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A reading this morning is from
Matthew chapter 21, verses 23 to 32. When he entered the temple, the
chief priests and the elders of the people came to him while
he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing
these things? And who gave you this authority?
Jesus said to them, I will ask you one thing, which if you tell
me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from
men? And they began reasoning among
themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us,
then why did you not believe him? But if we say from men,
we fear the people, for they all regard John as a prophet.
And answering Jesus, they said, we do not know. He also said
to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these
things. But what do you think? A man
had two sons, and he came to the first and said, son, go work
today in the vineyard. And he answered, I will not.
But afterward, he regretted it and went. The man came to the
second and said the same thing. And he answered, I will, sir,
but did not go. Which of the two did the will
of his father? They said, the first. Jesus said
to them, truly, I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes
will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came
to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him.
But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him, and you, seeing
this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
May God bless the reading of his word. Good morning, church family.
So glad you're here this morning. Israel's religious leaders question
the authority of Jesus. And they're essentially saying
to Jesus in the scriptures we just heard read, who's in charge
here? Jesus, you're in the temple,
which we feel is our jurisdiction. Jesus, you're teaching in the
temple without our sanction. By what authority do you do these
things? Who's in charge here anyway? Now I would submit to
you that that question is actually a good question. There's no problem
with the question at all. All of us should consider our
lives in light of the question of authority. Who's really in
charge of your life? Is it you? Or is it God? The salvation of sinners at its
core is to do with a change in authority, a change in who's
in charge, who's calling the shots, and for what purpose. So this interaction that we're
about to explore in some more detail, this interaction between
Jesus and the religious leaders of ancient Israel is for us more
than just a very interesting happening in the days before
our Savior's crucifixion. It is that, but it's so much
more than that. It is for each one of us here,
in the hearing of God's word, a cause for self-examination. What do I mean by that? I simply
mean my life's priorities, yours too, my motives, yours too, reveal
who is in charge. Now, I want us to just be sure
that we see it in the text. I'm not freelancing here. I'm
not just making this up. So, look at verse 23. It says,
when Jesus entered the temple, So there's our context. The chief
priests and the elders of the people came to Jesus while he
was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these
things? Who gave you this authority? Again, there's no trouble with
the question. In fact, it was a common thing
to test a rabbi with a difficult question. The question in and
of itself is not rude. It's the motive behind the question
That is really the issue here. These religious leaders, as we've
seen throughout Matthew's gospel, are insincere. They feign devotion
to God while their hearts are essentially and utterly self-absorbed. Self-motivated, you could say.
In fact, they ask Jesus this question of authority while they
know themselves to be plotting the murder of Jesus. And this plot will progress rapidly
from our perspective. This plot will deepen in Matthew's
accounting of it in chapter 21, 22, 23. And we're going to watch
Jesus over these next few Lord's Days as we're in Matthew's Gospel. Jesus using his divine authority
to confront insincerity. Who gives you the authority to
do these things? These things surely includes
all of the things that Jesus had been doing since that day
we now call Palm Sunday when he entered Jerusalem and received
worship. from the people who were accompanying
him on his journey up the hill to Jerusalem and to the temple,
the people who were pouring out of the city to greet him, including
children. Jesus actually received worship
from those who were hailing him as Israel's long-awaited Messiah. I mean, just think of the enormity
of Jesus receiving worship. What's Matthew showing us? Jesus
really is the King that God had promised to His people. He's
the eternal King. Come to receive worship from
people. Jesus then chased away the merchants
and the money changers, the profiteers who had turned the religious
practices in the temple into an opportunity for pure commerce
and Here is Jesus again. He's the great high priest. It is his jurisdiction to do
this, what he's doing in the temple. He is the one mediator
between God and man. And Matthew keeps showing us
this in his gospel. Jesus then did what? Well, he
healed the lame. He gave sight to the blind. That
is the purview of God himself. And now, says Matthew, Jesus
