Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Robbers’ House

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

The last week of Jesus’ life addresses not just our minds or our wills, but our hearts. We are to see Jesus, to meet Jesus.  As Luke shows us the last days of Jesus’ life, all the doctrines and themes will be narratively depicted in the most vivid way. They’re driven home so we can really see Jesus and have an existential encounter with him.  Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem shows us who he is, what he can do for us, why he can do it, and how he can do it. In other words, it shows us 1) he’s the actual king, 2) he’s the transformational king, 3) he’s the paradoxical king, and 4) he’s the confrontational king. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 30, 2010. Series: The Meaning of Jesus Part 3; Seeing Him. Scripture: Luke 19:28-40; 45-48. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The Gospel of Luke answers two basic questions. Who is this Jesus and what does it mean to follow Him, to be a disciple? Today on the podcast, Tim Keller explores the person and mission of Jesus and what it means to go beyond knowing about Him to having your life transformed by Him. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelInLife.com and sign up for email updates. When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly newsletter with articles about gospel changed lives as well as other valuable gospel-centered resources.

Subscribe today at GospelInLife.com. The scripture is taken from Luke chapter 19 verses 28 through 40 and verses 45 through 48 found on page 8 in your bulletin. After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethpage 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 colt 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 cult, its owners asked them,

Why are you untying the cult? They replied, The Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the cult, 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 the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles 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,

he replied, if they keep quiet the stones will cry out. Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. It is written, he said to them, my house will be a house of prayer but you have made it a den of robbers. Every day he was teaching at the temple but the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they couldn't find any way to do it because all the people hung on his words. This is the word of the Lord. We've been looking at the gospel of Luke for quite a long time. We're looking at the life of Jesus

as we see it in the gospel of Luke, and we've been saying, the first part of the Gospel, the first nine chapters have to do mainly with the mind. They are addressed to the understanding and they answer the question, who is this Jesus? The second part of the Gospel of Luke, the middle part, the nine chapters in the middle, are addressed not so much to the mind, but to the will. And the question isn't so much, who is Jesus,

as what does it mean to follow him? See, so the very, to be a disciple. So the very first part has more to do with the mind, to understand who he is. And the second part has more to do with the will to be committed to follow him. But the last part, which we enter now in these last weeks up to Easter,

we start to look at the last chapters of the gospel of Luke from verse chapter 19 on. It begins with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we're looking at now. And it's really got to do with the last week of Jesus' life. that we're looking at now. And it's really got to do with the last week of Jesus' life. And this section is addressed not just to the mind, not just to the will, but especially to the heart.

This section is not so much just trying to get you to understand who he is, even to be just committed to what he calls us to be. The last chapters are here to give us an existential encounter with Jesus. The last chapters want us to see him, not just understand him, not just obey him, but see him, have an awareness of him, meet him.

And it does that because the last chapters take all the themes we've looked at, all the things that we've been taught about, which is what is sin and what is justice and what is salvation and so on. All the things we've been taught and will be given to us in the most vivid possible way. They they're driven home so that we can really see Jesus and have an existential encounter with him. Now, tonight we take a look at this passage, which is the the coming of Jesus in the Jerusalem at the beginning of the last week of his life. It's called the triumphal entry.

And it's about the fact that Jesus is as it says right here in the center of the passage, blessed is the King. He's King. And this passage tells us who he is, what he can do for us, why he can do it, and how he can do it. He's the true king who can come and transform us, but here's why and how, okay? Now there's another way to take these four, if you're taking notes. We could say he's the actual king, he is the transformational king, he's the paradoxical king, he's the confrontational king.

But another way to think about it is who he is, what he can do for us, why he can do it, and how he can do it. So first of all, the first thing we learn here is he's the true, the real, the ultimate, the actual king. Now what do we mean by that? Well, in the very middle of the passage, when he's riding in on this little horse,

we'll get to that soon, but he's riding in, the people throw their cloaks down, which is what you did for a king, but more than that, they say, "'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, "'peace in heaven and glory in the highest.'" So they're not just declaring him to be a king. This is from Psalm 118, verse 25 and 26.

And that is talking about the Davidic king, the Messiah. They're not just declaring him to be a king. They are declaring him to be the ultimate king, the Davidic Messiah, the king who's going to come back and put everything in the world right. Now the Jews of course, as you know, it was a very important theme in their thinking, in their stories, in their literature, was that someday David would come back, not the actual David, they didn't believe in reincarnation, but one like unto David, perhaps one descended from David, a great king like David, because when David was king, everything was great, and there will be a king that comes back and puts everything right. Now,

by the way, there are websites all over the place who seem to be dedicated, I just discovered it this week when I was getting ready for this sermon, dedicated to the idea that the story of Jesus Christ being the Messianic King who's gonna put everything right in the world, that the idea of Jesus being the ultimate King is just a copy, because there are so many other stories and so many other legends and so many other ancient cultures that have similar stories.

And these websites were saying, you see, the idea that Jesus is the Messianic King, this whole idea of Jesus being the King that comes back and puts everything right, it's just a copy, it's just derivative, it's just recycling. The Christian idea is a late coming idea that many other cultures had at first. This Jesus story is just a copy. And there are lots of other stories. It is true. And the websites tell you about them. They're in Germanic and Greek and there are all kinds of ancient literature. The most famous one we have in the English speaking world and literature is the legend of King

Arthur because on his grave is written, according to the legend, here lies Arthur, Rex Quandem, Rex Futuris, the once and future king. So you see here you have all these old legends, of course Christianity just you know kind of came on later and copied it right? Well not necessarily Because if the Bible's right, in its account in Genesis 3, that at the very beginning of history, everything fell apart. There was the Golden Age, right? Eden, Paradise, everything was great. And then we rebelled against God, and everything fell apart. And there was fire, and there was darkness, and there was expulsion, and everything fell apart and there was fire and there was darkness and there was expulsion and everything was falling apart but Genesis

3 tells us and you can read this in verse 15 and 16 just three tells us that God said one last thing to us before he vanished one last thing this is the last thing that the human race has heard God say face to face without revelation without prophecy without a mediator. God said this. He said, I have one thing to say before we part. It's a word of hope. Things look terrible, things are bad.

There's gonna be suffering, there's gonna be death, there's gonna be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But someday one will come and he will take on the great serpent. He will fight with the dragon and it will be a battle to the death but he will win. Genesis 3 15 16 for telling the coming of Jesus it's at the place where it says the seed of the woman will there will be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the

serpent and if you go back and you read it this is basically saying he says there will be a champion there will be a hero there will be oneity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And if you go back and you read it, this is basically what he's saying. He says there will be a champion, there will be a hero, there will be one who comes in the future. And he will take on the great serpent, the dragon, the forces of evil and suffering and death itself. And even though he will be wounded, he will crush it. Of course, if that's true, if the Bible is right about that, then naturally, if that's the... That would have passed into the human race's collective unconscious.

And it would have become part of the imaginative literature of all the ancient cultures, and it was. It makes perfect sense. In that case, Jesus is not a copy of those ancient stories, as ancient stories are a copy of Jesus. Well, somebody said that's very interesting, but we're modern people and we're beyond that. We don't need all those kinds of legends and all that kind of stuff, really. C.S. Lewis says this in one of his essays. He says, monarchy

is easily debunked. The actual record of kings is abysmal, full of tyranny, of course. And yet, he writes, where we are forbidden to honor a king, we will honor millionaires, athletes, or film stars instead, even famous gangsters. For spiritual nature, like physical nature, will be served. Deny it food, and it will gobble poison. like physical nature will be served, deny it food and it will gobble poison. Spiritual nature like physical nature will be served, deny it food and will gobble poison. What is he talking about? He says, you know, we've gotten rid of the kings,

we've gotten rid of queens, we've gotten rid of royalty by and large, and yet, where we are forbidden to honor a king, we still do it. Or put it like this. Let me ask a series of questions on the basis of what Lewis is saying. Why is it that the literati, the gatekeepers of our culture, tell us we really want realistic fiction? That's what you want if you're a serious person. See, realistic fiction, and yet we want the hoi polloi. There's an enormous,

absolutely enormous appetite for fantasy and romantic, heroic romances and so on. So you see, and Hollywood refuses to give Oscars to fantasy. No, we want serious realistic fiction and yet there's a deep hunger for kings and queens and heroes and dragons. It outsells the realistic fiction 10 to 1, 20 to 1, 30 to 1. Oh, it irritates the gatekeepers. But there it is. Or Lewis asks another question. Why is it that in our so-called democracies the egalitarian democracies that when we don't have any royalty we create it? We must have princes and princesses we must have them we created out of celebrity we create it out of something But we must have it or or something that we've here's another question We've asked this we've seen this for weeks

and I won't go into it, I'll just assume that some of you remember some of the things we've talked about. What is there about the human psyche that needs, in the very center of it, something to serve? What Lewis is saying, why this hunger for kings? Why this indelible need to crown someone or something psychologically, sociologically, culturally?

