The King You Wanted (Just Not How You Expected) | Pastor James Crocker

On this Palm Sunday message, we walk through Matthew 21:1–11 and ask a piercing question: Do we want Jesus as King, or do we just want control with a little bit of Jesus on the side?

Tracing Jesus’ intentional journey from Galilee to Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:51), we see how His entry on a donkey fulfills Zechariah 9:9 and reveals Him as the promised, righteous, victorious, yet lowly King. Instead of arriving on a war horse like the kings of this world, He chooses a humble donkey, redefining what authority, leadership, and lordship truly mean (Philippians 2:5–11; Mark 10:42–45).

This sermon presses into:

• Obedience without full clarity
– The disciples obey a simple instruction (Matthew 21:1–3) without knowing the full plan, showing that following Jesus rarely comes with a complete roadmap (Hebrews 11:8; Proverbs 3:5–6).

• Jesus as Savior and Lord
– Many gladly receive Jesus as Savior (Ephesians 2:8–9) but resist Him as Lord (Romans 10:9; Luke 6:46). We explore what it means when He says, in effect, “The Lord needs it” and how that claim reaches into our money, relationships, time, and habits (Colossians 1:15–18).

• Prophecy fulfilled, expectations challenged
– Jesus fulfills Scripture (Matthew 21:4–5; Zechariah 9:9), yet not in the way the crowd expected. They want political liberation from Rome; He brings deeper liberation from sin (John 18:36; Romans 6:17–18).

• The crowd vs. the city
– The crowd lays cloaks and branches (Matthew 21:8; 2 Kings 9:13) and cries “Hosanna” (Psalm 118:25–26), but their faith is shallow and expectation-driven. The city asks, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10–11), staying cautious and uncommitted. Both see Jesus, but neither fully submit to Him.

• Small obedience, big impact
– A modern testimony shows how one simple invite to church, like the disciples’ simple errand, can change a life (Romans 10:13–15; 1 Corinthians 3:6–7).

We also hold Palm Sunday up against the future return of Christ in Revelation 19:11–16—first He comes on a donkey in humility, offering peace; one day He returns on a white horse in judgment and final victory over evil. Between those two arrivals stands our decision: will we surrender now to the humble King?

Key Scriptures:
Matthew 21:1–11; Zechariah 9:9; Luke 9:51; Matthew 16:21; Psalm 118:25–26; Revelation 19:11–16; Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:5–11; Mark 10:42–45; Proverbs 3:5–6; Hebrews 11:8; Colossians 1:15–18; John 18:36; Romans 6:17–18.

Listen to this message if you’re wrestling with control, delayed promises, disappointment with God, or hesitating obedience—and discover the freedom of laying everything at the feet of the true King.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I'm excited for today. I really do feel like God has given me something to bring to you today that's uh special for our location, special for every single person in this room. And so if you have your Bibles, go ahead and take those out right now and turn with me to Matthew 21. On this Palm Sunday, we're gonna read Matthew's account. So we're gonna be in chapter 21, starting with verse 1. Hear the pages turning. Are you there? Awesome. Let's read this together. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, and her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to daughter Zion, see, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, and they placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and while others cut branches, hello, Palm Sunday, from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna, son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? The crowds answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. Palm Sunday for me is like one of those moments like growing up, you're like, Yep, got it. You know what I mean? Like I've been here. I've played this, I've heard the sermon, I know what's about to go down. It's the celebration. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem. People are shouting. We're probably going to sing Hosanna from Hillsong 10 years ago. It's going to be like a really beautiful moment. They're shouting, I'm going to shout. It's going to be great. People laying palms on the thing. Maybe, you know, you grew up in a church where they did the whole experience thing. Last year, matter of fact, Pastor Nicole pulled a mean prank on me. And in our order of service meeting, she said, Hey guys, don't forget we have a live donkey that we're going to have on the stage this week. And if you know Pastor Cole, that's actually not out of the realm of possibility. And because I grew up in a church where they had the people walk by. Matter of fact, I was a poopa scooper. And I poopa scooped after the donkey on Palm Sunday. And so, you know, I serve low like my king. That's all I'm saying. And so we can approach today in that same way. Like, yeah, this is fun. I've sang some songs and I know