A Better Love

I just want to. Before I get into the message, I really feel like the Holy Spirit was speaking to me as, as we're just going through that and we're pressing in worship. There's some. I really feel like the Lord spoke to me and said there's some people, maybe it's just a person, I don't know.

But in your heart and your mind you're questioning what in the world's going on here.

And I just feel like the Lord had me tell you, you if you'll open up yourself, you'll find out. You'll find out he's ready and willing if you are. That's what I feel like. The Lord had me tell you he's ready and willing if you are. And there's some things for somebody here this morning.

There's some things in your life that you've just been really struggling with. You got some, you got some speaking to somebody, but there's some mental and emotional struggles that nobody knows about that you're dealing with and you've been afraid to even share it with your family. I just feel this so strongly and you're in turmoil inside and you're struggling. But today God says I'm going to give you peace if you'll open up in your heart and your mind. He's the prince of peace and he came and he paid for peace.

And I will mention that here, but there are people that are in desperate need of peace. But there's an individual who's in turmoil mentally and emotionally. You're in turmoil, and nobody knows what you're going through. But the Lord says, if you'll allow him, he'll give you peace today. He'll give you peace in Jesus name.

I want to start out today by reading an entire psalm. Okay? I'm going to read the entire psalm. Last week, we ended our service with talking about the gift of tears. Tears for the lost, tears for people to come to salvation, tears for generations that are before and behind us, for people that do not know the Lord.

And so by the end of the service today, hopefully going to see how that puts us into good company and makes us more like Jesus. So I'm going to read this whole psalm this morning, and if you have your Bibles, I want you to read along with me, okay? Now, as they always do, they're going to put the scriptures on the screen. But, you know, whether it's digital or physical, I like having a physical Bible in church, right? And I would encourage you bring your physical Bible to church, man.

Someone was telling me about Jensen Franklin this morning or last week, said something like, if you don't have your Bible with you, you're a heathen. I'm not going to say that, but I thought that was pretty funny. But if you have your Bibles, I want you to follow along and read with me, okay? Test anybody you're listening to. Preach the word of God.

Make sure it lines up with the word of God. God, right. Test the spirits. Okay? So I'm gonna read this whole Psalms.

I want you to read along with me. And by the time we finish today, I believe we all will fully understand why we're starting in this psalm and doing this. So if you have your Bibles, go to Psalm 118, Psalm 118. Now, before we read it, I will tell you there are going to be several verses from this psalm that are going to sound very familiar to you. And many of you have probably heard or even quoted several verses from this psalm yourselves.

But I want to take a moment and remind you of this. Everything that happened in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, it was written. All that was written, all that was saying in the Psalms, all that the prophets wrote about, right? It prophesied, and it pointed to the coming of Jesus, the coming of the Messiah, okay? It pointed a lot to his first advent here on the earth.

It pointed to his earthly ministry. And it pointed to his finished work on the Cross of Calvary. Okay, Jesus said this in Luke, chapter 24, verses 44 and 45. He's walking. This is after his resurrection.

And he's walking on the road to Emmaus with some disciples. And this is what he says, says. Then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. That's the Old Testament, okay? The law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.

And this is what he says concerning me. That's what he's saying. He said all that was written concerning me, talking about me, the Messiah. And he opened up their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. And so what I'm praying today is that the same thing that happened in that moment with the disciples on the road to Emmaus is that the Holy Spirit would open up our understanding to the Scriptures today.

Okay? So everything in the Old Testament was written concerning Jesus and pointing to Him. And then everything that's in the New Testament is written and recorded. It talks about his first coming, his advent, his birth, his perfect, sinless life, the miracle signs and wonders that he did. It talks about his finished work on the cross.

And then it points us to his second coming. Amen. Y' all with me? And so. And so we're praying that he would open up our understanding, our understanding to see all that.

So we're going to start Psalm 118. I'm going to start in verse one. I'm going to read this whole psalm. And so I'm reading from the. Typically I preach from the New King James Version.

That's what I'm typically out of here preaching out of each week. But today I'm going to be reading this psalm in the esv, the English Standard Version, because I just think it makes it easier for everyone to hear and understand this morning. Okay, so it starts out and it says, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His steadfast love endures forever. Let Israel say, his steadfast love endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron say, his steadfast love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say, his steadfast love endures forever. Out of my distress, I call on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. How many thankful for that anybody had to call out to.

