back to index2020-04-05 God's Intentional Love Toward Sinners
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As you can see up here, for the kids, what is this? 00:00:14.120 |
I went all the way to Jerusalem to get one of these so I can use this as a prop, or I 00:00:19.440 |
went outside and just ruined one of our trees. 00:00:22.440 |
Today is Palm Sunday, and the reason why it's called Palm Sunday is because this is the 00:00:27.640 |
day that we remember Christ coming into Jerusalem and preparing his last day that he may go 00:00:39.320 |
It's called Palm Sunday because the crowds were shaking the palm branches and laying 00:00:44.120 |
it on the ground for the path that Jesus was taking along with the cloak. 00:00:48.680 |
And so I'll explain the meaning behind the Palm Sunday during the sermon, but this is 00:00:54.000 |
It's just to remind us of what day it is today. 00:00:57.080 |
The text that I want to jump off of, I'm actually going to be going back and forth through the 00:01:04.600 |
As I mentioned last week, the feeding of the 5,000 is the only two of miracles that are 00:01:09.760 |
mentioned in the four Gospels, but the triumphal entry, again, not as a miracle, but as an 00:01:14.360 |
event of Christ is mentioned in all four Gospels because of the significance behind it. 00:01:19.040 |
I'm going to be reading from Luke chapter 19, verse 28 to verse 37, and then I'll pray 00:01:27.720 |
"After he had said these things, he was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 00:01:34.880 |
When he approached Bethphage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two 00:01:40.160 |
of his disciples saying, 'Go into the village ahead of you. 00:01:42.920 |
There, as you enter, you will find a cold tide on which no one yet has ever sat. 00:01:51.520 |
If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' 00:01:53.560 |
you shall say to them, 'The Lord has need of it.' 00:01:56.380 |
So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 00:02:00.920 |
As they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' 00:02:07.560 |
They brought it to Jesus and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. 00:02:13.000 |
As he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. 00:02:15.920 |
As soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of 00:02:20.040 |
the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which 00:02:31.800 |
Gracious Father, we pray that you would ordain this time that your word would go forth. 00:02:37.220 |
We pray that you would make our hearts fertile. 00:02:48.580 |
We desire to have greater conviction, Lord God, of your presence in our lives. 00:02:53.480 |
We pray that the worship that we give, the offering, the time that we spend, Father God, 00:03:00.440 |
diving into your word would cause us to be better prepared for what we will celebrate 00:03:08.080 |
You know, as you know, all the craziness that's going on, I don't know about you, but I've 00:03:13.000 |
been watching the brief that the president and the doctors have been giving each day. 00:03:19.560 |
In the middle of the day they would give the latest numbers, how it's spreading, what's 00:03:27.840 |
And obviously if you watch the news, there's a lot of things going on that's changing every 00:03:35.480 |
But along with that, I think every single one of us, the reason why we are eager to 00:03:39.000 |
hear from the leaders is because we want to see how they are directing us. 00:03:45.720 |
And a lot of times our anxieties or our comfort may directly come to what kind of confidence 00:03:53.160 |
So if you happen to have no confidence in the leadership, then you're probably more 00:03:57.920 |
anxious than other people because every decision that's being made, you're going to be questioning 00:04:05.400 |
Are they just doing it for the political gain? 00:04:08.080 |
Whatever news that may be coming out, do I trust these people? 00:04:13.620 |
How we feel at this time in our anxiety level, in many ways is directly tied to who we trust. 00:04:22.040 |
I remember when I was young, the only person that I felt comfortable when I was driving, 00:04:29.540 |
not driving, when I was at passenger side, where I felt comfortable enough to fall asleep 00:04:34.200 |
For whatever reason, whether it was my friends or whether it was my parents, I would always 00:04:39.640 |
get anxious and as soon as I started falling asleep, I would jolt right back up because 00:04:44.360 |
in my mind I imagined something's going to happen. 00:04:48.800 |
But for whatever the reason, whenever my older brother drove, I felt comfortable and I would 00:04:55.920 |
And I think part of the reason why I felt that way is because when I was a little kid, 00:05:01.480 |
my older brother was the one who, like in the neighborhood, whatever bullies that there 00:05:08.880 |
were in the neighborhood wouldn't touch me because they were afraid of my older brother. 00:05:12.680 |
So I was able to roam around freely in the neighborhood because they say, "Oh, that's 00:05:17.680 |
Or he had a Korean name at that time, but that's Paul's younger brother. 00:05:21.520 |
