's denying themselves, carrying their cross and following Christ is someone who is also making disciples. The real emphasis here is, are we going to be found faithful? When the king comes back, what is he going to find? Will he say, well done, good servant? Will he find us faithful? We have to realize his work is good. The work God has commissioned to us to do is good. There's a great responsibility that the church now has to continue on the kingdom work. We're supposed to be engaged in business, kingdom business, multiplying disciples. Will Christ find us obedient? There's a call to pray, share the gospel, Open the Bible with others? Can I just give you the most simple way to understand what it means to be faithful in business? It's the most simple thing. Be present. Be present. Another way to look at it, where we are most present is where we're most committed. You cannot be about kingdom business if you're not present to be available. If you're present, you'll actually grow by building relationships with other folks who are in the discipleship making business. If you're present, you're going to learn how to serve and care and pray for others. Presence is the most basic, basic expectation. There's no way to actually be about kingdom business if you're not present. And if you are present, you will be about the kingdom business in discipleship. Let's consider something else we see here. How do you see God? Notice that third servant. He pictures the king as this severe, harsh judge. There's two ways we can err in looking at God and that he's overly severe, too harsh, too difficult, too demanding. Or maybe more likely in this age, he's loving in a way that means he has no expectations. God is the great, generous giver. He gives every good and perfect gift. As we're about to see, he's sending his son. As we'll recognize later, the father has given us his own son, and Paul argues from Romans 8, if he's given us his son, what good thing is he gonna withhold? What are we afraid of losing by serving and obeying and following this God who's given us the greatest? Notice Paul's argument. He's given us that which is the greatest, his own son. What would he possibly ever withhold from us? Be warned not to see God as stingy. He's not stingy. And notice how generous he gives to this basic faithfulness. Three months wage, receives the blessing of a city. He's generous. He calls us to be faithful in that generosity. I want to make sure we understand something. He gives much, he expects much. He gives much, he expects much. We try to deny one of those, right? We want to complain with grumbling, without gratitude that he doesn't give enough. Or we like to pretend that he actually doesn't expect enough. Now, these two things aren't contradictory. They're true of the good God. He's given us so much. His Word, His Son, His Spirit, His Church. He expects much. We do get that low expectations aren't loving, right? To expect less of people is not loving. To expect loss in what God would have them do is not loving. What we need to see here is the beauty of the promise of Christ as this parable plays out. He will come again as the king to bring in triumph, to bring the end of sin and Satan and death finally. And then there'll be an accounting for how we've been faithful. He's a good king. And notice there's one last group we need to look at, verse 27.

But as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.

Here the king would be just, those who are opposed to him and his right reign, He's a righteous king, he's not going to allow the tyranny within his kingdom. And here, if we were to play this out, I believe here Jesus would be coming and those who have rejected him, those who refused him, those who have continued on a rebellion, they would suffer condemnation. We can look at the doctrine of hell. The eternal suffering of God's wrath because you've rejected his son. Now notice what's happening. God has sent his own son so we can be forgiven. God has sent his own son so we can have eternal life. God has sent his own son so we can believe in him. If we refuse him, if we continue to treat him and act as if we're enemies, if we continue to be enemies, rejecting him, eternal suffering and condemnation is what he gives. The invitation today is believe in him though. The invitation is he's a generous king who saves all who call upon him. The invitation is to not be an enemy, but to believe in him alone who can save you. The next section goes into this triumphal entry. We see here he is the praiseworthy king. The praiseworthy king. Verses 28 to 40.

And when he had said these things,

that is Jesus,

he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem.

Again, we've heard prediction over and over again. Jerusalem is always in his sight. He has turned his face towards Jerusalem. Now we are finally entering into this capital city for the last time.

When he drew near to Bethpage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples saying, go into the village in front of you. Where on entering, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why you are untying it, you shall say this, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent away and found it just as he had told them, and as 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, throwing their cloaks in the colt, they sat Jesus on it.

