Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Why don't we stand and we're going to go to the Lord in prayer. And I know not everybody comes forward or is able to or feels comfortable doing that, but I believe we still have amazing needs in our lives. And, you know, this is an opportunity to cast all our cares on God. And so, you know, I love that text of Scripture. It says that we can come boldly before God's throne of grace to find help and mercy in our time of need. And I was just sharing with someone that idea of coming with confidence, coming boldly with confidence. It's really a word that means the right to be heard. And because we're children of God, God gives a privilege that we have access into God's very presence. And that's an amazing thing. And so I want us to do something. I know many of you, you've got challenges before you. This is what I want us to do right now. Let's just alleviate ourselves of all of these anxious thoughts, Just lift our hands to God and say, lord, I'm going to just cast every concern, every fear, every anxious thought, every burden. I'm just going to leave them with you right now. I'm going to ask Father, that you would prepare the soil of my heart. Because we recognize this morning that as we hear your word, Lord, unless our hearts are prepared to receive it, nothing will happen. But what we want this morning, Father, is a transaction between ourselves and you, Lord. We want to hear your voice speaking into our particular unique situation. Even though we're hearing a message that speaks to all of us collectively, there's something that you want to say to each of us individually, Father. Give us ears to hear that. And may we respond to you not just with, oh, that's nice, but rather, lord, you're saying something to me, and I want to act on what I'm hearing from you and live it out in my life so that I can experience a new measure of growth and. And freedom. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated. Now, I'm going to move out of my series this morning in Jeremiah because this is Palm Sunday, and we're going to look at Palm Sunday from the Gospel of Luke. And what you're going to notice is it's going to sound eerily similar to what I shared last week in the Book of Jeremiah, because I believe that the Bible, you know, it just keeps refraining ideas and moving through it. And we're going to see that Jesus himself is going to Reveal this to us now, all of us. I've entitled a message. How do we experience the peace and freedom we all long for or we crave it? And I think that there's a longing for peace. There's been a struggle for freedom in human existence all the way through our history. To think that we can attain peace or freedom apart from God by attaining itself autonomously will never produce the goal of peace, nor freedom. When I talk about peace now, let me define a little bit. I'm talking about peace with God, and then I'm talking about the peace of God. And I'll try to define that a little bit as we move along here. The demand. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote this in the Cost of Discipleship. The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths of slavery. It's a very profound thought. I want you to think about it. You know, a lot of people today, they don't want any rules. You know, they just want to do their own thing. They want total freedom. And that's not freedom, that's license. And what it actually does is when people attain that state in their life, it's actually moving them to a greater degree of bondage. That's what Bonhoeffer is relating to us. So this cry and activity that demands absolute freedom does not produce peace, but conflict, not only within our own human hearts, but also with those around us. And that's why there's so much conflict in our world today. People are all.
[00:03:42] They all want their rights. They all want things to be done as they understand it, as they see it. But as I'm going to share today, most of us don't even really know what we want. We think we do when we get it. Usually it's not what we want, we think we do. But then eventually we start realizing there's more to things and more to life than what we think. Now, this offer of freedom and peace is really given to us by God himself. I believe God created us with this longing in our hearts. But when we reject God's offer to us for it, that's when we run into problems in our lives because we can't attain it on our own. And eventually, as we're going to see, it causes God to begin to weep. Now, I know that sounds strange to people because we almost think of God as, you know, being disaffected by our responses to Him. But let me point out one little thought. We were made and created in the image of God. What does that really mean? God doesn't have a body. So what Did God create us in. Well, he made us with a mind. He gave us emotions, he gave us a will. And so God is an emotional being. Isn't that interesting? As a matter of fact, God himself gets angry at times. That's a shock to us. Actually, I don't even believe anger is a sin. It's what we do with it that makes it a sin or not. Matter of fact, Paul writes and says, be angry, but don't sin. So we know that God does at times get angry. That's an emotion. And it's how we handle our emotions that's so profoundly important in our lives. So God himself weeps when we reject what God is offering us. And why does God weep over that? Because what God sees is that what we're doing is embracing something that's unhealthy for us. You know, one of the things I said last week, and I want to just repeat it this week, I think it's so important to understand the reason why God is against sin is because that's what diminishes us. That's what destroys us. And so what God wants to do is address that in our lives and free us from it. And how does he do that? By he himself coming