Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: A rather nonsensical poem came to my mind quite a while back when I was at Pathfinders one day. And so I started to recite it to a couple of the Pathfinders that had blank expressions on their face. I couldn't believe they had never heard it. It was all the rage when I was in Pathfinders. Why don't they know it? But if you're old like me, maybe you'll remember this nonsense. One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Is this sounding familiar? okay, yeah, thank you. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other. One was blind and the other couldn't see, so they chose a dummy for a referee. A blind man went to see fair play and the dumb man went to shout hooray. A paralyzed donkey passing by kicked the blind man in the eye. knocked him through a nine inch wall into a dry ditch and drowned them all. A deaf policeman heard the noise and came to arrest the two dead boys. If you don't believe this story is true, ask the blind man he saw it to. Most duels that I've ever read about were just as nonsensical as that. They're mostly based on defending one's what? Honor. Almost all duels are between two men. But occasionally, women got in on the nonsense. In 1792, Lady Almeria Braddock and Mrs. Elphinstone fought what became to be known as the duel of the petticoats. Mrs. Elphinstone made a social call to Lady Elmira's house and while there paid her ladyship a very backhanded compliment saying, you have been a very beautiful woman. You have a good face even now. But you must acknowledge that the lilies and roses are somewhat faded. 40 years ago, I am told a young fellow could hardly gaze upon you with impunity. When Braddock insisted that she was not even 30 years old yet, Mrs. Effingston retorted by saying her age was officially recorded as 61. Enraged by this probably accurate accusation, the lady challenged Effingston to a duel. The two met in Hyde Park, London. They first shot with pistols at 10 paces. Both of them missed. While ignoring the pleas of their friends to stop, they continued dueling with swords. Effingston eventually took a small injury to the arm, and the ladies curtsied each other and considered their honor restored. All for honor. This past Tuesday night, late at night, in a parking lot in Dalton, Georgia, somebody offered me a duel. In fact, it was two somebodies. So you call that a duel or what's two against one? A truel? I don't know. Couple of ruffians. They had tattoos everywhere you could see. And they were saying some pretty brash things to me and my wife. You know, God says turn the other cheek. I must have been out of cheeks that day. I don't know. I did not act like he wanted me to act. I got out of the car and said, let's go. and they backed down so fast, I almost started laughing. This 63-year-old man, these 20-something punks, two of them, and they were so eager to shake my hand. No, we're fine, we're fine, we're fine. I don't know what happened. God probably saved me from my foolishness and made me look 30 years younger with big muscles, which I've never had. Or maybe my guardian angel was standing behind me going, uh-uh, don't touch him, even though he's a fool. I'll deal with him later. Sorry, your pastor is a very imperfect soul. And my poor wife was sitting in the car going, you know, if he'd only lived a Friday, we would have been married 38 years. but I'm still here, dear. Jesus tended to avoid such duels. We've seen where the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees often challenged Jesus, only to be met with a quick answer that sent them scurrying away to try to think up another challenge. Sometimes Jesus even left the country to get away from all the nonsensical challenges so that he could spend more time with what was important. Lessons could be learned from this about how Satan uses nonsensical challenges within the church today to cause us to be distracted from what is truly important. Debating over minor points of scripture rather than obeying clear commands of God. I had just arrived as a pastor of a church one time down in Georgia and I went of all things to an AY meeting. where the adults were dueling with each other over something nonsensical. And they were passionate and they were vehement and they were going at each other. I finally came up to the front and said, folks, if you had half the passion and energy for the thus saith the Lords that are clear, like spreading the gospel to the world, we'd be in heaven by now. It seems that many popular duels that we have read about in history begin with a throwing down of a glove. If the other person picks it up, the duel is on. This comes from the earlier history where an armored knight would challenge another knight to do battle. He would throw down his armored glove or gauntlet. If the other knight picked it up, they would schedule a battle. This is where we get the phrase throwing down the gauntlet. which is still used today when offering a major challenge to someone. Up to this point in our series on Matthew, we've not seen Jesus throwing down the gauntlet. He only offered challenges when he had been challenged. He's actually been rather secretive about who he was, the Messiah. Often asking people, don't tell who healed you. Now's not the time. But this tactic is about to change. Jesus is about to throw down the gauntlet, knowing that in their pride, his enemies will pick it up. He also knows that it will be a duel that he will lose or actually win big time. It will cost him his life and he will give us our lives with him for eternity. another seeming contradiction. Let's look at the challenge Jesus offers the religious leaders. Turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21, we're going start with verse 1. Now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, I looked up Bethphage. How do you pronounce Bethphage? I came up with two things, Bethphage and Bethphagy. I think we'll stop with Bethphage. So if you're struggling pronouncing biblical words, so is everybody else, okay. So they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives. Remember, Jesus has just left Jericho where he healed the blind men and