Three Truths That Transform | Luke 19:28-44

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And let's pray together.

Lord, we do what the Bible tells us to do when we say we set our hope on Jesus.

This is because we live in a world where everything is changing, everything is uh transient and transactional, and yet you're steady and sure.

You're the unchangeable reality that kind of calibrates everything else around us and exposes non-reality.

That's why so many people are hostile to you.

They don't want their non-reality exposed.

And so, Lord, we just confess today that we want you to expose all expressions of non-reality in our life, to set our hope on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy sat before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and has now earned the right to sit down, to be seated at the right hand of the Father, where you make intercession for us.

We are praying to you today, and you are praying for us, interceding with groanings and utterings that are too deep for words.

Father, we take great comfort in that today.

Lord, as we look at a familiar story, uh drive some simple truths home into our head and our heart so they'll find expression in our hands and how we live.

This is our prayer.

We prayed in Christ's name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

You could have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And this is a palm sundae.

You may see some people carrying palm branches.

Uh, it's palm sundae, and people ask practical questions.

Like a little kid asked one time, he said, What's the deal with the palm branches?

And I said, actually, palm branches on the triumphal entry, uh, that they they symbolize victory.

Uh, and so basically, Jesus rides into Jerusalem uh to begin the last week of his life.

And as he does this, uh it's not like a parade, it's more of a proclamation.

Uh now there's some trepidation in the air for Jesus and his disciples, okay?

Because the lead up to what's known in the Bible as a triumphal entry.

He's entering Jerusalem.

Passover is going on.

It's one of the high holy feasts of the Jewish people.

He enters Jerusalem.

Last time he was there, it did not go well for him, okay?

This is why the disciples are trying to talk him out of it.

It's not that they don't have faith, it's just that, hey, no, dude, last time you were here, these people took up rocks to stone you.

Are you sure you want to go back?

And Jesus is like, Absolutely, that's exactly what I want to do.

Matter of fact, they try to dissuade him.

And the Bible says at one point he set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem, okay?

And so he last time he barely escapes death, tensions high, the world's pretty unstable, there's a lot of political unrest, and the news was flooded with all this talk about tariffs and how you weren't gonna be able to afford anything.

Here's this.

I mean, somebody called me this week and said, Pastor, are you worried?

And I said, Here's this, here's a solution to tariffs.

If stuff's too expensive, don't buy it.

And then the price will come down.

But they act like, oh, you've you made something, I've got to buy it.

Just don't buy it.

Don't get a new phone.

Everybody under 20 is like, what?

You shut your mouth.

No, no, so I want to talk to you on this Palm Sunday about uh about three truths that transform.

Three truths you wait, well, doesn't all truth transform?

No, these are some things that that I come back to in my own life that I want all of us to be able to come back to.

Uh, because Jesus is entering Jerusalem to begin the last week of his life.

And even as he enters, knowing full well what no one else around him quite understands, because they think Jesus is coming to overthrow the Romans, it's election night, and we're gonna have over 300 electoral votes, and we are gonna set up an administration that's gonna change the world.

And this is how the Bible records it Luke chapter 19, verse 28.

Luke 19:28

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

When he drew near to Bethphagee and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat.

Untie it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it?

you shall say, This, the Lord has need of it.

So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them.

And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt?

And they said, The Lord has need of it.

And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the on the road.

As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, uh, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

And he answered, I tell you what, fellows, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

And he went, and when he drew near and he saw the city, he wept over it, saying, Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.

But now they are hidden from your eyes.

For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

You did not know the time of your visitation.

Now, when I say three truths that transform, I mean if you're 68 or 18 or 14, these three truths right out of the Bible will train what could change your life today and will continue to change your life the rest of your life.

Here's the first one it's simply this God has a plan for everything, and our lives find fulfillment in God's plan.

God has a plan for everything, and our lives find fulfillment in God's plan.

Now, about six or seven months ago, I talked to a discernment about how God is a God, not of just instrumentation, but he's a God of orchestration.

Uh, and if you remember that, say amen.

Uh, 12 of you, thank you very much.

Uh, and I even played you a song, okay?

Now, how many of you remember I played like here's the instrumentation?

It's like a one instrument playing versus the whole orchestra playing.

Uh now, if you're here this morning and you got, dude, I got no idea what you're talking about, say amen.

Yes, yes, Jack Lee's like, I got nothing, brother.

Uh here's the thing uh about God.

He's not just, he doesn't just play an instrument, okay?

Like I have a friend, Larry Olsen, who plays the trombone.

He has a burning desire to play the trombone.

He's in like a five-piece brass quartet or four-piece, whatever it is.

And I'm just like, okay, isn't that something you do?

Like, you don't you join band to pick up chicks in high school, okay?

But Larry is in his 60s, and that cat loves the trombone.

He puts on a black tux and goes to events and plays the trombone.

