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[0:00] Good morning and good to see you this morning. I don't think there's any visitors with us this morning. I think it's all familiar faces, but it's good for us to come together.

[0:10] And those who are online as well, it's good for us to come together to worship God. The intimations have been on the screen before the service. And I'll just take a second to go through these intimations again.

[0:26] The service this evening is at 6, 6 o'clock, and we'll come to Esther Chapter 5 tonight. So a warm welcome to that. The Ladies' Fellowship on Monday is at 8.

[0:38] Little Fishers will not meet this week. Road to Recovery meets on Tuesday at 7 as usual. And the prayer meeting will be in person again and on Zoom.

[0:49] Angus McKellar will take the meeting this Wednesday. Friday clubs will not be on until after the Easter holidays. And I and the girls hope to be away on holiday tomorrow for about 8 days, 7-8 days.

[1:04] So I'll be back a week on Tuesday, all being well. So in the period when I'm away, if there's any pastoral issues, you can speak to the Elders in the first instance. And Ian McCritchie from over in Graver will be on standby if there's a need for a minister.

[1:22] Next Sunday, the service will be taken by Donald M. MacLeod, who's a minister in training. And so he'll take both the morning and evening service.

[1:33] There's a request from the Street Pastors team. They're looking for more street pastors. And you have the details there on the screen about how to make application for that, if that's a ministry you feel called towards.

[1:46] Ladies' Night on Friday 6th of May, a date for your diary with speakers from 20 Schemes. And there's a Women for Mission event at the Caber Featel, 20th May, and our date for your diary.

[2:01] So these, I think, are all the intimations. And we'll begin now this time of worship, and we'll sing to God's praise. From Mission Praise 33, the words on the screen.

[2:14] And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood? What kind of need that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood?

[2:44] Died he for me who caused his pain? For me who him to death pursued?

[2:57] Amazing love, how can it be? How come, my God, should die for me?

[3:08] Amazing love, how can it be? That thou, my God, should die for me?

[3:21] His mystery all the immortal guides Who can explore his strange design?

[3:35] Him make the firstborn set of tries To sum the depths of love divine Tis mercy all the earth adore Let angel minds inquire, O Lord Tis mercy all the earth adore Let angel minds inquire, O Lord He left his father's throne above So free, so infinite his grace Emptied himself of all but love And beg for Adam's helpless race

[4:35] Tis mercy all the earth The dead of the dead In sin and nature's night Thy night diffused, a quickening rain I woke the dungeon flamed with light My chains fell off, my heart was free Thy goals went forth and followed thee My chains fell off, my heart was free

[5:38] My chains fell off, my heart was free My roads went forth and followed thee No wrongdenation now I tread Jesus and all in him is mine I live in him, my living bed And quote, in righteousness divine O thy approach, eternal throne And bring the God to guide my own O thy approach, eternal throne And clear the crown through Christ my Lord Let's unite their hearts in prayer

[6:47] Let's pray Our heavenly Father We thank you for this, your day And we thank you for the wonder of Of these truths that we have been saying We thank you for the quieren historian We thank you, Lord, for the truth of the good news about Jesus.

[7:25] We thank you that he, your son, our savior, is the one who left the father's throne. The one who came into this world following that strange design.

[7:39] A design that came into the mind of the Trinity before time began. A design to save his people from their sins.

[7:53] And we acknowledge, Lord, once more this morning that we are sinners. We sin in thought and in word and in deed. We sin in the things that we do and say and think.

[8:04] And we sin in the things that we leave undone. The things that we fail to meditate upon. The things that we omit to say. That we are sinners in nature.

[8:17] We are sinners in practice. And our sin is against you, Lord. And so we seek that forgiveness. We seek forgiveness and cleansing in the blood of Christ.

[8:31] We thank you that Jesus went to the cross. To take the condemnation that we deserved. We thank you that his blood was shed.

[8:43] That perfect sacrifice once and for all. To make atonement for our sin. And we thank you that his righteousness was freely given to us.

[8:56] The moment that we believed. We thank you that as you look upon us this morning, Father. If we are those who are in Christ. You see not our sin.

[9:09] But you see the righteousness of Christ. Which we are clothed in. So enable each of us, we pray, to be in that position. May none of us here this morning have a knowledge of the cross.

[9:24] An awareness of the fact that Jesus came into the world to die for sinners. And yet be those who have not yet called upon the name of the Lord.

[9:38] May there be none here who are not yet cleansed in the blood of Christ. Who are not yet clothed in the righteousness. That causes us not to be condemned.

[9:49] But to be accepted. To be saved. To be made righteous in Jesus. So we pray, Lord, for faith this morning. That each one of us would have eyes to see Jesus.

[10:02] We will come to a passage shortly where there are so many who came so close to Jesus. And yet missed the opportunity to be saved. May none of us be in that position, we pray.

[10:15] Enable us to see that Jesus is not just a teacher. Not just a master. But that he is Lord. That he is Savior. That he is Messiah.

[10:26] That he is King. That he is God the Son. Only the work of the Holy Spirit enables us to see these things. To see our sin.

[10:38] And to see our need of a Savior. And so we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would be active in this place. Moving in such a way. As to cause each of us to fix our eyes upon Jesus.

[10:50] We thank you, Lord, that we can come to you in prayer this morning. We thank you for the gift of prayer. That we can take these burdens that we feel.

[11:02] That rest upon us. Burdens that we are not strong enough to bear. And we can roll them over in prayer. To the God who cares for us. So we pray, Lord, for those who are struggling this morning.

[11:16] We pray for those who are sick. Some who are unknown to us. At a distance, perhaps in our wider family circle. Who may be struggling with different things.

[11:28] And we ask, Lord, that as we see people in our minds eye. That you would minister to them. That you would lay hands of healing upon them. We pray for others that are known to us.

[11:42] Some, perhaps, who are coming towards the end of their days in this world. We thank, Lord, of Kathy Ray and Nana's daughter, Marion.

[11:54] As we hear of how gravely ill she is. As Kathy and Nana sit at our bedside. And as they seek to be near to her.

[12:07] As she drifts in and out of consciousness. Lord, we pray that you would minister to them. And that you would minister through them. We pray, Lord, that the family.

[12:18] That Marion and whatever state of consciousness that she's in. And Graham, her husband. And Amy, the wee girl. And all the wider family.

[12:29] We pray that they would know the peace of God. That they would recognize that God is with them. And we ask, Lord, that you would draw near.

[12:40] And that you would minister comfort. That they would know the security. That comes from looking to Jesus. With eyes of faith.

[12:51] We pray for those who are housebound. Those who would desire to be here with us. Amongst your people. But who are unable to be. And as some watch online.

[13:03] We pray for them. We pray for others who are in care homes. We pray for those who are preparing to go. To care homes as well. We think of Donald and Mary. And Scott Road.

[13:13] Lord. And we ask, Lord, that as they head for Dineshian and Stornoway. That you would be near to them. And that you would watch over them. And be close to the family.

[13:27] We pray for those who are grieving. We're always conscious of those who are grieving. We hear of sudden death in Lewis. And a young man taken suddenly from a brew.

[13:38] And although not known to us, Lord. We pray for a family. And for a community that will be grieving. We are always conscious, Lord. We are always praying. For those who are grieving.

[13:50] For those who are sick. For those who are struggling. And we thank you that you hear our prayers. And that you minister to those that we carry to you in prayer.

[14:00] And Lord, we thank you for your great goodness to us. And your faithfulness. We thank you, Lord, for new life. We thank you for little Isabel Kate with us this morning.

[14:15] And we ask for your blessing upon her. And we pray that you would be with all of the family. That you'd be with Dave and Jane. And Finley and Ben. And the wider family as well.

[14:27] As they celebrate. And as we as a church family celebrate new life. As a community we celebrate new life. We ask, Lord, for your blessing. To be upon little Isabel.

[14:40] That she would grow up to know you and trust you. That she would know your face shining upon her. And we pray for the little ones that we haven't yet met.

[14:52] For those that are being carried in the womb even now. We thank you that although we don't yet know them. We can bring them to you in prayer. Knowing that you are the God who knows them.

[15:03] To the children in the womb at this time. We pray, Lord, for your protection over them. And for your protection over the mothers also. We ask, Lord, that you would be near.

[15:17] To hear our prayers and lead us and guide us in this service. May we be in the spirit on the Lord's day. Enable us to worship you, we pray.

[15:28] For you alone are worthy of all praise and all worship. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Boys and girls, would you like to come out, please?

