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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew 21, our focus this morning 
is on the second part of the cleansing of the temple. Last 
week we considered specifically verses 13 and 12 and 13 when 
our Lord went in and drove out all those who bought and sold 
in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers 
and the seats of those who sold doves. We saw how the Lord Jesus 
does this in accordance with the prophet Isaiah. in chapter 
56 verse 7 concerning the real purpose of God's house, and then 
Jeremiah 7 and verse 11, the reality that the people of God, 
or the professing people of God, had engaged in hypocrisy. So 
this morning we'll pick up verses 14 to 17, but I do want to read 
beginning in chapter 21 at verse 1. Now when they drew near Jerusalem 
and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Then Jesus sent 
two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite 
you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt 
with her. Loose them and bring them to 
me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord 
has need of them. And immediately he will send 
them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which 
was spoken by the prophet saying, tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, 
your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, 
the foal of a donkey. So the disciples went and did 
as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the 
colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them. And a very 
great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut 
down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 
Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed 
cried out, saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is 
he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. When he had come into Jerusalem, 
all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? So the multitude 
said, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Then 
Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who 
bought and sold in the temple. and overturned the tables of 
the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And 
he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house 
of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Then the 
blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed 
them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful 
things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and 
saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and 
said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said 
to them, yes, have you never read out of the mouth of babes 
and nursing infants, you have perfected praise. Then he left 
them and went out of the city to Bethany and he lodged there. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for this time to gather together. We pray for 
the ministry of your Holy Spirit now to guide, to illumine, and 
to instruct us. May we marvel and stand amazed 
at the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Son of David, the 
one who is worthy to be praised and glorified and honored. We 
ask that you would forgive us for all of our sins and our transgressions, 
that you would cleanse us in that precious blood. The prophet 
said, in that day there will be a fountain open for sin and 
uncleanness. And certainly those of us who 
know this grace are more appreciative each and every day. As Newton 
said, I know two things. I am a great sinner, but Christ 
is a great savior. And in this, our God, we rejoice 
and we pray that now we would admire this one who came from 
heaven to save his people from their sins. And we thank you 
that he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead 
and to take his people into that eternal bliss with Father, Son, 
and Spirit. We pray as well for any and all 
who are outside of Christ that today would be the day of salvation. 
God, we pray that you would grant your Spirit powerfully, bring 
the conviction of sin that is necessary, and bring that faith 
so that sinners can close with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we 
pray this in his most blessed name, Well, as we have considered 
several times, our Lord in His ministry announced that He would 
go to Jerusalem, and now He is in Jerusalem. He makes this triumphal 
entry recorded in the first part of Matthew chapter 21 in fulfillment 
of the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah, specifically Zechariah 9.9, tell 
the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you. lowly 
and sitting on a donkey, a cult, the foal of a donkey. The people 
respond to that by crying out, Hosanna to the son of David. 
And most likely the people that were crying out were Galileans 
who had come down from the north at the same time that Jesus had 
in order to be in Jerusalem for the Passover feast. And of course 
the people that dwell in Jerusalem ask the question, who is this 
man? And they ask it not what is his 
name or what is his, you know, background, but what manner of 
man is this? I mean the people are praising, 
the people are celebrating, the people are saying that he is 
indeed the son of David. And on the heels of that, in 
verse 11, they announce that this is Jesus, the prophet from 
Nazareth of Galilee. And as a prophet, Christ now 
comes to the temple. And in a manner very similar 
to the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord Jesus Christ brings an indictment 
and he brings judgment to bear upon those who are prostituting 
the worship of the living God. Remember, Jesus does this in 
fulfillment of several passages, most notably Malachi chapter 
3 and the messenger. Whom you seek will come to his 
house or to his temple and he will bring judgment. So the Lord 
Christ brings purity or cleansing to be sure. But remember, he's 
also signifying or foreshadowing a judgment that is ultimately 
to come upon Jerusalem. And so Jesus drives these people 
out and now we pick up the narrative specifically in verses 14 to 
17 where we notice two specifics. First the healing of the blind 
and the lame after this activity in which he drives out the money 
changers. So the healing of the blind and 
the lame and then in the next place the anger of the religious 
leaders. You were living in Galilee or 
in Jerusalem rather in the first century. you certainly wouldn't 
want to invite these Pharisees to your party. I mean, they're 
a real bummer. These men are a real drag. These men are a real downer. They are indignant with the Lord 
Christ, not because he flipped tables over, not because he drove 
money changers out, not because he indicted the people for their 
wretchedness in conducting themselves as criminals, and yet seeking 
refuge in the house of God. No, what really angers the Pharisees 
is that our beloved Christ heals the blind and the lame. What 
really angers these Pharisees is that our beloved Christ is 
the object of infant praise. As I said, these are the sorts 
of men you certainly don't want to invite. to your happy event 
because they'll rain all over it. But note in the first place 
the healing of the blind and the lame. Verse 14, then the 
blind and the lame came to him in the temple. Now, as I mentioned 
before, Matthew and Jesus know the Old Testament a whole lot 
better than we do. When we read this particular 
statement in this particular context, it might cause us to 
consider another passage in the Old Testament. 2 Samuel chapter 
5. 2 Samuel chapter 5 is an interesting 
portion of scripture because it there tells us that David 
assumes the kingdom or the throne, not just in Judah, but also over 
all Israel. So David consolidates power in 
terms of the northern tribes and in terms of the southern 
tribes. And then intriguingly enough, they go into Jerusalem 
in order to conquer Jerusalem and to set that place up as the 
political and religious capital of Israel. If you look at a map, 
it makes a lot of sense. Jerusalem is about right in the 
middle, so you've got access to both north and south. But 
before they can take the city, there's a group of people called 
the Jebusites. They were the ones that originally 
inhabited Jerusalem. Now, obviously, the Jebusites 
didn't want David to take their city. You all get that, right? 