And so I'm thinking maybe that's the reason, since I was a young kid, that I just felt 00:05:30.680 |
But right now, and again, who do we feel confident? 00:05:36.120 |
Obviously, we've been talking about Jesus' identity, right? 00:05:42.280 |
And each one of the I am statements are trying to correct and to redirect the direction of 00:05:49.720 |
Is he simply a means to where we truly find refuge? 00:05:54.360 |
If our refuge is financial security, then we're praying now to Jesus that our primary 00:05:59.920 |
concern is that he would make our business stable, that I'd be able to find a good job, 00:06:09.480 |
And we are clinging to Christ because he's the means to get to that goal, whatever that 00:06:16.440 |
But the I am statements are redirecting us, saying that ultimately he is the goal. 00:06:23.280 |
Sometimes the hardships in our lives are brought to us so that we may come to recognize that 00:06:33.560 |
Sometimes it's events like this that causes us to see him in a different light. 00:06:37.040 |
Well, today, it's one thing for Jesus to say who he is. 00:06:43.600 |
And I think when we look at Jesus' last week of his life, every part of it reveals a certain 00:06:50.840 |
And I think this triumphal entry really highlights, to me, the love of Christ. 00:06:57.200 |
We know that God is holy, and we also know that the Bible says that he is love. 00:07:02.000 |
It's one thing to imagine what his love looks like. 00:07:06.840 |
So what I want to do this morning is highlight the three different aspects of love, God's 00:07:12.160 |
love that we can observe through this Palm Sunday. 00:07:17.520 |
So if you look at the outline, there's three outlines, and then you'll see in the outline 00:07:21.600 |
it says, "God is," and then I left it blank, okay, so that you guys can just know that 00:07:27.880 |
So there's three things that we're going to be dealing with, and the first thing that 00:07:30.480 |
I want us to pay attention to is God's love is deliberate. 00:07:42.640 |
Because everything that happens this day, in fact, everything that happens in Jesus' 00:07:46.880 |
life, but in particular this day, was carefully calculated. 00:07:52.560 |
In Zechariah 9, 9, which is the passage that all the four Gospels quote, because Jesus 00:07:59.040 |
tells his disciples to go and get the donkey so that he can ride it in, and the significance 00:08:04.640 |
behind that was the whole nation of Israel knew that when the Messiah came that he was 00:08:12.140 |
So up to this point, Jesus was telling everyone, "It's not time, it's not time." 00:08:17.360 |
And so he might say it in private, he might tell his disciples, but he didn't publicly 00:08:23.360 |
So for the first time, for the first time he's making a public declaration just in 00:08:29.960 |
case there was any doubt to his identity, he gets them to get this colt and he was going 00:08:39.760 |
But it wasn't just a random colt that he found on the street. 00:08:42.360 |
He told his disciples to go to a very specific place. 00:08:45.800 |
And then if the owner says, "What are you doing?" 00:08:47.440 |
Tell him the master needs of it, and he said, "That's all it took." 00:08:54.600 |
The reason why the owner of this colt was going to say, "Okay," because it was prepared 00:08:59.920 |
And we don't know if Jesus went there ahead physically, we don't know if an angel visited 00:09:04.240 |
him, we don't know if there was some prophecy over his family's life, all of his life saying, 00:09:09.440 |
We're going to be the family of this colt, and the Messiah's going to raise this colt. 00:09:15.800 |
We don't know how it happened, but what we do know that it was prepared, even the donkey 00:09:24.200 |
In Zechariah 99, it says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. 00:09:34.040 |
He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the 00:09:42.360 |
But you know, this prophecy that took place over 500 years before Jesus came was prophesied 00:09:49.840 |
way before that, all the way up to Genesis chapter 49, verse 11. 00:09:54.520 |
There was a prophecy about the king of Israel, and this is what he says. 00:09:58.360 |
He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey colt to the choice vine. 00:10:02.960 |
He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. 00:10:08.600 |
Now here clearly we see the colt that it prophesied way before even Zechariah prophesied, but 00:10:16.040 |
it goes a little bit further how his robe is going to be in blood of grapes, clearly 00:10:21.000 |
pointing to the blood that he was going to shed. 00:10:26.400 |
Not only that, in Mark chapter 10, 33-34, everything that happens this week was carefully 00:10:32.840 |
designed and planned, saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of 00:10:38.000 |
Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him 00:10:42.320 |
to death, and will hand him over to the Gentiles. 00:10:46.600 |
They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him, and three days later he 00:10:54.840 |
Every one of these things that he prophesies is found somewhere also in the Old Testament. 00:11:01.000 |
