We'll invite you now to turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew. This morning we'll be looking at Matthew Chapter 21, and actually looking at a large section of Scripture this morning, Chapter 21, verse 23, through Chapter 22, verse 22. This section of Scripture begins on page 1050, if you're using our Pew Bibles this morning. So as we begin this morning, I'll be reading this section in its entirety, and I'll begin by reading Matthew 21, verse 23. So hear now the word of God. So 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 will also 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, 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? But if we say from men, 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. He answered, I will go, 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, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you sought, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. 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. Finally, 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 fruit. 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, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again, he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready. But those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen." Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully. And you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? They said, Caesar's. Then he said to them, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away. So ends our reading of God's word this morning. Let us once again bow in prayer and seek his blessing. Our gracious and almighty God, we do thank you for these words before us today. And we pray that as we look at this section of scripture, that you, by your spirit, would be inscribing your truth upon our innermost being. That you, by your grace, would mold us more into the image of Christ, our glorious Lord and Savior. May you, Father, bless my mind and my mouth, that I may think and proclaim your truth clearly. In the name of Jesus Christ we do pray, amen. So before the reading, as I mentioned, is pretty obvious. This is a larger section of scripture than we've been focusing on in Matthew up to this date. But as we look at this account, first the calling into question of Jesus' authority, but then the parables that he gives, but then also a final question, trying to ensnare Jesus in a trap, what I hope to point out that this large section of scripture, it really goes together and is a unit. And so as we Consider these verses where actually the theme we're looking at is going to be a question that will take away and something that we'll need to be asking ourselves and should be asking ourselves on a daily basis. And that question is, are you living as one under the authority of Jesus? Are you living as one under the authority of Jesus? Am I living as one who is under the authority of Jesus? And I've broken this section up into three parts. There's kind of an introductory section where questions are asked to Jesus. Then there's a teaching of Jesus through the use of parables in the middle section. And then the final section is yet another question that is posed to Jesus. And so the first section, the authority of Jesus is divine authority. This is in verses 23 through 27 of chapter 21. This is just after the section we looked at last week where Jesus and the disciples are going from Bethany back to Jerusalem to the temple. This is during Passover week and we looked at the fruitless fig tree that had a lot of foliage and yet had no fruit and it was cursed by Jesus and it began withering away immediately. Well, Jesus then comes to the temple, and he still begins teaching. And he begins teaching the people around him. And in the events the day before, and then what Jesus is doing now, this raises great concern and questions among the leaders of the temple. And so they come to him, and they ask him a very simple question of, by what authority are you doing this? Jesus, at this point in Matthew's testimony, he would be considered an itinerant preacher. traveling around, preaching the gospel in various towns and in various synagogues and drawing various crowds. He was performing miracles. But then he comes to the temple and he has this violent display of anger, of removing things that the temple was not set up to be. The temple had been changed into basically a marketplace instead of a place for people to come and worship God. And then he begins teaching. And so the established leadership has, I think, a legitimate question. They come up to him and say, Jesus, by what authority are you doing this? Well, Jesus kind of has an unusual response. He doesn't answer their question, but then asks them a question for them to answer. And he asked him, by what authority did John do his baptism? Now, why does he ask this question about John? The reason Jesus focuses on John is because the ministry of John and the ministry of Jesus had some similarities. They had the same message that they were proclaiming. John came preaching the gospel, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near, it is at hand. Jesus, when he first began his earthly ministry, had the same message of repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And as Jesus teaches, John himself was the one prophesied of, the one that was to come before him to prepare the way of the Lord, that was prophesied of in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3. So here we have John, who was