[15:39] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. It's good to see you all.

[15:55] How are you all today? Good. Good stuff. Good stuff. Last time I was here, two weeks ago, it's hardly anybody here. Because we were all a bit under the weather.

[16:07] Now, I'm going to show you something today. And if I had shown you this two years ago, I think you and I would have been saying, what on earth is that? So, can you tell me, does anyone recognize, does anyone know what that is?

[16:24] Over that way? Does anyone recognize these things? We're sick of the sight of these things, aren't we? What are these things? COVID deaths.

[16:34] I think they're finished now, or they might be finished in the next two weeks. I'm not sure quite, but I think we're almost done with these things now. But, you know, one or two years ago, you and I both would have been saying, I haven't got a clue what this thing is.

[16:47] But we've been having to use these things over the last few months. And some of you, and me included, some of us, when we did these tests, we did loads of them and they were always negative.

[17:02] And then one day, we did it. And it was positive. So, and it was about over two weeks ago, I think, the day that mine was positive.

[17:20] I'd been out and about and I was feeling fine. And I thought, I think I'll just go out for a run. But I had slightly achy legs and I thought, maybe just before I go out for a run, I'll just do a test just to check.

[17:34] There's so many people who are getting it and I was feeling okay. And then I did the thing and I saw the second line and I thought, oh no. And you know the first thing I thought, this is terrible to be telling you this, but you know the first thing I thought?

[17:50] I thought, oh no, I haven't got enough chocolate in the house to be COVID positive. And there's hardly any crisps and Mary will never buy me enough. But anyway, the line was there.

[18:07] And although I didn't want to be positive, the thing said positive and that was the truth and I just had to accept it. Didn't feel very bad, thankfully, but I just had to accept the truth on the line.

[18:23] Now, here's a question for you. Where do we find out the truth? Not about our bodies so much, but about our hearts. Johnny?

[18:35] Well, he's the one who tells us the truth about who he is and about who we are in our hearts. But where do we find it out?

[18:46] The Bible. Pardon? The Bible. The Bible. The B-I-B-L-E. As Michael just sang there. And what does the Bible tell us about our hearts?

[18:58] It's hard. It tells us that our hearts can be hard, yeah? And our hearts can get soft. That's when the Holy Spirit works. And what does the Bible tell us about our hearts?

[19:10] Are they perfectly pure and good? No. So what's the thing that we test positive for in our hearts? Ailey.

[19:22] Sin. And that's the truth. It's a truth we don't really like hearing all that much. I remember one day I was at, I think I was at a wedding.

[19:34] It wasn't here, it was away in the mainland. And I'd been preaching at the wedding. And I'd said about, you know, how our hearts are sinful. And God so loved the world, he came to take our sin away.

[19:46] And at the end, one of the people at the wedding said, Don't dare tell me about sin. My heart's not got any sin in it. And I was saying, how dare, she said, how dare you say that to me?

[19:59] And I said, well, it's not me that's saying that. It's God that says that. It's the Bible. It's in the Bible. And the Bible is the truth.

[20:10] And, you know, we might not like to hear that. Just like I didn't much like to see the second line on the COVID test. But that's the truth. You might have loved it if you had a week off school.

[20:23] But that's the truth. Now, back to the COVID problem, just for a second. What could I do? What could you do?

[20:34] What could those of us who are positive do? What could we do to get negative? What? No. Because when you isolate, all you're doing is keeping your infection away from other people.

[20:49] So what do we do to get negative? Christy? I don't know exactly. That's the right answer. There's nothing we can do.

[21:00] We can't say, well, I'm just going to try really hard to be negative this morning. And I'm definitely going to be negative. Because that's not going to work. We can't make up our own medicine and say, I'm going to take a little bit of cod liver oil.

[21:15] And a wee bit of paracetamol. And a wee bit of this and a wee bit of that. And that will make me negative. Because that doesn't work either. So what do we do? How did we get from positive to negative?

[21:27] What did we have to do? We prayed, yeah? What else did we do? Pardon? The big child at the back there.

[21:40] We just waited. That's right. We just had to wait. There's nothing we could do. We just had to wait. And after day six and day seven, we did the test again.

[21:54] And for lots of us, thankfully, it was clear. We just had to wait. And, you know, if we want to have our sin taken away, if we want to be saved, we can't do it, can we?

