Why Palm Sunday?

Why do we celebrate Palm Sunday, and what does Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem reveal about His true mission?

In this Palm Sunday message on Luke 19:28–48, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon breaks down the deeper significance behind the Triumphal Entry. Pastor Neil examines how Jesus was profoundly misunderstood by crowds looking for political revolution rather than spiritual redemption, leading directly to their disappointment and eventual turn against Him. By connecting the timeline of Palm Sunday to the Old Testament instructions in Exodus 12, this sermon reveals how Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the spotless "Lamb of God" on Lamb Selection Day. Finally, the message highlights Jesus weeping over the city's blind religion and His righteous anger at those exploiting outsiders in the temple court.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Jesus Was Misunderstood: Discovering how false political expectations caused the crowds to praise Jesus on Palm Sunday and demand His crucifixion five days later.
• The Significance of Lamb Selection Day: Seeing how Jesus entering Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month perfectly fulfilled the Exodus 12 Passover blueprint as the unblemished Lamb of God.
• Why Jesus Was Sad: Understanding Christ’s grief over a city trapped in hollow religion and blinded to the things that make for true peace.
• The Doctrine of Hiddenness: Learning why God sometimes hides His plans from us as preparation for a greater purpose rather than punishment.
• Why Jesus Was Angry: Unpacking Christ's righteous anger at religious insiders using the temple court to exploit outsiders instead of welcoming them.

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Transcript

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This podcast is the Ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantHarkway.org.

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Pray together. Lord, if we're going to lift the song with praise for all you've done, then it's necessary that we understand all that you've done and the way in which you've done it. When the Bible says that you open not your mouth, it doesn't just mean you didn't complain. It does mean that you always didn't reveal. Sometimes you hide things from us because we're not ready for it. It's not punishment, God, it's preparation. And so we've come today to get prepared. Not just because, hey, it's close to Easter. Let me check the box. But we've come today to give us to understand what's the big deal about Palm Sunday. What's the big deal about all of this? And so, Lord, we need you to reveal. Pull back the curtain and illuminate the scripture. Work in us by your word, from your word and by your spirit, God. Give us understanding so that we don't miss who you are and what you came to do. This is our prayer, God. Make it our experience, we ask in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. You can have a seat. If you've got a Bible, take and open up to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. If you don't have a Bible, I'm on page 878 in your pew Bible there. I want to talk about why Palm Sunday. Why Palm Sunday? Because I was talking with a friend of mine this week and he said, now, your Super Bowl's coming up like next Sunday, but isn't this Sunday something? Yeah, this Sunday is called Palm Sunday. He asked a great question. He said, What's Palm Sunday? And I said, That's great. I said, when Jesus rides into Jerusalem, he's beginning the last week of his life. Ask yourself this question. If you knew this was going to be the last week of your life, what would you do? How would you spend it? I mean, because Jesus knows. I mean, nothing sinks up on him. I said, but Palm Sunday is the day that Jesus, it's called the Triumphal Entry, which is kind of a beautiful play on words. It's interesting the way God triumphs over his enemies. He doesn't just fight, he feasts on obedience. But Jesus rides into the city and the people have palm branches and they're waving them. That's how they kind of received and recognized important people. And my friend was like, nobody has ever explained that to me. Now, look at me first for a second. Everybody in this room, as hard as that may be, look at the love child of Pitbull and Tim Keller for just a second, okay? It's okay if you don't understand everything in the Bible or references that people throw around. You don't have to sit there and kind of think, I'm just kind of an idiot. I don't know what Palm Sunday is. I don't know any of this. I don't have a Bible. I just came because some girl invited me. That's okay. It's not an accident that you're here. And Jesus is going to speak directly to you today. Okay? All right. And so I just want to talk about, hey, why Palm Sunday? What's it all about? And I'm going to read from the Bible. I'm going to read three sections of the Bible. I'm going to read one long section, two shortties, and then we're out of here. Amen? We'll beat the Methodists to the good restaurants. Amen? They're already there. They got out at nine. Anyway, uh, Luke chapter 19, verse 28. It says, when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethpage in Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go into the village in front of you, and where you're in, and when you're entering, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, Why are you untying it, you shall say this the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent 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 the cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road, and he was drawing as he was drawing near. Already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory to God in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you what, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. We'll stop right there, okay? I want to tell you three things this morning. I want to tell you, first of all, Jesus was misunderstood. Secondly, Jesus was sad. He wasn't sad because he was misunderstood. He was misunderstood, he was sad, and then Jesus was angry. And you'll see why. Number one, Jesus was misunderstood. What do you mean? He comes as a king. Because the Bible foretold this. And now, by the way, this is free. The Bible's the only sacred book. There's other books. There's the Quran, there's the Book of Mormon, which is not very sacred. But anyway, but the Bible's the only sacred text that contains what's called prophecies. Prophecies are promises that God makes way in advance. And here's the beauty of that, and here's the danger of that. If God says something in the Old Testament, hey, this is gonna happen, and it doesn't happen, then you can just kind of throw your hands up and go, hey, I'm out. That God's a liar, he can't be trusted. But if God says something thousands of years before and it comes true, your heart ought to kind of go, hmm, what's up with that? You say, What do you mean? I'm gonna read from Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 9. Zechariah is in the, it's kind of towards the back of the Old Testament, in that section where homeschoolers get names for their kids. Malachi, Zechariah. No? It's just a joke. Relax. Relax. Yes, I know you're here, you don't have to hiss. Uh Zechariah. Uh uh Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9 says this rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Now, now keep in mind that Jerusalem, Jesus right in Jerusalem, and people are just losing their mind. They're like, whoa! This is incredible. Uh 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. Now, the Bible tells us, first of all, thousands of years before, this is the way people are gonna respond, and this is the way Jesus is going to come in. Now, if Jesus is so powerful, why does he ride a donkey? Here's why. Because the Bible, that was a prophecy. This is how he's gonna come, because he's not threatened, he's not compensating for anything. A conquering general would ride into a city that he conquered on a white steed, a stallion, with a military parade behind him, boom, boom, boom, boom, with drums and everything. Jesus rides in on a donkey. Why? Because God's kind of way back in the book of Zechariah, God's kind of winking at us and saying, I'm not gonna do things the way you think I should do things. And so the table is set for Jesus to be deeply, deeply misunderstood. Here's why that's a problem. Misunderstanding leads to disappointment. Misunderstanding leads to disappointment. I hear it all the time. People, you know, I gave uh this whole God and Jesus thing, this church thing, not working for me now. I'm out. That person misunderstands what this is all about, and when they get disappointed, they quit. When I say Jesus is misunderstood, here's what I mean. The basis of their misunderstanding is that they believe that Jesus is coming. They're saying, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest. Whoa! Here's why. Because they believe Jesus is gonna come and he's gonna overthrow the current political climate and they he's gonna kick out the Romans and He's gonna set up a government where they're all gonna get everything they want. Now, you don't know anybody that has to hope in politicians to give them everything they want, do you? By the way, as of this morning, there's 21 people running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. It'll be 22 by the time the sun goes down today. Because by the way, people, look at me, don't miss this. Back in the time of Jesus, people looked to somebody to get in charge and then set up a government that met all their needs. The government is never going to be able to meet all your needs. It wasn't created to meet all your needs. That's just free. You got nothing to do with a triumphal entry. But anyway, uh, they are ticked because you say, What do you mean Jesus is misunderstood? These very same people, they're crying, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest. What that means is I cannot fathom anything being better than this. Five days later, these very same people will turn on Jesus on a dime, and they'll say, When given the option between some meth head, loser, punk criminal named Barabbas and the Son of God, one of these people is going to be set free, get let out of jail. But this very same crowd said, Give us Barabbas. And Pilate said, What do I do with Jesus? Crucify him. Why? Because they misunderstood him, he disappointed him, and they turned on him. And so Jesus is misunderstood. I want to say a couple things here about this expectations. Because for them, like I said, Jesus was coming to overthrow the oppressor and set up his political party. Their political party was going to be in charge. Their expectations kept them from seeing who Jesus really was and what he was all about. Let me give you three things to think about this morning. It comes to expectations. Number one, when you relate to God based on your expectations, you create a standard by which God is now evaluated instead of understood. Let me say that again. When you relate to God on the basis of your expectations, you create a standard by which God is now evaluated instead of understood. Secondly, we tend to evaluate God based on what is best for us. And this is what these people, that's why it's hey, glory to God, Hosanna, palm branches, whoa! Five days later, nah, never mind. Kill that guy. You are so disappointed. Thirdly, Jesus knows and controls what's happening. Put a star by that in your mind. Jesus knows and controls what's happening. As this week unfolds, nothing catches him off guard. You don't read any page of the Bible where God goes, Oh, really? No, he knows. Well, I don't know. If you got your Bible open in Luke 19, turn back one page to Luke chapter 18, verse 31. Watch this. Yeah, I mean, just let yourself, this ought to have a scratch and sniff pad on it in your Bible where you could just sense just to just the are you kidding me? Jesus has hung out. It's gonna say in Luke chapter 18, verse 31, and taking the 12. Taking the 12. That means it's 12 disciples. He's been with them, best we can tell, for three and a half years. He's ate with them, slept with them. They were like, hey Jesus, you got grass in your hair. He's like, I'm good. Thanks, thanks for hooking my brother up, okay? So they are deeply connected to Jesus. Here's what happens. When I say Jesus knows and controls what's happening, it's not like he got into town, smarted off, and said something, and then they said, We're gonna kill you. Luke 18, verse 31 says, and taking the twelve, he said to them, see, no, they don't. See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets, by the way, hear that? Everything written about the Son of Man by the prophets, that's those prophecies. That's where God obligates him, way back here in the Old Testament and says, if this doesn't come true, you don't have to believe in me. I'm just another phony religious person. But everything written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon, and after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise. Get this. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. You ever get that feeling when you talk to your kids? You're kind of looking at them, and they're looking at you, and you can even say, What did I just say? And they'll repeat it right back to you. But you can tell by that look in their eye, this is hidden from them. This is hidden. They just do not have the capacity to open up that mental valve and let it get in there. Why am I saying that? Because in a minute we're gonna see the word hidden again, and look at me. Sometimes God hides things, hides things from us, and he has reasons. It's not because we're dumb, it's just sometimes God hides things. This is what he does here because these people had an idea of what Jesus should do. They missed what he was actually doing. Let me say that again, then I'll explain from the Old Testament. Because they had an idea of what God should do, they missed what he was actually doing. Uh now, what do you mean? Jesus is coming for Passover. It's a high and holy feast in the life of Jewish people. Everybody came to Jerusalem. It was a throbbing mass of humanity during this time. And so Passover was a feast that commemorated God passing over the Israelites and sparing them in their firstborn. Because way back in the Old Testament, when God was telling the guy named Pharaoh, don't jerk with me, I'll pull the world over, whip everybody, okay? And so, little by little, these ten plagues in the Old Testament, God was just slowly revealing, uh my my my you have no idea who you're dealing with. And finally, God says, the tenth plague is the plague of the firstborn. I'm gonna kill all the firstborn of man and beast, okay? Unless you guys sacrifice a lamb and apply the blood of that lamb to the doorpost of your house. In that case, he says, When I send the death angel, he will pass over your house. And then God said this, I want you guys to have a way to remember the Passover. This is why it's called the Passover feast. The Bible's not hard. Jesus, God could have called it a lot of things, you know. He just says, Remember, I passed over. I'm a God of mercy. Ask yourself this question today. Do you and your family have a means by which you remember God's faithfulness? Because if you're not careful, you'll forget. When our girls were little, we would tell them I would come back from different things. My wife would come back from things where we just saw God do powerful things, and we'd tell our kids about it. And they're like 16 and 21 now, and they're still to this day, they'll go, hey dad, tell me about the time and blah, blah, blah. And it's some time where God did something incredible. You gotta remember these things. This is why God institutes the feast of Passover way back in Exodus chapter 12, verses 1 to 6. Let me read because they're given specific instructions. Now, by the way, Passover was a celebration of their release from captivity and bondage. Passover was a celebration of their release from captivity and bondage. And once we get set free, unless we understand what the purpose of our freedom, we will turn around and choose just another socially acceptable form of bondage. And that's what God's people had done. They were in bondage to religion. And Jesus comes to set them free. That's why the Bible says, if the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. And so let me just read. Like I said, remember again, because the people had an idea what Jesus should do when he comes into Jerusalem, you're gonna set up a new political party. No, no, they missed what he was doing. What was he doing? The Bible tells us in Exodus chapter 12, verse 1, uh, says this. It says, The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, in the land of Egypt, this month is to be the beginning of months for you. It is the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock, according to their father's household, one animal per household. If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people. You should apportion to the animal according to what each person will eat. You must have an unblemished animal, a year old male. You may take it either from the sheep or the goats. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. Now, the Bible says in Isaiah 53, I alluded to this earlier, but let me give it a little more uh unpacking here. The Bible says of Jesus when he's going to be crucified, it says like a sheep before his shears, he was silent. Now, when the Bible says he opened not his mouth, that means Jesus didn't defend himself. Okay? Uh and but also he didn't explain himself either. See, we hear he opened not his mouth, he just sat there and took it. Now it's that, but it's also I'm doing some something on such a phenomenally huge scale, you cats can't, you you people can't even see it. It's hidden from you. You say, what do you mean? Let me point to four things we just read in Exodus 12 that Jesus does on this triumphal entry on Palm Sunday when he rides into Jerusalem to begin the last week of his life. First of all, the day that Jesus enters Jerusalem, it says in Exodus 12, uh it's highlighted and underlined up here. Each person was to select an animal of the flock. See that up there? They're supposed to go on this day, select an animal from the flock. The day Jesus