clearly a prophet. And nobody denied the fact that John was a prophet sent by God. And so Jesus draws on this understanding, and he puts the leaders in a difficult position of By what authority did John baptize people? By what authority did John conduct his ministry? And we see in the dialogue that the leaders have that they understand full well the gravity of what their answer will be. In one sense of the answer, as they clearly understood John the Baptist to have some type of heavenly backing and authority, the question will be asked, well, why didn't you believe? But they are also afraid of the people. They don't want to say, they don't want to admit that they should have listened to John. So instead of the other option would be from man. But if they say that, then the large crowd that is gathered for the Passover, who held John to be a prophet would be in an outrage against them. And so they do a very political thing and they say, we don't know, Jesus, we're not sure. And so Jesus then tells them that neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Now when Jesus asked the question, is it from heaven or from man? That idea of from heaven points to the fact that it is from the one and has the authority of the one who is enthroned in heaven. So that phrase there, from heaven or from man, you could easily substitute from God or from man. Where did John's authority come from? Did it come from God or did it come from man? Jesus actually gives them an answer as he continues to respond to the next section in verse 32. He says, Therefore John came to you in the way of righteousness. that phrase, the way of righteousness. It's used in scripture to describe the way of God, by His way, by His authority. He loves the way of the righteous. He abhors the way of the wicked. Walking in the ways of righteousness is walking according to the will of God. So when Jesus says that John came in the way of righteousness, he's answering the question that he posed to the Pharisees or the religious leaders. They're questioning him that John's authority came from heaven, from God himself. Now, the reason why Jesus here doesn't give them an answer in the opening section, as well, we'll see in his teaching the parables, Jesus actually gives them a very clear answer and a very expounded answer to this question. But in the opening section he says, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Well, if they didn't understand where John's ministry came from, the authority and its backing from God, they wouldn't understand or acknowledge what the authority that Jesus had. If he had answered and said, well, my authority is from God, from heaven, they would have there in the spot probably charged him with some form of blasphemy or heresy. But he doesn't answer. Instead, he saves his answer for a more detailed explanation through the parables that he gives. Now, as we draw this first point, this first section to a close, what I want us to take home with is just an application of to continue seeing and to see what they could not. By the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we can see that the authority that Jesus had is from heaven. In other words, the authority that Jesus had is God's authority. The authority that Jesus had is divine. It is from God. It is from heaven. the authority that he teaches with, the authority that he calls us to follow in his ways and to follow his commands. It's not just simply just the authority of a wise teacher or in this light, it's from God himself, from heaven itself. And let us keep in mind and see what they could not, that the authority with which Jesus ministered is divine authority. And we'll build upon that here in the rest of the sermon. This brings us to point two, the section of parables that Jesus uses to then teach and show from where his authority actually comes from. And in this, we'll be looking at the point we are called to receive him. Now, the parables, first of all, the parable of two sons in verses 28 through 32, Then the parable of the tenants from verses 33 to the end of the chapter, verse 46. And then also the parable of the wedding feast, which is chapter 22, verses 1 through 14. In each of these parables that Jesus gives, there's two groups of people that are spoken of. There are those who reject him, and you could summarize it this way, those who reject him and those who receive him. There's one group, and the first one, the parable of two sons. There's a father with two sons, and he gives the same instructions to both of them. One of them says, I'm not gonna do that, but then he goes and does it. The other one says, yes, I will do that, but he doesn't. And Jesus is using that to show and give the example of really what was going on with those that were questioning him. They are the ones who first heard agreed. Yes, I will do that. I will follow God. I will follow your ways. But then they never did. They followed man-made traditions. They followed man-made commandments. They abandoned God's word for the traditions of men instead. and did their own thing in their own desires. Whereas Jesus points out that those that this group considered to be less than themselves and unclean, when they heard John's proclamation of the gospel, and when they heard Jesus' proclamation of the gospel, they heard. Now, this could be people that were initially, they said, no, I'm not gonna believe, but then through the work of the Holy Spirit, convicting them of their sin, they then heard the message and then believed. And so that is the