[22:10] We can't try really hard through our works or through our religion or through anything to save ourselves because it's not possible to save ourselves.

[22:22] Who can save us? Shawnee. God, yeah. Who can save us? Jesus. Jesus is the one who can save us.

[22:34] And how is it that we get saved by Jesus? What do we have to do? Do you want to? We have to pray. We have to put our trust.

[22:47] And another word for putting our trust in him is we wait. We wait upon the Lord. It says in Isaiah 40, listen to this verse, and then we'll pray.

[22:59] It says in Isaiah 40, and at verse 31, those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

[23:11] They shall run and not be weary. And they shall walk and not faint. Those who wait on the Lord, those who trust in the Lord Jesus, we're saved.

[23:27] And we're safe forever. And that's the good news. The bad news is news about sin. The good news is that Jesus came and lived and died and rose so that those who trust him, those who wait upon him, will be saved forever.

[23:49] So let's be doing that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news about Jesus, your son. We thank you that although we are sinners and we thank you that you've told us the truth about our sin, we thank you that we are saved when we trust in Jesus, when we wait upon the Lord.

[24:11] So help every one of us to be doing that today. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing now and we're going to sing from Psalm 62.

[24:23] Psalm 62 verses 5 to verse 8 of the Psalm. Psalm 62 verse 5 to 8.

[24:33] And listen to the first verse. This is why it shows it. It says, My soul, wait thou with patience upon thy God alone. On him depends all my hope and expectation.

[24:44] He only my expectation. It's nice to hear little Elizabeth Kate singing. We don't grudge that one little bit. So let's stand and we'll sing to God's praise.

[24:56] Let's stand and we'll sing to God.

[25:26] He only my salvation is And my strong rock is he He only is my sure defense I shall not move and be In God my glory places Are my salvation sure And God the rock is all my strength

[26:27] My refuge was secure He will praise your confidence And Him continually Before Him pour in out your heart God is our refuge God is our refuge God is our refuge Okay boys and girls If you head through to Sunday school now And we will turn to Luke's gospel

[27:28] Chapter 19 Luke chapter 19 And we'll read from verse 28 Two weeks ago Two weeks ago we looked at the parable of the ten miners We've given encouragement to work for God To give our lives To give our time, our talents and our money To the work of the gospel And there's a warning at the end Of that parable For those who do not want To have Jesus as king over them And there's a warning of judgment And then from that warning We go into the account of the triumphal entry

[28:28] So verse 28 After Jesus had said this Going back to the parable He went on ahead Going up to Jerusalem As He approached Bethphage and Bethany At the hill called the Mount of Olives He sent two of His disciples Saying to them Go to the village ahead of you And as you enter it You will find a coat tied there Which no one has ever ridden Untie it and bring it here If anyone asks you Why are you untying it Tell him the Lord needs it Those who were sent ahead Went and found it Just as He had told them As they were untying the coat Its owners asked them Why are you untying the coat They replied The Lord needs it They brought it to Jesus Through their cloaks on the coat And put Jesus on it As He went along People spread their cloaks on the road When He came near To the place where the road Goes down to the Mount of Olives The whole crowd of disciples Began joyfully to praise God In loud voices For all the miracles

[29:29] They had seen Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord Peace in heaven And glory in the highest Some of the Pharisees In the crowd said to Jesus Teacher Rebuke your disciples I tell you I tell you He replied If they keep quiet The stones will cry it As He approached Jerusalem And saw the city He wept over it And said If you Even you Had known on this day What would bring you peace But now It is hidden from your eyes The days will come upon you When your enemies Will build an embankment Against you And encircle you And hem you in On every side They will dash you To the ground At you and the children Within your walls They will not leave One stone on another Because you did not Recognize the time Of God's coming To you And we'll leave it there Amen May God bless That reading Of His word to us We're going to Sing again now And we sing in Gaelic

[30:31] From Psalm 118 Where the words Of the triumphal entry Were shouted out In worship So we sing Psalm 118 The last three stanzas Of the psalm Verses 26 to 29 Blessed is He In God's great name That cometh us to save We from the house Which to the Lord Pertains You blessed have Down to the end of the psalm And we remain seated To sing in Gaelic To sing in Gaelic To sing in Gaelic By God By God To sing in Gaelic Then connection By God And we sing In the המט delivered To in the 영ioni For the stable And we sing in Gaelic Frances True Will do How the upon Linх To sing in Gaelicav To sing in Gaelic And we sing in Gaelic In another Eops His revening Until You Can Weigt Into Thank you.