One of the last times I talked to him, he had to wear a black, a black tux outside playing the trombone.

I thought, whoo, you're gonna sweat like Mike Tyson in a spelling bee.

You enjoy that, okay?

Uh but I digress, okay?

Back to God is a God of now, Jack Lee, when I say God's a God of not just instrumentation but orchestration, here's why I bring this up again today, because you you've probably forgotten about it, but I'll demonstrate in just a minute, Jack.

But here's what the Bible teaches that God doesn't just do one thing, that God has many attributes, there's many characteristics to his being.

If you think God is a God of instrumentation, if you're graduating high school right now, you're thinking, where am I gonna go to college?

What am I gonna major in?

Blah, blah, blah.

This is my public service announcements for today.

You do not have to know what you're gonna do the rest of your life right now.

Relax.

Your high school counselor is a liar, they're just ginning up here.

Yes, you matter of fact, you can go to two years of college, girls, and just take basics and be fine.

Don't overpay.

Go to a junior college, go to blend and then go to AM, okay?

Stop.

You can't help yourself.

You're like, you said blend, you've got to say this.

No, no, just realize we've got all this pressure.

If you believe that God's a God of instrumentation, here's what you think, here's what instrumentation sounds like, okay?

Sounds like this.

None of you are gonna listen to this on the way home.

You don't have a CD that just has this on it.

Now, if you play the tube and band, you're like, this is my price ID moment.

That's enough of that.

Now, you can cut that.

That's what instrumentation sounds like.

Yeah, y'all are like, he said, cut it.

Hello, hello.

Yeah, yeah.

It's it's kind of like some of you may even recognize the song.

You're like, I some of you are like, I got nothing.

This is what remember, God's not a God of instrumentation, so when he rides into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry, he's not doing one thing.

Okay?

He's orchestrating a lot of things.

And this is what Palm Sunday sounds like.

People are going crazy.

Prostitutes are running down the road going, free at last, free at last.

Thank God Almighty, we're free at last.

You can cut that.

Now look at me.

If you don't believe that God is the God of orchestration, you'll be overwhelmed by one thing the rest of your life.

You'll be overwhelmed by the biggest drama taking place in your life right now.

You'll be, mom, you'll be overwhelmed by the sadness of your kid who's overwhelmed by something.

Like when a boyfriend breaks up with her and she's in her bedroom just sobbing.

What am I gonna do?

I know it's a big deal when you're 16 and 17, but mom, you gotta be able to step in and say, hey, babe, God has a plan clearly.

This nothing wasn't part of God's plan.

Let's be sad about this, but not for much longer.

Why?

Because God's not just the God of instrumentation, he's the God of orchestration, He's bringing all these little things all together.

You're saying, What do you mean?

One thing that you should be impressed about in the Bible is its cohesion.

So if you're here this morning, you're like, I don't really understand much about the Bible.

I think it's kind of this random collection of stories.

Uh, let me just kind of summarize what I mean when I say God has a plan for everything and our lives find full fulfillment in that plan.

The thing that should really strike you about the Bible is this cohesion.

What do you mean?

It's 66 books spread over 1500 years with one central character, and it all points and prophesies to this one moment.

What do you mean by cohesion?

I mean, 550 years before this day happens, when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, people are thinking, you couldn't get a horse?

But was hurt, saw out of horses, you had to rent a donkey?

Come on, bro.

550 years earlier, though, the prophet Zechariah wrote these words in Zechariah 9 rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So just a little bit of orchestration, God 550 years earlier, just kind of said again, now if you think the Bible is just a random collection of stories that people just sit down and recorded, uh it you I would say that, but I also say that if that wasn't enough, 1400 years earlier in the book of Exodus, uh, in like in chapter 12, God gives instructions about what for what's known as Passover, how the His people are going to observe Passover.

This is where God gets ready to send the tenth plague.

By the way, I'm flipping channels yesterday during commercials of the masters, and the 10 commandments was on ABC.

Messed me up.

Here's why.

When I was a little kid, it was a big deal.

The 10 come, now you watch it, you're like, bang, I don't see GI, this is old and dated.

Who's Charlton Heston?

Uh uh, but I was a little kid, it would come on at night, and our parents let us stay up and watch it.

It put a pallet on the floor in front of the TV, and we were like, man, we're camping out and living.

This is awesome.

And I would do go key until and just as orchestration, I turned the channel, and it's just at the point where they're gathered in their houses, and the tenth plague is coming, the death of the firstborn, and that black smoke comes down the street.

Scared the bahooty out of me when I was a little kid.

Because I thought God was like this ominous cloud of black smoke coming against you.

I remember crawling over my dad on the pallet and getting behind him and peeking up over his hip, like, is it over yet?

Because I don't want no part of this because people were shrieking and crying.

And this one old woman in Charlton Heston's downstairs apartment says, There's death all around us.

