 So beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 11, Matthew chapter 21, Palm Sunday, or the triumphal entry. Matthew writes, now, when they do near Jerusalem and came to Beth Paji at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord has need of them, and immediately he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this? So the multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. And so this portion of Scripture shares with us what has been called the triumphal entry. It's also referred to as mentioned, Palm Sunday. Jesus' entry into the city of Jerusalem. And this is his last major public appearance before his crucifixion. This is such an important thing that occurs in the ministry of Christ that it's recorded in all four of the gospels. You see the same thing recorded in Mark chapter 11, Luke 19, as well as John chapter 12. And this event occurs during the last week of ministry. And it's concluding a journey that had begun earlier that Luke had recorded in chapter 9, verse 51, when he spoke of Jesus resolutely setting out for Jerusalem. Now Jesus had passed through Jericho. And as we were together last time, we saw that he had healed two blind men. We saw that in chapter 20, verses 29 through 34. But Luke adds another event that occurred while he was passing through Jericho. Luke tells us in chapter 19 of his gospel that as he entered into the city, there was a tax collector named Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus sought to see him. Now Jericho was on the main road and there would have been many tax gatherers there, a lot of toll booths where they would collect their taxes. And Luke speaks concerning this one man named Zacchaeus. And he tells us that he was a chief tax collector. That means that he held a high office. He was ahead of an entire tax district of Jericho, as well as the vicinity. And that made him well known. In a sense, it made him famous. Not only did he have a certain kind of fame, but he was also very rich. Because he had gotten rich off the people that he had taxed. And as a result of that, not only was he famous and rich, he was also hated. Because the people who were collecting tax very often were known for greed and extortion. Now as a rich man, he had grown accustomed to satisfying whatever material desire he had. Money had made him very comfortable, but money never had made him content. And so as Jesus is passing by, he climbs on a tree because he's small and he couldn't press between the crowd to see Christ. And as he's in a tree, the Lord Jesus stops, looks up to him and says, Zacchaeus come down from the tree because I'm needing to spend some time with you today. It's possible that as Jesus was speaking to him, that his invitation, that Jesus actually gave for himself to go to Zacchaeus' house, was received because Zacchaeus had heard that Jesus was a friend of publicans and sinners. And that knowledge that Jesus was a friend of publicans and sinners may very well have provoked him to search out Jesus to hear him. Jeremiah 29.13 says, you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. And so there he is and he's in this tree and the Lord Jesus stops and says, come down, I need to spend time at your house. And he comes down, Jesus goes with him. And as this is taking place as often happens, people are now upset with Jesus because Jesus went to his home and they murdered that Jesus had gone to be a guest with a man who was a sinner. And so as this is all taking place, that's so very common. People get upset because Jesus wants to minister to those in need. Jesus made it very clear and he spoke to Zacchaeus and he said to him in Luke 19.10, he said, the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. That was his mission then and that is his mission now. And so Jesus is entering now into the city of Jerusalem. And he's entering actually is saying here, it says in verse one of chapter 21, that they drew near Jerusalem and came to Beth Fajie. And so Jesus is entering into a village that is directly opposite of another small village called Bethany. And we'll see how that works out in just a moment. And we know that Bethany, according to John 11.8, was located about two miles outside of Jerusalem. They're in an area that is called the Mount of Olives, which is just east of the city. And they're going to be coming down what is now traditionally referred to as Palms Sunday Road. And this is where all of this is taking place. Jesus is about to finish the work that he'd been sent to do. He's about to lay his life down and he's about to enter into the city. And so we read in verse one, reading verses one through three and getting into our study, they drew near Jerusalem and came to Beth Fajie at the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them. And so as we begin, I want you to notice that Jesus initiated the events that led to a triumphal procession into Jerusalem. Notice with me that he gave a very simple command. He says in verse two, go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. Very simple command. You will find a donkey tied, loose them, bring them to me. Now up to this point in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus had discouraged public honor. Remember in Matthew 8 verse 4 how Jesus had cleansed the leper and Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one, go your way, show yourself to the