WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.000 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.599 Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:13.119 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit Grantparkway.org. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:14.000 Have a seat. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.519 If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Luke chapter 19. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.960 Luke chapter 19. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:22.719 I want to talk to you this morning about the one story that God loves to tell. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:24.480 I was not here last weekend. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:28.160 I was teaching at a college retreat in Destin, Florida. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.560 Somebody's got to go to Destin, Florida, and teach the Bible to college kids. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:34.000 I nominate myself. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:40.000 I thought about you as I got to my condo at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort on this side of the suite. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:41.439 I looked out on the ocean. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.240 On this side over here, I looked out on the golf course. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.880 And the guy said, You can do whatever you want while you're here. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:49.520 We just want you to teach the Bible and hang out with students. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.240 If you want to play golf during your free time, you can do that. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.359 And I said, No, brother, I've come to give myself to the word. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:58.719 It rained on Saturday. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:07.840 Anyway, but one of the things that I was reminded of is, and I told them, I said, y'all got to change the way you think about the Bible because here's the way we think about the Bible. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:08.560 Most people do. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.879 You think the Bible is like a collection of stories. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.920 Some are easier to believe than others, but there's these different one-off stories all through the Bible. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:19.599 The story of the Ark, I mean, they may move a movie about it, but I mean, come on, you don't know about that. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.640 And Jesus walks on water, and this, and this, and this. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.760 And I want to say to you, that's the wrong way to think about the Bible. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.920 It is not a collection of stories, some of which are more believable than others. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:35.519 It is one story that God tells all through the Old Testament, all the way to the New Testament. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:36.640 Don't separate old. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:39.760 Well, that's kind of the old mean old God, but Jesus comes on the eye. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:40.480 I like Jesus. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:48.159 Don't like God, but I like Jesus because he's kind of soft and loving and sweet and he rides a donkey and he kind of a pacifist, you know. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:52.879 He just kind of but he got himself in trouble, and the Romans killed him. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:54.560 You don't understand the story of God. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:00.319 And so I want to just kind of I want you to stay in Luke 19. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:02.319 And I'm going to get there in about eight minutes. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:03.439 You got eight minutes? 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:13.599 Because I just want to summarize, because I mean when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on what's called the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, I want to, there's the understatement of the day. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.919 He's been a long time coming. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.280 He's been a long time coming. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.280 So don't just drop in if you're visiting today. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:26.879 Don't just drop in and go, well, it's Palm Sunday, and we're just checking out of church to see where we want to go for Easter. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:29.439 And this was close to the house, and we'll just kind of see. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:30.479 Glad you're here. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:38.960 But don't just think, oh, here's another episodic little narrative from the life of Jesus who kind of rides in and, you know, gets himself killed. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:40.479 Not at all. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.599 You say, What do you mean? 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.759 The one story God loves to tell. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:49.759 Well, if you started in the beginning and you read the first page or the first verse or the first book of the Bible, you would read these words. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:55.680 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was void and formless, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:01.199 And then it says this, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:08.479 All that was dark and void and formless and unshaped and nothingness, God was kind of just hovering over it. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:12.560 And the first thing the Bible tells us is that from nothing God made everything. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:16.000 He could have made anything, but he made something very particular. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:18.479 And he made a man named Adam and put him in the garden. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:23.680 And he says to Adam, You're free to eat of any tree of the garden, but of this one tree, do not eat. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:29.520 The first command of God to his ultimate creation, humanity, was not no, but it was yes. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:30.719 You are free. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:32.240 Say that to your kids today. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.199 You're free to eat of anything you want. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.080 The first service, two little shenanigans, little my little buddies, the Snyder boys, sat in the back of this section right here. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:45.840 They came to me in the floor and said, Pastor Neil, can we have some of those donuts over there? 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.120 Because we have a worship abroad project going on today. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:55.520 If you're new to our church, what that means is that men and women from our church, we find need in our city, and we just descend on it in Jesus' name. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:08.240 And about a three weeks ago, maybe I talked about my wife and I walking and found this, met this guy in my neighborhood, and there are people from our church right now who are ripping out their cabinets and installing new cabinets and new countertops and new tile that you paid for. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:12.960 We were walking last night and I saw the guy getting out of his yard and I said, Hey, how are you having visitors in the morning? 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:14.560 He said, Yeah, 8 45. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.560 And so guys showed up dressed in camouflage, and one of them I think had a dip. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:23.519 I couldn't verify that, but I was like, I think that brother's got a pinch between his sheek and gum right there. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:35.759 And so they're just, because God hovers over nothing and makes something out of it, they are ripping out their cabinets out of the wall, the glory of God, and putting new ones in and say, we just want to bless you in Jesus' name. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:41.279 And so that's going on because, not because we're great, because that's reflective of who God is. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.639 And if you just move from Genesis 1, 1 and 2 to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, you hear this. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.319 This is what I mean when I say that Jesus has been a long time coming. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.199 It's not like halfway through the story, it's not going well. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:55.759 And so God writes a new character into the story. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:56.879 Baby Jesus. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:04:59.279 No, somebody that Ricky Bobby can pray to. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:00.720 No, not at all. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.920 Not at all the story of God, okay? 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:07.120 The story is bigger and deeper and more expansive than that. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:08.959 And so Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:10.720 You ain't got to turn there, but it says this. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:16.480 God speaks and says, Come, let us, plural, make man in our plural image. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:18.639 What is God got multiple personality? 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:22.959 No, it's a triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:31.519 You read in Colossians 1, it writes of Jesus that before all things he existed, and all things were created by him, and for him all things were made. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.800 He was active, he was the agent of God in creation. 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:39.920 So when God speaks in Genesis 1 and says, Come let us make man in our image. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:43.519 He's like, Hey, hey, Jesus has been here all along. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.759 So when he rides in in Luke 19, he's been a long time coming, people. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:49.519 It doesn't stop there. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:53.279 He goes from that to Genesis chapter 3 because he puts them in the garden and says, You're free. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:54.319 And what do they do? 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:55.439 They don't trust God. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:58.240 They're afraid God's somehow holding back on them. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:05.040 Oh man, I will he might be, you know, the the serpent might be telling the truth here, and God might be lying. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:10.000 Despite the fact that the Bible says over and over, God is not a man that he would love. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:13.040 And so they sin and they and sin is into the world. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:18.800 We live in a fallen world now because our original spiritual parents, Adam and Eve, did not trust God. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:21.439 And so God says there's got to be a consequence for sin. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:27.360 By the way, if you don't teach your children, there's a consequence for violating God's law and violating your law. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:28.959 You're the law in your house. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:30.000 You know that, right? 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:31.680 You know, like, well, I don't know. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:32.560 You hadn't been to our house. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:33.680 I'll come whip your kids today. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.399 So I can just be reminding them, hey, there's law here. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:42.560 Yeah, you you you gotta, because if you don't teach your kids, hey, there's authority, when you violate this authority, there's a consequence. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:47.920 If there's no consequence, when your kids violate authority, you're gonna be in trouble, my man. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:53.600 It's cute now when they're three and six, but when they're 14 and 17, it's destructive. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.639 And so God says, hey, there's got to be consequences in Genesis 3. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:05.279 He looks at the serpent and he says, Hey, because you've done this, you know, you're gonna crawl on your belly the rest of your life and you're gonna eat dust. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:10.959 And then he says, This, I'll put enmity between the seed of the woman and between you, this sense of hostility. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:19.360 And then he says, uh, it's the first messianic promise, Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, and he says, He will crush your head and you will bruise his heel. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:23.120 You see, because Jesus has been a long time coming. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:28.000 And so it goes from Genesis 3, this story, this one story that weaves all the way through the Bible. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:33.199 You get to Genesis 6, and God looks down and he sees that just people are just running everywhere. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:42.800 And if you've ever like volunteered in some kind of a drunken stupor, if you volunteered to coach like a like a five-year-old soccer team, you get this, okay? 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:47.360 Because our our daughter, when we she was little, one play soccer, and I was like, ooh, really? 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:48.480 How about ballet? 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:49.680 Your mom can take you to that. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:50.959 No, she wanna play soccer. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.720 And so I went out there, the coach showed up for one practice, and in our first game, he wasn't there, and they said, Oh, Mr. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:58.319 McClane, you seem to like kids. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:07:59.040 No, no, no. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:07:59.920 I like my kids. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:01.600 I don't like your kids. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:03.920 Well, the kids don't have a coach. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:09.120 Well, I had to step in and coach, and we did plays, and I drew up plays, and I had little flashcards, and I would show them. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:10.399 Okay, here's what we're gonna do. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:11.839 We're gonna move the ball in your pants. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:15.360 And then the game came up, and a butterfly flew by the hello, butterfly, hello. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:25.040 And I'm just like, and the other kid team has always got some Brazilian, like genetically engineered, Pele's grandchild. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:29.439 And I'm like, there's no way you should be playing like elite traveling. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:31.040 This is the YMCA. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.919 Everybody gets a trophy, and they're just running everywhere. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.440 And finally, after about 10 minutes of the first game, here's all I would say: kick it like it's your brother. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:43.120 And they're like, oh yeah. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.240 And they're just everywhere. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:47.200 They don't listen. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:58.639 Well, the Bible says in Genesis chapter 6 that God looked down and he was grieved and he was sorry that he ever made man because every intention of his heart was evil continuously. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:06.240 So when Oprah comes to town and fills up the Toyota Center and looks at all you non-discerning women and says, Follow your heart. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.000 You you shouldn't be encouraged by that. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.240 And so God says, Here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna wipe out everybody and start over. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:31.759 And so Noah built this ark, and he builds this ark, and he fills the animals, and the ark with animals, and and then God wipes out creation, man, and animals and starts over because the ark was the only way to be saved, and by entering through this one door of the ark, it's the only way that you could be saved. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:33.200 Sound familiar? 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:44.240 And so you move from Genesis 6, and then he starts, you know, through the descendants of Noah, and you get to Genesis 12, he's got this guy, Abram, and he says, now I want to start working through relationships. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:55.919 You got Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and it's going along there, and it's this narrative, and it just unfolds, and you get to Exodus chapter 2, and God looks down, and the people cried out there in bondage. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:00.559 They're kind of like, you know, God, it kind of feels like maybe it should be better than this. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:11.279 Have you ever been there in your life where you just kind of look around and you go, I don't really like my wife, my kids drive me crazy, and I fantasized about killing my boss twice a week. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.840 But enough about my job. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:16.960 Anyway, enough about my life. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:18.000 Tell me about yours. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:23.759 And so the Bible says that God looked down and he saw and he remembered. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:24.639 He looked down. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:30.000 God saw, he heard their cries, he saw, he remembered, he does something about it. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:36.240 So in Exodus 3, there's this guy, Moses, who's already killed a man and fled, and he's living in hiding. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.720 They got posters of him on America's Most Wanted. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.440 If you see this man, be sure and call the FBI. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:43.279 And Moses is trying to eke out existence. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:47.840 So one day he looks up and there's a bush on fire, and he's like, Hello, check that out. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.200 That thing ain't burning up. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:52.399 And he walks over and God says, I got it, I got his attention now. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:54.960 Because God will do whatever he has to do to get your attention. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:55.840 You know that, right? 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:58.960 Because he's like, Hello, I want to communicate with you. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.519 I'm not up in the sky watching from a million miles away, kind of going, get it sorted. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:04.559 He's like, hello. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.840 And Moses walks over and says, Let me let me check this thing out. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.639 That this thing burns, but it's not consumed. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:12.879 And God spoke and said, Take your shoes off. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:14.799 The ground you're standing on is holy ground. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:19.279 And Moses is like, something can happen here. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:24.720 And so God begins to work because God works through relationship and God involves people in his story. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:28.799 It's not just a dictation, it's an invitation. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:32.080 It's not like the boss calling his secretary and going, write this down. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:37.919 It's God saying to people, Don't you want to be involved in what I'm doing in the world? 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.320 And Moses reluctantly said, Yes. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:43.279 He's like, Well, how about I do I don't really talk well? 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:44.559 How about my brother? 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:45.200 No, no, no. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:45.840 You're my man. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:46.720 Go to Pharaoh. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.639 Exodus chapter 5, go to Pharaoh. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:52.480 Some of you are thinking right now, dude, you're in Exodus 5 and we're in Luke 19. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:54.480 You're gonna land this plane, okay? 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.039 We got to get out of here in an hour, okay? 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:00.080 You're not even you're not even out of the second book of the Old Testament. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:01.120 Exodus 5. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.559 He goes to Pharaoh and says, Pharaoh, God said, Let my people go. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.080 And here's what Pharaoh says. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:08.240 Who is the Lord that I should obey him? 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:11.279 I do not know the Lord and I will not do what he says. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.559 By the way, that's the fundamental question of parenting right there. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:22.240 You've got to raise your kids to get the right answer to that question because your kids and their little heart are asking, Who is the Lord that I should obey him? 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:30.480 And if they don't know the Lord, they don't leave your house and have a right knowledge of God, they are going out the deep end first chance they get. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:33.200 Who is the Lord that I should obey him? 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:36.799 I do not know the Lord and I will not do what he says. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:47.600 And God says, Hey like frogs and flies and gnats and boils, and I'm gonna start off easy because you know I'm putting on stun. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:53.039 I'm gonna turn the water, the river and the water to blood, just so you'll know who you're jacking with here. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:13:03.919 And he just ratcheted it up, ratcheted it up, and he gets all the way to the first nine plagues, and you would think the Pharaoh is kind of going, uh, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew here. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:05.679 But the Bible says he doesn't. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:18.879 His heart just gets harder and harder and harder, and then you get after the nine plagues, and God's getting ready to do the tenth and final plague, the most devastating, he's gonna kill the firstborn of everything in all creation in the country of Egypt. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:20.639 That's people and animals. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.000 God's gonna say, Don't jerk with me. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:29.679 And the Bible says, because he's merciful, he's not, he's not just angry going, I'm gonna kill stuff. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.799 He says this in Exodus chapter 12, verse 1. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:38.240 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:39.360 Hear this, beloved. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:42.559 Hear this, because we're we're getting close to Luke 19. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:45.360 This month shall be for you the beginning of months. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:46.799 This is the first month of your calendar. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.519 It's called Nisan in the Jewish calendar. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:14:01.360 It'll be the first month of the year for you, and tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, the tenth day of Nisan, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, and a lamb for a household. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:10.240 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he's nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons, according to what each one can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:23.679 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old, you may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:28.720 Now, and you select your lambs on the tenth day of Nisan, and you keep it for five days. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:33.039 And so 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, five days. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:38.159 Passover was celebrated on the fifteenth day of Nisan, the first month of the year. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:43.360 God says, You select this, and then you make sure it's it's got to be without blemish. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.639 And so for five days they examine it to make sure there's nothing wrong with it. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:15:00.639 Verse 7, then they shall take some of the blood after you sacrifice a lamb and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the house in which they eat, and they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, they shall eat it. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:10.799 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted with its head and its legs and its inner parts, and you shall let none of it remain until the morning. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.600 Anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:23.440 In this manner you shall eat it, with your belt fastened, and your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, though we're just posture of readiness, and you shall eat it in haste. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:35.360 It is the Lord's Passover, for I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:38.240 I am the Lord. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:49.919 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:57.360 This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.320 You shall keep it as a feast. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:11.600 God delivers them parts of the Red Sea, and they come through and Moses' sister, her name's Miriam, she just burst into spontaneous song. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.559 When's the last time you bursted into spontaneous song? 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:16.960 When's the last time you just felt so good? 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:18.559 You just started singing something. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:25.120 Other day I was just walking through my house and I just started singing in John Deere Green in letters three foot high. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:27.679 He wrote, Billy Bob loves Charlene. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:32.480 And the whole town said that he should have used red in his love note to Charlene. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.240 In John Deere Green. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:35.519 And my kids are like. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:01.919 Somebody's going to hell for that. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:04.400 You're like the little narcs they are. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:05.200 They ran to their mom. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.839 Oh, mom, Dad said we're going to hell. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:10.640 What? 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:15.680 He bursts into song and she says, Who among the gods is like you? 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:20.160 Awesome in glory, majestic in holiness, and working wonders. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:21.839 I mean, could it be any better? 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:29.039 And then they marched through the Red Sea and they got out in the wilderness and they turned on God and they shook their fist and said, Why'd you bring us out here just to kill us? 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:30.799 Well, not enough graves back there. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:31.920 Are you kidding me? 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:33.119 What is going on here? 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.200 And they fashioned for themselves a golden calf because they didn't get in their way. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:39.839 And they said, You are the gods that brought us out of Egypt. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:42.000 And God said to Moses, get out of my way. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:43.759 I'm going to wipe them out. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.160 And I'll make you the father of many nations. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:51.599 And Moses stood in between them and God as a mediator, as a type and shadow of what was to come. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:59.759 Someone that would stand before uh the wrath of a wronged deity and these people who just who knew better but did it anyway. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:02.400 And Moses says, Oh, God, please have mercy. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:03.839 Do not blot these people out. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.519 Take blot me out, God, but don't wipe them out. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:17.440 And the Bible says God relented of the evil that he was going to do because of a mediator, somebody that stood between God and man. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:22.400 And it begins to unspool through the Old Testament. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.000 And you see that despite their best efforts, people can't do the right thing. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.839 They know right and they do wrong anyway. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.920 And so the Bible comes along and God begins to make these promises. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:36.160 The Bible calls them prophecies. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:50.640 And one of them he says is in Isaiah chapter 9, he says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.000 And of the increase of his government and of the peace, there will be no end. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:19:02.720 And on the throne of David and on over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:04.640 And the people are just incredulous. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.000 They're just like, Are you kidding me? 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:07.759 Because this is in Isaiah chapter 9. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:16.000 But if you read in Isaiah chapter 8, like you probably got a burning desire to do what God talks about is a coming invasion of Assyria. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.400 Assyria, this devastating army. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:19.680 God has said, they're coming. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:24.559 And by the way, I'm bringing them down on you to punish you because you don't believe me. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:29.279 And then people are like, What do you mean there's going to be this person's gonna come? 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:34.720 This wonderful counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace, are you kidding me? 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:36.559 We're just getting ransacked. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.920 And he says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:41.440 Why? 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:47.680 Because even back then, people had a capacity to hear what the Bible said and look at it through the lens of themselves. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:54.960 Instead of hear what the Bible says and look at it through the lens of God and say, Okay, you said it, I got it, that settles it. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:01.519 And so they go from there, and God's like, okay, I don't think y'all would believe in me, so let me get real specific. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:07.759 And so he says in Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:10.000 Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:21.039 Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:34.559 And then you get into the New Testament, and you read in Luke chapter 2 that in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.640 And this was the first registration when Quyreneus was governor of Syria. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.279 And they all went to be registered, each to his own town. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:53.920 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:57.440 And you hear that, and you're like, Oh, I was supposed to be reading that during Christmas time. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:05.839 No, you read it on Palm Sunday to remind yourself that God orchestrates political events for his will to be realized. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:19.440 And Luke goes on and tells us that she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:26.559 And this baby grows up and he goes, begins to teach, and he calls twelve disciples to himself. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:29.599 And all through the gospel of Luke, we're getting close. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:31.599 Are you still in Luke 19? 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:35.039 Just stay in Luke 19. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:42.079 Let me just read from Luke's gospel how often and obvious Jesus makes it that this is why I came, this is what I'm all about. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:49.359 The triumphal entry is not Palm Sunday, is not just oh, another isolated incident for you to decide true or false. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:59.599 This is just the story is getting close, and all of a sudden, the central character of the story is to his final. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.559 Earlier in Luke's gospel, he writes these words. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:10.559 It says, Now it happened that as he was praying alone, his disciples were with him, and he asked him, Who do crowds say that I am? 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:15.680 And they answered, John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and others, one of the prophets of old is risen. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.400 And then he said to them, But who do you say that I am? 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:20.799 And Peter answered, The Christ of God. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:34.640 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:47.759 And if you just skip down later in that very same chapter, he says these words, but while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, see that was one of the tendencies of the people, they would marvel at what Jesus did and miss who Jesus was. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:53.759 And we'll read in a minute in Luke 19 when he rides in, they're praising God for all they had seen past tense. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:58.960 Yet his greatest accomplishment is unfolding right in front of them, and they don't even have the eyes to see that. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:02.000 They're marveling at everything he was doing. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:05.920 Jesus says to his disciples, Let these words sink into your ears. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:07.839 Don't miss this. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:19.599 The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, but they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so they might not perceive it. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:21.119 As if that wasn't enough. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:23.440 In the same chapter, he says this. 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:27.759 It says, When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:33.519 And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered the village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:38.720 But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:45.200 And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, in other words, the people didn't receive him because he was dead set on going to Jerusalem. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:51.599 It wasn't like he got up this day and said, willy-nilly, hey, let's go to Jerusalem and see if Starbucks is open yet. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:56.079 No, you're you're you're not gonna stay here and do what we want you to do. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:57.920 We're not gonna listen to you. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:05.440 And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, Lord, you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.759 Aren't you glad that's in the Bible? 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.359 Haven't you had that thought when somebody cuts you off in traffic? 