You're a Jebusite, you're chilling in Jerusalem, and David comes 
along to take it from you. You're going to try and resist 
him. And it's intriguing because the 
Jebusites sort of chide or jeer at David. They said, even our 
lame and our blind will be able to keep you out of the city. 
It's kind of an interesting thing. We'll send the weakest. We'll 
send the most miserable. We'll send the ones that have 
no strength whatsoever. And they'll be able to keep you 
out of Jerusalem. Well, of course, David and his 
men go in and utterly destroy the Jebusites and they conquer 
Jerusalem. And as a result, David refers 
to the lying and the blame that his soul hated, or at least the 
author does. Now, I don't believe that David 
hated lame and blind men. I really don't believe that. 
I believe he was a man full of compassion. It's probably a reference 
to the jeering Jebusites. They function like these lame 
and blind men. Some of the older commentators 
say the blame... I keep wanting to say the blame 
and the mind. The lame and the blind, they were the idols of 
the Jebusites, but I think it's more appropriate to see them 
as the Jebusites themselves. And then a proverb developed 
that the lame and the blind were no longer allowed in the house. Now I can't refer to the temple 
because they've just conquered Jerusalem and haven't built the 
temple yet. Could it have been a reference 
to David's house? Whose house? We don't know. But later interpreters, 
and in fact the Qumran community specifically interpreted that 
passage literally and would not allow the lame and the blind 
to go into the temple. There's a prohibition in Leviticus 
21 that lame and blind men could not function as priests. There's 
nothing written in terms of keeping them out of the temple. So what 
some have speculated or have seen in this particular passage, 
again, not suggesting that David was a wretch who went out of 
his way to hurt the lame and the blind, But in light of the 
fact that that statement in 2 Samuel 5 had been applied in such a 
way as to keep the lame and the blind out of the house of God, 
what the author is doing here is showing us that David's greater 
son is in fact present. If it was the case at one point 
in time that lame men and blind men were kept out of the house 
under Christ the Lord, such is not the case. Under Christ the 
Lord, He heals them. Under Christ the Lord, He gives 
them blessing. He gives them sight and He gives 
them health to their legs. Certainly the people seem to 
understand it this way because the children, the babies, the 
infants, They list the praise once again. Hosanna to the son 
of David. The messianic overtones in this 
particular section of Holy Scripture is huge. Christ is the Davidic 
son. Christ is the one promised in 
2 Samuel 7. Christ is the one that will be 
stationed upon a throne and his kingdom will have no end. Christ has come and he has announced 
this by coming on a donkey and here by his reception of the 
blind and the lame. And as well, notice, with reference 
to these blind and lame, they came to him in the temple. You 
saw this in Matthew 20 at the end of the chapter when Jesus 
heals those two blind men. Remember when Jesus calls them 
to himself and he says, what do you want? And they said, we 
want to see. That's just unheard of. No one 
stops you in the street. A homeless man doesn't stop you 
in the street and say, I need something. And when you ask him, 
what is it that you need or want? I want to see. He knows that 
you can't do that. The best he's going to get is 
$5 or $10 or $20, depending on how generous you feel at that 
particular time. But these men ask specifically 
of the Son of David that they can see, that they would have 
sight, that they would have vision. And in the same way, these blind 
men, these lame men, they come to Him in the temple. And then 
notice what the end of verse 14 says. Something we expect 
as we follow Jesus' history in Matthew's Gospel. And He healed 
them. It's amazing, isn't it? This 
is the last public healing in the Gospel of Matthew. There's 
been a whole bunch of them prior to this, especially in that section 
of Matthew chapter 9, but here specifically, He heals these 
blind men. He heals these lame men. What 
does this do in the context? It affirms His authority. It 
confirms who He is. Remember I said there are foolish 
preachers today that say or claim that Jesus never asserted that 
he was the Messiah. Jesus conspicuously asserts that 
he is the Messiah by word and in this passage by deed. The 
fact that he comes on the donkey's colt into Jerusalem affirms that 
he is Messiah. The fact that he has now healed 
these blind and these lame in the temple confirms that he is 
the Messiah. Isaiah the prophet in chapter 
35, Isaiah 61.1 already applied to Jesus Christ in Matthew 11.4 
and 5 indicates that the man whom God would send would heal 
people. He would heal the blind, He would 
heal the lame, He would render aid, He would render support, 
He would show Himself the Christ of God Most High. Calvin says, 
in order to proclaim that the rights and honor of Messiah truly 
belong to Him, concerning the healing of these men, for by 
these marks the prophecies describe Him. In other words, imagine 
this. I wander into downtown Chilliwack 
and a group of people start saying, well, it's the son of David. 