comes to the temple again on what is more than likely the
Wednesday prior to Calvary, and he's calling God's people to
repentance and faith in him. You say, well, how do we know
that? Well, Luke tells us in his accounting
of this that Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the
gospel. Jesus is the prophet above all
others. He's the one greater than Moses
who has come in these days before his crucifixion. He comes as
prophet and priest and king with great authority. And with his
great authority, before he goes to the cross for you and for
me, he's going to expose insincerity. among those who name God. And
you can be certain that his teaching on this day we're reading of
was teaching like no one had ever heard before. In fact, we
already know from Matthew's narrative that people were just mesmerized
by the teaching of Jesus. It was almost as if he had written
the Bible, right? In Matthew 7, after the Sermon
on the Mount, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for
he was teaching them as one having Authority. There it is again,
that word authority. It's the Greek word exousia,
and it's to do with power. It's to do with the right to
exert power over someone or something. And so I encourage you to think
within yourself this morning, with God's help, who has authority
in your life? Who or what is the dominant influence
in your life? The prevailing jurisdiction,
if you will, in your life? Authority merits submission. It merits deference. If you get pulled over by the
police, has that ever happened to you? Of course it has, some
of you. It's happened to me. It's happened
to me in the parking lot of this church. That's my rap sheet. I'm not proud of that. Always
signal before turning. The point of it is you readily
hand over your license and registration. You're not going to quibble about
that, are you? Because you're one who's under authority. Authority
merits submission. Authority merits deference. We do well, church, to ask ourselves,
to what ultimate authority do I submit? To what authority do
I live in deference to? Am I my own authority? Christianity, I'm talking about
real Christianity, not, you know, religiosity. Christianity stands
on this question of authority. Is Christ the recognized authority
over you in your life? Do you submit to his authority? He calls you to repent and believe
in him. Are you a repenting, believing
person? He calls you to follow Him, to
obey Him. Are you, however imperfectly,
by some measure, but with God's help, a Jesus-following, obeying
person? Who's in charge here when here
is your heart, your life? This question of authority is
what separates genuine Christianity from false religion. It separates
real religion from the religion of pretense and insincerity. So here come these religious
leaders. You still listening? Here come
these religious leaders and they're questioning Jesus as to his authority. And what we've noticed throughout
Matthew's gospel is that they've just been doing this all the
time. That's always been their issue. Jesus healed a paralyzed
man. We remember reading about that
back in Matthew 9. But he didn't heal the guy before
he declared his sins forgiven. And don't you know that that
was a shot across the bow among those who question the authority
of Jesus. Jesus alone has the authority
to forgive sins. Jesus is God. He has all authority. In fact,
one of the things you, the most important things you can know
about Jesus is that there is no higher authority than the
authority of Jesus. He doesn't get authority from
anywhere. He is the authority. And this divine authority angered
the religious leaders who saw it, who denied it, who fought
against it, who harbored hateful thoughts toward Jesus. All the
while, they wanted to appear among the people as those who
were devoted to God. And Jesus won't have that. So
he's gonna use his authority to expose their insincerity. When Jesus had forgiven the paralytic's
sins, for example, the scribes didn't do anything. They were
just thinking within themselves. Is he a blasphemer? Does he really
think he's God? And Jesus had authority to perceive
and to expose their unspoken thoughts. Matthew 9, 4, Jesus,
knowing their thoughts, said, why are you thinking evil in
your hearts? I mean, such is the authority
of Jesus. He doesn't need to be told by
anyone what's going on in anybody's heart. He perceives the reality
of our hearts here today. But so that you may know that
the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins, he said to the
paralytic, get up, pick up your bed, and go home. There it is
again, the authority of Jesus. It comes up again and again in
Matthew's gospel. I mean, I'm not the brightest
bulb, and I'm just spitballing here, but it must be kind of
a big deal. Resistance to Jesus is ultimately
about authority. So if we fast forward now from
Matthew 9 to Matthew 21, what's happening here? Temple teaching,
from a human perspective, was the purview of the Jewish religious
leaders. It was their exclusive privilege
to to credential and vet and otherwise endorse whoever was
doing the teaching. Jesus was neither credentialed
or vetted, if you will, by man, certainly not by the religious
establishment. And they just wanna know, well,
what gives Jesus the right to teach the way he's teaching?
