Open the Gates

1. Behold, Your King Is Coming to You

We have affirmed some awesome and incredible things this morning in the songs that we’ve sung about the king, the king most high. And he will hear our cry. He is a priest for heir on his throne, and he is indeed great and good. I want you to know this king. I want you to appreciate who he indeed is. I want you to marvel at the mighty king who rides into the great city of Jerusalem to be offered as a sacrificial lamb for the sins of the people. They’re approaching Jerusalem. They arrive near the Mount of Olives, and two disciples are sent into the city. Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says something to you shall say, The Lord has need of them. And immediately he will send them. The other accounts bear witness to that event unfolding exactly like Jesus said. Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them. That’s always a wise course. And brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments on which he sat. And most of the multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road, and the multitudes going before him, and those who followed after were crying out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest promised Savior comes into the great city. And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred. I love that. Who is this? And the multitudes were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. This event had been promised long ago. How specifically you ask? Well, even if you don’t ask, I’m going to tell you. A promise was made in future times that no oppressor will pass over them anymore. Oppression will be vanquished. They might have thought in terms of physical enemies, other nations that would come and threaten the holy city as they had done for ages. That is not the nature of the oppression that will be no more.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout in triumph, your king is coming to you. That’s the passage that was quoted. Humble and mounted on a donkey. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off. This isn’t about what you think it’s about. And he will speak peace to the nations. And his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. Total, extensive, universal reign. Chapter 14, and two of my favorite passages in Zechariah, the promise is made. It will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. That’s Jesus’ whole point in John 4 to the Samaritan woman at the well.

You ask of me, and I will give you living waters. Living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. And the Lord, verse 9, will be king over all the earth in that day. The Lord will be the only one, and his name, the only one. And I affirm to you today that king is the king Most High.

2. Lift Up Your Heads, O Gates

And his name is the only one to this day. In the ancient world, when kings approached the city, the gates were opened. Celebration and acknowledgement ensued. And so it was in Matthew 21. I chose this picture of the gate to the city of Toledo. And one of the reasons why I chose it was the best picture that I could find. And because of the expression, holy Toledo. It’s holy for our purposes today. Imagine the king as he comes to the gate of the city, and everything halts, and all the attention is focused on the arrival of the greatest man in the kingdom. The leader, the Savior, the one who wields ultimate authority. But Jesus is different. The great king comes clothed in humility without the royal procession that was so common to the arrival of the king, but the city had never stirred like it stirred that day.

There’s another passage that anticipates the arrival of the great king into the city. It is a Psalm of David. I would like to read with you from Psalm 24. Perhaps you know verse 1, you’ve heard it before. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in his holy place? Pay attention. The answer is coming. You need to be concerned with this answer. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, who has not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Boy, there are echoes there that we hear in James about how the humble are exalted, and that we must cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Or that the righteousness of God is reckoned to those who believe in Romans chapter 4. Echoes of these thoughts in Psalm 24. This is the generation of those who seek him who seek thy face, even Jacob. And then this lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Gory may come in. David, the great king, is not the hero of this story. He is not as great as he was, the great king who is entering the city in this psalm. Prophetically, poetically, David anticipates the coming of a greater king.

King of glory. Who is? Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors. Get ready. Here comes the King. Lift up the gates. Open the doors. That the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. Mocked with a purple robe and a crown of thorns spat upon, ridiculed, laughed at, the humble king goes to the cross, pay the price for the sins of the whole world, and he rose from the dead. When he rose from the dead, the king of glory, King of Glory entered the gates. King of glory, Hosanna to the King of Kings.

The victory had been won. He is now the captain of heaven’s armies.

3. Open the Gates for the Great King

On his head are many diadems, and he will come in wrath. The fierce wrath of Almighty God, as he treads the wine press of his wrath against all those who stubbornly, persistently reject and oppose his rule and defy the living God. The King of glory has come in. In light of that, in light of the great King, it is essential that we open the gates for the great King. When the King comes to the gates, when the King of glory approaches, gates most certainly should open. Everything that’s going on in the city should halt. All eyes should be focused on him. Our eyes need to be focused on him, and that’s what the Hebrew writer says in Hebrews chapter 12. Why we should lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us?

Running with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on him, the author of our faith. It originates with him. We have our faith because of him. And thanks be to God, he is the finisher. He is the perfecter. He will make us perfect and complete in him. He finishes the work as well as begins it. We better stay focused on the great King of glory. How are you doing? How will you do tomorrow? How will you do this week? Will you keep your eyes trained on him? You see, there’s something about Psalm 24. And that is that he deserves access to everything. Just like David, the king deserved access to the city. This king, the king of glory, he deserves access to everything, and he will have it.

Because the whole world. See, that’s where the earlier parts of the Psalm come in. Because the whole earth is his. That point is affirmed throughout the Old Testament over and over again. The cattle upon a thousand hills is mine. You think I need these sacrifices? You think it does something for me? Provides something I don’t have? No, that’s not what it’s about. It’s really for you, the worshiper. That’s the point he’s making in Psalm 50. You’re not doing me a favor by being here. This is about what you need. This is about what is best for you. I can have any animal that I want. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains. And remarkably, because that is true, he wants a relationship with me and you.

Marvelous. Marvelous grace, infinite grace. That king wants anything to do with me. But you must be his on his terms. He requires a holy you.

4. Open the Gates. Surrender.

It is according to his great mercy that he has caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because the merciful King, the King of glory has come in through the gates. We can have hope. Every day is a potential day of new beginning for us. A fresh start. What’s in your past? What have you done that’s not befitting service to the great King, the King of glory? Isn’t it amazing? That all of that, whatever preceded April 28th, 2019, can be jettisoned. And we can start fresh and anew as his new creation. We can rectify the horrible atrocities of our spiritual past and start over again. What kind of a kingdom is this? An incredible one. Open the gates. Surrender.