priest, offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. How in Matthew 16 verse 20, he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was a Christ. And then in Matthew 17 9, as he came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. Jesus had been saying, don't say anything. Why? Because he was in danger. He had healed a paralyzed man on the Sabbath and it was commonly known that the authorities were bent on executing him. John 7 verse 1 says the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. So in spite of the death plots, now Jesus is determined to enter into the city of Jerusalem and he knew it was time to complete his mission that he'd been sent on. It was his appointed time to lay his life down for the sin of the world. So what does he do? Well, he gives two of his disciples an order and the orders found in verse 2, go into the village opposite you and you'll find a donkey tied in a colt. Why did you do that? Well, Jesus would say it keeps me from being accosted by any enemies. But what I want to point to is something very simple here. I want you to look at this. I want you to see this with me. In verse 2, he simply says, go into the village opposite you. Immediately you will find a donkey tied in a colt with her. Loose them, bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord has need of them. Immediately he will send them. Let me bring a point of application here. It's a very simple principle. Spiritual life is a series of small steps. If you want to grow into spiritual maturity, maturity comes over time with a series of small steps. There are guys who have a desire to pastor churches and that's a great desire. If the Lord has placed it on their heart, then I fully support that call. If the Lord has called them, I want to see God bless them. But so many times people have this attitude that I want to pastor church, but it has to be a very large church. It can't be a small home study. And what happens is instead of taking the small steps to maturity, they want the greater steps to greatness. And they don't understand very often that the road to spiritual maturity is really a road that is built on one small step at a time. When we began this ministry here, it actually began long before we actually began meeting here. In 1973, I started a Bible study in Norwalk. My father and I were speaking on one occasion. I was 23 years old, actually 22 years old or so at the time and we were speaking. And somebody had been at my father's house and had asked a question of some sort and I had answered the question and my dad was standing there and my dad looked at me and he said, Dave, he said, I didn't know that you could answer. I didn't know you could do that is what he said. I didn't know you could do that. And I said, do what? He said, I didn't know that you could answer Bible questions the way that you do. And so I began to think about that and I began to think, well, maybe my dad, maybe my dad would be a good guinea pig to start teaching the word to. And so I asked my dad, would you mind if we started a home Bible study here? And that was in 1973. I was going to Biola at the time and I was taking Bible doctrine and all. And I thought, well, perhaps it would be a good place to just share what I'm learning. And that's how it began. It began in a Bible study with just a handful of people. And it was that way for years. I mean, for years, I taught Bible studies with eight people. If I had 10, it was just packed at the scenes. I was thinking, man, look at 10 people showed up. I mean, there would be six people, eight people, 10 people, maybe 12 on occasion, but it was always very small. It was never very large. And for years, we didn't even have any music of any sort. I would walk in, sit down, I would open my Bible, people would be fellowshiping in the front room. And then whenever I opened the Bible, they knew that was a signal for them to quiet because we're going to get into the Word. Because I had taught them that. I said, listen, when the Word is open, then we listen. I had taught them that. And so I'm 24 years old, 25 years old. And that's how it was. I just would open the Word. Second, the Bible is open. All these people who are older than me, my father, my mom and other older people, we've respected the Word of God, respected it's being taught. And they got quiet. And I would teach, but I didn't have any music at all for the long term. As a matter of fact, we didn't have any music that was consistent, any worship that was consistent, probably for seven or eight years of our original Bible studies. I would just come in, open the Word, we'd fellowship, we'd do all of that, but we never sang. And finally, we had people in the church who knew how to lead worship. And so I can still remember one, that young man's name was Doug, his girlfriend who became his wife was Stacy. And they couldn't come to the Wednesday night Bible study. And we had another guy in the church at that time. His name was Clint. And I walked up to Clint and I said to him, hey, Clint, Doug and Stacy can't be here tonight to lead worship. Can you lead worship? And Clint said to me, I didn't bring my guitar. So I said, that's okay. Just, you can lead us acapella. And he looks at me and he says, I don't know any Italian songs. I'll never forget that. Acapella means without musical accompaniment. That's all it means. Just lead us with