I was like, that's why I don't want to go to church ever again.

Yeah, no, but what happens is our orchestration, the 10th plate, God tells people what to do.

Hear this, okay?

Again, not just God's not doing one thing, he's doing a lot of things at the same time.

He tells the people, hey, listen, on the on the tenth day of the month, you have to select a lamb, all right?

Uh and you keep the lamb in your house for five days, then on the 14th day, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, five days total, on the 14th day, you sacrifice the lamb and you apply the blood of the lamb to the doorposts of your house.

And when the when the when when the death angel comes, this tenth plague that God has said to a man named Pharaoh, he said, Let my people go.

God's not a bully, but he is God.

He said, Let my people go.

Pharaoh says in Exodus 5, Who is the Lord that I should obey him?

I do not know the Lord, and I will not do what he says.

And God says, You don't know me?

Let me introduce myself.

Ten ways.

And every time Pharaoh's heart is hardened, it's hardened, it's hardened.

And so the death angel comes and God says, Hey, apply the blood of the Lamb to the doorpost of your house and look at me.

And death will pass over your house.

So this is what God says 14 years ago.

So when we drop in on the story in Luke chapter 19, the people of God have been observing Passover as a ritual for over a thousand years, okay?

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And so people have been doing this for a thousand years, and then fast forward, that was 1400 years back in Exodus.

Fast forward to the New Testament, uh, Jesus shows up on the scene in John chapter 1 by verse 29.

John 1 · chapter mention

This woolly booger named John the Baptist, just a hairy, grisly Adams-looking man.

He would win alone if he was a contestant, okay?

He would be camped, you know what I mean by alone the show?

He would be camped, yeah.

Clyde Copeland's like, I'd like to get someone alone.

I got four little kids.

This dude would be so far in the woods and alone, they wouldn't find it.

The show would be over.

Everyone's given up.

John the Baptist is hunkered down in the woods and like, dude, it's been 268 days.

You won six months ago.

Is that a problem?

I mean, just a hairy man gets up and he blows, he's got he's got like tourette.

He blurts out when he sees Jesus.

He's like, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

And everyone's like, dude, just pipe down.

You're obnoxious.

Your voice is so shrill.

Would you just stop with all this?

Lamb that takes away the sins of the world, he's a rabbi.

Now on this day, Jesus rides in.

And guess what day it is?

Because God's a God of orchestration.

The day that Jesus rides into Jerusalem, everybody in the city is selecting their Passover lamb.

There's over 250,000 of them being selected that day.

And there, Jesus rides into Jerusalem to observe Passover, but also to fulfill it.

Because on Lamb Selection Sunday, He rides in.

Now, if you read the Gospels, I won't go into it today, but look at me.

This is the cohesive nature of the Bible and the orchestrating nature of God, all coming together here on Palm Sunday.

Don't just go on Allopilot and go, let me guess.

Palm branches, Jesus, blah, blah, blah.

Now, think of God of orchestration.

And the Bible is cohesive and it tells one story over 1,500 years, 66 books, and it prophesies to the detail moments like this, where people are selecting their lambs to observe this ritual.

Jesus rides in to fulfill a reality.

Now, if you read the rest of the gospels, any one of them, you'll see that Jesus gets passed around.

Oh this guy's like, I can't really try you.

He gets into this person, gets into that person, gets into that person, and it takes how many days?

Five.

And he gets to Pilate, and Pilate washes his hands.

Now remember, one of the stipulations way back in Exodus 12, 1400 years before this happened, and a gazillion years ago from right now, God said the lamb has to be without spot or blemish in order to be sacrificed.

So that's why you keep it for five days and you observe it.

Pilate washes his hands publicly and says to the crowd, I find no fault in this man.

And really what he does is he's verifying you now have a lamb that's without blemish that can be sacrificed for your sins.

See, Pilate's playing the tuba.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And God is conducting the orchestra.

And nobody sees it just yet.

Only Jesus.

Jesus understands what's happening.

Everybody else is consuming him upon their political lust and their thing, their appetite for power.

Now, if you look in the text we read this morning, verse 32, it says this.

And they went and found it just as Jesus had told them.

Because he said, Hey, go into a city and you'll see this cult tied up.

No one's ever read down.

Untie it and bring it to me.

If anybody says, What are you doing?

say, the master has need of it.

I suggest boys and girls right over here, uh, the Dutch pro girls, go to H E B and Shoplift and just walk out with stuff and people say, What are you doing?

Just go, the master has need of it.

It will not go well for you today.

Okay?

But look at me.

Hey, don't miss this.

Jesus is sovereign over a process that he also submits to.

He's sovereign.

Only God can do that.

He is sovereign over a process that he also submits to.

They went and they found it just as Jesus had told them.

He is in control of the situation that he also submits to.

Now you may be thinking just right now, hey, you know what?

