Would you take God's Word this morning, please, and open to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter number 21. The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21. We're going to be reading a few verses of that. And would you stand for the reading of God's Word? Just find verse number 28 of Matthew, chapter 21. Stand for the reading of the Word of God. Verse 28. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and he said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answered and he said, I will not. But afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said, Likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir, and went not. Whither the twain did the will of his father? And they said unto him the first. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Thank you so very much. You may be seated. Would you pray with me this morning? Heavenly Father, what a wonderful privilege it is to be in your house, to be with the people of God who want to be here, Lord, they're seeking your face and want to come and worship you. And Father, I pray you'll bless every soul here today under the sound of my voice. And Lord, we need your help even when we come to worship. It's easy for our minds to get distracted, think about some of the burdens and things in the world. But Lord, help us to focus today our attention on Christ. And help us to focus on this passage of scripture and teach us from it, Lord, so that all of us can know with great certainty that Christ is Lord in our lives. and that we're submitted completely to His Lordship. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I've been doing a series of sermons on parables. I'm going to do one more and move on. Someone says, have you preached all of them? Not all of them. I could still do a few more, but I want to start another new series with you on Sunday morning out of the book of Ephesians, Lord willing. But I want to do this one parable before we end this series of parables from our Lord Jesus. And this morning I want to talk about the parable of the two sons. The parable of the two sons. You ever read cartoon comics? In the Frank and Ernest cartoon, these two bunglers are standing before the pearly gates heaven and st. St. Peter is frowning at Ernie scowling at him and Frank whispers to Ernie said if I were you I changed my shirt Ernie is wearing a t-shirt that reads question authority Americans do that often not only do we question authority, we think that it is our inalienable constitutional right to question authority. If our president begins to act as if he were a king, we rally to throw him out of office. And that whole idea carries down through our society, all the way to rebellion on the family level. We resist the concept of authority. We don't like submitting to anyone. And when it comes to the church, most American Christians do not view The church is a place where you go to submit to the leadership for the purpose of growth and accountability. But rather, they view the church more like a store where you can shop like a consumer. And if you like the place and it serves your needs, you can come back. And if another place down the road offers you more or a pleasant, more pleasant experience, you move your business there. And so thus pastors who are trying to market their churches don't dare say anything that would offend the customers. or cause the customers any discomfort. The customer, after all, is king. You want to please your customers. And with this consumer view about the church, the idea of spiritual authority, the idea of proclaiming, thus saith the Lord, the idea of someone standing up and saying, you have to submit to hear this, what the Bible says, that seems to be odd and out of place in our day. But one of the major lessons we can learn from the ministry of our Lord Jesus is that defying God-given authority is spiritually dangerous. In fact, submission to the Lordship of Christ is, I think, the essential evidence of a person's genuine faith, that they're truly saved. Because if you're truly a believer, you will gladly submit to the authority of Jesus Christ in your life. We start out coming into the kingdom of God by submitting to him. And no submission to Jesus, no submission to his Lordship, means no salvation. Now, it might be wise to question authority initially, but once that authority has been proven as being authentic and from God, then it's foolish to continue to question authority or to defy that authority in any way. In Matthew chapter 21, Jesus is proclaiming his authority as the rightful king. He's proclaiming himself the Messiah, and he does it in a very dramatic way. Now, by the way, throughout Jesus' ministry, he does this. He shows his authority as being from God. And here in Matthew chapter 21, Jesus is about to go to the cross. These are the last days of his life before he'll go to the cross at Calvary. But before he does that, three more times, he will do great demonstrations to announce his great authority to the crowd. What does he do? Well, on Sunday, he rides into Jerusalem on a colt and presents himself as the Messiah. We call that Palm Sunday. He went all the way into the temple on that Sunday and kind of looked around and kind of cased the place because he knew what he was going to do the next day. He went back to Bethany that night. Monday morning, he got up early after spending time in prayer. He heads toward Jerusalem. On his way in, he sees a fig tree. And that's like Israel. Israel pronounced themselves to be a religious people. But when Jesus looked at Israel and the leaders closely, he found that that was all foliage. It was no fruit. There was nothing really of substance there. And so the judgment on the fig tree was kind of a symbolic judgment on the people of Israel. And then when he goes into Jerusalem, he does something really incredibly dramatic that announces his authority, and that is he cleanses the temple. He sees the money changers there in the court of the Gentiles making money. People would come in with their sacrifice, and they would say, well, it's not an approved sacrifice. You have to buy one of our approved lambs or animals here. And then they would upcharge on that. Sounds like an Oriole game, right? You can't bring certain things in, you have to buy it here. But before they do that, they would have to exchange their money to use the approved temple money, and they would also upcharge on that and take advantage of people that way. And Jesus saw this going on, and it angered him. He was filled with righteous indignation. The temple was to be a missionary endeavor, to show God to the world, it became a mercenary endeavor. And Jesus was filled with rage and he overturns the tables. He chases out the money changers. Can you imagine Jesus doing that? Throwing over tables and making a whip and chasing people out of the temple. Well, he went back to Bethany that night and Tuesday morning he got up and he came back to Jerusalem and on this morning now, he is teaching in the temple. He's taking center court here in the temple. He's basically saying with all of his dramatic gestures, this temple is mine. and he's right in the middle, and he's teaching them the word of God. The gospel of Luke says he's teaching the gospel. And it says that all the people were attentive to him. They were hanging on every word that Jesus said. Here's Jesus teaching in the middle of the temple on Tuesday after he cleansed it out. All these people are listening, hanging on his words. He's giving them the gospel. And what happens? Well, the religious leaders come. Look in verse 23 again. And when he was coming to the temple, the chief priests and the elders and the people came unto him as he was teaching and said, by what authority do thou these things? While Jesus was teaching, they come and they question the authority of Jesus. You say, shame on them. But have we ever done that? Have we ever questioned his authority in our life? Lord, what right have you to do these things in my life? By what authority, Lord, are you doing this? Sometimes the Lord may do things in our life that we don't necessarily approve of. And sometimes we may question his authority. The Jewish leaders, We're doing that and the jewish leaders basically lock horns with jesus in a debate Now in this section of scripture, we can divide it up into two parts. First of all, the religious leaders question jesus They'll ask him two questions and then jesus will question the religious leaders. He will ask them two questions So let's look at the first part the religious leaders question jesus, but look at the delegation in verse 23 chief priests elders And Mark also adds teachers of the law. These three groups make up the Sanhedrin. This was an official delegation. And this is the group that's been trying to discredit the ministry of Jesus. They don't like what he's been teaching. They're the ones that started the big lie about Jesus. Came down from Jerusalem that he does miracles in the power of Satan. Can you imagine someone accusing Jesus of that? To show you how hardened their hearts were. They organize together and they organize this lie. Let's just tell the people he does it in the power of Satan. And here they say, by what authority do you do these things? They're making clear that they're the authority. Although it's the form of a question, the question is designed to let Jesus know, hey, we are the ones in charge here. And so they were asking Jesus, where do you get off doing this? Here you are taking over the temple, doing all these things. Where do you get this authority from? Now, rabbis had to be ordained. And they had this process that every rabbi would have to go through. A leading rabbi, a respected rabbi, would serve as the kind of a leader, and they would have to be an apprentice. And when he was ordained, the leading rabbi would give his blessing. Once he was ordained, he was officially recognized as a leader or a teacher in Israel. Jesus had no such ordination. He did not submit himself to the rabbinical schools in Jerusalem or the religious people there in Jerusalem. So they demanded, in verse 23, by what authority do you do these things? What things were they talking about? Well, proclaiming himself as a Messiah, coming into the temple and overturning the tables and chasing people out, taking control of the temple and teaching the things that he did, healing the sick, doing it with authority. They said, you don't have our authority to do this. Well, Jesus didn't need their authority. I mean, for the same reason that Babe Ruth didn't need the authority of the Little League. If you're hitting home runs, you don't need the Little League's approval. Jesus was doing miracles and showing that he was from God. And really, there's a two-fold question. By what authority, what scribe or what prophet or priest ordained you or the source of authority? Who gave you this? Where did you get your authorization from? And so they're questioning him. And why were they doing this? Well, Jesus was destroying their whole religious system. They didn't come seeking answers from Jesus sincerely. They had already made up their minds about who Jesus was. What they wanted to do is they wanted to question Jesus in front of the crowds of people. He was bringing crowds of people out to hear him. And they were trying to discredit Jesus. They were trying to destroy him. because these people were desperately hanging on every word. So they decided to question the authority of the Lord Jesus. And by the way, this whole theme of authority, we see this all throughout the gospel of Matthew. Matthew over and over again shows Jesus as the rightful king, Jesus as the rightful Messiah. Remember the centurion who wanted his servant to be healed and sent to Jesus and said, Lord, heal my servant. And Jesus was going to go to the house and heal him. And the centurion said, Oh, Lord, you don't have to come to my house. Just speak the word only. Here's a Gentile that recognizes Jesus' authority. He said, look, I'm a man of authority. I'm a centurion. Whenever I speak something, it comes straight from Rome. I have all the backing of Caesar in Rome. When I say something, people do it. How much more do you have authority? If you just speak the word, he'll be healed. He was saying by that, you have all the authority of heaven. Just speak the word, Lord. You don't have to come to my house. And Jesus said, I haven't seen this kind of faith in Israel. that recognizes me and my authority. And so Matthew hammers on this again and again. In Matthew chapter six, there's the story of the man that basically Jesus healed. But before he healed him, he said, you know, your sins be forgiven you. And the Pharisees and the elders that were there said, you know, you're blaspheming. Why? Because when Jesus said, you know, your sins be forgiven you, they knew that the only one who had power to forgive sins was God. And by Jesus saying, your sins be forgiven you, what was he claiming? That he was God, he was Lord and God, Son of God. And they said, you blaspheme. And Jesus said, well, just to show you that my authority is from God, let me ask you a question. What's harder to verify to someone that say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise up and walk? What's harder to verify? Or what's easier to do? Well, it's much easier just to say to someone, your sins are forgiven you, because that's invisible. You really can't see that, right? In fact, people do that all the time. They go to a Catholic priest, confess their sins, and what does he say? Absolvo, your sins are forgiven. But your sins aren't forgiven, friend, until you take your sins to Christ Jesus, and you repent. Only he can do that kind of forgiveness. And so Jesus says to these Pharisees, to show you that I have authority to forgive sin." He points to the man and says, I say unto you, rise up and walk. And he stood up and he walked because that is authority. He had power from heaven to do that. But here are these religious leaders and they're questioning Jesus' authority. So look at Jesus' response. Here's the second part. Jesus questions the religious leaders. And notice how he answers their question. Look at verse number 24. And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I will likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it from heaven or of men? Now, This is a really good question. Remember, they're trying to back Jesus into a corner here, and Jesus actually kind of does the opposite. He backed them into a corner. And he says, let me ask you a question first. And by the way, this was part of rabbinical teaching and device to answer a question with a question, you know. So he says, you know, I'll play your game. I'll ask you a question, and then I'll answer if you answered mine. But John's baptism, and when he says baptism with John, what he means is the whole ministry of John. That one expression stands for his whole ministry. The ministry of John the Baptist, was it from God or not? Was it a man or was it of God? Well, that was a good question again. By the way, who was John the Baptist? He was the forerunner of the Messiah. He announced the coming of the kingdom and the king. And by the way, John was extremely popular with the people. The people loved him. When he was baptizing in the wilderness, many people went there to the Jordan River and they submitted themselves to the baptism of John. In fact, it was the popularity of John the Baptist's ministry that caused some of those religious leaders to go and to be baptized. They weren't doing it because they were sincerely repentant, it was just a political thing. And John recognized that and he refused to baptize many of them. In fact, he called them snakes, you brood of vipers. who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. They were only doing it out of political expediency and John saw through their hypocrisy. And so Jesus asked him, he says, the baptism of John, was it of heaven? Did he have heaven's authority or not? Was it of God? Now, this is a brilliant question because if they say, yes, it was of God, then Jesus can say, well, then how come you're questioning my authority? because the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus was inseparably linked. Because John the Baptist was the forerunner, Jesus was the king. Jesus was the bridegroom, John the Baptist was the best man. And it was John who said, when he pointed to Jesus, behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. So for them to say, well, yes, his ministry was of God, they would have to admit then that Jesus' ministry was of God. And it would put them in a bad light because they were questioning the authority of God. But if they said no, then the people there that were listening, they would begin to question them. Because again, John was popular. It wasn't a politically good answer to say no. Because that would put them in disfavor with all the people. The people would turn against them, they would lose control. That would give Jesus an even bigger following. And so notice how they answer in verse number 25, where it says, and they reasoned with themselves, saying, can't you see them just getting in their little holy huddle, trying to figure out the answer? Oh, let me see, what should we say? How are we gonna answer this? They reasoned with themselves. And here's their brilliant response. And verse, again, they reasoned with themselves and they said, we shall say from heaven, he will say unto us, why did you then not believe him? But if we shall say of men, we fear the people for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus and said, we cannot tell. We plead the fifth. on this, we're not gonna answer this question. And he said unto them, neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. You don't answer my question, I'm not gonna answer yours. It was no need to answer their question because they already knew the answer. And this whole thing was not them really wanting to find out who Jesus was so they can submit to heaven sent authority, it was them resisting Jesus. And this was Jesus saying that I have nothing more to say to you. I'm not going to waste any more time with you. I'm not going to play this game with you anymore. Because if you don't recognize my authority, I'm not going to teach you any more truth. I have nothing else to say to you. And let me just say, beloved, if you don't receive the truth that God has already given you, He's not going to give you any more. If you don't receive the authority of Christ in your life, He's not gonna continue to play games with you. It's a dangerous thing to continually resist the truth or resist the authority of God in your life. Eventually you'll lose a future opportunity for salvation if you do that. But in response to their refusal to answer, even though Jesus doesn't answer their question, he says, look, let me give you something to think about. He gives them this parable. Here's the parable. And notice how he says it, look in verse 28. But what do you think? This is a common introduction by a teacher when he wants the students to be engaged, solve a problem. These men were really the Supreme Court of Israel. They were men of wisdom and judgment. And in essence, Jesus is saying, here's a case for you to judge. Here you wise men, let me give you something to think about. Here it is. A man owns a vineyard, has two sons. Look at verse 28. What think he? A certain man had two sons. And he came to the first and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. Now this would be a very common scene in Jewish households for a man to ask his son to work in his vineyard. The father had a right to command that. And notice he commands him with authority. Son, go work. It's an authoritative command. This is in the imperative. Again, the father has the right to do it, the son has the responsibility to obey. And notice, he's very specific. You hear this, parents? Today, go work in my vineyard today. Because who among us has not had a child when we said something like, take out the trash? Yes, sir, dad, I'll do it. Come back the next day, it's still there. I thought I told you to take out the trash. Did you mean today? I didn't know you meant that very moment. I mean, I'm gonna do it eventually. They all know all the tricks, don't they? So this father says, go work in my vineyard, not someone else's vineyard, and do it today. Go today, work in my vineyard. And the response of the first son is, no, I will not. This is absolutely disrespectful refusal, very uncharacteristic of a first century son in Israel. This was the epitome of disrespect, but that's not the end of the story. Look at verse 29. He answered and said, I will not. But afterward, he repented and went. I love the word repent, it's a strong word. Metamelomai, to change one's mind. In other words, it's a deep sense of regret and remorse. She was only five times in the New Testament. Talks about a deep sorrow. So here's the son. Says to his father, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm not your hired hand. I'm not going out into that vineyard. And later on, his heart was overwhelmed with sorrow for what he had said, a deep, deep sorrow. And he repented. He didn't come back to the father and report it. He just went out into the vineyard. I'm sorry. And the father must have found out later, was very pleased with that son. But notice the response of the second son. Verse 30, and he came to the second, and he said, likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir. Yes, sir, right away. And what happened? And he went not. Sir, curious, yes, my lord. You ever have a child say that to you? Good, yes, my lord, father. Kids don't speak like that. And when they do, you better watch out, because they got something else going on there. You know, here's this kid, hell yes! My Lord Father, absolutely, immediately. And he doesn't go. He doesn't go at all. He went not. Verbally, he was very respectful. But he didn't do it. He didn't obey. He was all talk. He was all profession. Notice the interpretation of this parable. Look in verse 31. Whither of them Twain did the will of his father? So Jesus now gives it to the elders and religious leaders in a simple question. Which one of these did the will of their father? Now, they had the answer to this. The crowd there is listening to this, right? Remember in your mind, there's a big crowd. Jesus gives them this parable. Then he gives them this question. The answer is self-evident, right? So for them not to answer would again show their resistance to the crowd. So they, you can imagine reluctantly they answered. So obvious, which one of these two did the will of his father? Verse 31, and he said, they said unto him, the first, and Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Talking to the religious people and all their religious garb The Pharisees and the publicans, that parable we see is really illustrated in this. The harlots and the publicans go into the kingdom before you. The publicans and the harlots, they were the lowest of the Jewish leaders. They were the dregs of society. The common, the unclean. And Jesus said, they're gonna get into the kingdom of God before you. Now, again, let's look at this parable. The father represents God the father. who has authority to give commands. The vineyard represents the kingdom. The first son represents those who are sinners, out-and-out sinners, the outcasts of society, who rebel against the authority of God and Christ in their life. Initially, they show disrespect to God. Initially, they disobey the commands of God. They have a life of rebellion. But afterward, they truly repent of their sin. They repent of their rebellion against His divine authority, and they turn and begin to work in the vineyard. Now they're doing the will of God. What is Jesus saying there? people who are sinners and realize they are sinners and truly genuinely repent of their sin and then begin to do the will of God, live for God in their life, those are the ones that are submitted to the authority of God and that is the mark of genuine salvation. True repentance is demonstrated in their actions. You don't work to get saved, but your true repentance will result in works later on in your life. They obey, they get to work in the vineyard. The second sign represents who? The Jewish leaders, right? They say, oh, yes, sir, we do the will of God. Look at all the religious things that we're doing. But they rejected the ministry of John the Baptist. They rejected the authority of Jesus. They were all talk. They were all outward show. There was no true, genuine, inward repentance in their life. They had a lot of beautiful leaves like the fig tree, but there was no fruit of true repentance. Lots of promise, no product. And Jesus said, these who are sinners who repent, they're going to get into the kingdom of God before you. That had to hurt because they thought that they were already in the kingdom of God just by virtue of their nationality. They were sons of Abraham. Surely we're in the kingdom of God. Jesus said, you're not. Because look down in verse 32, for John came unto you in the way of righteousness and you believed him not, but the publicans and the harlots believed him. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterwards that ye might believe him. And so John the Baptist came preaching the kingdom of God, preaching repentance, showed that he was genuinely from God with his righteous way. And rather than receive him, they rejected him. And they did the same thing to Jesus. They rejected Jesus as well. In other words, Jesus was saying, you know, you should have known that John was from God, and you know that I'm from God, and yet there's no true repentance. So what's the implication? Without true repentance, one cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And you have to have the fruit of true repentance. You have to show that your repentance is real. And what's the sign that your repentance is genuine? What was the sign that this first son, that his repentance was genuine? What was the sign of it? He went out and he went in the field. He worked. There was a genuine sorrow and brokenness over his rebellion, and then he repented of that, and he said, you know what? I'm going to do the will of God. You get saved when you repent. You reveal that you're truly saved by doing God's will. So ask yourself, is my whole life directed to the vineyard, to doing the will of God, to obeying the Father, doing whatever he asked me to do? And again, as you heard me say this before, it's not perfection, but direction. The whole direction of our life is that we are doing the will of God. And we're submitted to the Lordship of Christ, to the authority of Jesus Christ in our life. Anyone can be saved if they truly repent. And it's like I was telling you, this illustrates the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. where they both went to the temple, and the publican, you remember, I went over that parable with you, would not lift up his head to heaven, but he smote on his breast, saying, God, be merciful on me, a sinner. And the publican went into the temple, roasting about all the things that he did. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I have, yada, yada. He went on down the list of religious things. I'm glad I'm not like this guy over here. But Jesus said it was the publican that went away justified because he had true sorrow over his sin and brokenness, and he truly repented. True salvation is revealed not by words. A lot of people can say a lot of religious words. You know, yes, sir, Lord, amen, praise God. You can't tell how much gas is in the tank by honking the horn. It's obedience. It's obedience. They seem to have it all together outwardly. They would say, yes, Lord, but they didn't do any of it. Lots of leaves, no fruit. So the question is, are we completely submitted to the authority of Christ? Are we doing the will of God? Have we repented of our sin, made Him our Lord and Savior? Are we doing God's will? He has all authority. The late Bill Clem was one of Major League Baseball's best-known and powerful umpires. When he was behind the plate, he made it clear that he was in complete control on every matter. In one important game in the ninth inning, the batter hit the ball to left field. The runner on third ran for home with a potential winning run. The catcher crouched to make the tag. The runner and the catcher and the umpire all collided there at the plate, and they were all laid out in the dirt. On one side, the dugout, the players were screaming, he's safe. On the other side, the dugout, the players were screaming, he's out. The fans in the stand were going wild. In the midst of all the confusion and noise, Bill Clems stood up, looked directly at the stands and the dugouts, and with his fist raised, said this, he ain't nothing until I call it. He made it clear who was in charge. You know what? You and I were nothing until he calls it. He has the authority. He has the authority to say where I will spend eternity. He has the authority to accept you into heaven or condemn you to hell. To the thief on the cross, he said today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Christ could go into the temple, he could overturn the tables if he wanted, it was his temple. He could drive out the religious leaders and the money changers because he was in authority. The same authority that gave him the right to confront those leaders gives him the right to confront me and to confront you in our lives. even if we try to cover over our lives with a bunch of religious action. The question is, are you obeying me? Jesus said, you know, why do you call me Lord and you don't do the things that I say? Are we obeying him? Do we yield to his rightful Lordship? Let's bow for prayer together. Father in heaven, thank you for the word of God. for the clarity of it. And Lord, I pray that every person here today, under the sound of my voice, has submitted completely to the Lordship of Christ. That they know that Jesus is the Son of God with all the authority of heaven. Come to this earth to die for man's sin, take our sins upon himself, and also to come out of that grave, literally come out of that grave after three days, showing he has power and authority over death. Lord, may we yield all of ourselves to his lordship. Help us, Lord, to honestly face our own sinfulness. to realize that we're sinners and to come to Christ broken, submitted, asking for your mercy. Like the publican who said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Forgive us, Lord, for our own selfishness, our own insistence on running our own lives on our own terms, rather than saying, Lord, you're in charge. And I submit to your rightful rule in my life. And I praise you for that. I praise you that you're Lord and I trust you. I can trust you. Father, help us in this area to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ with heads bowed and eyes closed. I just want you to just look in your own heart this morning and do a spiritual evaluation. and know whether you're trusting in Christ, in Christ alone. Not, yes, sir, Lord, and then not obey him. That doesn't get it. But rather truly repentant over your own rebellion and humbly going to do his will to work in the vineyard submitted to him. Father, bless this word to hearing hearts. May everyone here know with certainty that Christ is Savior and Lord. May we live our whole life submitted to his lordship. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen.