Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Worship (Palm Sunday)

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

For centuries now, on the Sunday before Easter, the church has observed the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem just days before he was crucified. It’s called Palm Sunday.  What does Palm Sunday mean? It means Jesus is king, and it’s important to see that’s not just an abstract proposition. Palm Sunday is about this: you can’t know Jesus Christ unless you know him as king. He can’t change your life unless you understand him as king. You can’t even understand who he is unless you understand him as king.  Luke 19 teaches us 1) Jesus is the true king, 2) Jesus is the weak king, and 3) how he can be your king. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 13, 2014. Series: Knowing Jesus. Scripture: Luke 19:28-40. 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.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. Can you truly know Jesus Christ if you don't know him as your king? In Luke's account of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, crowds welcomed him with royal honor, even as he arrived on a donkey. Today, Tim Keller explores why this moment is central to understanding the gospel, and how it paves the way for us to have a deeper encounter with Jesus. The scripture reading is from Luke, chapter 19, verses 28 through 40. After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

As he approached Beth Fage 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 cult tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Say, the Lord needs it. Those who were sent ahead went and found it, just as he had told them.

As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt? They replied, the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, 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 her disciples. I tell you, he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. This is God's word. Of course, every Easter, all the churches of the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. but the Sunday before Easter, for centuries now, the church has also spent time observing the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem

just days before he was crucified. It's called Palm Sunday, even though you may notice that though Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all give us an account of this event, Luke doesn't mention the palms. it talks about a lot of everything else. Matthew and Mark talk about the branches. John actually mentions that they were palm branches. But what does that mean, waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna? This is how you treated a triumphal entry of a king. If your king went out to battle and he defeated his enemies and he was coming back in triumph, that's how you welcomed him.

And on Palm Sunday, at Jerusalem, people welcome Jesus Christ as king. So what's Palm Sunday mean? That's what it means. It means Jesus is king. And it's important for us to see that that's not just an abstract proposition. If you want to understand the Gospel of Luke, many people have seen that the gospel can be divided roughly into thirds, roughly into thirds, that the first eight chapters targets your mind

because it's about who Jesus is and helps you understand who he is. Then there's another middle eight or nine chapters that targets the will and it's actually telling us what it means to follow him, what it means to be a disciple of him. But the last chapters,

the last seven chapters or so, they go after the heart because it tells you how to have an existential encounter with him through understanding what he came to do. And the very beginning of that last section is right here. And I'll get back to this at the very end. I'll show you what this means.

But basically, Palm Sunday is about this. You can't know Jesus Christ unless you know him as king. He can't change your life, transform your life, come into your life unless you understand him as king. You can't even understand who he is unless you understand him as king. Let's look at this passage and let's notice from the passage that it teaches us that he's A, the true king, B, the weak king, and then C, how he can be your king.

He's the true king, he's the weak king, and how he can be your king. First of all, true king, verse 37, 38, 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'd seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Now, you notice in the text there, it's indented, and what that means is that that is a quotation. That the people who are praising Jesus and acclaiming him as king are quoting from the Old Testament, from the Hebrew scriptures. And they're quoting Psalm 118, verse 25 and 26. and if you go back there you'll see that this was the acclaim of the Davidic king and all the Hebrew

scriptures looked forward to a Messiah they looked forward to some some royal figure who would be in the Davidic line that would be in David's line who would come and put everything right and so they're proclaiming him not just to be a king they're proclaiming him to be the king the king the who comes back and puts everything right, the messianic hero. Now, even though it's extraordinarily important to understand Jesus in light of what the Old Testament says about the Messiah, I think it actually helps us a bit to realize that this is actually a very powerful idea that has been there in not just the Jewish scriptures, but in so many of the legendary traditions of the world, it shows that it's a human hope.

it's not just a Jewish hope. In the 1400s, Sir Thomas Mallory pulled together all the older legends about King Arthur and Camelot in the Roundtable and pulled them together into a classic book called Limorte Arthur, which means the death of Arthur. And one of the things it mentions in that book is that when Arthur died, it says,

King Arthur, they put on his tombstone, here lies Arthur, Rex Quantum, Rex Futurus, which means king once, king in the future. Or as T.H. White, who wrote, you know, wrote that novel, The Once and Future King. The Once and Future King.