Hosanna to the son of David. I can't heal anybody to confirm 
that, can I? I can't heal anyone to affirm 
that or to verify or to validate that. On the heels of the cries 
concerning Hosanna to the son of David, the fact that he gives 
sight to the blind, the fact that he gives the ability to 
walk to the lame, Hopefully the persons around there are understanding 
all too clearly what he is saying. He is saying, I am the Christ 
of God. I am the Messiah prophesied. 
I am the Davidic son promised in 2 Samuel 7 to rule and to 
reign over an eternal kingdom in the glory of my Father. That's 
what's happening in this passage. Gil says which miracles he wrought 
in confirmation of the doctrine he preached. As well, I think 
Matthew is picking up a theme that he's set forth many times 
previously. Who does Jesus target with his 
mercy in the passage? It's not the religious leaders. 
They're indignant with him. And when he departs from them, 
we ought to read that in sort of a judgmental way. If Jesus 
did that today, university students would cry. University students 
would be damaged. They would pout. He turned his 
back on me. That's exactly what he did, and 
it was a mark of judgment. Your safe space notwithstanding, 
or the microaggression you think it was, or the trigger that really 
bothers you. Our Lord Christ overturned tables. Our Lord Christ turned his back 
upon wicked men. Our Lord Christ would not fit 
in a politically correct culture, and neither ultimately should 
his preachers, because they ought not to be prissy dainty men who 
are afraid to press the truth claims of Jesus, but they need 
to cry aloud. They need to, spare not, they 
need to lift up their voices like a trumpet, and they need 
to bring the truth of God's Word to bear, even if people snivel, 
whine, cry, complain, and need therapy. There's a university 
where a man, it was a Wesleyan university, so I suppose it was 
Christian, and one of the students was offended because of a sermon 
out of 1 Corinthians 13. The love chapter. You say, how 
in the world could anybody be offended by that? Well, because 
it made me feel bad because I don't love like I ought. Then repent 
of your sin and shut your mouth and don't ever try to get a preacher 
stopped for proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Jesus 
Christ would not be embraced in our PC culture. Jesus Christ 
would not be welcomed in pulpits today because Jesus Christ had 
the wherewithal to turn his back on the religious leaders. He 
turns his back to them, but notice who he shows mercy to. To the 
downtrodden and poor. to the blind, and to the lame, 
and to the children. Isn't this what he praises the 
Father for in Matthew 11? I bless thee, or I thank thee, 
God, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things 
from the wise and prudent, but you didst reveal them unto babes, 
even so, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in your sight. 
That doesn't necessarily mean people that are six months old, 
but babe-like people. Humble people, the lowly people, 
the downshodden, the poor. Matthew chapter 18, when the 
disciples are jockeying for position. Who's going to be the greatest 
in the kingdom of heaven? What does Jesus do? He grabs 
a child and he sets him in the midst of them. And he says, if 
you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, you need to be like 
this child. Jesus is fleshing this out in 
his own ministry here in Jerusalem. He is demonstrating kindness 
and compassion, not to these religious leaders, Now that's 
not to say if they don't repent, they don't forsake their sin, 
they won't find mercy. Of course they will. Praise God 
Almighty that the Lord Most High not only saves the downtrodden 
and the poor and the wretch, but He also saves the self-righteous 
wretch. He also speaks a word concerning 
the older brother with reference to the prodigal son. In some 
ways, as Davis says, the older brother is one we ought to be 
focused on in the story of the prodigal son. But that's a whole 
different story. But notice, Jesus shows this 
mercy and this grace to the downtrodden and poor. And as well, it is 
an assertion of his authority. And in verse 23, guess what the 
religious leaders are going to deal with him on? By whose authority 
do you do these things? That becomes crucial. That becomes 
sort of the foundation of the framework for the ensuing battles 
between Christ and these religious leaders. Now notice in the second 
place, we've seen the healing of the blind and the lame. Notice 
in the second place the anger of the religious leaders in verses 
15 to 17. When the chief priests and scribes 
saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying 
out in the temple and saying, Hosanna in the son of David, 
they were indignant and said to him, do you hear what these 
are saying? Note the acts they witnessed. 
