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If you would please turn to the
Gospel of Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. We read beginning
with verse 23 down to verse 32. And when he entered the temple,
the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him
as he was teaching. and said, by what authority are
you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?
Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question, and if
you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what
authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where did
it come from? From heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves
saying, just stop there for a moment and realize what you're reading.
The chief priest and the elders come up and they challenge Jesus
based upon his teaching in the temple, based upon what he's
doing. And they ask him, who gave you
the authority to do this? And he says, well, I'm going
to ask you one question. And if you answer my question,
I'll answer yours. The baptism of John the Baptist,
his ministry, where did it come from? Heaven or man? And I love this, they say, let's
call the huddle. They discussed it among themselves
saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why then did
you not believe him? Now folks, believe John the Baptist
about what? Well, he called for repentance,
right? But he comes as the way-preparer, doesn't he? He comes pointing
to a person, doesn't he? Behold the Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of the world. And who's he talking about? Jesus. So if John's ministry came from
heaven, they would believe in Jesus. If we say from heaven, He will
say to us, why then did you not believe Him? That is, why don't
you believe in Me? Verse 26, But if we say from
man, we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was
a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do
not know. And he said to them, neither
will I tell you by what authority I do these things. What do you
think? A man had two sons. And he went
to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today.
And he answered, I will not. But afterward he changed his
mind and went. And he went to the other son
and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir. But did not go. Which of the
two did the will of his father? Interesting dynamic here, isn't
it? I mean, he has just shut down these religious leaders
in terms of their questioning his authority. And he immediately
launches into, our Lord launches into this teaching tool, this
parable, and he's engaging them. Which of the two did the will
of his father? They said, the first. Jesus said to them, truly I say
to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes, go 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 the prostitutes believed him, and even when you
saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe
him." Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we ask your
blessing upon your word that we've just read. We ask that
you would help us, Lord, to declare it. rightly, accurately, and
powerfully. Father, we ask you to take your
word, even if it is spoken quietly this morning, and make it loud
to our hearts. Lord, you command us to seek
your face, and this morning we seek your face. We need you. All in this place who have already
trusted in your Son, We need today to be fed, to be taught,
to be enriched spiritually with the truth. And Lord, those in
our midst today who do not know you, and we know that in all
likelihood there are many. Lord, their need today is to
see. Their need today is to live.
Their need today is to repent and to trust in your Son. And
we ask for them or that they would be saved. We pray for this
in Jesus' name. Amen. Mercies that are rejected become
instruments of judgment. When God shows Himself gracious
and kind, we talked about this recently, the common grace of
God, the way that God is kind and good to the entire world
of humanity. Those graces represent the sincere
kindness of God. Those graces represent God leading
men to repentance. They are overtures from God.
They are a kind reaching out from God to the sinner, calling
sinful man to recognize His need for God. When those graces are
refused and resisted by sinful human beings, those graces are
actually transformed, as it were, into greater guilt. God has been
kind to you. God has been good to you. God
has reached out to you. But you have rejected Him so
that one day those graces from God will stand as testimonies
of the fact that you deserve His judgment even more. Mercies refused become instruments
of judgment. But they were real mercies. They
were real graces. When Jesus taught in parables,
There is a sense in which those parables were instruments of
judgment. He spoke in parables so that
people seeing might not see and hearing might not hear. They
are instruments of judgment, but even then there's grace in
them. Jesus is communicating in a way
that is meant to expose, we might even say embarrass,
I mean, if it were possible to embarrass someone into repentance,
then let them be embarrassed. The religious leaders of the
Jews, they were proud of heart. They saw themselves as wise and
knowledgeable. And so Jesus dealt with them
in a way that demonstrated they were not as wise as they imagined
themselves to be. They were not as knowledgeable
as they thought themselves to be. The very way that He just
answered Their challenge to His authority, I mean, it just puts
them in their place, doesn't it? By what authority do you
do this? Well, answer me one question
and I'll answer you. And in the wisdom of the Son
of God, He presents them a question that in their own sinfulness
provides them with a dilemma that they're not willing to deal
with. If we say that John's ministry was from heaven, then we prove
ourselves to be sinful because we should have believed him.
But if we say that John's ministry is from the earth, if it's from
man, then we're in danger of the wrath of the people because
they think he was a prophet. So our answer is no answer. We
don't know, which was a dishonest answer. They had an opinion,
didn't they? So Jesus deals with them in a
way that exposes them. He deals in a way that puts them
in their place. But what I want you to understand
is, even though this was an instrument of judgment and the parables
that follow, this is also an extension of the grace of God
even to these religious leaders who deserve the wrath of God.