And if you even look at modern fantasy fiction, as well as a lot of ancient legends and traditions, the idea of a messianic hero, or especially a king who you think is gone, who comes back and puts everything right. Everything right. It's very, very powerful. It's all over the place.

It's a human hope. It's not just a Jewish hope. But it hasn't always served as well, this hope. My father, or my mother's father, my grandfather was an Italian immigrant. And the whole family were Italian immigrants. And I remember growing up in the 1950s, and I have some of you gasping.

He said, does anybody still alive from that era? growing up in the 1950s as a little kid when we used to go down to that place when World War II was still very much in a vivid memory that all my Italian relatives talked about Mussolini a lot and the reason was they said you know here was a guy who promised he could put things right and it was so much chaos

so much chaos in Italy and here was a guy that came and says give me the power and I can put everything right and he was looked at as a messianic figure and they gave him the power and it was a disaster and it's partly because of those kinds of stories as well as the simple fact that the history of human kings is an abysmal history of tyranny that we in America got started but now it's pretty much worldwide the idea that we don't need kings we do not need kings or monarchs we don't need

that everybody has the right to decide how they ought to live kathy and i have a friend uh a minister a British minister of friend named John Guest who in the 1960s, this is a just great story he used to tell, and I tell it too, is when in the 1960s he was trying to figure out American culture, he had moved to America to do a ministry, and he went to Philadelphia, and he went to the Independence Hall, and he went to the Liberty Bell, and was looking at all this,

and there was a place in Germantown, where he went to a store that had a lot of old historic Americana, had lots and lots of antiques and things from the Revolutionary War era, including lots of placards and signs that were used and slogans were used in the Revolutionary War era. And one of the things that struck him, especially as a British citizen, was one of the signs said this, we serve no sovereign here. That's America. We serve no sovereign here.

And he came to grips with the idea that Americans really were the first ones who said, we don't need monarchs, we don't need kings, we don't need anyone should be an authority over us. We have authority of our own lives yet. And yet. In spite of the fact that we say that, in spite of the fact we say that, do you realize that the few royal families

that are left in the world are the biggest celebrities? We just go gaga over them. And not only that, stories about kings and princesses and princes and all that they outsell realistic figure you know there's realistic fiction and there's fantasy fiction the fantasy fiction is filled with messianic heroes filled with kings and queens it's filled with it that stuff outsells realistic fiction 20 to 1 50 to 1 and even places like america where there are no kings we turn people into kings anyway

and queens c s lewis and a very famous essay, some years ago put it like this. He says, where we are forbidden to honor a king, we will honor millionaires, athletes, film stars instead, even gangsters. And then he says this, for spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served. Deny it food and it will gobble poison. Now when he says denied food, it'll gobble poison, you all, maybe some of you know that if a person is really starving absolutely starving sometimes even though their mind

tells them one thing they will grab things that they know are wrong or bad for them and eat things that will kill them then he says spiritual nature like physical nature will be served deny it food and it will gobble poison what is louis saying there that's a remarkable statement what he's saying is you can tell yourself

you don't need a king but you do spiritually you do now what does he mean by that what does it mean that that's spiritual nature. How does that work out? Two levels, probably, probably, and I'm speculating, but let me give you one level. At one level, the reason why I think he's right when he says that even though we all say, we don't need kings, we don't need anyone in authority over us, we are our own masters, you know, we're in charge of our own lives. The simple fact of the matter is you're not, and I'll tell you why you're not. You have to live for something. You have to

live for something. Something's got to give you meaning in life. Something's got to make you feel that my life is significance. Something has, there's got to be something that you're looking to to say, because I'm doing that, or because I've accomplished that, or because I'm living for that, now my life has got some meaning or I feel like I'm a good person or I feel like my life has some value. So you've got to live for something. And whatever you're living for, it does not serve you, you serve it. You're not in control. It has authority over your life. You've crowned something or you can't live.

Listen to me. If you want to have meaning in life, you've got to live for something and whatever you live for to give yourself meaning in life, you have to crown it. If you're living for your career, see, that's how I know I'm a successful person. You've crowned it.