enters Jerusalem is Lamb Selection Day. And by the way, have you ever done anything really incredible for somebody and they never knew it? Isn't there a part of you that kind of wishes they knew how incredible it was? Because if I did something like this, I'd walk in with a bullhorn. Attention, everybody, I'm about to set it off up in here. I'm coming as the fulfillment of the Old Testament law. I'm gonna be the Lamb, sacrifice for your sins, you religious ritual people, you morons, you don't get it. Not that you would ever talk that way to people. Yeah. It's why we start saying to our kids about when they got to be about 12, 13 years old, sweetie, you're not gonna understand until you have kids of your own. I could explain it to you, but you wouldn't get it, and that would just make me mad that I wasted my breath. So you get you some kids, sacrifice for them, raise them, provide for them, and then have them question you and tell me what that tastes like. At that point, my kids are backing up into their bedroom. Never mind, Dad, never mind. Yeah. Yeah. The day Jesus enters Jerusalem is Lamb Selection Day. The people are choosing their lambs that are going to be sacrificed for Passover. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us there was as many as a quarter million lambs in Jerusalem. The air was just full of the sound. They're everywhere in Jesus. Remember when Jesus first walks on the scene, got him John the Baptist sees him in the New Testament. Remember what he said? He said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He walks into Jerusalem on this day in fulfillment of that off-the-cuff statement by John the Baptist. They're all selecting their lambs for the religious ritual. Jesus is the lamb who comes to make all the rituals unnecessary. Here's the second thing that happens. The animal had to be without blemish or defect. You see right there? It says you must have an unblemished animal. An unblemished animal. Here's the third thing. They had to keep the animal for five days to inspect it. You had to keep it until the 14th day of the month. Now, stick with me. I got any Aggies in the room? There you go, you sister kissers. I know you were here.

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What?

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Talk, talk about it. I love AM. Let me just say this is free. Save your highest affection for that which is ultimate. Whoops, I did it again. I played with your heart. I don't care if your house is covered maroon and white. I don't care. I love that. But just it's not ultimate. I told Don Minton the same thing about Auburn, by the way. Y'all are like, Don Minton, a guy used to work here, loved Auburn. I was like, Minton, it's just a college, okay? Watch your mouth. Which I said back. Get a life. But anyway, now there had to be a lamb without blemish. Stick with stick with me now. He says that, and you're to keep it for five days. That's what the thing said. You had to keep the animal for five days. You're to keep it until the 14th day. So, count with me, Aggies. He rides in on the 10th day. And then had to keep it until the 14th day. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Five days. Now I told you two things there, and I want to put them together. The animal had to be without blemish or defect and had to be kept for five days. Jesus walks into Jerusalem on this day. They're all selecting their lambs for this ritual, and he comes to demonstrate a reality. For the next five days, he's going to be passed around from one small politician, political hack to another, and they're all trying to decide what to do with him. And finally he ends up before a man named Pilate. Remember, I told you about Barabbas, the meth head thief that everyone just knew was a weasel because he'd broken into their house and stole their flat screen to buy weed. And they were like, everybody knows he's a thief. They chose him over Jesus. And he said, What about Jesus? Crucify him. We hate him. He so let us down. We thought we had a candidate we could believe in. So what happens? Pilate is so distraught. He orders for a bowl of water and he washes his hands in front of all the people and he says, I find no fault in him. And when Pilate says that, by the way, this is free. God uses everybody for his purposes. Believers, unbelievers, people that get it, people that don't. Don't ever go through life thinking I can only learn things from Christians. Pilate's not a believer. He's just some guy that's kind of sold out to the system. When he washes his hands and says, I find no fault in him, he is fulfilling what God said back in Exodus chapter 12 when he says, You must have an unblemished animal. What he's really saying is, you now, you people have an unblemished animal you can sacrifice. We've had him for five days. He is without spot or blemish blemish. It's why 1 Peter also says, You are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the spotless blood of a lamb without without defect. The Bible's not 841 different stories that have nothing to do with each other. It's one story about one God and everything he's done to make it possible a relationship with you. Here's the last thing I want you to see. Jesus will be crucified as the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. The whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. So while they're doing that at twilight, Jesus is being nailed to the cross. He's put up there, he stays alive for a while, and he dies at twilight. And they take his body down as they're sacrificing these lambs to have a meal. Now what am I saying? I'm saying this God comes to us in ways that are familiar, oftentimes so familiar that we miss it. Jesus is so misunderstood, they missed it. Secondly, Jesus is sad. Jesus is sad. What do you mean, verse 41? 