[31:59] Thank you.

[32:29] Thank you.

[32:59] Thank you.

[33:29] Thank you.

[33:59] Thank you.

[34:29] Thank you.

[34:59] Thank you.

[35:29] Thank you.

[35:59] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[36:13] Thank you. Thank you.

[37:13] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[38:17] Thank you. Thank you.

[38:49] Thank you. Thank you.

[39:21] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We want to know you.

[40:01] Thank you. Thank you.

[40:33] Thank you. Thank you. And the second thing.

[41:05] Thank you. This is the prophecy. Thank you. And the events. And the final thing. And the final thing.

[41:17] And the final thing. is the pain. It's the pain. is the pain. you know. And the pain. is the pain. is the pain.

[41:28] That Jesus felt. And the pain. That Jesus felt. That Jesus felt. As he comes. had said this. And we should pause there immediately.

[41:42] If we're thinking, we're going to ask the question of Luke, after Jesus had said what? What has Jesus been talking about as he now makes his approach to Jerusalem?

[41:59] And if we look back from verse 28 to verse 27, we hear Jesus talking about punishment. Punishment's a word that people don't much like to hear today.

[42:14] Even in school, even in the context of school. When I think back to school days, punishment was not an uncommon, an unusual thing. I remember there was much more of a fear of punishment in the classroom.

[42:28] We had an English teacher. His name was Mr. Lindsay. And he always kept a phone book on the table. And in that day, the phone book was about that thick.

[42:40] So he always had a phone book just on the edge of his desk. And if we stepped out of line, he'd give us one warning. And there wouldn't be a second warning.

[42:53] He would just pick up the phone book. He wouldn't hit us with the phone book. That's what you're thinking, some of you. But what he would do as a punishment is he would take the phone book. He would open it. He would tear out a page.

[43:05] He would say, I want both sides of this copied for tomorrow morning. And then he would spend the lesson the following day forensically going through to make sure you hadn't missed anything, but you had copied all the names and all the addresses and all the postcodes and all the phone numbers from the phone book.

[43:24] That was his punishment. And the phone book was always on the table. Just so that we would be aware that there was the threat of punishment for those who went against the teacher.

[43:39] And as much as people might not like to hear this, Jesus often speaks about punishment. If you were to do a study on who speaks about hell, Jesus speaks much more about hell than anyone.

[43:57] He does it with tears in his eyes, as we'll see. But he speaks about punishment. Jesus was very clear about the truth of and the need for punishment for sin.

[44:13] And so in verse 27, Jesus, at the end of the parable that he's told, the parable of the miners, he gives us this picture of punishment.

[44:25] We were given this picture of the enemies of Jesus. Those who said they did not want Jesus to be king over them and were given an unsettling picture of what punishment looks like.

[44:43] That's in our mind as we leave the last section. And then, after Jesus had said this, he went on ahead up to Jerusalem.

[45:01] And Luke is connecting these verses very clearly. So what's the connection? Why is Jesus going to Jerusalem?

[45:12] And the answer to that question is, Jesus is going to Jerusalem to be punished. And so we ask the next question, punished for what?

[45:24] The answer is he's going to be punished for sin. But Jesus didn't sin. So whose sin is he going to be punished for? And the answer is our sin.

[45:40] The sin of all who believe in Jesus. And so this destination of Jerusalem, it's from Luke chapter 9 verse 51.

[45:50] That's the first point that Jesus, he sets his face toward Jerusalem. And his focus is on Jerusalem all the way through these chapters, all the way through time.

[46:03] And Jerusalem as a destination was a constant reminder for Jesus of the punishment that he approached. Now there are some I know who the moment they hear about punishment, they want to close the Bible.

[46:26] They don't want to hear any more. There are some in the moment they hear about any sort of punishment, they want to turn away from God.

[46:36] They want to close the Bible. They don't want to know a God who would punish sin. But think about it. Even as you see the atrocities that are happening just now in the world and in Ukraine.