That career is driving you. It's in control of you. If something goes wrong or troubles happen in that career, you you melt down why it's it's punishing you because you're failing it it's oppressing you it's a lord it's a master you've crowned it it's the same thing for your relationship if you're living for your children they're your masters you know that come on some of you know that if if everything hinges on them being happy you're not your own you don't belong to yourself political cause it doesn't matter if you're whatever you're living for,

it does not serve you, you serve it. You've crowned something. Spiritual nature will be served. But it's also possible, I think, that the fact that we're so fascinated with kings and so fascinated with messianic heroes and we tell stories about them, and even if, you know, we don't,

even though there's lots of old stories about them, we continue to create new ones, every new blockbuster, practically movies about some messianic hero. I think it's maybe for this reason, and this is just a guess, just a speculation, but to think about it, it could be the reason that we crown kings psychologically, and the reason that we crown kings and queens culturally is because it's a memory trace. It's a memory trace in you and me. See, the Bible tells us, but before the breaking of the world, the human race stood in the presence

of a true king, a king of absolute glory. and splendor. And his justice and his power and wisdom, his compassion, his nobility, and his beauty was like the sun shining in his full strength. But we lost him. Because we said, we're going to be our own saviors, we're going to be our own lords, we're going to be our own masters.

And the Bible tells a story about how as we were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, as we lost that king, there was a prophecy. You can find it in Genesis 315. It's very cryptic, but there was a prophecy. And the prophecy was this, that though evil is coming to the world, the serpent, the dragon, see?

You know, the story is Adam and Eve, listen to the serpent, and they turned away, and we lost that true king. And everything in the world broke because we were meant to stand in the presence of that true king and to serve him. And then everything was perfect. But as soon as we became our own kings,

everything in the world broke. And as the world was breaking, and as we were leaving the garden, there was this prophecy. And the prophecy said this, someone will come, a descendant of the woman, it says, as the man and the woman would be thrown out,

someone will come, and he will trample on the serpent. And even though he will be wounded, he will triumph. Someone will come and will deal with the great serpent, the great dragon of evil and suffering in the world. Evil itself, and he will come and he will be terribly wounded.

He will suffer terribly, but he will triumph. And all the leaves of the Bible are rustling. They're just rustling. If you just read it through, all the leaves of the Bible are rustling with the whisper and the rumor that the king will come again, that he will come back. And it's in us, I think. It's a memory trace in us.

It shows up in the legends of the world. It shows up in our fantasy. fiction today. It shows up, of course, most clearly in the Old Testament prophecies. And this is him. Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes. He is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. He has come back. Point one, he's the true king. We're all looking for a king. We can't help it. We're crowning something. But this is the one that we were meant for. That's the first point. Now the second point is this.

I immediately have to, I need to deal with your panic. Because modern people are panicked by the idea that they're going to lose control of their lives. Panicked. This is the reason why in New York people won't even register for the conference until 10 minutes before. Because they want to keep all their options open. Who knows, maybe something cool will come up at the last minute. I don't want, oh my word, I need to be in charge of my life. If I sign up for the conference and I send the money in, I've lost.

I've lost control of my Tuesday morning because now what happens? I mean, we're that panicked. We're that afraid of losing control. We don't make plans. And so modern people are so afraid of losing control. And as soon as we start talking about the fact that Jesus is not just this warm, fuzzy

who comes into your life and makes your life better, but he's the king and you must give him authority, everybody starts to panic. And here's what I like you to consider. Number one, what I've already said, which is you're not in control of your life. That's an illusion.

You're already oppressed. You're already driven. You're already serving. You're not in control of your life. Becky Pippert in one of her classic books puts it very beautifully like this. She says, whatever controls you is your Lord.

The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. you do not control yourself, you're controlled by the Lord of your life. What is my purpose in life? What is a good life? And why does the world feel so broken? In the Gospels, Jesus meets people who are asking these very questions. And when Jesus responds, their lives are changed in unexpected ways. In his book, Encounters with Jesus, Tim Keller explores several of these conversations. Looking at Jesus' interactions with everyone from

a skeptical student, to a religious insider, to a social outcast. Dr. Keller shows how these encounters with Jesus can uniquely address the big questions and doubts we still face today. Encounters with Jesus is our thank you for your gift this month to help Gospel in Life share the hope of the gospel with more people. Request your copy today when you make a gift at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now, here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. So number one, you're not in control, all right? And number two, get this. I would go so far as to say, your problems are because the things that you have crowned in your life are oppressing you. See, for example, if you're living for your career, if you're living to fulfill the expectations of your parents,

if you're trying to prove yourself by your appearance in other words your appearance makes so it matters to you so much if you gain some weight you feel absolutely horrible all the things that are wrong with you are because you're serving things that are oppressing you you've crowned something that's not a true king it's not what you were built to serve all of your problems are coming from that and you know you say well i want to change my life but i don't want to lose control you've already lost control and the only one to change your life is to get the true king because this is the only king who's not just true but he won't oppress you why not he's the weak king point two what do i mean by that well up in your verse 30 in every single one of the accounts of the palm sunday there's a lot of emphasis put on getting the donkey on which jesus rides uh into jerusalem on and and it says here as he He says, go to the village ahead of you. This is verse 30. And as you enter it, he tells his disciples,

you'll find a cult tied there. Now, it was a cult of a donkey, which no one had ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, why are you untieing it? The Lord needs it. And so as they were untying the cult, it's under said, why are you in tying the cult? The Lord needs it. We'll get back to that. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the cult, and put Jesus on it. And as he went along. Now, first of all, Why is Jesus going to all this trouble to get the foal or the colt of a donkey to ride it on? One reason is because Zechariah chapter 9 says that the Messiah will come like that. Zechariah 99 says,

Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. So first of all, Jesus is trying to fulfill scripture, which is another whole sermon, and I'm not going there. In other words, Jesus cared about scriptures so much every single part of his life he made sure came under the scripture. But what's most important here is to see the paradoxical nature of this riding. See how paradoxical it is?

You can even see it in Zechariah 9. It says, your king comes, righteous and having salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey. And see, that's the point. This isn't the steed of a king. no triumphant king comes back in riding on a little cult of a donkey. That's something that a child rides on, or a hobbit, or Sancho Panza, you know? Kings ride on war horses, and Jesus is deliberately riding in on this little thing. Now, I can imagine the disciples for a minute, by the way.

Imagine the disciples. Jesus comes to the disciples and says, hey, we're going to ride in. to ride into Jerusalem to the acclaim of the crowds. And you know what the disciples are going to say? They're going to say, yes. Finally, finally, you're getting with the program. Good, that's great. We're going to ride in and say, I'm going to ride in on this. All the disciples say, you're kidding. You're going to be a laughing stock. We need to hire an image consultant. You've lost control of your message. And you know what Jesus is going to say? No. I am absolutely in control of my message.

That's why I'm writing in like this. I do not come with the power that the world expects the Messiah to come with. I'm not like all the other legends, frankly. I'm not like all the other ideas. All the other messiahs are superheroes. They come in with power. I'm not coming with the kind of power

that actually will heal the world. I come not to bring judgment. I come to bear judgment. I come to go to the cross in weakness and suffering. Why? Because if I came in on a warhorse and started killing some Romans, knocking, you know, breaking some skulls, all I would have been able to do is bring a limited amount of freedom

to a few people for a few years. But I'm coming to take the divine wrath on human sin that the human race deserves because of all of its rebellion against God and its mistreatment of our neighbor. And all the things that human beings deserve, I'm taking the divine wrath, on human sin that the human race deserves on that cross so the guy can forgive you and so that someday the world can be put right and evil and death can be destroyed forever

because he's a weak king you can trust him he will not oppress you see this is the reason we're afraid we're just afraid of losing control we're afraid we want Jesus to come in and help us we don't want to lose authority our control self-authority but you've always you already lost authority, and Jesus is the only, only king that won't oppress you. Look, your career, for two reasons, number one, number one, he's a redeemer. He dies for you. If you're living for your career and you fail in your career, you will hate yourself the rest of your life. You know a reason why? Because your career will punish you forever. Why? Your career can't die for your sins. Frankly, it's the same thing if you live for your children. Frankly, it's the same thing if you live