I appreciate this brief summary of Old Testament redemptive history.

But what in the world does that have to do with me, bro?

Here's why I said all that.

Hey, because you should understand the historicity of the Bible, of Christianity, of how God orchestrates all things for his good and mainly for his glory.

But here's where, to bring it down and apply it to where you live today, you should ask yourself this question.

If God, God's plan has that much detail to it, do you really think there's any area of your life for which God does not have a plan?

If God's plan for the world has this much detail and it spans this much time and is unaffected and unaltered by a bunch of knuckleheads all along the way, then the question for you and I this morning becomes: is there any part of our life for which God does not have a plan?

You see, the core problem for most of us in this room is not that we don't believe that God has a plan.

He doesn't have a plan.

You think God has a plan.

Here's the really sinful part that you think.

You think your plan is better than God's plan.

Sure you do.

Yes.

The last time you disobeyed, the last time, I'll use the real Bible word, the last time you sinned, what you were saying was, hey, I appreciate it, bro.

I really do.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I got it.

And the more you live that way, the less you can feel what you're missing out on.

And that's that is the most severe form of judgment.

The more you live that way, the less you can feel.

Matter of fact, this over here, this your plan, starts to feel real good.

Especially if you get a few good breaks, like, see, nothing bad's happening to me.

Yes.

So I just want to say, real simple truth to begin with today, that God has a plan for everything and our lives find fulfillment in God's plan.

Look at me.

I'm not saying you can't find happiness running your plan.

You'll have moments where it's like, this is awesome.

Who needs God?

But you should think this as good as it is according to your plan, it could always be that much better in God's plan.

So if you're the richest person you know, you're the happiest person you know, you've got so much security, just you've got layers of security around you that insulates you from the hardship of life.

Your life is not what it could be if you lived according to God's plan.

This is why Jesus rides into the city according to God's plan.

Here's the second truth I want you to see this morning.

Worship accompanies what God does.

Worship accompanies what God does.

Look at verse 35.

He says, This he says, and they brought it to Jesus, this colt, and they'd throw in their cloaks on the colt.

They set Jesus on it, and as he rode along, they spread their cloaks out on the road.

As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, a whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

And he answered, I tell you what, if they were silent, these stones would cry out.

Now, what do you mean what is happening here when I say worship accompanies what God does?

Here's what I'm saying: all of creation was was created to worship its creator.

So if you say, I'm not gonna worship God, the issue is not that you'll you'll worship nothing, the issue is that you'll worship anything.

Let me say that again.

When you say, Oh, I'm I'm not down with that, and by worship, I don't mean just singing.

Let's never just relegate worship to just singing.

Because if you if you relegate worship to just singing, then you evaluate worship.

You don't engage in worship.

We didn't sing your song, or we sung a song you didn't like, or whatever.

But worship is not just singing, that's an expression of it.

It's also saying, it's also rejoicing, it's also being glad.

I will rejoice, for he has made me glad.

Someone asked me recently in a store, I was buying some stuff.

The lady said, Why are you so happy?

I said, I'm not happy, I'm glad.

It was the a cappella vocal band in the 90s, but I'm not them, but I'm glad.

And she said, I have no idea what you're talking about right now.

I said, What's the difference in happy and glad?

And she said, I don't know, you tell me you're glad.

Kitty likes to scratch.

And I said, Oh, this is my kind of party.

I said, Happy is that you did it.

Glad somebody else did it.

And she said, I knew she was leaning in.

She wasn't like, you're crazy.

She was leaning in.

Look at me.

You're surrounded by people that are starving for somebody to.

Engage them and give them a little bit more hope they had when they met you.

And I said, I could be happy.

I could put go play golf today, and it would be terrible, but I would be happy because I got to play golf.

But as a Christian, God has made me glad.

So my gladness is not submitted to circumstances.

My happiness is not my gladness.

And she's like, Wow, thank you.

I've never heard that before in my life.

I said, You're welcome.

Don't make it your goal to be happy, make it your goal to be glad.

And she goes, I don't think I've even said the word glad in forever.

I said it's kind of a feminine word, isn't it?

Like I say glad around a bunch of men, they're like, dude, what's wrong with you?

What are you doing?

Now, when I say all creation was created to worship its creator, so it if you don't worship God, it's not that you'll worship nothing.

You will worship anything.

You should ask yourself this question this morning.

Are you currently worshiping something that isn't God?

Are you currently worshiping something that isn't God?

You say, Well, why would we do that?

Let me give you some things I see people worship.

Grandkids, so many folks are like, watch it, preacher.

Uh money?

We're really security.

It's not money, it's security.

We just love security.

We worship that.

We're like, oh, this is great.

This is a great.

We worship our kids.

Oh man.

Have you noticed that everything's a sin until your kids do it?

It's like, well, Pastor, it's the 21st century.

I know.

I live in it.

I got two kids that live in it as well.