to earth. As we're about to see, he comes to earth, becomes a man, and he himself becomes the sacrifice for human sin. And that's what this week leading into is all about. Jesus comes, he dies. But the Bible teaches us later on the Easter Sunday morning, he rose again from the dead because he had never sinned. And that was the way God was about to address humanity's greatest problem. So ultimately, humanity's angry rebellion moves God to act in such a way that he allows us the consequences of our own folly. And, you know, sometimes you try to help people, they refuse help. Eventually they just experience the outcome of what they're doing. And that's exactly what God does in our lives. He'll just eventually give us over to what we want, even if it's to our own detriment. And so I think it's wisdom on our part to heed what God is trying to communicate to us. So we see that throughout the history, the story of human rebellion and suppression, we see the suppression of other people. So what is the answer? Where human freedoms are being diminished. So in other words, I'm raising the question, what is our only true hope for freedom in this world? And I think there's different kinds of freedom. I think we can distinguish that. But what I'm focusing in on is personal Freedom. I'm talking about emotional freedom. I'm talking about spiritual freedom today. And I think when we have those deeper inner experiences in our lives, then we can actually handle the other kinds of freedoms properly. Because most people, when they're given freedoms and they're not able to handle them properly, they just destroy themselves. And we see that now. Jesus tells us about impending judgment coming. And I kind of brought that out last week from the book of Jeremiah. This is a message that we don't hear anymore, you know, that we're moving towards divine judgment. Humanity is moving towards that judgment to come, or we're all going to stand before God's judgment seat one day. And why is it that God can do that? Why is God allowed to judge our lives? Well, number one, he created us. And when God created you and I and I know some people believe, well, we're just kind of happenstance, you know, we just kind of came out of nothing and we just developed to the stage. But I have a little problem with that idea. And I'll tell you why. Because it's not a rational thought in my mind. Life is far too complicated. Your bodies actually are far too complicated. The world is far too complicated, you know, just to have our planet where it's located and just so many different things to make everything happen, to have that happen just by random. I don't believe that that could be the case. I believe God is our creator. God created our world, and therefore God created you and I for a purpose. And a lot of people never discover God's purposes for their lives. And I believe they really miss out on what God intends for them and what God's intention is. That you and I would bring glory to his name and that we would begin to experience life at the highest possible level. And that's what Jesus said. I've come to give you life and that more abundantly or living life to its fullest. And I don't believe most people are living life to their fullest. And I'm a pastor and I can say that because I deal with people all the time. People are struggling. So Jesus is now telling the people here in the Gospel of Luke, he says, when you see these things coming at the end of the age, he says, I don't want you to live in despair. You know, he goes on, there's going to be people who will live in anguish, perplexity, terror and apprehension. What should the response of a child of God be? Jesus is talking about the ultimate consequences of human rebellion against God. He's saying this is what's going to lead to that point. And the disasters that create should cause pause in our hearts as believers, because Jesus told us that we need to lift our heads because our redemption is drawing close. And so what I'm trying to encourage us with an understanding is whatever situation that we get into as human beings, whatever challenges that are being presented to us, whatever difficulties that we experience in life, that you and I can always lift up our heads, that we can always look to God, that we can always have this confidence that Paul says that all things are working together for good to those that love him, because God has a game plan to help you and I become more like Him. So God is moving us from this stage of our lives, and God is trying to help us become more and more like him so we actually become a better version of who we are. I think that's a beautiful thing. You know, like God is so concerned about us. It's not that he dislikes us. He's trying to separate that which diminishes us so that we become a better version of ourselves. And that can only happen when we surrender our lives to him and trust in him at a very high level. He wants us to do that. So I think we need to realize that we're living in a moment where we see much dismay. And I think if we begin to embrace God's perspective, that we'll be able to handle hope for the future and not live in a state of despair.
[00:11:00] I think we realize that even in our world, you know, the things that are happening, how many know it hasn't taken God unaware? God knows what's going on. God's sovereign over the entire planet.
[00:11:11] And even when we may feel powerless in our current situation, I think we need to embrace the hope that God is actually working this out. He's got a game plan, folks. And even though you and I don't always understand it, even though it looks messy at times, we don't see it. We need to realize what God is in control, and he's about to do something. I think what we think many times may not be what God intends. And what I mean by that is we often get the narrative wrong in our lives.
[00:11:41] And many times in the moment, we never understand what's going on until further on in the journey. Looking back, in hindsight, we have a lot more wisdom. We can look back there and say, you know, I fully did not understand the full scope of this. I didn't fully understand why God allowed this in my life. I didn't understand why God allowed this sorrow and suffering to come into my life. And yet I think as you mature and move along on the journey, you can look back and you say, you know, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. And yet I can look at the things in my life and say, but you used those things for good. Those were the very vehicles and tools that you used to shape and change some of the things in my life that were wrong. You gave me a different understanding. You helped me mature. You helped me grow up. You helped me to have a greater degree of empathy and compassion. And I believe that's true in all of our lives when you experience these things and you handle it the right way. So. But often I think disappointments can lead to disillusionment. And you know, that word disillusionment is a very interesting word because if you take the disc out of it, it's just illusions. And so a lot of people, they're disillusioned and disappointed with God because I think they had the wrong idea, and that's why they're disappointed. They had the wrong perspective and understanding of what God was doing in their lives at that precise moment. And so instead of saying, God, I may not understand what's going on, but at this moment, I'm kind of like, job, I'm just going to trust you. You know, Job went through a terrible experience in his life. Can you imagine losing all of your money, all of your children at one time? And then your health fails and everybody. You know, you go from a highly respected member of the community to a diminished person in the community, and you're just going, I'm doing everything you told me to do. God, what's going on here? Have you deserted me? Where are you? Job did not understand what was happening at that moment in his life. How many can see that? And yet Job says a very significant thing. He says, though I don't understand you, I'm still going to trust you. And in the end, you know, even though he had a lot of questions for God, what I get from the book of Job is God never felt obligated to give him answers. As a matter of fact, God asked Job a bunch of questions that Job couldn't answer. He says, if you can answer these, I'll answer your questions. Job couldn't answer him. He just said, you know, God, I'm out of my league. I'm just going to trust you. But the beautiful part, and I think what I get from that book, the most beautiful thing is rather than having God give us answers, wouldn't it be a lot better if God just was with us? And, you know, that's what the book of Job teaches us. If you had to choose one of two things, how many would choose answers over God's presence? And any day of the week, I would choose God's presence. I want God to be with me. And this is what Jesus said. I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to forsake you. I'll always be there helping you through it, even though you may not understand. So I want to look today in Luke's Gospel Palm Sunday story. Now, I don't know if you realize this. I like things to be done sequentially and chronologically. That's the way my brain works. But the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Luke and John, even though they're similar, they don't run the same way. How many have kind of noticed their chronology sometimes is different? John's chronology is different. And I want to just share this news for you. When you're reading a gospel, you need to understand that every writer has a purpose in why he wrote it, and they're different. And so Luke is going to show us stuff in the story that none of the other Gospel writers are going to show us, because I believe that Luke is going to teach us a very profound truth today. And that's what I want us to learn and to understand.
[00:15:15] So what Luke is doing in this Palm Sunday story needs to be understood in the parable just before it. I don't believe it's accidental the way these guys put these stories in a certain sequence. As a matter of fact, let's take a look at chapter 19. Let me give chapter 19, and beginning at verse one, quick synopsis of the story. Jesus is walking through Jericho. The only time he's here blind, Bartimaeus cries out, God miraculously heals him. Sorry. Yeah, he does. And then you got the story of Zacchaeus. Remember the story of Zacchaeus? He wants to see Jesus. He's one of these rich tax collectors. And at the very end of the story, Zacchaeus is up on a tree looking down at Jesus. Jesus looks up to him and says, hey, Zacchaeus, come on down. I need to be at your house today. And Zacchaeus makes an amazing statement. He said, Lord. He said he realized his life was a mess. He said he repented. He just basically said, I'm going to do whatever you asked me to do. I'm going to give back what I've taken wrongfully, blah, blah, blah. And Jesus Says this to him today, you know what? Salvation has come to your house. And Jesus then makes this beautiful statement in verse 10, he says, you know, the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. So that's a purpose statement. That's why I came. Jesus said, then you read the story in verse 11. It says, when they were listening to this. Well, let me just go back.
[00:16:39] Yeah, I need to say this, because what Jesus is about to do is different than what the people anticipated. They anticipated someone coming and taking over as a human king, and he was coming to die for their sins. So he was coming to deal with a bigger problem than overthrowing Rome. He was coming to deal with humanity's greatest problem and greatest enemy, which is death. And so he was going to address the sin issue. He was going to defeat Satan, and he was going to overcome death. How many think that's a bigger problem than just overthrowing Romans for a while? Way bigger issue. So Jesus, and basically, he's going to not do it through power. He's going to do it through surrender. How many know that's a totally different approach to conflict, you know, and I said this a lot of times, you know, in conflict, a lot of times, why conflict escalates is because we just add more power and more torque, if I could say it that way. What Jesus is doing is laying down his life. He's laying down his rights. And Paul says that in the book of Philippians. So he surrenders to the plan of the Father and to his own plan and to the Holy Spirit, the Godhead. He surrenders to that plan. So now, as we're going to look at these activities that's going to help us either experience or reject God's peace and freedom from our lives. First of all, we have Jesus making an announcement. And his actions are both prophetic and illustrative of who he is.
[00:18:03] So while they were listening to this, and I've already described what they were listening to, he was explaining what had just happened with Zacchaeus. It says Jesus went on to explain his purpose, and he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. So that was their anticipation. Everything's going to happen. God's kingdom is going to be established here on earth. Jesus is going to be the king, the Messiah.
[00:18:31] But he tells them a different story. He tells them a parable of the 10 Minas. Now, the 10 Minas is really talking about, you know, the commissioning of using the gifts and resources that God puts into our lives. And he said he gave some 10, 1 5, 12 or 1. And basically, he's basically saying that the king is going to leave. Here's these gifts. Use them while I'm gone and when I come back, you'll give an account. And so what Jesus is laying out is he saying, I am coming back later after a great while, but I'm giving you responsibility while I'm gone. How many already knows? Now he's introducing a thought that my kingdom, the way you think it's going to happen, is not going to happen this way.
[00:19:17] Whenever the church loses sight of this vision of what she should be doing, we get into trouble. How many know that's true? So what should the vision be? That we're actually trying to bring God's spiritual kingdom to our world and we recognize that force isn't going to change people. How many know we've done that over the years.
[00:19:41] That doesn't change people. We recognize it has to be a transformation from the inside out. Humanity tries to change things from the outside in, but it never changes the human heart. And that's why even though you change the outside, and I'm not saying we shouldn't try to do that, all I'm saying is when we only do that, we don't have long lasting change. If you really want to bring about transformation, and I'm talking about the kind of transformation that moves like a caterpillar into a butterfly. How many know that's a pretty major transformation. You got a little ground creature versus one that's flying. That's the kind of transformation God is interested in bringing into our lives. He wants to help. Actually, Jesus said, you have to be born again, you have to be changed. It has to be substantial, it has to be from within. It brings about a transformation on the outside.
[00:20:31] So then we read in the story, I'm just kind of zipping through here because I'm trying to lay the groundwork for what Luke is going to bring out to us. He basically says, you know, the one guy doesn't do what he's supposed to do. And Jesus is making a summary statement here on this parable when he says, but those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me. That sounds a very, very dramatic statement.
[00:20:59] But the movement of the text then immediately brings us moving towards the city of Jerusalem. And when Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. So Jesus has now basically Said, look, you guys have it all wrong. You've got the wrong expectation, and because of that, you're going to be deeply disappointed. And how many know we kind of set ourselves up for disappointment because we have the wrong expectations? Happens all the time. He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Beth Age and Bethany, at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you'll find a cold tide there which no one has ever ridden.
[00:21:42] Jesus now is about to fulfill the words of the prophet Zechariah. He says, rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. Shout, daughter Jerusalem. See your king comes to you righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey in a colt, the fold of a donkey.
[00:22:00] So we look at this story and go, what's that really all about? Well, in the Old Testament times, kings that were coming in peace would ride on a donkey.
[00:22:09] Kings that came in on a white horse with an army were coming to conquer. Jesus says, I'm coming to lead you in a different kind of realm. I'm leading into the realm of peace. I'm leading you into a realm of freedom, but unlike you've ever experienced before. And so he has this beautiful prophecy that he's fulfilling. And then Jesus says to his disciples, because you notice Jesus doesn't own this little culture. So he says to these disciples, he says, oh, by the way, if anyone asks what you're doing untying the donkey, I thought about this little colt, you know, here they walk up and they're untying a colt, and Jesus is just going to bore them for a little while. But in our day and age, it looks like they're stealing them. So you have to have an answer for, you know, why are you taking someone else's creature, right? So he gives them this. He says, just tell them when you're untying it, the Lord needs it, okay? And those who were sent went and found it just as he had told them. There was that little colt tied up there. And when they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, why are you untying the colt? And they replied, the Lord needs it. And so immediately they were able to take the colt. Now, I'm going to pause here for a minute, and you go, that's such an interesting story, Pastor. How does that even apply to us? Well, I think the powerful statement, the Lord needs it, whose cult was, was actually ultimately God's. You see, I think for a lot of us, we have this funny idea about our lives, like we own it. And one of the most profound paradigm shifts that we need to have in our lives is the moment we move. And this is probably a life changing shift in your thinking when you move away from being a thought like I'm an owner to the point where I'm just managing what God's given to me. How many know that's a major paradigm shift because then all of a sudden you don't own anything. And if God needs something, you just go, okay, it's God's. And so I always say this to people. I mean, you know, just do this for a moment. Just put your hands in front of you and just clasp them together like this. Just close your fists in front of you. Now I'm going to ask you a question. How much can you receive with a closed fist?
[00:24:12] That's pretty difficult right now. Open them up. Now, if you open up your hands, what's going to happen is people can fill them up.
[00:24:21] God could fill up your hands right now. He couldn't like this, but he can like this. But what also you need to know is he can take anything out he wants to. That's a scary part for us because we're always afraid God's going to take something we don't want him to take.
[00:24:34] Come on now, let's be real, you know, But I'm going to be even more profound. I'm not even talking about money. What happens when he takes a loved one from us?
[00:24:43] Now I'm really speaking, he can take that out of my hand anytime he wants to because that loved one doesn't belong to me, it belongs to him.
[00:24:54] Are we understanding? Do you see how profound this is? The moment you have a different attitude, it changes your whole perspective on life.
[00:25:03] See, I would say this, your body doesn't belong to you. I can argue that biblically. You know, the Bible says, give your bodies to God. It's a living sacrifice. He said, your body belongs to God. You are the temple of God. Your body doesn't even belong to you. Now I'm accountable to how I manage it. I'm accountable to how I manage the monies that God gives me, the time that God gives me, the gifts that God gives me. And one day I will stand before God and give an account of how I live my life. That's pretty profound.
[00:25:35] But I'm just trying to encourage you. You have to change your whole perspective. Just think of your hands as being open. And if your hands are open, you know, if God takes Things out. He can put things in.
[00:25:46] You know, some of the most beautiful things in my life. God just put them in my life. I didn't deserve those things. You know, he just gives them to you. And that's a very beautiful thought. Well, let me move on.
[00:25:58] So they bring the coal back to Jesus and the disciples do something that's very significant. They threw their cloak on the coal and they put Jesus on it. This is really an act of worship as we're going to see. Marvin Page says the disciples action was tandem out to proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. Now you have to understand they had an expectation, a Jewish understanding of the Messiah. They had no idea, though. I think the disciples were starting to think, you know, who is this man? They always believed that God was going to send someone to deliver them a man. And they were right. God sent a man. But how many know God himself became the man and God himself came to earth as a man. And when Jesus was doing some of the things he was doing with his disciples, you have to remember he was doing stuff that nobody else could have ever done. As a matter of fact, how many know that it's very difficult to walk on water? And I'm not talking about the wintertime, I'm just talking walking on water. And they're in the middle of a storm and Jesus starts walking on the waves. And you know what he was doing? He was fulfilling a psalm that says God treads the waves. So Jesus was revealing to them that he was God. Everything that Jesus did, you know, was a revelation. Remember when the storm was happening and they were in the boat, they thought they were going to drown. Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves, and immediately the storm stopped. And what was the first thing out of their mouths afterwards? They go, who is this man? You see, we need to understand that Jesus is more than just a human being. He's God in the flesh. And why did God himself come as a man to earth? Because he knew that man had sinned and broken the law. And it took a man to obey the law perfectly so that you and I and then to become that perfect sacrifice so that God could address the sin problem in our world today. And it comes through Christ the man who is God the man.
[00:27:44] Okay, so here they are as he went along. People are spreading out their cloaks on the road they're worshiping. And they came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God and loud voices for all the miracles they had. Seen. I mean, these were probably Galileans, many of them. And you have to understand, we're now in Judea, where the temple is, the city is. And the Judeans had a different mindset than the Galileans. Because Jesus had done most of his ministry in Galilee. And most of the miracles that happened in Galilee, though some of them had happened in Judea. But we're going to find in a minute that a lot of these Judeans thought of the Galileans as country bumpkins.
[00:28:25] They had prejudice against their country neighbors. They really did. They thought they were superior to them. And that creates a problem. Unfortunately for them, these mainly Galileans, I'm sure some Judeans, they were praising God. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. But Luke does not add what he did at the beginning of his Gospel, Peace on Earth. Because at this moment, Luke knows that they're going to reject the offer of peace. It's very powerful. Look at the second movement, the rejection of Jesus as the king of peace. While the disciples are rejoicing and embracing Jesus, there is a more somber and sinister mood lying just underneath a deep current of hostility from the population of the city and region of Judea. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples.
[00:29:15] And that kind of really reflects the overall attitude of the Judeans at that time.
[00:29:20] Now, here's a part that Luke doesn't mention that John tells us. And this is going to give you a sense of the intensity of that moment. John tells us, the chief priests and the Pharisees. This is another meeting behind closed doors. They called the meeting of the Sanhedrin. That's the parliament of the time. And what are we accomplishing? They said, here's a man performing many signs.
[00:29:42] If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. What's wrong with that? I think that's a good thing, right? And then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation. Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, spoke of, you guys know nothing at all. He said, if you do not realize, it's better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. Isn't that amazing? So here the high priest is thinking politically in his mind. He's going, let's get Rid of this guy. Kill him. Get him out of the way. And when he says that, he's really basically fulfilling and saying what God wants. Said Jesus is going to die for the nation, and he has to die for the nation because they'll never be set free. Then he goes on to say this, and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life. You talk about a kangaroo court when Jesus shows up, because these guys had already pre determined that they were going to have him killed. There's nothing fair about what's going on here. Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Jesus knew what was happening and why did he come back? Because he knew he had to come back. He knew he was about to die for our sins.
[00:30:57] Now, at that moment, as we know Palm Sunday, he comes to the city, and the Pharisees are demanding of Jesus, tell your disciples to be quiet. They didn't like what they were saying. Hosanna. You know, the word hosanna means to save. Now, I mean, they were literally declaring that Jesus was the Messiah. You know, there was so much intensity at that moment. The city was about ready to explode. There was that much tension. It was like a, you know, a bomb ready to go off. And the people were screaming for Jesus. And just at that moment, the Pharisees are telling them, tell these guys to be quiet.