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.680 Where's that button I can just push on my dashboard? 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:15.680 Fire consumes them. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:19.519 Here's the way my crazy mind works. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.160 If they couldn't do that, why would they ask Jesus if they could do it? 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:29.920 Jesus, you want me to slap them so hard, their driver's license picture swells up? 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:34.160 Because I will call down fire on them. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:40.640 But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:44.240 Luke chapter 13. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:45.200 We're getting closer. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.240 You still with me? 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:52.880 At the very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:55.599 And Jesus was like, Oh, really? 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:03.279 And he said to them, Go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:06.160 And the third day, I finish my course. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:14.960 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow, and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:19.519 Today and tomorrow, but then I finish my course. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:26.400 By the way, when Jesus says this in Luke chapter 13, it's the seventh day of the month of Nisan. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:33.359 Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:40.640 How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:48.480 Behold, your house is forsaken, and I tell you, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:54.559 See, he's been a long time coming. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:59.839 He gets to Luke 19, and before you get to that, he sets it up with these two stories. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:04.799 One is about a man named Zacchaeus, who was a weed little man, and a weed little man was he. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:09.519 But he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:12.319 If I was a songwriter, I'd write a song about that. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:23.680 And Jesus just comes because Jesus is so subtle, he doesn't go around, he just comes to the trunk of the tree, looks up, and all he says to him is Zacchaeus, come down, for I must go to your house and have supper. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:36.640 And Zacchaeus, who is a tax cheat and a thief who'd rip people off, climbs down out of the tree and says, Lord, if I've defrauded anyone, I'll pay back fourfold and I'll give half my possessions to feed the poor. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.039 And all Jesus said was, I want to go to your house and have dinner. 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:46.000 How'd you like to go to work tomorrow and say to somebody, hey, let's have lunch on Tuesday? 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:47.359 Man, I'm in an affair. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:47.839 I'm sorry. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:49.839 I just got to tell somebody. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.480 I just wanted to go get a salad. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:04.319 And then Luke chapter 19, verse 11, as they heard these things, by the way, because people were mad because Jesus said, Today salvation's come to the to this man. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:05.839 He's also a son of Abraham. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.960 For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:14.640 Jesus says, I didn't come to hang out with a bunch of pearly white antiseptic people, okay? 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:17.279 I came to seek and save the lost. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:22.000 And as they heard these things, verse 11 of Luke 19, he proceeded to tell a parable. 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:22.480 Why? 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:27.279 Because he was near Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:28.720 He was near Jerusalem. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:33.920 He was close to the capital of all religious activity, and these cats didn't get it. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:36.480 And so what does he tell? 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.680 He says, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:44.319 Sound like anybody you know? 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:52.960 He's gonna go receive for himself a kingdom, and then he's this noble man, Jesus, is gonna go receive for himself a kingdom, and then he's gonna return. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:59.359 And so he calls his disciples, his followers to him, his three people, and he gives them uh uh different portions of money. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:00.079 It's called a mine. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.039 He gives one of them ten and one of them five and one of them one. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:04.480 And then he leaves. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:10.559 And they send these people send a delegation after him and said, You go tell that man, we do not want you to reign over us. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:12.799 That's you and me, by the way, folks. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:15.759 We don't want you, you're not the boss of me. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:23.279 I mean, that's just a book written by a bunch of men 3,000 years ago, or sometime ago, I don't know when it was, but I mean it's just a book. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.400 What you're really saying is, I you we don't want you to, we took it a vote. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:30.400 We don't want you to rule over us. 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.920 So he comes back and he says there's gonna be a reckoning. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:35.680 He says to the guy that gave 10, what'd you do with it? 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:42.640 And the guy's like, hey man, I got in on the real estate market, I bought some properties and they're kind of low, I killed it, I made a profit, by the way. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:46.000 If you're a Christian, there's nothing wrong about being good in business. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:50.400 Stop going to work and thinking, well, I love Jesus, so I just gotta let people take advantage of me. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:51.279 No, you don't. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:52.960 It's okay to have profit margin. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:53.519 It's okay. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:57.039 They gotta say, okay, I had 10, bam, I doubled the money. 00:28:57.119 --> 00:28:58.720 Get you some of that, Jesus. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:01.279 And Jesus is like, Yes, you did. 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:04.640 I'll tell you what, because you can be trusted with that, I'm gonna give you more. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.160 Next guy, you got five? 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:07.200 I tell you what, what happened? 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:08.559 I gave you five, you got five more. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:10.880 Here's the deal you're gonna be over ten cities. 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:13.599