what's about to happen. And up until this point in the gospel of Matthew, before we see this, Jesus, he's primarily been, well, he's been gathering followers, he's been healing, he's been teaching in Galilee. And in chapter 16, earlier you can read, everything kind of shifts as Jesus sets his face towards this moment right here. I'm going to Jerusalem. Matter of fact, he tells his disciples something super encouraging. He goes, I'm going there to suffer and to die. Okay, bro. What happened to like just healing people that were blind and like multiplying fishes and loaves? Why don't we like stay in that lane? And Jesus says, No, no, no, I'm going here. I'm going to suffer and to die. And so arriving in Jerusalem, this is the destination. This is not just a celebration we look at today. This is actually the climax of the journey. This is the beginning of the most important part of Jesus' life that changes the world forever. In Jerusalem, it's Passover at this time, which means that the city is packed. It is what I imagine it's going to feel like in 2028 when the Olympics come to Los Angeles. Like there's thousands of people packed into Jerusalem, pilgrims on this journey, many of which who would have taken the same road that Jesus took from Galilee to here. And when you read this at first, it looks like as they celebrate and as they lay their cloaks and their palms down, oh, they they understand who Jesus is. They get it. But they're actually still reading him through their own expectations. A matter of fact, I put it this way: they're projecting their expectations of Jesus onto him. And in this moment in the scripture that we're going to read today as we look at these scriptures in Matthew, it's going to force a response, not just from the crowd that we read here, but also from us today as individuals. Because if we're honest, their problem is actually sometimes our problem. We can approach Jesus in the same way. I want the Jesus that I want versus the Jesus who he is. So as long as you answer my prayers the way that I want you to, as long as you open that door I want opened, as long as you get me that girl I wanted, that job I desire, then we're cool. Fix my problems. That's the Jesus that I want. It's like we're saying, yes, King, but this moment actually leads us to a different perspective. This moment makes it unmistakably clear as he steps into Jerusalem visibly loud. He's forcing us to ask the question: do I want Jesus as king or do I want control with a little side of Jesus attached to it? Do I want what I perceive or do I want who he actually is? He's saying it as he walks into the city. He's saying, I am king. And at the exact same time, he's actually redefining what king means. And this is where everything kind of shifts for us because we have to ask our question, is he the king? Will I receive the king the way that he actually is? And that's what we're going to walk through today in this scripture as we read Matthew together. We're going to let it ask us not just what happened back then, but what is it actually saying to me right now? Because we're going to see a king is revealed, a response is misunderstood, but an invitation still stands today. So if you're in your Bible, which hopefully already you are, because I already told you to go there, we're going to start verse by verse, but first let's just pray. God, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you that you sent your son those years ago. Thank you for this moment in his life that we unpack today. God, we ask for revelation from your spirit. As we read your words, would you let them go into our hearts? Would you let them silence the noise of our minds? And would you let it reveal what parts of us we need to relinquish control of and give to you? We thank you, Lord, for your word, for it does more than we could ever comprehend or understand. So, Spirit, come and anoint these words as we talk today, as we dive into your scriptures, and let them do what only you can do. Heal us, encourage us, mend us, challenge us, shape us into your likeness here today. We love you, Jesus, and we honor you. Amen. Awesome. First couple of verses are this as they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them and he will send them right away. So, like I said just a moment ago, leading up to this moment, Jesus has been telling his disciples, Hey, I'm going here to suffer and die. So he's not wandering. This is not like a mistake. They understand the intentionality behind Jesus' actions here. He's moving forward and he's moving forward on purpose. And this is important because up until this point in Jesus' ministry, he's actually been quite careful about who he reveals himself to. He's healed people and he said, Hey, go, go, but don't tell them where you got this. But right now, there's like an intentional shift. He no longer cares about being private. He's going fully public in this moment. He is revealing actually who he is. This all changes right near right now. He