← ArchiveSunday, March 30, 2014DateMarch 30, 2014Speaker—TextLuke 19Passages in this sermonLuke 19:280:48Zechariah 90:52Zechariah 9:90:59Luke 1911:05Matthew 2118:441 Corinthians 526:441 John 527:56Romans 1039:40TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00I tell you what, it's good stuff, isn't it? It's good to be in the Lord's house, good to be with God's people, and it's always good to hear a great worship presentation.0:26Y'all, if you don't know who the great I am is, you're in trouble, aren't you? Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, you can turn with me if you like, and if you don't like, too. But you can turn with me to Luke chapter 19, verses 28, and we've got several passages that we'll look at, but also Zechariah chapter 9.0:52Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. Because we're going to be talking today and over the next three weeks before Easter, we're going to talk, first of all, his visitation. He goes to Jerusalem, and he visits this great city that God had so blessed and established that one day he would sit on this great throne in the new Jerusalem.1:18And we're going to talk about his arrival, some of the things that took place there. How should we respond? What's the message there for us, and how should we respond to that? Next week, we're going to talk about what happened there, the suffering that took place, and the suffering that took place in Jerusalem. We're going to talk about the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the following week, the week before Easter, we're going to talk about his death.1:45We're going to talk about the fact that Jesus died. And you say, well, Brother Chris, that's pretty relevant. We already know that. No, you realize that there are people that do not accept that Jesus Christ died. They say it was a ploy, or they may say he died somewhere down the road, or they believe that he just kind of like Enoch, ascended into heaven and never died. But the Bible is very clear that Jesus died.2:14He had to die. And then finally, of course, in four weeks, we're going to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about the disciples. We're going to talk about how they felt about the resurrection, what they saw in the resurrection beforehand, and of course, then afterhand. And here's why we're doing some things a little differently, and we want to invite you to participate in those. Wednesday night, we're calling it, and it's kind of a corny name, but I'm calling it Bible2:41Boot Camp. And that is because Bible Boot Camp, we talked about it, and I'm going to give you a little bit. Bud was in Vietnam, and I'm not telling you that, so you can say it, but it goes, we got a lot of men that were in Vietnam. But I'd like to just know, how many of you men out there, would you just stand up real brief if you were in the military, been in the military? Stand up. Women as well.3:12I'm sorry. So there's ladies there. Now, guys, stay standing right there. I got to ask a question. Did you go through boot camp? Was it fun? All right. Let's just quick. Stay standing. Stay standing. Is that who I think it is there in the back? And they kept you? Glenn Carr, you're lying. Glenn, there's no way you went through boot camp and survived.3:41We all know you. How long was boot camp, Glenn? Six weeks for you? All right. How long was your boot camp? Three months. All right. We're getting better at it. Bud, how long was your boot camp? Eight weeks. How long was your boot camp? Ten weeks. Jimmy, how long was your boot camp? Eight weeks. Eight weeks. All right. We got six weeks to three months.4:10J.D., how long was your boot camp? Sixteen weeks. All right. Y'all can be seated. Why do you say that? Well, here's why. From eight weeks, six weeks, excuse me, from six weeks to three weeks, these men and this lady spent time learning how not to die. Now, that's a sobering thought.4:39Our government, not talking about it, other governments as well as always been, considered that if you were going to be in the military, that you had this many weeks to learn how to survive in a war. Let me tell you, what happened to those that didn't take that seriously, do you think? Many of them didn't come home.5:10Some of them took it very seriously and they still didn't come home. So, when I use boot camp, I'm not trying to be corny. Y'all, here's the issue. We are at war today. How many of y'all believe that? Say amen. Amen. How many of you know where that war is? Where is that war taking place? Say it louder. I want you to look at the person next to you and say, there's a battle for your mind. Did you know that's the truth?5:42That's the gospel. There is a battle for your mind. Do you know who wants your mind? Satan wants your mind. So, how important should it be for us to spend time learning how to protect our minds against the battle? What happens if we don't take it seriously? This is what happens. I spent this past week, and I very rarely ever do that because I am hyper ADHD.6:12Brad? Gail? That's right. I mean, if you've, if you, listen, if I have offended you because I was talking to you and started talking to two other people at the same time, and you just walked off, if I was coming back to you, I just hadn't got time yet. And I didn't mean to.6:42But that's the