Jesus is saying, "I'm going to fulfill all of these prophecies." 00:11:04.840 |
God, Jesus didn't come on a donkey and all of a sudden the people betrayed him, and then 00:11:12.200 |
he didn't find a good place to hide, so the leaders came early in the morning, crucified 00:11:18.520 |
him, his disciples scattered, and against his will he was dragged to the cross. 00:11:25.080 |
That is not how the Bible portrays what happens this week. 00:11:29.960 |
Even to the betrayal of Judas, to the beating, to the crown that he wears, to the Roman soldier 00:11:38.240 |
spitting, even the spear on his side with the blood and the water gushing out, even 00:11:44.560 |
to the place where he was buried, scattering of his disciples, every part of that the Bible 00:11:53.120 |
In fact, the Bible says there's over 100 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, over 100. 00:12:00.480 |
You see, the book of Ephesians chapter 1, as we're studying through the book of Ephesians, 00:12:04.080 |
the first chapter lays the foundation of God's predestination, adoption, election of us. 00:12:11.400 |
If you read chapter 1, there is a theme that is repeated over and over and over. 00:12:18.280 |
You may have caught it, you may not have caught it when you were studying through it, but 00:12:22.160 |
the theme that he repeats over and over in Ephesians chapter 1, it was all his doing, 00:12:29.680 |
Let me just read you a couple of verses, Ephesians 1, 5. 00:12:35.440 |
He predestined us, meaning he planned it and he fulfilled it, as sons through Jesus Christ 00:12:40.960 |
to himself, according to the kind intentions of his will. 00:12:45.320 |
Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the 00:12:52.400 |
The theme of he did it, he planned it, he willed it, he purposed it, over and over again. 00:12:58.760 |
Again in verse 11, also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according 00:13:03.160 |
to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. 00:13:08.600 |
So if you go back and read chapter 1, if there is one theme above God's election, he predestined, 00:13:20.720 |
Every part of our salvation was carefully crafted and carried out. 00:13:29.120 |
But what we need to understand is, prophecy in the Bible isn't God looking down the road 00:13:35.560 |
and looking at a crystal ball and saying, "Oh, okay, that's what's going to happen." 00:13:44.760 |
He's not telling the fortune of each individual or the history of mankind that he looked down 00:13:50.720 |
at the end times and he said, "Oh, that's what's going to happen," and then he wrote 00:13:57.220 |
When God revealed to him the end times, John took what he saw and he put it down on paper. 00:14:05.660 |
When the Bible talks about God prophesying or telling us what's coming, it's because 00:14:14.800 |
Now, the problem, the difference between us and God is, I can tell you, like today, we're 00:14:20.960 |
going to be having a meeting at 1 p.m. and at 1 p.m. we're going to have certain things. 00:14:30.020 |
But I can't guarantee you 100% that's going to happen. 00:14:34.080 |
I mean, there's good odds that's going to happen because I don't know if I can make 00:14:43.240 |
I don't know if this meeting is too big and there's too many people showing up, if it's 00:14:50.200 |
I don't know if the power outage is going to happen. 00:14:52.680 |
I could look at that and say, "I'm hoping that it'll happen. 00:14:57.640 |
But only God can say something's going to happen and it happens 100% because he is able 00:15:05.600 |
So every prophecy of the Bible, when we talk about fulfilled prophecy, all it is is God 00:15:16.680 |
That we see what is happening and we recognize this was God's plan all along. 00:15:28.240 |
Jesus' death and crucifixion wasn't out of his hand. 00:15:33.160 |
Jesus actually says in John 10, 17 to 18, "For this reason, the Father loves me because 00:15:38.800 |
I lay down my life so that I may take it again. 00:15:43.200 |
No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my initiative. 00:15:48.880 |
I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up. 00:15:56.120 |
Yes, I am going to be crucified by the hands of the Gentiles. 00:16:00.040 |
I will be handed over by the leaders of Israel. 00:16:04.320 |
I will be mocked and I will be forsaken by my own people." 00:16:10.400 |
Ultimately, it is I who lay down my life and it is I who take it back up." 00:16:15.800 |
So when we see the prophecies being fulfilled, we have to look at that as when you look at 00:16:21.720 |
fine art, one of the first things that they always look for is authentication. 00:16:27.440 |
If Picasso is the painter, they want to make sure that his signature is there, that it 00:16:32.800 |
matches up with all the other things that he has done. 00:16:36.120 |
And so when they match it up, it could be worth a few bucks if it's an imitation or 00:16:41.360 |
it could be worth a million dollars depending on the authentication of the author or the 00:16:53.760 |
When we see it being fulfilled, we recognize God purposed this. 00:16:59.520 |