Why? And the answer is, it's a memory trace. It's a memory trace in the collective unconscious of the human race. It's a memory trace of what? Of a perfect King, of an ultimate King, of a King of glorious splendor undimmed before the breaking of the world, whose wisdom and nobility and love and compassion and greatness and beauty was like the sun shining in its full strength We remember a king like that and What is the gospel?

the gospel is He will come he's coming back. He will come again Blessed is the king who comes and And what the gospel says is, the reason you need to crown someone or something, the reason you need kings, even though you won't admit it, the average modern person doesn't admit what they're doing, but you are doing it. Spiritual nature like, pardon me, physical nature

will be served. Deny it food and it will gobble poison. You will have a king in your life. You can either have the right one or you can have the wrong one, but you will have one. And this is the one you seek. The ultimate king, the true king, the king of which you have a memory trace,

in your imagination and in your psychology. So the first thing we see is this is the true king. That's who he is. He's the one. Secondly though, he's not just the true king, he's a transformational king. What we mean by that is, his ruling power does something to you.

What? His ruling power does something to you. What? Well, there's two interesting hints in the text. The first interesting hint is this little place which only Luke records that Jesus says something to the Pharisees. Notice how the Pharisees are freaked out

over the fact that he's not just being declared by the crowd to be a king, but the king, the messianic king, the Davidic king. And they say in verse 39, teacher, rabbi, rebuke your disciples. And Jesus says, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Well, you say that's poetic, right?

Exaggeration. But the Old Testament, the prophecy goes like this. This is Isaiah 55. Then the mountains and the hills will burst into song before the Lord, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands, Isaiah 55-12, and here's Psalm 96, and then the trees of the wood will sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to rule the earth. Now, you say that's just poetry? No, you don't understand.

You don't understand. There's a tendency for us to think that the Bible talks about sin and salvation in completely individualistic terms. In other words, when we think of salvation, there's a tendency to think that means that we're unhappy inside or we're, we're or we don't have peace or we have guilt and Jesus comes into my life and he forgives my sins and he fills my life with inner peace and takes me to heaven later and that's sin and that's salvation. But the Bible says that sin and salvation, biblical sin and salvation, biblical understanding of sin and salvation is that they're cosmic.

Cosmic, what do I mean? What I mean is that when we turned from our true King, it affected everything. Spiritually, psychologically, socially, physically. Everything. Everything is breaking down. Why? Well, now this is one of the themes that we've been looking at all year actually. It keeps coming up. here it is again. This rocks, the stones cry out. It is, here's the theme again. When you put paraffin in a gas tank, when you hammer a nail with a watch, when you try to cook a meal on a space heater. You're asking for disaster, why? The space heater wasn't made to cook

and the watch wasn't made to hammer a nail. And the gas tank was meant for gas, not paraffin. And when you take something that's designed for one purpose and use it for another purpose, in other words, if you violate its teleology, if you take something that was made for one telos, one purpose, and use it for another purpose, it leads to disintegration.

And the world, listen, we were made for the king. We were made to build, we were built for the king, to serve the king, to worship the king, to adore the king, to obey the king. When we turn from the king, every aspect of our lives fell apart. Spiritual, psychological, social and physical, which means nothing is the way it can be, nothing is the way it was made to be, and nothing is the way it will be. Even the trees

and even the stones. And Jesus says, my lordship, the Bible says, you see in Isaiah 55, the Bible says, my lordship, the Bible says, you see in Isaiah 55, the Bible says, my lordship, that when the king comes back, when his ruling power comes upon something that he made, it blossoms, it reaches its potential, it becomes everything it can be, everything it was made to be. And that means that the trees and the stones under the ruling power of Jesus Christ will dance and sing.