What gives Jesus the right to expect submission and deference
from the people, from the religious leaders, from anybody. Look at Jesus' answer. I will
also ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I will also tell
you by what authority I do these things. Now, the first time you
read that, you kind of chuckle, and you think, well, I mean,
that's just clever, isn't it? Well, it is clever, but it's
so much more than that. I mean, it was not uncommon at
all in rabbinic circles to answer a question with a question. So
this isn't a cheat, although Jesus certainly knew that a confrontation
could move these men further along in their murderous plot
than God's timetable called for. So here is Jesus using his authority
to even micromanage what people will do in the circumstances
that bring him to Calvary. But he responds with a question
of his own. Verse 25, the baptism of John
was from what source? From heaven or from men? And you see, this is not a difficult
question to understand. It's not a difficult question
to answer. That's the whole point. It's
an impossible question to answer when your heart is insincere
in its devotion to God. John the Baptist was God's anointed
appointed forerunner to his Messiah, Jesus. John's ministry was preparatory
in that sense. He was calling the people to
repentance. His was a baptism of repentance. This was preparing the hearts
of God's people to receive, to believe upon Christ. And multitudes,
the gospel writers tell us, multitudes responded to John's Gospel if
you will the call to repentance And at first it even seemed like
some of the religious leaders Would get right into the water
With John and the rest of the people Matthew 3 told us that
there were Pharisees and Sadducees who came to John for baptism,
but John denied them. Why did he deny them? This is
one of those talking in church things Well, I've begun something now,
haven't I? No, you got it. I heard hypocrites. I heard insincere. John knew their hearts were not
in alignment nor allegiance to the call of God to repent. They
simply wanted to appear that way to the people. They wanted
to score points with the public, with a religious ritual, and
John with God's help obviously called them out on it. And so
here is Jesus perceiving in the religious leaders this prevailing
insincerity. They haven't changed at all. And you know, we're meant to
think about that with respect to ourselves. Jesus perceives
the insincere. He sees that. Jesus perceives any and all insincerity
among us in this room now. So we can just get that part
out of the way. And Jesus uses his authority
to highlight for these religious leaders their own insincerity
with this question about John the Baptist. Which is it, the
baptism of John, from heaven or from men? And they began reasoning
among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say
to us, then why did you not believe him? We'll be discredited, we'll
be exposed as phonies. But if we say from men, verse
26, we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.
Luke tells us that these guys worried that the people would
stone them if they dissed John. Because John was so revered among
the people and John the Baptist was seen by so many of the masses
as God's own prophet, as he clearly was. Either way, these men have
a problem with their answer. And that's the trouble with insincerity,
when it's perceived by Jesus, is you've got a big problem.
Because either way you turn, the results are the same. You
get exposed. Their problem then is the problem
faced by all who are religious but insincere. And I want us
to just think about what motivates this kind of activity. What's going on with these guys
at their core? See if you can relate to this.
What motivates anyone to feign submission to divine authority. How about love of self? I mean,
that is mankind's besetting sin, really, isn't it? Love of self.
The religious leaders do not love God more than they love
themselves. Their religion ultimately is
about them. They want to maintain their grip
on their power and their influence and their public persona. And going through the motions
with some religion helps that for them. And love of self has an ugly
twin, fear of man. Fear of man. The religious leaders
cannot risk offending the people because what other people think
is what feeds love of self. Self has a voracious appetite
in that sense. Self is never satisfied. So that
fear of man, fear of what other people think becomes a prison
of sorts. You're hearing this. And friend, let me just say that
if you're here this morning on this first Lord's Day of 2025,
and you find yourself, because your
conscience tells you this, imprisoned by this insatiable love of self,
imprisoned by this oppressive fear of man, Using religion even
to manage what others think. Let me just encourage you. Jesus not only perceives it,
but he exposes it as a mercy. That's what he's doing with these
religious leaders. They answered Jesus and said,
we do not know. Well, that's a lie. They obviously
do have an answer to the question. Jesus also said to them, neither
will I tell you by what authority I do these things. You see, Jesus
not only perceives their insincerity, he's exposing it. Not for the sake of shaming them
only, for the sake of awakening them to the reality of the condition
of their heart. How many of you know, as uncomfortable
as it is to be exposed as a phony, it's a mercy from God. Jesus exposes the insincere. Jesus does it with this question
about John the Baptist, and then he doubles down on it with this
simple parable. Look at verse 28. He immediately
goes into this story. What do you think? A man had
two sons, and he came to the first and said, son, go work
today in the vineyard. And he answered and said, I will
not. Anybody have kids? I mean, there
you go. Anybody been a kid? I mean, there
we are. There's humanity right there.
But afterward, he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and
said the same thing, and he answered and said, I will, sir. But he
did not go. Anybody here been a kid? Which of the two did the will
of his father? This story is so simple, so easy
to understand. The first son defiantly refuses
to submit to the Father's will, but later regrets that defiance
and does the Father's will. Friends, this is a picture of
repentance. This is what it looks like to
repent from sin and turn to God the Son, turn to Christ. Repentance
from sin is an act of surrender to divine authority. It's to
say, I've been in charge of my life until this day. I've made
nothing but a mess of it. I turn from that and I turn to
Christ. I submit to his gracious authority. Is that you? What about the second son? I
mean, he says the right thing to his dad. People listening
in on that would have said, well, that kid, that's the keeper.
I mean, what a sweet response. But, of course, he doesn't follow
through. He has no intention of obeying
the Father. Why? Well, again, self desires
to appear devout without actually being devout. Self fears the
very thought of appearing less than by others. Which of the two boys did the
will of the father? Obviously, the first. And again, I just urge you to
not miss the opportunity Jesus is showing here in extending
this challenge to the insincere. It isn't just that he perceives
it, and it isn't just that he exposes it for the sake of exposing
it. Jesus challenges the insincere. I wonder if the Word of God in
the hands of the Spirit of God is doing that even now. Challenging,
confronting the insincere. Why do I urge you to take a few
moments in the quiet of your own heart to consider this with
respect to yourself. It's because the insincere don't
have to stay that way. That's why. These men are being given an
opportunity to change course. Embarrassing as this situation
is for them, The first son in the parable proves the point.
He starts out in rebellion, he regrets that, changes course,
and does the will of the father. And friends, when it comes to
the gospel, initial responses are not always ultimate responses. So if you're here today, of all
days, and you didn't see this coming, It's a work of the Spirit
of God. But God in his mercy is saying
to you, you need to change course. Don't miss the opportunity. Be
done with the pretense. You who are denying the authority
of Christ with your life, You've denied His call to repent and
believe in Him. You've repeatedly gone through
the motions of being a good church person, hiding out in the company
of God's people without actually surrendering to Him from the
heart. Let me encourage you this morning,
you don't have to stay in that spot. And if you're here today
thinking, well good heavens, I thought in 2025 the guy would
be kinder and gentler. Listen, the tone of the message
is the tone of the text. I'm not making stuff up. Jesus
is confronting the insincere religious people of his day. Spurgeon puts it this way, he
says, my friends, It is one thing to go to church or chapel. It
is quite another thing to go to God. And wouldn't this be
a year for you if it were the year that you could say, you
know, that was the year I went to God. That was the year I was
done with all this churchified stuff I've been doing with an
insincere heart. And I came to Christ because
he changed my heart. And he gave me a love for God.
He gave me an appetite for the things of God. He gave me a desire
to obey the word of God, however imperfectly. I wonder, are you
hearing this? Well, the second son in the parable
settles for appearing devout. He just says the right stuff.