your voice. But yeah, I don't know any Italian songs. And so we took him outside and killed him. But it was, I mean, that's what, that's how it was in the early days. And that was home Bible studies. That was small studies that we had from here and there. You learn to handle something heavier by carrying something that is lighter. There's an old story of a man walking by a field and he sees a man carrying a horse on his back across the field. And he walks up to the man and he says, where did you gain the strength to carry the horse? And he says, I've been carrying this horse since it was born. Every day I've put him on my back and I've carried him across the field. You start carrying heavier weights by carrying the lighter ones. You're growing your spiritual maturity by doing the small things, not trying to do the great things. You start learning the small things, the basic things that works in ministry, it works in life. There are people who sign up, they want to get a job. They don't want to work in the warehouse. They want to be the manager over everybody, even though they've never even held that position. I used to sign, you know, make application to work and they would ask me, what is your goal? And I say to manage this place. Then I'd have the interview and they'd say, have you ever done this kind of work? I'd say no, but it looks easy. I can learn. And it was this attitude where they would just kind of smile. And for some reason they never got hired to do these jobs. I wanted to be the manager, but I wasn't willing to be a janitor. And you need to learn in the small steps. And your spiritual life is that way. If you begin to do the easy thing, it'll always be easy. Why? Because you learn from the beginning that God is in control strengthening you to do those things. And you learn to walk the power of His might. And you learn to trust Him in all of these things. And so there are so many people who would say, no, I want to do the great thing, but it's the small thing. It's the small things that demonstrate your faith. It's the small things. In Luke 16, verse 10, it says, He who is faithful in what is least, His faith will also in much. He who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. So in obedience can we discover the great joy of the will of God by taking one small step at a time? Do you want to grow into spiritual maturity? Do the small thing. Do the small thing daily. Get into the Word of God, which is really a great thing, but do it daily. Learn to pray. Learn to fellowship. Learn to share your faith. Talk about the Lord. Don't be ashamed of Him. And watch what God will do in your life. It's small steps. And no, you may never have a program on Christian TV. You'll never be on perhaps a radio station at all. But that doesn't really matter. What matters is your faithfulness. Everybody in this room, I would assume, has heard of Billy Graham. But not many of you have heard of Mordecai Ham. Who is Mordecai Ham? He had a good friend named Eggs, and they were always together. No, Mordecai Ham was the evangelist who gave them the invitation for a 17-year-old young boy by the name of Billy Graham to get saved. Some people know the name Mordecai Ham. If you read and you like church history and things, you'll know his name. Some people know Mordecai Ham, but everybody knows Billy Graham. Are you willing to be Mordecai Ham is the question. Are you willing to be unknown and faithful? And the Lord Jesus Christ here says, this is a simple thing. I want you to go into the village opposite you, which was the city of Bethany, which is right across from Beth Vagy. I want you to go to the village opposite you, and you're going to find a fool. And I want you to bring him to me. Very simple command. But again, only in obedience can you discover the joy of the will of God. And a simple principle for those who aspire to leadership, you will never be a great leader if you are not first a great learner. You need to hear and then obey. Do the small thing and watch what the Lord will do with your life. Now, when he's given this command and again, verse two, go into the village opposite you, immediately you'll find a donkey tied and a colt with her, loose them, bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord has need of them. Immediately he will send them. It would be more than likely that this was pre-arranged. You see in Mark chapter 11, verses four through six, that the disciples went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, what are you doing, untying that colt? And they answered as Jesus had told them to, people let them go. It would seem that the Lord had pre-arranged this and this is just a way for you to be able to get this unhindered. But what is the other thing that I find very interesting? Again, notice in verse three, notice this where he says, if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, look at this, the Lord has need. The Lord has need of them. The word need speaks of necessity. There's something that is necessary for him. The Lord has need of them. The interesting thing is it is humbling when you realize that God actually may need something from us. They were needed in order to fulfill the plan of God, the plan that God had for people. And so I like to make application when I read the scriptures and the question would be, have you ever thought that you might have something that the Lord