And let me tell you, if the trees and the stones are gonna dance and sing under the ruling power, what would happen to you? If they're gonna dance and sing, what would happen to you? That's what the ruling power of Jesus Christ is about. It changes you, restores you, helps all your potentialities explode to the degree that you are under the royal power of Jesus Christ. And here's another little hint in the passage about the transformational nature of the kingship of Christ.

And that is this little place up here in verse 30, where Jesus says to them, go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Now we'll get back to that in a minute, but let me just ask you a quick question. Jesus took a colt that no one had ever ridden.

Now, let me ask you, what would happen to you, what happens to you if you jump up on a horse that's never been ridden? You know what happens? Does the horse say, where to? Amen. Absolutely not. It jumps, it bucks, why? Because a horse has to be broken before a human being, a normal human being, can ride it. But not only do we see that Jesus gets up on a horse, a cold that's never been ridden

before, but he rides it right through a screaming crowd. And one commentator puts it like this. Why is this happening? How could this be happening? And the commentator says, In the midst of this excited crowd, an unbroken animal remains calm under the hands of the one who also calmed the sea.

Thus the event points to the peace of the consummated kingdom. Isaiah 11. Then the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the goat, and the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them all. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Here's what's going on, very important. Why do animals not like it when human beings jump up on them?

Why do animals in general need all kinds of training? Why do they need to be quote unquote broken to even kind of handle things like, you know, human handling and human beings. They're afraid of us. And why are animals naturally in their normal state afraid of us? Because they're smart. Because we should be, they should be afraid of us. Look at how we treat them. Now, there's a quote where there's a quote, Kathy and I, is one of our favorite quotes, we can't find it, it's a C.S. Lewis quote,

we think we know where it is, but we haven't found it recently. And it goes like this, man with dog closes gap in universe. If you've ever had a relationship with an animal, if you've ever gotten yourself into a relationship with an animal where the animal've ever gotten yourself into a relationship with an animal where the animal absolutely and completely trusts you,

that relationship is far more satisfying than you will be able to understand or explain without theology. Because the Bible says that in the beginning, we were made to name the animals and they were made for us. We were to be friends, we were to be cultivators. We were to mesh, but we don't anymore. George Whitefield, the old Anglican preacher, used to say in his sermons, he says, do you know when you get near animals why they bark at you and growl at you and scream at you and then run away?

Because they know you have a quarrel with their master. and then run away because they know you have a quarrel with their master. Jesus was the most influential man to ever walk the earth, and his story has been told in hundreds of different ways. Can anything more be said about him? In his book, Jesus, the King, Tim Keller journeys through the gospel of Mark to reveal how the life of Jesus helps us make sense of our lives. Dr. Keller shows us how the story of Jesus helps us make sense of our lives. Dr. Keller shows us how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal,

calling each of us to look anew at our relationship with God. Jesus the King is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the transforming love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospilenlife.com slash give. That today at gospelonlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

They're afraid, but Jesus gets up on this little colt and what happens? Does he break it? He doesn't break it. He heals it of its fear. I'll put it this way. This little cult is absolutely fearless in the face of a screaming crowd when Jesus is in its saddle, when Jesus is in the saddle of its life, when Jesus Christ gets on top, when Jesus becomes the ruler, when Jesus gets into the driver's seat, his power doesn't break you,

he doesn't coerce you, he heals you. You know, there's a place where Paul says, if God is for me, who can be against me? The gospel tells you. The gospel comes into your life and says, what in the world are you afraid of? To the degree that I have Jesus at the center of my life, to that degree I am free from fear of anything. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of death, fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of sickness,

fear of anything. And that is what utterly transforms you and changes you in every way. Jesus Christ, when he comes into your life, he says, I want absolute authority, I want absolute obedience, I want you to totally submit to me. And we Americans, especially modern Western people, go, oh my word, that's just terrible. He wants to come into my life and break me and coerce me and force me. He doesn't work like that His ruling power comes in and heals you Heals you that's why Becky Pippard at one point says this He is the only one in the universe who can control you without destroying you You will be controlled by something.