This is what he said how he was going to do it. 00:17:02.200 |
And then when he actually does it, the purpose of that is, "Ah, it's him. 00:17:17.040 |
Zachariah and Moses was only looking at the vision that God gave them and was writing 00:17:23.780 |
Ultimately, it was God himself who said to Moses, who said to Zachariah, who said to 00:17:28.580 |
Isaiah, "I am coming, and when you see these things being fulfilled, you know it was me." 00:17:37.040 |
In fact, there's so many prophecies about the last week of Jesus. 00:17:41.440 |
Even Psalm chapter 22, it is a messianic passage. 00:17:45.040 |
It's about David crying out to God for his suffering. 00:17:48.420 |
But the Jews commonly understood this as a messianic suffering. 00:17:50.900 |
But if you look at and study that passage carefully, it is the Messiah, Jesus hanging 00:17:56.680 |
on the cross, and the vision that he has on the cross. 00:18:01.780 |
Even his very moment of suffering was prophesied in the book of Psalms hundreds and hundreds 00:18:12.740 |
Because God did not simply, randomly choose to come and save us. 00:18:20.800 |
From the beginning of our fall, God made a plan. 00:18:27.480 |
The seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent, and then he's going to 00:18:31.640 |
raise up Israel, that they may receive the law, that they may shine God, establish the 00:18:37.800 |
tribes, and have the prophets prophesy in every little detail of his birth, his life, 00:18:45.280 |
his disciples, his suffering, his rejection, his resurrection. 00:18:49.720 |
All of it, he planned, and then he devised it, and then he fulfilled it. 00:19:02.180 |
Because the only answer to why he did that is because he loved us. 00:19:11.820 |
I think one of the clearest pictures that we have of this love of God is adoption. 00:19:18.500 |
I'm very encouraged that there's many families in our church who are praying, and many of 00:19:25.660 |
The people who got caught right in the middle of this, some of you guys were waiting, maybe 00:19:30.900 |
in a few more months you'll get news, you'll be able to go out to Korea and different parts 00:19:34.460 |
of the world possibly and pick up your children, but now you have to wait. 00:19:41.660 |
I remember when my own family, with Philip and Mary, and now they prayed and waited eagerly, 00:19:48.700 |
and now they longed and was eager to pick a belly. 00:19:54.060 |
The difference between an adoption and birth, and obviously every child is precious, but 00:20:01.500 |
An adopted child had to save up a lot of money, had to pray, had to talk to family and friends, 00:20:11.340 |
You could see the anticipation not only of the parents, but the friends and extended 00:20:15.940 |
families, just eagerly waiting because this child is so adored and loved even before he 00:20:26.460 |
That's the picture, that is pictured for us in the scripture about our adoption. 00:20:32.660 |
He didn't randomly come in and we were born and all of a sudden he recognized something 00:20:37.240 |
good in us and then said, "You know what, I'm going to, he's cute, she's cute, he has 00:20:43.500 |
No, the scripture tells us from the beginning, God planned to come and get us. 00:20:58.020 |
He didn't plan this a couple of weeks before, he didn't plan this when he told the owner 00:21:05.020 |
From the book of Genesis, the Bible tells us he planned and now he's fulfilling it. 00:21:14.180 |
Every single one of us, when danger hits us, the first thing we do is how can we avoid 00:21:20.460 |
That's why when this thing first broke out, like when are we going to go home? 00:21:26.780 |
Many of us ran and saying, "Oh, they're going to run out of toilet paper." 00:21:29.260 |
We have to have toilet paper, so we stocked up on that. 00:21:32.300 |
What if the supermarket shut down and we need to have food, so we stocked up on that. 00:21:40.140 |
We purchased properties based upon the crime. 00:21:42.580 |
Part of the reason why Irvine is so popular and expensive is because they have low crime 00:21:47.460 |
rate and parents can send their kids to public school and feel safe. 00:21:55.480 |
Every decision that we make, we make based upon how is this going to bring more safety 00:22:03.340 |
Jesus lived his whole life knowing that he will face danger. 00:22:15.220 |
The Bible says he planned and he actually faced the crucifixion. 00:22:19.280 |
Every action that he takes this week takes him closer to the cross. 00:22:24.900 |
The worst thing that he would do when he enters into Jerusalem is to go to the temple because 00:22:29.220 |
that's where all the leaders who wanted to kill him was hanging out. 00:22:33.380 |
The worst thing that if he did go to the temple was to make a scene and to announce to people 00:22:42.980 |
If he was a man who was looking for security and safety, first of all, he would have never 00:22:49.160 |
He would have stayed in Galilee, maybe went further out to Turkey. 00:22:53.260 |
Instead, every part of his life was intentional and deliberate and executed because God loved 00:23:19.400 |
It says in Luke chapter 1941 that Jesus was weeping. 00:23:24.500 |
