[0:00] Well, I'd like us just to turn back together to the passage that John read for us from Luke 19, and I'm going to read again verses 37 to 38. As Jesus was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
[0:30] The big thing I want us to think about today is the fact that Jesus is King. And as we start, I'm going to tell you something that I think is very, very cool.
[0:40] So I came down this morning, just before church, to hear you practicing, boys and girls, your song. And I had no idea what your song was, and I had no idea what it was about, and I hadn't asked Isabel anything about what was happening.
[0:57] And as I heard you singing, I realized this song is all about Jesus as King. And so your song has tied in perfectly with everything that I hope to tell you about today.
[1:10] And I think that that's just an amazing way in which God shows that he's bringing everything together because he wants to teach us and tell us more about himself. And part of the reason why I chose to talk about Jesus as King is because in our children's talks, we are working through the shorter catechism, which is a collection of questions and answers that teach us about the Bible.
[1:32] And the question that we've reached today is the question that talks all about Jesus as King. And so I'm going to read a couple of these questions to you. Those of you who maybe haven't seen this, we're working through not all the catechism questions.
[1:44] There's 107, so that will take us a long time. We're just going through some, and over the last month or so, we're working through 23, 24, 25, and 26. 23 tells us all about what Jesus has come to do.
[1:55] So what offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer? Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the office of prophet, priest, and king, both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.
[2:07] Humiliation means going down to the cross. Exaltation means going up, rising again. And so it's telling us that Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. And we've been thinking about what each one of them means.
[2:18] And today we've come to think about Jesus as king. How does Jesus, how does Christ execute the office of a king? And the answer is, Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
[2:37] Now, again, often these questions have got some quite big words, and you might think, I don't quite know what that means. Don't worry, we're going to explain a little bit more about that as we go through the sermon today. The big thing I want us to think about is that Jesus is king.
[2:52] And as we look at that together, we're going to discover that Jesus is the king who knows, he is the king who cares, and he's the king who has come.
[3:03] And so we'll go through these one by one together. So, first of all, Jesus is the king who knows. And that's one of the big things that this passage reveals to us. We were reading in Luke 19, and one of the fascinating things we see there is that it's one of those moments where Jesus knows what's going to happen.
[3:20] And so he says to two of the disciples, go into the village, you're going to find a colt, which no one's ever ridden on, untie it. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Just tell them, the Lord has need of it.
[3:30] And then look at what it says in verse 32. So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And this is one of many times that this sort of thing happens in the Gospels.
[3:43] And it's all for a purpose. It's all to prove who Jesus is. That what he says happens is going to happen actually happens. And it shows that he's no ordinary person.
[3:56] It's showing us that he is the son of God. Now, to help us see a little bit more about what this involves, we're going to play a game. And my game is called, How Well Do You Know Rosie?
[4:09] And you might be thinking, well, who's Rosie? This is Rosie. Rosie is my dog. Rosie is a Cocker Spaniel. She's 12 years old. And here she is in a photo looking very, very wise and sensible.
[4:23] She's not always wise and sensible. But what I'm going to do in this game is I am going to give you lots of pairs of things. But the thing is, Rosie only likes one of them.
[4:39] So I'm going to give you two things, but Rosie only likes one of them. And you have to pick which one you think that she likes. So only one answer is right.
[4:50] And so we'll go through them one by one. So first of all, as a puppy, did Rosie like to chew table legs or to eat shoelaces?
[5:03] Okay. So hands up for chewing table legs. Okay. Okay. Hands up for chewing shoelaces. The answer is shoelaces.
[5:16] She used to chew shoelaces. In fact, one time I was just about to come to church, went upstairs, put my shoes on, no laces. They had been chewed. It made for a very interesting toilet time with Rosie.
[5:29] But anyway, that's another story. Right. Good. So you got the idea of the game. Right. Next pair. Does Rosie like to eat egg or corn on the cob? Okay.
[5:40] Egg or corn on the cob? Who thinks egg? Right. Okay. Interesting. Who thinks corn on the cob? Well, the answer is corn on the cob. She does not like egg at all.
[5:52] She will not eat egg, but she loves corn on the cob. Okay. So third pair. Does Rosie like putting her head out of the car window or swimming in water?