is headed up the road to Jerusalem. Matthew does not mention a stop in the town of Bethany and the feast at Simons where Jesus was anointed by Mary, but this happened at the same time. Between Bethany and Jerusalem on the northeastern slope of the Mount of Olives was the village of Bethphage. They have not found its exact location last I knew. It's covered with modern villages today. But as one proceeds to the summit of the Mount of Olives, the temple becomes visible as then does the rest of Jerusalem, a beautiful sight. The crowds are still following Jesus as they come in from the regions around Galilee and beyond to come to the Passover celebration. More have joined the throng in Jericho and even more in Bethany, where the raising of Lazarus from the dead has made Jesus quite the man to be seen with. It was one thing to perform miracles in the obscure backwards of Galilee. These would only be distant rumors to those around Jerusalem. But the raising of Lazarus from the dead just on the other side of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem could not be ignored by the people of Jerusalem or by the church leaders. The Jewish leaders can no longer tolerate Jesus. And according to John, they have decided to kill him and Lazarus. That will stop this nonsense happening in Jerusalem's back door. Things can get back to normal where we are in charge and respected like we used to be. Now Jesus is coming with a vast multitude of followers. Oddly, Jesus does not disperse the crowd this time as he did when he fed the 5,000 and they wanted to force him to become king. Then Jesus knew that his time had not yet come, but now the time is here. By the way, the feeding of the 5,000 was told in all four gospels. This next story is the next time that all four gospels tell the same story again. This time, Jesus will allow them to proclaim him king, even though they still don't understand what that means. This already existent excitement is now fanned into a white hot flame by what Jesus does next, how he chooses to enter into Jerusalem. Look at Matthew 21 one again. Now when they drew near Jerusalem, they 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 needed 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. That deliberateness is guided by the prophecy of Zechariah 9 that Matthew has just quoted. It says, say to the daughter of Zion, see your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey. On a colt, the foal of a donkey. Jesus is making a very definite messianic claim by how he's going to enter Jerusalem. and the crowd does not miss the point. Their excitement is without bonds. The Jewish leaders do not miss the point either, but to them, it is a challenge. The duel is on rather than something to be joyful about. One other thing should be noted about Jesus' deliberate fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9, The prophecy specified that the messianic king would be gentle rather than the warlike leader expected by the Jews. Entrance on a horse would have signified a warlike leader, but entrance on a donkey's colt symbolized the peaceful arrival of the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, prophesied in Isaiah 9, 9-6. I'm sure that many of the people also noticed the miracle of Jesus riding an untamed donkey. Now, when he was riding the untamed donkey, were they standing quietly in the street and going, let him by, he's on an untamed donkey? No. They're waving palm branches and their hoodies at him. If you don't believe that's a miracle, try it sometime. How did the people respond to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah? Verse eight. 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, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And 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. Desire of Ages tells us this, never before had the world seen such a triumphal procession. Maybe it made the Macy's Thanksgiving parade seem like ours in Greenville, I don't know. She continues, it was not like that of the other Earth's famous conquerors. No train of mourning captives as trophies of kingly valor made a feature at the scene. But about the Savior were the glorious trophies of His labors of love for sinful men. There were the captives of whom He had rescued from Satan's power, praising God for their deliverance. The blind whom he had restored to sight were leading the way. The dumb whose tongues he had loosed shouted the loudest hosannas. The cripples whom he had healed bounded with joy and were the most active in breaking the palm branches and waving them before the Savior. Widows and orphans were exalting the name of Jesus for his works of mercy to them. The lepers whom he had cleansed spread their untainted garments in his path and hailed him as the King of Glory. Those whom his voice had awakened from the sleep of death were in that throng. Lazarus, whose body had seen corruption in the grave, but who now rejoiced in the strength of glorious manhood, led the beast on which the Savior rode. A lot of contradictions. The blind leading the way? Those who once dead? Leading the donkey? Reminds me of the poem I read at the start. It doesn't make sense. The dumb shouting. Wow. The blind looking for people to tell. Have you ever wondered about them paving their way with their own cloaks? Clothing was often the most valuable thing a person owned. They usually owned one. That was it. Throwing it on the ground signified giving up self for the king. It also signified humility. Among these people, they were no longer wearing their outer garments, and I think they're just making way for the garment of Christ's righteousness. We can't wear our own stuff, giving up self so we can put on Him. And what Jesus does next is to bring the challenge to the very heart of the enemy camp. Of all places, the church, the temple. Look at verse 12. Then Jesus went to 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 had 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. According to John, Jesus had also cleansed the temple in a similar way at the beginning of his ministry. One might get the impression from reading Matthew that this was an act of enthusiasm or