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Pastor Lars Larson, PhD                                                                                                    FBC Sermon #618
First Baptist Church, Leominster, MA                                                                                July 3, 2011
Words for children: temple, repentance, authority                                                                Text: Matthew 21:23-32
Scripture reading: Hebrews 12:4-11

The Gospel of Matthew (82)
Parables of Resistance to the King

Our current progress through Matthew:

I.  Prologue (chs. 1, 2)
II.  The Kingdom Comes (chs. 3-7)
III.  The Works of the Kingdom (chs. 8-10)
IV.  The Nature of the Kingdom (chs. 11-13)
V.  The Authority of the Kingdom (chs. 14-18)
          A.  Jesus’ Character and Authority (chs. 14-17)
          B.  The Fourth Discourse:  The Character and Authority of the Church (18:1-35)
VI.  Kingdom Blessings and Kingdom Judgments (chs. 19-25)
          A.  From Galilee to Jerusalem (chs. 19, 20)
          B.  The King enters Jerusalem (chs. 21-23)
                    1.  Triumphal Entry and Cleansing the Temple (21:1-22)
                    2.  Parables of Resistance to the King (21:23-22:14)

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          We have been studying the triumphal entrance of our Lord Jesus into Jerusalem and the unfolding of the week that followed, what is commonly called Passion Week, which ended in the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of our Lord.  When Jesus came to Jerusalem, He had done so with great notoriety.  People thronged to see Him and welcome Him to the city as the arrival of their promised King, the Son of David.  Our Lord manifested His authority through the overturning of the tables of the money changers.  He demonstrated His power in healing all that came to Him who were diseased and distressed.  But the Jewish leaders did not receive Him as did the people.  When the people welcomed Him and they saw the “wonderful things He did”, and when they heard “the children crying out” praising Him, the leaders were “indignant” (21:15).  Our Lord could anticipate the Jewish leaders’ antagonism and opposition.
          On one of the occasions that Jesus reentered the temple, probably on Tuesday of Passion Week, the Jewish leaders challenged Jesus’ authority.  This is recorded in the passage before us, Matthew 21:23-27.

     I.  The authority of Jesus challenged (Matt. 21:23-27)

          23And 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?”
          24Jesus 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.  25The baptism of John, from where did it come?  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?’  26But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”  27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
          And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

          A.  The question about His authority (21:23)

          Our Lord was teaching in the temple when He was interrupted by these chief priests and the elders, who challenged his authority for doing what He was doing.  They asked Him, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”  But their rude manner and their corrupt motivations rendered them unworthy of a direct answer from our Lord.  Let us first consider…

                    1.  The identity of our Lord’s opposition: the chief priests and elders of the people

          We should know something of the various religious groups of that day if we are to understand the motivations and reasons for all that occurred in Jerusalem on these days.  In Israel of the first century, there were groups of Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and priests.  There were other groups as well, but these were the main ones within established Judaism.[1]

          The Pharisees represented the “progressive party” of the day.  This was a society of men who were regarded highly by the people.  They were from among the people, lived among the people.  They were the teachers and the pastors of the day.  They had control of the synagogues in all the cities and were therefore among the people.  It was apparently a large group.  The contemporary Jewish/Roman historian, Josephus, wrote that there were about 6,000 Pharisees in Palestine in the first century.
          Pharisees regarded as Scripture what we identify as the Old Testament.  They were a people of the book.  Unfortunately they also had a second authority which was as authoritative to them as Scripture, this was the “tradition of the fathers”, which was essentially teaching about the Scriptures which had originally been oral tradition, but had been written down and codified.  To them tradition was as binding as Scripture, and this is where they went astray.  The Lord seemed to always be challenging their perverted understandings of Scripture caused by the influence of their traditions.
                        The Pharisees were zealous for what they believed.  They had very rigid beliefs and practices.  They believed in the uniqueness of Israel as God’s covenant people.  They believed in angels, the resurrection, the coming of the Messiah.

          The Sadducees were the “conservative party” of the day.  This was a society of men who were much smaller in number than the Pharisees.  They were largely comprised of men from the aristocracy.  They were not a group of the people; they were the privileged class.  Josephus wrote of them, “they only gain the well-to-do; they have not the people on their side.”  They had control of the political institutions of the day.  But more importantly, they were the group which represented the Jewish priesthood.  Most priests were of the Sadducees.  They were centered in Jerusalem and controlled the temple.
          The Sadducees regarded written Scripture alone as authoritative (and perhaps that was restricted to the writings of Moses).  They rejected the authority of the written tradition which the Pharisees adhered to so strongly.  They were regarded as secular by the devout.  The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body.  They denied immortality.  They denied a future judgment.  They also did not believe in angels. 
          Of these two groups, the Pharisees and Sadducees, Josephus wrote:

          But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect.  These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action.  They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies, - but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment.  But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to everyone, that they may act as they please.  They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades.  Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them.[2]

          One can see that there must have been no love between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  But they did unite in their opposition to the Lord Jesus because He was a threat to them both.

          The scribes, or “teachers of the law”, were the experts of the Jewish religion.  They were the theologians and the teachers of the day.  Now the Pharisees were a religious party, but to be a scribe was an occupation, or perhaps an office which was held.  Most scribes were Pharisees, but the Sadducees also had their scribes.

          We will also be introduced to the Sanhedrin, which is sometimes referred to as “the council.”[3]  This was the official governing body of Judaism respecting religious affairs and within limitations, political affairs under the authority of Rome.  It would have been the Jewish “parliament” of the day.  It was comprised of 70 members, with a president, who was also the High Priest.  The members of the Sanhedrin lived and served in Jerusalem.  They comprised of men who were representative of all aspects of Judaism.  There were both Pharisees and Sadducees in this council (Paul once used this to his advantage--Acts 23:6-10).  Do you see the description of his opposition in 21:23?  These men were probably sent to Jesus representing the Jewish Sanhedrin.

                    2.  The point of their opposition to Jesus was His authority (21:23)

          They challenged the Lord, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (21:23).  The probable point of their opposition was what He had begun to do two days day before; in a very violent manner, causing a great commotion, He had cleared the temple of corrupt people and began to heal and teach the people within the temple courts.
          We might consider the motivations of these opposers of Jesus.  Certainly they were motivated by envy of the attraction and number of followers that Jesus had attained (cf. Matt. 27:18; Mark 15:10).  But there were also political considerations.  The city was filled with people.  The feast of the Passover was in a few days.  The seven days of Unleavened Bread had already begun.  Jews from all over the Roman world had journeyed there.  The Lord must have unsettled the entire region through His actions.  And it would have caused consternation for the Jewish leaders on at least two fronts: (1) Their own authority over the people was being challenged.  (2)  Their accountability under the Romans must have been an issue.
          The Jews lived under Roman domination.  They were permitted a measure of freedom, but with conditions.  Order was to be maintained.  Taxes were to be collected.  The Romans watched the Jews closely and moved in quickly at any sign of trouble.  And it would seem the Jews were always stirring up trouble.  Religious zealots do that. 
          Roman troops were normally headquartered in the coastal city of Caesarea.  But during Jewish religious festivals a large number of troops would be brought to Jerusalem to maintain order.  They were quartered in the Fortress Antonia which happened to be on a hill overlooking the temple area, a point in itself which bothered Jews. 
          The Romans must have witnessed the commotion of Jesus cleansing the temple and I imagine the Jewish Sanhedrin was called to task about it and were probably told they better maintain law and order or else.  This is surmising, but I think it is reasonable.   Even if this were not the case, I suspect the Jewish leaders would have been fearful of the prospect of having to answer to the Romans for what had occurred.  The established authority of the Jewish leaders was being challenged, and so they came to challenge Jesus’ authority.