has need of, that you have something under your control that he can use to further his plans? There are husbands who have a sense of calling that the Lord has placed in their lives and the Lord wants to use them. And the Lord could speak to the wife and say, concerning the husband, I have need of him. I want to place him in a position of ministry to do what I've called him to do. I remember years ago, it's been probably, it's over 30 years ago, I was in my office and I had an appointment with a man who had wanted to come and share with me concerning advertising on a Christian radio station and so I thought it would be good to speak to him and also I set up an appointment and I met with him. And as he was in my office, I remember bits and pieces of the conversation but I especially remember when he had kind of a lull in the conversation as he was presenting to me radio commercials and this and that, he got quiet for a moment and he said to me, you know, I was a pastor and I looked at him and I remember just kind of being puzzled and so I said to him, I said, you were a pastor and he said, yeah, you used to pastor church and he goes, yes, I did and I go, you know, obviously I have to ask you the question, why aren't you a pastor now? You know what his answer was? He said, my wife said to me, it's either me or the ministry. You make up your mind. You can't have both. He says, I now sell radio time. I wonder how many guys who are called by God have had a relationship that forced them to choose between faithfulness to God and a marriage. I wonder how many women God has said, I want to use you for these things where the husband has said, no, I don't want you in a small group. I don't want you at a woman's conference. I don't want you at a retreat. No, I want you to say here, you think that I had these kids so I could watch them, that's your job and there are men who do that. I know that because I hear the stories where God wants to do a work and he can say, the Lord has need of them and yet because we are caught up saying you can't have them because I can keep them for my use, I wonder how many people would have been used by the Lord if we had this understanding of just releasing them. You have never given to God anything that God cannot bless you many times over for releasing into his hands. You have never given more to God than God gave to you and yet we have this attitude even to this day, we just don't understand that the Lord could still use those things that we hand to him. You see, the animals were needed to enable Christ to enter Jerusalem in a manner conforming to prophetic requirement and worthy of a messianic king and so once again we release into God's hands that which is needed by him to complete a plan. Somebody once said this and I think as well said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose and so they release that. Now in verse four, it says all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, tell the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the full of a donkey. So his entrance literally fulfills a prophecy that was given 520 years before Christ. It was a prophecy given by Zechariah in chapter nine verse nine and in his entrance to Jerusalem, Jesus is literally fulfilling that prophecy. Now we need to remember that Jesus' life in ministry fulfilled God's word. He came to fulfill Old Testament prophecies, Matthew 5.17. He said, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them and so this is a prophecy from Zechariah and it says in verse five, tell the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you lowly sitting on a donkey, a colt, the full of a donkey. Zion is another name for the city of Jerusalem and so this is speaking concerning the entrance into the city of Jerusalem. He's coming and I want you to notice this lowly sitting on a donkey, a colt, the full of a donkey. As a king entering in in time of peace, the king would come in on a donkey and a donkey was a symbol of humility and security. So by Jesus entering into the city at that time on the on a donkey, he was a king bringing peace and so that's the picture you have here when it says your king is coming to you lowly sitting on a donkey, a colt, the full of a donkey and so in his first entrance there, as he's entering in during the time that he's going to be betrayed and put to death, he came in initially on a donkey. Now Revelation 19 verse 11 tells us, I saw heaven opened, behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. When the king came in time of war, he would ride a horse. This time Jesus came on a donkey and that was a picture of him bringing peace. He came with humility, bringing peace to those who would respond to him. Now Mark tells us something. Mark says that Jesus said, go into the village opposite you and as soon as you have entered it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. No one has sat on that is another picture for us of something that's been reserved for sacred use. It demonstrates though something else. It demonstrates his lordship because it's an unbroken animal. Listen, I'm not a cowboy. I know you may think that I am. I'm not grew up liking cowboy stuff. I had my cap guns and hats and got the picture sitting on those little horses and this and that. But I'm no cowboy. But I am aware of one thing. I know that if it's an unbroken animal, you don't just walk up and