We called out to the Lord in Manda's distress this past week. And praise God, he answered her and set her free from that pain. Right out of my distress, I called on the Lord. He answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side.

Praise God. I will not fear what man can do to me. The Lord is on my side. As my helper. I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. I could preach a whole sermon on that right there. Because a lot of times we get too called up and we get too concerned on what man thinks. And we just need to be trusting the Lord, right? It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in men.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. All nations surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me. Surrounded me on every side.

In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like fire among thorns. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. Anybody ever had to just look at a situation and say, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus, right?

In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. Right? I was pushed hard so that I was falling. But the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song.

He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord.

The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become. You have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing.

It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day. I love this Look. This is one I quote all the time, right? This is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us. Save us. Catch this. Save us, we pray, O Lord.

Oh, Lord, we pray. Give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God and has made his light to shine upon us.

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will give thanks to you. You are my God. I will extol you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

His steadfast love endures forever. Now, with this psalm in mind, I would like to point out something to all of us here and those that may be listening online, something that most, if not all of us already know. But today is Palm Sunday. Today's Palm Sunday. Today is the first day of Holy Week that is historically recorded as the day that Jesus made his way to Jerusalem and had his triumphant entry riding on the back of a donkey.

And so, as Jesus made his way to the city, his city, on the back of that donkey, while the crowd was rejoicing and praising and shouting and waving palm branches and throwing cloth on the ground in front of him, rolling out a red carpet, so to speak, while all that was happening, guess what? Guess what Jesus did. He wept.

He actually wept. And he cried over the city of Jerusalem and its people. And to someone who may have been casual casually following Jesus and watching him and all that he does, it may have seemed like he wept at strange times. Okay, not too long before this day of the triumphant entry, there was a moment that's recorded in the Book of John as actually the shortest verse in the entire Bible. It's two words, John 11:35.

And it says this. Jesus. Jesus wept. Jesus wept. He wept.

Jesus had come. What had happened is he had come to the tomb of his friend Lazarus, who had died and been dead for four days. And as he stood there, it says that he wept. And the word that's used there is a word in the Greek that means he actually cried aloud. He groaned.

It wasn't just like a silent weep, but he cried out loud. He was groaning. He stood there and he wept. And then just a few moments later, he would call out his friend's name, Lazarus come forth. And Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, would come walking out of the grave alive, well and breathing.

It was an incredible miracle. He called him back from death to life. And so now there are crowds of people who have heard of this great miracle. Jesus just brought a man back to life. He called his name.

This guy's been dead four days. He called his name. He come walking out of the grave, still bound in grave clothes. They had to unwrap him. He's alive and well.

Look, he's in the crowd with us. This is. Jesus did this. So news spread about this great miracle that Jesus had done, but also all the other miracle signs and wonders that Jesus had been doing. And so now this huge crowd.

Word's been spread, and this huge crowd has gathered, and they are happily. And they are enthusiastically. And they are royally escorting Jesus into the city of David, into the city of Jerusalem. And they are shouting words that are taken directly from Psalm 118, verses 25 and 26. It said, Save us, we pray, O Lord.

They were screaming, hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Do you know what hosanna means? It means save us, we pray. Deliver us, we pray.

That's what hosanna means. So they were saying, save us, save us, deliver us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Let me read it to you. This is Matthew, chapter 21, verses 7 through 10.

Says, they brought a donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them and set him, Set Jesus on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and the those who followed cried out, saying, hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest. And when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, who is this? The whole city was shaking. Look, he was coming in. And there was a rumbling in the city.

This was not a small thing that was happening. It shook the whole city. The whole city was moved. Like, what in the world's going on? People are talking, oh, Jesus is coming.

The Messiah is actually here. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is him. It's yeshua. Luke, chapter 19, verses 37 and 38.

Then as he was drawing near the Descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice. Voice. I could preach on that, too. A lot of us be like, thank you, Jesus. He done saved, set you free, delivered you, broke addiction off your life, brought you out of the pits of hell.

And we're like, thank you, Jesus. But when the Bulldog score a touchdown, you're like.

They praise him with a loud voice, okay, we ain't crazy. We just love the Lord. We're thankful for what he's done for us.

They 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 in the high. And so all the Jews, at this moment, they understood the proclamation that was being made at that moment. Right through the shouts of their mouth, through the waving of the palm branches and the garments being laid before him, they were making this proclamation. This is Jesus.

This is Yeshua. This is the long awaited and foretold Messiah. So the crowds were rejoicing and celebrating, but Jesus responded with tears. This is what it says in Luke chapter 19, Luke 19:41 and 44. It says, and when he was come near, he beheld the city, the city of Jerusalem, and wept over it.

He wept over, over it, saying, would that you, even you, even you say, that includes me. Come on, say it with me. That includes me. That includes me. Would that you even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.

The things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set a barricade around you and surround you and him, you on every side. This is a prophecy about the Sea of Jerusalem. It happened in 70 AD and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.

And they will not leave one stone upon another. Because you did not know.

You did not know the time of your visitation. And so Jesus weeping is a response that is worth pausing to ponder over.

Here we have the great King of Kings, the Lord of lords, weeping over his great city, just as he makes his triumphant entry into its gates. So while the crowds were rejoicing and cheering, cheering. Jesus wept. Jesus wept. And as he made his way down that road to the city, there is no doubt in my mind that Psalm 118 was in Jesus mind.

It was in his heart, it was in his ears, it was in his eyes. This was the beginning of Holy week for these, right? It would be a week where all the temple and all its sacrificial symptoms and all but that foreshadowed is going to be fulfilled that week, right? It would be. It's going to be fulfilled.

How? With one great single one for all sacrifice carried out by the greatest high priest himself, Jesus. So he heard the psalm being carried out in the shouts of the crowd. Hosanna. Hosanna.

Save us, we pray. That's what it says. Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. He saw it being carried out in the Jewish religious leadership, right, as they tried to silence the crowd. And then they were secretly planning his arrest and his murder. In Luke 19 it says that the crowd was rejoicing and they were shouting and they were running the streets and everything was going so good. And some of the religious leaders, the Pharisees, they called out to Jesus and they told him, you need to rebuke your disciples for their praise.

But Jesus said, hey, I tell you the truth, if these hold their peace, the very rocks would cry out. If they keep silent, the rocks would cry out. Why is that? Because Jesus will be praised. The whole design of the entire universe is that Christ would be praised.

And if people won't do it, then the rocks will get the joy of it. He's worthy of it all. And if we refuse to praise him, the rocks will cry out. You know, that's funny to me because over the years there have been people, you know, there have been people that have criticized or made fun of the ways we, we praise and worship here at Remnant, right? I've heard people say, y' all praise and worship too long.

Y' all praise and worship too loud. I don't get all that shouting. I don't get all that singing and repeating the same chorus over and over again. I don't get why people jump or shout or all that thing. Y' all are crazy during worship.

Y' all a bunch of weird.

You know what would be even weirder? If you walked outside and you heard a rock say, thank you, Jesus.

Well, what's funny is I've seen a lot. I've seen God take a lot of those critical stony hearts and turn them into the craziest praisers. Wayne Jones is one of them. He used to criticize. Hey, man, this is the craziest praiser I know, but it's all pure.

But, but, but before that.

Yeah, it was evil. You said it. I didn't. I, I didn't want to call you evil, but at least you said it. Praise God.

He brought, where he brought you from. So it would be weird to hear a rock say, thank you, Jesus all because you wouldn't.

Jesus saw the rejection of the Jewish religious leadership. And Psalm 118 verses 22 and 23 were being fulfilled. This is what it says. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. It's what we're all built upon.

This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous. It's marvelous in our eyes. I want to give you some definitions of the word marvelous. Marvelous means superb, excellent, great to cause, to wonder, surprising, improbable, or incredible.

So it was a marvelous or surprising or improbable thing that the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, the King of the whole earth and universe would come Riding into his city on a donkey and not a horse, that was surprising. It was marvelous. It was marvelous. It was surprising that the builders, the religious leaders of that time, who knew the scriptures and the prophecies better than anyone else, those who claimed to be looking for the Messiah, they did not see or recognize the Messiah. As he walked and he talked and he moved among them.

They saw that, yet they rejected him. And this is what broke the heart of Jesus. As he rode into the city, he actually felt profound grief. Why? For their blindness.

Because they were blinded. He felt profound grief because they were rejecting him. And he deeply wished that they all knew what he was doing. To make peace. To make peace.