Just like these Jewish religious leaders. just like religious
people can be prone to in our day. J.C. Royal in his commentary
on Luke puts it this way, he says, open sin and avowed unbelief
no doubt slay their thousands, but profession without practice
slays its tens of thousands. Jesus perceives and exposes and
challenges the insincere because it is among the religious folk
that this rebellion seems to be so common. And I mentioned
earlier, you still with me? I mentioned earlier that first responses don't have to
be permanent responses, you realize that cuts both ways. I mean,
is there such a person today among us, I wonder, who thinks
of their Christianity as a decision made way back when? so that when
people ask you, are you a Christian? You say, oh yeah, because 20
years ago I prayed this and I even got in the tank with the other
people being baptized. Well, not with them, but you
know what I mean, same day. Let me just encourage you to
think of your life right now. Who's in charge here? Is it possible that your hearts
Lack of present proximity to Jesus is simply showing you that
you were not sincere in naming Him as Savior and King. This ultimate evidence of repentance
and faith in Christ is devotion from the heart, obedience from
the heart. Perfection, no. A new motive,
though. A new heart. Not just religious
words and activities. That's the lesson of the parable
here. You can put it more simply, I
guess. A person cannot believe in Christ sincerely apart from
obeying him. And I would submit to you, church,
that that is a message that all of us, with God's help, might
find ourselves preaching to others in whatever our context is in
our community this year. Because it is a popular false
gospel in our day, right here in conservative Idaho, that you
can name Jesus and not follow Jesus. Jesus said to the church in Thyatira,
whose members were going through the motions of religion, and
in reality they're all caught up in idolatry, and he said this,
I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to
each one of you according to your deeds. How interesting,
your deeds, why your deeds? Well, he's acknowledging that
righteousness flows from those who know the righteous one. What
happened to the fig tree? Again, talking church thing.
Yeah, it was judged, right? It withered from its roots. We
saw that last week. Why? No, it wasn't fulfilling
the purpose of a fig tree. A fig tree's supposed to have
some figs on it. Now, it could be, and this is
the part where I'm starting to wind down, but we're not done
yet. It could be that you're thinking,
well, is there no tenderness in a message like this? Is that
what's happening? Because I thought he said something
about this going all the way through Matthew 23. I mean, is
that what we're in for, really? Well, I urge you just to consider
what Jesus has done with his authority. No one ever had the authority
that Jesus had on planet Earth. Jesus is God. But listen, no one on Earth ever
lived under authority as Jesus did on Earth. Jesus lived under
the authority of his earthly parents perfectly. He had imperfect earthly parents. Some of you are parents, some
of you have had parents, you know all about this, right? Jesus
lived under the authority of his earthly parents perfectly.
Jesus lived under the authority of a flawed, godless human government
perfectly. Jesus lived under the authority
of God's own holy law, His law, perfectly. Jesus lived under the influence
of the Holy Spirit every day of His life on earth, perfectly. You notice the pattern, perfection. The one who has all authority
lived under authority for the express purpose of offering himself
as a substitute for you and for me. A substitute and a sacrifice
for all of us natural born insincere people. So that all who simply surrender
to his gracious rule. benefit from both expressions
of his authority, his perfect submission. Oh, how we benefit
from the perfect submission of Christ to authority. And also his perfect rule. And
so I urge you, friend, run to Christ now. And we who are believers enjoy
his authority over sin, not to condemn you. Think about this.
How many of you are glad for this today, as a Christian, that
there is no ability that sin has to condemn you? Because Jesus
took your condemnation for you. He is eager to use his divine
authority to shelter you from God's wrath for your sin. What
a scandal this gospel is. Romans 8 says, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. His shed blood
at Calvary releases you from all condemnation, ushers you
into God's eternal favor. How can you not? want to be under
the authority of this king. Run to Christ. Enjoy his authority
over death itself. I don't know if you checked the
stats, but you're gonna die. Me too. 100% death rate among
people. I mean, that's the math, right? This is the curse of sin. Jesus has defeated sin and sin's
death for his people. And it's in his submitting to
the authority of God's justice that he makes possible you and
I to have a share in that victory. Rising again from the grave as
he has, he has justified his people. And I wonder if there's
anyone else here this morning who can say, praise God for this.