Invest your heart and your mind. Set your affections on things above and not on things of this earth where Christ is, the King of glory. Hearts which were once corrupt can be cleansed and used as instruments of devotion and service to his majesty. And I would suggest to you that is the basis of the appeals in Ephesians chapter 5. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ on the basis of all that he is in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Open the gates of allegiance. Open the gates of praise and thanksgiving today, and let the King of glory reign in your hearts. That’s where he intends to reign. It occurs to me, though, that so often we are hesitant to do just that. Stingy. Questioning. Is that really the best thing to do? To let the King of Glory reign in my heart. Don’t tell me you’ve never doubted it. I’m just not sure that’s really the optimal choice. The best way to live. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Yeah, there’s some work involved there. So that’s that’s part of the rub here. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

You see, we’re stingy and hesitating and questioning because we have been unwilling to go and let the king of glory rule so that we could really prove how valuable and helpful and good and exalting, living the word of God, the word of the king really is. Open the gates. Open your lips to confession of the great king. Tommy Peeler, my friend, teacher at Florida College, classmate many years ago. I love Tommy’s Facebook presence, the things that he does. A mix of praise to God, devotion to him, and incredibly funny stories. He talked about yesterday going to the 7 Eleven to get gas, and he goes in and pays the clerk $16, which I find that interesting. But if you know Tommy, why just $16? That’s probably all he had.

But so he gives the clerk $16 to put in his car. And he sees a guy in there in a Cleveland Indians t-shirt. And so he strikes up and he says, I like your shirt. And the guy engages him in conversation. He said, I just throw things out there and see if they want to talk. And so he said, Yeah, my brother, my brother used to play for the Cleveland Indians. Oh, really? What was his name? Dwight Gooden. Doc Gooden. Now, some of you don’t know who that is. But pretty big name in baseball. This was Doc Gooden’s brother. So they have a conversation. Tommy goes out to his Bible, and he’s done this several times recently. He gets a Bible. I think he has a stack of Bibles in the back of his car.

Hands the guy a Bible and say, Hey, would you read your Bible? Would you read this Bible if I gave it to you? He said, Yeah. I’d read it.

And he was just so overwhelmed by the whole conversation experience that he drove off from the 7-Eleven and never pumped his gas. And so he said that oh, I turn around and go back, and thankfully no one had come to the pump and taken his $16 of gas. That’s a classic.

Basically, all I’m doing this morning is telling you.

5. Utterly Foolish to Shun This King

And you need never forget that. Don’t ever devalue him or the importance of what we’re doing right here, right now. In praise of the most awesome king that has ever been. Hesitant, questioning, stingy. I’m here to tell you. It is utterly foolish to shun this king. Have you noticed that in our reading of the Proverbs? You knew I was going to try to fit that in, right? How many passages talk about the wisdom of this path, the foolishness of rejecting wisdom over and over again. There’s a reason why that’s repeated. Because intellectually we may know it’s true, but in experience is another matter altogether. Hey, did you notice the manger proverb was in our reading this week? From a previous couple of sermons, Proverbs 14 and verse 4, I believe that was the last verse.

I was going to read some from Proverbs 13, but you’ve already read it, right? The reading for the last couple of weeks, I was going to show you some of the flavor of the wisdom versus the path of foolishness. This wisdom emanates from the king. Isn’t it odd that people often reject the thing that they need the most? Vegetables. Fruits and vegetables. I know hamburgers and French fries and macaroni and cheese. I know how good those things are. I like them too. But you need your fruits and vegetables. And I use that simple illustration, and our kids are going, no. Broccoli, are you serious? It’s a plant. It’s not food. I know I really struggled with broccoli myself for a long time. And I still really don’t like it that much.

I eat it, but I don’t like it that much. Not Brussels sprouts, though. No. There are ways to get around this. I’ll talk to you later about that. But you have to have fruits and vegetables in some form. If not, hamburgers and fruit fries are going to kill you. They’re going to kill you. Rejecting the king is far worse. Resistant to the only one who truly satisfies. Resistant to the one that we need in every way. We need him in every moment in both our joys and our sorrows. And how absolutely utterly foolish it is to tenaciously cling to deprived and depraved. I mean, you think about the absurdity of that. Oh no, not him. I don’t want that. I don’t want the commitment that’s required to serve the king.

Conclusion

Cleanse my hands, holy hands to ascend into his hill. No, thank you. I’m going to do it my way because I like deprived and depraved. That’s what do those terms mean? Look them up when you get home. That’s really the nature of the choice. I reject the king. I’ll stay with deprived and depraved. You’re depriving yourself. And you remain locked in your evil, depraved, destructive. Course. In conclusion, I admonish you to enter the entourage and procession of the great king today. It occurs to me when I teach this today, as the king, as the gates are open and the king of glory comes in, that really the invitation is for us to get in the procession and to ride the coattails of the king to glory.

That’s the gospel message. Ride his coattails.

Get on board. Trust him to lead the campaign to victory and endless bliss. Trust his word, trust his wisdom. Do not trust your own desires and ways. Adopt him. And then once you’ve done that, and I’m talking to a bunch of people who have done that, if not most everybody here today, you must not give up on the king. Ever. I will not give up on the king. Let the savior in. Let the savior in. Let him in. Let him in. Let him in.

Let him be your friend. He, your soul, will sure defend. I believe that. He is standing right now. The King of glory. He is standing at your door. He, your joy. He will restore. Come to the King. While we stand and say.