As Paul's there, notice how it's repetitive. It's what Jesus said would happen, and then it records what happened. We need to just make sure we reflect here on the importance whenever something's repeated like this. Jesus is making it clear he's going into this capital city, and how he enters in is so important. Again, this is Palm Sunday. He's coming in on a colt, on a donkey. He's already predicted if you weren't with us, you can look back to Luke 18, 31 to 33, he just told the disciples, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem. They're gonna flog me, spit upon me, mock me, kill me. He's intentionally going where that is waiting on him. He knows it's coming. Because it has been written, it will be accomplished. Here, how he's entering is so important. He's not coming on a mighty war horse. He's coming on a donkey. What's even interesting is just as we saw back in Luke 18, since it has been written, it will be accomplished. The mistreatment of God, the mistreatment of God's Son. You can look later in Zechariah 9, which predicted this ride on the colt. Zechariah 9 beginning in verse 9.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he. Humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

We see here what was predicted, written. It will be accomplished. But we see Jesus coming in, the peaceful King to bring peace, but not the peace they're expecting. He enters peace. If we go back to Psalm 24, the song of the call to worship, that's a song of ascent. Who can enter into the city? Well, this is the one true King, the righteous King. He alone who's able to enter into the city and lead the people properly, truly into worship. A major battle is about to happen. It's a different kind of battle than what they're expecting. The king is coming into his city as a king of peace. Notice, as they rode along, verse 36,

they spread their cloaks on the road. And he was drawing near already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

This is unusual. There's some recognition of the disciples of who Jesus is. They've been waiting for this. Okay, they might be confused about what kind of king he's going to do and what kind of activity he's going to participate in once he gets to the city, but this is significant. Here he is fulfilling a prophecy and the disciples remembering all the mighty works that they had seen, remembering all the things he had been taught. They're seeing all the things coming together at some level. This is the Messiah. Even this is God. They're reciting from Psalm 118. What they're saying is very similar to what the angels saying at the birth of Christ. It's important we see. The disciples have a moment here. of significant praise, and Jesus allows it. I don't know if this is personal confession. I think it is. We need to recognize there were 12 apostles of Jesus, and we know there was also 72 sent out at another time. Paul tells us that Jesus appeared finally to 500 disciples. So if we're picturing this, this is 500 disciples of Jesus, those who have seen the things of Christ, heard the things of Christ, recognizing this is the significant moment we've all been waiting on. They're the disciples of Jesus. It's been preached that those who praised him on this Sunday are going to crucify him on Friday. I don't think that's actually the case, and that's why I'm confessing. I think I said that once. It's one of my retractions. No, the disciples are praising him. The disciples are going to abandon him. But it's not the disciples who praise him today and then say crucify him on Friday or Thursday. No, no, here we see the disciples are actually doing what's right, what's good, and they're contrasted then with the Pharisees. The Pharisees are those who are paid. They're promoted in the society to be students of the word, teachers of the word. They're the ones who are the most conservative teachers, who are supposed to know the law of Christ, to know the law of Moses, and be able to see this is the Christ, and notice what they do.

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples.

Jesus, you need to shut this down. This is blasphemy. They can't speak about you this way. Now, they're right in principle about something. The disciples are giving him a significant messianic title. They're identifying him with Yahweh. If he's not God, they're blaspheming and he should shut it down. But, we can see Jesus knows who he is. This is one of the clear teachings, the clear moments where Jesus is very aware of what they're saying, and if he is not God, he should not be praised this way, but it's very obvious he believes this is right. I tell you, he said, if these were silent, if these disciples did not praise,

the very stones would cry out.