reality. That, that, that, and, and here's, here's what happens. If we are not careful, we can become distracted, and we can become a casualty. Casualties are reality in statistical Christian books. The statistics are 50% of believers wind up in divorce.7:09Let me just say this. I, I don't know if anybody got married, say, hey, I'm going to divorce. I'm going to get married, but I'm going, I'm going, I'm going to divorce. But we're not spiritually prepared. We don't understand what the Bible says about marriage. Let me tell you, how many people come to Christ and say, you know, I'm going to get saved, and I want God to radically change my life, write my name in the last book of life. I'm going to heaven. But one day, I'm going to murder somebody with gossip.7:38None of us prepare for those things. How many of us realize the importance of protecting our minds? And before you answer, let me just say, not many people do. Because we have a society today, we have a community of believers today that are spiritually illiterate in understanding what God's Word says.8:03People don't know what they believe. They don't know why they believe what they do believe. They have no biblical basis. Right now, if somebody were to come up to you and say, I want you to explain to me the Trinity, what are you going to say? Before you answer, how many people are you going to see when you get to heaven? Don't answer out loud. Let me ask you this.8:33How many people do you see when you read the Scriptures? We started last week, and here's what I was going to say, because I got off on my ADHD. This past week, I watched about four hours' worth of debates. One was an atheist debating a Christian. The other one was a Christian debating a Muslim over the physical bodily, historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.9:03Do you realize that Muslims, Jesus is mentioned throughout the Koran, in multiple places, he's there, very clear, and there are certain beliefs about him. Some Muslims don't believe that he ever rose from the dead. They believe that God literally put a person in Jesus' place so that he could just cause Jesus to ascend. There's Christians that believe that something really took place on the day of resurrection, something magnanimous, something they can't even explain, but it was not the bodily resurrection9:32of Jesus Christ. Because here's what it is, guys. And this is what I could go back and write it down. We, as evangelical Christians, even though there are those evangelical Christians that are so scholarly that their whole lives are given, that they're not nearly as smart as the other group that truly understand there's no way that a man could physically rise from the dead9:57after being dead three days. And so they are willing to say that something spiritual took place, not unlike what the Gnostics were teaching, in the early days of Jesus. And so how would you share with someone and convince them that Jesus' bodily resurrection took place? We're going to talk about it. And you say, how long is this going to be? It may be till Jesus comes back.10:27Because I don't know that we ever get to the place where we truly understand, but we're going to use the Bible, we're going to use truth to go there, okay? So I want to invite you to come back, 6.30, Wednesday night, and enjoy that with us. If you are not in the choir, if you're not working with Brother Brad up in the youth, if you're not working with our children, and you say, well, what about us? We'll be glad to set a time up if you're interested, and I'll come back and we'll do it again. I'll do it again and again and again, as long as you want to learn and allow the Word of God10:54to influence your life to where you can have an answer for what you believe. All right, if you have your Bibles, now you've turned to Luke chapter 19. You've also found Zechariah chapter 9. Here's what I want to talk about, and that is the visitation of Jesus to the holy city. They were talking about Jerusalem. And we begin reading in Luke chapter 19, verse 28, and realize there's four Gospels, three11:20of them, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then we got John. Matthew, Mark, Luke are very similar. John kind of looks like he puts it in an earlier date, can create some questions and concerns, but we really don't. We're not going to look at John today, but it's not because there's any problem there. It's just because I like what Luke says, and I like what Matthew says to make some points11:44as to what happened when Jesus visited the holy city before his crucifixion and before his agony of dying. So in Luke chapter 19, beginning in verse 20, he says, after he had said these things, he was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. In other words, the very important part here is that you understand Jesus now truly was facing12:09the ultimate call of his purpose for being here, and that was to die for your sins and my sins. So Jesus has fixed his direction toward Jerusalem. When he approached Bethpage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples saying, go into the village ahead of you. There, as you enter, you will find a coat tied on which no one yet has ever sat.12:38Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why you are untying it, you shall say, the Lord has need of it. And so those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the coat, its owners said to them, why are you untying the coat? And they said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus and they threw their coats on the coat and put Jesus on it.13:08As he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. And as soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen and shouting, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.13:32Praise in heaven and glory in the highest. I want you to quickly note they were praising him with loud voices in the Bible's clear because of the miracles that they had seen. Now, he had just raised Lazarus from the dead, so I'm sure there are a lot of folks following him for that. Verse 39, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him,14:00Teacher, rebuke your disciples. But Jesus answered, I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and he wept over it, saying it is, if you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they've been hidden from your eyes.14:30For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side. And they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. Wow. Have you ever thought about that?15:01Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. Is he talking about the time that Jesus comes to the holy city? Is he talking about his personal visitation? I think there's a lot of room left there. But here's what he also said was the reason that he did it. Zechariah chapter 9, beginning in verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation,15:31humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a coat, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off, and he will speak peace to the nations, and his dominion will be from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. Have you ever read one of those prophecies that had a dual purpose and his potential that this prophecy has that dual purpose? One is to Israel that God is going to one day at the very end of time come15:59and their day will be, which we believe as premillennialists and dispensationalists, that there's a promise to Israel that God is yet to keep and will keep, that promise is specifically directed toward Israel. And so when he makes this promise here, he's making it to the nation of Israel.16:29But it's also reminding us, if we read it, that Jesus is fulfilling the scripture that he said he was going to fulfill in that day when he would actually come and set himself as the Messiah and die for the sins of the world. That's also a part of that prophecy. Let me share with you some things that we see here. First of all, for the Jews, Jerusalem was the holy city of God above all other cities.16:55When Jesus rode in Jerusalem on a donkey, he fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy in Zechariah that we just left and left little doubt in what he was accepting and was taking upon himself the title of Messiah. Jesus was adored by the crowds and the people who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover. It shows by the fact that there was enough of them that they were throwing their cloaks and their coats and other things before him as he marched his way into the city.17:24Jesus did some of his most important preaching during this very week before his death. It was his final week. And he spoke of his second coming and told parables of the kingdom of God. And most of all, he said, we must put our total trust in God and put the trust into action with kindness toward other people. In other words, he said, we need to put some action to our feet. So as we read the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ,17:53we have a huge message to take into our own lives and to live out before people. And the message is clear and it's one that I'll share with you. I've read and I've preached this topically and that, you know, the coming of Jesus Christ and the reception that he received is like what we receive18:22when we invite him into our hearts and lives. And when we hear the gospel, we understand it. Excuse me, this thing about to drive me crazy. I've been it wrong. So here's what I want to look at. I want to look at the preparation of the visitation. Look at Matthew now, chapter 21, which is the same story told from Matthew's perspective. In Matthew 21, beginning in verse 1. And I'll try to give you a minute to look it up. Those of you that have your iPad, you just hit it18:50and it just flops over while that other guy is still looking. So, Brother Chris, are you telling everybody to get an iPad? Yep, Brother Rick's going to buy everybody one. When Miss Pam wins the lottery. Because Rick would never buy a lottery ticket, only Pam. Just kidding. When they had approached Jerusalem and come to Bethpage at the Mount of Olives,19:17then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you'll find a donkey tied there and a coat with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord has needed them and immediately he will send them. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. So, in other words, in this preparation for the visitation, we see the supernatural at work.19:46My friend, I want to tell you, don't allow the world to take the supernatural out of your faith. There's a supernatural work of God that takes place in the life of every believer. And the world's attack on our mind is to take away that which is supernatural because they can't understand that which is supernatural. The world can't think out of the box. The world can't think of anything other than like science claims that it says20:14they see absolute vivid truth, proof. Well, let me tell you, I believe that there's absolute and complete proof of the supernatural taking place not only in the life of Jesus and his actions, but in your life and my life as well. And I'm excited today that I can believe the supernatural takes place because that's what I've given my life to. I know as a fact I can't save anybody.20:42I can't change anybody's mind. If I can change your mind today, somebody else can change your mind tomorrow. If I can convince you of something here, somebody else can convince you of something yet to happen. But when God through his supernatural work begins to take place in our lives and God begins to do things that are above and beyond our ability to understand, then we know that there's something special at work.21:10And so as Jesus is getting ready to go into the city before he ever even gets to the city, it's interesting that to fulfill prophecies he sends to his disciples out, they're to go to a certain place, they're to find a donkey there that has never been ridden. And I want you to think about how, if you're a lost person, dumb, this sounds. They're to find a donkey that nobody's ever ridden. How do you know if a donkey's ever been ridden before? I don't know.21:40Did they mark them? Was it just because it was little? No, let me tell you something. There's something supernatural at work here that God is about. And my friend, I want to tell you what's happening in the world today. As the supernatural has been given over to people to say, well, I just got to have more. Let me tell you, if you got to have more, the only way you can be saved is by faith.22:09And faith is by a supernatural work of God. It takes a supernatural work of God to redeem of individual. That's why you can have all the head knowledge you want of any episode in scriptures and be lost as a goose until there's a supernatural work of God that takes place. God affirmed the life of Jesus Christ over and over again through various supernatural works. Now, the very reason these people are following Jesus is because they've seen him do miracles.22:38We read that in Luke. If you read that, you'll see it again in Matthew. And if I'm not mistaken, you may even see it again in Mark. But the whole idea is that people are following him because they've seen him do supernatural things that no one else had ever done before. My friend, there's nothing more convincing than the supernatural work of God in the life of a lost person.23:03There's nothing more awesome than to see the life changed by the supernatural work of God. There's nothing more tragic than to see the false work of an individual trying to act out a supernatural work of God when God really hasn't done anything in their life. What, Brother Chris, did you just say? I believe there are a lot of people that try to mimic the supernatural work of God23:31that they've seen take place in other people's lives, in their lives, so that they can have what someone else has and never truly experience the supernatural work of God. That's why they fall by the wayside. That's why their seeds are eating up. That's why we wonder, where are these people today that were so powerful, so wonderful, and they had such an emotional and such a traumatic and such a divine-seeming experience,23:56but yet they didn't stay with us. Folks, it wasn't because they lost their salvation. It was because they never had it. You see, I don't believe a person can lose their salvation. I don't believe that once you've experienced the high and holy living God living inside of you, that you're ever going to walk away. Well, for instance, let's just take a quick test, and we've got to move on. My wife moved the clock around so I can see it,24:26and I'm going to try to preach a 15-minute sermon in 15 minutes today. Well, I'm already running late. But here's what happens, is we see people that, what was I going to say?24:50What? Salvation. Excuse me, go ahead, Carol. I'm sorry. What? Everybody's saying something at the same time. Where was I? Evidence of salvation? Was I there? Folks, let's move on. I know I was going to say something good. But, uh, good, somebody said amen, finally.25:18Okay. Ah, can't lose your salvation. Now I know exactly. Thank you, dear. Here's what happens. Here's where people come from. What causes a person to lose their salvation? Well, I worked with someone who was a part of a denomination that believed they could lose their salvation back when I was a kid. And he said, if you sinned and you died25:46and you didn't have a chance to ask God to forgive you, you'd go to hell. I'm going, golly bum. That means if I'm going down a road and all of a sudden, and I'm going to say this because Mike said it, this real sleazy pretty woman walks by that I would never look at to begin with. And I just happened to look over at her and had one little evil thought, and because I was doing that, I run into a telephone pole and kill myself, I'd die and go to hell because I had unconfessed sin in my heart.26:15Let me ask you, why does God save you to begin with? Why do you need saving to begin with? You need saving from your... All right, then if God saves you from your sin, why would he cause your sin to cause you to be lost again? And if it does, how many of them does it take? Does it take one sin, two sins, three sins, four sins, five sins, six sins, 100 sins? And so I go back over to 1 Corinthians chapter 526:44where there's a guy living with his mother. Would you call that sin? Would you call that gross sin? Oh, you don't? Do you? Come on, guys. I know what I'm talking about now. So we would call that gross sin, right? Thank you. And he lives with her. And so Paul writes to the church and he says, y'all all puffed up because you're not doing anything about this man who's living in this gross sin27:14and he's still part of the church. But here's what I say to you. Put him out. We don't do that. We won't hurt nobody's feelings. Paul said, put him out. He said, I tell you what, you don't have to put him out. I've already put him out. I've judged him as though I were there. You can look at it. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Anyway, what happens is they say, put him out so that Satan can have his flesh so that his spirit will be saved in the day of salvation.27:42So in other words, he's not lost but he's going to send the sin unto death. 1 John chapter 5. Not a sin under the second death but a sin that could cause you to literally die. Because you've embarrassed God so much you say, brother Chris, where do you get that? What about Adonai and Sapphira? Who were they? What were they a part of? What does it take28:13to be a part of the church? Believers. That's right. But because they lied to the Holy Spirit, what happened to them? Instantly. So, you know, I believe in apostasy. I believe there are people that think that they're saved. I believe that people that because of the wickedness of their own intent, they want to be a part of something and they've never truly confessed by faith Jesus Christ28:42Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their life and ultimately they find themselves living a lie and not living the truth. So, it takes a supernatural presence of God at work in a person's life. There was a supernatural presence of God. I want you to notice something else that there was because of a supernatural presence and it's the only way that can happen. There was a worldly obedience. There was the world's obedience.29:12Now, I want to define that because I don't want to, I don't know whether the owner of this donkey was lost or saved. Undoubtedly, they were saved. And so, I think worldly on my part is not a good word. But I want to say there was a supremacy of obedience. Let me change that to say there's a supremacy of obedience that takes place in the preparation for the visitation of Jesus Christ. And the supremacy of the obedience is that two men follow the work, the talk of Jesus. They literally29:42They literally go where they've not, they had no clue other than after Jesus told them to go, they were to get a donkey. I don't know how it was in the days of Jerusalem, but I do know how it was in the Old West. What happened when you stole a horse in the Old West? That's right. I wonder what happened if you stole a donkey. So, Jesus sent them out to get a donkey. And he said, you go to this place, get this donkey, it's never been ridden. And if anybody asks you why you're getting it, you tell them30:12the Lord has need of it. And so, they've got to show what? And it's something that we don't like. They've got to show radical obedience to the supernatural work of God and say, hey, if God wants this donkey, it's his donkey. If God wants this, it's his. My friend, we've got to come to the place in our life where we understand we own nothing. We own absolutely nothing. God owns everything.30:41And so, when God, when Christ says, you tell them the Lord has need, they said, here, take it. You take it and let him have it. Did they know what it was about? We don't have any clue. I'm not going to make any subjections over something that I don't know. But what I do know is two things took place. There was a supernatural presence and work of God and there was a supernatural obedience to what God, what Christ had commanded and these folks giving up.31:11So, in the preparation of the visitation, supernatural work, supernatural obedience. Then there's the presentation of the visitation. And now you say, good Lord, what are you talking about? There's the preparation. He's coming. Go get the donkey. We're going to bring him in. And listen, look at the presentation of the visitation. Here's the presentation we see repeated from Zechariah. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted31:41on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. I read that and I say to myself, why doesn't everybody there believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Why would anybody want to crucify him? Why would anybody want to bring him to justice and say that he was a slanderer or that he was, that he mocked God or that he did anything? He's fulfilling scripture right before him because here it is. The presentation comes. My friend, I want you to know there are people32:11that are sitting in church after church after church after church and have been since this morning began in the east or over in Europe all the way around the world and they are sitting there and the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is coming as clear as anything they've ever heard and they're saying no to it and they're getting up and they're leaving because they refuse to accept the truth of God's word. These people are no different. They have come to the place where they refuse32:40to accept the proof of God's word. Look at the presentation when he approached Bethpage and Bethany near the mount that is called all of it. He sent two of his disciples so there's that presentation that takes place. So then it goes on down and it says in verse 37 as soon as he was approaching near the descent of the mount of Olives the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice of all the miracles which they had seen. There was a supernatural presentation33:10presentation of the Messiah now. Not only a supernatural presentation of the work but there's a supernatural presentation of who he is. People begin to see him and they begin to praise him. Let me ask you something. Do you believe in God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ his son? Do you believe that he's been raised from the dead? And why don't you act like it? Why don't we act like it every day? In my Sunday school class33:40we had a really interesting thing. We talked about judging. Judge not least you be judged. And we talked about the purpose and we talked about some other things about judging but the one thing that we talked about is how many of y'all are just not morning people? So you use that to be rude, crude and ugly because you're just not a morning person. God living in you and you can't be a morning person? Well what about34:11those of you that are like me? You're not an evening person. And that is when I come home I just want to go sit down and do nothing and Gail looks at me and says why don't you help me? I said I don't want to do nothing. She said well I don't want to do nothing either but this house has got to be cleaned up why don't you help me because I don't want to do nothing. And she said well what happened at work today? Nothing. Anything good happen? No. Anything bad happen? No. See I'm that kind of person. Why can't I be? And you say well brother Chris34:41we got this thing working in our lives that's called the flesh and the flesh Chris I want to tell you something we can use that as an excuse but we dishonor and shame the very name of Christ when we know he lives and we don't give him the worship that he deserves. We ought to come in this church you know I love the fact that one of the ladies came into my Sunday school class this morning and she said I almost couldn't get in because there's so many people out there greeting me. How many of y'all are enjoying that? Isn't that great?35:11Isn't that neat to have all those folks out there greeting you and telling you how good it is? Those of you that slip in the side doors we're going to put somebody there and trip you up. Kim? Oh she's probably not here is she? What's she here? Okay good. You tell her Glenn? Tell her I talked about her. But what it is is that we want people to come in here and say hey God lives here. How do people know that God's here? Is it because we got a pulpit? Is it because35:42we got an altar? No people let me tell you why people know God's here it's because we got pews. Churches that don't have pews God's not there. You laugh but I had a friend of mine I think I shared this with you before he removed the pulpit because it was one of those great big old pulpits that he said he couldn't get around and he felt like this right here behind it and so he got rid of it and put a regular podium out there and one of his deacons said what did you do that for? You didn't even ask the deacons if you could do that36:12that he said well I didn't think the deacons had to preach behind it and he said don't you seriously don't you know God lives in that pulpit?36:29I bought it I bought it from him I didn't God doesn't live in the confines of the walls of this building folks if God's alive at all and I believe he is he lives in you you reflect God to this world you're reflecting to the people that drive36:59that drive to work with you every day you're reflecting to the people you live with every day you're reflecting to the people you go to school with every day these people were lifting up praise because they saw the Messiah they saw the Messiah they saw his supernatural work they saw his supernatural presence and they37:28and they gave him an entrance and a presentation like nothing ever before and finally there was a proclamation of the visitation now that means there was a message that God had in Matthew chapter 21 beginning in verse 10 he says when he had entered Jerusalem listen to these things when he had entered Jerusalem this is after he's come he's come in on his37:57triumphant entry he's there all the city was stirred now you got we all heard the background of this and I know you know that I don't want to spend a lot of time there and that is there were hundreds maybe even thousands of people that crowded the streets of Jerusalem because of the Passover that was at hand and