righteous anger stirred up by the momentary excitement of the triumphal entry. But Mark tells us it was the next day that this happened. This makes the event even more powerful. It was not some spur of the moment challenge to the Jewish authorities where Jesus wakes up the next morning and said, what did I do that for? What was I thinking? No. This was a deliberate premeditated challenge, a throwing down of the gauntlet before his enemies. He was forcing them to draw attention to his ministry, his mission. Jesus is to be the sacrifice that the temple service had been pointing to. The very first sacrifice made by a lamb after the sin of Adam and Eve had been a prophecy of the Savior to come. the true lamb of God. Now the real lamb of God is in the temple and sees how the sacrificial system has been turned into a moneymaker. The sacrifice of the lamb has become trivial. Jesus notes that his own true sacrifice will be just as trivial to many, either ignored or used for profit. He is making his messianic claim and exerting his messianic authority at the very heart of Judaism. of Judaism, just as he wants to do in your heart and Well, some hearts see what's happening and they rejoice. Look at verse 14. Then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. Is this not a better use for the temple? A place for healing and instead of place to take advantage of others. Taking advantage of others has no place in God's house or with God's people. The temple workers were looking at the Passover as the money-making event of the year. They had become blind to the meaning of the Passover, so blind that all they could see was the sheep and the money, not the lamb and the Savior. Jesus was restoring the temple to its true function, showing people the meaning of unconditional love. Verse 15. But when, if that but wasn't there, it would have been a happier world. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, didn't say they rejoiced. They were indignant. Why were they indignant? Hosanna to the son of David is another way of saying, hosanna to the Messiah. They knew what it meant. These kids are claiming that this is God. This is the Messiah, the Son of God. We can't let that The next time you're tempted to think those children should calm down as they praise God. Remember what Jesus says about us becoming like little children? Maybe our praise should flow a bit more freely from our lips. Desire of Ages says this, the sound of those happy, unrestrained voices was an offense to the rulers of the temple. They set about putting a stop to such demonstrations. They represented to the people that the house of God was desecrated by the feet of the children and the shouts of rejoicing. Finding that their words made no impression on the people, the rulers appealed to Christ. Verse 16, 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? Whoa, this is a quotation from Psalm 8. I'll read from the first two verses. Lord our Lord how excellent is your name in all the earth who have set your glory above the heavens out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. Do you remember a while back we discussed something called remezes? It's been a while. This is where you knew the scripture back then so well that when someone quoted one text, your mind immediately went to the context, the verses before or after what was quoted. It was here that you might learn what someone was truly getting at. Jesus didn't quote the last part of verse two, but those complaining heard loud and clear that Jesus was calling their mind to the fact that they were the prophetic enemies of the Messiah, of God. It had been prophesied all the way back to Psalm 8. Because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. In this story, we find a turning point in the description of Jesus' enemies. Previously in Matthew's gospel, he has mentioned the priests three times. Three times. We're in chapter 21. They've been mentioned three times to this point. But in the rest of the book, they will be mentioned another 32 times. In cleansing the temple, Jesus has challenged the formal religious power structure. From now on, the priests will join with the Pharisees to get rid of him with a determination that was not present before. They now see Jesus as a truly dangerous enemy who has thrown down the gauntlet. They now pick it up and will pull out all the stops to win this duel. Yet their duel ends up being very contradictory, like the silly poem at the beginning of the sermon. When they think that they have won, they lose. Just like Satan at the cross, when he was gloating over the death of Jesus Christ, he also knew that his own eternal death was made certain. contradiction. The challenge made by Jesus could not have been met or could have been met so much differently. Had God's people been humble, they would not have picked up the gauntlet and would have sought his pardon and accepted his salvation. God has also challenged us. For once again, the time is near. Not to some trivial duel, but to one thing that is vital at the second coming. What will the question be? Did you choose yourself this day whom you will serve? Did you choose to serve me? Are we gonna fight a losing battle to save face? To save our own honor or whatever it is? Are we trying to save our own way of doing things? To be our own God? Or are we humbly gonna answer, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord? That's the proper way to answer a duel of any kind, even in an adult and dark parking lot. As for me and my house, we choose to serve the Lord. If this is your answer, you'll be excited to know the next time Jesus rides an animal, it will not be a donkey. His second coming will be that of a conquering king. Revelation chapter 19, look at it with me. Revelation chapter 19. Revelation 19, go down to verse 11. Here John records what he's seeing in vision. Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white donkey. no, no, no, no, no. A white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes peace. Is that what it says? He makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God. and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings. and Lord of Lords.