[46:54] Something came up in my stream this morning where bodies are strewn across the street and blurred out. You can't see them, but we see atrocities. And nobody's paying any attention.

[47:09] There seems to be no justice. But God sees. And God is a God who's interested in justice.

[47:22] A God who would turn a blind eye to sin. A God who would allow sin to go unpunished would not be worthy of worship. And so Jesus teaches us in the parable in verse 27 that sin must be punished.

[47:40] And Jesus teaches us in verse 28 as he moves from the parable to the approach to Jerusalem that such was his love for us that he was willing to go to Jerusalem to take the punishment in our place.

[48:00] And that was the plan. You know, we sang in the first hymn about this strange design. That Jesus would leave his father's throne above and come down to this world.

[48:17] And this was always the plan. This is the way he would save sinners. Rewind back, is it 600 years, I think, from the events of Luke 19 to Isaiah 53.

[48:33] And we have a detailed description of the plan. What was going to happen in Jerusalem? It says there in Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected by men.

[48:48] This is speaking of Jesus. A man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

[49:01] Surely he took up our infirmities. He was despised and carried our sorrows. Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted.

[49:14] But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment, listen, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.

[49:31] And by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him, on Jesus, the iniquity of us all.

[49:50] It was a preview of what was going to happen in Jerusalem. The punishment that Jesus approached. Listen to the words of the hymn again.

[50:06] And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood? Died he for me who caused this pain for me who him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

[50:19] He left his Father's throne above so free, so infinite as grace, emptied himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race. Tis mercy all, immense and free, for, oh, my God, it found out me.

[50:37] Amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? That's what Jesus is going to do.

[50:49] The punishment that Jesus approached. Jesus is being shown to us here by Luke as the one who would take the punishment in our place.

[51:02] The one who would be the sacrifice for our sin. The one who would be our Saviour. So that's the first thing we see, the punishment Jesus approached.

[51:14] And the second thing we see here is the prophecy Jesus fulfilled. And if you look at verse 29 down to verse 40, we have the main section that we recognize for Palm Sunday.

[51:29] This is not Palm Sunday. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and I didn't try and synchronize this to tie in with Palm Sunday, but it's a good preparation for us going into it. So the prophecy Jesus fulfilled at verse 29 as Jesus approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying to them, go ahead to the village of you and as you enter it you will find a coat tied there which no one has ever ridden.

[51:58] Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why are you untying it, tell him the Lord needs it. Those who went, those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.

[52:12] As they were untying the coat its owners asked them why are you untying the coat? They replied the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus through their cloaks on the coat and put Jesus on it. As he went along people spread their cloaks on the road when he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.

[52:37] Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus teacher rebuke your disciples.

[52:49] I tell you he replied if they keep quiet the stones will cry out. So these are the events of Palm Sunday first Palm Sunday and as we look at this as Luke records it there's a lot we see about the character of Jesus in these verses we see the humility of Jesus as we're asking the question who is he what's he like we see the humility of Jesus he doesn't come riding into Jerusalem or Bethage and Bethany on this day on a war horse he comes riding on a donkey and the donkey that Jesus comes riding into that place on is a donkey that he has to borrow doesn't have enough money in the bank the one who made all of the world the one who in a sense owns everything he emptied himself of all but love as we read in the hymn he doesn't even have enough money to buy a donkey such was the humility of Jesus at so low he stooped to save us and we see the power of Jesus over creation

[54:16] I've never ridden on a horse I once went riding on a donkey it was one of the most terrifying experiences in my life it was only about that high but I felt like I was on the top of a skyscraper when I was going up the thing was going down and when I was going down the thing was going up it was absolutely it was terrifying and I had no control over it whatsoever and we know of situations where a colt even a colt that's been ridden for many years and controlled it bucks people off in a tantrum this is a colt that's never been never been ridden it's unbroken you would expect there to be carnage when somebody tried to sit on it but such is the power of Jesus over creation that he he sits on this beast and the beast recognises the king of creation there's no drama there's no there's no tantrum

[55:31] Jesus sits on this animal and rides in it as one who has ultimate dominion over all creation and we see the knowledge of Jesus the foreknowledge of Jesus every detail that's up ahead he knows he knows what's up ahead he has foreknowledge of everything that's about to happen but the main thing that Luke wants us to see is the identity of Jesus yes Jesus was a man he's a man who would cry real tears as we'll see just in a moment he's a man on the cross who would bleed real blood but he was the God man he was the Messiah he's the son of God he's the one who was promised over the years who would come to save his people and in the previous chapters in Luke's gospel