          B.  His answer to their challenge (21:24f)

          Our Lord answered their question with a question. 

          24Jesus 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.  25The baptism of John, from where did it come?  From heaven or from man?” 

          The Lord Jesus would not answer these men directly.  But the nature of His question would have indirectly led to the answer to their question, had they desired to know the truth.

The question our Lord put to the chief priests and elders was simple enough had they been honest men; but as they had a game to play, they could not reply without great difficulty[4]

          The Lord had asked them about the person and ministry of John the Baptist.  The Jewish authorities had not recognized the legitimacy of the ministry of John the Baptist.  But the people had.  We see these religious leaders for what they were: they were unconcerned about the truth, but they were concerned about how people regard them or about the possible consequences of what they say.  The Jewish leaders refused to answer Him, so He refused to answer them.  The point is that had they recognized the legitimacy of John’s ministry, they would have also recognized the legitimacy of His own.  For John had testified of the coming of the Messiah, and on one occasion, I believe when our Lord was returning from His wilderness temptation, John said of Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
          Rather than answering directly the question posed to Him, our Lord then gave a parable of a man who had two sons.

          II.  The parable of two sons (Matt. 21:28-32)

          Jesus said to them:

          28“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.’  29And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.  30And he went to the other son and said the same.  And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.  31Which 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.  32For 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.”

          The two sons represent two kinds of people that had connection with the nation of Israel.  There are those who are repentant of their sins and seek to do the will of God from the heart; there are others who profess faith that they belong to God, they claim to be believers who are obedient to God, but in reality they are not.  They express their willingness and commitment to obey God and do His will, but they choose not to do so.  The first son represented true believers.  The second son represented hypocrites, those who claimed to believe and follow God, but did not do so in their daily lives.

          The Lord repudiates the religious leaders for their failure and refusal to respond to the message of John the Baptist.  John had been the forerunner to Jesus, the herald of the impending coming of the kingdom of God.  John pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, whose person and ministry people were to prepare by repenting of their sin, submitting to the baptism of John, whereby they showed their repentance from sin and their faith in the Coming One, who was the promised King of Israel.  Tax collectors and prostitutes, both who would have been excluded from the worship of Judaism, had responded to John’s message.  But the Jewish leaders had refused.  And so, the Lord Jesus told these Jewish leaders they had no place or part in the kingdom of God, whereas great sinners who had repented of their sin had been accepted into the kingdom of God.

          III.  A few words of application

          Let us take to heart the principles set before us in our passage.  First, let us not be “Christians” in name only.  Our Lord warned of hypocrisy even among His own followers.  On one occasion He taught His disciples:

          35“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  37Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  38And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.  39But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  40Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
          41Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”
          42And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?  43"Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.  44Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.  45But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,  46the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.  47And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  48But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” (Luke 12:35-48).

          I think that many of those who were now opposing Jesus, were at one time very tenderhearted before the Lord, particularly those of the Pharisees.  They were not shallow pretenders, but zealous for God and His law, which moved them to become the members of this strict Jewish group.  Yet here we find them opposing Jesus.  Later both they and the Sadducees will conspire together to put him to death.  They would have become ones who completely abandon all propriety and decency in their dealings with the Lord. 
          Let us not be as those who backslide from their profession.  Perhaps at one time you were very tenderhearted before the Lord.  But through your own neglect and failure, you did not attend to the well-being of your souls.  You increasingly and more frequently transgressed God’s Word, in violation of your former confession that you would abstain from sin and live for Him, and you sinned against their conscience.  Perhaps you have allowed your heart to grown indifferent and then hardened toward God and God’s people.
          Most of us would probably like to view ourselves as stable Christians.  We walk with the Lord daily.  But the truth of the matter is that most of us are not as stable as we ought to be.  The Christian life is not generally characterized by consistent communion with God and always living fully according to His Word.  Decay and recovery, backsliding and renewal commonly characterize the Christian life.  Our hearts are prone to wander, and often we do.  An older writer, Octavius Winslow, wrote of our tendency toward backsliding:

          If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually minded believer, it is, that after all God has done for him,--after all the rich displays of His grace, the patience and tenderness of His instructions, the repeated discipline of His covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, there should still exist in the heart a principle, the tendency of which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God.  Truly, there is in this solemn fact, that which might well lead to the deepest self-abasement before Him.[5]

          We are prone to wander, but when we do, we soon seek and thankfully receive restoration.  God has placed in us a nature and has resensitized our conscience that makes us miserable when we sense we are not right with Him.  We long for the Lord’s blessing to be experienced.  Thankfully, God brings recovery to His own.  He comes to them in their sin, even though they have neglected Him or forsaken Him, and through His own power He secures their restoration. 
          The common experience of the true Christian is the Lord’s chastening work when we sin against Him.  We read of the in Hebrews:

          4You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.  5And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”  7If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  8But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  9Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?  10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.  11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Heb. 12:4-11)

          Christ chastises the straying one so that he strays no longer.  I have read that occasionally when the shepherd of a flock of sheep encountered a lamb that habitually strayed from him, he would deal with it so as to prevent its straying again.  We might see this as rather as harsh, but its end is good.  With the crook of his staff he would break two legs of the lamb so that it could not walk.  The shepherd would then carry that lamb about day by day until the legs were healed.  The sheep was thereafter cured of its wandering spirit.  For by the time of healing the sheep had grown sufficiently close to the Master that he would not desire to stray again.
          So it is with us.  Sometimes if we fail to heed His voice, and He has repeatedly sought us and brought us back to Himself, only to see us stray again, He will chastise us severely so as to permanently cure us of our backsliding.  He sometimes does this by allowing us to wallow in our misery for a while before coming to our rescue.  God said of Israel,

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.  (Jer. 2:19)

In another place God says, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him (Hos. 14:4). But thankfully, He does this for the well being of His own.  When He does come, and He takes these steps for our betterment, then we are restored to His side and again enjoy the blessings of His presence.

          God uses calamity to purify and restore believers.  God’s afflictions help His people.  He trains them and teaches them by their trials.  He humbles them and strengthens them.  He rebukes them and chastens them.  The point we might make directly at this point due to the time, is that when Christians are not fully submitted to Jesus Christ their King, they will stray from Him.  God then designs events to come into their lives to chasten them.  The design of God here is not to destroy, put to purify and train His people in holiness.  David could write, “I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Psa. 119:75).

                    1)  To humble them, showing their weakness,
                    2)  To show them God’s power and sufficiency.
                    3)  To restore them to right priorities.
                    4)  To move them to renew their repentance.  Consider David’s sin with Bathsheba and the terrible consequences for himself, his family and his kingdom.  These consequences were used by God to bring David to repentance and to cure him of his backsliding.  We read of David’s renewal through adversity in Psalm 119:67: “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”
                    5)  To reveal to them the nature and ways of God.  Psalm 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
                    6)  To make them stronger in faith and more holy in life.  Job, a man thoroughly acquainted with trouble, could in faith say:

But He knows the way that I take;
When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot hath held His steps,
I have kept His way and have not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food. (Job 23:10-12)

          Read good books that will lead you to consider your heart, your ways, and the way of renewal and restoration.  I quoted earlier from a book by Octavius Winslow, entitled, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul.  In it he has these chapter headings:

1.  Incipient Declension
2.  Declension in Love
3.  Declension in Faith
4.  Declension in Prayer
5.  Declension in Connexion with Doctrinal Error
6.  On Grieving the Spirit
7.  The Fruitless and the Fruitful Professor (i.e. professing Christian)
8.  The Lord, the Restorer of His people
9.  The Lord, the Keeper of His People.[6]

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Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior, Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.  Amen. (Jude 24-26)

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Footnotes

[6] Ibid.