distinction between these two groups. It is one who believes and one who does not believe. Belief is emphasized. As Jesus points out, he says, 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. So it is faith that is emphasized, even though Jesus uses a parable with two sons doing works. The works aren't what's really important there. It is the belief, the faith, in what we would call the receiving of Jesus Christ and submitting to the gospel. The second parable that is given is a parable of the tenants. Now, as Jesus progresses through this parable, We shouldn't make too much of the vineyard that was planted and the fence around it and the wine press and all that stuff. The basic players here is the owner of the vineyard, who would be God, the tenants, who were the leaders of Israel, and then how they treated the servants that God sent them. And when we look at the Old Testament, and if you were ever to come across, sometimes you can find a timeline of the Israelite history, And you can see when King David came to power and then fell, and then you can see when the first exile was, and then the second exile, or the taking off, and then the return back. And in that, you've also got the prophets are put in their proper time. And what's really interesting is that as you look at this timeline, as it first starts out, there's a prophet here on the timeline, and then there's a prophet here, and then a few, and there's another prophet coming in, But then as you start getting closer and closer to when the exile comes, it starts going prophet, prophet, prophet, prophet, prophet. It's like God was sending his servants to his people, saying, hello, follow me, wake up, return to me, or the end will come. That's what's exemplified in this parable. The father, or the landowner, first sends his servants to come, but what does Jesus even charge the people of God doing? They mistreated the prophets. And he continues to send them more urgently, until at last he sends his son. And Jesus here giving the picture of what's about to come at the end of the week, where they take him, they take him outside of the city, and they crucify him. They murder his son, and so what's going to happen Well, the leaders say that themselves. 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 then says, have you never read in scripture the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Scripture further reveals that Jesus here is talking about himself. He is that chief cornerstone, that the whole of his house is built upon firmly. And when Jesus says, Here, therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the people producing its fruit. Then he says, And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. There's an important distinction there. As people of God, in falling before Christ and submitting to Him, we are that group that have fallen upon this stone and been broken. We have been broken in Christ. We have come to see that we are sinners in need of a Savior. God, by His grace, has opened our eyes, He's softened our heart to the Gospel. We have fallen broken upon this chief cornerstone and been saved. When Jesus comes again, is the latter half of that verse, on whomever that cornerstone falls, will be crushed. When He comes again in His wrath, in His indignation as the judge of all the earth, the mighty King of glory, after suffering years and years, millennia after millennia, of chastisement, of abuse, of persecution. He will have his vindication and he will crush all who oppose him. And so the question is put before us. It's put before the Pharisees there, the leaders of the day. Jesus says, the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. But when it falls on anyone, it will crush them. The call, brothers and sisters, is to, by faith, receive Jesus Christ now, to be broken upon that stone before that stone falls and crushes us. This third parable, we'll actually quickly, the two verses between the parables, 45 and 46, it's the priests and the Pharisees, they perceive. I kind of like how it said that. They get it now. They finally get it. Oh, Jesus in these parables is talking about us. You know, up until this point, they kind of seem to be answering him like in a dialogue. Okay, you know, we're arguing here and then, oh, they're talking about us. And so, but yet they feared the crowds and they did not bring any charges against him. And so Jesus continues and he gives them another parable. This time about a wedding feast where a great king His son is being married, and so he invites his people to come, his nobles, who on the outward appear like they're worthy to come to this wedding feast. But yet, they all have other things to do. They reject him. And even some of them mistreat his servants that went out and proclaimed and called people to this wedding feast. They are mistreated and also killed and stoned and beaten. And so instead of those who on the outside appeared worthy, but rejected the offer, the king says to his servants, go out and bring in anyone you can that on the outward would seem unworthy. These would be people on the street. These would be poor and downtrodden people. Those oppressed are to be brought in. Now this parable isn't saying that all of those who are oppressed and poor and everything will be brought into the wedding feast of God. The verse 11 and following is really important to this parable is that when the king comes and he looks at all the guests, he finds one guest there that is there and he doesn't have proper clothing. He's not dressed in the proper wedding attire. Now those that had come None of them could afford the proper wedding attire. These were wedding garments that were given to them to wear so that they looked appropriate. Remember, those that were invited in this parable were the nobility, those that seemed worthy on the outside, but proved themselves to be unworthy in rejecting the invitation. And so then the invitation went out to those that seemed unworthy, and it was received, and they were brought in. Yet there is this one individual who did not have the proper clothing. You see, brothers and sisters, that clothing is important for us also to be in and at the wedding feast. It is the clothing of Christ's righteousness. That is what we must be clothed in in order to participate in the wedding feast of God. the great king whose son is engaged in getting married. In order for us to be a part of that wedding feast, we must be clothed in the brilliant, glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's the robes of righteousness that God himself gives us and provides. So in each of these parables, the two sons, the tenants, and the wedding feast, there are two groups of people and a contrast made between them. Those that reject Christ, the invitation. Those who do not believe and do not do as the Father has said. The tenants who reject the Son and kill Him and will be given to other tenants who receive Him. The wedding guests who reject the invitation, but then there are those who receive the invitation. So in each parable, we are called to believe in and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Now, in this, I want to remind you of a couple of verses that I often mention, especially in our prayer of confession. I'll typically close that prayer with a couple of references that are really meaningful and impactful in my life, and they give a great scriptural truth and promises very clearly and succinctly. about what the gospel is and what it means to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10, 9 says, if we confess Jesus as Lord and believe with our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. 1 John 1, 9 says, we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is what we are called to. we are called to fall down broken upon the cornerstone that was rejected, Jesus Christ, and to be clothed in His righteousness. And in that we will remain forever in the glorious presence of the King of Kings. And if you have believed in Jesus, know then that you are clothed in His righteousness. If you have believed in Christ, know then you are the second, or you are the son that may have said no at first, but then did. If you have believed in Jesus, you are the new tenants that have been provided for the vineyard. If you have believed in Jesus, you are those at the wedding feast, clothed in the righteousness that the King has provided. And that brings us to our third point. 22 verses 15 to 22. Render to Jesus the things that are God's. Now, as I looked at this section, and one of the things that, I mean, initially when I was preparing the sermon, I was just going to focus on that first section where Jesus' authority was challenged. Then as I kept reading and I got to this section, it all kind of seemed to go together, but this one kind of puzzled me. I was like, why is Jesus, why talk about taxes? you know, in this situation. Like, why is it here? Why did the Lord tell Matthew to put this section here? What is its significance? Taxes are not the real significance of this text. I mean, yes, an application you can take away from these verses are, you must pay your taxes. I'm sure the NSA or somebody who's listening in, they'll love that. But we are called to pay our taxes. After all, George Washington and others are on our dollar bill. But the real focus here is what is due to God. That is how Jesus takes their question and turns it into a wonderful truth that we're to take with us and learn. This is a snare set up by the Pharisees. It's open. That's right there in verse 15. Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him is in his words. And they didn't dare go to him again, but they sent their disciples to go to Jesus and seek to entangle him. And now, as we consider here is they pose a question to him, you know, are we to pay taxes to Caesar? You know, this would have been a huge question this day because after all, Caesar was the oppressive rule and power and authority. You know, earlier Jesus was asked a question about the temple tax. And that was a different system. That was, is Jesus going to prove to be a good Israelite and pay the temple tax and encourage his followers to do that? This is something completely different. This is the taxes imposed by the Roman authority. And are we to pay these, Jesus? They're oppressing us. And they're not giving us our freedom. You know, are we to pay this tax? Well, Jesus shows them that since, in fact, it does have Caesar's image and inscription upon him, that they are to give it to him. But then as he also says, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And when they heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away. As we consider, there in the question and the analogy that's made and the connection, the taxes and things like that are the things that are to give to Caesar. But what are the things that we're to give to God? Are we talking here about tithing? I mean, we are called to tithe, and we should be tithing. But is that all that he's talking about? I mean, is he just talking about