people were sojourners and they had come from far off for this one day of sacrificing the Passover lamb and so so many people were hearing about Lazarus being raised38:26being raised from the dead they were hearing about the lame being healed and walking again they talked about the blind that we're seeing and there were people in whom Jesus had stirred their hearts and had stirred their lives and so there was a great stirring of the city now this caused the problem for the high priest because if Jesus is stirring up the city that's going to stir up the Romans if he stirs up the Romans that's going to cause the Romans to come against them as the religious leaders of the city as much as it is the people of the city so there's a lot of stirring and a lot of but but listen38:55but listen what it says in verse 11 and the crowds were saying this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee the first proclamation of who he was and wasn't he was the prophet but my friend the prophet ain't going to get it today I listened to a Muslim say that he believed that Jesus was a prophet from God that he believed39:24God had given Jesus the prophet a message but that's all he was I want you to know I believe there are people that have Jesus in various boxes in their hearts today but they don't have him as the Lord of their life and in Romans chapter 10 it is very clear he who confesses Jesus as Lord of their life John preached a message of repentance and acceptance of God my friend we can't box39:54God up we can't put various labels on him and accept the label we desire he must be Lord and Savior all in one notice what else it says in Luke chapter 19 backing up it says I tell you if these become silent this is the proclamation of the presentation number one is that he was a prophet number two is that if Jesus40:23if Jesus says that if you keep silent the stones will cry out well you know what I can imagine the frustration it is for brother Rick to be over here leading worship when I look out there like I'm looking here and some of y'all going I'm running late or some of you are like this40:53this you follow what I'm saying why is it that we need cheerleaders and worship leaders and preachers with passion and enthusiasm to excite us to the reality of Jesus living in us Jesus said when the Pharisees got upset and said hey stop these people they are causing a stir in the city Jesus said if you cause these people to be silent the very41:23the very stones will rise up and give praise Jesus my friend we need a rock pile in the church today we need a pile of rocks that will praise Jesus for what he is now I'm not going to compare coming to church like going to an Auburn or an Alabama or UAB or Troy or any kind of football game because that's what the world does but I am going to say that there is a definite correlation41:52correlation of a person's heart and who Jesus is and there's a definite correlation of who Jesus is in a person's heart and their praise and the very presentation of Jesus coming into Jerusalem is that if you keep these people from giving praise to who I am the rocks that cover the hillsides will give praise could you imagine what it might have been like had the Pharisees and the Sadducees managed42:22managed to quieten down the place and all the rocks started singing it'd be like me not knowing that we have automatic lights in our bathrooms now here at the church I'm telling you the truth we were coming back from lunch over the CLC I opened the bathroom door and the light came on just like that and I thought that's a miracle but it42:51but it wasn't nearly the miracle for me that it was when I'm walking in where nobody goes and the light comes on and the stall door opens and a young man that works for Nancy says thank you because he's been in the dark and then you say what in the world let me tell you something43:21something God's been turning the light on for us for a long time and that light has effect on the people around us that are sitting in darkness but one thing Bill told me that there's a little power amperage problem and the light don't stay on nearly as long as it's supposed to and so the poor boy got stuck in the dark and I had no clue I knew43:51I knew that they were by and by I didn't realize I'm telling you the truth I didn't know it and so the voltage caused the timer to work faster and so what happened was is he went in and into the stall and the light went off in five minutes instead of 15 minutes and so when the light went off he's stuck in the dark I44:18I fear that Christians think there's a timer that we can cut on and that we can cut off under various circumstances and what happens is we leave people in the dark and so when Jesus is coming into the city and he is sharing the good44:48the good news there are those that are excited and they want to give him praise but there are those that are sitting beside him going shh you're going to embarrass us all you say not in church yep in church I was sitting in church one Sunday my home church and we were dedicating our45:17dedicating our new facility which we just built a building similar to this one I think it seated about 1200 those of you that are at former Ridgecrest and we had our dedication service and the choir filled the whole place we had an orchestra which we've never had before we had a lady from some phil harmonic or some dramatic drama she could sing y'all get to drift45:47to drift and I mean they sang that song to God be the glory great things and they sang it as a choir and I think she sang it as a solo and that might not be the song but anyway I was sitting about where you guys are and I got carried away because I was down on the front row I just got my life back right with God and I was excited so I didn't want to sit in the back I wanted to sit as close to the preacher I wanted to sit as close to the altar I wanted to sit as close to the action as I sit because I was excited46:17excited about God bringing me back to the place where I had left and had forsaken for so many years running from him and so while sitting there I'm sitting there and tears began to flow down my cheeks now I'm telling the truth and I'm so excited and because they had announced who she was and she was from I think Philadelphia Philharmonic and she was an opera singer but she didn't sing opera that day because I understood the words and so she sang she blowed the windows out of46:47out of that place and I'm just being honest I didn't know what to do I was crying I was excited I was overwhelmed I was I was just stymied there and when she got through and the orchestra got through and everybody's going I stood up and I didn't know because she was from there should I say hallelujah praise God or bravo so I stood up and I go bravo bravo bravo and I mean the church is packed I'm the only one down front47:17front bravo and I felt a guy grab my coat and say shh boy sit down true story JD y'all were there y'all may not remember me doing that but I did it you were there you remember me doing that you do remember me doing that yeah Otto Williamson grab sit down boy that's a dear friend y'all want to tell you something when47:47when Jesus came to the city God made sure that the presentation was this is he who comes in the name of the Lord and you will give him worship and if you don't I'll bring some rocks along that will and as the song says48:16says let the redeemed say so it's not up to the choir to stir our hearts this morning it's not up to brother Rick to stir our hearts this morning it's not up to me to stir your hearts this morning if it's going to take all of us to do that let me be very clear and let me be very serious you may need Jesus as your48:45as your Lord and Savior because I want you to know something knowing him challenges me to sing when I can't sing to preach with passion when I can't preach to live exemplary when I don't want to why because of him and his49:13and his entry into my life and if my mouth don't sing I'm afraid my liver will do you hear me close a day will come and is coming when the wicked will be49:43will be driven from the presence of the Lord because even here we see that here's the final message that Jesus says and it's the sad one we're going to leave on a negative note can you believe this and they will level you to the ground and your children within you and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation oh my50:12oh my friend what if Jesus is visiting us and he's watching us as we sing as we pray as we preach as we listen as we teach as we live and we forsake the time of his visitation they needed to hear him they needed50:40they needed to obey him and I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon him and those presence from those from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them and I saw the dead the great and the small standing before the throne and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books51:14dead which were in them and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire because you did not recognize the time of his visitation you know something folks51:43folks how is it that anybody that knows him would not recognize that this is the time to give him praise to give him worship to show our love to be light that whoever enters into this place knows that they've been in the52:13the house of God not because God lives in the house because God's people are in the house Jesus was in the house when he made his way through the gates of Jerusalem let us pray father application salvation is that I make sure by examining my life52:42life and allowing you to examine my life and know Lord that the one who has entered into my heart and into my mind and into my life is the king of kings and the lord of lords and that happened when by faith I simply trusted that you are who the Bible says you are and that you've done what the Bible says you've done you've died for my sins and that you've risen from the grave because God53:12God one day you'll bring me from my grave and I'll live with you forever in eternity and it won't be because you happened to have been at church when I was there one Sunday or because I was baptized or because I was a preacher it'll be because I confessed you put my faith in you as53:41as my lord and my savior and God today I pray that this place would be humbled by the presence of almighty God that we might know that you reign and rule in our lives because of our desire to serve you to worship you and54:11and to follow you in Jesus name I pray amen would you stand for hymn of invitation to54:18toMore sermons on Luke →