Because though the parables were instruments of judgment These
religious leaders had enough sense, even in their sinfulness
and blindness, they had enough sense to know, Jesus, you are
talking about us. These parables relate to us. We are pictured in these parables. They knew that. In fact, notice
what follows the parable we just read. Look at verse 33, here
another parable. There was a master of a house
who planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a
wine press in it, and built a tower, and leased it to tenants, and
went into another country. When the season for fruit drew
near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another,
and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants,
more than the first, and they did the same to them. He sent
his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when
the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the
heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they
took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They said
to him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let
out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits
in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Have you
never read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and
it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom
of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing
its fruits. and the one who falls on this
stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it
will crush him." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard
his parables, not just this one but all of them, they perceived
that he was speaking about them. They get this. That they are
the subject of his parables. Which means that what Jesus was
doing He was teaching in a way that if his desired aim was answered, they would
be awakened. They understand it's about them.
They could be awakened. They could turn from their sin.
They could repent. They could trust in God's Son. But they don't. Now when I say
they could, I don't mean they could from a natural point of
view. I'm talking about man's responsibility. They are responsible
to see. They are responsible to repent.
They are responsible to turn. And if they had it in them to
desire that, they could. But they won't. So that these
instruments of judgment, which are also instruments of grace,
at the end of the day will result in a greater condemnation. What is this parable about that
we just read, verses 28-32? What is its message? Look again
at the parable. He says, what do you think? A
man had two sons. So you have one father, two boys. And he went to the first and
said, By the way, that is an affectionate
address. Son, go and work in the vineyard
today. It's instruction. It's a commandment.
It's an imperative. This is what I want you to do,
son. And he answered, this son answered,
I will not. It is short. It is rude. It is defiant. It is unmistakably
disobedient. No. I will not go work. What does the father do? He moves
on to his other son. Verse 30, And he went to the other son
and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir. Respectful. From the standpoint of appearances,
obedient. Not even, I will go. I go, sir.
I'm on my way. We can already see him moving
out to do what his father wants. But what happens with the first
son, verse 29? The first son, the rude, unmistakably disobedient
son, afterward changes his mind. Some versions have, he regrets
it. Because there is in this word a connection with repentance.
It's not the usual word used for repentance. It doesn't speak
necessarily just the word itself of spiritual repentance. But
this son afterward cares. Cares about what his father wants. Cares about what his father has
commanded. Cares that he has been disobedient. And so he changes his mind. He repents and he goes. The second son, the son that
on the face of it seems obedient, seems respectful, in fact uses
words that sound obedient. What does he do? Verse 30, he
did not go. He appeared obedient, he sounded
obedient, But he didn't do what his father said. Now Jesus has
a question for these religious leaders, verse 31. Which of the
two did the will of his father? Which son was obedient? And out of their own mouths,
they acknowledge that they get the truth of this parable, they
said the first, that is the son who at first said he would not
go, but did go, that son is the obedient son. The son who said
he would go, but did not go, that son is a disobedient son. Then Jesus applies it. Truly,
I say to you. Now that puts it in solemn terms. Truly. Jesus is saying in effect,
listen up. I say to you, He is applying
this parable directly to them. The tax collectors and the prostitutes
go into the kingdom of God and you don't. That's what He means
when He says before you. He doesn't mean that one goes
in earlier than the other. The tax collectors and the prostitutes
go into the kingdom of God and you don't. How can you say such
a thing, Jesus? Verse 32, for John came to you
in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But
the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him and even when you
saw it, Even when you saw it, you did not afterward change
your minds and believe him. Now I want us to understand exactly
the comparison that Jesus is giving us in this parable, giving
to them. I do not believe the comparison is this. John the
Baptist came preaching, and at first the tax collectors and
the prostitutes did not believe him, but afterwards they changed
their minds and they did believe him. And John came and you initially
acted like you did believe him, but at the end of the day you
didn't believe him. I don't think that's the comparison.
Because no doubt there were some tax collectors and prostitutes
who believed John when they first heard him. And the Pharisees,
the leaders of the people, they were They were only giving the
appearance of receiving John's words at the very beginning.
John challenged them, if you remember. He said, Who told you
to flee from the wrath to come, you brood of vipers? Bring forth
fruits in keeping with repentance. I mean, John recognized from
the outset, these people don't believe me. I don't think that's
the comparison. I think the comparison is this.