[6:08] Okay. Putting her head out the car window or swimming in water? Who thinks head out the window? Okay. Solid support. Who thinks swimming in water? The answer is head out the window.
[6:22] Rosie loves sticking her head out the window and her lips are all over the place. She loves it. That's one of her favorite things. Okay. Rosie also likes to relax.
[6:34] Do you think that Rosie likes to lie in front of the stove or in front of the TV? Okay. Does Rosie like to lie in front of the stove or the TV? Who thinks stove? Strong support.
[6:45] Who thinks TV? Okay. One or two. Well, I'm afraid the one or two are wrong. It's the stove. Rosie loves lying in front of the stove. In fact, if you imagine that this is the stove and it's really hot, Rosie puts her nose there, right beside it.
[6:58] She loves being right up to the sea. Okay. Next one. Does Rosie like going into the sea or going to the peats? Okay.
[7:10] So who thinks into the sea? Okay. A few. Who thinks going to the peats? The answer is going to the peats. In fact, that photo is taken at the peats. Rosie adores the peats.
[7:21] She's a bit scared of the sea. So she kind of doesn't go into it very much. Does Rosie like to play fetch? Throw the ball and she gets it. Or does Rosie like to go for a spin in the car?
[7:33] She only likes one of them. Which one do you think? Who thinks fetch? Okay. A few. Who thinks spin in the car? The answer is spin in the car. See, with Rosie, if you throw the ball for her, she's like, what am I supposed to do?
[7:47] She's hopeless at fetch. No idea what it is. If you throw a ball at her, it'll just bounce off her nose. But she loves going in the car. Okay. I've got two or three more. Right.
[7:57] This is an example of Rosie being naughty. Right. This is an example of her doing things that she's not allowed to do. Right. But she only likes to do one of these things. Does Rosie like to lie on the spare room bed or on the kitchen table?
[8:17] Okay. Who thinks spare room bed? Who thinks kitchen table? The answer is kitchen table. And don't worry. We clean it very thoroughly when it happens.
[8:29] But sometimes you come home and you find Rosie lying on the kitchen table. Ridiculous. So it has to get a good clean after that. Okay. Does Rosie like being scratched on her back or does she be like rubbed on her tummy?
[8:42] Okay. Who thinks scratched on her back? Okay. One or two. Who thinks rubbed on her tummy? Oh, you're right. You know Rosie quite well. She loves being rubbed on her tummy. Oh, yeah.
[8:53] I've got a couple more, actually. Does Rosie like it when she sees suitcases or when she sees wellies? She likes one of them, but only one. Does she like seeing suitcases or wellies?
[9:05] Who thinks suitcases? Okay. One or two. Who thinks wellies? Wellies. See, you should be understanding that ties in with the peats. Rosie hates suitcases because she thinks that we're going to go away and she does not like it at all.
[9:18] What she does when she sees suitcases is that she decides to get into the car because she's like, if you're going on holiday, I'm coming, which doesn't always work out for Rosie, but she loves wellies and gets super excited.
[9:30] And last of all, does Rosie like to chase rabbits or does she like to chase birds? Hmm. What do you think? Right? Who thinks rabbits? Who thinks birds? The answer is rabbits.
[9:42] She loves chasing rabbits. She probably doesn't even know what a bird is. So that's Rosie. Okay. So you did very well, actually. I was quite impressed. But part of that game is to show you that actually, you know, it's hard to know everything about what Rosie likes, what Rosie doesn't like.
[9:59] If that's true of Rosie, it's absolutely true of all of us. We don't always know what each other likes. There's a lot that we don't know about one another.
[10:11] But one of the big things the Bible teaches us about Jesus is that he does know. That Jesus does know us. And that's one of the things that's been revealed to us when we see Jesus, you know, beautifully show these disciples that he knows what they're going to find.
[10:29] There are many other examples of that where Jesus reveals not just that he knows what's going to happen, but that he knows about us, about our lives. And so Jesus knows what we like. He knows the things that mean a lot to us.
[10:42] He knows our hopes and our desires, our dreams. He knows the things that make us happy. He knows the things that are important to us. He knows what we like. Jesus also knows what we don't like.
[10:53] So he knows our worries and our fears and our sadness. And most importantly, Jesus knows what we need.