shifts from avoiding attention to honestly inviting it. He's walking straight into one of the largest festivals, everything that his life has been building towards on this side of eternity. And right in the middle of that, he gives instructions to his disciples go into the village and find a donkey and bring it to me. Know why. He doesn't give them the full picture. He just says, hey guys, I'm going towards this massive climax. I need you to go get me a donkey. Just one simple next step. I feel like that's weird. Like, I don't know about you. Like if I put myself into the shoes of the disciple and I'm like, hey, we're going towards this massive festival, and Jesus is like, hold up, get me a donkey. Bro, what are we doing here? Like they know that this is going to be amazing. And this is the instruction they get. And a lot of the times I find that when I follow Jesus, it's hard when he doesn't give me the whole map. Like it's really hard when he just gives me enough to obey for one step. Like this is where I fully struggle when I don't have the full picture. Like when I don't know what the outcome of whatever he's calling to me to is going to be. I want like confirmation. I mask it in confusion. Oh, I'm just confused. Maybe I don't know what I what he wants me to do. But really, I just don't want to move until I have full clarity. And Jesus says, no, no, no, just take a step and trust me. Jesus in this moment, he knows exactly what he's doing. The disciples do not. They have to trust him in their next step. And that's where trust gets tested. That's where our temptation to pull back, to grasp for control steps in, is when we don't feel like we know where we're going. I read this and I go, man, if Jesus is intentional here, maybe all of the randomness in my life actually isn't as random as I think. Maybe the things that he calls me to, even though I feel like they're unclear, even though I feel like these promises are delayed, even though I feel like nothing is really happening in my world right now, maybe, just maybe, Jesus is being intentional. He knows exactly where he's leading me. He knows exactly where he's leading you. But following him does not come with full understanding. It comes with trust. You don't need full clarity to be obedient to God. You just need enough trust to take one step towards what he's called you to. And that's the next step. Jesus has made this really clear to his disciples. What has he made clear to you? What's the ledge that you're hesitating on right now? Because for a lot of us, if we're really honest with ourselves, I don't think it's confusion. I think it's hesitation. You already know that God wants you to invite your coworker to Easter. You already know that He wants you to have that conversation and ask for forgiveness from that person that you offended. You already know that you've been hanging out in this room long enough unknown and he wants you to make the next step and join church. And you don't need a five-year plan. You just need to move. You need to take one step. Don't overcomplicate this. You don't have to plan it out. You don't need to look for perfection. You just need to take one step. You know what it is. You just need to say to that coworker, hey, what are you doing this Sunday? Do you want to come to church with me? And hand him the card that we beautifully designed for you to take today. You just need to actually reach out to that person and say, hey, can I sit down? Because I feel like I need to apologize and clear the air. For some of you, you need to decide, I'm done just showing up here and singing the songs. I actually want somebody to not just know my name, but know what's going on inside of my heart. I want to be a part of what God is doing. I want to be grafted into his body. I want to be held accountable. And you just need to go to the Connect Desk and say, sign me up. You don't know if your coworker is going to say yes. You don't know when you apologize to that person if they're going to be okay. You don't know their response. You don't know that when you join church, if you discover some gift and you're like, holy moly, this is terrifying. You don't know what's going to happen. The point is not knowing what's going to happen, it's saying yes and being obedient to what God has called you to. Because obedience requires faith. And as we step out in faith, he uses our obedience to bring himself glory. Because following Jesus is not about knowing everything, it's just about trusting him enough to move when all you have is his word. And that's what we see from the disciples in these scriptures. In verse 3, it says, if anyone says anything to you, just say that the Lord needs them. And he will send them right away. If anyone asks, tell them the Lord needs it. I love that. This is not casual language, friends. This is authority. Jesus is not asking for permission, he is operating from his identity as Lord. The disciples are being asked to act, not based on what they can explain, but