New Kingdom of Christ

Behold, the Lamb of God.

This is what the chief priest would have done, I believe if their primary focus was on worship, if their access to the holiness of God would have shown them their sin and their need for forgiveness.

What we see in the Gospels is that the chief priests are the ones who plotted to kill Jesus, who were opposed to them. This is what our text is actually showing us now. It's what the previous text we looked at shows us. We're going to be looking, church, at Jesus judging the priest and the elders.

There's gonna be an easy, natural tendency to shake our heads at them in disbelief. How could they be so blind, hard-headed, and dull-minded? Christian, you have better access to the holy things of God. You have a closer nearness. You have a greater revelation of the great grace of God.

I want to warn you, be careful of judging them so quickly. I want to warn you of making them a target of your disdain. Rather, let's make sure they're a warning for us as to how to not take God's grace for granted. We too easily presume upon God's grace and do not believe in Jesus who saves all kinds of sinners.

So we're looking at Matthew 21. We're picking back up in Matthew. If you're new with us, we've been walking through Matthew. We're now in his last week. And what I'll show you, this section is actually bigger than we're gonna have this morning. I believe the entire section really begins in verse 18 and goes all the way through 46. And there's a bit of a preface to it. There's the cleansing of the temple.

That's that first interaction with the chief priests where they're against Jesus being praised. And the fig tree, that's really, if it stands alone, kind of an odd instance, an odd action of Jesus. But in the context, it's setting up for the disciples what's supposed to come next or what does come next. You see the chief priest, they question Jesus' authority. And then notice right after that, he goes into a parable and then another parable.

This whole section is against the chief priest and we see that in verses 45 and 46. So if you look at this whole big section, it really is Jesus bringing about a great change as the great high priest who is speaking against the chief priest. And this is fulfilling what God already said in Ezekiel 34.

Jesus' authority to judge

The shepherds who are supposed to be feeding my sheep, they're taking from them. The shepherds who are supposed to be leading God's people into his glory are all about their own glory. Well, the true shepherd has come, and he is bringing about a great judgment. Our first section on the fig tree. Jesus' authority to judge. I believe here, verses 18 to 21, shows us Jesus' authority to judge. Let me read that text again. This is Monday.

In the morning, he was returning to the city. He became hungry, and seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves.

And he said to it, may no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, how did the fig tree wither at once? And Jesus answered them, truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith.

All right, so kind of an odd instance, and if it weren't Jesus, you're kind of wondering, why did he use his authority to curse this fig tree and cause it to wither?

Is this just a typical Monday morning hangry instance? Well, no, this is God almighty. We see him as fully divine, able to cause his tree to wither. We also see his humanity. He's hungry. I believe that the tree is representing something much more though.

Again, as the chief priests are really in view and how God is bringing about a change in his covenant. The big picture of scripture. actually likens God's people to a vine, to a tree often. The big picture of scripture, and as we'll see in the parable of the tenants, the vine is a picture of God's people, and God has given his people this picture because they're supposed to grow in his health and his strength and be fruitful and multiply and glorify him with their good works. Well, this fig tree is designed by God to bear fruit, and when it does not bear fruit, he strikes it. Jesus here is showing something bigger.

See, Matthew opened with a genealogy. It's the genealogy that ends all genealogies. It's no longer, are you born in the right family? It's if you are born again. Jesus fulfills promise after promise. He has come to be the faithful one. His cursing the fig tree here represents a change that's taking place. He's going to end the old covenant. At least that sacrificial system of a lamb after a lamb after a lamb being sacrificed, he is going to present himself as the true, final, perfect lamb of God, who doesn't just call God's judgment to pass over his people, but takes away the sin of the world by taking upon himself.

We might ask, all right, if the chief priests here are representing Israel, Israel has had great benefits as God's promised people. The Savior would be born to them. That's why that ancestry line is so important that Matthew starts with. They have experienced special blessing and protection through the ages as God's promised people through whom the Savior must be born. Most importantly, they've had the oracles of God. The Word of God. They've had an access to the holy truth of the one true God because of His grace.

The problem, they did not bear fruit because they did not have faith. The problem is they did not bear fruit because they did not have faith. God calls all of his people to believe. There's a special place for Israel, but the only way to be true Israel, the only way to be the Israel that God would save ultimately and finally is that they would believe. And the problem with the chief priests who are supposed to be leading God's people to believe is they don't have any faith.

Notice when the disciples ask, they marvel, how did this happen? Notice Jesus' emphasis is on faith.

I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith.

I believe he's giving a clue here, what the problem is for Israel. What the problem is for the people God made promises to, they lacked faith.

The call is to believe. And faith is most practiced in prayer. The best way and the most clear way we exercise faith is in prayer. You move mountains. Maybe this is an allusion to this mountain, Sinai, being up and moved, or this mount of the sacrifices being moved. I think you can represent anything that's troubling, difficult, daunting. God brings light to darkness. We seek his truth in prayer. Christian, you have to believe the power of God is at work in you. You align yourself with God and what he is doing with prayer.

The change from the old that is now withering in this story is now obsolete. No more sacrifices. I trust that as we participate in the Lord's Supper, we're not going to slaughter a lamb anymore. No, we have a cup that represents the blood of Christ. We have bread that represents his body. Just a little while ago, we baptized a woman.

We put the covenant sign of God on a believer. A new sign for a new people. with a new purpose. It's for all who believe because they're united with Christ. That baptism communicates that all the blessings of Christ are now Abbey's and all who have believed and been baptized. It's communicating that you have received the blessing of God and forgiveness to walk new in his redemption. The Old Testament worship, it was designed with boundaries and distance. Christian, your new life is meant to be near God, close to Him. The Holy Spirit who is in you draws you to the right hand of the Father where the Son is who gives you access to the Father that's close.

Christian, are you learning to pray without ceasing? Are you learning to pray with others? Yes, praise God, that our access to God is made perfect by the Spirit who is within us and the Son who has ascended so we can pray directly to the Father. But we're also called to pray with each other, for one another. Learning to pray together is an essential aspect of what it means to be a Christian.

Notice here, if you have faith, then do not doubt. A subtitle I've always said I want at Jefferson Park is Doubters Welcome. Because no one would be here if that weren't true. We all fought doubts all week long. We've all fought doubts, maybe even this morning, maybe even you're doubting right here in this text.

The goal of doubts is we start asking the right questions and God's word will give us the right answers. As we see what God has promised and we actually trust what He has said, our faith will grow in what He promises. And it helps us wrestle through those doubts well. We need others to encourage us to know how to think about the doubts that come from inside that sometimes are deceptive.

One of the greatest ways I see Christians going into dangerous doubt is by believing the lie that somehow you can have a safe distance from God. The Christian life is one that enters boldly into his presence because of the newness he has given us so that we believe and grow in faith.

Jesus authority is challenged

Following this, he goes into the temple. And the chief priests pick up right where they need to pick up according to God's story. Jesus authority is challenged. Jesus authority is challenged as you're heading for this text. He goes to the temple and they have already been challenging him throughout the entirety of the gospels. They've already challenged him in the temple the previous day saying, You hear what they're saying and they're not supposed to be saying this to you there. The people are praising him as a son of David. It's a bustling, busy time. It's a central location for all activities are in the temple. And then this event happens. Let me read the text again. And we enter the temple.

The chief priests and the elders of the people came upon him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?

That's a significant question for anyone who's teaching. who's proclaiming that they will lead you to God.

Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

The baptism of John, from where did it come from? From heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why then did you not believe him? 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.

So he asked again, the right question, by what authority are you teaching?

Authority has been a key theme throughout Matthew. Jesus declared the authority of the keys would be given to the church. He taught the Sermon on the Mount, and they're amazed that he taught with authority, contrasted with the scribes who had less authority. He's declared over and over again, he is the one who has authority. As we heard from the baptism, all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Jesus, who's risen and ascended. Jesus is, with his authority, he is demanding your allegiance. So you need to understand what kind of authority he claims to have and what kind of authority he has. Now these chief priests who have been given a great position, again, they're leading God's people in worship as the chief priests. They have a great authority. And they ask him, by whose authority are you doing these things? Jesus knows them, though.

He doesn't answer bad faith questions directly. If you walk through and you want to think about rhetoric and how to interact with people, he never answers bad faith questions directly. I'll tell you if you answer my question. Now, if somebody comes and asks Jesus a good faith question, he heals them. We can go back to the blind man. He cried out, will you give me my eyesight? Will you heal me? Yes, that's a good faith question. He answers it. But here he knows the chief priest, he knows what they're up to.

He asked them, the baptism of John, was it from heaven or was it from man? Was it John just doing his own thing or was he sent by God to call God's people to repentance? Now, if you haven't read Matthew recently, it's been a while since we saw this, but remember John, The Baptists called the Pharisees and Sadducees brood of vipers. He came preaching repentance to turn to God. He was out in the wilderness because the people of the temple had corrupted worship.

He came saying, this Jesus, he is the lamb of God. He's the one who comes after me. He is the righteous one. And after he baptized Jesus, Father's voice said,

this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.

The testimony of John the Baptist is significant for the entirety of the gospel. Well, notice he asked him a pretty straightforward yes or no question.

Is it from God or from man? Should be an easy yes or no. But they have to call a council. If we say he's from heaven, well, we're going to be challenged as to why we didn't believe him. And it's going to show our allegiance isn't with heaven. If we say He said, man, the people are going to distrust us because they believe and recognize he's from heaven.