[11:04] And he knows what to do. And so we can come to him no matter what you're feeling. And boys and girls and grownups, I always want you to know this, that you can come to Jesus with everything he knows and he will help us.
[11:20] One of the things that you'll discover if you read through the Gospels, if you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you'll discover something fascinating. Jesus never, ever has to guess. He never has to guess anything.
[11:33] He's never unsure of anything. He's never taken by surprise by anything. And that's part of what makes him an amazing king. Never forget that Jesus is the king who knows.
[11:45] He's also the king who cares. We're going to play another game. Okay. This game is called First Word That Comes Into Your Mind. Okay.
[11:56] So sometimes I'm going to ask you things. You need to think of the first word that comes into your mind when I mention a few things. I've got a list of five or six things here. What's the first thing that comes into your mind?
[12:06] So what's the first word that comes into your mind when I say school? What are you going to tell me? School. Okay. Well, another word, alternative word.
[12:18] What's that word that comes into your mind? Day. Good. Very good. Any others? What else comes into your mind when you say school? What do you think, Lewis? Maths. Good answer. Maddie, what do you think? Reading.
[12:29] Good. Excellent. Very, very good. Excellent. This is good. Any others? No? Good. Okay. Right. Oh, James, what do you think? Homework. Oh, exactly. Oh, exactly. That's the first word that comes into your mind.
[12:39] Okay. What's the first word that comes into your mind when I say summer? Sunshine. Sunshine. That's a great example. That's an optimistic example as well. This is good. What else?
[12:50] Summer. What do you think, Maddie? Heat. This is good. Ian, what do you think? Holidays. Fantastic. Any others? What comes to your mind, Leo? Good.
[13:02] Plain. Very good. That's excellent. That's excellent. That's a very good example. Okay. What's the first word that comes to your mind when I say carly? Church. Excellent. What do you think?
[13:13] What do you think, Maddie? Say later. I'll come back to you. Maddie? Football. Football. Football. Football. Yes. Good choice.
[13:24] Very good choice. Any others? First word that comes into your carly? One of the... The sheep. Yes. Loads of sheep in carly. That's a very good example.
[13:35] What do you think, Mike? Wedding. Wedding. There's a wedding coming up in carly? Definitely. One of the words that comes into my mind when I say carly is home. Lots of good words. What's the first word that comes into your mind when I say World Cup?
[13:49] What do you think, Linus? Scotland. Yes. Some people here are thinking, oh, I'm tired. That's the first word that comes into their mind when I say World Cup. What do you think? Two o'clock in the morning. Two o'clock in the morning.
[14:00] Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I have to say, well done to everybody who watched the football and has come to church. That's very good. I've got a couple more. What's the first word that comes into your mind when I say Sunday Club?
[14:11] Sunday. Children. Children. Excellent. That's very good. Any other words, Linus? The Bible. Excellent. Great example. Mary? Singing. Fantastic. These are all brilliant things.
[14:23] And last of all, right? Last of all, what's the first word that comes into your mind when I say Jesus? There's lots of things that can come into your mind. What's the first word that comes into your mind when I say Jesus?
[14:35] Cross. Great. Yes. Good. Good. Burn. Saving. Excellent. Esther? Loving.
[14:46] Excellent. Very good. Great. Fantastic. These are all brilliant answers. Brilliant answers. And there's, oh, do you have one, Lily? Love hearts. Excellent. That's very good.
[14:57] Very, very good. So, there's lots of words that could come into our minds with Jesus. And you guys had some great examples there. The cross and loving. We think of sin.
[15:08] We think of all that Jesus has come to deal with. We think of Jesus as king. We think of him as savior. All of these things come into our minds. But one of the really interesting things in this passage that we read today is that there's two remarkable things that we see that might not be the first things that we think about when we think of Jesus.
[15:29] And the first of those is in verse 41. And the second is in verse 45. In verse 41, it says that Jesus wept. And that's maybe not the first thing that we think of when we think of Jesus.
[15:43] It's not the first thing I think of. Jesus weeping. And then, in verse 45, we see Jesus causing really quite a big mess and a big commotion in the temple.
[15:56] So, we wouldn't think of Jesus crying very often. And we certainly wouldn't think of Jesus going into the temple and making a mess and driving people out. And you think, why is he doing these two things? Well, in these two incidents, we see Jesus weeping and we see him warning people about the mistakes that he made.