As he was writing in, you have to understand this scene because there's only two places 00:23:29.900 |
in the Bible where it's described where Jesus was weeping. 00:23:38.940 |
Now there's a whole different story behind that which I'm not going to get to today, 00:23:41.840 |
but we can understand, at least superficially, why someone would be crying at a funeral. 00:23:52.000 |
In fact, the palm branches that people were waving... 00:23:55.360 |
Since I got my prop, I got to use this one more time. 00:24:00.040 |
The reason why they were waving these palm branches is because the palm branches at that 00:24:07.320 |
So usually what they did was when soldiers would go out to battle and they win their 00:24:13.200 |
enemy and the soldiers would march back into town, the people would greet them in celebration 00:24:21.300 |
So when Jesus came into Jerusalem and they were waving the palm branches, they were recognizing 00:24:28.180 |
that somebody powerful was coming into town, that he was going to bring victory. 00:24:34.440 |
It's similar to when soldiers go to war and they come back, or at least you see films 00:24:40.680 |
If we want to celebrate and we're really excited, if we're excited we'll say, "Yay." 00:24:46.600 |
If you're really excited, you get confetti and throw it. 00:24:51.040 |
That's the scene that we see as Jesus is coming down, coming into Jerusalem. 00:24:56.320 |
In fact, in the Gospel of Matthew, he said that the crowd was stirred. 00:25:05.980 |
And you could already tell what that word means, is where we get the word seismic, earthquake. 00:25:13.200 |
In fact, this took place during Passover, and by the number of lambs that they have 00:25:18.860 |
record of that was sacrificed at the temple at that time, they believe that the number 00:25:24.040 |
of people that possibly could have been in Jerusalem at that time was over 1.5 million 00:25:31.240 |
I don't think it was 1.5 million people greeting Jesus, but this was not any normal crowd. 00:25:37.360 |
This is probably the biggest crowd that Jesus has seen. 00:25:41.720 |
There were rumors about Jesus raising Lazarus, it was a very prominent family. 00:25:52.240 |
I mean, this man just raised Lazarus, how are we going to get rid of this guy now? 00:25:58.460 |
So you can imagine the electricity, and yet, right in the middle of that, we see Jesus 00:26:06.320 |
You know what's interesting to me when I read that? 00:26:08.380 |
Is that there is no explanation, there's no description of the disciples coming to Jesus 00:26:20.660 |
I can imagine the disciples were thinking that when they come into Jerusalem, that this 00:26:25.960 |
And that's why they were constantly asking, "When the kingdom comes, when these people 00:26:30.420 |
finally recognize who you are, like we have, and they come and they make you king, who's 00:26:36.040 |
going to sit on the left and who's going to sit on the right?" 00:26:38.760 |
I'll bet you the disciples were elated over this. 00:26:43.100 |
And there's no description, there's no mention of this, of the disciples like, "What is he 00:26:51.900 |
After everything was done, Jesus was resurrected, maybe after the ascension, Jesus cried. 00:26:57.060 |
Remember when Jesus cried when he was coming down? 00:27:03.180 |
Just like in any other, they didn't understand, they were too afraid to ask because every 00:27:06.660 |
time they asked, Jesus would say, "Why didn't you know? 00:27:14.600 |
So my guess is they were probably afraid to ask and it wasn't until after the resurrection 00:27:25.460 |
In the midst of probably one of the biggest parade that Israel has seen, Jesus, the one 00:27:35.660 |
It's kind of like you're in a birthday party and everybody's singing "Happy Birthday," 00:27:38.860 |
confetti falling everywhere, and the guy who's supposed to blow out the cake is just weeping. 00:27:43.460 |
And everybody just ignores him because they want the cake. 00:27:49.740 |
This is the best cake that they're going to ever have. 00:27:52.780 |
So the person that they're celebrating is weeping, but they're just eager to get to 00:27:59.700 |
Jesus is weeping, they're not asking what's going on. 00:28:03.620 |
But by his own words, he describes, he says in verse 42 of Luke chapter 19, "If you had 00:28:09.380 |
known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, now they have been hidden 00:28:14.700 |
from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade 00:28:19.500 |
against you and surround you and hand you on every side. 00:28:23.440 |
And they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not 00:28:27.100 |
leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." 00:28:33.460 |
I remember years ago, we were coming out of China and one year SARS broke out in China. 00:28:44.660 |
And maybe about a month before we were supposed to go, we got information from our denomination 00:28:51.100 |
China is not allowing anybody from outside to come in because of this outbreak." 00:28:55.180 |
So we ended up scrambling and last minute we ended up going to Romania. 00:29:00.820 |
And so our ministry is different in Romania because we can't speak their language. 00:29:06.620 |