actually on who Jesus is. They don't have the full plan, and they don't know why this matters yet. They just know he is Lord, and if he says that, then it's enough. It's about understanding what Jesus as Lord means. And I think this is really important for us to understand here in the Western world what Lordship is. Because most of the time we're super comfortable with Jesus as our Savior. And we are hesitant when it comes to Him being the Lord of our lives. A Savior forgives you, the Lord leads you. A Savior comforts you, the Lord calls you to surrender your life. I love receiving from Jesus. I love that I was weeping in worship. But the real test of my faith starts to direct me down a path that I don't want to go. Like, what happens when God asks you to give the thing that you weren't planning to give up? Your time, your comfort, your priorities. What happens when Jesus comes to you and says, I need that? That's what I want. The question that I love to ask is to people is like, what's the one question you don't want me to ask you right now? Because that's the question Jesus asks me every single day. What are you going to surrender? Am I just your savior or am I your Lord as well? We have to know how we respond to this because if we just receive Jesus as Savior and keep control of our lives, then we're still in charge. And the question is, is he really Lord? And the answer to that is no. If he is Lord, he gets access to absolutely everything. I think this is important because if we do an assessment of our lives, it's not necessarily that we reject Jesus, but we do limit him. We give him parts of our lives, but not all of our lives. Where is Jesus Savior in your life versus Lord of your life? Is it in your finances? Pastor Jake preached last week. Some of us are more we're more apt to give God our eternity than we are to trust him with our money. Is it your relationship? We want his blessing, but not his direction in who? For others, maybe it's our time. We just give him whatever's left over at the end of the day rather than what's first, what's precious. Jesus is not asking for part of your life, he is actually claiming all of it. Because once Jesus is recognized as Lord, the question becomes, will you actually do what he says? And that's what we see next as we go into verses four and five. Says, This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter, Zion, see your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a cult, the foal of a donkey. Matthew pauses our story here and he says, This is fulfillment. This is not random. This has been spoken about for hundreds of years. This is not a coincidence. This is God doing exactly what God said that he would do. He points back to the prophet Zechariah chapter 9, verses 9. He says, Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion, shout, daughter Jerusalem. See your king comes to you righteous and victory, victorious. Everybody say righteous, victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a cult, the foal of a donkey. Matthew is drawing attention to a picture here. He is focusing us in on something that was spoken hundreds of years ago, a king that was promised, something that had been anticipated by his people. Jesus is stepping into this as he enters Jerusalem. He is embodying prophecy. He is saying without saying it, I am the king that Zechariah was talking about. What kind of king is he showing? Righteous and victorious is what they wanted. They wanted power, they wanted victory, they wanted dominance. And lowly riding on a donkey. This is not what they were thinking. This is not what they were expecting. Because kings don't arrive like that. Like you don't expect a head of state to rock up on the pizza delivery moped. You expect like a motorcade. You expect police escorts, you expect everything. Kings arrive on war horses. They arrive with power and armies at their back. They arrive with might. They assert that power. But this king comes humbly. This king comes gently. This king comes with peace. Matthew is drawing our attention and he purposely holds these tensions together. He's holding them up to our faces. He's going, a king who is victorious and a king who is lowly. Not one or the other, both. As one commentator points out, this is a king whose victory is not achieved through force, but through humility and peace. What is this showing them? What is this showing us? Jesus is not the alternative kind of king. He is true kingship. He's not one option among many. He's the only option. He is showing us what leadership, authority, and rule were always supposed to look like. Humanity created to rule under God, but we get it twisted. We go control instead of care. We go power instead of service, pride instead of humility. And Jesus steps in and he says, This is what leadership actually looks like. This is what lordship actually looks like. The donkey isn't random, it's important. It represents service, humility, and peace. This is a king who doesn't come to take life, he comes to give life. And this is important because this is not the only picture of Jesus we have as king riding in. There's another one. In the book of Revelation 19, which we'll get to in a few weeks. He doesn't come in on a donkey, he comes in on a white horse. Not in humility and judgment. Not in quietness, but in victory over evil. And in that same chapter, it gives us two images, two outcomes, two invitations. There is the supper of the Lamb, the joyful celebration, where the wiping of every tear and beauty from ashes rises. And the supper where the birds feast on what's left of evil and rebellion. One is a table of celebration, one is a table of judgment. Jesus comes first on a donkey, offering peace, offering salvation, offering himself. But if that offer is rejected, then he will return as the king who deals with evil once and for all. What does this mean for us? Jesus always fulfills his promises. Just not always in the way you expect it. But if we have we have to decide if we really trust him or not. Because we don't want God to just move in our lives. We want him to move our way in our lives. We want our timing, our outcome, our comfort. People knew this prophecy. They had been waiting for a king, they were expecting victory through power, freedom through force, revolution through control, and Jesus shows up and he fulfills prophecy, but not the way they expected it. And I don't think we're that different. We trust God as long as it lines up with what we had in mind. Like what happens when it doesn't, though? Like what happens when the job that you were sure God was holding for you goes to somebody else? What happens when you're still in the same situation that you've been praying for? The deal you thought was going to close so that you could move on to the next phase of what you desire doesn't close. It falls through the cracks. You're doing the right things at work, and everyone else seems to be getting ahead and you're falling behind. Sometimes God is answering you just not in the way that you decided it needed to take. You don't trust God, you trust your expectations. And this is why the kind of king Jesus is matters, because humble king, a sacrificial king, determines the kind of life that he calls us to live. If he comes in humility, then we don't get to live in pride. If he comes in surrender, I don't get to cling to control. If he comes in life, then following him is going to cost me everything. So Jesus made it clear who he is. The king has arrived, but the question becomes how do people respond to the real king when he shows up? This is what Matthew is drawing our attention to. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the coal and they placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit down. They placed their cloaks on him for Jesus to sit down. The disciples obey. Simple, direct, no hesitation. Jesus instructed, so I did. No questions are recorded in this moment. No delay is mentioned, they just move. And they bring the donkey and they lay their cloaks on it. Pastor Renee mentioned what that means. That's their livelihood. It's a symbol of what is important to them. And Jesus sits. And in this moment is the shift from subtlety to public. Jesus is now visible and unmistakably declaring, I am the king. He didn't need the donkey, he chose it. It wasn't necessary, it was deliberate, a visible act meant to communicate his identity. He wanted people to see, he wanted people to connect the dots, he wanted people to wrestle with the question, is this really the king? And I what I love about this moment is it only happens because of the obedience of the disciples. The disciples just obey, and through ordinary obedience, Jesus is made visible. Think about that for a moment. You don't have to do anything special in order to make Jesus visible to somebody. What you have to do is be obedient. There's nothing flashy here. They did not create a moment. I don't think you can get less flashy than a donkey. They just did what Jesus said. And through their obedience, Jesus was revealed to the world. I wonder what small step of obedience you've been discounting because you think it's too small for God to move on. God can use one simple act of obedience here to put Jesus in front of somebody. We don't have to be impressive, we just do what he says. And maybe what God wants to do in your life, maybe actually what he wants to do through your life, is not waiting on more clarity, it's just waiting simply on you to be obedient to what he's asked you to do. You have no idea what's on the other side of your obedience. That invite you almost didn't send, that conversation you almost avoided, that step you didn't take, that might be the moment that someone encounters Jesus. When I was 17, my older sister was having a birthday. And I said, I want to get you something for your birthday. What do you want? And she goes, I want a sidekick. Some of you guys are thinking, I'm thinking about like Robin or War Machine. I'm