Now that's kind of a weird thing to say, isn't it? Anybody ever see a stone cry out? It's intentionally provocative here. If these disciples, human beings made in God's image, designed for worship, designed to praise, showing all the things of God, if they do not do their job, some other aspect of creation will do it. The very stones will cry out. You know what's interesting about that is on the cross, it does appear they had a cry out. There was an earthquake. I don't know if that's earth revolting against us, crucifying our God, or grieving the death of their creator. But here we see Jesus confront and correct the Pharisees. No, this is right. He is the Messiah, he is Yahweh, and there is an intentional need, there is a necessity that he be praised. Friend, this is what you were designed for. This is what you're designed for, to praise your creator. This is what Jesus came back for, to lead you in praise. We are designed to praise, and this is the hard reality we have a difficult time understanding. We're always worshiping because that's what you're designed to do. We're always worshiping. And here Jesus is coming to recorrect, to redirect, to put our worship in its right place. It's right to worship him. He's going back into the center of the city. He's going back and he's going to be going into the temple to reorder worship, to reestablish worship, to bring us back to our purpose, that is to praise him. This is what we were created for. This is what we've been redeemed for. Final section. We see three little pieces and we see Jesus as the true king. The true king. First we see him as the compassionate king. After being praised, Verse 41,

when he drew near and saw the city,

that is Jerusalem. You can imagine, he's come upon the city, he's in view, he's a king who loves his city, he's a king who loves his people. He wept. He wept over his city. We know of another place, in Lazarus, seeing the people grieve over the death of Lazarus. He wept. He weeps with his people. He weeps for his people. It's interesting. We never see any record of Jesus laughing. That doesn't mean he didn't laugh. But it's very intentional. We see this aspect of weeping. A grieving. He's come to his city. The king has come back into his city, the chosen capital, the center of worship, the center of the throne. It's a unique place. He mourns. He grieves. This is almost what you'd expect if you were a king and you're away to battle and you come back and you see that while you were away, your whole city walls were destroyed and all the buildings destroyed and the people are dead. The kind of grief as if the city had been ruined, but the city walls are up. It's a thriving metropolis, but spiritually dead. The king sees the people as they are, and he weeps. Folks, tears from God because of the open rebellion against him. Let's go back and ask, is he a generous God? Is he a severe God? He's not quick to judgment. He will be just in his judgment, but we notice here just the compassion, the tears of God. What an amazing moment just to reflect upon the compassion he has for his people, the desire he has for their good, the desire he has for their repentance. He's come to a city, he knew what he was going to get, he knew what to expect, he knew that they were going to mistreat him, and yet still, he pauses, and we have a moment to see the king weep because of sin. Verse 42 explains why he's weeping. Would that you, Jerusalem, Speaking of the people who make up that city,

would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace?

Would that you, Jerusalem, would have understood and recognized all the things that have been said, that were promised, that were all coming to fulfillment? Would that you would know what's actually in your midst? The King has come in peace. Jesus, back in Luke 10, has this aspect of hidden truth. In Luke 10, Jesus thanks the Father for hiding the truths of the gospel from the wise, from the powerful rulers. In Luke 13, 35, he laments that Jerusalem was always mistreating and killing the prophets and that he would long to gather them, but no, they continue to refuse. Here, would that you, even you, My city had known this day the things that make for peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes. Now they're hidden. This is an incredible judgment. We just saw in Luke 18, 34, if you're with us, Jesus said, I'm going to go into Jerusalem, I'm going to be mistreated, I'm going to be mocked, beaten, flogged, killed. And then Luke tells us they did not understand it, that is the disciples, because it was hidden from them. The God who was speaking was hiding it, only it was a temporary hiding. It was a temporary moment. It was just going to be a few weeks until Jesus is going to open their eyes. On the road to Emmaus, Luke 24, 31, Jesus is teaching so that the eyes are opened. God is a making known God. Here, this is a different kind of hiding. It's a judgment. Because you have resisted and rejected and resisted and rejected, if only you'd have known what you've been told. Again, they've been told everything they need to know to see who Jesus is. The disciples see it, the Pharisees don't see it, the city will not see it. Now, it will be hidden from your eyes. Grace removed. That's terrifying. This is the equivalent of what I believe Paul says in Romans 1. He handed them over to their sin. There is a way in which we see God constantly holding his arms out all day long, like Romans 10 says, but he says he holds his arms out all day long to invite a stiff-necked, obstinate people. And we also see here that there's a judgment that there are times when God has just given his people over to their sin. There's a time in which he will just say, no, I'm going to hide these things now so that you will not see. We need to be careful of knowing when that happens, but we also be terrified that we take it for granted that God will remain gracious in giving his invitation. That's what we read in Psalm 95.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Believe in him. If you're not a believer this morning, if you're one of the children who've heard this over and over again, do not think I have some other time I'm going to wait for. No, there's a terrifying aspect of presuming upon the grace of God. Oh, he's so gracious, he's so generous. But we also see he's just. Do not presume upon the grace of God. Notice what he says next.