Yes.

Yes.

Part of your responsibility, mom and dad, is to tell your kids when they're sinning.

And in love and just say, Hey, I love you.

I'm not hating on you.

But listen, if you lose the doctrine of sin, you have no explanation for the state of the world.

That's a whole nother sermon.

If you lose the doctrine of sin, we'll talk about that on Friday night at Good Friday service.

If you lose the doctrine of sin, you have no way to explain the world to somebody that says, Hey man, what's wrong with the world?

Well, you know, we are the world.

We are the real No.

No.

Now let's just dig in a little bit right here, okay?

Because too often we need fresh motivation in the moment.

But here in the text, in verse 37, it says the whole multitude of the disciples begin to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works.

Here are these next four words that they had seen.

It's not what's happening in the moment.

Jesus has done enough in these people.

He's raised people from the dead, he's healed people.

They see him, and all of a sudden it busts off.

There's a thing in therapy called repressed language.

Everyone in you in this room, you have in every relationship that you have, you have what's called repressed language.

Repressed language is things you think and feel about people, but you never stay.

Some of y'all are like, How'd you know that?

I read books.

And basically, repressed language is like people you're friends with, your neighbors, you think things about your neighbors you've never said.

Like my neighbor was mowing his yard one time, shirtless with some shorts, and he had white knee socks up to his knees.

And I took a picture and I sent it to his pastor, who's a friend of mine, and I said, This is why I'm gonna kill my neighbor.

Now, some of you are thinking, you don't have any repressed language.

Yes, I do.

That's what should concern you.

But look at me, I'll give you a visual.

Repressed language is things that you think and feel about people, but you never say, and then something happens, and boom, the top comes off, and the words come out.

And you're like, ah, it sounds like this.

Usually people have to make you angry to get to your repressed language.

It sounds like this.

You really want to know?

Boom.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you don't know you back in the cheap seats, if you don't know you got repressed language, you don't know yourself.

Yes, that's why most of your talking is about, but not to.

Because you love repressed language.

Look at me.

These people had repressed language in them, and they see Jesus, and they don't need Jesus to heal anybody.

All of a sudden, boom, the lid comes off and it just blurts out.

And look at what they say right there in verse 3.

It's the whole multitude begin to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.

Seeing Jesus tapped into their repressed language, and they were like, Glory to God in the highest, and in heaven, peace.

And they're like, What?

What are you talking about?

See, worship begins.

I'll get to I'll give you a graphic in just a minute.

Let me say this worship begins with what God does, but as it matures, as you mature as a worshiper, it moves to who he is.

However, what God does is one of the ways he communicates to us who he is.

I lose you.

Now, worship begins with what God does.

But as you mature and your understanding of worship matures, it kind of moves to who he is.

However, the the chief way that God reveals to us who he is is through what he does, okay?

So tragically, there's this little delta.

Let me just give you the three things, okay?

They'll come up on the screen.

Well, I talk about there's stages to worship.

There's what God does, there's who God is, and then there's what I do.

There's what God does.

Now, here's where God loses people, or some of y'all like this beast that didn't work for me anymore because the monkey's not dancing any longer like you got accustomed to him dancing.

Some of you got stuck on God doing.

And so when God stops doing as much visibly, audibly, tangibly, and he just wants to mature you and say, I want you to worship me for who I am, you're like, I'm out.

It's like, I think it's the 103rd Psalm.

It makes this distinct, it's so subtle.

The Bible is like reading a like handle on a scalpel.

It's so sharp, it'll cut you.

Uh it says this about, it says, God showed his ways, show, excuse me, God showed his deeds to the people of Israel, but he showed his ways to Moses.

Moses was more mature than the children of Israel.

And so they had to see God do stuff.

But God could reveal to Moses why he did what he did.

You should ask yourself today, do I need God?

Uh, is my worship of God more motivated by what he does or by who he is?

Uh and the third stage is what I do.

Uh just just write down Romans 12, verse 1 and 2.

Romans 12:1

And this is where God ultimately wants to get us to this place where I my worship of God is not so sensory.

So you should have, look at me, repressed language in you for God.

But when we sing certain songs, you're like, I've never heard this before, but man, this is tapping into something in me.

Yes, I want to say this.

This is great.

I remember that I'd been a Christian maybe two weeks, and I would get to church.

I was so excited to sing, I'd get the hymn because I went to old school church, had wooden pews, and had racks on the back of them, had books in there called hymnals, with songs by a woman named Fanny J.

Crosby.

Yes.

And I would get it and I'd just read.

And I remember reading this hymn.

It was weird.

I was new to this whole Christianity thing.

You people were weird to me.

The hymn said this, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King.

Uh uh, the something, the glories of his grace.

And I leaned over to this old lady that smelled like cats and mothballs, and I said, What does this mean?

And she looked, she rocked my world.

She's changed me, how I worship more than Chris Tomlin ever could.

She looked at me and she smiled and she had these cat eye glasses on a chain.

She put them on and she leaned over and she said, Oh, son, what that means is what you're saying to God when you're saying that is that if you had a thousand tongues, it wouldn't be enough to tell God what he means to you.

And I just burst into tears.

I was like, repressed language.

Boom! Yes! What the old lady said, God.

And about a month later, when we sang it, I lost my mind.

I mean, I was like, people were staring, looking.

Why?

Because with a loud voice it got out of me.

Yes.

Look at me.

You have repressed language for people, everybody you're in relationship with, but you also have repressed language for God.

Like here, here's one of my prayers.

This is kooky.

I'm I almost don't want to say it because I want you to like do it like this is novel.

Wouldn't it be great if while the band everybody was backstage back there smoking cigarettes, getting ready before they come out?

They don't do that.

What if worship just started before Lindsay got going this morning?

Lindsay and then came, the band, can you imagine the band running out?

Wha, wa, wa, and people are just singing.

Because it's repressive language, just boom, couldn't hold it back anymore.

Yes.

Yes, now ver notice verse 38.

He says, uh what they say here, blessed is a king who comes in the name of the Lord, like David before Goliath, Jesus comes in the name of someone else.

Okay, he says, My life is a reflection of the power and the character of somebody else.

And then they say this this is the interesting part.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

It's interesting.

Here's why it's interesting.

At Jesus' birth, the angels said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men with whom God uh God has favor.

So basically, glory to God in the highest and peace on earth.

Here at the last week of Jesus' life, as he enters in Jerusalem, the people are saying, Glory to God in the highest and peace in heaven.

Why are they saying that?

Here's why they're saying that.

They're saying that because a lot of people look at the cross as like cosmic child abuse.

What loving God would treat his own son like that?

And what the Bible's winking at us right here and saying is that heaven and earth are both at peace with what's about to happen.

At his birth, there can be peace on earth.

Now that he's entered the last week of his life and is approaching death, heaven's at peace because heaven's like, we're good with this.

We are a okay with this.

This is not divine child abuse.

This is substitutionary atonement, which we'll talk more about on Friday night.

I know you can't wait.

Here's the last thing, last truth.

Peace is only found in relationship with God.

Peace is only if Jesus has to be born and has to die for peace to come, how do you get peace anywhere else?

Peace is found only in relationship with God.

I'm unapologetic about that.

And you say, now I can be at peace.

I'm not saying you can't have some measure of peace, but you'll never have peace like the Bible talks about, okay?

Uh I'm not naive.

Well, Christians only can have peace.

No, I know.

A lot of people have so much stuff that they're just insulated from the hardship of life and they think that's peace.

There's a difference in peace and security.

Okay?

Back to what I said about happy and glad.

Peace and security.

Security you can provide.

Peace only God can provide.

Don't confuse the two.

Okay, because when that day comes, when your day of visitation comes, like Jerusalem, you won't be ready.

You say, What do you mean?

Peace.

Let me give you a definition for what I mean by peace.

Peace refers to the tranquil state of a soul, assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God.

Hear that.

Fearing nothing from God, and content with its earthly lot, or whatever sort that may be.

Luke 14, Jesus is talking to people about the cost of following him, and he makes a pretty, pretty big statement.

He says, Anyone comes after me and doesn't hate your mother and father and brother and sister, and yes, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple.

And the people are rocked back on their heels, like, oh, what?

And by the way, Jesus was not an immature prophet.

He didn't go around trying to shock people.

He could see in their eyes that they were kind of rocked back, like, what do you what do you mean?

And then he says, Okay, let me explain it.

And so he he tells these two parables.

Parable is a Greek word parabelian, and it means I said this and you guys didn't understand it.

Let me lay this down up beside it so that this will help you understand this.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

So Jesus talks about hating it, and they're like, What?

And Jesus said, I tell you what, suppose you you start to build a tower.

Will you not first sit down and estimate the cost and see if you have enough lumber to finish?

Because if you start building and you run out of wood, everyone's gonna clown on you, bro.

It isn't gonna go well for you.

And he could say, Man, that didn't quite get it.

And then he goes, All right, let's try this one.

And he says, This I brought it to you this morning.

It's Luke 14, verses 31 and 32.

Luke 14:31

He says, What king going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he's able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000?

And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

Now people get it.

Their eyes are open and they're like, whoa.

What do they get?

They get four things.

Number one, they're the other king.

They're the king with 10,000.

Number two, Jesus is the king with 20,000.

Number three, he's still a long way off.

See, I would say to everyone in you in this room, you're the king with 10,000.

You think you got a lot, but it's nothing compared to what God's bringing to the fight.

He's got he's the he's the king with 20,000.

And right now, he's a long way off.

You say, well, I watch the news.

He may be getting closer.