And at that time, body worship at our church at that time was a big thing. 00:29:11.180 |
So we had some of our ladies and the guys, we'd practice body worship and then we'd give 00:29:17.260 |
And so we have this skit presentation that we prepared. 00:29:22.040 |
And I remember the very first church that we went to, our ladies were doing the body 00:29:30.180 |
And I saw a lady way in the back, and this is probably about a group of about 200 people 00:29:37.040 |
And she was weeping and crying and saying something. 00:29:39.460 |
And the whole time I was thinking, "Wow, she's really touched." 00:29:44.620 |
She must have, I mean, we can't speak the language, but clearly she understands the 00:29:49.820 |
And so after it was over, I went to one of the translators and said, "Hey, I saw that 00:30:04.940 |
It was complete opposite of what I was thinking. 00:30:09.420 |
She said, "How can they do this in the church?" 00:30:14.420 |
Romania is such a conservative, and we got rebuked for smiling up on the stage in one 00:30:22.580 |
And I remember that just deflated everything that I... 00:30:29.940 |
And I couldn't tell our team, because if I told our team, because it was the very first 00:30:34.420 |
church, like every church we go to, they're going to... 00:30:37.420 |
But we're going to do it anyway, because we're here, so let's do it. 00:30:40.420 |
I kept it to myself until after it was over, and I told them what happened. 00:30:49.900 |
Imagine this party, this huge celebration, and Jesus is saying, "You have no idea what's 00:31:01.180 |
What they were seeking and what Jesus was seeing was not just different. 00:31:12.540 |
And Jesus says, and it's fulfilled in AD 70, that the Romans came in and completely destroyed 00:31:18.780 |
the temple, never to be established again, at least in its glory. 00:31:24.380 |
And Israel, as an official nation, basically disappears. 00:31:28.380 |
Reappears, a couple thousand years later, to fulfill God's promise, but they completely 00:31:41.060 |
If that was the case, and he knew that they were going to reject him, why walk in, knowing 00:31:49.340 |
Knowing that they would reject him, the very people that he loved and cared for? 00:31:57.900 |
You know, in Luke chapter 15, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, and because he was hanging 00:32:03.100 |
around with sinners, he said, "How can you, if you're a rabbi, how can you be hanging 00:32:06.860 |
And Jesus gives three parables, and the first one is the lost sheep. 00:32:11.220 |
In the lost sheep, you have out of the hundred, one sheep strays, the shepherd goes after 00:32:20.120 |
And then he has the parable of the lost coin, same thing. 00:32:23.740 |
Loses a coin, sweeps the whole house until they find the lost coin, and then they celebrate. 00:32:29.980 |
And then the prodigal son, the lost son, is mentioned. 00:32:34.900 |
But what's different about the lost son is he's not searching. 00:32:41.860 |
He said, "My life will be so much better, and I know you have money, and that's all 00:32:52.840 |
He goes out and he squanders it, and it's only when he's living in squalor, he raised 00:32:57.900 |
all of his money and realizes that it would be better to be his father's servant than 00:33:03.380 |
So with his tail behind, with his tail under his knees, I forgot what that's... 00:33:17.500 |
Tail between his legs, he comes crawling back in, and the father is eagerly waiting, eagerly 00:33:26.780 |
He sees his son way off in the yonder, and he goes out and grabs him, hugs him, puts 00:33:32.440 |
his cloak back on, puts his slippers back on, and he ran back in and celebrates. 00:33:37.140 |
And obviously, the older brother is like, "Man, I've done nothing. 00:33:40.260 |
I didn't do all this, and I don't have this." 00:33:43.700 |
But the point of the whole story is his father released him because the only way to get him 00:33:57.920 |
The reason why he didn't reject him is because he knew. 00:34:01.060 |
Even though as he was weeping over them, knowing the judgment that was coming, he knew that 00:34:07.620 |
he had to wait until his resurrection, until they repent to come back to him. 00:34:13.500 |
Isaiah 49, 15 says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion in the 00:34:21.540 |
Even these they may forget, but I will not forget you." 00:34:32.180 |
Over and over again, the Bible tells us that he did what he did because he had compassion. 00:34:37.500 |
Matthew 9, 36, "Seeing the people, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed 00:34:42.860 |
and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." 00:34:45.220 |
Matthew 14, 14, "When he went ashore, he saw the great crowd, and he had compassion on 00:34:54.100 |
Matthew 15, 32, "The feeding of the 5,000, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 00:34:59.660 |
'I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have 00:35:04.300 |
nothing to eat, and I am unwilling to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way.'" 00:35:11.460 |
