The Humble King of Kings | Matthew 21:1-11

Scripture

• Matthew 21:1–11

About this sermon

Introduction: What our Lord taught His disciples about greatness in the kingdom of Heaven, He demonstrated every day. Jesus is the model for how His disciples are to think about greatness. He discussed that greatness in the context of His own sacrifice. ESV Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." The humility of the Son of God was GENUINE, but it was also UNIQUE TO HIM. Be careful about how you think of Christ’s humility and yours. Christ is the model for our humility, and yet we are to recognize the uniqueness of it. HIS HUMILITY WAS EMBRACING A LOWLY PLACE WHEN HE WAS WORTHY OF THE HIGHEST PLACE. HIS HUMILITY WAS EMBRACING A SERVANT’S PLACE WHEN HE WAS WORTHY OF THE MASTER’S PLACE. HIS HUMILITY WAS THE WILLING RELIQUISHMENT (in time) OF WHAT HE RIGHTLY DESERVED, AND WILL RECEIVE, FOR ALL TIME. HE ACCEPTED SUFFERING THAT HE DIDN’T DESERVE TO WIN FOR US AN ACCEPTANCE THAT WE WILL NEVER DESERVE. Our humility is seeing and believing the truth about our smallness and embracing the place, the role, that is fitting for RANSOMED PEOPLE. If the Lord Jesus embraced a lowly place on behalf of our deliverance, then can we embrace a lowly place — THAT IS FITTING — on behalf of the one who delivered us? THE HUMLITY OF THE CHRIST WAS EMPHASIZED — IT WAS ON FULL DISPLAY — AT THE VERY TIME THAT HE WAS FORMALLY PRESENTED AS ISRAEL’S PROMISED KING IN JERUSALEM. Some have called it His coronation. And in a sense, it was. BUT IT WAS THE MOST UNUSUAL CORONATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Watch how kings are coronated. Watch how kings are presented to their people. Then look at the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as He makes His way into Jerusalem. It was a coronation designed to speak of two truths in the same event. His presentation was divinely ordained to speak of the majesty of His person, and — AT THE SAME TIME — the graciousness of His mission. This morning we will see THREE THINGS ABOUT CHRIST’S CORONATION. We will see that it was a presentation carefully prepared for. It was a presentation prophetically prepared for. It was a presentation that symbolically communicated the greatness of His person and the graciousness of His mission. • THE PREPARATION FOR CHRIST’S PRESENTATION (vs.1-3) Before we zero in on what has often been referred to as the Triumphal Entry, I just want to point out that what we are now looking at is the final week of Christ’s earthly ministry. He makes His entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (March 29, AD 33), He will be crucified on Friday (Passover, April 3, AD 33), and He will be raised from the dead that following Sunday. These are the last 8 days of Christ’s earthly mission. What I want you to see is how much emphasis the gospel writers place on these 8 days. Matthew 21-28 (8 chapters) describes these events. James Montgomery Boice — “The most important life ever lived was that of Jesus Christ, and the most important part of that life was the momentous week that ended it. … This final week is so important that the Gospels give a disproportionate amount of space to it. Jesus lived thirty-three years. His active ministry occupied three years. But large portions of the Gospels are given over to the events of just the last eight days. Matthew devotes one-fourth of his Gospel to it (chaps. 21–28). Mark uses one-third of his Gospel (chaps. 11–16). Luke gives a fifth of his chapters to the events of this last week (chaps. 19:28–24). Most remarkable of all, John gives half of his Gospel (chaps. 12–21). Taken together, there are eighty-nine chapters in the Gospels, but twenty-nine and a half of these (exactly one-third) recount what happened between the triumphal entry and Jesus’ resurrection. Such is the case because these are the climactic events not only of Jesus’ life but of all history. They were planned from before the foundation of the world, and our salvation from sin and wrath depends on them.”

Topics

• Humility