sit on it. You can't do that. If it's an unbroken animal, if it's an animal that has never had anyone break it so that it receives a saddle or rider, there's no way that you're just going to walk up and drop something on it and climb on it and ride comfortably. So that gives us some insight into what's taking place here because when you look in the ministry of Christ, you see some very interesting things. You see that this animal yielded without resistance. And then when you read the Bible, you begin to see something interesting. You see that demons. You see that fevers. You see that illnesses. You see paralysis. Even death itself yielded to the command of Christ. You'll even see, as we saw in Matthew 827, that nature itself yields to his commands. Because when the disciples were in the midst of a storm, according to Matthew 827, Jesus had commanded them to cease and be still. And they said, even the winds and the sea obey him. So when you read the Bible, it's interesting to note that demons and illness and nature itself will yield to the Lord, but men don't. Isn't that interesting? You see that demons, the moment Christ speaks, be silent, come out of him. That's it. It's over. When Jesus is there and a storm is occurring, nature itself is rebelling. Jesus says, cease, be still, and it's quiet. And from one moment it's storming, and the next moment you have the apostles seated there soaking wet, amazed at what just happened with nature. Because he said literally when he said, cease, be still, that's a Greek phrase that means shut up, be muzzled. He actually says to the wind, shut up. Now think about that for a moment, because he can command illness. A blind man can receive sight. A leper can be cleansed with a word. He doesn't even have to be there. When the centurion approaches him and says, I have, my young servant is ill, and Jesus says, I'll come to him. And he says, no, you don't have to come, speak a word, and he'll be healed. And Jesus marvels at the faith of the centurion because he said, you don't have to, he said, I'm not worthy that you should enter into my roof. All you need to do is speak a word. He says, because I too am a man under authority. I say to one man, go, he goes, I say to another one, come, and he comes. I know authority. All you need to do is speak a word of authority, give a command, and from a distance, my servant's son will be healed. And you see that over and over and over again in Scripture. And then you see Jesus say, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest, and they won't come. Isn't that amazing? It really is. It's amazing. A demon won't resist him. Nature won't resist him. Illness won't resist him, but a man will. But a man will. How many times does the Lord have to speak to my heart until I hear him? How many times does he have to say something until I finally get it? Because as I read my Scriptures, it was such a simple command. All you need to do is this, and watch what will happen. And yet, so often, we don't even do the basic things that he says. And in not doing the basic things that he says, we miss so many blessings. So many blessings. I wonder how many times God has said to me, I want you to do this. And I thought, that must be, I ate too much salsa. That can't be God speaking to my heart. Many years ago, I was at the Anaheim Convention Center. There was a Christian band playing, and we had invited a young man who was not a believer in Christ, and he was a young teen. And we wanted to introduce him to the Gospel of Jesus and all, and felt it would be great just to bring it to a Christian concert. And so, Marie and I brought him to the Anaheim Convention Center. There was a great night of free concert, and we brought him with us. And we had two couples, two other couples who were friends who were coming from Norwalk. And Marie and I were driving in from Ontario, and the Convention Center is a good-sized building. And so, we didn't have a place that we agreed to meet. And so, we got there at the time that the concert had begun, but we didn't see our friends, two different couples. We didn't see them. And so, Marie began to walk in one direction, you know, it's circular, so she began to take a walk in one direction to see if she could find them, looking in and seeing if she could see, though it was dark. And I took this young man with me, and I went in the opposite direction. And as we began to walk in the opposite direction, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart. And it's so unusual when this happens. I should have known this is God, but the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart. And I still remember what he said. He said, tell them, tell him that you all will be together at seven o'clock. And it's no way that's going to happen. I mean, there's several thousand people in there. There's no way. There's nobody here in the foyer or in the area here. It's just me and him. But the Spirit said, tell him you will all be together at seven o'clock. I kept that to myself, an insane thing. And I walked with him. I just, well, that was an odd thought. As I was walking, Marie, my wife, was walking in the opposite direction. And we walked around the entire perimeter, and we met together. She came and she said, I said, did you see them? And she said, no, I didn't see them. Did you see them? And I said, no, I haven't seen them. And when we stopped, we