On the one hand, you have sons. Okay, you have God. And in one
sense, He's the Father of all mankind as Creator. Not spiritual
Father, but Father from the standpoint of creation. Malachi 2.10 says
this, Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? So you have one Father and you
have in this parable two different kinds of sons. Or I think you
could understand this One father, when you remember that the gospel
goes first to the Jews, you have one father and two kinds of physical
offspring of Abraham. Two sons. And one kind of son has been
blatantly disobedient to his father. He doesn't even give
the appearance of righteousness. He is disobedient on the face
of his father's commands. No one would mistake him for
being an obedient son. That is, you have tax collectors
and prostitutes. The most notorious sinners in
the minds and in the eyes of the religious leaders, the worst
of sinners, A tax collector, someone who is a betrayer of
his nation, works for the Romans. And then a prostitute, someone
who is blatantly immoral. In your face, sinners. Taking the Father's commands
and saying, I will not. And there's no mistaking it.
But on the other hand, you have another kind of son who wants
to give the appearance of obedience, who will use words of obedience,
but even as he's giving the appearance of obedience and using the words
of obedience, his practices demonstrate he is not an obedient son. Who
do you think that represents? They're religious leaders of
the Jews. And here comes John on the scene. As the Bible says
in verse 32, he comes in the way of righteousness. That is,
John is a righteous man and he is speaking righteous words.
He comes in the way of truth. He comes with the message of
truth. And he is pointing to Jesus Himself. And you have these
two kinds of sons. And what is happening through
the ministry of John the Baptist? What is happening with these
rebellious, in-your-face, sinful kinds of people? They are repenting. They are repenting. Yes, they've been living disobedient
to the Father. Yes, they have been saying, I
will not. But through the ministry of John
the Baptist, there has been afterthought. There has been aftercare. Their
hearts are being changed and transformed. And there is repentance. And you know what? It must have
been a powerful thing to see. No doubt, it was a powerful thing
to see. Do you notice something else in verse 32? And even when
you saw it, Here you are in all your pride,
and in all of your religion, and in all of your professed
obedience, and you know what you were witnesses to? You were
witnesses to the power of God transforming the hearts of tax
collectors and prostitutes. Even when you saw their repentance, you did not afterward change
your minds. They changed theirs, but you
didn't change yours. You did not believe Him. So that
the Pharisees, the scribes, chief priests, they have the reputation
of obedience, they want to give the appearance of obedience,
they use words of obedience, but while these blatant sinful
sons are changing their minds and their lives are being transformed,
the so-called obedient sons continue to demonstrate their actual defiance
toward the Father. Because though they say they
will obey, they do not do His will. And what is the outcome
of that? The outcome is that you have
repentant sons who enter the kingdom, And you have sons that
have the reputation for obedience, but do not do the will of their
father, and they will not enter the kingdom." If you get the
picture, would you say, Amen? Now let's apply the parable here
today. First of all, there is an application
to notorious sinners. Perhaps there's someone like
this here this morning. that no one would ever mistake
you for an obedient son of God. When it comes to the commands
of God, when it comes to the command of God, by the way, never
forget this, conversion is described in Scripture in places, in terms
of obedience. We preach, we teach, we go forth
searching for obedience to the faith. The obedience of the gospel. We declare God's command that
sinners are to repent and believe in His Son. All obedience to
God begins with that obedience. That I hear the gospel and I
turn from my sins. Here's what it means to obey
God. I trust in God's Son and Him alone for a right standing
with God, for the forgiveness of my sins, for the gift of righteousness,
for eternal life. That's where all obedience begins. And perhaps there is someone
here this morning that you have heard the gospel, and you have
heard the gospel, and you have heard the gospel, but you have
to this point rejected the gospel, and no one would ever confuse
you for an obedient son. Perhaps you've even been living
just an in-your-face sinful life. The first thing I want to say
to you, is that you will not be saved unless you repent. You will not be saved unless
you are willing to turn from yourself, turn from your sin,
turn from the lies of Satan, and trust in Christ. I want you
to understand something. In this parable, what is virtuous
about the first son is not that he just said no. And there are
people who think that way. Well, I may be a sinner, but
at least I'm not a hypocrite. Anybody ever heard that one?
I may not be a Christian, but I don't even pretend to be. I
mean, at least I am myself. At least I live like I live.