a political cause. If you live for something, it's going to drive you, and if you ever fail it, it will just destroy you inside. It's an internal thing. But Jesus is the Redeemer. He's the one king who can really forgive. He's the one person. If you live for him and live for him supremely, he forgives you. In that essay, Becky Pippert says, he's the only one in the universe who can control us without destroying us. The last breath Jesus breathed on this planet was for you. and the great joyful paradox is that he makes us more ourselves than ever before. But by the way, I'd just like to point something else out. It's not just that he frees you because he's a redeemer,

because he's the one king that they can really forgive you fully, that every other thing you serve will not. But secondly, he's also your creator. Remember, we talked about this. We were created to be in his presence, and therefore, you know, like a fish is made for water, and if the fish is out of water, it's dying, and if you put the fish back into water,

everything's fine. We were made for the water of serving him. Not just believing in him and going to church and serving something else, but serving him, really making him the supreme authority in your life. And when you do that,

it's like getting back into the water. In fact, there's a little sign of it here is, notice that this cult has, has never been ridden before. That means it's so young that no one's ever ridden on it. Now, those of you who know anything about animals like this know something. The first time you get on an animal that has never been ridden, it doesn't just say, okay, where do you want to go? No, it freaks out. Always does. You've got to kind of break it. You've got to kind of work on it. And here we have, Jesus, getting on this animal has never been written and just rides in,

I believe it's a miracle. My friend John Carson has written in a number. a commentary on Matthew puts it like this and it's very lovely. He says, in the midst of this excited crowd, an unbroken young animal remains completely calm. Why? He's under the hands of the one who calms the sea.

Thus the event points to the peace of the consummated kingdom. The wolf will live with a lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together and a little child shall lead them. they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be filled with the

knowledge of the lord as the waters cover the sea you are made for him things become what they really should be under his hand because he's the creator he's the maker you can trust him you need to trust him so a he's the true king b he's the weak king so you can trust him he dies for you c How can you make him your king? Three ways. They're all indicated in the text. We'll be really brief, but here they are. You have to worship him.

You have to obey him, and you have to expect great things for him. Or you're not treating him as a king. A, you have to worship him. Of course, that's what it says. It says they began to joyfully praise God. Jesus kingship leads people to joyfully praise God. Now, this is such a big subject, but it's in a nutshell. Why is it that we're here,

This is not a classroom. Why are we singing? Why have we been singing? Why do we use so much music here? Why is it that I'm not lecturing you? I know how to do a lecture. You know, I'm a professorial type. You can tell that, right?

But this isn't a lecture. This is a sermon. Why? Because, let me see if I can put this in a nutshell, the things you serve are the things which capture your imagination. Or I should put it this way. The things that capture your imagination are the things that you serve,

the things that you daydream about, the things that fill your heart, the things that excite you, the things that you love, those are the things you serve. When you've got, William Temple, Archbishop William Temple years ago, said your religion is what you do with your solitude,

and what he meant by that is, when you don't have anything else you have to think about, if you're standing on a street corner, waiting for a bus and you don't have your, you've left your cell phone at home, see, nobody has solitude anymore. But just imagine you left things at home and you have nothing to, you know, you're just alone with your thoughts.

I know some of you, you said, what does that mean? It's possible to be alone with your thoughts. What do you think about? What do you like thinking about? Where does your mind go? Do you think about what? That's what you serve. The thing that you most love.

Look, if you lose a job or you lose a relationship, and yet you spend your time dayduring about the beauty and the greatness of Jesus, you know how to pray. you know how to meditate on him you know how to sing his praises you spent your your imagination has been captured you have learned to worship him not just believe in him in some abstract way but worship him and you lose that career you lose that relationship it'll be tough but it won't be the end of the world but if you're always daydreaming about your career and what you're going to do and you're always dayduring about your relationship and how you're going to everything's going to be right

because mr. writer miss right loves you and you lose that it's over why because you crowned that and therefore you've let your imagination be captured by that and therefore you're actually worshipping and adoring that and if you lose that it'll punish you badly if you want to treat Jesus as a king you need to learn how to worship him not just believe in him do you know how to worship him do you worship him it's something you do privately and something you do corporately and publicly

like we're doing right now extraordinarily important It takes years to have your imagination capture with him. Number one, if you want to treat him as a king, worship him. Number two, obey him. Notice how it starts off. Those who were sent ahead found it as they were untying the cult. Its owner said, why are you untying the cult? They replied, the Lord needs it.

