When It Mattered Most—Jesus Showed Up - Louie Giglio

0:19 Just to take us to that moment of Palm Sunday, it's something like what we were just experiencing, singing Praise Yahweh. The atmosphere was full of praise. Jesus had just come from Bethany. He's taking his short journey to Jerusalem. And in the midst of it, the news of him is traveling fast. So maybe a little background if you don't know Palm Sunday. This is Jesus entering into the city of Jerusalem during Passover. Passover, as we've talked about many, many times, that celebration of the moment where God delivered his people out of Egypt. And because of the blood of an innocent lamb spread over the doorpost of the home, the angel of death passed over those who were trusting in God's provision. And now for centuries, the people of God, the Jewish people, had celebrated this salvation moment of Passover.

1:21 So people were coming to Jerusalem from all over the known world. People in Jerusalem were buzzing around with all this energy of Passover celebration. And in this particular moment, Jesus appears, riding into the city. The backdrop of all this is Bethany, the town that he's coming from, just a few miles up the road. A place where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. a place where now Jesus is being celebrated by people as a great miracle worker and a place where lots of crowds were gathering around. So we're not to the cross yet. We're not to the resurrection yet, but resurrection is already in the air. Lazarus is alive and a lot of people wanna see Jesus and a lot of people are coming just to see Lazarus raised from the dead.

2:17 But Jesus in the midst of it all knew that even though praise was in the air, and even though resurrection was in the air, he knew that Passover was on the cards, and he knew what he had come to do. The backdrop, as we shared in our responsive reading today, is found in John chapter 12. And in this particular text, we see what's happening in the wings. There was a dinner right before the text we're going to read. And at this dinner, a woman came and poured this expensive perfume on Jesus, honoring him and celebrating him. And then we come down to verse 9 of John chapter 12. And it says, Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

3:16 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well. It says a little bit earlier that they were aiming to eliminate Jesus, but now they're going to take Lazarus out as well. For an account of him, of Lazarus, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him. The next day, the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches, there's Palm Sunday, and they went out to meet him shouting, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel. And so not unlike what we've already experienced in our gathering today, there's big praise happening around Jesus.

4:09 Hosanna, save us is what the word means. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The king is coming. Blessed is the king of Israel. And they're thinking Passover, miracle worker, Lazarus is alive. This could be a climactic moment where Jesus really does take over as king. But they have no idea what is in the plan and the heart of God. And they have no idea that this king has come to lay his life down.

4:52 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. As it is written, do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. At first, his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now, the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. And many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, see, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him. Massive crowd, big momentum, lots of energy, all focused on this powerful, miracle-working Jesus.

5:57 But Jesus, he's thinking something else in this moment, far greater than they can understand. He's fulfilling prophecies. Riding on the colt of a donkey is a prophecy that he's fulfilling. But there's another prophecy that I want you to see about him that's giving us insight into what Jesus is thinking in this moment. Isaiah 50, talking about the sin of the people and the saving power of God, is describing now Jesus. The sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue. This is speaking of Jesus hundreds of years before the moment that we're now in on Palm Sunday.

6:42 To know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The sovereign Lord has opened my ears. I have not been rebellious. I have not turned away. Instead, now verse six, I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting because the sovereign Lord helps me. I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. What Isaiah was prophesying is that the Savior would come, and he would come with determination. I've set my face like flint towards Jerusalem. I've set my face like flint toward the cross. I've set my face like flint towards the mission of God. Flint in this context is obviously hard stone. And what it's saying about Jesus is there was a resolve in him, a determination in him, where all along the way there was opposition and challenge. He would say, no, I am determined that I'm going to do what I have come to do. I'm determined that I'm going to show up on Palm Sunday at the right place, at the right time, at just the right moment to do what only I can do. I think Luke had this text in Isaiah maybe in mind when he was describing Jesus coming to Jerusalem as well. He says in Luke 9, as the time approached for him to be taken up