[56:41] Luke is telling us about deaf ears being opened he's telling us about blind eyes being opened he's telling us about the lame being made to leap and walk he's telling us that the mute were unable to sing and these were all signs from Isaiah 35 whereby you could recognize the Messiah and Luke he's detailing them for us as he goes through the chapters and now as Jesus rides into Bethphage and Bethany we see another prophecy that's been fulfilled Luke is showing us that what is happening here was prophesied hundreds of years previous Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9 a prophecy of the Messiah to come listen to the words of that verse rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion shout aloud O daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation as he humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt the foe of a donkey and so as Jesus rode into that place on that day the prophecy from Zechariah was being fulfilled the saviour the Messiah the son of

[58:05] God was being revealed in that episode that's recorded for us and the crowds to some extent they got it that's why they respond in the words of Psalm 118 they're worshipping the Messiah and the Pharisees they certainly got it they recognise that what's happening is connected to this prophecy in Zechariah 9 9 and they were so disturbed by this they want Jesus to close the whole operation down tell your disciples tell the people to be quiet they say to Jesus but Jesus wouldn't silence them rather he accepts the praise of the crowd he affirms that he was the Christ and you know that's what we need to see today coming to church there's encouragement

[59:07] I hope in coming to church that's not why we're here there's there's a whole lot of things that we can get when we come into God's house we can get encouragement we can get direction we can get fellowship but what we need to see above all things we need to see who Jesus is and Luke is showing us here he's not just another teacher he's not just one in the line of spiritual gurus he's not just a bright philosopher he's not another prophet he's the Christ he's God he's a saviour and Jesus wants the crowds to see that in these moments Ryle says before giving himself up as a sacrifice that's on the cross

[60:11] Jesus desired to draw the attention of the whole Jewish nation to himself the Lamb of God was about to be slain the great sin offering was about to be killed it was fit that the eyes of all Israel should be fixed on him this great thing was not to be done in a corner why do we need to see this now why did the crowds on that day and why do we today need to see this well the answer to that question the reason that we need to understand the identity of Jesus is because if we don't see who he is we can't be saved we can live good clean lives to some degree compared to other people maybe at the outward level we can try and raise money for charity we can try and do good things we can try and help people but if we don't see who

[61:18] Jesus is if we don't recognize that he's the Messiah we can't be saved this is life and death this is eternity dependent the Pharisees in verse 39 they say to him teacher they don't get it they're lost because they're calling him teacher they need to call him savior and lord do you see today the prophecy that Jesus fulfilled do you and I see that he's the Messiah he's the savior he's the god man maybe there's some here who like Theophilus were struggling to see what do you do if you can't yet see

[62:22] I would say you keep on looking in the Bible keep on opening the Bible I mean Luke doesn't pick up his acoustic guitar and play some emotional music that's going to tug at the heart strings of Theophilus so that maybe he'll feel moved towards Jesus Luke just presents to Theophilus the evidence he shows him a text that was credible and recognised and 600 plus years old and then he describes the events of the day and he says to Theophilus don't you see the evidence here that points us to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah so if you're struggling today still to see who Jesus is can I encourage you keep reading the

[63:26] Bible keep looking at these texts explore it look at the history these texts are credible these texts are robust there is an ocean of evidence that tells us that Isaiah 53 goes back in time 600 years before the cross and Psalm 22 goes back 1000 years before the cross and yet we see the cross in high definition in these texts there's no other explanation than the fact that this book is supernatural it shows us Jesus who he is and what he did for us the prophecy Jesus fulfilled finally very briefly the pain that Jesus felt as he approached Jerusalem verse 41 and saw the city he wept over it and if you think about the disciples on that day this must have puzzled him because for so long they've been dodging bullets and yet on this day it seems that the crowd is cheering and

[64:49] Jesus has been recognized and celebrated and one would expect the disciples and Jesus to savour this moment and yet as Luke turns the camera on Jesus and focuses in on Jesus he's weeping he's not posing for photographs there's tears in his eyes his chest is heaving as he sobs over the city and why is he sobbing well because he can see judgment is coming and judgment was coming in terms of providence in terms of the events of history in just another 40 years I think it was AD 70 Jerusalem fell it's an amazing city it was devastated it was destroyed and