Whatever you give your life to will control you. It's the approval of people, if it's professional success. You gotta live for something, whatever you're living for will control you. We've said this week after week, but this is the only thing that can ride you without breaking you, healing you. And listen, just before we move on,

do you see that when his kingship comes into your life, it transforms by healing? And even though in this life it's never complete, it's never complete, never totally complete, nevertheless, you can always live with this question. On bad days, I need to ask this question to myself all the time. If under the lordship of Jesus Christ the trees and the stones will be singing and dancing,

what will we be like? Imagine what we're going to be like. You've got to live with that kind of hope. You've got to live with that kind of exhilaration. You've got to live with that kind of electrification. It electrifies you when you think about it. And that's what you're in store for. Nothing less. So first of all, he's the true king. The second thing we learn is he's a transforming king. This is who he is, and secondly, here's what he can do.

But why can he do it? Why can he do this kind of transformation? Why can he come into our lives and do all this? And the third point is he's a paradoxical king. He's a paradoxical king. Now what do I mean by paradoxical? Well, he deliberately chooses to ride in. And you have to remember, well, no,

you don't have to remember, you have to know, that when he got up on a steed and rode in instead of walking into Jerusalem, he was taking the place of royalty. That's, kings rode in to cities for their coronation, or kings rode into cities after a great battle, you see, or they rode into cities to conquer them. And so when Jesus said to the disciples, I'm not gonna walk in these last the disciples, I'm not going to walk in these

last two miles, I'm going to ride in. Now do you know what the disciples are like? Let's imagine what they would have said. They would have said, yes, finally we're going to knock some heads. The people are ready for this, they said. They've seen the miracles. He even says so, you see? The whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles. They'd seen the miracles. They know about his power.

They hang on his every word. No one is able to speak like him. No one has a character, force of character like him. No one can do the works of him. If he just gets up on the steed, if he just would ride up, they would know that he's coming as a ruler, he's coming as a king. Then we would be able to really see some action. Then we would really knock some heads together. So when Jesus says, I'm

going to ride, the disciples said, yes. And Jesus says, and this is my steed. And what is the steed that he's chosen? Very deliberately, very much his plan. A colt, which no one had ever ridden. And you see, if you're going to find an animal that no one had ever ridden, even tried to ride before, it would be incredibly young. A little colt. And the disciples are looking at this probably and saying, What are you doing? You need an image consultant. You're never going to win the election like this.

What's it going to look like? The great king, you should be up on a war horse, not this little cult. What's the matter with you? You're going to look like Sancho Panza. And he did. You don't realize what this looks like. And here's the point. See, Jesus chose all this and therefore Jesus is saying, I know exactly what it looks like. I know exactly what it looks like. On the one hand, a king. On the other hand, riding in on a little colt.

On the one hand, a high king. On the one one hand a weak king. Strength and weakness combined. Power and vulnerability combined. See? Highness and accessibility combined. Why? Because here's what he's saying when he does this. If I was coming to deliver you from the Romans, I'd be coming in on a war horse.

But I'm not coming in to deliver you from the Romans, I'm coming to deliver you from sin and death itself. If I was just coming in to deliver the Jews from their colonial masters, I'd come in on a warhorse in strength. But I'm coming to save the entire world of sin and death itself. I'm coming to slay the dragon. But I'm coming with a power that you don sin and death itself. I'm coming to slay the dragon But I'm coming with a power that you don't know anything about I come in humility. I come in weakness

I come in service. I come in sacrifice. I come to die There's a paradoxical Ness to his kingship. He's riding on a little horse Why did he do that because the the highness and the loneliness? Why did he do that? Because the highness and the lonesome, the strength and the weakness of this paradoxical king is the way in which he's going to save us. Why? Well, the answer is at the very end of the passage,

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all three of them, over, they show us something, that when Jesus does his triumphal entry, he's not just coming to Jerusalem. Every single one of the synoptics, they're called the synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they tell us that when Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem, he went to the temple.