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're 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 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. Now, by the way, here is now the second time that he uses this phrase hidden. He says, but now, in verse 42, but now they're hidden from your eyes. When you read things in the Bible that are repeated, you really need to tell yourself, hey, I want to understand that. We'll get to this doctrine of hiddenness in just a minute. And you really need to help your kids understand this. So I'm just giving you a heads up. And by the way, I don't know, I didn't send it this part in this hiddenness with my notes, and so it won't, I don't think it'll come up on the screen, uh, but I'll repeat it enough. When I say Jesus is sad, what I'm saying is this is that religion blinds people to reality. And so Jesus comes and he draws near to the city and he just weeps over it. We have one of two responses to unbelief: anger or indifference. Anger or indifference. You say what he mean? Uh I did not become a Christian until I was 18. And I had friends that kind of talked to me about it. And I remember one of my friends was kind of like, Man, don't you, don't you, don't, don't you want to do this? And I was like, why would I want to do that? There's no difference in your life and my life. You I smoke pot, you smoke pot. I party, you party. Only difference in you and me is you go to church on Sunday and feel guilty, and I stay home and recover from my hangover. And then my friend said to me, Well, you're gonna bust hell wide open. And I said, Why do people like why do if I do the same things you do, why am I going to hell when you're not? And I remember as a 16-year-old pot-sming kid, angry. Now, by the way, parents, I'm not endorsing smoking marijuana. I'm just telling you, as a 16-year-old kid, I thought about spiritual things, and these people that said one thing and lived another would come and talk to me, and in my mind I was like, you're like a fat man trying to sell me slim fast. I don't want that. And their response to me was indifference or anger. You're gonna bust hell wide open. So why? On what basis do I go to hell and you don't? We live the same life. I said to one person, if you're what a Christian is, I'd never want to do that. That would be the landlord that oppressed my mom every month, showed up to get the rent. But the the floor and the wall was sagging, the wood was rotten, and we had to stuff blankets in that cracks to keep the cold wind out. And he would say, Hey, I'm the chairman of the deacons, you boys want to come to my church. I was 12 years old. I told the grown man, if people like you go to heaven, I want to go to hell. And my mom slapped me when he left. And I just took it. I said, Mom, if that's what Christianity is, that guy ain't gonna do it. He didn't care about us. He's over here the first of the month to get that rent money. He ain't fixed this thing, he didn't care about us. All we are is just free money. And so despite him, I would break into his church after me and my friends got high and got cotton mouth and steal cans of high sea. Now, y'all are like, no, you're a bad person. Yes, I did. And then years later, I didn't have to because I was forgiven. Probably easily 20 years later, I'm in that same small town of 4,000 people that all know me, and I'm in the grocery store and Claire's the bell of the Holy Spirit says, I want you to buy all the high sea in the store. It's three shopping carts mounted over. I had a suburban at the time. Oh, I miss my suburban. Fossil fuel is good. And I load it in the back of my suburban and I drive over to the store and I'm into the church. I walk in with bags of, I'm just, I said, I got a lot of this. I'm just unloading it. The lady's like, excuse me, what are you doing? I said, I used to live in a house right across the street, right there, that ratty house right there. And me and my friends would come over here after we got high, we'd break in and get cans of high sea and open them with a beer opener, and it had a real sharp A-frame roof. I said, We'd sit on the top of the roof and sing rhinestone cowboy and drink your high sea. And the ladies just burst into tears. I said, relax, I'm not gonna kill you, lady. She goes, What do you do? I said, I was in the store, and I said, God said, buy all the high sea in the store and bring it here, so here it is. And she's like, Oh my goodness. I said, relax, I'm not gonna kill you. And she says, You don't understand. We have vacation Bible school next week and we spent all our budget, we don't have any drinks, and just this morning we were asking God, what are we gonna do for drinks for vacation Bible school? You're gonna serve high sea. Now, why do I tell you that? Look at me. Most of you in this room have done things you're ashamed of. And that's probably hey, there's things I've done I I couldn't tell you about. Now, that's not a boast, that's sad. But remember this what you're ashamed of, God can redeem. That's just free. Just that's for somebody in this room. So let me just say that. Jesus is sad because this Jerusalem, this whole city, when he talks about your children, he's not talking about a five-year-old and a two-year-old. He says, I I'm all these people that trust in religion and don't have a relationship, this is so stinking sad because it's 70 AD. They're gonna come and they're gonna ransack your city, and Jerusalem is destroyed. And Jesus knows it and they don't. And he says this, he said, if you only you had known for the things that make peace. But then he says this phrase again, but they are hidden from you. Now, back when he talks to his disciples, things were hidden from them too. Let me tell you three things about hidden that you need to understand today. Number one is simply this a God who always reveals what he is doing never has to be trusted. A God who always reveals what he's doing never has to be trusted because you just see it. Secondly, hiding things is essential to faith. Hiding things is essential to faith. It's Hebrews 11:1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Here's the third one. Put a star by this, especially if you have kids. Readiness is proportional to what is coming. Readiness is proportional to what is coming. A lot of times we're kind of like, we can only take so much hiddenness and we don't know. We're like, I'm ready, God. I need you to reveal to me what I'm gonna do for a living, who