[16:17] And neither of those things feel very nice. If we're weeping or if we see other people weeping, then it's not nice to see that. And getting a warning is not nice either. You're like, oh, I don't like being told that I'm doing something wrong.
[16:31] But weeping and warning are actually very, very important because they're telling you something crucial. They're telling you that this person cares.
[16:43] You only weep when you care about something. And you only warn when you care about something. And that's why Jesus does these things. He weeps because he cares.
[16:55] And he warns the people at the temple because he cares. And that's reminding us something very special about Jesus. That he'll never, ever say to anyone, I don't care.
[17:07] I'm not interested. Jesus shows amazing care. And his care for us is very, very personal. And that's one of the big things I want you all to remember.
[17:18] That Jesus cares about you. Cares about all the different parts of your life. Cares about all the things that might be worrying you. Anything that you ever find difficult. Jesus cares.
[17:29] He cares about the choices that you make. He cares about the plans that you have for your life. And he cares about all the things that happen. Sometimes we can go through life and it might feel at times that people don't care for us very much.
[17:41] Jesus is never like that. Jesus is always the king who cares. So Jesus is the king who knows. Jesus is the king who cares. And last of all, and maybe most of all, the passage shows us that Jesus is the king who has come.
[17:58] When John began the reading, he read the heading which says, The Triumphal Entry. And this is what's been recorded for us here. It's what's often known as. That Jesus comes into Jerusalem.
[18:09] He makes an entry. And the people are recognizing that he is the king. God's king has finally come. And you can see these words in verse 38. They're saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
[18:23] The big emphasis is that God's king has finally come. And we need to recognize just what that means. And just what Jesus has come to do for us.
[18:34] And so in order to see that, we're going to play one last game that's called OK or No Way. OK? OK or No Way. So I'm going to show you a few different things on the screen.
[18:48] And you have to decide whether you would like to do this thing or not. So if you'd like to do it, then you're an OK. So I want the thumbs up. And if you do not want to do it, you're a No Way. And it's thumbs down.
[18:59] So I'm going to give you a few options. You need to tell me what you think. That's your choices. OK or No Way. Bungee jumping. OK or No Way. OK. I'm seeing a lot of No Ways here.
[19:11] OK. A few OKs. Yeah. A few OKs. OK. But most No. OK. Fair enough. Good choice. I think I probably would be an OK. I don't know if I would have the guts to do it.
[19:22] But I would love to try it. Roller coaster. OK or No Way. OK. Quite a few OKs. Quite a few OKs. I'll tell you something. When I was young, I would have been the first OK.
[19:33] Now I'm a No Way. Because if I go on a roller coaster, I feel sick for about a week. And I just can't do it anymore. Which I feel very disappointed about. But that just makes me feel sick.
[19:44] OK. Here's an interesting one. Going on like a rope bridge. OK. OK or No Way. I'm seeing a few OKs. Yeah.
[19:55] A couple in the middle. Some OKs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A couple of No Ways as well. I think I would do that. I would be an OK for that. I would like that. OK. Here's one. Singing on your own in front of the whole school.
[20:10] No. Look. Some of you can do this. Some of you have done this. I'm never doing that. No way. Oh. That would be so scary. But some of you can do that.
[20:22] And you've done it really well. Which is amazing. OK. Here's another one. Jumping off the pier into the sea. OK. Or No Way. No Way.
[20:33] Irene. No Way. I'm absolutely OK for that one. That's very good. That is actually Carloway Pier. Look at that. It just looks so inviting.
[20:45] OK. Next one. Cleaning out a dirty pigsty. OK. Or No Way. I'm seeing most No Ways here. One or two OKs.
[20:57] One or two OKs. OK. A few No Ways. Pretty good. OK. Here's the next one. This is maybe the most controversial one of all. There's a spider in the bath. You going to get it out?
[21:10] You going to get the spider out of the bath? Yeah. There's definitely a few OKs. And there's definitely some No Ways here. There you go. A spider in the bathroom.
[21:21] OK. And then this last one is very topical for where we live. Would you eat a plate of Guka? OK.