In every case, he went immediately to the temple. Why? Now, if you're reading the book of Luke all the way through, which is the way Luke wanted you to read it, Luke did not write the book for Tim Keller to come and give you 12 verses every week over a period of years. What Luke expected you to read the whole book through, and if you read the whole book straight through,

you'll know the last time that Jesus Christ, according to the book of Luke, was at the temple. He brings Jesus to the temple at the beginning of the, was at the temple. He brings Jesus to the temple at the beginning of the book and at the end. See, the last time Jesus was at the temple, he was 12, at least according to the book of Luke. The last time in the story that Luke gives us, Jesus was 12, and he went to the,

why did he go to the temple when he was 12? We actually talked about this the week we looked at Luke chapter two, this was quite a long time ago, but here's why. That was his coming of age time. He was like, it was a period of, it's like your bar mitzvah, of course, only this was probably before there were bar mitzvahs. But it was his coming of age. And the year that you turn 12, the father would take a son and initiate him into his adult life. And one of the things the father would do that year

would be to apprentice him. And Joseph therefore was apprenticing Jesus as a carpenter. But the other thing Joseph would have done is he took him on the Passover to the temple to show him how their religion worked. And he would have taken Jesus around, probably like this, and said, here's the temple this is where we meet God here's the priest see that priest the priest is the holy one who mediates

the presence of God and you see the sacrifices you see the altar that's where we that's where our sins are being atoned for and after Joseph had spent all this time showing Jesus around the temple and explaining all these things, Joseph and Mary got in the caravan to go home after the Passover feast was over, and they get halfway home and they realize Jesus isn't there, and they come running on back looking all over Jerusalem for him. Where do they find him? The temple. And what's he doing in the temple? He says, Father's business. And Joseph probably would have said,

what do you mean your father's business? I'm your father, but here's what must have happened. Jesus' real father began speaking to him. Jesus says, probably Jesus would have heard his heavenly father say, yes, you're coming of age, and this is the year your father tells you what you're here on earth for, but I'm your Heavenly Father,

and I'm here to tell you your true identity. You see that temple, that building? You think that can unite humanity with me? And you see that priest, he's just like everybody else. You think he's holy enough to mediate the presence of God? And you see that sacrifice, you see that animal being cut up and thrown on the altar? Do you think that dead animal can atone

for the sins of human beings? No. You will be the sacrifice that all the sacrifices point to, my son. You will be the priest that will mediate the presence of God. You will be the temple. All these other things are pointing to you.

For you will come and be the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate priest, the ultimate temple. You will pay the debt for their sins. You will do it. And this is the reason why Jesus Christ comes on in and he's already even by choosing that little teeny cult talking about the fact that his kingship is not the kind of kingship that you might think. There's a weakness through which he is going to be strong. He is going

to conquer the dragon by dying. And how? He comes on in and he throws out the sellers. Well you look at that and you say that's fine, he throws out the sellers. Well, you look at that and you say, that's fine, he throws out the sellers, but what are the sellers of? Of animals. They were the sellers of the animals for the sacrifices. So when he threw the sellers out, he was throwing the animals out. Well, how can you have a temple without the animals? And then what does he do?

What does he put in its place? Look carefully, it says, he just stands there all week. Jesus Christ comes in to Jerusalem, but he's after the temple because he's replacing the temple. And he throws out the old administration and all the old way of meeting God and stands there all the way to the moment of his death, smack in the middle of the temple, doing all of his teaching, all the rest of the week in the temple. Why? Because he's saying, I am the temple.

I am the ultimate priest that makes you acceptable to God. I'm the ultimate sacrifices that puts away your sins. Me. And you see now the paradoxical nature of his kingship. You see what he's saying? Sin is us servants putting ourselves in the place of the rightful king. Therefore salvation is the rightful king putting himself in the place of the servants.

Dying for us, taking the penalty for us. He's a king all right, but he's a king not coming just to throw out the Romans or to save people just in one political way. He's here to save us of sin and death through his own death for us. Now lastly, that's who he is and that's what he can do in your life

and that's why he can do it because of his death for us. But last of all, how can this come into our lives? How can it happen? We said he's the actual king, he's a transformational king, he's a transformational king, he's a paradoxical king, but lastly, this passage tells us he is the confrontational king. Now what do we mean by that? Confrontational? Here's what I mean by that. You know why the Pharisees were freaking out? You know why they said, rabbi, rebuke your disciples, you know why?

Jesus is forcing their hand. And that's the reason why when he finally comes in and does all this, it's the triumphal entry that pushes them over the top. The leaders that have been so hostile to him. That's why it says at the very end, now they started to plan to kill him. Why?