I I agree.

But to our finite minds, he's a long way off.

Here's the last one I want you to hear.

So you have time to ask for terms of peace because Jesus says, while the other one's a long way off, you if you realize you're outnumbered, wouldn't you send a delegation, ask for terms of peace?

What are the terms of peace?

Look at me.

Right here.

This is these are the terms of peace.

This teaches you who God is, who you are, and the life that you can live.

And look at me, and we're almost done.

You still let me say amen.

If you would just go to a church that actually teaches the Bible, this is what will happen to you.

Look at me.

You'll just sit down on the inside.

This week, people are talking about tariffs in China, and we're not smartphones gonna be$3,500.

And I just, because I'm an idiot, I just said, don't buy one.

Why are you toss to and fro with every news story?

Here's why.

They're self-made men, and they are worried.

They're like, Aren't you worried, Neil?

No, no, no, no, nothing can happen to me.

Not a hair is gonna fall from my head, and I still have them, by the way.

Without the will of my father.

And they're like, What?

I said, We we recited it in church a couple Sundays ago.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you're telling me that's for Sunday.

This is the real world.

You, Mr.

Businessman, that's not the real world.

Your business is gonna burn up one day.

He didn't like hearing that.

I was like, Yeah, absolutely.

So peace is only found in a relationship with God.

Now, here's the last thing I want to say to you.

Uh, you you you you you notice that Jesus says to the most religious city on the planet, would that you, even you, had known on this day things that make for peace.

But by the way, he says they didn't know when the day of visitation would come.

And now you might like me for years.

I've just thought, man, what?

How could they not see who Jesus really was?

It's real simple, okay?

We we do the same thing that they did back in the Bible.

We see people as we need them to be.

You see people as you need them to be.

They need Jesus just to be some upstart rabbi from Galilee, uh, whatever.

We don't, you're not the son of God.

That's what the Jews to this day, they're like, oh man, you're Messiah.

That's just, he's just a teacher, a good moral example.

I'm like, all right, I'm I'm I'm willing to live and die believing that he is the son of God, that he's not, that he's the Messiah, he's the fulfillment of every promise God ever made.

It's easy to look at these people and go, how could they miss Jesus?

The same way you and I look at people right now, and you see them as you need them to be.

And here's why, and we're done, okay?

We'll end on a little practical application that so many of you seem to love.

You see people the way you need them to be, because if they're not that, you have to repent and apologize.

And you would rather hold them in your head as something they really aren't, because that feels good to you.

That's why when you get in an argument with your spouse, you use words like never and always.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And once while my wife will, I was on the debate team in college.

My wife will say, Well, you never, and I cite chapter and verse as to when I did it last.

And I'm like, So don't say never.

Well, you get my point.

My point is you have flawed logic.

You failed to produce a prima facie case.

And I'm gonna ask the judge to flow all of that to my side.

And she says things like, You're impossible.

Which I hear as you're losing the argument, Marcy.

Winner.

And then for whatever reason, it's quiet in my house for the next four hours, which I find refreshing.

Yes.

Let me ask you this question and we're done.

Stop laughing, you're a church.

Uh is there a chance that you've seen Jesus as you need him to be so you can be who you want to be?

You just keep him at arm's length.

You appreciate him, but you don't know him.

And so I would be remiss if I didn't ask you today.

Have you ever surrendered?

Have you ever come gotten clarity about what these are the terms of peace.

These are the terms of peace.

And by the way, Jesus is not saying hate everybody in your life, he's saying, love me such that it makes all these other relationships look like hate.

That's where peace comes from.

And so as Jesus rides into Jerusalem to begin the last day of his life, called Passion Week.

I just want to say to you, peace is found in a relationship with God.

You can have a measure of security, but not have peace apart from God.

Worship accompanies what God does.

For some of you, God's trying to move you out of relating to him on the basis of what he does.

He's trying to move you to this mature place of, hey, could you just worship me for who I am?

Because again, these people, Jesus Christ, he crests the hill and they have repressed language of manner.

Boom, it pops off.

And they're like, I'm so sorry.

It's like a verbal burp.

It just comes out.

Glory to God in the highest, and in heaven, peace.

Peace in heaven.

They say peace in heaven.

Because the angels said, Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth.

Heaven and earth have become one in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about what you've heard.

This is that time.

Some questions come up on the screen.

That's for your consideration.

We'll talk about them in our uh community groups.

But right now, just ask the Lord, hey, what have my name on it?

Ask yourself, have you ever considered the claims of Christianity?

Are you just religious?

You're here to model it for your kids.

When push comes to shove, you're gonna trust in yourself.

Let's just think about what we've heard this morning.

Lord, that is our prayer.

We learn that from you, Jesus.

You're the great example of just not my way, but your way.

Your way is better than my way.

Your plan is bigger and better than my plan.

So, Lord, could we just subject all of our plans to you today?