hear a knocking on a glass door. We turn and there's our four friends outside knocking on the glass door. And I looked at my watch. It was seven o'clock. Yeah. And I'd looked at the young man and I said, forgive me. God told me to tell you we were going to get connect with them at seven o'clock. And I didn't tell you. And I thought, what a lost opportunity. I was in a church service similar to this. And the pastor gave an invitation. My cousin was seated next to me. The spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said, tell him you'll go forward with him at this invitation. I want to save him. And I'm looking at him. And I'm thinking, no, that's me again. Just telling myself something. And I'm looking at him. And I can't do that. And then I started thinking, listen, if I go forward, they're going to think I'm getting saved. And after all, I've been saved for three years already. So my pride got in the way. They're going to think, I'm getting saved. I'm already saved. No, that's got to be just me. We went home and he was living at my parents' house at that time. And I went and I sat across from him in the kitchen table. And he's my cousin Ray and my cousin looks at me and he says, you know when that preacher today gave that invitation? I said, yeah. He said, I thought you were going to tap me on the shoulder so I could go forward and give my heart to Jesus Christ today. I was waiting for you to tap me on the shoulder so I could give my heart to Jesus. Now you guys don't want to hear me teaching anymore. I'm telling you, I'm a failure. But at the same time, how many times has the spirit of God spoken to our hearts and said, this is what you need to do. It's a simple thing. It's not a major thing. It's a small thing. Can you do that? And so I've been trying to learn that spiritual maturity is a series of small steps for a long time. Taking one step in faith, one step in faith, not changing anything. See if they had brought a white horse to Jesus, a stallion, that would have been the most incorrect thing. No, he's coming in on the fall. He's not coming in on a war horse. He's coming in peace the next time he comes making war. They would try to improve. No, just do the simple thing. And so it says in verse 6, the disciples went out and did, as Jesus commanded. Simple obedience. Well, verse 7, they brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them and set him on them. A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when they had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, who is this? So the multitude said, this is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. So they brought that donkey, they brought that colt, they laid their clothes and they set him on them. They made it comfortable for him so he could ride on the animal. And a very great multitude, as it says in verses 8 and 9, spread their garments on the road. Others were cutting down palm branches and putting them before. That's why it's called Palm Sunday. And what you really have here when you combine this account with John's account is two crowds that are converging. You have some coming down the Mount of Olives and others who are pouring out of the city of Jerusalem. And they're meeting and converging in John 12 verses 12 and 13. It says, the next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. Cried out Hosanna. The word Hosanna means a save now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Now as all of this is taking place. And I know it's difficult for us to see ourselves as part of this. You have to understand that the roads are small. They're not wide. They're maybe 20 feet or so wide or so. And they're filled with pilgrims. It's filled with, it's just wall to wall people. And the noise is loud. And it's all contained in a small area. So it's very, very loud as this is taking place. And they're yelling out, you know, save now, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest. And it's just a really exuberant group of people as Jesus is coming down the road and he's about to enter in. And then as all of this is taking place, as it's so loud, Jesus stops, Luke records something for us in Luke 19. It says in verses 41 through 44, as he, as Jesus drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, if you had known even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes for days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, close you in on every side and level you and your children within you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. He drew near the city and he wept over it. When you look at Jesus, the smallest New Testament, the shortest New Testament verse is found in John 11. And it speaks concerning how that Jesus was there at the tomb of Lazarus. Lazarus, his friend had died and had been buried. And Jesus is standing there in front of the tomb and the scripture simply says Jesus wept. And one of the things you discover about your God, you discover about Christ is he weeps over individuals. He wept over a friend. He stood there and people spoke amongst themselves, behold how he loved him. And Jesus's love was a heartbreaking love for this man who had died and all he was his friend. He knew what he was about to do, but sin results in death and Jesus weeps over the reality of that for one person, he weeps, but he also weeps over cities. He wept over Jerusalem. He stopped there