Oh, that's it. No explanation. That's a picture of obedience. I had one of my sons who was always saying, Dad, I'd be happy to obey if you just explain to me why. and I used to always say, okay, I'd be happy to explain why you should obey me. I'm 40 years old and you're 10. And what I meant by that is this, if you only obey me because you understand why I'm telling you to do this,

then that's not obedience, it's agreement. And you haven't ceded authority at all. And see, what this means is, this is where the Bible comes, we get back to the Bible for a second. if Jesus Christ himself submitted everything in his life to the Bible, it was because he was obeying his father when he was on earth. And that means that you obey what the Bible says or you obey God's will, whether you get it or not. Jonah was told, I want you to go to the capital of the enemy country and preach to it so that they can turn and they, I won't destroy them. In other words, here's Jonah, an Israelite, here's Nineveh.

the capital of Assyria. Assyria is the great enemy. It's going to destroy Israel, we're afraid. And basically, God comes to Jonah and says, I want you to go on a mission that might save Assyria and Nineveh from my wrath. And Jonah doesn't understand how in the world is that going to help Israel? Because he didn't understand why God was telling him to do that. He disobeyed.

He ran away, hence the book of Jonah. But see, if Jesus is going to be your king, then you have to obey him unconditionally. You have to obey him even when it doesn't make sense to you. Or else he's not your king. He's just someone you're agreeing with. He's your consultant. Thirdly, you have to expect.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said, teacher rebuke your disciples, I tell you, replied if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Now, that is not hyperbole. You know why? Because we're told that when the king comes back, Romans 8 tells us that when we turned away from the true king and we lost the true king,

the world broke. And as beautiful as the world is right now, it's a shadow of what it's going to be when the king comes back. Romans 8 says the nature is on tiptoe, eagerly waiting for its king to come back. It says, this is Psalm 96, Isaiah 55, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, when all the trees of the field will clap their hands. The trees of the woods sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to rule the earth. This is what's going to happen when he comes back fully.

Now, he's not coming back fully. If today you give him authority, that healing power is not full. It's not perfect. There's still suffering in this world. There's still be suffering in your life. But boy, you can expect things. You have to be able to expect things.

Because he's the king of all things, and if he becomes the king of your life, then you will start to be aligned with a fabric. You'll be going with the grain of the universe now, got it? You'll be going with the grain of the universe. And the king of the universe is your Savior. And he loves you. And he wants to bless you in every way that's not bad for you.

What's that mean is you can expect things. That's the reason why John Newton has that great little hymn about coming to God in prayer. Thou art coming to a king. Large petitions with thee bring. For his grace and power are such. none can ever ask too much. If you have low expectations, you're not treating him as a king.

If you don't obey him unconditionally, you're not treating him as a king. If you don't let him capture imagination and learn how to worship him, you're not treating him as a king. See, in Matthew 11, Jesus says, come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'm gentle and lowly in heart. And, you know, that's wonderful, isn't it? I'm so gentle. I love you. And I want to give you all. And then he says, then he says what?

take my yoke upon me take my yoke upon you which means you have to obey me see he's saying I can't be your shepherd your lover I can't be your caregiver

I can't do all these things unless you make me your king because that's who I am see you you can't say come in Tim stay out Keller I'll say I'm both

I need to come in all at once. You can't say, come in Jesus as my caregiver, stay out as my Lord, he's both. That's the reason why, by the way, they were so upset. They said, rebuke your disciples. And why did the Pharisees do that? Because Jesus was forcing everybody's hand.

By coming in that publicly, he was forcing them. He's saying, crown me or kill me. And that's what they did. They killed him. But he was forcing their hands. He says, I will be in your life as a king or I won't be in your life at all. That's how you meet him. That's how you have your life changed.

Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that on Palm Sunday, we can see that through worship, we can crown our true king and begin the healing process in our lives. And we ask that you would help us do what the crowd did that day, though they had no idea what they were doing. and teach us how to acclaim your son as the king of our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast.

If you were encouraged by today's teaching, you can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelonlife.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 2014. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast, were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.