[21:33] I'm seeing a few No Ways and I'm seeing a few mouths just watering with the thumbs up. Guka. OK. No. I would do it. I would have it. No bother.
[21:44] Excellent. OK. Or No Way. Right? This was very good. Very, very good. OK. Right. Why did I tell you that? Why did we play that funny game? Well, this is why.
[21:56] When it comes to Jesus saving his people, when it comes to Jesus having to go to the cross, when it comes to Jesus taking all of our sins on his shoulders, when it comes to Jesus experiencing all the pain and suffering and sorrow that the cross would involve, even though Jesus knows and knew just how hard that would be, he said, OK, I'll do it.
[22:26] He said, OK, I'll do it. And that is because Jesus is the perfect king.
[22:40] Sometimes kings hide. Now, by that, I don't just mean kings, you know, like kind of old-fashioned kings with a crown. I mean people who are in charge. So that can be rulers or it even can be, you know, a boss at work or something like that.
[22:55] People hide. In other words, if something goes wrong or if something bad happens or if there's danger, they send other people to go and face it. And they'll hide. Maybe in their office.
[23:06] Maybe in their buildings. Maybe in their house. Other people have to go and face the danger. There are often kings, leaders, even bosses at work. Avoid responsibility.
[23:19] When things are hard, they'll take a step back and other people suffer in their place. Never, Jesus. Jesus never does that.
[23:31] Instead, he's the one who goes and does everything that we need. And that takes us back to a question from the catechism. How does Jesus execute the office of a king?
[23:44] He does so by subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. So when it says Jesus subdues us, that means that he helps us to see that he is in charge.
[23:59] And often our biggest mistakes come from us thinking that we're in charge. But we're not. Jesus is. And because Jesus is in charge, he takes responsibility for what we need.
[24:11] So he doesn't sort of say, oh, well, I'm in charge. Go sort yourself out. He says, I'm in charge. I'll take care of it. I'll do what needs to be done. And that's the amazing thing about Jesus.
[24:23] He's never in charge and unkind. He's only ever in charge and impeccably good. He's strong and kind, as we sang. Jesus rules and defends us.
[24:35] That means that he directs us and he defends us. He protects us. And so he shows us the right path for our lives. He steers us away from things that are harmful.
[24:47] And he points us in the direction where we're going to thrive. And he also protects us. Jesus keeps his people safe. And that's his amazing promise that if you're a Christian or if you become one, Jesus is your defender.
[25:00] If anybody is going to get you, they've got to go through Jesus. That's never going to happen. And in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies, that's pointing us to the fact that Jesus has come to win victory over sin and death.
[25:15] That's the big enemy. Sin, Satan, death. That's the big enemy. And Jesus, by dying on the cross and rising again, has conquered that enemy.
[25:26] And he's won victory for us. The big thing that all of us have to think about is that we all have a king. If it's not Jesus, it's someone else.
[25:38] And it's always important to think, well, okay, if I think about the most dominant influences in my life, are they going to be in charge of me? Are they going to direct me and protect me?
[25:50] Are they going to give me hope? And the big point is that the alternatives to Jesus will always let us down. The alternatives to Jesus will always move on from us.
[26:02] Jesus never will. And the reason he will never let us down is because he's the king who knows, he's the king who cares, and he's the king who has come.
[26:13] The last thing I want to say is this, and this is for all of us here to think about. I think for everybody here, it's fair to say that Jesus' seed, if you like, is in all of our hearts.
[26:27] That we've heard the gospel, we've learned about Jesus, and the Bible describes that message as seed. And that seed has come into our hearts. We know it, we're learning about it, and some of us have known that for a long time.
[26:40] Jesus' seed is in many of our hearts. I also think it's the case that in every heart here, there is respect for Jesus. I think that's true of everybody here, that in our hearts, we'll find God's seed, the message of the gospel.
[26:55] In all of our hearts, we'll find respect for God. But I want to ask you the question, that if you look into your heart, will you also find Jesus' throne?
[27:10] In other words, are we willing to say, Lord Jesus, you are my king. And I know that nobody else can defend me and protect me like you can.
[27:25] And I want to follow you in my life. Jesus is the king who knows, the king who cares, he's the king who's come, and he's the king who's calling all of us to follow him.
[27:37] Amen. Let's pray.