thinking of talking about a phone, y'all. It's a phone that had AI. And I'm not even gonna get into AIM, it's gonna take too long to explain. Dial up. I'm old, is the point here. And there was one place you could buy this phone, and it was at T-Mobile. And I told my dad, I was like, I'm gonna go get my sister a sidekick. And he's like, it's a$900 phone. I was like, no, no, the commercial said it's a hundred dollars. He's like, you don't have credit, dude. Like, you you don't understand this world. I said, that's your fault. You can take me. Um, I did not say that to my father. So we walk into this store, and uh, you know, I give the$100 for the phone, and my dad's uh doing this, you know, the credit things. And uh I'm just hanging out and I'm looking at like phones, and one of the guys on the other side of the store hears my dad's accent. My dad is from Australia, so am I, but you can't hear it anymore. And so this man hears my dad's accent, he walks up to him and just starts a conversation. Asked my dad if he heard about C3, which is the movement we're a part of. And my dad said, Yeah, I've heard I've I've heard of it. I used to go there. And he goes, Oh man, we just started something in North Hollywood. Do you do you want to come? And my dad turns to me and he goes, Do you want to come? And I said, Sure. At 17 years old, I would lay in bed at night with speakers on either side of my head, trying to drown out the voice of God. I was lonely, I had no friends. I felt like I had no purpose. I was just existing. And because I went into a store and someone heard an accent and invited me to church, four days later I walked into a building. I felt the presence of God for the first time in four years. And I gave my life back to Christ. And I stand here before you today, a product of somebody's obedience. Somebody who was obedient, not just in that moment. They were obedient six months before that, when they were in Georgia, and someone said, Hey, do you want to pick up your newborn baby and your wife, leave the home that you own and go live in an apartment in Los Angeles so that we can plant a church? And they said, Yes. Six months later, they invite me to church. Years and years later, I now stand before you, a product, not lonely. I am found. I have brothers and sisters in Christ who have shaped and molded me. I am a product, I am a child of the king. You never know what is on the other side of a single moment of obedience. What has Jesus asked you to do that you're holding back on? Don't write off a moment of obedience because God uses them to reveal his son to those that are in your world. These cards are beautiful, and I wish every single one of them to be gone. Because I didn't buy them to sit in that holder. I bought them so that you can be obedient to God as he calls you to invite people into his house. Okay, Jesus is intentional. See, he's the king. He's going visible, he's going public. So what happens when he starts riding the donkey? This is where the people's response begins. Verse 8 says this says, a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the ground while others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road. This is how the crowd responds. And Matthew says, a very large crowd. And what do they do? They start laying things down. They start laying down cloaks, branches, right in the road of Jesus. This is the royal treatment. This is them, this is their way of saying, you have authority, you are worthy, we honor you. They are responding to Jesus as king, but we have to slow down because they are doing the right actions without fully understanding what it means. It's possible to lay things in front of Jesus and still not surrender your life to him. You can show up, you can participate, you can even have the right language. God is good. And all the time, you can even have emotions, still be holding onto control of your life. You can honor Jesus publicly and be fully in control privately. The crowd is shouting something, but faith that is built on emotion without understanding will not last. What are you laying down in front of Jesus? Not symbolically, not in theory, but in reality today. Because laying something down means that you are forfeiting the right to pick it back up. For some of you, it's pride. You have been holding on so strong to being right. This is not, I just struggle with pride. You will not admit that you're wrong. You won't apologize. You won't let people speak into your life. You would rather protect an image of perfection than surrender your heart to Jesus. And Jesus is inviting you today, lay it down. Lay it down at my feet. The humble king is inviting you to lay your pride at his feet. Others of you, it's control. You say Jesus is king, but you still run your life every single day. You still decide when you're going to obey, you still ignore his push, his call, and you push everything that he calls you off till later. You're following him on your terms, and he is patiently waiting for you to discover his ways are way better than your ways. Some of us are we're stuck in bad habits. We're not just working on things. We've made peace with things. Patterns that don't align that you've learned how to manage instead of surrender to Jesus It's what you look at when no one else is around. It's the tabs on your phone that you toast close too quickly. It's the jump of fear you get when someone says, Hey, can I use your phone real quick? Oh, did I close that tab? The content that doesn't line up, but you've told yourself it's not that big of a deal. Maybe that's not it for you. Maybe it's the way that you talk. Gossip has just become how you breathe. It's normal to you. You're totally fine tearing people down. You say things behind people's backs that you would never say to their face. Jesus is asking you to lay it down today. Maybe you're stuck in patterns of comparison, jealousy, constant dissatisfaction. You scroll quietly, believing that everyone else is ahead of you, and you let that shape the way that you feel and react to everything in life. None of these things feel crazy dramatic. They feel small at times, and that's why they stay. They're subtle. They're normal. Everyone does this. It's easy to justify them. We don't we don't normally rebel loudly, we kind of just drift quietly away. So, what in your life have you stopped fighting and started excusing? Because Jesus is asking you to lay it down in front of him today. We don't just recognize Jesus as King. We need to respond by surrendering everything. Ask yourself, what am I holding on to? What's off limits to Jesus? Because he's calling you today to lay it down. The crowd enters and they don't just lay things down, they start shouting, Hosanna, son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The crowds in front and behind him, they're shouting. It means save us. You are the promised king. Blessed is he who comes. The language that's caught tied to kings entering. It's loud, it's bold, it's public, it's the right things. Save us from Rome, fix our situation. But Jesus comes with something so much deeper. He says, I'm not here just to work an external salvation. I'm here for your inward transformation. I'm not here just to fix your situation. I'm here to rescue your soul. I don't want to just sing about him. I don't want to just talk about Jesus. I don't want to just celebrate him. I want to build my life around him. But do I build my life around what I expect him to do? We don't just follow Jesus, we bring expectations sometimes. It's not wrong to ask Jesus for real things. Matter of fact, every Wednesday night we gather here and we ask God to do amazing things. And he does. It's not wrong to expect him to move. You should expect him to move. The issue is when you decide ahead of time exactly how he moves. You already have the outcome before he even had a chance to deliver it. We ask Jesus to save our career, but it really means give me the job that I want on the timeline I want so I can feel more secure. You want him to fix your relationship. It's a beautiful prayer. You should pray it. But what you really mean is God fix my wife, fix my husband, change them so that I actually feel loved. Instead of looking inward and learning how to love them better. Give me direction, Lord, but really just confirm the decision that I've already made. Let me pay Bible roulette until I find a scripture that aligns. The problem with this mentality is that Jesus doesn't do it this way. You're going to be disappointed. Oh man. You're going to get frustrated. You're going to feel distant from God. And you're going to start questioning if he's really moving because the issue isn't always that Jesus didn't move, it's that he didn't move the way that we expected him to. What they want wasn't wrong. They wanted freedom, they wanted peace, and they wanted restoration. Those are good things. The problem was the way that they wanted it. The way they expected Jesus to give it. I don't want to be the same kind of person. If I want comfort, I'm not going to get it through control. I'm going to get it through surrender. Jesus says to every single one of us, I am your peace, I am your provider, I am your comfort. Following Jesus isn't get what I want from him. It's trust him to receive it in his way, in his time, and the way that he knows it's best for us. So what outcomes are you struggling with today that you've already decided on? What disappointments are you wrestling with God that he hasn't met a promise that he never made to you? You're not wrong to want something. You just don't get to decide how God gives it. And when Jesus enters the city, we see something different. As he shifts from the crowd to the people that are inside in Matthew 10, verses 11. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred. Who is this? The crowd answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. These last two scriptures bring everything together and they hold a mirror up to our faces. Matthew doesn't just show us what happens, he shows us two way people respond to Jesus. The crowd, they're loud, they're expressive, they're all in on the surface. The city is cautious, they're evaluating, and they're holding back. That's it. Two places. Today, in this room, you can find yourself there. Matthew doesn't give us a third option. He doesn't give us a middle ground. This is where you are. We're not just observing this, we're actually in this with Matthew right now. He's forcing us to identify where we are. Where do I see myself? Some of us, we're the crowd. You're engaged, you show up, you worship, you respond. From the outside, you look strong. But underneath, there's gaps because your faith is reactive, it's emotional, and it's tied to what God is doing right now. And when that shifts, so do you. You're close to Jesus, but you're not anchored to Him. Others of you, you're like the city. You're not against Jesus. You're just not fully in. You're asking questions, you're thinking everything through, keeping a little distance. You just kind of dip your toe every once in a while. You call it wisdom, you call it discernment. It's I'm taking my time. But if you're honest, you're just hesitant. You're fearful. You're open to Jesus, you're just not willing to surrender to Jesus. The crowd is expressive but unstable, and the city is thoughtful but unmoved. One responds quickly, the other doesn't go deep. The other processes slowly but never comes never commits. And both miss the same thing: a full response to who Jesus actually is. Different responses, same distance. So let me ask you not the person to your right, you. Not your past, not your intentions, you sitting right here today. Are you the crowd where your faith shows up in moments but doesn't hold in real life? Or the city where you're close enough to see Jesus, but you're still holding back from him. Because both groups had something right, but neither went far enough. The difference comes down to this: they saw him, but they didn't fully submit to him. Who is Jesus to you really today? Because how you answer that determines how you respond to him. This is what Palm Sunday shows us in these scriptures. They wanted a king who would fix their situation. Jesus came as a king who would save their souls. They wanted power, he came in humility. They wanted control, he came to surrender his life. They wanted immediate victory, he came to bring external transformation. The king they wanted versus the king they needed. We're not that far off. We still want Jesus to fix things fast for us, remove pressure off of our lives, open the right doors, make life work the way that we planned it to. But Jesus doesn't come to support your version of life. He comes to lead it. He doesn't come just to meet your expectations today. He comes to redefine your expectations. So the question isn't, is Jesus king? The real question is, will I receive him as the king he actually is? There's people here today, and you've been like that city. You're not against God, you're just not fully in. You're asking questions, you're thinking it through, keeping a little distance. But at some point, the question, who is this, has to shift into a response. And the call to you today is to stop observing and start surrendering. Don't analyze anymore. And others of you, you're the crowd, you're engaged, you show up, you respond, you worship. But you've got off-limit areas for Jesus. And you need to lay those at the feet of the humble king today. Because it's possible to shout Hosanna and still resist his leadership. The question is simple: what are you holding on to? Justified, managed, delayed, kept hidden? Because real surrender doesn't protect itself. Today Jesus is asking for more than emotion. He's asking for real surrender from us. So I've got one step for both parties. Not ten, just one. What is the next thing that Jesus has already made clear for you? Your step is this move. Invite that person. Come to the altar in a moment and lay down the hidden things before the king who sees it anyway. Confess that sin to a brother and sister this week. Get prayer. Join a group. You need friends. Make this a part not just of your week, but your life by becoming a member at Cathedral. Stop delaying obedience and step into it. Whatever your next step is, do it. My prayer was that throughout this sermon that God would have revealed at least one thing to you. At least one moment where you can start with obedience. The king has come. Not the king you would have chosen, but the king you actually need. And the question is, are you going to follow him on your terms? And that king is in this room here today. So what I do here as we close, I just want everyone to stand. And right now, just no one moving around. Just want to create a moment for us to respond to what God is doing here today. If today there's something that you want to lay at this altar at the feet of Jesus, something that you've been wrestling with that no one else knows about.