They saw him turn tables over. They saw him drive money changers 
out. They heard him say that you have 
made my father's house, or my house rather. Notice how Jesus 
does that interchangeably. In John 2.16 he speaks of my 
father's house. Here in Matthew 21 he speaks 
of my house. He had heard that, or they had 
heard him basically denounce their practice and evidence that. You'd think they'd get indignant 
about that. You'd think they'd get angry about that. I'm sure 
they did, but it's expressed here after He heals people and 
after young children praise Him. Isn't that terrible? Have you 
ever seen animosity against Christ and you just wonder, why is that? 
I mean, as Peter describes Jesus in Acts 10 in his sermon before 
Cornelius, he describes Jesus as a man who went about doing 
good. He was a man who went about doing 
good. Why all the hate? Why all the 
opposition? Why all the rejection? Why are 
people indignant? Why are people angry to the fiber 
of their beings with this Jesus who is the Christ? Because while 
he went out doing what was good, he also exposed the evil of that 
which was bad. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, 
the darkness doesn't come to the light, lest its evil deeds 
be exposed. It's the doctrine of sin. It's 
the reality of total depravity. It is the reality of a total 
inability on the part of dead sinners to merit favor with God. 
That's the only thing that can logically explain why grown men 
would be upset when lame people and blind people are healed. 
Think about it, if you were one of the lame and the blind. I 
can see! I can walk! And they're angry 
at the man who did this for you. In Luke's gospel, there's an 
instance where a woman comes to be healed on the Sabbath day. And the Lord Jesus heals her 
in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Do you know how the synagogue 
ruler responds? Oh, isn't it great we've witnessed 
the power and authority of Jesus? Isn't it great that this woman 
who was hunched over with sin for these 18 years has now been 
freed? No, he's indignant and he reproves 
the synagogue and he says, six days you should come to get healed, 
but the seventh is the day of rest. I mean, you talk about 
downer men. You're blind or you're lame in 
the temple. You've been healed by our Christ. 
You're joining the chorus of praise with the Galileans and 
with these babes or these infants or these young people rather, 
people that could voice praise. And then these Pharisees are 
upset at the man who healed you. You probably rubbed your head 
and said, what's the matter here? What do you do? That's what the 
text indicates to us. I'm sorry, verse 15, but when 
the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that 
he had did and the children crying out in the temple and saying, 
Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said 
to him, do you hear what these are saying? Their anger is expressed 
at our Lord Jesus Christ because they saw wonderful things and 
heard children crying out in praise to him. In Mark's gospel, 
11, 18, same passage, parallel passage, 
a couple other details. It says, and the scribes and 
the chief priests heard it and saw, sought rather, how they 
might destroy him. You see what Matthew is doing for 
us here? Matthew is preemptively explaining 
the passion narrative to us. Jesus, according to Matthew 20, 
28, is the son of man who did not come to be served, but to 
serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matthew is starting 
to build the case as to how Jesus will give his life. Because if 
we follow Jesus, the hero, in the narrative up to this point, 
we might be inclined to say, what manner of men would ever 
try and kill him? Who would want to rid the earth 
of a man who heals lame people, a man who heals blind people? 
Who in their right mind would want to destroy somebody who 
walks on the water, who multiplies loaves, who multiplies fish, 
who feeds the poor, who raises the dead? Why in the world would 
anybody want to do that? So Matthew is building the case 
so that by the time we get into the heart of Jerusalem, in the 
heart of the Passion, and we hear these people say, away with 
him, away with him, crucify him, we're tracking, we understand, 
we now know how it is he's going to give his life a ransom for 
many. He's not going to give his life 
in some sanitized way. He's not going to give his life 
on some island. He's not going to give his life 
dying of old age. He's going to give his life in 
a violent and in a bloody manner. He is going to be mocked. He's 
going to be beaten. He's going to be abused. He's 
going to have thorns driven into his head. He's going to be nailed 
to the cross and treated like a criminal. He is going to be 
treated like scum. That's what our Savior does when 
He gives His life a ransom for many. If you are not a Christian 
here this morning, you want to get your minds wrapped around 
that. Sometimes persons say, well, I don't know if I can come 
to Christ. Go to Christ. Christ came into this world, 
sinners to save. Isn't it beautiful? He hails 
the lame and the blind. He receives the praise of children. 