We don't live in fear. Jesus said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me will live
even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die ever. Do you believe this? In other
words, that's not my question, it's his. Now you know where that comes
from. because it's meant to inform
the way you look at and live life as one who is under the
authority of Jesus. Run to Christ and enjoy his authority
to defend you from Satan's relentless attacks, to change you from the
inside out, to empower you to live to the glory of God. This
is what Christ has done and is doing with his authority for
his people. So yes, Jesus does perceive the
insincere. And Jesus exposes the insincere. And Jesus confronts or challenges
the insincere. But you know, he only does so
that we might run to him. He says in Matthew 10, everyone
who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before
my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before
men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. So, we do well to ask ourselves
this day, which son describes you in the parable? Because the
Jesus who perceives and exposes and challenges insincerity, one
day will be the Jesus who judges insincerity. Look at verse 31. Which of the two did the will
of his father? And they said, the first. And Jesus said to them, truly
I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into
the kingdom of God before you. For Jesus came to you in the
way of, for John came to you in the way of righteousness and
you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes
did believe him, and you, seeing this, did not even regret afterward
so as to believe him. Just think about that. Tax collectors,
money-grubbing, self-focused traitors to the Jewish nation,
people like Matthew, repented and turned to Christ and found
shelter in him. found purpose submitting to his
authority. And to think that prostitutes,
sexually immoral, ritually unclean from a Jewish perspective, women
like Rahab who has her name appear in the genealogy
of Jesus in Matthew's gospel, how interesting. To think that both types are
closer to the kingdom of heaven than the outwardly religious
but insincere, how can that not be a stunning judgment that rings
out even to this day? Well, let me just end with some
encouragement. Do you mind being encouraged?
Then we'll go back to the other stuff. When it comes to your life, just
ask yourself, who's in charge? By God's grace, is Jesus in charge? This word authority, as it turns
out, is big in your New Testament. It comes up all over the place.
This Greek word, exousia. And it refers not only to power,
but it refers to privilege. And I wanna encourage you to
just think about that. To have authority, God says,
is to have privilege. We even think of that in English. We think of, well, we say, well,
that doctor has privileges. Well, what does that mean? Well,
it means that he or she can practice medicine at that hospital, right? So we know what that is. They
have authority to do that. When you get under the authority
of King Jesus, friend, you are privileged like no one else on
planet Earth. Only the people of God Know this. Have this. Listen to John 1. Those who were his own did not
receive him. We just read of that. But as
many as received Jesus, to them he gave the right, the exousia,
the privilege, to become children of God. Even to those who believe
in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That's what
is given to all who surrender to the gracious authority of
Jesus. The right, the privilege to be
called a child of God. Are you a child of God? And this change in authority
that happens through repentance and faith is a change that develops
and expresses itself every single day of our life. This is what
we're living toward. Listen to Revelation 22. It says,
blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the
authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into
the city. I mean, what an image this is. People saved by grace, redeemed
by the kindness of God in Christ, are given the privilege of being
called the children of God, living toward this privilege that is
everlasting life in His presence. Again, how can you not submit
to the authority of such a gracious King? All right, that's it. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank
you so much for these astonishing confrontations that we see in
your Word. Lord, we thank you so much for
the raw honesty of your Word to us in every way. that you have given us a king
who sees all and exposes all and challenges all that we might
run to him for safety, for shelter from all that one day will most
certainly be judged with finality. And Lord, I just thank you for
the reminder from your word this morning that for the insincere, that initial
response to you, Lord, need not be the final response. So I ask
Jesus that you would change hearts among us today. And it does remind us as your
people, Lord, that you are faithfully and in strength killing off the
remaining insincerity in us. Lord, we wanna be a people who
love you truly. We wanna be a people who obey
you quickly. Lord, we wanna be a people who
live in light of this liberty that is ours from condemnation
and even death itself. So Lord, we pray that you would
make it so. And we pray that you would find us soft and shapeable
in your hands. And we ask you this for your
namesake, amen.
Who's in Charge Here?
Series The King and His Kingdom
| Sermon ID | 1525215141950 |
| Duration | 49:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Matthew 21:23-32 |
| Language | English |
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