And don't try to hide it. And you know what's weird about
that? Is sinful man actually takes some pride in his blatant
sinfulness. And I want to say this morning
on the authority of Scripture, there is nothing praiseworthy
about blatant sinning. Nothing. The first son's initial
response was rude, disrespectful, unbecoming of any son. That God
would shower down on this earth Common grace that he would give
sunshine and rain and breath and food and clothing and housing
and then sons would say I Will not do your will there's nothing
praiseworthy in that It is disgustingly sinful So if you're the blatant
sinner this morning, I do not congratulate you on your blatant
sinning But I have good news for you that if you will change
your mind, if you will regret saying no,
and if today you will turn from your disobedient, rebellious
ways toward God and do your Father's bidding, that is, if you will
listen to your Creator and trust in the only Savior available
to you and place your faith in Christ. Today you will be counted
an obedient son. And God will change your heart
and your life and make you a new man or a new woman. Will you
hear His commandment today in a different way? Will you stop
saying no? Will you stop rebelling? Will
you stop going your own way? Will you today turn to the Lord
God and to His Son and live? Just because you've been a notorious
sinner doesn't mean you have to perish. If today you will
hear the gospel, if today you will obey the gospel, If today
you'll repent and believe, you too will be saved regardless
of your notorious past. But there's another application,
isn't there? Not just for notorious sinners, but there's an application
to sons who only give the appearance
of obedience, only the appearance of obedience. Someone who is
very religious, and there are many of these people in our churches. Countless people. Didn't our
Lord say that on that day many will say to Him, Lord, Lord,
have we not? Have we not preached in Your
name? Have we not done many wonderful things in Your name? And He will
say unto them, depart from Me Ye that work iniquity. That is,
ye that did not do the will of your Father. Ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Oh, you give the appearance of obedience. You have a reputation for obedience. You want to leave the impression
that you are obedient. You use the words of obedience. But in truth, you are not obedient,
because you do not do the will of the One whom you call Father."
What is happening with the religious leaders of the Jews? What is
happening? They have said that God is their Father. They have
said that they are sons of Abraham in the spiritual sense. They
have the words of God. They have the law. They have
the temple. They have the sacrifices. And they have identified themselves
with all of that religion. We are sons of the Most High. We are obedient sons. We know
the law. We keep the law. We are obedient
sons. And you know what's happened
to them? They have now come face to face with the God whom they
have said that they love. But they don't love Him. They
have come face-to-face in the person of Jesus Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus said, if you've seen Me,
you've seen the Father. They have come face-to-face with
the God whom they have professed, but they don't like Him face-to-face. They don't want Him. They don't
desire Him. And when they are commanded to
believe in Him, they say, no, I won't do it. I go, sir. But
then they don't go. Can I say to you this morning,
there are people who name the name of Jesus, who say that they
are Christians, who say they love the God of the Bible, who
say they love the Son of God, but then when they come face
to face with His commands, when they come face to face with His
Word, face to face with His truth, They discover and they make known
by their actions they don't love the one whom they say they love.
They don't like the one whom they say they believed in. I'm
a servant of Christ, but I want out of my marriage. Well, the
Son of God teaches that you're not to divorce your husband.
Do you still believe in that, Jesus? Do you believe in Him
now? Do you love Him now? Will you
follow Him now? You say you want to leave the
impression that you're a follower of the true God, but now you've
come face to face with the true God in His commands. What will
you do? Isn't it true that we have countless
numbers of people in our churches who have a self-styled Jesus? A Jesus that they've created,
a Jesus that they like, who is the result of their idolatrous
mind. But then when they come face
to face with the real Jesus, the Jesus of the Scriptures,
the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus who is Lord, the Jesus who commands
them, they won't go. They say, I go, sir. But then
when he commands, they don't go. What do they reveal? They aren't really obedient sons.
Putting it in the salvation context, they aren't sons at all. They're
pseudo sons. They give the impression of being
sons, but they don't know the Lord at all. So you may be a
notorious sinner, but if today you will repent and trust in
Christ, you'll be saved. Tax collectors and prostitutes
can enter the kingdom. But you may be very religious
and everyone thinks you're an upstanding person and you use
the language of faith, but if you don't obey when God commands,
you give evidence that you're not a son at all. There's an
application. Third, there's an application
to all professing sons, that examines us and proves us. And
it would be this, what do you do with the news that prostitutes
and tax collectors are entering the kingdom? Jesus says in verse
32, the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed Him. They
believed Him. What was the result of that?
Verse 31, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the
kingdom of God. And you don't. They go into the
kingdom of God. How do you respond to the news
that notorious sinners can enter the kingdom by believing God's
message concerning His Son? By trusting in Christ, the most
notorious sinner today, can be forgiven, cleansed, and enter
the kingdom of God. How do you respond to that? In
witnessing situations, I've met with this, I'm sure many of you
have as well. You explain the gospel to someone, and they say
something like this, are you telling me that someone like
a mass murderer, and they always take the most extreme example,
of course, that they can take, someone like a Jeffrey Dahmer,
someone like a Charles Manson. Are you telling me that if that
person asks Jesus into their life, receives Christ before
they die, that they'll be in heaven, but my neighbor who has
lived a good life, a moral life, an upstanding life, has never
murdered anyone, has never, and they have their list of stuff
the person's never done. You're telling me that just because
they don't receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, they're going to
be in hell? And what is the answer to that, beloved? Yes. If a mass murderer truly received
Christ, which is to say He's a new creation now, right? He's
not a mass murderer anymore, right? His sins have been forgiven. His heart has been transformed.