Just as college seniors, just Lord, what you tell me where you want me to go and I'll go.

Uh I I trust you that much.

And I don't need you to always do for me.

You're always you're always doing, but what you've done is enough to get to my repressed language and it just comes popping out in worship because I can't control myself.

So good.

When I see you, I'm like, oh, there he is.

So, Holy Spirit, thank you for the truth.

Thank you for truths that are unchanging, and they always change us every time we rub up against them.

So apply it to our lives today and let it be expressed in our lives this week.

We pray in Jesus' name.

What everyone said, Amen, amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome.

This is a great week to be a part of this church.

Uh, you'll hear more about our holy week services coming up.

Uh, but if you're our guest, here's all I ask you today.

If you would just text, there should be a phone number on the screen behind me.

If you'll just text the word welcome to that number, it gives us a record of your visit.

We're not going to show up unannounced at your apartment or your house.

We just want to help you take the next step spiritually in your journey.

You may have questions about the church.

You may have questions about anything you saw or heard.

Some of our pastors will be available and some of our elders and their wives will be available down front uh as soon as you're dismissed here in a few minutes.

Uh, you come to us, ask questions.

If you're going through something, you're like, hey man, I just want someone to pray for me.

Uh it's kind of rough these days.

We would love to pray for you, okay?

Here's the lie you need to never believe, and that it's this you're all alone, and it's all up to you.

Okay?

God is at work all the time.

Remember, he's not a God of instrumentation, he's a God of orchestration.

So when Jesus rides into Jerusalem, a lot of things are happening, okay?

And it's enough for Jesus that he's the only one that knows.

All right.

So if you're a guest, text that number.

Also, we got things going on in life our church wants you to know about.

Let's check out our video announcements today.

Here's what's happening at Graham Park Way Baptist Church.

Good Friday is this Friday, April 18th.

Service will be at 7 p.m.

with child care available for children ages five and under.

The deadline to register is April 15th at midnight.

Easter will include an early service at 7 30 a.m.

with no child care.

Services at 9 and 10 30.

Will follow with all Bible studies available for children through adults.

These beautiful and God-made people are literally in our backyard.

Loving Aliana is an intentional time of praying for our neighbors.

Through this prayer walk, we believe God will open doors for spiritual conversations and new relationships.

The walk will begin here in the church parking lot on April 13th at 5 45 p.m.

Finally, Why Weekend is all about helping students understand why they believe in Jesus.

From Friday, April 25th through Sunday, April 27th, students will dive into their faith, learn how to defend it as 1 Peter 3.15 calls us to, and explore what it really means to follow Jesus.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at gramparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors or elders at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

One of the things about our student ministry that you I want you to know if you're visiting is that do they do fun stuff?

Absolutely.

But the goal of our student ministry is not to entertain your kid till they graduate high school.

The goal of our student ministry is to equip your students with a robust biblical faith that has a theological framework.

So when they go off to college, they're not crushed by some cynical uh philosophy professor.

Uh and so that's why we do things like White Weekend.

It's equipping.

Will it be fun?

Absolutely.

Uh, but we want to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Uh, one last thing.

When you walk in uh in the back back there, you'll see these signs that are that are sitting on the back of chairs.

Reserved means don't sit in this.

I know it's new.

Now, here's the one person that gets an exemption, my friend Sherry Zigner, uh, in honor of my friend Ziggy.

She gets to sit there, because that's where her and Ziggy said.

If you got a problem with that, I don't care.

The rest of you, here's why we put these down.

Because we want people that are arriving late to the service not to have to walk all the way down front.

While you sit there, like, well, if you want to see, you should have got here.

I know we're not as disciplined as you are, we're not as organized as you are.

Our kids don't just go get in the minivan and wait for us.

Sometimes we got to beat them to get them there.

So when you walk in, everybody except Sherry Zigner, and you see this sitting in the back row, or are those chairs in front of the rails there in front of the theater seats, just don't sit there, especially next week.

Because people are late, and we want them just be able to walk in and just slip in in the back and not be perp-walked all the way down front.

That's what it feels like.

But they don't get to put a coat over their head.

There's like, hey, I'm late for church, everyone look.

And I know it's easy to slip in, and I ain't mad at you.

I'm just saying next week there'll be people staying there going, hey, don't sit there.

And so you can help yourself from having an awkward conversation or your repressed language getting out.

Now, here's one last thing.

If you want to have a fun conversation before you go to bed, ask your kids Do you have any repressed language in you with my name on it?

Now let's stand to our feet for a blessing.

We'd like to include our service of the spoken blessings, so hold your hands out.

Jesus has no repressed language for you.

He said it all.

With his life and his death, his resurrection, and his ascension.

Let's dig into those realities this week because he left it all on the field.

So you have no excuse.

Depart now and stop making excuses and live a life that requires explanation in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.