He is a friend to the downtrodden and poor. There's no one more 
downtrodden and poor than an unbelieving sinner. If you hear 
the gospel, by God's grace, believe it. Don't continue in your rejection 
and your rebellion. You may sit this morning as an 
unbeliever condemning the actions of these religious leaders. Why 
would they reject him? Why would they despise him? Why 
would they be indignant in their hearts? But you have to come 
to grips with the reality that you're on their side. You may 
not express it in the same way, you may not show the same anger, 
but there's two groups of people with reference to Christ. Matthew 
12, 30. He who is not with me is against 
me. So if you continue in penitent, 
and you continue in unbelief, and you continue in rejection 
and rebellion, you are on the side of these wretched men that 
would ultimately cry, away with him, away with him, crucify him. 
That's it. There's two positions. There 
is in Christ and there is out of Christ. If you are out of 
Christ this morning, may I plead with you to come to Christ. Why will you die? Why will you 
continue? Why reject the offer of mercy? Why reject the offer of gospel 
blessing? What is it about sin that's so 
tantalizing? What is it about wickedness that 
has your heart? What is it about the prospect 
of hell that doesn't terrify you? The prospect of the wrath 
and fury and judgment of a holy and a righteous God. Oh, don't 
reject Jesus like these men. Don't reject Jesus like these 
men who with bitter anger and hardness of hearts show this 
anger to Him ultimately by calling for crucifixion. But repent, 
believe the gospel, look and live as Jesus Christ says. Just 
as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the 
Son of Man also be lifted up. How was one saved when they got 
bit by those serpents in the book of Numbers? It wasn't by 
their dragging themselves to the brazen cross. or to the brazen 
serpent. It wasn't by them biting out 
and sucking out the venom of the serpents and then coming 
to that brazen serpent. You see, that's how sinners play 
now. Well, I'm told to look and live, but, you know, I gotta 
fix this, and I gotta do this, and I gotta suck out this venom, 
and I gotta fix my leg before I go to that brazen... No, you 
need to come. You need to look and live. That's 
it. You know, we say this probably 
every week. Hopefully your parents say this every night. Hopefully 
you hear it more than even that. Young people, children, believe. Life isn't good outside of Christ. Life is miserable outside of 
Christ. I mean, there is a way which 
seems right unto a man, but its end is destruction. You see, 
sin has a deceiving power and influence over the heart. So 
that running with this group of friends, or smoking this particular 
type of drug, or drinking this particular thing, or pursuing 
this particular idol, you know, there's a sense wherein that 
brings a degree of comfort. But it's lies. It's falsehood. The idol can never deliver spiritual 
benefit. The idol never brings deliverance. The idol never brings redemption. Redemption is to be found in 
Christ alone. And the emphasis in the Bible, 
again, is not drag yourself to the cross, not suck the venom 
out yourself, not buck up and try a bit harder, but look and 
live. That was precisely the counsel 
given by Moses when the brazen serpent was lifted up. If Moses 
says, look and live, and Jesus says, look and live, why do you 
doubt the warrant to look and live? If God commands you to 
believe on his son, 1 John 3, then why in the world will you 
say, well, I don't know if I'm supposed to? Believe. Look and 
live. These men are upset because of 
Jesus' goodness, his kindness, his claims to not only messiahship, 
but to being David's son and even being deity. Notice, specifically, 
what they ask at the end of verse 16. They said to him, do you 
hear what these are saying? Now note Christ's response. He affirms it and he makes an 
appeal. Notice. And Jesus said to them, 
yes. Don't you love that? Jesus said 
to them, yes. I know what they're saying. I 
understand the implications. I know what's involved. Their 
question insinuates something like this. Do you realize that 
these little kids are calling you the son of David? Do you 
realize that you're accepting praise from a group of little 
children? Do you realize that what they are saying is reserved 
for God alone? Do you realize that by accepting 
this, you are making a claim to being David's son, to affirming 
what they are saying? Jesus says, yes. Jesus knows 
the score. He knows what's happening. He 
understands. From the moment he sits on that 
donkey's colt and he rides into Jerusalem, he is preaching a 
symbolic parable. He is preaching that he is the 
man God ordained to come to save his people from their sins. I 
love his answer. Yes. Of course I know what's 
happening. Of course I understand the issues. Of course I affirm what they're 
doing. Of course I receive it unto myself. Now note his appeal. He says, 
have you never read? This is such a dig. I mean, it's 
a nice dig, but it's a dig nonetheless. Imagine you were a physicist, 
and you were working on a particular problem in your lab, and you 
came against something that was quite difficult, and you asked 
one of your colleagues, and the answer was quite obvious and 
quite simple, and they said something to the effect, have you never 
worked out 2 plus 2? That'd be a bit of an insult, 
wouldn't it? I'm a quantum physicist. I know 
my stuff. How dare you? These are rabbis. These are the doctors of the 
law. These are teachers. Remember Jesus does this in Matthew 
9 with reference to his expression of compassion and mercy to sinners. He points them back to the prophet 
Hosea. He says, you need to go and learn 