8:49 to heaven. So this is saying that as it's time for him to come and fulfill the purpose of dying on the cross, being buried in a borrowed tomb, being raised up from the dead, and then ascending back into heaven. As that is all approaching, Luke says, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Like a flint, he was determined and he was focused to do what only he could do. And what did he do for us? He showed up for you and he showed up for me. I don't know all the stories of all the people in this gathering, but I'm guessing that most of us have a moment in our story where someone didn't show up for us. Maybe a spouse didn't show. A parent didn't show. That close friend who said, oh, you can count on me. I'll be there, but they didn't show. Or maybe consistently someone hasn't showed up for you, but on Palm Sunday, the celebration was that Jesus now is entering into Jerusalem, but in Jesus' heart, it's a resolute determination like a flint. He is coming to do what only he can do for you, to give his life for the glory of God, to give his life for the good of all of us.

10:22 He showed up. I've told this story a lot of times, but playing tennis through my high school years, finally made it into the regional championship game winner, gonna go to the state tennis tournament here in Georgia. And we're in a doubles match, my partner and I, and about halfway through the first set, I look over at this pretty massive tennis center that we're playing at, and we're playing at a court close to the clubhouse. And I look over and leaning against the wall is my dad. And that was a big deal because my dad had never come to any of my tennis matches all throughout high school before. And that's no knock on my dad. My dad didn't have a flexible job. He worked on the West Side downtown. We're playing these tennis matches way up in Cobb County, Marietta, McEachern High School, South Cobb, all these places.

11:18 And granted, most of them are being played on some pretty janky tennis courts out by the football field behind the high school. So it's not like a real glamor setting. and my dad just couldn't break away at 2.30 on an afternoon or four o'clock or whatever time matches happened to be. But this particular match, I look over and it's the biggest match I've ever played in in my life, a match parenthetically that we did win and we did go to the state tournament. But I look over, my dad is right there. And I don't know what went through his mind that day of saying, you know what? I've never seen my kid play tennis before and I've never made it out to one of these matches. but I'm gonna show up today. We know what it feels like when someone shows up and we know what it feels like when they don't. And what we're celebrating today is that God valued us so much that when it mattered most, Jesus showed up.

12:26 Thank you. I hope and pray today that as we contemplate this cross that is before us and we ultimately celebrate all that it means for us, that it will somehow seep down into the inside of our being and all of us can grasp that reality today. No matter what has been or who hasn't been, that we can all grasp that reality today. God showed up for me. Oh, they waved the palm branches and shouted, Hosanna. They thought this is a takeover, like no takeover we've ever seen before. But Jesus was coming to say, God loves you. He values you.

13:20 He is for you and not against you, and your life matters to God. He came for the glory of God, yes, but he also came to show you how much you matter to God. I love this sermon from 1880. Charles Spurgeon is preaching about this idea that Jesus set his face like flint toward Jerusalem. That he was determined to make it happen. He would overcome every obstacle. That of his own friends and followers telling him, there's no way you're going to give your life on a cross. There's no way that should happen to you. There's no way that's the way the story is going to play out. to every temptation imaginable that had been put before him.

14:15 All the hardship of being in human flesh and even the praise and the adulation of this day in the moment where he's gonna pay the ultimate price. He's getting the ultimate celebration and he could have just jumped on that wave and said, wow, this is pretty great being accepted by everyone and adored by everyone and praised by everyone. And isn't that what we're all searching for in life anyway? But he said, no, I've got a determination. I've got something that I want to do for you, that I must do for you, for God and for you. I have come. I'm preaching about that Isaiah text. This is what Spurgeon preached. He said, Redeemer. Come and think a while of him, that your hearts may burn within you, and that your faces may be set like flints to live and die for him who lived and died for you. I love that Spurgeon picks up this idea that we've carried at Passion City Church, a contemplation and celebration of the cross. Not just to move quickly by it or to say, wow, that's such an amazing thing that God has done, but to sit with it and to let it sit with us. The way he says it is this, come

16:24 and think a while of him. Come and think a while of him who was so resolute so that you too will have a heart that is lit with a new fire for him and a face that is set and determined to live for him and to die for him, to live with him and to die with him. our hearts resolute to bring glory to God. If nothing else today, I pray the Holy Spirit will awaken us to the determination of Jesus to be faithful until the very end. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will awaken in us today the cost of following.