[00:31:33] And then he says, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Well, I'm not going to go into these four different viewpoints, but let me just give you the last one because I think it's the right one. The stones crying out against the people who rejected Jesus and silenced the disciples. There's a reference not to stone speaking, but to the testimony of their being overthrown in A.D. 70. In other words, what Jesus is about to say. As Marvin Page says, it seems that the fourth view is what was intended by Luke, especially what immediately follows in verses 41 to 44. And what's going on there? Well, simply that Jesus is now seeing the city as being destroyed. And I want to move to the third movement. And it's simply this. The consequences of rejecting Jesus as the King of peace. What happens when people reject Jesus? What happens when we reject his offer? Well, we see what happens here in the narrative, but what happens when we personally make a rejection of this offer of peace that his salvation would bring us?
[00:32:32] Well, we know that we're in trouble. We're going to be left to the consequences of our lives. But you know, I'm going to make this even more personal and affect even more of our lives. What happens when, as believers, we reject the promise of God's peace as Described in Philippians 4?
[00:32:49] Because let me just point the little difference again. Peace with God means I've got my relationship with God, right? Okay. Accepted Jesus as my sacrifice. He's now my Lord. That's peace with God. But what about the peace of God?
[00:33:04] See, it says, and the peace of God that passes human understanding. What is the peace of God? It's the same peace God has. And what kind of peace does God have? God is totally relaxed. It's all under control. Even though it's like living in the middle of a, of a hurricane and you're in the eye of it, everything around you is going nuts. And you're sitting in the middle and going, wow, isn't this amazing? And everyone's watching how you're reacting and everybody else is bouncing and you're just sitting here going, I have total confidence in Almighty God.
[00:33:39] His plans are being worked out. And I just want to do and say only what he wants me to do and say only what he wants me to say.
[00:33:47] So we have to ask ourselves a question. I think we all are tempted to have anxiety. I have moments. How many say you have moments where you feel anxious? Does anybody else here besides the pastor have moments where you feel anxious? Anybody else? Are you guys all breathing? The rest of you, are you just so calm? Are you alive? No. But having said that, just think about says, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known.
[00:34:19] And the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep and guard your heart and mind.
[00:34:26] God says, I'm going to guard you. And then he goes on to say and think about these things. Social media, the news.
[00:34:35] Doesn't it say that? No, it says think about these things. Whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely. Do you know what our problem is? Our focus is wrong.
[00:34:48] We are focused. We're problem focused people. Now I understand there's moments. We have problems, we have to address them. I get that.
[00:34:55] I'm a leader. I understand that. But let me tell you something. Our focus in life, our meditation in life should be on the things above. We need to learn how to meditate on scripture. I'll tell you why. If you begin to meditate on scripture day and night, you're going to have a peace that will be able to sustain you in the crisis that you're going to have in your lives. And we're all going to have times of turbulence. Jesus said, you know, in the world you'll have trouble, but be of good cheer, have overcome the world. How do you do that? Well, you're going to be in the eye of the storm. You're going to have the peace of God. Because I think despair leads when despair prevails, and that leads to many other major problems. And when we reject the offer of Jesus, we're left alienated from the Father. So I don't want just the peace with God. I want the peace of God as well. I want to live in God's peace. As a matter of fact, it says here in the book of Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit, the result of the spirit controlling your heart and mind, is love, joy, and peace.
[00:35:58] So that should be emulating from our lives that we're not, you know, getting, you know, all wound for sound all the time, you know, always uptight.
[00:36:06] We don't need to be drama queens. We can learn how to trust God. Keep a cool head. That's actually in the Bible, says, keep a cool head. Did you know that that's a Bible verse? You guys, look it. It's found in the book of Timothy. You'll see it there. Look it up.
[00:36:23] So what seems to the multitudes a triumphal entrance is a source of intense grief for Jesus. And I think this is fascinating. While they're rejoicing, Jesus is crying. How many think that's a major contrast? They're excited. They think, wow, this is going to happen. And Jesus is now weeping over the city. This is something the other gospels don't bring out. You know, their perspectives are actually different because Jesus realized what's about to actually happen, and he's seeing beyond this amazing moment. Yeah, he can see the enthusiasm, but the perspectives that the two have are so different. Others, often we see what we want to see and we believe what we want to believe. And sometimes we miss warning signs along the way. How many know that's true? We can actually be in denial. You know, I've had people come to me and, you know, said, you know, pastor, I was dating this person and I didn't see the warning signs. I've had that conversation with a lot of people. There's always warning signs.
[00:37:23] But sometimes we get so locked into what we want, we just dismiss all the warning signs. Come on, let's be honest. Isn't that true? We do that kind of stuff. We're in denial. You can't be in denial, folks. God will warn us. And Jesus is actually recognizing what the problem is here. As he approached Jerusalem, it says he saw the city and he wept over it and said, if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace. But now it's hidden from your eyes. You're not seeing what needs to happen here. You're dismissing what's going on here. The majority were dismissing it, and he knew it. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground and you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. It was a day of visitation and they missed it. They didn't recognize who Jesus was. And because of that, they actually crucified the one who was the one they said they were looking for because he didn't come. In a way they could recognize it. They didn't. They could. You know, they didn't have the right understanding. They had the wrong expectation. I'm going to tell you, that's one of the biggest problems we have today. Wrong expectations. We think we know what we want. No, we don't. You know what I say to God? Love has my price to God. I'm not smart enough to know what I really need. But you do.