and he looks at it and he begins to weep. And the people, it must have confused them as this man is coming and he's marching and people are throwing the palm branches down and they're shouting these voices of praise and all. And he stops and then he weeps over a city. His heart was broken because he knew that this city rejected him and he knew this city would suffer on one occasion later on after Jesus is being led to the cross. The women of Jerusalem are weeping over him as he made his way to the hill and he said to the women, don't weep for me. Weep for yourself. Weep for yourself. Jesus went the way that he was to go to purchase us with his blood, but suffering resulted in rejecting and that's why he wept. And he wept over the city, the way he wept over his friend. If you had only known this your day, but you didn't, you didn't know the time he says of your visitation. The word visitation speaks of inspection. It's a surprise inspection. When I was in the military, we had surprise inspections. You'd hear a knock on your door, you'd open the door, your sergeant would come in, the captain would come in, and they would walk through your cubicle and they would say, make your bed, clean this mess up. They did surprise inspections. You could have them at any given time. So I'm familiar with surprise inspection. Well, that's what this is. This visitation is God's surprise inspection. Somebody said the word visitation speaks of the act by which God looks into and searches out the ways, deeds, and character of men in order to judge them accordingly. So how could they have known of this surprise inspection? How could they have known that his entrance was something they should have been prepared for? Turn with me to the Old Testament book of Daniel. I want to show you an amazing prophecy. Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. We're going to look together at verses 24 through 27. How did they know or could they have known the time of their visitation? He said, you knew not the time of your visitation. How could they have known that? Daniel 9, 24 through 27 gives us insight. In Daniel 9, he gives what is called the 70-week prophecy. I'm not going to give you a full teaching on this. Just touching a couple of things because it fits in here on Palm Sunday. In Daniel 9, 24 through 27, it reads, 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Those combined to 69 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. The people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood. And till the end of the war, desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. Again, I've done a more thorough teaching in Daniel 9, 24 through 27. I'm not going to give you that right now. I'm going to highlight a couple things to make the point of when Jesus is weeping saying you knew not the day of your visitation. How could they have known that? Daniel's prophecy speaks of 490 years that are determined to accomplish certain things. He said it's going to end Jewish apostasy. In other words, Jews will receive Messiah when he comes. Second, to make an end of sin or to completely deal with sin. Third, to make reconciliation which is accomplished in Jesus. Fourth, to bring in everlasting righteousness which occurs at the second coming. Fifth, to seal up vision and prophecy which will no longer be necessary when all is complete. And then sixth, to anoint the most holy which would refer to Jesus and his reign as Messiah. So you have Daniel 9, 24 through 27 and you have these specifics that are to be fulfilled. There was a man by the name of Sir Robert Anderson. Sir Robert Anderson wrote a book. You can still buy it. It's called The Coming Prince. And he puzzled over Daniel 9, 24 through 27 because as he read this, he at first was working on the prophecy as literal time 69 weeks. And so what he did is he multiplied 69 weeks by seven to see how many days that that would result in. And then from a certain point he began to count those days and he saw that nothing had occurred because what he came to discover, and this is what we're going to do, is I'll show you what he did, is that he came to discover that this particular prophecy was something that Israel could have been aware of had they stayed close to the Word of God. He treated these weeks as weeks of years because nothing happened over weeks of days. Israel had a system called the weeks of years, one day representing one year, and you see that in Leviticus 25, 3 and 4. So what he did is he saw the command to go and he knew that Art Xerxes had given that command to restore and rebuild in the book of Nehemiah chapter 2 and he also knew that that was a very well known historic date. It was March 14th, 445. So Daniel speaks of 69 weeks of years and then he added this last week which made it a 70-week and that's why it's called a 70-week prophecy. He separated the 69 weeks from the final seven or the final one which made it 70 because the final one that made it 70 weeks, the 70th week is also called the tribulation. So what he did is he dealt with the first 69 weeks and he took the 69 weeks and he multiplied that by seven for seven days per week. Then he multiplied that by 360 which were the days equaling a year. He added in all what we would call leap years and he came up with the number 173,880. From March 14th Sir Robert Anderson began to count 173,880 days and he counted from March 