money? Well no, that's not what he is speaking of. He's speaking here of the worship that God is due. He's speaking of here the proper authority and the glory we're to give to God that He is due. The praise that we're to give Him. The humble submission and obedience that we're to give Him. but also in that greatest commandment to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We are called to give God this. We are called to give God what is due to Him. Our love. Our obedience. Our respect. Our awe. Our praise. Our worship. And as Jesus is, you know, the connection here with what's gone before, you know, here we have a question which basically is, you know, calling into question the type of authority that is over the Israelite people. Should we honor Caesar's authority by paying his tax? And then on the other end is, Jesus, by what authority are you doing these things? And so as Jesus then expounds in these parables, showing that you're to believe in me and not reject me. In the end, when we see, given to God the things that are God's, we could rightly insert in there Jesus saying, given to Me the things that are God's. You want to know by what authority I'm doing this? I'm doing it by My authority. I am God in your midst. This is My house. the do that I am worthy of. Brothers and sisters, the reason why we need to look at this and focus on this is that it's easy for us to lose sight of this. We sang a psalm earlier today, I think it was 25B in our Sunday school class, and it mentioned how, in that psalm, it mentions how the We are the friend of the Lord, you know, who fear His ways. You know, Scripture calls us the friend of God, and that is true. When Jesus calls us, He says, no longer are you my servants, but you are my friends, because I have told you all that the Father has told me. But in keeping in mind the fact that we are the friend of God, which is amazing and wonderful, we need to not lose sight of the fact of who God is. He's the Creator of the universe. He holds us together. The remotest part of the universe and the smallest part of ourselves are held together by Him. He is the One who sacrificed His only Son for us. He is the One, the only One, that is worthy of worship, of praise, of a life of obedience and submission to Him. It's not the God of Islam. It's not Buddha. It's not the God of Mormonism. It is the only true living God, Jesus Christ, that we are to worship and give our praise to. So having been clothed in his righteousness, brothers and sisters, and bowing to him and receiving those glorious garments of his splendor and majesty, Let us not forget who He actually is, also, in our relationship to Him. The belief in Jesus Christ is not just a matter of a choice of many out there, or a matter of opinion. Like, I think this way is really good. You should go this route. Belief in Jesus Christ is a requirement regardless of whether or not someone actually believes Him. receiving and believing in Jesus Christ as Lord, as the God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth, who left the realms of glory and is incarnate in a real human body and had a real human soul and died upon the cross and rose from the dead and then ascended in that form and sits now at the right hand of God the Father. Belief in Him is not just a choice or a matter of opinion. It's a command from the Almighty God. This is the way. This is your salvation. And as we'll sing here in a moment from Psalm 2, this is the king that I have established. Kiss the son, do homage to him in sincerity, lest his wrath be kindled. And he crush you in his stride. Remember, brothers and sisters, in the Gospels and Jesus's earthly ministry, he was the meek and mild lamb of God, who is silent as a lamb before its shearers is silent. But when he comes again, he will be the roaring lion of Judah, the great and mighty king who will destroy all who oppose him. and who have opposed Him throughout their life. The time for grace will be over. And the wrath and judgment of God will be poured out upon the earth. So let us fall upon this capstone that has been rejected and be broken before it falls on us and crushes us. And let us, as the Lord gives opportunity Call others in love and grace to come and fall upon that capstone as well before it falls and crushes them. And ask ourselves each day, brothers and sisters, are you and I living as those under the supreme rule of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? our gracious God and Heavenly Father. Lord, we praise you for the grace that has been shown to us, and that by your grace, through the work of your Holy Spirit, that you have caused us to fall and be broken upon this chief cornerstone that was rejected. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to be a work within us. We thank you for the robes of righteousness that you have given us in Christ. And we pray, Lord, that as we have first believed through faith in Christ, that we would also, Lord, pursue greater holiness, not on our own strength, not to earn your approval, but also through the grace of God through Jesus Christ. For it is only by your grace that we can live as those who are in humble submission to you. Forgive us, Father, when we have fallen short. May you cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And may you, Father, pick us up, set us upon the rock of Christ, and cause us, Lord, to live for you, calling others through word and deed to bow before the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. In whose glorious name we pray, amen.