They're not looking to ask the right question even here. What is good, right, and true should be the question they're asking. Where did he come from? It's an opportunity for them to actually step back and reflect. Where did John the Baptist, where did the baptism come from? Did it come with the authority of heaven?

Well, no, instead they're politicking. They're jockeying and positioning. So they say, we do not know. They punt. They cannot answer this straightforward, simple question. And therefore, Jesus says, I will not answer your question. They say, we do not know. Real quick. It's so good to know when you say, we don't know.

But when God has said something so clearly and so absolutely, John the Baptist came as the last prophet of the Old Testament to proclaim the one crying in the voice, preparing the way for the Messiah. Is he from heaven? It's a simple yes. Just like other absolutes that we know, Christ, was he born of a virgin? Yes. Is He down at the cross? Yes. Is He the only one who can forgive you of your sins? Yes. Is He risen to give you a new life? Yes. Notice, if they said He was from heaven, they would be asked, why didn't you believe?

We see their faith is still at the center of this. Their lack of faith. It's not doubting, it's rejection. They're doubting in a way that rejects the messenger of God. And just to go ahead and give you a little bit of a foretaste of next week, the farmers who are given authority over the vineyard, they reject every prophet that precedes the son. They hate those who proclaim the real declaration and the real voice of God, just like they're going to hate the sun and kill him and hate God himself. They're putting themselves in the position of those who are opposed to God with this. What they believe is avoiding the problem.

Jesus authority to confirm believers

We do not know. Our last. section of scripture here, the heading Jesus Authority to Confirm Believers. We have to be careful when you're reading scriptures, your chapter numbers, they were added later. They're so helpful to tell you where we're at and where you can read, but they're really unhelpful when they don't show you the real breaks. And the headings can sometimes make it look like this is a whole separate teaching.

Notice verse 28, it goes straight in. Jesus says, neither will I tell you about what authority do I do these things. Now he says, what do you think? And he continues with the same focus. And then he tells another parable with the same focus. Here we see he has the authority to confirm believers. 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 the son answered. I will not, but afterwards he changed his mind and went.

Verse 30,

and he went to the other son and said to the same, and he answered, I will, sir, but did not go.

All right, so we have a parable. We have a father and two sons. And this is a pretty typical way in which Jesus presents a parable. There's two options. If it's a father and a son, just to give you a clue on how to read scripture, you're not the father in the parable. You're actually supposed to ask, which of these sons am I actually like? And don't read this, older son, younger son, right? We're very familiar with the prodigal son, and we might get confused about older son, younger son.

It's just two sons, and he went to one first and said, I want you to go and work, and the son said, I will not, but then changed his mind, and the other son said he would, and he didn't go. Pretty straightforward, very simple. The key part is the question that follows.

Which of the two did the will of the Father?

Which of the two accomplished what would please the Father or the desire of the Father?

Now, we have some cultural issues that we might just want to make sure we're focused on here to understand the importance and weight of the parable. In this culture, as what God's design would be, is that the Father is a most significant authority that you would want to please. Our culture presents dads as doofuses. Everything on TV, movie, children's books, there's just a cultural attack on dads. The full weight is that the most important authority most people should want to please is the father. And the father who is a good father, who uses authority for the good of others, there's a way in which he should be, his will matters. And here he's asking sons to do good work, go work in the field. Well, the answer should be pretty easy, just kind of like the question of, is John the Baptist from heaven or from earth?

Who did the Father's will? Was it the son who said, I won't go, but changed his mind and went afterwards? Or is it the son who said, I will go, but did not go? They get it right, the first one. No explanation needed, it's obvious. Okay, the best option would be another son who said, I will go, And he went, but that's not our story. The son who first said no with his words, but then went and applied his action, his life to do what the father said. That is who pleased the father, not the son who said, I will go, but had no action. Who did the Father's will? The first, Jesus said, truly.

There's a way in which he's affirming them here, but notice how this just changes direction so quickly.

Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes.

Why are you introducing new characters all of a sudden? What happened to the parable? This is shocking and stunning. For us, it'd be like, what does a tax collector have to do with a prostitute?

For them, they would actually be in the same camp because they're both despised culturally and religiously. They both were not allowed in the temple. They both would be understood to have people who have been compromised ethically. Tax collectors being Jews who worked for the Roman government, who shook their own people down to take money from them, and they were guilty of greed. prostitutes, women who scripture warns against, who defile the covenant of marriage, who sell what is meant to be given away in the one covenant of marriage.

Jesus lists these two types of people together.

Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

The chief priests, who are supposed to be leading God's people into worship, into the closest, nearest section of the temple, closest to God. Jesus just told them, the people you despise the most are ahead of you, before you. This is shocking. This is bold. This is very confrontational. Now, let's be very clear.