14th because that's when the command was given and he ended on April 6th AD 32. April 6th AD 32 is Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus entered in to Jerusalem and that's why Jesus would say you did not know the day of your visitation. You were prepared for this all the way back in Daniel's prophecy. He told you in what we call Daniel 9 24 through 27 what to expect and you did not see it. It's one of the reasons why I as a pastor will always encourage this congregation read and know the Word of God. Read and know the Word of God. They did not recognize their day of visitation and Jesus wept because of it. They didn't recognize their Messiah though they had been prepared to receive him. The result was the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus of Rome in AD 70. And as this is taking place finally in verses 10 and 11 when he had come into Jerusalem all the city was moved saying who is this and the multitude said this is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. He was the prophet from Galilee. He is Jesus of Nazareth but he's more than the prophet. He's more than simply Jesus from Nazareth. This is Messiah. When we looked in Matthew 16 we saw how Jesus was speaking to his disciples. They were there at Caesarea Philippi and how he had asked that question. Who do men say that I the Son of man am? And you see the response where they say well some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And Jesus says who do you say that I am? And that's when the apostle Peter says you are the Christ the Son of the living God. And that's when Jesus said blessed I you Simon by Jonah flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father did. Spiritual revelation comes from God. Jesus was more than a prophet. Jesus was more than a good man. Jesus is more than a great teacher. Jesus is Messiah. And what was a mistake being made here is the multitudes answer. He is the prophet from Nazareth. No, he's not simply the prophet from from Nazareth. He's the Messiah of Israel. He's the Savior of the world. And he came at this specific moment in time because God is always on time. And he arrived at that moment fulfilling what Zechariah had prophesied in 520 B.C. He's fulfilling what Daniel had spoken of over 600 years before. And now he's entered in and the people are excited and throwing their palm branches and they and they're they're welcoming and they're crying out save now save now son of David and they're crying out blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord the Hosanna and the highest and yet Jesus is weeping why because they didn't know the day the time of their visitation and I wonder Jesus still gives invitations to this day come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest and they say no Jesus said unless a man is born again he cannot see neither can he enter into the kingdom of heaven and men will say well I'm going to try another way. Jesus said broad is the way that leads to destruction narrow is a path that leads to everlasting life and people say I'm going to take the broad path you can you Jesus Jesus could heal sickness open the eyes of the blind cast out demons with a word but man still resists what he says to them man still doesn't regard the day of their visitation so thank God that we have received Christ as our Lord and Savior I thank God that I heard his voice when he said come unto me I do thank God for that and I thank God for every person in this room that didn't resist when the Spirit spoke but said God be merciful to me I'm a sinner because he's not weeping for you because you came to faith in him he's weeping over the lost who rejected him and one of the things in a closing comment now one of the things that will help you to be effective in ministry one of the things that will help you to be effective and I know there are many in this room who want to be one of the things is going to be when you learn to weep for the lost when you begin to learn to weep for the lost because when you have a heart like that God has a way of honoring your efforts to reach people but when we can become hardened and self-satisfied or just self-centered then we forget that there's a whole world that is lost so may God this year awaken in us a renewed hunger to see people right with God to first and foremost say God change my heart and make me more like you and Lord may I may my heart learn to break for the things that break yours and Lord I ask that you would fill me with your spirit and a hunger for your word so that I might take your word and in your spirit give it to those in need may I learn to remember that weeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning may I learn to weep for the lost because if I bring forth precious seed weeping I shall doubtless come again rejoicing bringing my sheaves with me so may I learn Lord to care for those who don't know you and be willing to even be rejected by them when I share with them the love of God and the truth of the word of God because I believe we're living in it I know we're living in a time when the church is asleep we have a world that parties because it's a new year and a church that sleeps when they should be awake to the new life because I don't need a new year I needed a new life and Jesus gave me a new life and because he gives you a new life you have joy that's how it works God help us God help us