[00:38:44] And, you know, a lot of times we think this will be better. No, it's not going to be better.
[00:38:50] Whatever you're experiencing right now, embrace what God is doing in your life.
[00:38:57] That's a very shocking statement. Let me just try to refrain it. Paul says, I've learned to be content in any and every situation, whether to be abounding or abased. I've learned to be content. You say, paul, what's the secret? I can do all things through Christ, which gives me strength. In other words, he says, I'm looking to God to help me in my moment. And you need to let God help you in your moment by moment, by moment. You know what I'm saying? And you need to learn how to celebrate these moments and enjoy these moments and be grateful for these moments and have the right attitude in these moments. And when you have that, all of a sudden you're actually enjoying life. It's not like I'm waiting for the next big thing or I'm unhappy with what's happening now. I'm just learning to accept what God has brought into my life. And I'M celebrating it. And it changes our perspective and our attitude. It transforms us. These are the things that brings about great change inside of our lives.
[00:39:52] So he goes on to say, here, Caesar, now this is Josephus. In his first century work, the Jewish Wars. Josephus actually ordered, or sorry, Caesar ordered the whole city and the temple to be razed to the ground, leaving only the loftiest of the towers, Pharsal, Hippicus and Miriam, and the portion of the wall enclosing the city on the west, the latter as an encampment for the garrison that was to remain, and the towers to indicate to posterity the nature of the city and of the strong defenses which had yielded to Roman prowess.
[00:40:28] All the rest of the wall, in company of the city, was to be completely level to the ground, as to leave future visitors no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited. Such was to be the end to which the frenzied of revolutionaries brought Jerusalem, that splendid city of worldwide renown. Wow. What is he saying? Because they rejected Jesus as the Prince of peace, the one who could bring about the spiritual transformation in their lives. They didn't recognize him. This is what the consequences were. They took matters into their own hands. They rebelled against Rome and Rome crushed them. How sad was that? You know, that's usually what happens in our lives. We just take things in our own hands. We try to make it happen. It brings disaster so often. But, you know, what's true of a city is also true in our personal lives. I even see this in the life of believers who in various contexts and situations are rejecting Jesus in the midst of their trial. You know, you can be a Christian and you're going, I'm not trusting Jesus in this right now. I'm drowning in it. You know what I mean?
[00:41:35] I'm not living in peace. I'm filled with apprehension, I'm filled with fear, I'm filled with anxiety. I'm just bouncing all over the place. And yet I believe in Jesus. I believe he's the Son of God. But I'm not experiencing the benefit of really trusting God in my life.
[00:41:51] That's very powerful.
[00:41:53] And I see that Fred Craddock relates the significance of what's happening. The city is blind to its own need for repentance and forgiveness of sin, which is really the essence of the Gospel, and to the fact that in Jesus, God had visited the city with an offer of peace. The offer is rejected and Israel chooses to take up arms against Rome.
[00:42:18] And so we know what happens there in 70 AD.
[00:42:23] So let me just Close with this because I'm running out of time here.
[00:42:30] I'm just going to skip some things here.
[00:42:36] Oh yeah, this is interesting.
[00:42:39] Go back.
[00:42:40] So Jesus now is crying. Okay, that word for weep there, it's actually a very strong Greek word. It's kaleios. And what it means is to wail. It's to, you know, basically it's loud weeping.
[00:43:01] So can you. I want to, I want to just paint the contrast. The city is rejoicing and Jesus is loudly weeping.
[00:43:09] Could you paint a more profound contrast than that? You know, and sometimes we can be in the middle of jumping up and down and being happy and I wonder what God thinks about certain things. I wonder what his attitude is.
[00:43:24] Is he rejoicing or is he weeping? And I'm not trying to paint that God's a party pooper, because he's not. But I do believe that, you know, when we're out of step with God, sometimes we're trying to throw a party and God says, maybe you need to throw a fast. You follow what I'm saying? You know, maybe what needs to happen here is there needs to be a deeper work of grace in the lives of people.
[00:43:48] And I'm going to have a stand as we close right now. I could say more. You know, if you always want to get the ultimate message here, you can always go onto my website because I'll give you all my notes right to the very end here. But I'm just going to close with this. You know, I believe that some of us are struggling with peace. And so I'm not going to differentiate it. I'm just going to say it this way.
[00:44:11] I'm just going to have everyone just bow their heads for a moment, just close your eyes and I'm going to ask a question. It doesn't matter if you're a believer or not right now, but God wants to offer peace to you. Okay, I want you to think about that for a minute. Does it matter if you're a believer or not? He wants to offer you peace, first of all, he wants to offer you peace with him. So if you're not a believer, God says, listen, I want to make an offer to you. I want to give you peace and forgiveness. I want to bring freedom into your life. That's my offer to you. But if you persist in living a self autonomous life, you'll have the consequences of that. And the thing that's really destroying you is you don't realize it is your sin. A lot of times people go, I want autonomy. I don't want anybody to be in control.
[00:45:02] Listen, God will never make you do something you don't want to do because God will always give you a choice. Because God will never violate the gift he gave you called free will. He gave you that gift. He's giving you a chance to operate in that area. He's never going to make you do what you don't want to do. I believe what God does is change our hearts so that we. We want to do what he wants us to do. That's the profound difference I'm going to say to you. Before I was a Christian, I had no interest in the things God wanted me to do.
[00:45:35] But once I became a Christian, I had every interest in doing what God wanted me to do. Isn't that fascinating? He changed me. He changed my heart. He changed my desires. He's never made me do anything.
[00:45:47] He's always given me a choice. It's always, I can do it or I don't do it. But I'll tell you this. Every time I say yes to God, it brings blessing to me and everybody around me. And every time I say no to God, it brings diminishment to me and it affects my relationship with those around me. How's that?
[00:46:07] Now you're a believer here. Today I'm going to focus on us as believers. Some of you are going. Pastor, I am struggling with anxiety, worry, and I'm frustrated. And sometimes I'm apprehensive about where our world is at. I'm terrified. And Jesus is telling me, listen, I don't want you to live there. That's not where I want you to live. I want you to trust me. I can get you to walk on water just like I did. Remember, Peter walked on water, but you got to keep your eyes on Jesus. The moment Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he began sinking. So what is he telling you and me to do then? He. He says, keep your eyes on me. Never take your eyes off me. You know, I'm going to tell you a little secret about life.
[00:46:51] Where your focus is, is going to affect your emotions.
[00:46:56] Did you just hear what I said? Some of you are deeply disturbed and troubled. But your focus is on your emotions. And your focus is on a whole bunch of things. Your fears. You're focusing on the problem.
[00:47:09] I want you to focus in on who God is, how great he is. I want you to focus in on scripture. Because the Bible tells us that when we meditate on God's word day and night, we shall be like a tree planted by the waters. We're going to bear fruit. We're going to be effective.
[00:47:26] Isn't that beautiful?
[00:47:28] So, you know, some of us, our focus is wrong. And Jesus says, would you turn your face to me right now? Begin to look to me and begin to see me and how great I am, how amazing, how loving, how forgiving, how kind, how powerful I am. And you know what? Don't worry about all the things you're fretting about right now. I've got it. I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna forsake you. David said, I was once young and now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor a seed begging for bread. God says, I'll take care of you. Just keep your eyes on me. I will not let you down.
[00:48:04] Don't live in fear. Don't live in panic. Don't live in doubt. Don't live in dismay. Keep your eyes on me. Focus on me.
[00:48:12] You can have peace, the peace of God. You can be living in the eye of the hurricane. How many say, that's what I want, Pastor? Let's just lift our hands and you say, I want peace. I want the peace with God. I want the peace of God. That's me. I got both hands up. I want to live in the eye of the hurricane. I can't control the storms that are coming my way. I can't control the storms that are coming your way. You can't control them either, but you can be in the middle of the storm where there's absolute stillness and peace. Isn't that beautiful? I love that analogy. It's so great. Everything's ripping around you, but you're just. You're in the middle. Total stillness, total calm. Your soul is at peace. It's at rest. What are you doing right now? You're trusting. You're trusting God rather than yourself. You're trusting God rather than the people around you. You're trusting God rather than anybody else's abilities. You're trusting what the future has in the hands of God because he knows the future. And no matter what happens, God is greater than what human beings conspire to do. God says all of these plans that people have, listen, none of those things will happen unless I allow them to. I'm in control. God says God's in control. So, Father, we lift our hands to you.
[00:49:36] We just embrace your peace. This morning we receive the peace. If we don't have it with you, Lord, we ask you to forgive us. It's a very rational decision. Repentance is a very rational decision. Continuing in a way that diminishes us is a very irrational decision.
[00:49:54] Lord I pray today that you would help us turn our eyes to you that our focus would be on you and your goodness and your grace and your love so that we can stay and retain the peace of God in the midst of the challenges that are raging around us and demanding our attention. But Lord our eyes are on you.
[00:50:16] Even though the wind's blowing the waves are going at it. Lord you're doing this amazing work because we're stilled in a peace and we can stay calm and you can fill us with love and grace and goodness and you can help us to do the thing that you're asking us to do. Even though there's opposition against us it doesn't matter because your will will be done. Your kingdom will come and Lord help us to be a part of that. In Jesus name amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