Jesus is not saying the more sinful you are, the more access you'll have to the kingdom of heaven. He's not saying the more you sin, the more grace abounds. He is saying we're, we will say that we're sin abounds, grace abounds, but he's not simply saying that if you're a sinner, then you're closer for some reason. He's not promising that every tax collector and prostitute will get in.

He's really pointing out to them, they're going to enter before you. You have all the access to the holy things of God. You have all the access to the truth of God. The point is that they're closer to getting in than you are, the religious leaders, because you do not have faith, even though you're around the holy things of God all the time. The religious leaders believe they're the closest and others are far away.

This is where Jesus flips that upside down. What he says next is most informative for us. Notice how he brings John the Baptist back into the focus.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness.

He's telling him, he's making it clear to them that he did come from heaven.

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 mind and believe him.

Even after you heard that one good message that all can come to God in repentance and be forgiven, Turn away from your sin and turn to God. That is the message that is throughout scripture. That is the one way of salvation. Turn from your sin and turn to God. Faith. You heard the message of John and rejected him. You saw the tax collectors and prostitutes returning from sin and turning to God, and yet you did not change your mind. I want us to think about a very important categorical absolute that I hope we have just implanted over and over again in your heart, mind, and soul.

Grace, faith, works

That is the order that it is grace, faith, works. That's the order. It must be that order. God in his grace promised salvation, he sent his son His Son died and rose again, and then grace comes to renew your heart so that you can believe. We're saved by grace. Grace comes first. Because of God's grace, we believe. Because God's grace comes to you in the form of the Son, and the grace comes to you by the Spirit, and the grace comes to you in the word proclaimed, you believe what God has given you.

But believing must be public. It's not merely intellectual. As we see here, the idea of faith and belief, it's a commitment. It's a trust. It's a directional change. They rejected God and rejected his prophet. They did not receive it, trust it, and commit themselves to it. Works follow afterwards.

That is what we call fruit. As you heard recently,

faith without works is dead.

Real faith produces fruit. Real faith produces what is good. You see, the religious leaders, they're around the things of God. They believe some things of God, but they're not truly committed to God and his purposes. They've actually turned the things of God into their own way of living and their own desires. They twist it. It's not a real faith that repents. It's not a real faith that is changed. And notice there, you didn't change your mind. A callous heart produces a dull mind.

Remember that parable of Jesus, how the seed is sown? The seed that falls on the a soil that is loose and ready to give a sprout with fruit, unlike the seed that lands where there's rocks or where the crows come and take it away too quickly. Important here, there's a call to change your mind. That's the main drive. The chief priests, they refuse to change their mind when Jesus asked them who John the Baptist was. Even there, they could have changed their mind. Here, he's making it clear. You are like the latter sun. You say with your lips, you worship me, but your life is far from me. There is no fruit. They could change their mind.

Is your mind being changed

How we think matters. I wanna put this where I think it would, it needs to land most clearly. If you are with us regularly, If you're around the things of God regularly, you're a child of this church, you're a youth of this church, you're a regular attendant of this church, you're a member of this church, is your mind being changed by the word of God? Do you let doubts linger too long without talking with other believers and talking to God and taking them to his word? If we are somewhere, as I told you at the very beginning, the chief priests are supposed to be warnings for us. We have greater access. We're closer to the holy things of God. We have a greater revelation of the grace of God.

Do we let doubts linger too long without letting God and his people and his word and his spirit change our mind? The heart can only love what the mind believes. What we think about, letting our minds be transformed by the Word of God, what we dwell upon, what we allow to entertain has such a big impact on us.

If you're with us regularly, are you willing to listen and have doubts addressed? Now, are you willing to take up Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, one of the Gospels, and simply ask, who is Jesus? Is he the son of God who truly died and the only Savior? Our minds need to be challenged regularly by God.

There's input upon input from our culture and our society that's seeking your allegiance. There's a call here to consider how am I letting my mind change, how am I letting my mind be changed by God? To know Jesus, to know his promises, to know of his blessings, in order to walk in them. The great challenge is that it is possible and it's terrifying to be around the things of God and not be changed by them. The call is to believe. Believe Jesus is the only Savior. He alone has died for your sins. He alone has risen again. He alone can save you and change you now.

Will you pray with me? Father, forgive us for how we've presumed upon your grace. We've taken your holy things for granted. Our opportunities to come and pray together, to sing together, to worship together. We've taken your word for granted that it is light in the midst of darkness and confusion. It is order in the midst of the chaos that burdens us. It provides hope in our despair. Lord, may we know how to come alongside those who are in trouble and need help fighting doubts and discouragement right now. May we all know how to cry out to you for the help we need. May no one leave here committed to doubting. May you stir up a desire to know who you truly are. The great God who changes us, even gives us the grace so that we might change our minds and our hearts so that we love you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.