For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your hesitation.

Because you have not known this time, because you are now under the judgment, because you have refused the king to receive him, because you're actually going to put him to death, you're going to be destroyed. He seems to be predicting what actually happened in AD 70 when the emperor Titus sieged Rome and destroyed Jerusalem. The Titus, he sieged Jerusalem and destroyed it. It was an incredible sign of judgment. Can you imagine the confusion? The disciples who once thought, we're going to go in and we're going to see Jerusalem built even greater. And they come in and they see their Savior weeping. They hear this judgment and that he's going to destroy the city. Problem with the city, their faith was misplaced. They did not believe in the God and his promises. They presumed upon that they were a chosen people who had received circumcision. They wanted a wrong kind of God. They wanted to boast somehow in the promise rather than believe it. A few conclusions I want to just point out from 41 to 44. God here is considering all of these people together and there is a corporate judgment. God will hold each of us accountable for our individual sins, but there's a way in which he judges a people together. He condemns the entire city for their rebellion. We need to ask, in what ways are we involved with others that are promoting ungodliness? What ways, as we as a corporate body, would we be found as a church? Something else we need to consider here. He makes it very clear. He's given them much. Oh, how is it you do not see this the day of your visitation? How is it you do not see this is the day of salvation? How is it that you do not see this is the day that makes for peace? They've had all the truths of God. This is the benefit of being an Israelite. They have the Old Testament. They have all the things that we're telling them this is what's going to happen, and here it's happening. He's given them much. And therefore, the third thing, God will require much. He gives much, he expects much. Friend, as we consider not just ourselves as we were able to in the parable, but even as we consider ourselves as a corporate body, how about we find us as a church? We can go to Revelation, we can see how Jesus actually comes and considers different cities and their churches together. It's a church. Would he come and weep, or would he say, well done? This is something that concerns us. Something that concerns us as pastors. How are we helping promote that which is good so that when Jesus comes, he would find us faithful as a people? He's a true king. He's the praiseworthy king. He's a good king. As a true king, he's also the priest king. Look at verse 45 and 46. He now is going to enter into the center of the city, and again, the center of the city is not a throne, it is the temple.

He entered the temple, he began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.

Jesus, who's come to bring peace, he's wept over the city, but notice we see a whole different side of Jesus. He comes into the holy place of God, he sees the corruption, he sees the perversion, he sees the twisting of what is taking place. There's robbers in the place where people should be praying. He responds with a righteous anger. His purpose is to make sure that the people who are coming to pray would not be distracted or hindered by these robbers. We know from the other gospel accounts, this is actually in the court of Gentiles. This is where the nations would want to come and say, who is this God and how do you know him? And what they would find are people robbing them and corrupting. Oh, he's the king who is the perfect priest. He first purifies the temple. The main work of the priest, keep and work. He's coming to protect the temple. He's coming as a great high priest to provide the true worship and the first step here as he comes into a city and we can see how corrupt it is. The fact that they've rejected him, they will reject him. The fact that he's come and had to weep over them. We can see right here the real diagnosis. At the heart of the city is corruption. At the heart of the worship is theft. Perversion. Friends, again, Jesus has a zeal for the temple because he's a zeal for the glory of God. The Son has come to glorify the Father. The Son has come to be glorified. We see this slight picture, this momentary, this small picture, what we know more from the book of Hebrews. Jesus is a great high priest. He will not make a sacrifice in this temple. Because this temple is not the true temple. This temple is simply a picture of what the temple is. No, he's a great high priest who's going to go into the Holy of Holies and make the once for all sacrifice so that we now can be priests. The purpose of this mission is to bring us back into this nearness. Meditate on the book of Hebrews over and over again. Enter boldly. Draw near. Christ has purified the temple. Christ is bringing us into the true holy of holies so that we can actually be present with God. If we were to ask what this looks like today, we have a book stall. I don't think we're robbing anybody. They're discounted, just to make sure. If you want a good book, we have them discounted down the hallway. What would it look like today if Christ were to come into the place that he now calls the temple, and that is not a building? The temple are the people gathered. We're a holy nation because we are all indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and we come together to be built up together. The mission of Christ is to seek and save sinners, and the mission of Christ is to make those sinners now participate in the kingdom. What would Jesus find? What would it look like for him to come in and say, this is where holiness isn't found? I think it's helpful for us as we consider the Lord's Supper before us. If you go to 1 Corinthians 11, I think you see maybe a picture of what could be wrong there. Remember the correction Jesus, Paul makes, Paul makes is that some are coming in early to eat the best food. and therefore depriving the rest of the church of food? We see maybe a picture of robbery. We see a picture of selfishness and partiality. I don't think we have that problem. I don't think we have food snobbery or robbery, but do we withhold love from one another? Do we withhold forgiveness from one another? Do we withhold compassion? The whole picture of what we are about to partake in in the Lord's Supper is to remind us that we have all been purchased by the same blood. We have all been saved by the same Savior. We all now have the same access and we all have the same expectation and command to forgive as we've been forgiven. We're wrestling with ways in which these robbers would be cast out because they're so pure, perverting the temple. The question is, are there ways in which we're being glory thieves by withholding the things that God has given us? The last thing we see here in verse 47, we'll look at it even more next week as it is expounded. The true king is a compassionate king. The true king is a priest, king, and finally, the true king is also the prophet. The three offices of Christ, prophet, priest, king, all connected here in these verses.

He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words.

The king, the very word of God, not just a prophet, as Hebrews says, but the very son of God, he came to be the final prophet promised to Moses. Here we see him going into the temple, not only purifying it of its impurities, but now coming to bring the truth. And the highlighted point is that those who were supposed to be keeping and working the temple, the scribes, the chief priests, the principal men, The Sanhedrin, they are seeking to destroy him. But the people are listening. This morning, what is going to be our response to this king? We want to listen to him. To hear his command, be a disciple who denies yourself, carries your cross, and follows him, and to make disciples. Will we want to listen to him in a way that makes us want to be more faithful so that when he returns, as he promised, he would say, good servant? Are we going to listen to him and hang on his words, trusting him, depending upon him, letting his truth overcome our self-deception? How are we gonna respond? Are we going to praise him? because that is what is necessary. Will we hang upon his words, trust him, and be a people of prayer? Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you that you have given us such clear truths. We thank you that you are the generous God who gives all we need. More than we could ever ask for, even. Lord, we thank you that you've given us such clear expectations. Lord, we thank you we can see you as a God who gives much and expects much. Lord, help us now to reflect upon our own sin that's withheld from you, what you expect. Help us, Lord, to know that we can be forgiven as we confess these sins to Christ. Help us, Lord, to know that even your Spirit indwells us so that we would be a faithful people. Lord, I pray we would know how to rejoice and be grateful for all you've given us and to be faithful in all you've commanded of us. Help us, Lord, to rejoice in Jesus, our King, and to live under his good reign. Jesus, let me pray. Amen. Let us stand together and sing our song of response, Come Thou Fount.