Worship The King Of Kings!

Worship the King of Kings!

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - March 30, 2014

*As we focus on Palm Sunday this morning, please open your Bibles to Luke 19, thinking about worshiping the King of Kings. My greatest goal for us today is to have true worship in our hearts for the Lord, -- sincere, heartfelt worship for the Lord Jesus Christ.

*But notice that we won't do any of the outward things the disciples did in today's Scripture. We won't spread our clothes on the road. We won't cut palm branches to wave and spread in the road. We won't cry out with a loud voice, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!"

*We won't do any of those outward things, but we can worship the King just as much as they did that day. This is great news! And it's important to know, because we have a tendency to focus on the externals of worship.

*God's Word reminds us of this truth in John 4. There Jesus revealed Himself and His gift of eternal life to a very sinful Samaritan woman. As soon as she realized that there was something special about Jesus, she asked the Lord about the proper place of worship. Was it on the mountain where the Samaritans worshipped, or in Jerusalem of the Jews?

*The Samaritan woman asked this question, mainly because she was trying to take the focus off her sins, but also because we all tend to focus on the externals of worship. But in John 4:21 Jesus said, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father."

*Aren't you glad we don't have to go to a certain mountain or city to worship the Lord? In John 4, the Lord used my favorite word for worship. It must also be God's favorite word for worship in the New Testament, because He used it 60 times! That word is "proskuneo," which has the word picture of an affectionate dog licking his master's hand.

*But again, we need to understand that worship is not about the external things. It's about what's going on in our hearts. It's not so much about the licking. It's about the affection. Most any dog would lick your hand if you just got through eating a piece of bacon.

*Real worship is humbling ourselves before God, and exalting Him in our hearts. But another wonderful aspect of our worship is the joyful, loving, affection we have for God. He is our loving Master who takes good care of us, so we love Him too, and we are happy to be with Him!

*Worship is not about the external things. It's about our hearts. This is why Jesus went on to tell the Samaritan woman:

23. . . "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

24. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.''

*This is great news! We don't have to go to a mountain to worship the Lord. We don't have to do any of the things the worshippers did on the road to Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.

*But we can worship the King just as much as they did that day. And we should! Today's Scripture gives us four great reasons why we should worship the King of Kings.

1. First: Worship the Lord Jesus for His plan.

*Here in Luke 19, we see the Lord carrying out part of His plan. Jesus was less than a week away from the cross, and our King wanted to make a very public entrance into Jerusalem. So when they got close to the city, Jesus sent two of His disciples, to get a donkey for the Lord to ride on.

*In vs. 30-35, we see a very precise plan. There the Lord said:

30. . . "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose him and bring him here.

31. And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing him?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of him.'''

32. So those who were sent departed and found it just as He had said to them.

33. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?''

34. And they said, "The Lord has need of him.''

35. Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own garments on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.