It was a marvelous thing that this king not only came to save his people, the Jewish people, but he came to save all the people of the earth that would accept him and not reject him. It was a marvelous thing that the blessed one had come to become a curse for all of us. And because of that, we have been called blessed. Psalm 118, verse 27 declares, Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. Now, who on the day of the King of Kings triumphant entry into his city, would have imagined that this king had actually come to be the sacrifice of all sacrifices?

That's why he was coming. That's why he was entering the city. Who would have thought that the Roman cross, which he would carry and be bound to, would be and become the most sacred altar that's ever been constructed?

No one would have thought that. But King James, Jesus, this is why he had come. This is why his soul was troubled in the midst of this rejoicing crowd. And there was something marvelous and incredible and improbable about that.

It's marvelous to think about. But here's the kicker. The crowd rejoicing, that was the right response. It really was. The psalm that we started out reading this morning, it actually called for it.

It called for it. Psalm 118, 24. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day the Lord has made.

Let us be glad and rejoice in it. This was the day the Lord had made. It was a day of rejoicing and gladness for sinners. But it was a day of weeping for the Savior as he said, oh, the things that make for peace. It was surprising.

It was incredible. It was marvelous. The things that made for peace. But here's the good news, right? The gospel is good news, Jesus.

Tears and grief were not hopeless tears.

They weren't hopeless. He knew that his weeping was only going to last for the night, and that joy would be coming on that third morning. He knew that he was the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. But he also knew that after he had made the supreme offering for sin, and after he had borne the iniquities of all of us, all of mankind, that we might be accounted righteous after the anguish of his soul was past, he knew that death was not the end, and that death did not have the final say. But he knew that he would see us, me and you and all those that would accept him.

He would see us redeemed, saved, set free, sanctified and delivered, and praising and rejoicing his name again. So even through his tears, Jesus looked, as Hebrews tells us, he looked to the joy that was set before him. And he pressed toward and forward towards a hill called Calvary, Golgotha, the place of the skull. And so he continued into Jerusalem to partake of what lay ahead of him, what was laying in wait for him at Jerusalem. Jesus himself told us, Luke, chapter 9, verse 22.

The son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day. What waited on him in Jerusalem? He knew pain, pain, waited. He knew rejection, still waited. He knew that the same crowd that was crying out, hosanna.

Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Those same people, in just a little bit, just a couple days, they're going to be shouting, crucify him. Crucify him. The rejection waited.

Being beat, waited on him. Being tortured, being mocked, being spit on, being punched, being kicked. A cat of nine tails waited on him, he knew, because he was ready to take the stripes. As Isaiah 53:5 says, by his stripes we are healed. He knew that those stripes were getting ready to come on his back.

That was what was waiting on him. He knew that there was a crown of thorns that would be pressed into his brow that was waiting on him. He knew that there was a Roman cross that was waiting for him. So, knowing all that, how is this possible? How or why would he do such a thing?

For you and for me. I'll tell you why. Because he had fathomless love for us.

Yeah.

It's a love that the song of Solomon says. It's a love that is strong as death and fiercer than the grave. It's a love that was so good, so steadfast, so enduring, so high, so Broad, so long, so deep, so wide that it requires the very strength of God to even comprehend it. You know what? It was a better love, an agape love.

A better love, better love than we've ever known. And it's the way that he loved you and me and the world. And he loved so much. God loved the world so much. John 3:16, that he gave.

He gave his only begotten son. Even to the people that rejected him, he still gave himself. He said, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down. He gave himself.

This is a love that went to unimaginable extremes to accomplish the things that made for peace for us. Mendy, you can come. The things that made for peace for us. It was a better love. It is a love that answers the cries of Psalm 118.

It's a love that brought deliverance and salvation. It's a love that frees us from the fear of man. You know, I used to care a lot about what people think growing up. Especially, you know, you get to middle school. Middle school is harsh.

If you got kids in middle school. We have a heart for middle school right now, Amanda's really burdened with it. But middle school is harsh because these kids come up and then they start getting, they start saying things. I remember when I was in middle school, I was a skinny as you can get. I mean, I was probably as skinny as this little thing right here.

And people, I mean, bright, I know you can't tell right now, but I had bright orange and red hair, lots of freckles. People were mean, made fun of how skinny I was, made fun of the red hair, made fun of freckles, right? Middle school is a harsh place. And it affected me in such a way later in life that I, you know, I was always wanting people's approval, right? You always start, you start, so you get insecure and then you start doing things to try to get people's approval.

Well, if I do this, they'll like me. They won't, they won't call me. They won't tell me I have to run around in the shower to get wet, right? And so, and so I used to have this great fear of man. And if you, if you got kids in middle school, pray for your kids.

You got kids in high school, pray for your kids. I mean, there are people out there. Brutal. But what happened when I, at 16 year old, when I fully committed my life to Christ, slowly the fear of man broke off of me. I remember going to high school not caring a flip what people Thought, I love Jesus, right?

I'd carry my Bible to school. Honestly, I used to be ashamed to tell people where I went to school, church, because they thought we were crazy, too. And so where you go? Church, Andrew? I just go to church.

Then I didn't care. I'm like, oh, I go east. Calhoun Church of God. You should come sometime. It's a good time, right?

So his love can break the fear of man off of us. His love cuts off enemies, protects us. His love helps us in a time of need. It saves us from the fall. Go back and read the psalm.

I'm pulling all this from the psalm.

Saves us from the fall. This is the love that opened up the gates of righteousness for us to walk into. And Jesus is that gate. He's the gate. He said, I'm the door.

He's the gate.

His love is a love that is good. It's steadfast. It endures forever. It endures forever. It is a better love.

A couple weeks ago, I ordered some stuff, and we're going. In a few moments, we're going to do something a little different. But before we do that, I want to ask you a few questions. Just want to ask you a few questions.

I just want you to ponder these in your own heart. Matter of fact, y' all just stand with me. Y' all stand with me.

If you don't mind. Would you just bow your heads, close your eyes? Sometimes we do that, sometimes we don't. I just try to go with what I feel like the Lord's saying.

I want to ask you a question this morning, if you're here, I want to ask you, have you accepted the peace that Jesus paid for?

Now, what does that mean? That means that in your heart and in your mind, you know beyond a shadow of doubt that you are a child of God. And if your life should end today, you have a security in knowing where you'll be for eternity.

Do you have the peace of knowing that in your own heart and in your own mind? It's not a question for the person beside you. It's a question for everybody in here. But what I'm saying is, make it personal. Have I accepted that peace that Jesus paid for?

Am I living in the love that sets free, delivers frees, frees from the opinion of man and people? Have you accepted that peace? If you're here this morning, you say, pastor Andrew, you know, I'm not 100%. I don't have complete peace that if I died today, I know I would be in eternity with Jesus. If that's you, just throw your hand up, put it right back down.

I don't know. It's okay not to know. But I believe you can leave here today knowing I don't know. And I want to know today.

Maybe you're here this morning and you say, pastor Andrew, I've accepted Jesus, but, man, I've just got a lot of stuff going on in my heart, in my mind, and maybe even in your home. Maybe it's in your marriage. You're just in turmoil. And you say, I really need the peace of God that passes understanding. Jesus said, my peace I give to you.

And it's not like the world gives, it's different. It's a peace that passes understanding. And there are times in this life, and I'm going to tell you, I've needed it. The past two weeks, I've needed. If I didn't have the peace of God in my life the past two weeks, who knows where my heart and mind would be.

But in the moments that I needed most, he showed up and he gave me peace. Even in troubled times. It doesn't mean peace of God, doesn't mean we're absent of trouble. It means that he'll give us peace in the midst of the storm.

So if you're here this morning, you say, pastor Andrew, I just need peace. There's some turmoil in my life, my heart, my mind right now, and I need peace. If that's you, just throw your hand up and put her right back down. I need peace. Yeah.

Oh, the things that make for peace. This is what I would say to you.

I want to say the same thing that Jesus said, in a sense, do not miss your moment of visitation.

Do not miss your moment of visitation. Jesus was right in the midst of these people, and because of religion or pride or all these other things in their heart, they rejected the very King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And I want to tell you this morning, if you're here, don't miss. He's in our midst, but don't miss your time of visitation. He's wanting to visit with you, and this is an invitation for that.

So they're going to begin to sing and play. And as they sing and play, if you raised your hand or maybe you should have but didn't, or if you're in need, you just need to come to this altar. I want you to come and just let him visit with you. Don't miss your visitation. Would you come?