Just in case any of us thinks that Jesus didn't care whether they ate or not, because Jesus 00:35:16.500 |
said, "You're coming to me because you ate the bread, not because you saw the sign." 00:35:20.800 |
It wasn't because Jesus didn't care that they were hungry. 00:35:24.820 |
It says he fed them because he was compassionate. 00:35:28.140 |
Their problem was they thought that if they ate, that they've arrived to their destination. 00:35:45.460 |
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Isaiah 42, 3, where Jesus quotes in the synagogue 00:35:51.680 |
in the beginning of his ministry, and he says, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly 00:36:01.840 |
There's nobody more patient than our God, not even your parents. 00:36:09.400 |
No amount of love of your husband, your wife, your mother, your father, your best friend 00:36:16.800 |
can be as patient with us as God has been with sinners. 00:36:26.160 |
Jesus came into Jerusalem knowing he would be rejected, weeping over the sins of his 00:36:42.720 |
When he came in, the people were shouting, "Hosanna." 00:36:45.760 |
The word "hosanna" literally means to save us. 00:36:48.600 |
But what they were yelling was not save us from our sins. 00:36:59.360 |
Save us so that we may become the great nation." 00:37:04.960 |
Every Jew greeted each other with "Shalom," just like we say, "Hi, hey, what's up?" 00:37:12.000 |
And "Shalom" had deep theological meaning behind it. 00:37:17.480 |
All throughout the Old Testament, we are told that God will bring peace. 00:37:31.240 |
Kind of like when somebody sneezes, we say, "God bless you." 00:37:37.120 |
But their idea of blessing was no different than the world, because they did not recognize 00:37:44.920 |
The law that God gave them was to reveal their sins so that sin may become utterly sinful. 00:37:59.800 |
In the midst of all of this, Jesus is weeping. 00:38:01.640 |
He says, "Judgment is coming because you did not know." 00:38:04.200 |
He says, "Only," in verse 42, "if you had known in this day, even you, the things which 00:38:11.360 |
Yes, God promised peace when the Messiah came. 00:38:17.000 |
The donkey that he rode to come in signified that peace. 00:38:22.400 |
But the peace that they were looking for and the peace that they wanted was on a collision 00:38:28.720 |
Jesus says in John 8, 36, "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." 00:38:38.240 |
But again, their idea of freedom was freedom from tyranny of the Romans. 00:38:44.240 |
As soon as they realized that Jesus wasn't going to fulfill their longing, they didn't 00:38:53.440 |
And Jesus, during his ministry, made it clear to his disciples, John 14, 27, "Peace I leave 00:39:06.740 |
The power of his love, people who are recipients of this love have peace. 00:39:28.960 |
So whatever we miss out on here, it's just temporary anyway. 00:39:34.600 |
So the biggest problem that we've had, we've had our own sins, the consequence of our sins, 00:39:41.600 |
it was crucified on the cross with Jesus Christ. 00:39:44.680 |
And that's what he means when he says, "My peace I give unto you." 00:39:47.280 |
And it's a peace that the world does not understand. 00:39:50.440 |
This is a peace that will only come when we have peace with God. 00:39:55.800 |
That's why in the Bible, in the New Testament, in the church, the common greeting in the 00:40:08.400 |
As the Jews were saying, "Shalom," the New Testament believers and apostles were saying, 00:40:16.960 |
This shalom is going to come by the grace of God. 00:40:20.380 |
And that's what he was referring to on the cross, is death and resurrection. 00:40:24.140 |
We will never have peace of God until we have peace with God. 00:40:33.920 |
In Philippians 4, 11-13, Apostle Paul, sitting in prison, possibly, possibly this prison 00:40:43.840 |
And he says this, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever 00:40:50.800 |
Now when he says, "I have learned the secret of being content," he's not talking about 00:40:56.520 |
He's not talking about going to woods and focusing on an object and saying, "Meditate 00:41:02.040 |
and tap into your inner self and find peace." 00:41:06.320 |
It wasn't something that he learned from discipleship and going to some school. 00:41:13.360 |
He's talking about his connection with Christ. 00:41:15.520 |
"I have learned the secret of being content in every circumstance. 00:41:20.000 |
I know how to get along in humble means," which he is in now. 00:41:24.000 |
"I also know how to live in prosperity," which he used to live. 00:41:28.960 |
And many prosperous people were supporting his ministry. 00:41:32.480 |
"In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, 00:41:37.560 |
both of having abundance and suffering in need. 00:41:40.280 |
I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 00:41:44.280 |
I bet you many of you who are sports fans know that verse very well. 00:41:47.640 |
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 00:41:52.320 |
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 00:41:55.560 |
That passage was not about dominating your opponents in the basketball court. 00:42:00.640 |
