WEBVTT 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:12.800 Uh but this morning at Palm Sunday, this introduces us really uh to the final days of Jesus. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:27.519 So we're looking and gazing in some of the very last days of his life, and we want to try to understand from it, you know, imagine yourself, if you had a week to live and you knew you only had a week to live, what would be some of the things that you would do? 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.600 What would be some of the words that you would say? 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.519 Who would be the people that you would visit? 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.159 Like we can start thinking through some of those things. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:38.159 Uh and we want to look at God of all creation, right? 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:47.119 Jesus, who through whom all things were created and by whom all things are uh sustained has come and taken on flesh. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:55.039 The omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God enters into our experience and he's got a week left with us. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:56.399 What's he gonna say? 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:57.759 What's he gonna do? 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:04.400 And so Palm Sunday helps introduce us to this last week of his life. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:11.439 And what we're gonna look at this morning is this that there's a reality in our existence of war and peace, right? 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:18.000 These these two countertensions that we constantly live under in our society and culture. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.239 We we all hate war, right? 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:25.040 I think I think we can understand we we don't like war, we desire peace. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:28.319 But war is a part of our reality. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:37.760 Uh we we're not gonna get away from it because we have sinful people who pursue oppressive power. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:40.159 Uh, this is a reality of our existence. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:47.519 And to ever think that we're just gonna be good enough to be able to eradicate war, well, you you have your head in the sand. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:57.599 You're not looking around us uh and the world that's happening where oppressive leaders in every nation are working to do one thing gain power. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:00.799 And and so war is a reality. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:02.879 God, God is not against war. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.920 Uh it's a part of his justice in some manner. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.719 We see at the end of time when Christ comes back, he comes back with a sword coming out of his mouth. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.240 He he inflicts war against his enemies, right? 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:17.599 So that we might have peace. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:25.039 But for us in this existence, in this life, it seems as though peace is always outside of our grasp. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.879 It's like we've almost got it and then it's just yanked out from us, right? 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:35.039 Like on one of those old like Tom and Jerry cartoons, like when he's getting up close to it, and then the mouse just like, ah, right? 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:38.400 That's what it feels like when we pursue peace. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:41.199 But this is what we have to understand. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:44.560 A good king brings peace to his people. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:53.840 A good king is not one who engages in war unnecessarily, he's not one who brings and invites enemies into his territory. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.080 He's he's not one that puts out his citizens to fight his battles so that he can obtain more wealth. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:04.080 A good king brings peace to his people. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:13.120 But what happens when we aren't his people, but are in fact the very enemy he needs to conquer to bring peace? 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:20.000 This is what we're gonna look at this morning that we're not God's people by nature. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.879 We're enemies of God. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:24.719 We're at war with him. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.080 And to bring peace, he actually has to conquer us. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.479 But how is Christ gonna do that? 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:40.080 What we see is that he doesn't do it through a bow or spear, but he does it through a cross and a crucifixion. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:49.120 So if we look at this opening statement in verses 20 through 35, what we're gonna see is this that the king comes in humble majesty. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:51.039 The king comes in humble majesty. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.919 If you want to follow along with us in our app, you can do so. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.719 We have fill-in notes, that's why some of these words are highlighted yellow. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:59.120 It's not just a computer error or anything of that nature. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:04.960 Uh, but you can follow along in your app and you can take notes and then you can use them for your own personal devotion afterward. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:09.199 But but this is what we see the king comes in humble majesty. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.000 It starts off, it says, when he had said these things, right? 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:19.519 So we have to ask ourselves contextually if we're gonna just insert ourselves into a story narrative, what was happening beforehand. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:27.600 And what we see is that uh we enter this passage right after Jesus had changed the life of this Zacchaeus tax collector. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:28.000 Right? 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:33.519 Zacchaeus was this we little man that they saw on a tree. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:40.160 Jesus stopped in the midst of passing through a crowd to Z, and he saw Zacchaeus up in this tree. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:46.000 Zacchaeus was trying to get a good look at this man who the city was creating a crowd about. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:48.879 And then later Jesus goes to Zacchaeus' home. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:05:01.920 And Zacchaeus experiences this new life, this second birth, this hope of uh of eternal life because he's gazed upon the Messiah himself. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:05.519 And Zacchaeus experiences this huge life change, right? 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:06.399 Uh uh from it. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:14.800 We're not gonna go deep into that, but but he was radically changed because he had seen that salvation had come to him. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:19.360 And then Jesus began to teach those who were near a parable. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:24.480 So he teaches this parable about ten servants and their ten minor or talents. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.639 Uh, this parable really doesn't do much about the passage that we're preaching on this morning. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:38.959 However, there's a key statement that's made by Luke to help us understand the context of maybe why Jesus was speaking it and what we're going to experience here in the story narrative as well. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:40.399 Uh let's look at it real quick. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.000 In Luke 19, 11, just a few verses beforehand, it says this. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:50.639 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem, and this is the key part. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:55.680 Because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.879 So he's gonna he's trying to slow them down. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:06.079 He's telling this story, he's telling this parable because they assume that the kingdom of God is going to come immediately. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.720 And what he's trying to do is set their expectations properly. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:16.959 You see, they continually failed to see the true portrait of this king and his kingdom. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:23.680 It plays itself out in this passage in the following days of Jesus' life, leading even through his resurrection. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:27.120 So when it says, and when he had said these things, he went on ahead. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:32.959 This time was Zacchaeus, and this teaching of this parable is what Luke is referring to. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:40.560 So then Jesus appears to make his first purposeful public appearance. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.160 An appearance meant to draw attention to himself. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.360 If we look through the life of Jesus, he constantly is trying to not get attention on himself, right? 00:06:49.759 --> 00:07:03.680 He's kind of escaping the crowds, he's hiding, he's going to be alone, uh, he's trying to not draw too much attention to, he's hushing demons by his own power, like just telling them to shut up and cease from confessing who he is. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:07.439 But this time he wants to draw attention to himself. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:12.240 Because this was the journey to the coronation of the king. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:19.920 But much like his crowning not with gold but with thorns, his journey would be on a donkey and not a steed. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:25.759 How would you begin to prepare such an entrance, such a declaration of your majesty? 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:31.519 We we can look at some of the extraordinary events throughout time and history of kings' coronations. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:34.240 And they they go without any expense, right? 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:50.319 It's any way that they can show how rich they are, how powerful they are, they are going to whether they're gonna be inviting uh uh other power figures from around the world to attend, if they're gonna have uh celebrations from a celebration, even just look at the inauguration of our own president, right? 00:07:50.399 --> 00:08:03.759 It's like, hey, let's let's get anybody that we can to come and just shout our praises and perform to help everybody understand how great I'm going to be and how awesome my administration's going to be, right? 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:05.600 But Jesus doesn't. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:10.879 He comes in lowly state on the back of a donkey. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:20.240 Jesus sends two of his disciples to get a donkey and bring it to him to ride into Jerusalem. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:21.920 Well, why a donkey, right? 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:22.160 Why? 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:22.560 Why? 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:24.399 We have to ask this question. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:31.680 Well, because over 500 years earlier, the Spirit showed a prophet by the name of Zechariah that this is how the king would come. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.200 So this is a prophetic fulfillment of the Messiah. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.159 If we look at Zechariah 9:9, we see this. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.639 So this is over 500 years beforehand. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.120 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:47.279 Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:55.279 Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, a foal of a donkey. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:02.960 So possibly God chose this entrance for his coming king simply as a sign that we would know it was him who had come. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:05.360 This is much like the virgin birth. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:14.720 A lot of us like to try and put a lot of uh kind of mysticism around the virgin birth and its purposes and so forth, but Isaiah is very clear of why the virgin birth ever even existed. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:16.240 It was to be a sign. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.080 You want to know that this is the Messiah? 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:19.600 Well, he's gonna be born of a virgin. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.480 And so maybe by chance, Zechariah is doing the same thing. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:30.320 The Lord is moving through Zechariah to prophesy that if you want another sign that this is the Messiah who's come, then look at this. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.840 He's gonna be riding on the back of a donkey when he does. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:41.360 Or possibly, it was to help us and his disciples see who Jesus really was. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.279 Number one, he was a descendant of David. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:51.519 This is also a prophecy about the king who would come, was that he would descend from the line of David himself. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:58.399 You see, donkeys were actually considered royal animals before and during the time of King David. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.720 They were the ones of nobleness and majestic nature. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:09.759 It wasn't until after David were they considered unsuited for royalty and were replaced by horses. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:15.039 This donkey displayed for all to see that he was the king they were waiting for. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:20.000 But number two, it might be also to communicate that this king would be poor in spirit. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:24.240 He was humble and mounted on a donkey. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:26.159 This was their king. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:35.919 Not a king as they expected, but one who counted all of his royalty, majesty, and treasure as nothing to hold on to as gain. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:39.519 Look at Philippians 2, 5 through 6. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:51.360 It says this 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 even be grasped. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:56.399 Look at the poor in spirit nature of our Messiah. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:01.360 That he was willing to give up all that was rightful to his claim. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:09.360 Anything that he could reach out his hand and grasp hold of, he set it aside so that he could come and save his people. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.799 Now let's look through verses 36 through 38. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:19.840 And this is where the crowd inserts themselves, and what we see is that there's true praise amongst misplaced motives. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.639 True praise amongst misplaced motives. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.759 We have to understand the real scene taking place here. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.639 There's a ton of people surrounding Jesus as he's riding into the city. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:40.159 And to kind of give us a scope of how big of a crowd this is, it was estimated that there was over two million people who had come into Jerusalem for Passover. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:48.879 And in fact, there's a historical account of Jerusalem during Passover, just 10 years after Jesus' triumphant entry. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:55.200 And this historical account states that 260,000 sheep were slaughtered for sacrifice. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:57.519 Imagine that. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:05.919 260,000 sheep had to be brought in just to be slaughtered for sacrifice, just to facilitate the Passover meal that was happening in Jerusalem. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:07.759 We're talking about a crowd. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:14.000 We're talking about a huge crowd begins to swarm around Jesus. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:18.080 He was surrounded by thousands and upon thousands of people. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:20.559 But why were they there? 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:24.559 Why were they crowding the streets to declare his praise? 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:29.440 The passage gives us one simple phrase of understanding. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.480 Because of all the works that they had seen. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.159 They saw the works that he had performed. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:41.200 They had seen miracles, they had been eyewitnesses of his power and majesty in certain ways. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:47.919 They had seen him work these miracles firsthand or heard of them through secondhand accounts. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.399 They were crowded there for all the mighty works that they had seen. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.759 Their motives for praising him were misplaced. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.919 They were praising him for the king they wanted, not the king that he truly was. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:08.799 You see, they couldn't see it yet, but the rest of Jesus' final days would be radically different than how they expected. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:18.000 This triumphant entry into Jerusalem was purposefully and sovereignly leading to a shameful exit out of it. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:40.399 Jesus himself, though he was brought in triumphantly to the city of Jerusalem, would be carrying a cross as he exited out of the city because a cursed man who hung upon a tree could not even be within the city limits, but they had to actually execute them outside of the city so that they would not defile the people living there. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:48.559 His triumphant entry would sovereignly and purposefully lead to a shameful exit out of it. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:52.399 Though their motives were misplaced, their praise was true. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:14:04.480 The declaration of praise, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest, was a statement that they could not even fully understand, but they were uttering it faithfully. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:08.000 What was this peace that they talked about? 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:10.159 And how would it be obtained? 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:15.120 You see, this praise is so similar to the actual angels pronouncing Jesus' birth. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:26.159 So when we look at Jesus' uh uh birth and and the angels come to declare to the shepherds that that the Messiah has come, we see a very similar phrase being repeated. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:41.519 So, so if the crowds were stating, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest, the angels declared in like faithful manner, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:50.559 But now as he rides on the back of a donkey, the crowds of people shout true praise, even if they are filled with misplaced motivations to do so. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:15:00.639 Then we look at this closing passage, 39 through 40, we see this that all creation longs for redemption. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:03.519 All creation longs for redemption. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.480 The Pharisees were angered at the people's response to Jesus. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:14.879 They actually tell him to rebuke them, rebuke your disciples, make them be quiet. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:19.039 You see, they didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah, so this was blasphemy. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:23.919 To be able to shout such praise and worship to someone who didn't deserve it. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.120 This was blasphemy and even deserving of death. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.440 The Pharisees were angered at the lavish praise of the people for Jesus. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:37.679 They could not imagine such a response of worship given to a man whom they believed was not truly the Messiah. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:42.320 So they call for Jesus to rebuke the people, to admonish them for their behavior. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:49.600 And when Jesus corrects the Pharisees, he says this, I tell you, even these stones would cry out. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.480 What's he talking about here? 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:59.600 If these were silent, speaking of the people, the crowd around him, then the very stones would cry out. 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:07.360 This statement may be understood rightly as thought on the praise and worship that Jesus deserves. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:13.919 But it might also be understood for the longing that all creation has for salvation to come to them. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:20.159 You see, in the Gospel of John, we're shown that among these praises were also the shouts of Hosanna. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.840 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.720 Hosanna literally means save us. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:34.000 So when the crowds are shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, that literally means save us, save us. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:46.639 Maybe amidst all the shouts, all the praise, Jesus was telling the Pharisees that there's nothing that can keep creation from declaring both their need for him and his ability to truly save. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:52.639 This isn't just some anthropomorphic language being used. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:58.720 This is an authentic statement of the nature of the relationship between God and his creation. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:02.879 So the Bible uses anthropomorphic language a lot. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:07.680 What that means is it gives man attributes to non-living things, right? 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:11.039 The mountains clap their hands, the rivers sing with joy. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:12.559 This is anthropomorphic. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.839 This is things that aren't human giving human attributes to. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.960 So when Jesus says this very stones would cry out, this isn't just poetic in nature. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:26.240 This is a reality of the groaning that creation has to see salvation come. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:34.240 Romans 8, 19 through 22 says this for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:48.880 For the creation was subject 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. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:56.160 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.359 Jesus says, You can't stop this plan of salvation. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:02.319 You can't stop the acknowledgement that I am the Messiah. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:11.839 If you want to shut the mouths of these people, the creation itself has been groaning, longing for my entry into my kingdom. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:31.519 The people were all gathered because of the miracles and works that they had witnessed and heard of. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:39.599 They believed their king had finally come to give them peace, but they missed the source of their conflict. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:43.119 They had their gaze fixed on the wrong war. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:54.480 The people surrounding him with praise and adoration would just a few days later be at best hopeless and distraught, as the one who they declared their king was dead and buried in a tomb. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.039 They would be a people filled with doubt. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:02.079 That they had misunderstood who he was. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:06.799 They would be filled with defeat, that they were still under the bondage of a tyrant. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:12.400 After their Messiah was dead and buried, they still had a wicked emperor reigning over them. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:18.640 Their king had not brought peace in the way that they desired or expected it to be. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:25.599 Peace would have seemed to elude them while their champion lay dead in a sealed-up tomb. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:29.680 Ultimately, they didn't understand the peace that was to come. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.880 They didn't understand the one who would be bringing it. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:37.599 They didn't understand the means by which they would attain it. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:43.599 Because that's the reality of the situation, that they were fixing their eyes on the wrong war. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:51.039 How does a king bring peace when it's his very people or those who are not yet his people that he has to conquer? 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.960 This is what we were talking about in Romans 5 just last week. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:58.240 That peace had to come because we were at war with God. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:19:59.519 And how did peace come? 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:02.160 It came through the sacrifice of Jesus. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:18.160 This was the peace offering set forth by God Himself that we might have peace with him, because there was nothing that we could bring to the table of negotiation to keep God's wrath from crushing us under the weight of his rage and fury against our sin. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:19.279 And so what does he do? 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:20.960 He puts forth his very son. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:23.920 You want peace? 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:34.640 And it's gonna have to come through a king in his kingdom who sacrifices himself to bring peace to his people. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:39.279 And it's through Christ, through Christ that we're reconciled to God. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:45.599 Why do we need reconciled if we weren't already, if we were already his children? 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:49.759 Why would we need reconciled if we were already in good relationship and right standing with him? 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.839 Why would we need peace if there was no conflict between us and God? 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:05.599 You see, the the culture around us wants us to understand or assume, and it's creeping, not creeping in, man, it's in full-flooded force in the evangelical church that people are innately just good people. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:09.839 They need to try just a little bit harder, and that God's really not that mad with you. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:11.519 In fact, he loves you just as you are. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:13.200 That's garbage. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:15.039 It's complete garbage. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:16.880 God doesn't love you just as you are. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:24.000 His son had to come and die and be crushed under the weight of his wrath so that he might even accept you as a child in the first place. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:26.400 That's not loving you just as you are. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.119 That's loving Christ. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:36.400 That's loving Christ and his sufficient offering of peace to accept you as his own. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:42.240 We're just like these people in a lot of ways, though. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:44.319 We're just like the crowd. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:49.440 One way is that our praise is tethered to our perception. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:52.640 Our praise is tethered to our perception. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.640 We praise God when He does what we think He should do. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.279 We praise Him in our life. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:08.240 With our worship, with our confession, when he's matching up or lining up with how we perceive that he should be. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:19.279 You see, we like to play God ourselves, and we like to dictate that we are actually authoritative over him, and this is how he should be and function in our lives if he truly was a good God. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:29.119 We don't submit ourselves to his own authority and allow his revealed word to declare and show to us what goodness actually should look like. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:36.400 You see, we're eager to praise Jesus when his seen or felt work is stacked to our benefit. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:47.519 When we're experiencing his blessing, and I use that term extremely lightly, or at least the way we want to define his blessing, then we're eager to praise him. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:52.240 But often God's blessing looks radically different than our perception. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:23:01.519 And it's at those moments our mouths are filled with ridicule, bitterness, and disbelief. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:03.359 God, why me? 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:04.559 I thought you were good. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.160 I thought you loved me. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.960 Why would you allow this to happen? 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.559 But see, we were talking in our mission group this week about what does blessing look like? 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:18.319 What does the blessing of God look like? 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:23.759 And this is kind of a conclusion I want to submit and put forward. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:29.920 Anything that comes into our life that causes the fruit of conformity to Christ. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:57.519 Anything we experience in this life that causes the fruit of conformity to Christ, whether that's gain or loss, whether that's pleasure or peril, whether that's suffering and struggle or victory and triumph, no matter what it is, as long as the outcome fruit is conformity to the image of Christ, you're experiencing God's blessing. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.279 Because that's the goal. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.559 Our comfort, our pleasure, uh that's not the goal. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:07.440 Our happiness, that's not the goal. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:09.440 Our goal is Christ. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:18.079 You see, we're like the people who praised him during his journey into Jerusalem, but was found abandoning him on his journey to the cross. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:22.480 The cross was more of a blessing than the entry was, church. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:30.000 But our perception of blessing, favor, and peace often lead us away from true praise rather than deeper into it. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.759 Because our praise is tethered to our perception. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:38.880 Count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you experience suffering. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:42.799 Count it all joy when you experience suffering. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:46.960 That's so contradicted to what we understand, what God should be doing in our lives. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:51.039 What blessing should look like, what favor should look like. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:59.920 And many of us, many of us have at least subconsciously anchored our ship to a health and wealth gospel more than we want to realize. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:07.680 And that's the problem with our hearts. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:20.559 When we don't submit them to who Jesus actually is, how he's actually revealed himself to be, and he doesn't meet our standards and expectations, our praise is eliminated from our lips. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:27.759 The second way we do this, though, is that our praise is unmatched to his peace. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:30.319 Our praise is unmatched to his peace. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:38.720 The peace that Jesus offers is eternally better and more transcendently true than any peace that we could ever fathom ourselves. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:43.680 Yet our lives are often absent of the praise that this peace deserves. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:53.279 We walk around muffled by lesser battles and meaningless wars, waiting for Jesus to be the champion that we want him to be. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:57.680 Murmuring and complaining fill our mouths. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:03.279 But when we rightly understand his peace, then we won't be able to contain our praise. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:08.480 And we're doing this day in and day out in our culture. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:12.480 And I'm getting sucked into it as much as any of you are. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:19.759 But we look at our society around us, we look at the government structure that we reside under, we look at whoever's in power, right? 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:25.279 And it's and our mouths are filled with murmuring and complaining because we're afraid. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:29.519 If we're honest with ourselves, we're afraid peace is beyond us. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:34.160 You've been given peace eternal. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:36.240 Church, this is the gospel. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:41.039 You've been giving peace that no hand of man can ever take away from you. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:48.799 You've been giving eternal peace because Christ the King has squashed the war that was between us through this cross. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:52.880 I was talking uh just yesterday. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:27:05.759 I I came uh to by to drop something off here, and there was this uh woman walking on the uh uh sidewalk, and I tried to be friendly and say hi, and I discovered she's 91, and it was her third time out of her house in a year. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:10.160 Yeah, yeah, we that's a whole nother conversation. 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:18.720 Uh but uh but she was a joy, but this was this was what came out of her mouth constantly in our in our about five-minute conversation. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:21.039 I don't have any hope. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:36.880 And it wasn't coronavirus, it wasn't that she was shut in for the last year, it was looking at this culture, looking at the values that society is embracing, looking at the people who's in power, looking at the administration who's making decisions. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:39.359 She doesn't have hope. 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.680 Well, of course not. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:49.200 Same with the last administration, and the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before that. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:54.480 Why would we put our hope in fleeting things? 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.839 And to be able to just tell her that she asked me, Do you have hope? 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:01.920 I said, Yeah, Jesus is King. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.160 I do have hope. 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:07.920 Because peace has entered in. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:09.440 I'm no longer at war. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:18.319 Every battle that I could ever face is so meaningless and pathetic when you compare it to the war that we had in our sin between us and our Maker. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:21.039 We have a true peace. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:26.400 And oftentimes my praise is unmatched to the peace which he gives us. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:36.000 And so our gospel hope this morning is this that Jesus is the true King whose victory gives us true peace. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:40.400 Jesus is the true King that you and I never knew that we needed. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:43.200 And we we've talked about this, right? 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:47.759 Think about the peace that Christ the King has given to us. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:50.160 When we there was nothing that we can do. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:29:00.640 This is all of Romans that we've been preaching through that there was nothing you could bring to the table to be able to earn God's favor and affection and blessing on your life. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:02.720 We will never be saved by works. 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:11.759 Our works alone will only damn us and give a justification to God's wrath, not to his acceptance of us. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:19.279 Every work that we put forth to try and earn holiness, to try and earn his affection, doesn't justify ourselves. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.799 It justifies the affliction of his wrath against us. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:25.680 We were at war with God. 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:30.640 And we tried to make peace. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:44.480 You know, you know in your life the way you've tried to make peace, every human being's effort from the time they're born and have consciousness is try to skip this, uh tip the scales of injustice in their favor. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.799 Because we're born with eternity inside of us. 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:57.680 We're born with a knowledge that we're continue on, and we're also born and understand the guilt of our failings. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:00.000 And so what do we do? 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:09.519 We labor and toil, we scratch and claw to try and tip the scale into our favor that God might actually accept us if we're just good enough. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.119 We can't. 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:24.160 Every effort, every labor never seeks to justify ourselves, it only justifies why his wrath is necessary. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:27.680 So there's nothing that we could do. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:31.440 And look, we serve a God who wins every battle he engages in. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:33.200 You have to understand that. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:34.640 He's undefeated. 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:36.799 He wins every war. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:42.160 We don't want to be on the enemy's side of this fight. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:50.880 But his love for us, his affection for us, determined that he didn't want us there either. 00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:52.400 And so what does he do? 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:57.440 He puts forth the only peace offering that would ever be acceptable in his sight. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:00.000 His son Jesus. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:08.960 His son Jesus is the true King who gives us true peace. 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.640 And so, how should we then live? 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:17.359 Number one, we would be a people of proper praise. 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:25.599 We would be a people of proper praise, praise that is rooted in who he truly is and what he has truly done for us. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:30.079 You see, he is the king we have always needed. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.759 He is the conqueror of our true enemy. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:39.440 He has given to us freely what we could never have obtained ourselves. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:48.559 If we understood God rightly, and if we understood our relationship with God rightly, then we would be a people of proper praise. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:50.640 We would lavish praise on him. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:56.480 I mean, imagine the scene that we're painting here as the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:07.920 You're talking about thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people publicly shouting his praise, so much so that the Pharisees come in and try to get Jesus to rebuke him. 00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:12.880 Guys, we're scared to praise him because of the society around us. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:19.599 We're scared to proclaim his message of peace because of the culture that we find ourselves in. 00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:28.720 Christ Himself counted everything as lost that he might gain us. 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:33.279 Why can we not count everything as lost that we have gained him? 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:45.920 Imagine what your praise would be like if we understood the gospel rightly, if we believed it rightly, if we preached it rightly to ourselves. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:47.440 What would our think about this? 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:50.400 How would your language change on a daily basis? 00:32:52.079 --> 00:33:14.240 If your true hope was in the gospel, if your true peace was in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, if your true joy was found that he has has you in his hand that nothing can pluck you from, if your true uh joy and and and everlasting uh uh pleasure was known by being known by him, what would your language look like? 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:15.599 What would your actions look like? 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:18.480 What would your praise look like? 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:26.000 And look, church, we we come in here in a predominantly free society, that's another conversation. 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:40.400 Uh, but uh we come in here freely to be able to worship, to be able to adore, praise, to be able to lavish affection upon Jesus amongst the corporate body? 00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:44.160 And how is your praise and worship lined up rightly to who he is? 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:57.920 And secondly, how is it building up the other brothers and sisters who are weak and struggling because the the the turmoil of life has just beat them down, that you're propping them up with the way that you're proclaiming the praise of our King? 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:02.079 Do you ever think that your worship wasn't just about you and God? 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:10.400 But that your worship was actually a battle song of the saints that helps give them the strength to keep marching on? 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:19.599 Imagine if we were filled with masculine praise where the men led the charge. 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:27.920 The men led the charge of how to sing out loud, how to look goofy, and their hands raised, maybe dance a little off beat. 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:30.559 You guys are super not rhythmic. 00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:32.800 I've just I've experienced it firsthand. 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:34.960 You've through you've you've this is how bad you are. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:38.320 You've literally thrown the whole band off, like timing at times. 00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:39.360 That's how bad. 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:40.960 I'm just being honest because I love you. 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:42.559 So this is the truth in love. 00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:43.360 You're bad. 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:44.559 That's okay though. 00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:46.239 That doesn't matter. 00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:52.239 What matters is this that that we as a people praise Him properly. 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:55.760 And I want to see men leading that charge. 00:34:56.400 --> 00:35:08.480 Because our homes will worship the way that we do, our churches will worship the way that we do, our cities will be one as men step up to praise God rightly. 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:13.760 Number two, we would live in his true peace. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:17.360 I'm gonna close here and I'm doing pretty good. 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:19.599 We would live in his true peace. 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:23.039 I feel like Jordan should buy me something, like a gift. 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:26.159 Um we would live in his true peace. 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:31.760 Church, let's not allow our peace to be disrupted by lesser battles. 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:34.239 The war's been won. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:41.519 The only war that ever mattered has been won because Jesus has conquered death, hell, and the grave. 00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:45.679 There is literally no war, no battle that could come to us in our culture. 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:52.000 I don't care what Russia does, North Korea does, China does, I don't care whatever else that we do internally to ourselves. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:36:02.079 Every single fight that we would face is a lesser, pathetic, anemic battle compared to the one that's been conquered and won for us through Jesus Christ Himself. 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.280 We should not allow our peace to be disrupted by lesser battles. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:12.960 We should not allow our peace to be shaken by weaker wars. 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:27.039 It's when we understand where our war was between us and our Maker and the victory that's been accomplished by Jesus alone, that you and I will be able to walk in unshakable peace. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.480 Unshakable peace. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:41.519 Think about the testimony of the gospel that we're supposed to have in our world, amongst our neighbors and our coworkers and our culture when we should walk in unshakable peace. 00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:50.800 And Christians are shaking like leaves with the rest of society because if we're honest, our hope isn't in the con the king who has conquered. 00:36:50.960 --> 00:37:04.159 Our hope's in some person, some document, some value structure that will be burnt up and destroyed in the coming of our true Messiah. 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:12.400 Think about the gospel power of Christians living in unshakable peace. 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:21.519 Think about, again, the language, the decisions that you're making, the way that you're engaging with society and your neighbor and your coworker. 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.480 Would they say, man, that guy's got peace? 00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:26.960 That lady's got peace. 00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:29.039 And it doesn't make sense. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:34.320