[66:00] Jesus prophesies that in verse 43 and 44 he says the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side they will dash you to the ground you and the children within your walls they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you judgment was being prophesied and Jesus can see it coming and as he sees it coming he weeps and yet Jesus can see even greater judgment is coming a judgment that wasn't limited to Jerusalem and stones and buildings but a judgment that was of the heart an eternal judgment beyond this world Jesus can see that coming and he sees the people of

[67:01] Jerusalem heading at high speed towards that judgment because they are rejecting Jesus and you know this is a truth which I think we've lost sight of in more recent years the trigger for judgment eternal judgment is the rejection of Jesus the definition of sin is to reject Jesus you know we've confused that today we think judgment is reserved only for the really bad people that we read stories about you know we see in Ukraine and we see in Russia or whatever judgment is going to strike we see for the really bad people you know we think sin is to do things to hurt other people and we take Jesus out of our calculations but God doesn't see sin is against

[68:11] God it's a personal thing sin is an offense against God that's why only he can forgive so if we want to escape judgment if we want to be saved there's only one way there's only one name and that's Jesus so no matter how hard we try to live a good clean life if we reject Jesus if we live a life ignoring Jesus as Jerusalem we're doing judgment will come and that difficult truth causes God no pleasure it caused Jesus pain it caused Jesus to weep to sob over the souls of sinners who were rejecting the peace of God Jesus wept tears on that day for those who were determined to be lost and I wonder what

[69:29] Jesus does today as he looks into this building as he looks into our hearts is there weeping for the souls of nice people who are headed for judgment or is there rejoicing over the souls of sinners who have repented does Jesus weep as he looks into our hearts today and if you're a Christian we finish with this do you weep do I weep as we see people who are lost do we do we feel anything as we see people around us rejecting

[70:39] Jesus and refusing God's peace and persevering in sin and heading down the road to hell do we weep J.C.

[71:00] Ryle says we know little of true Christianity if we do not feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people a lazy indifference about the spiritual state of others may doubtless save us much trouble to care nothing whether our neighbours are going to heaven or hell is no doubt the way of the world but a person of this spirit is very unlike David the psalmist who said rivers of water run down my eyes because men keep not your law it's very unlike Paul who said I have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart for my brethren and above all says Ryle it is very unlike Christ if Christ felt tenderly about wicked people the disciples of

[72:02] Christ ought to feel likewise time's gone let's pray Lord we thank you for your word we thank you for this gospel of Luke we pray that you would help us to see Jesus clearly as we read these words that the Holy Spirit inspired to be written we pray that you would help us Lord to see the wonder of your mercy Lord Jesus as you went to Jerusalem to take the punishment for sin in our place if we believe we pray that you would help us to see the truth about the Bible that these historic texts speak so clearly about who Jesus was and is and what he did on our behalf and help us

[73:06] Lord we pray to see and to feel something of the tears of Jesus if there's anyone here this morning who is still rejecting Jesus or ignoring Jesus we pray that today is the day that would stop we pray that even today there would be some who bow before Jesus as Lord and King and call upon the name of the one who loves them enough to go to a cross to save them and for those who are Christians Lord we pray that you'd we confess our focus is so often on ourselves so often we quarrel with each other over the most trivial things and all the while there is a world that is perishing with no knowledge of Jesus help us to look to that world to reach out with the good news about

[74:07] Jesus and we pray this in Jesus name Amen we sing to conclude our mission praise 458 man of sorrows what a name for the son of God who came ruined sinners to proclaim to reclaim hallelujah what a saviour the one of sorrows was done for the son of God who came ruined sinners to reclaim all all all what a sinner in shame and scoffing root in my place condemned he stood till my pardon with his blood hallelujah what a sinner guilty by land helpless me spotless love of

[75:47] God was he full at torment and God it be hallelujah what our saviour lift and up wants he to die his finish was his time come now in heaven and salt and high hallelujah what a saint he comes our glorious king always once and home to he then a new song will sing hallelujah what a saviour and now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father the fellowship the comfort of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forevermore. Amen.

[77:10]  Thank you.