That's not about CEOs of companies saying that our company is going to dominate this 00:42:05.800 |
Apostle Paul is talking about finding contentment in Christ that supersedes every other contentment. 00:42:13.960 |
So whether the storm comes or whether we are in peace, according to the world, whether 00:42:20.200 |
the pestilence passes us or whether it visits us, whether our business does well or it doesn't 00:42:27.720 |
do well, I have learned the secret of being content, and that's the powerful love of Jesus 00:42:37.360 |
And this is the love that the world cannot understand. 00:42:41.440 |
That's why he says, "When we are anxious," in Philippians 4, 6, and 7, "to pray, to come 00:42:45.240 |
to God, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and suffocation, with thanksgiving, 00:42:50.400 |
let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension 00:42:56.280 |
that the world does not understand will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 00:43:01.160 |
Again, let me read a final passage of encouragement, 2 Corinthians 4, 7-12. 00:43:08.120 |
This powerful love of Christ, what it does to people who are completely, completely connected 00:43:17.440 |
Paul says in describing his life after meeting Christ, the secret that he's talking about 00:43:21.920 |
in Philippians, 2 Corinthians 4, 7-12, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." 00:43:36.480 |
"So that the surpassing greatness of the power of the will of God and not from ourselves, 00:43:43.840 |
we are afflicted just like everybody else in every way, but we are not crushed." 00:43:51.000 |
We're perplexed, meaning Apostle Paul doesn't understand everything. 00:43:55.080 |
And there's a lot of things that happen in the world that we don't understand either. 00:43:59.920 |
Paul says he is perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but 00:44:08.840 |
not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of 00:44:19.200 |
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the 00:44:24.400 |
life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 00:44:36.720 |
God's love is deliberate, God's love is patient, and God's love is powerful. 00:44:43.920 |
So I pray that during this season of anxiety and uncertainty that Christ would truly become 00:44:59.080 |
I asked the praise team to sing it one more time because it's such a powerful song. 00:45:07.200 |
And I ask that when we sing it, that it would truly be our confession. 00:45:12.080 |
And I know there's a lot of you who are very anxious because you're at the hospitals and 00:45:16.800 |
you're being exposed to this virus that's going on, the uncertainties of what's happening. 00:45:24.640 |
Some of you just started a business and you're really suffering. 00:45:31.400 |
Some of you, I've been hearing through the grapevine, have been laid off. 00:45:35.280 |
And we don't know if it's going to be a furlough, we don't know when this goes back, what the 00:45:40.760 |
Right now there's a lot of anxiousness and uncertainty. 00:45:46.800 |
The man who wrote it, Horatio Spafford, was a man who knew suffering very intimately. 00:45:53.360 |
There was a great fire in Chicago that wiped out his business and he was facing possibly 00:46:02.800 |
And he planned, after that, he planned a trip with his family or to go and took a boat and 00:46:07.680 |
he sent his family ahead and a great storm came and took out his family. 00:46:16.880 |
I mean, he suffered greatly and he received a letter from his wife and his wife started 00:46:27.280 |
So you can imagine the pain that this man was in. 00:46:31.480 |
He was in a circumstance where he could have easily asked, "Why? 00:46:37.560 |
I mean, he was a man of God and yet why would you do this to me? 00:46:47.440 |
And so, look at the words that he pens to describe a man who's been affected by God's 00:46:54.920 |
deliberate, patient, and powerful love of Christ. 00:46:58.440 |
When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever 00:47:04.720 |
my lot, thou hast taught me to say, "It is well, it is well with my soul." 00:47:12.120 |
Verse two, "Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let the blessed assurance 00:47:19.200 |
control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my 00:47:26.800 |
Verse three, "My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the 00:47:31.840 |
whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. 00:47:36.120 |
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul." 00:47:44.520 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that this Palm Sunday, that we would not simply spend it like any 00:47:51.680 |
other week, any other Sunday, but help us, Lord God, to join the chorus of millions and 00:48:00.500 |
millions of Christians around the world, remembering what you have done for us. 00:48:06.400 |
I pray, Lord God, that your love would convict us, revive us, renew us, and that through 00:48:13.000 |
all that is happening now, that you would bring revival, a greater affection for your 00:48:19.120 |
name, greater anchoring toward Christ may result from all of this.