If there is true conversion there, if he's a tax collector or a
prostitute, but he turns and repents and believes, where will
he be? Heaven! But if someone lives
what men call a moral life, but reject the Son of God, where
will they be? Hell. Why does that offend men? Why might that offend someone
here this morning? Why does that offend us? Because we think that mankind
is basically good. Let's make it more personal.
We think that we're good. Do you think this statement offended
the Pharisees? Why did it offend them? You're not telling me a
tax collector or a prostitute is better than me. What do you
mean they go in before me? A tax collector? A prostitute? Better than me? You see, beloved,
if you believe the Bible, we're all tax collectors. We're all
prostitutes by nature. We haven't perhaps all committed
the same sins, but we're all sinners, deserving of the wrath
of God, so that if salvation happens, it is grace. The only
way for one to be saved is to turn from the proud, vain imagination
that they're good, and to admit they're a sinner, and to see
that Christ is their only hope, so that they turn to Him. I'm the tax collector. I'm the
prostitute who needed Jesus. It tests whether you're a son
or not. How do you view that news? The tax collectors and
prostitutes enter the kingdom. Does it make you hopeful? Do
you say, well then there's hope even for me. How do you think
of yourself in comparison with them? Are you better? Beloved,
do you know what's wrong with many of our churches? We look
at the world out there and we forget that's us before we met
Jesus. Somehow we get it all mixed up
in our head. We think the church is about
morality. It's not about morality. Listen,
God's people are to live moral, holy, upright lives. That's what we're commanded to
be. Be ye holy even as I am holy. And the Lord's church should
be a pure place. People living, striving to live
pure lives. No debate about that, but never
forget something. The only reason why there's holiness
in the people of God is because of the grace of God. It's not
about, well, this is a moral club and that's an immoral club.
Come be a part of the moral club. No, listen, this is a redeemed
people. That's an unredeemed people.
And the only way they're going to be redeemed is for the redeemed
ones to take the good news that we've received that Jesus saves
sinners. He doesn't save good men, there
aren't any. He saves sinners. This gets to another point and
an interesting one to me. Isn't it interesting that in
this parable, what the son is asked to do is go work in a vineyard.
And I don't want to press the parable too far because this
parable is meant to communicate one truth. It's not what you
say, it's what you do that demonstrates your faith. The obedient son
at the end of the day is the one who obeys his father. But
I know this. We have been commanded by our
Father to go to work. The fields are white for harvest. You have been redeemed. Your
sins have been forgiven. Your heart has been transformed.
You have good news. And there's a world around you
that's dying full of people who are right now as you once were. And where mercy has been received,
there's a heart of mercy. Where grace has been received,
there are eyes that see the possibilities of the grace of God. If God can
save me, He can save anyone. And the Father has commanded
me and commanded you to go out into that field and to share
the good news. What do you do when your Father
says, Do you say, I go, sir, and then
do nothing? Because there is no real heart
of compassion. There is no real recognition
of the grace of God. Folks, proud people have no heart
for evangelism because they think the reason for their goodness
is explained by them. What's wrong with those people?
They could be good like me if they wanted to be. Is that Christianity? What's the answer? What's wrong
with those people? They're blind. They're dead. They're lost. They are living
like who they are. What's right with you? God graciously
snatched you out of the fire. And He has given you the message
to go share with them. What will you do? Disobedient
sons are proud people. True sons are redeemed people. Tax collectors and prostitutes
who changed their mind Let's bow together for prayer. Lord, we are amazed by your love
for sinners, for us. We thank you for your grace.
We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your kindness.
Lord, you didn't need us. You don't need us. but you have
had mercy upon our souls and you have entrusted to us the
message of reconciliation, the good news that there is a way
that God has made for notorious sinners to be forgiven of all
of their sins and to be given righteousness as a gift and to
be made acceptable with God. Oh Lord, I know this. Having saved us, you have given
us an understanding of that. And if there's anyone here this
morning who has no understanding of that, I ask that you would
save them. Lord, take this message, brand
it upon our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Obedient Son
Series Non Series - Matthew
| Sermon ID | 926101129433 |
| Duration | 51:02 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Matthew 21:28-32 |
| Language | English |
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