WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.199 Here's where we're at. 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:02.560 We are in Palm State. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.200 So we've been going through 2 Timothy, right? 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:17.920 We typically work verse by verse through books of the Bible here at Sacred Mission, but today we're switching gears and we're looking at very specific gospel accounts of the final week of Jesus. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:25.120 And so we're going to be preaching this morning on the triumphal entry out of Luke 19. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:47.039 Now, at the beginning of the passage, Luke says that when he had said these things, the beginning of Luke, he says, when he had said these things, we enter this passage this morning right after Jesus had radically changed the life of Zacchaeus the tax collector. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.280 You might remember Zacchaeus, right? 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:51.840 Zacchaeus was the we little man, we little man was he. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.320 Anybody remember that song in Kids Church, right? 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:58.240 He climbed up the sycamore tree so that he could see Jesus more clearly. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:04.239 I don't know how many more times I can rhyme without making myself nauseous, but uh this is what happened. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:15.200 As Jesus was passing through the city of Jericho, he stopped in the midst of a crowd and he looked up in this sycamore tree and he saw Zacchaeus. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:24.959 Zacchaeus was trying to get a good look at this man whom the entire city had gathered around just to be able to see. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:38.480 After this experience, Jesus then went to Zacchaeus' home, and there Zacchaeus says that he repented of his sin and Jesus declared that salvation had come to him that day. 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:43.120 Then Jesus began to teach those who were near a parable. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:52.719 This was a very common teaching mechanism that Jesus would use, these parables, these stories to help them understand deep spiritual truths. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:59.280 And he tells the parable about ten servants and their ten mina or talents. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:07.120 Now, the parable itself, like the content of this teaching, doesn't dictate much for us this morning. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:30.319 What we're preaching through doesn't have to do with the parable itself, but there is a key statement that's actually made by Luke that helps us to understand the mentality of Jesus' disciples, and what we discover throughout the gospel story is this perpetual tension that was always present in their relationship. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.719 Luke 19, 11 says this. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:52.319 There was this expectation that his disciples had. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:03:00.800 And it was an expectation about who Jesus was as this promised king and the promise of his kingdom. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:12.639 And they were operating, most of their relationship with Jesus, they were operating out of their own perception of what he should be as a king and what his kingdom should look like here on earth. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:19.919 You see, they continually failed to see the true portrait of this king and his kingdom. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:30.639 This idea of immediacy, it plays itself out in the passage and in the following days of Jesus' life, leading all the way even through his resurrection. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:45.919 So when it says, and when he had said these things, he went on ahead, the time with Zacchaeus, the teaching of the parable, that's what Luke is referring to here at the beginning of the passage this morning. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:53.120 And then Jesus prepares to make his first purposeful public appearance, right? 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.240 Up until now, Jesus had tried to stay relatively hidden out of the limelight. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:02.879 If he would heal someone, he would tell them, don't go and tell everybody what just happened, right? 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:07.680 Or if he cast out a demon, he would tell them, hey, look, keep that kind of to yourself. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:12.159 He would try to stay undercover by and large. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:20.800 But here, in this triumphal entry, there was this purpose public appearance that he was making. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:30.959 And this appearance was meant to draw attention to himself because this was the journey to the coronation of the king. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.360 Think about this for a moment. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:43.519 He's going to reveal himself for the king he truly is, and he's going to have the in-breaking of his kingdom truly happen. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:50.720 And so he's making his way into the city on the back of this donkey for his coronation. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.360 How would you begin to prepare such an entrance? 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:58.560 Such a declaration of your majesty? 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:04.800 Would it be with banners of brilliant colors and loud celebratory fanfare? 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:09.120 Would it be marked by celebrity and prestige? 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:11.360 Not for Jesus. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:20.560 For Jesus it would be humility, because that attribute would be one that resided in the king himself. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:31.360 For much like his crowning would not be with gold, but with thorns, his journey into Jerusalem would be on a donkey and not on a steed. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:43.600 His only fanfare that would be heard would be his disciples crying out, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:51.519 Jesus sends two of his disciples to get a donkey and bring it to ride into Jerusalem. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:53.360 Now, why a donkey, right? 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.120 Why is this so critical to the narrative? 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:07.199 Because over 500 years earlier, the Spirit of God would show this prophet Zechariah that this is how the king would come. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:26.399 We see in Zechariah 9:9, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the full of a donkey. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:38.480 Now, possibly, possibly, God chose this entrance of his coming king simply as a sign that we would know it was him who had come. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.040 We see this even in Jesus' virgin birth. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:44.399 It was a sign. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:45.759 It was so that we would know. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:50.480 What did the role of the virgin birth play with inside redemptive history? 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:56.079 So that we would know without any hesitation or any sense of doubt that this was the Messiah. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:57.839 He came by these means. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.759 And so maybe the Spirit of God is showing Zechariah the same thing. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.399 Do you want to know how this is my anointed king? 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:05.839 Do you want to know what he will look like? 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:11.759 He's going to ride into Jerusalem on this donkey, on this lowly, humble beast. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:20.879 Or possibly it was to help us and his disciples see the type of king that Jesus really was. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:29.759 The first possibility was that we wanted to know and understand that he truly was a descendant of David. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.759 Now, this is also a prophecy about the king who would come. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.680 It would be that he would descend from the very line of David himself. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:45.199 And donkeys were considered royal animals before and even during the reign of King David. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:55.759 And it wasn't actually until after David where they were considered unsuited for royalty and were replaced by horses instead. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:03.360 This donkey displayed for all to see that he was the king of the line of David who they were waiting for. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:08.800 The prince of Judah, whose scepter would not depart from his hand. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:16.800 But the second possibility that we might see in this reality is that he would truly be poor in spirit. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.000 A defining attribute of the king who was to reign forever. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.759 He was humble and mounted on a donkey. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:27.680 This was their king. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:36.320 Not someone who prided himself in celebrity and fanfare, but it would be one who came in humility. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:49.919 Not the king that they expected, but one who counted all of his royalty and his majesty and fortune as nothing to hold on to, so that he might gain us. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:56.399 Philippians 2, 5 through 6 shows us the very nature of this king. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:08.320 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:22.000 You see, if he held on to all of that majesty, if he held on to all that glory, he would have had to let go of us. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.120 But he counted it all. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:31.679 Something to not be white-knuckled and grasped hold of so that he might gain us. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:37.759 Now we have to understand the real scene taking place here. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:44.639 There's a ton of people surrounding Jesus as he rides into this city. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:54.080 There's an estimated two million people there as pilgrims in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover at this time. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:00.639 We can't fathom what is happening here as he's riding in on the back of this donkey. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:12.320 There's a historical account of Jerusalem during Passover that was recorded just 10 years after Jesus' triumphant entry. 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:22.320 And it states this this historical record states that there were 260,000 sheep slaughtered for sacrifice that year for Passover. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.399 So if we can understand the magnitude of this situation, right? 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:37.519 Jesus isn't riding into town and there's just a couple of dozen people around him crying out Hosanna, crying out, blessed be the name of the Lord, right? 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:45.360 No, he's surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people as he rides into the city. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.960 Now, why were they there? 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:54.399 Why were they crowding the streets to declare his praises? 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.320 Well, the text tells us. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:01.840 It says, for all the mighty works that they had seen. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:10.000 You see, their motives for praising him were misplaced. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:30.159 And we can see, right, their perception being formed of who this king is and what this kingdom would look like because they were there in that moment because they had seen and heard of all the great miracles that he had performed, of all the mighty deeds and works that he had created. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:33.840 Their motives for praising him were misplaced. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.279 They were praising him for the king that they wanted. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:42.000 They weren't praising him for the king that he truly was. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:51.519 And we see that just later in the text when these shouts of praise turn to deafening silence. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:12:05.039 As the same king who rode in on the back of a donkey under all of this celebration is the one who carries the rugged timber down the Via Della Rosa to the Mount of Galgotha. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:06.320 They're silent. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:09.600 Where were their praise then? 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:11.759 This wasn't the king that they were looking for. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.799 This wasn't the kingdom that they had expected. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:26.240 You see, the triumphant entry into Jerusalem was purposefully and sovereignly leading to a shameful exit out of it. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:33.919 Though their motives were misplaced unbeknownst to them, their praise was true. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:36.879 The declaration of praise. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:43.200 Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.399 This was a statement that they could not even fully understand themselves. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:55.279 What was this peace that they were talking about, and how would it actually be attained for them? 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:08.399 You see, this declaration of praise, it's so similar to that of even the angel's pronouncement to the shepherds that the lowly child Jesus was born. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:21.600 You see, the road to Jesus' coronation would be marked with humility in the same likeness of his journey to us that night in Bethlehem. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:35.759 As Jesus lay in a manger as a newborn, the scriptures tell us that a multitude of angels would sing, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he has pleased. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:49.120 And now, as he rides on the back of this cult, the crowds of people shout true praises, even if they're filled with misplaced motivations to do so. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.080 Then the Pharisees come in. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:55.360 Like we gotta love it when the Pharisees show up. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:57.360 They're angered. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:02.240 They're angered at this lavish praise that they hear coming from the people. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.919 This praise that is for Jesus. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:12.480 They could not imagine such a response of worship given to just mere man. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.240 So they call for Jesus to rebuke the people. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.240 They call for him to admonish them for their behavior. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:28.960 And then Jesus corrects the Pharisees by saying, This, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:33.440 Now, this statement. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:45.039 This statement, it may be rightly understood as a thought or reflection on the praise and worship that truly Jesus deserves. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:55.200 It might also be understood for the longing of all creation for the salvation that He brings to them. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:03.600 You see, in the Gospel of John, we're shown that among these praises were also the shouts of Hosanna. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:09.440 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.200 That word Hosanna, we just sang it a moment ago. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.080 It literally means save us. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:23.519 When we're crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna, we're crying out, save us, save us. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:39.840 Maybe amidst all the shouts, all the praises, Jesus was telling the Pharisees that there is nothing that can keep creation from declaring both their need for him and his ability to truly save them. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:51.279 You see, this isn't just simply some anthropomorphic language being used where we're trying to ascribe human qualities to inanimate objects. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:59.200 No, this is an authentic statement of the nature of the relationship between God and his creation. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:07.840 The Apostle Paul helps us understand this mystery in Romans 8, verses 19 through 22. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:15.759 He says, For the creation waits with this eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:32.240 For the creation itself was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:34.559 This is what Jesus is telling the Pharisees. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.240 I can try to shut them up. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:41.039 I can admonish them to be quiet, but you don't understand what's happening here. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.440 My salvation is coming. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:48.159 It'll liberate not only the sons of man, it'll liberate creation itself. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.200 If I shut them up, the rocks will cry out. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:55.440 So, Pharisees, why don't you just get out of my way? 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.639 Because this is my coronation. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:09.200 You see, the true King, Jesus, he deserves our true praise. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.359 The true King deserves our true praise. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:20.319 The people were all gathered because of the miracles and works that they had witnessed and heard of. 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:30.000 They believed their king had finally come to give them peace, to deliver them out of the oppression of a foreign ruler. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:35.279 But see, they ultimately missed the source of their conflict. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:42.640 Their ultimate conflict was not with Rome, it wasn't with the foreign tyrannical empire. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:47.440 No, they had their gaze fixed on the wrong war. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:52.720 Their true conflict was seething in their own chest. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:18:00.480 Because sin and idolatry had oppressed them infinitely greater than Rome could ever have. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:16.000 The people surrounding him with praise and adoration would just a few days later be at best hopeless and distraught, silent, that their king was dead. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:29.359 Their shouts of praise would soon turn to silence as Jesus would breathe his last upon the cross and give up his spirit to the loving hands of his father. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.440 You see, they would be a people filled with doubt. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:38.400 Doubt that they had misunderstood who he really was. 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:41.119 We thought he would be this king. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:45.200 We thought he would have this kingdom, and this is all now just gone. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:47.759 We seem hopeless and defeated. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:56.160 They'd be filled with this sense of defeat and despair that they were still under the bondage of the tyrant Rome. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:08.480 And this peace that they were just declaring had come would have seemed to elude them while their champion lay dead in a sealed-up tomb. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:13.680 You see, ultimately, they didn't understand the peace that was to come. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.079 The peace that they truly needed. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:23.599 The peace of the true king that demanded his true praise. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.240 They didn't understand the one who would be bringing their peace. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:33.119 And they definitely didn't understand the means by which it would come. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.000 And I think we can often be just like this crowd. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:54.319 So often allowing our praise and our peace to be disrupted, silenced, by a false perception of the King Jesus is and the war that he came to win. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:59.359 You see, many of us, I believe, our praise is rooted in our perception. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:02.559 Our praise is rooted in our perception. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:16.000 You see, we're very eager to praise Jesus when his work is stacked up to our benefits, when we have been the recipients of his greatness and his miraculousness, right, and his power. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:27.200 When we've witnessed and been the recipients of his mighty work in our life and the lives of those around us, it is so easy to open our mouths and declare his praise. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:31.119 When we are experiencing his blessing. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:40.559 Or at least we're experiencing his blessing in the way we want to define his blessing. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:44.000 Then we're very eager to praise him. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:51.440 But often God's blessing looks radically different from our perception. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:21:03.039 And when that's the case, when God doesn't give us what we want, we give him the silent treatment. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:06.160 Like a toddler throwing a tantrum. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:12.000 Daddy, you didn't give me what I wanted, and now my mouth will be closed to you. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:25.440 You see, when God doesn't give us what we want, our mouths are too often filled with ridicule, bitterness, doubt, and disbelief. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:38.319 We're like the people who praised him during the journey into Jerusalem, but was found silent and even abandoning and denying him on his journey to the cross. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:45.759 You see, but the cross was a greater blessing. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.559 We don't understand that. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:57.599 The miraculous works for which they were praising him for paled in comparison to the blessing that the cross was. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:14.160 Our perception of blessing, our perception of favor and peace, often lead us away from the true praise that Jesus deserves rather than deeper into it. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:21.440 We fail ultimately to trust in the knowledge, wisdom, and mystery of God. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.519 Because too often our praise is tethered to our perception. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.480 For some of us, though, our praise is unmatched to his peace. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.200 Our praise is unmatched to his peace. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:47.759 You see, the peace that Jesus offers is eternally better and more transcendently true than any peace that we could ever, ever fathom for ourselves. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:55.680 There is no greater fight, battle, or war than contending against our own sin. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:22:59.839 Jesus came to bring peace. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:04.079 Not with sword and spear and shield. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:16.000 No, he came to bring peace by conquering death itself, by destroying our sin and by ending the enmity that stood between us and God. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:20.799 Yes, there was a war, but it wasn't against Israel and Rome. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.920 The war was against mankind and their creator. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:30.000 Jesus makes peace by the blood of his cross. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:42.480 You see, we walk around muffled by lesser battles and meaningless wars that we feel are defeating us. 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:47.680 Waiting for Jesus to be the champion that we want him to be. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:57.519 Yet our lives are so often absent from the praise that His peace alone deserves. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:04.559 And so, too often murmuring and complaining fill our mouths. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:13.599 But when we rightly understand His peace, then we will not be able to contain our praise. 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:20.079 Because if the rocks can cry out, can't we? 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:26.079 But church, our hope is in Christ. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:32.640 Christ Jesus, who was silenced so that we would be filled with praise. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:37.039 Jesus was silenced so that we would be filled with praise. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:42.640 The crowds praise of Hosanna, the crowds praise of save us. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:49.519 They would soon turn to cries of condemnation as they would call out, crucify him. 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:55.680 Yet Jesus himself, he would be altogether silent. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:06.960 Isaiah 53, the suffering servant songs of Isaiah, declares this about him that he, being Jesus, was oppressed. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.480 He was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:19.839 Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:22.799 You see, the king was going to war. 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:29.920 He was going to war to bring peace to his people, but he wasn't going to unsheath his sword. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.720 No, he was going to bear his cross. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:39.039 He was going to make war against sin and death. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:48.640 And the only shout of the king that would be heard that day would be the cry of, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:51.039 --> 00:26:01.279 And when the true enemy was defeated, and all of our sin, guilt, and shame was laid upon him, his head would fall. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:04.319 And the king would be dead. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:14.640 You see, he had accomplished what he set to do: to make peace by the blood of his cross. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:17.599 The king was dead. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:19.279 Jesus was silenced. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:21.119 The war was over. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:32.880 But three days later, the victory over all of his enemies would be obtained in his glorious resurrection unto everlasting life. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:36.000 You see, it's his finished work. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:43.039 His complete work of not only his death, but his resurrection also. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:45.920 That has brought us peace. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:52.319 And it has brought us peace so that we would be a people filled with praise. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:27:01.359 And so my hope for us, sacred mission, is this that we would be a people of proper praise. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:05.519 This is all about perception and understanding, right? 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:27.519 When we seek to truly know Jesus as the King He truly is, when we seek to embrace His kingdom for what His kingdom truly is, when we understand peace rightly and the wars that wage against us has been ultimately overcome in Christ's finished work, then we become a people of His praise. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:34.799 Praise that is rooted in who He truly is and what He has truly done for us. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:38.799 Because He alone is the king that we have always needed. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:42.319 He alone is the conqueror of our true enemy. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:47.519 So we must not allow our praise to be disrupted by lesser battles. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:54.799 We cannot allow our praise to be muffled by meaningless wars of this world. 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:12.079 Because it's when we understand where our war truly resides in the victory that has been accomplished by King Jesus alone, will we be able to walk in unshakable peace and unstoppable praise? 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:12.880 Amen. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:14.799 Let's pray.