He forced their hand over his identity. When he got up on that little colt and he began to ride in so that the people acclaimed him as king, no longer could the leaders hope that his 15 minutes of fame would be done soon. No longer could they be indifferent. No longer could they look the other way. No longer could they just hope that it would blow over. Because now imagine what's going to happen if the Roman authorities get wind of the fact there was a crowd proclaiming a new king for Jerusalem. What is Jesus doing? He knows what he's doing. He is forcing the issue of his identity. He's making a claim so big that there's only two possible responses.

Here's what he's saying. Crown me or kill me. He's forcing the issue. Crown me or kill me. He refuses to come in. He refuses to sneak into the city. He refuses to come on in on the side door. He says, I'm coming in as a king or I'm coming in killed. In other words, crown me or kill me. The one thing I will not accept is anything in the middle. I don't want you to just like me. I will not just be admired. I don't want you to think of me as somebody you like and every so often you come to church

and try to get a little closer to me. Either make me the absolute center of your life, make me the uttermost center of your life, the absolute authority of your life, or me the uttermost center of your life, the absolute authority of your life, or else completely reject me, utterly. Look at the claims he's making. He's the king of the world. He's the Lord of the Sabbath, which means we saw that last week, which means he's the creator God, he says. These kinds of, I'm the ultimate temple. These kinds of claims means he is either infinitely beyond all the prophets or religious teachers that have ever lived

or is infinitely behind them as a very wicked, very disgusting, very vile, very crazy person. But one thing is, in other words, he's nothing in the middle. You either crown him or you reject him. Now, when he says crown me or kill me, we're going to see when we get to the Garden of Gethsemane, he's not a suicide. He's not trying to die. He doesn't want to die. He's not a fanatic. But what he's simply saying is if you crown me or kill me, at least you've heard me. But if you're tepid, if you just like me, if you just wish you were a better Christian sometime, in other words, make me the very center of your life or completely get me out, at least then you've heard me. At least you've heard what I've said.

He forces the issue. He will not come into a heart, he will not come into a life, he will not come into a city as anything other than a king. In other words, he's saying, I can be your helper, I can be your healer, I can be your counselor, I can be your friend, I can be your brother, I can be your shepherd, but not without being a king.

I can't come in as one without coming in as king. Take me in and I'll heal you. Heal you of your fears. Put me in the saddle of your life and you'll be able to face anything. But there is nothing in the middle. Don't dabble in me. Crown me or utterly reject me, but I will not be liked. That's not honest.

That's not fair. That's not right. That's not true. Listen, you know what it means to be a Christian? It means to in a sense, live out the parable of the paradoxical king, the great king that comes in on a little horse. Because frankly, you know what it means to become a Christian?

Not to say, I can do it, I can follow Jesus. To become, you become a Christian by saying, I couldn't possibly do it. Lord, accept me because of what Jesus did, not because of what I did. You come in paradoxically. But even after you become a Christian, and his lordship begins to spread through your life,

you will find more and more he will make you into his image as a gentle king. There'll be, some of us tend to love fights. Some of us tend to avoid fights. Jesus was neither. Some of us tend to be kind of strong, some of us tend to be kind of sweet. Jesus was neither because he was neither. Some of us tend to be kind of strong, some of us tend to be kind of sweet. Jesus was neither because he was both. And all of us naturally go in one direction or the other, but if the spirit of the king comes into your life, he'll make you what the world really needs. Not conflict avoiders, not conflict lovers. Strong, weak people. Just and merciful.

Powerful and melt-in-your-mouth sweet. He will combine that in your life. The world needs people like this. You need to be like this, and you will be like this. You were made, this is what you can be, this is what you will be under the power of the king. Crown him and he'll do it. Let us pray.

Thank you Father for giving us your son not only as a helper, not only as a counselor, not only as a brother and a shepherd, but as a king. Please help us to find out every every person with your Holy Spirit, help every person here to know what it means to put you in the center. And I pray Father that you would help us to see what it means to crown you. It's going to mean something specifically different for every person hearing this message, every person in this room, every person listening. But by your Spirit show us what that can be and should be. We want to sing someday with the trees and the stones and the mountains. So prepare us for that day. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it equips you to apply the wisdom of God's Word to your life. You can find more resources from Tim Keller at GospelandLife.com. Just subscribe to the Gospel in Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other resources. Again, it's all at GospelandLife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. This month's sermons were recorded in 1990, 2003, and 2010.

The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.