I'm gonna marry, where I'm gonna live, how much money I'm gonna make, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And look at me. If you're if you feel like there's some things that are being hidden from you, you're like, you know, God, I'm not living in sin, but I'm not giving, I'm not getting any revelation or clarity around this. You need to ask yourself and remind yourself, hey, when I say hit readiness is proportional to what is coming. A lot of times, if you're like, I think I'm ready, and it ain't coming, what if God is saying, hey, what's coming is so good you're not ready for? I know you think you're ready, but you're not ready. And he's just saying, hey, let's just get a little bit more ready. But what happens is because we misunderstand God, we just quit. We take matters into our own our own hands. And we're just like, tell you what, let me remind you, the Bible says, no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor mind has conceived what God has in store for those that love him. A lot of times readiness, you just gotta say to God, you know, God, I'm tempted to do this, but what I believe is that, hey, my readiness is proportional to what's coming. So what coming, I may not be, I must not be ready for it because what's coming is bigger and better than where I am. So I'll I'll I want to grow a little bit more. Otherwise, you just get like, oh, well, I gotta take this into my own hands. Jesus is sad because he's looking at a city full of people who've taken things into their own hands. And now it's too late. By the way, there's a judgment to unbelief. There's a judgment to unbelief. He said, Would you even you have known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes? They had an opportunity and they missed it. And Jesus, just for the record, is sad. He's not mad at him, he's just sad. He's like, dang, come on. Thirdly, the Bible tells us Jesus is angry. Look at verse 45. You still with me? It says, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, for you've made it a den of robbers. And he was teaching daily in the temple, and the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do. For all the people were hanging on his words. Look at verse 48 again. They did not find anything they could do. They had a two and a half year investigation looking for Russian collusion. They had a Mueller report. By the way, I have a Democratic friend. I called him this week and said, you know, if you hold the Mueller report up to your ear, it sounds like Hillary losing again. He did not think that was funny. Now, by the way, if you're visiting, I think Christians are both Democrats and Republicans. Okay? I just, I'm not Gus, I'm a lonesome dove. I like to kick a pig every once in a while. My friend went ballistic. Ah! And I hung up on him. Anyway, if you've not hung up on anybody in a while, I highly recommend it. It's cathartic. When I say Jesus is angry, what do you mean? You ever get whipped? Well, what am I saying? You ever get whipped as a kid? We don't whip our kids anymore. We put them in timeout. Think about yourself, and we wonder why kids are so self-centered. I grew up old school, my dad would whip us and tell us why he was whipping us at the same time. I told you not to get in that chicken house. You're like, whoa. You knew the whipping was getting over because the lecture was starting to end. He was running out of words. Jesus does the same thing, he goes crazy. It doesn't record it here in Luke's gospel, but other places tell us that he made a whip. It's like Jesus puts a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. Hang on a second, net one pearl, two, pick up a stick. Now we're ready and goes crazy. Why? Here's why. Religious people are exploiting unreligious people. And how many people don't people that know, let me say it better. People that know Jesus, know God, are exploiting people that don't know God in the name of religion. What do you mean? This takes place in the court of the Gentiles. At the Jewish temple, okay? This was the high and holy place for worship. But even then, this is why the church ought to be deep and ought to be wide. Stay with me. We're done in two minutes. You still awake? Look at me. The court of the Gentiles. That was where Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles, Gentiles was a reference to people that didn't know God. And the Jews said, Hey, we've got a designated place in our house of worship for you to come. You can stand right here because we want you to see and hear what it looks like to worship God in the hopes that God would reveal Himself to you. And so in our church, I can't speak for every church, but in our church, we try to be deep and we try to be wide. That means this. If you've been a Christian 40 years, we want to say things that they're still going to, you're going to have to go, oh man, hadn't thought about that. Also, we're going to say this. That's depth. Here's why. If you're here today and you've never been in a church in your whole life and you're like, palm Sunday, all I know is I got one week to buy an Easter dress. That's all that means to me. That's okay. You're welcome here. Here's why. Because we believe that if you'll come and watch and listen, that God will reveal Himself to you. And one of the ways He will reveal Himself to you is through the people sitting all around you. Because we've all been there. None of us were born Christians. None of us were born knowing everything. I tell my kids all the time, hey, raise your hand in class. You do not, school's not where you go to prove who knows the most. School is where you go to learn. It's the same way with the church. And Jesus gets mad at them because, as someone said, they had taken what God wanted to be a portal to outsiders, and they made it a kiosk for insiders. We take MasterCard, Visa, America Express, and Diners Club. You don't remember Diners Club, do you? Bunch of young people. Look at me. They're exchanging, they're selling animals to be sacrificed. And Jesus is not just angry at that. He's also saying in a backhanded way, you're no longer going to need to do this. Church is deep and wide. So if you're here and you're not there yet, you're like, I don't believe this. I don't, I'm not, I'm still thinking about that. Let me just say this to you. It's not about you. Everything we do at this church is not about you. We don't have what's called secret services or attractional model of church. It's not about you, but hear this part it's for you. When Jesus comes into Jerusalem as the Lamb of God who's gonna sacrifice himself for the sins of the world, look at me. That's your sins too, not just mine. So we never look at you and think we're better than you. We never look at you and think, man, you should dress nicer than that. God doesn't care. You wear whatever you want to wear, just be comfortable, okay? Why? Because even in the temple, there was this court of the Gentiles where people are like, I don't quite believe this, but I'm curious about it. You come and you keep coming, okay? Because Jesus is angry. He's not angry at unbelief. He's angry when religious people take advantage of people who don't know the rules. That's what he's angry about. And so today is Palm Sunday, and it sets the tone for the rest of our week. We call it Holy Week. We have three other services this week, uh, or two and then Easter Sunday. Monday Thursday, this coming Thursday, 7 o'clock, right here in this room. Mondi is from the Latin word mandate. Jesus, it says in John 13, a new command I give you, love one another as I've loved you and served one another. Jesus washes the disciples' feet. And so at the back of our auditorium, we'll have chairs removed and we'll have foot washing stations back there. Now, my oldest is off at college. She said, Dad, my professor's canceling that last class on Thursday. I'm gonna be home in time for Mondi Thursday, and I don't want you washing my feet. Because the first year we did it, I took my kids back there and washed their feet. We got home, and they both said, Never do that again. Now, why do I tell you that? I do not want you to look because I have friends that are like, hey, I think we're flying back Thursday, we're gonna be back in time for that. And I'm like, we all want to make principle out of our thoughts about Maundy Thursday. Hear this. So does Jesus. He wants to make principle out of his experience of May Thursday. Uh part of that service is why am I telling you this? Because some of you never been, you're like, uh, that's I I you ain't gotta you ain't gotta be afraid of things you don't understand. Uh basically, we're part of the service would take 10, 15. I want to take 20 minutes. And we're just gonna love each other. I'm gonna say to everybody in the room, stand up, look around. Don't just tell people that you love that you love them, tell them why you love them. Yeah. I I want that to get to the point where people bring gifts to each other. Man, I don't think I've conveyed to you how much I love you. Can you imagine? The looks on your faces are, did you say foot washing? Yeah, yeah. It's not mandatory. If someone comes to you, I saw it last year, someone came to one of the men in our church and said, I want to wash your foot. He goes, I'm good. Whoa! That's great. That's great. And then we received communion together. And on Fridays, Good Friday, the service built around the cross. And that Jesus, the spotless lamb without blemish, offered himself up on the cross for my sins and your sins. Look at me, and we're done. None of you's done so much that God can't forgive you. And you say, Man, I'm just gonna stand here in the court of the Gentile. You're welcome. Come drink the coffee, come sing the songs if you want to, come listen to the sermons, come ask your questions. I want to be your pastor. I'm never gonna jam you up and make you feel guilty or stupid. Because here's why. We believe that God reveals himself to you. Jesus Himself said, No one can know the Father except those I choose to reveal him to. Salvation is about revelation, not discovery. It's not about being smart enough, it's about just listening to what God's saying to both head and heart. And anybody can do that. And then on Easter, uh, we'll talk about the resurrection. Pastor friend of mine called this week and said, What are you preaching on Easter Sunday? I thought it was a prank call. I was like, What? What? Well, I'm thinking about doing something different. Don't be a moron. Don't try to be so creative. Be consistent with the historic doctrine of the church. What are you talking about? I said, I'm I'm I may even go crazy and read about Matthew about how when Jesus died and the temple veil was split, that graves opened up and people walked out of the grave and walked into the next town. Like a Michael Jackson video. And you know why that happened? Let me tell you this and we'll be done. You know why that happened? I think this, because if you go to the movie with me, you know this about me. I ain't gonna be late. And here's why I'm not gonna be late. One of my favorite parts of the movie is the previews. I want to see what's coming. My kids, they know not to talk in the movie, they'll be like tapping like that, that, a tap means I want to see that. I want to see that, then they'll do this, that means I don't want to see that. And then it's like we walk out with three or four movies to see. If I miss the previews, I feel cheated. I want a refund on my $12. I want the whole experience, okay? I want to see it. Now, why am I telling you that on Palm Sunday? When those people got up out of the ground and walked into the next city, that's just a preview of what's to come. The grave no longer has power over you. There is life after death. And because there's life after death, then life matters. So Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, just like Zachariah said he would. The foal of a donkey. Not a baby donkey, kind of an adolescent. No one's ever ridden before. He's not yelling and screaming, get alone of what I'm doing. I hope you appreciate this, you miserable sinners. He opened not his mouth. Not to defend himself or to announce his accomplishments. He was silent. Let's pray to God. We'd like to take a moment, we like to teach the Bible and take a moment to think about it. And so that's what we'll do right now. So if you're a guest, just relax. Just ask yourself, hey, what I hear today? Is God really this accessible? I don't have to be morally pure for God to love me. No, you don't. I don't have to be a Republican for God to love me. No, you don't. I don't have to be a Democrat for God to love me. No, you don't. What I want you to do today is not misunderstand Jesus. Because that will lead to you being disappointed. And you just get away from it. You will move away from that which you were created for. Don't let that there's some charlatans and some hucksters, some crooked preachers in the world who are all about money. Don't let that put a bad taste in your mouth about God. He's gonna deal with them. Don't you worry about it. He's gonna deal with them. But he also wants to deal with you today. So maybe let's just take the next minute or two and just ask, hey Lord, how are you dealing with me today? Let's think about that. Oh Jesus, that is so good. Help us to think about you as a God that says, you bring all your history and I'll bring the bread and the wine. Pray, Holy Spirit, that people in this room right now that are standing in the court of the Gentiles, because they don't they just feel uncertain about all this, that they would just kind of hear you saying, Ollie Ollie and free. Come out, come out wherever you are. And so Lord, thank you that you got sad about the right things and you got mad at the right things. Help us to have the wisdom to know when to be sad and when to be mad. Thank you, Jesus, that you you came and you opened not your mouth. You didn't put it on social media. Look what I'm doing. In a world which people announce what they have for lunch, that you fulfilling the Old Testament law and dying for the sins of the world was so colossally huge and you didn't open your mouth. That's humbling. And it's understandable. And for that we're grateful. So we say thank you in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. Thanks for your presence here today. We want you to know, we want you to be involved. I want you to find a church. I'd love for it to be this church. If you're like, I don't like you, there's a lot of churches, I'd recommend one to you, okay? Uh you were created. I'm serious. Uh uh, as my wife says, you're an acquired taste. Now, by the way, this is free if you're single, okay? Uh, when I was in college, I dated a girl that was just like, my friends were like, oh my gosh, I'm like, you're so lucky. And one night I was praying, and Claire's a bell, the Holy Spirit said, End this relationship. She's not a bad girl, she's just not for you. And I didn't understand that no until four years later, I saw my wife at grad school, and that same voice said, Hey, we said no to that, so we could say yes to this. And I was like, What a friend we have in Jesus. And so uh there's lots of opportunities for involvement here. We want you to be aware of those. Uh, and one of the ways we make you aware is through our video announcements every Sunday. So direct your attention to the screens.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church. Holy Week begins today, which means that there are several opportunities for you to immerse yourself and your family in the rich history of this week. We will have Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services with child care provided, but we do ask that you register on our website so that we can plan accordingly. Easter will include an additional service at 7 a.m. In order to accommodate the additional guests in our services on Easter, please consider attending the 7 a.m. or 8 30 a.m. services that day. For families with children birth through fourth grade, our kids' ministry is hosting the Good Friday Kite Fest at 5.30 p.m. There will be food, games, and of course, kite. The cost is $10 per family, and registration is available online. Secret Church is right around the corner. The cost is $10, and this covers your study guide and dinner. We will meet on April 26th at 5.30 p.m. in the warehouse and be led in a time of robust teaching with David Platt as he unpacks what the Bible has to say about fasting, prayer, and the pursuit of God. The deadline is next week, so please register on our website today. We are excited to announce that Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Gospel Comes with a Housekeeping, will be with us June 14th and 15th. Check out our website for more details or register in the lobby. If there's anything you've heard today and you have questions, or you would like someone to pray with you, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

Now, I said this to you in an email, but let me reiterate Rosaria Butterfield coming in. It's my idea. It's not a woman's event. Someone's like, hey, is that woman? Is that for women? No, no, no, no. She was a tenured professor at Syracuse who lived an alternative lifestyle. Are you tracking with me? Uh and so she understands the LGBTQ community. Uh, and she also helps helps churches understand how to minister uh to people in that lifestyle. And so she'll be talking about her testimony, how to minister to people in that lifestyle, and then about just the power of gospel hospitality. She was she was came to faith because she became friends with a pastor and his wife. And she said, that man just loved me in a way that I just wanted to know the God that he knew. And so do not miss this opportunity. They're registering in the lobby, uh, or you can register online. If money's an object, I'll pay your way. I've read both of her books, and I was like, oh, yes, let's think like this. Okay? If you have any questions about anything you heard today, myself and some of our pastors will be available down front. We'd love to answer that, pray with you, or just meet you, okay? Stand to your feet. Hold your hands out. Your God is a God who hides and a God who reveals. What He's revealed today is, regardless of how savory your history is, his bread and wine are more satisfying. When you come and taste and see that the Lord is good. Depart now. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.