what this means. I desire mercy rather than sacrifice. You need to go back and study 
the basics, the foundational principles. In essence, he does 
that here. Have you never read? Of course 
they had read Psalm 8. Of course they were familiar 
with Psalm 8. You see, what Jews did was read 
scripture. What Jews did was rehearse and 
recite scripture. What Jews did was sing scripture. Either chant it or sing it in 
the synagogue and prior to that in the temple. They were psalm 
singers. You don't think they ever came 
across Psalm 8? You think they're baffled and 
they're perplexed and they're amazed and they're suggesting 
that, well, he's right. We went from 7 to 9. We never 
paused. Of course they knew what Psalm 
8 was. But note Christ's appeal and 
the application of Psalm 8 to Christ himself. It's amazing, 
isn't it? Now you know why people in Jerusalem 
said, who is this man? What kind of a man is this? Just 
like his disciples when they witnessed him walk on the water 
and hush the waves and the wind, they said, who is he? Yes, his 
name is Jesus, he's from Nazareth. That we've got, but who can talk 
to the weather and make it stop? Who can make waves stop? Who 
comes in the name of the Lord like this man? This is the question 
in Jerusalem, and now they up it and they say, very specifically, 
do you hear what these are saying? You need to give an accounting. 
You need to explain this. If these children are lisping 
the praise of God, and they're addressing it to you, and calling 
you the son of David, these are angry men, these are indignant 
men. They want him to account for this, they want him to explain. 
And Jesus says, yes, have you never read? This is what was 
spoken by the prophet. Out of the mouth of babes and 
nursing infants you have perfected praise. Knox Chamberlain says 
in its original context, there, Psalm 8, children ascribed strength, 
strength and praise are sort of used interchangeably. If we 
ascribe strength to Yahweh, it evolves into ascribing praise 
to Yahweh. So you might look at your English 
translation and see a little bit of an elasticness and In 
translating the wording there, but strength and praise and honor, 
those things are all involved with what is happening in Psalm 
8. Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have 
perfected praise. Chamblin says there, Psalm 8, 
children ascribe strength to Yahweh for the wonders of his 
creation. Here they praise him for the 
re-creative power he has vested in the son of David. I quite 
like that. Some interpreters come to this 
and they say, well, Psalm 8 wasn't messianic. But the New Testament 
tells us it was messianic. The New Testament authors received 
it as messianic. Who's the psalmate man of Hebrews 
2? It's our Lord Jesus. They take psalmate and they apply 
it to him as perfect man. And these babes, these infants, 
these nursing ones, they list the praise of the son of David. 
And these men with their anger and their indignation say, have 
you heard what they're saying to you? And Christ says, yes, 
it's just what the prophet said. Actually, it's what David wrote 
concerning David's greater son. It truly is beautiful. As well, 
Chamberlain says, the cry of the children both assaults and 
condemns the religious leader's unbelief. You see, the implication, 
I think, that we ought to conclude or draw out at this point is, 
if children recognize this, if the masses from Galilee recognize 
this, if the peoples are praising him, Hosanna, son of David, If 
the lame and the blind are in fact healed by Him as has been 
demonstrated, what is the implication? Why aren't you religious leaders 
doing the same thing? Why aren't you joining this chorus 
of praise? Why aren't you celebrating Israel's 
Messiah having come? Why aren't you waving palm branches 
too? Why aren't you taking robes and 
garments off and laying them on the ground to roll out the 
red carpet for Messiah, the King of Israel? And we might extend 
that even further if these young children are lisping the praise 
of Christ, and these Galileans are lisping the praise of Christ, 
and certain ones here in Jerusalem as well. They're crying, Hosanna 
to the son of David. It underscores the fact that 
he is worthy. It underscores the fact, as the 
bride says in the Song of Solomon, that he's altogether lovely and 
chief among 10,000. You know, brethren, as praisers 
and worshipers of Christ, if anybody ever says, why do you 
do that? Because he's altogether lovely 
and chief among 10,000. Why do you do that? Because He 
saved me from my sins. Why do you do that? Because in 
His blood, I have been washed. Because by His life, I have been 
made righteous. Because by His death and resurrection, 
I have been saved. The question isn't, why do I 
worship Him? The question is, why don't you 
worship Him? You see, brethren, this Christ 
is altogether lovely. Out of the mouth of babes and 
nursing infants, you have perfected praise. The Lord Christ acknowledges 
that he is the proper object of praise. He as well again acknowledges 
that he is the Messiah, the son of David, the one who comes in 
fulfillment of God's holy word. He underscores his heart. He 
underscores his compassion. He underscores, with reference 
to the targets of his mercy, what has been a repeated lesson 
in Matthew's gospel, lowly ones, the non-righteous. Doesn't Jesus 
say this in Matthew chapter 9? I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Isn't that music in your ears 
as a sinner? Does it make you happy? You look around at the world 
today and there's a whole lot of foolishness going on, isn't 
there? I just alluded to some in the university. I think you 
see it in Ottawa, you see it in the White House, you see it 
in political leaders, you see it from, you know, the White 
House and whatever they call it in Ottawa. down to the ghetto. 
There's a lot of folly and a lot of stupidity out there in the 
way people think and live and conduct themselves. You know, 
we don't preach an answer to stupidity, but we preach an answer 
to the problem of sin. Isn't it beautiful and wonderful? 
And thankfully, in the transforming of our minds, hopefully we lose 
a bit of that folly as we are transformed and conformed unto 
the image of Jesus Christ. The Church has the Gospel. The 
Church has the good news of salvation. The Church preaches the blood 
of Jesus. The Church preaches the Davidic 
King. That is the most noble calling 
on the face of the earth, and for the Church to give that up, 
to try and join in politics, or to try and join in a particular 
thing that the Church has not been tasked with is to sacrifice 
the best for something infinitely inferior. I'm not saying Christians 
shouldn't be involved. I'm not saying Christians shouldn't 
be concerned. I'm not saying that Christians 
shouldn't have opinions and views and feed those opinions and views 
with the scripture and have a proper biblical world and life view, 
but the church as church preaches the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ 
The issue isn't, why do you worship Christ? The issue is, why don't 
you? And notice, as I said, his departure 
in verse 17, then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany 
and he lodged there. Now there's a practical reason. 
Jerusalem was swamped during feast time and Most of the pilgrims 
would have to leave and find a place to stay elsewhere. Jesus 
goes to Bethany. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live 
there. John 12 tells us he stayed with 
his dear friends and brethren. But as we've understood and as 
we have seen and as we know that this confrontation is developing 
and it will grow stronger to the point where in Matthew 23 
Jesus pronounces woes upon these scribes and these Pharisees. 
He calls them hypocrites. He calls them broods of vipers. 
Again, something that this politically correct age would never put up 
with. Do you know you hurt their feelings 
by calling them a bag of snakes? There's an interesting section 
in Luke's gospel when Jesus is reproving the religious leaders, 
and then one of the lawyers gets offended. And the lawyer says, 
do you know, Lord, when you say this, you offend me too. And 
Jesus says, woe to you lawyers. Don't want to forget about you. 
Don't want to confine my condemnation to the religious leaders alone. 
You lawyers are messed up and you lawyers need to repent. You 
see, dainty prissy Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. He is 
the king of glory. He is the warrior of Israel. 
He is the God of heaven and earth. And this is what he asserts. 
This is what he claims. And when he turns his back upon 
these men, he is engaged in judgment. Well, in summary or in conclusion, 
just a couple of thoughts and then we'll close. In the first 
place, as we take the whole of the passage, as I mentioned last 
week, whatever Matthew means, describing Jesus as meek, as 
he does in Matthew 11, as lowly, as he does in Matthew 11, And 
Meek again here when he rides in to Jerusalem on this donkey's 
colt. Whatever Matthew means by Meek, 
he certainly does not mean passive. It took Christ energy, effort, 
and some righteous indignation to flip the tables over. It took 
Jesus' zeal that had consumed him for his father's house in 
that first temple cleansing to make a whip of cords and to drive 
out these beasts. Brethren, that's the Jesus depicted 
in Holy Scripture. He doesn't come dancing and prancing 
along with a wand to bless us and to spread dust all over us 
to do good things. He is the Christ of God, and 
yes, He is lowly, and yes, He is meek, but He is not to be 
trifled with, He is not to be rebelled against, He is not to 
be rejected, because as we read in the 2nd Psalm, those who reject 
Him, He will dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. This 
Christ is full of grace, full of mercy, full of compassion, 
full of kindness, but full of terror and full of judgment. Remember that scene in Revelation 
chapter 6 as they're trying to escape the judgment of God. It's an amazing scene. It says, 
basically, that every man called upon the mountains and the rocks 
to cover them. Imagine if you knew there was 
such a judgment coming right now that you would drive however 
long it took to get over to Mount Sham, to stand at the base of 
it, and call on Mount Sham to crumble and to cover you. That 
would have to be some sort of judgment, wouldn't it? I mean, 
just go with me here for a moment, wouldn't it? If I would rather 
have a mountain fall on me and rocks cover me, that must mean 
that the danger that is beyond that is far more terrifying. That's what they do in Revelation 
6. They cry to the mountains and to the rocks to fall upon 
them and to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb. Let that sink in to your soul. The wrath of the Lamb. Jesus, 
gentle, meek, and mild, wields a rod of iron. And he does dash 
those who do not repent. You say, oh, now you're trying 
to scare us. If that's what it takes, then be scared and flee 
into the arms of mercy. The Messiah, who is meek, is 
not a pushover. There is a time for driving wicked 
men out. and turning over tables. As well, 
we sang the song 592. That song celebrates Christ in 
his threefold office. Christ is our prophet, Christ 
is our king, and Christ is our priest, isn't he? When we trace 
the trajectory of Matthew's gospel at this particular point, he 
enters into Jerusalem as a king. He goes into the temple as a 
prophet, And the rest of the narrative will describe for us 
how he functions as a priest. When he is on that cross, when 
he is bearing the sin of the world, when he is knowing something 
of the wrath and fury of God Most High, he is both priest 
and victim. He is both offerer and the offered. He is our prophet, priest, and 
king. The evangelist Matthew underscores 
that for us. Very clearly. As well, the Lord 
Jesus highlights his deity in accepting the praise of children 
and by showing the applicability of psalmate to himself. Don't 
make any mistake about it. These religious leaders knew 
the implications of what Jesus was doing. That's why they didn't 
get nicer to him. Well, now we get it. Oh, you're 
the Messiah. You're the son of David. You're 
the psalmate. Oh yeah, it was just a terrible misunderstanding. 
No, this is just the beginning of something that's going to 
escalate to the point where the city cries out, away with him, 
away with him, crucify him. They understood the implications 
of his theology. They understood the implications 
of his affirming that Psalm 8 was indeed directed to him. And as 
we consider that, as the people of God in this particular instance, 
note what Psalm 8.1 says. Pastor Kim read it at the outset 
of worship. O Yahweh, our Lord, how excellent 
is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above 
the heavens. For Jesus to take this title 
to himself, for Jesus to say that psalm 8 speaks concerning 
him, is to underscore something concerning the blessedness of 
the triune God. One in essence, three persons. Blessed Father, Son, and Spirit, 
what is predicated concerning God is applicable to the person 
and to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He receives this unto 
himself because he is divine, he is God, and he is to be praised 
and worshipped. And then, just to conclude, I 
want to mention once again something I think we visited in the course 
of this sermon and we visit a lot. I hope that when we preach or 
when we speak and we say, you know, if you're not a believer, 
you should come to Christ. That's not just because there's, 
you know, Romans 17 where Paul says, every time you preach, 
make sure you say this. There's no sort of Reformed Baptist 
headquarters out there that, you know, sends email reminders 
on Sunday morning, now make sure you tell people they need to 
believe the gospel. There's no book, sort of an order 
form that we have, you know, the big book of Reformed Baptist 
theology. Okay, make sure that... It's 
a genuine desire that sinners don't go to hell. The genuine 
desire that the God of heaven and earth is worshiped and glorified 
as He is worthy. You see, for every sinner that 
flees to the mercy of Christ, there's one less blasphemer on 
this earth. There's one less, you know, debauched 
person who speaks ill against our beloved Savior. And that's 
a good thing because God is the Lord of heaven and earth. God 
made this world and all things in it for His glory. But we all, 
like sheep, have gone astray. The only way back is through 
the blood of the cross. The only way back to God is through 
belief in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So please, take 
this home. Think through it. Consider these 
things and realize that Christ alone is the hope and the help 
for your soul. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for your word and we thank you for our Lord Jesus 
Christ and for his ministry of mercy on behalf of his people. We ask that you would cause us 
to praise, cause us to sing, cause us to celebrate in light 
of the son of David who has come to save us from our sins. And 
God, we pray that wherever this gospel is preached today, that 
many would turn from their idols to the true and living God, that 
many would be called out of darkness into marvelous light. Lord, we 
can't appeal to the many in their free will, so we appeal to a 
sovereign God, a God who is able to make men willing in the day 
of his power. And we genuinely desire that 
you would display that power in our midst, in our church, 
and in other churches here in Chilliwack and throughout the 
earth. God, get glory in the salvation of sinners by Jesus 
Christ. And we pray in his most blessed 
name. Amen.