King Jesus

1. Jesus prophesied as King (19:28-36)

a. OT prophesy

b. Promised to save you

2. Jesus praised as King (19:37)

a. Praised for mighty works

b. Praised for what He can do for you (felt needs, false gospel)

3. Jesus misunderstood as King (19:38)

a. Thought to be a political king

b. Thought today to be a fix-all cure to all felt needs

4. Jesus maligned as King (19:39-40)

a. Some did not recognize Him at all.

b. His testimony will go out, regardless

5. Jesus mournful as King (19:41-42)

a. Wept over Jerusalem for not recognizing Him as Messiah God

b. Weeps over you for not recognizing Him as Lord and Savior

LUKE 19:37-38

Did you know that the United States once had a king? Actually, he wasn’t a king—he was an emperor. During the gold-rush days of the 1800s in San Francisco, a man named Joshua A. Norton lost everything he had in market speculation. When that happened, something happened to his mind. He declared himself Norton I, Emperor of These United States. That sounds kind of funny, but he wasn’t kidding. As a matter of fact, in 1859, he published a proclamation that he was emperor according to an act of the California legislature. He dressed the part too. He carried a sword, wore a cape and dressed in a full emperor’s costume. It’s sad that his mental illness carried him to that extreme. But the really sad part is that people began to recognize him as emperor. They treated him like a star. They praised him wherever he went. The local police saluted him when he walked past. They even allowed him to collect a small tax and issue his own currency. When he died in 1880, more than 10,000 people attended his funeral. It was one of the largest California has ever had. Joshua A. Norton lived and died confused and wrong because people recognized him as emperor when he wasn’t. Over 2000 years ago, people recognized Jesus as King when He entered into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey colt. But unlike Joshua A. Norton, Jesus really was King. He was just a different kind of king than the people were expecting. He wasn’t confused and wrong like Joshua A. Norton—the people were. They were confused and wrong because they saw Jesus as an earthly king. They didn’t receive Him and recognize Him as their Lord and God. We still suffer from that problem today. We want to recognize Jesus for what He can do for us—not for who He is. The fact is that Jesus promises to save us. But only when we receive Him as the kind of King He really is. When we receive Him, not on our terms, but on His. He won’t be our Savior without being our Lord. This morning, I want each of us to recognize Jesus for the kind of King He is. The kind of King who rules and reigns over every aspect of our lives. In order to do that, we’re going to look at five facts about Jesus as King. The first fact is that Jesus is prophesied as King. Look with me in verses 28-36:

LUKE 19:28-36

Jesus is prophesied as King. For hundreds of years, Israel had looked for a king. They looked through their Scriptures and remembered Israel’s glory days under King David and King Solomon. They remembered the turmoil that came with the divided kingdom. And the national ups and downs that came with all the kings that followed. They had times of prosperity under kings like Uzaiah and Hezekiah. Times where they were victorious over their enemies. Of course, you know how it is when you look back on the “good old days.” All the good times seem to be great. And all the hard times seem to have not been so hard. That’s the way it was with Israel. They really remembered the good kings. Those were the good old days. The bad kings—they didn’t remember them so much. It was that way because they had been without a king for so long. It had been nearly six centuries since there was a king in Jerusalem. Think about it—that’s like us looking back into the end of the middle ages. That’s how long it had been since they had had a king. For almost 600 years, Jerusalem had been occupied by foreign powers. The Assyrians. The Babylonians. The Medo-Persians. The Greeks. And now the Romans. And all the Jews had to hold on to for all those years of foreign domination was prophesy. For all those years, they read and studied the Old Testament prophesies. The only problem was, they didn’t read them for what they said. They read them for what they wanted them to say. They read prophesies of a coming King in Isaiah. In Jeremiah. In Daniel. Even in the Psalms. They knew that God had promised a King. When they saw Jesus riding the donkey colt into Jerusalem that day, they knew their King had arrived. They knew the prophesy in Zechariah 9:9-10 that said, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” They saw Jesus on that donkey and knew he was their King. But they wanted Him to be a political King. They wanted Him to bring back the good old days. The days where they wouldn’t be ruled by other nations. Where they could control their own destiny. But that was the point. They still didn’t get it. They weren’t able to handle controlling their own destiny. God called them a stiff-necked people. They were fallen, stubborn, and lost. That’s why they needed a King to save them from their spiritual problems. Not their political problems. The prophesies promised that Jesus would save them from their sins. Not their difficulties. Scripture promised that Jesus would restore their relationship with God. Not their wealth and power. Old Testament prophesy promised that Jesus would defeat sin. Not Rome. But they didn’t get it. Jesus is prophesied as King, they read the prophesies wrong. They read them wrong because they read into them what they wanted to see. Not what they really said. The first fact is that Jesus is prophesied as King. He is prophesied as king and He is praised as King. Look with me in verse 37: