Matthew chapter 21. The title of this message, A
Challenge to the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what these scribes and these Pharisees are doing. They are
challenging His authority, His right to do as He will, when
He will, with whom He will. And that's been the challenge
since the fall. And that's what Satan did. He challenged God's authority. He said, I will be like God.
I'll send Him to heaven. I'll sit on the throne. That's
the whole problem, is who's gonna be in authority. Now our Lord had cursed a fig
tree and it withered up. He demonstrated his judgment,
the power of his judgment, the power of his word. He demonstrated
his authority to execute judgment And he demonstrated his power
over nature. When he cursed that fig tree,
it immediately dried up. You know, the Lord's power is
not limited to any specific place. He has power over all. The scripture
says, he hath his way. in the whirlwind and in the storm. The storms that come our way
are under his power. It's not mother nature, it's
God having his way. If anyone dies in a storm, that's
the way God purposed to take that person out. I said long
time ago in a message when I was just a young man, I realized
this. I might die in an accident, but it will not be an accident
that I died. God took me. Our times are in
his hands. Aren't you glad of that? I'm
not worried about something gonna happen to me. My times are in
his hand. Someone said this, I don't remember
who it was, said, we are immortal until he makes us mortal and
takes us home. You are as safe on the hottest
battlefield as you are sitting right here. Because you're not
going to go until God has purposed your time. There's a time and
a purpose for everything under heaven. Time to be born and a
what? Time to die. And brethren, that gives me real
comfort. I'm not, as someone said not too long ago, telling
my brother, this elderly gentleman said, I'm trying to keep my feet
above ground as long as I can. Well, you go ahead, eat healthy,
do what you want. You're gonna go when God says
it's time. When you and I have fulfilled
God's purpose in our time, it says David served his generation,
doesn't it? And then he went to be with the
Lord. The Lord took him. Okay, I kind of got off the subject
here, but that might be the message. That might be the message. But
our Lord had cursed this fig tree, and He gave His disciples
a lesson in faith. In faith. The fig tree represented
fruitless Israel. as well as all false professions,
and the reason for the fruitlessness was their unbelief. They did
not believe God. They could not enter the promised
land because of unbelief. And he lets us know here, I think
in this situation, if we believe not, we shall fail in the end
also, no matter the profession, if we believe not God. You know,
faith is more than just believing some facts about God. It's more
than believing some facts about Jesus Christ. Faith is believing
God from Genesis to Revelation. What does it say about Abraham?
Abraham believed God. He didn't believe some things
about God, though he did and we do, but he believed God. Whatever
God said to him, Abraham believed him and acted on it. That's faith. Faith believes a person, a real
living person. That's what faith does. We're also told in Hebrews that
without faith, it's impossible to please God. Without believing
God, it's impossible to please him. Now, the next day, after
our Lord cursed this fig tree, we find our Lord about his father's
business. You know, there's only about
three days from this point, there's about three days left, and he's
going to be nailed to the cross. And he's not sitting in a room
somewhere worried about being executed. But that's exactly
what happened. He's as calm and collected and
composed as if he were just having a great day. Because I tell you
what, it's his day. He made it. He made it this day. And this day, and this day, and
every day, He made it. He made it. It's His. And He's teaching in the temple.
He's always teaching, always instructing. He's the wisdom
of God. And then He's rudely interrupted by the chief priests
and the elders because they had just about all they could take
of truth. They had all they could take and they had to interrupt
Him. And they asked Him two questions. What they're trying to do is
discredit His ministry. They couldn't discredit His miracles.
The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. How can you discredit that? They
could not discredit His life. It was perfect. So what they
do, they're going to try to discredit His authority. Because they were
the ones recognized as the authority in town. And
if we didn't give you that authority, then who did? Where did you get
this authority? And this is what the heart of
all rebellion is. This is the very heart of rebellion.
The authority of Jesus Christ to rule and to reign. And this is the area that God
is going to meet every sinner whom He saves. Is who's going
to be the sovereign? Who's going to reign? Whose will
is going to be done? Mine or His? This is at the heart of Satan's
and man's rebellion. Who's going to be in authority
here? God or me? We looked in Psalm 14 a few weeks
ago on Thursday, the fool has said in his heart, no God. He
says, there is no God. And he says, no God for me, I'll
be my own God, thank you. I'll determine my own fate. I don't think so. I don't think
so. The whole world, the scripture
says, is under condemnation. You're born under condemnation.
Unless God saves you, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. You can turn whatever you want,
but you're in trouble. Christ has all authority as God. He has all authority to rule
and to reign. As Mediator, He has all authority. It has all been turned over to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything, absolutely everything
has been put into the hands of this man, Jesus Christ, who is
seated at God's right hand. He has all authority. And as the High Priest, He has
all authority to execute all things in the church. He's the
high priest. You know, there's only one high
priest in the church, and it's not in Rome. It's in heaven,
seated at God's right hand. That's the high priest of the
church. And he's not giving that to anybody else. That's his position,
that's his office. And he has all authority as king
of kings and Lord of lords. He's not king among kings, he
is the king of all kings. And He's the Lord of all. He's
the Sovereign. He's the Sovereign. He's the
Sovereign. Now our Lord demonstrates His
sovereignty by not answering their question. They came to
Him, they said, Who gave you this authority? And He didn't
answer their question. You know why? Turn over to Job
33. Here's why He did not answer their question. In Job 33, in verse 13, here's why the Lord
did not answer their question. Elihu asked, "'Why dost thou
strive against him against God? For he giveth not account of
any of his matters.'" He ain't answering me and you.
You and I are not going to put God on trial. I've heard some men say that
when they get to heaven, they're gonna ask God this question,
ask God this, ask God why this. Well, first of all, if that's
their real attitude, they ain't gonna be there. They ain't gonna
be asking anything. But I'm telling you right now,
we don't put God on trial. I understand this. I don't understand
everything God Almighty does. But I understand this, what He
does is right. He can do no wrong. Scripture
says, all His ways are holy and righteous. Righteous and holy
are all His ways. God is God. He's the Lord. Listen to Romans chapter 9, it
says in verse 13, but listen to this, Thou wilt say then unto
me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
And Paul only answers it like this. Paul does not explain it.
He answers it like this. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him who formed it, Why did you make me this way? I understand God is God, God
is right, God is holy, God is just, and I leave it there. And
the things I don't understand, I leave it there. Because I tell
you this, God Almighty is so far above me. He said, my thoughts
above your thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
my thoughts and my ways are higher than your thoughts and your ways. You see, we think We think temporal. God thinks eternal. We think
for the moment. God's thoughts are forever. You
and I are trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. God has
already determined the end from the beginning. Now that's a big
difference in the way you think, isn't it? That's also a big difference
in your knowledge and your understanding. God is perfect in knowledge and
understanding. He knows all things. I'm on a need-to-know basis.
That's what I know. But our Lord asked them a question
here. He says, before I answer this, let me ask you a question. If you can answer this question,
then I'll answer yours. I'll ask you a question. I'll
ask you one thing. They asked him two things. He said, I'm
just going to ask you one thing. The baptism of John, which was it? From heaven or of men? John came preaching the baptism
of repentance, and those who repented, he baptized them in
water by immersion. Now, he says, was that of God? Was that from heaven? Did John
get that from God? Or was that of men? And so it
says here, they go off and they reason among themselves. And
what it is, they're trying to figure out how stupidity can
answer divine wisdom. That's exactly what they're trying
to do. How do we answer that? So they go off and they huddle
up and they try to get this game plan together. How are they gonna
go at him? But what they don't realize is
he's gonna make them condemn themselves. They, by their own
words, in these two parables, are gonna condemn themselves
and prove his authority. Look over in Matthew chapter
12. Let me show you something back here. Back here in Matthew
chapter 12. Here's what's going to happen. You ever heard the old adage,
give somebody enough rope and they'll hang herself? That's
exactly what he's doing. In verse 36 of Matthew 12, "'But
I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.'" Listen.
By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned. And by their own words they are
going to condemn themselves and prove his authority. This is
the wisdom of God. It's the wisdom of God. And so they reason with themselves,
saying, if we say, in verse 25, if we say... See, they know they're
trapped here. It's like checkmate. If we say that John's ministry
is from heaven, that his message... Now listen, his message is from
heaven. What did John say? Behold the
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ. They knew that Jesus Christ was
John's message. Jesus Christ was his ministry.
He said, there's one that comes after me that was before me. Speaking of his eternality. I'm
not worthy to bend down and unloose his shoes. And John pointed him out twice.
He said, behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the
world. And publicans and sinners believed him. Publicans and harlots. The most despised people in town
believed the message. They repented, it says, and believed,
and were baptized. They confessed. They confessed
they were sinners, and God's right, and Jesus Christ is their
only hope. They confessed it, while the
Pharisees, the self-righteous in town, the religious leaders
in town, they turned thumbs down on Him. They said, well, we're
not going to confess Him because that means we've got to say we're
sinners. We've got to sit beside those guys. And they wouldn't do it. Self-righteousness
will not let you bow to Christ. Sin, listen, sin is not what
keeps people away from Christ. It's mostly self-righteousness.
You don't see a real need of his righteousness because you
got one of your own. It's not until you see that there's not
anything righteous about you from the top of your head to
the bottom of your feet, will you flee to Jesus Christ and
look to Him for all that you need? Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. They said, well, if we say John's
baptism is from heaven, then He's going to say, why don't
you believe Him? But if we say of men, we fear the people, for
all John You know, they hold him as a prophet. Now they're
in a political dilemma. That's a political dilemma here.
See, politicians, they put their finger up there to see which
way the wind's blowing, you know, then that's the way they go. And that's
what these guys are doing. They said, now, if we say this,
then we're going to lose the crowd. And so they're in a dilemma
here. Listen, I want you to get this.
When we consider man's opinion in the equation of truth, that's
when we compromise. That's when we compromise. Actually, if we tell them the
truth, we're going to be in trouble. And what did they say here in
verse 27? We cannot tell. No, no, the real answer is we
will not tell. That's the real answer. It's
not you can't, it's you won't. They would rather go to hell
and admit that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that He is the Savior that has
been promised and prophesied throughout the whole Old Testament. They would rather die, they'd
rather choke to death than admit that. That would mean that they would
have to confess that they too are sinners. And we're all in
the same pot. None good, no, not one. That
means me too. I put that out in my Bible. I
put even me. None good, no, not one. And even
me. That includes me. You know, the Lord said one time,
He said, one of you is going to betray Me. And each one of
them said, is it I? Is it I? Always apply the Scriptures to
yourself first. Always. Then He gives them a
parable here of two sons. And I'm not going to spend much
time on these parables because the whole challenge is to His
authority. And we know that He has the authority. He's God.
He's Creator. He's mediator, he's high priest.
He's all in all. But he says here, a certain man
had two sons. The one son is told to go to
work in the vineyard and he refuses to do so. But afterwards, he
repents and he goes. And the other son is told to
go to work in the vineyard and he says, I will. He says, yes,
sir. Just stand up there straight.
Yes, sir, I'd be glad to go to work in the vineyard. And he
doesn't. He doesn't. He's like, I ain't going to work
there. But those scoundrels, like that prodigal son that went
out and wasted all of his living, and that oldest son, the first
son, stayed home and he was obedient. Then when that prodigal came
back, remember how mad the elder son got? You didn't do anything
for me. Well, you never lost. You never lost. Christ came to save what? The
lost. And He's going to save, I promise
you, Jesus Christ is going to save every lost sinner. It just takes God to get one
lost. Spurgeon says, a sinner is a sacred thing for the Holy
Spirit has made him so. Apart from the work of God, nobody
really claims to be a sinner according to the scriptural definition
of a sinner. dead in trespasses and sins,
not wounded, dead. And he says to them, which one
of them did the will of his father? And the answer is, well, the
first one, it's obvious. It was obvious the first one,
the one that repented and believed and went to work in the vineyard.
The Gentiles, the sinners, the publicans and the harlots who
were rebellious, When they heard John preaching, they repented. They acknowledged their need
of Christ. They acknowledged their need
of a Savior. They acknowledged who and what
they are and what they've done. They acknowledged that. And they
repented and they said, You're right. You're right. I need God to save me. I need
God to cleanse me. I need God to listen out, to
do all the saving. Don't you? I need God to do all
the saving. Not me and Him together. I need
Him to save me. And they repented and they believed
and they brought forth fruit meat for repentance. They were
the ones in town who loved sinners. They were the ones in town who
became gracious, merciful, kind, loving. But those Pharisees,
they stayed cold and mean and hard I mean, the Lord performs
miracles on the Sabbath, giving somebody sight, enables somebody
to walk, and it made them mad. It made them mad. A person who'd
been lame for all his life, or been blind all his life, and
the Lord gives him sight, instead of them rejoicing, they got mad
because they said, you've broken the Sabbath. You kidding? He
is the Sabbath. He is the rest of God's people,
not a day of a week. It's Jesus Christ is our rest. And that's what they missed.
They thought if they kept that one day a week, they were doing
God's favor. But I guarantee when they stopped
on that day, they were wishing that day would hurry up so they
could finish doing what they were doing. the day before, or
they was already thinking what they're going to do. Well, the
Sabbath was on Saturday, so they're thinking what they're going to
do on Sunday. Their heart wasn't in it. They were, the Scripture
says, of the letter. They just looked in the book
and it said, do this, do that, and they said, okay, I'll do
this, I'll do that, I'm okay. And the Lord comes along and
He interprets the law, and He said, no. You know, the law says
don't commit adultery. He that looks on a woman to lust
after has committed adultery already in his heart. To hate
your brother without a cause, he says, don't murder, but to
hate your brother without a cause, he says, you've already committed
murder. You're guilty. What they didn't realize is that
the law reached to the heart. It reached to the heart. God
does business in the heart. But the second son said, yes,
yes, we'll go, but he didn't go. He said, when John came preaching
the same message, the same message they heard, you heard, and you
said, no, no. No, you repented not that you
might believe. Faith and repentance always go
together. You did not believe God, you
bore no fruit. You notice how this keeps coming
up, the fig tree had no fruit. They had no fruit. They didn't
go to the vineyard to work. And then in the next one here,
the next parable, the householder. He said, here another parable,
there's a certain householder, he was planting a vineyard and
hedged it about and digged a wine press in it, built a tower and
let it out to husbandmen. He's talking to Israel. That
nation, that is the only nation on this earth that we can say
exists because God chose them. That's the only nation that was
governed by the word of God. God, they had what he said, the
oracles of God, the sacrifices, the types, the pictures of Christ,
it was all given to that nation. And he's given a picture here
of them being like a vineyard. And he says that the husbandman,
he went to a far country. And when it's time for fruit,
fruit. Everything God does bears fruit.
I told you last week, if God gives life, there's gonna be
fruit. And his servants, he sent them
prophets. He said, I sent you prophets.
You beat them up. You slew them. You killed them. And then I finally said, I'll
send my son. I'll send my son. That's what I'll do. I'll send
my son. They will reverence, they will respect my son, because
that's the same as me being there. And they took him and they saw
him. They said, come, let us kill him. This is the heir. If
we kill him, we'll get it. It'll fall to us. The husbandman comes back and
there's no fruit. There's no fruit. Now what's the householder, he
says to them, what's that householder going to do to them? What's he
going to do? What would you do to them in
this story? They got so caught up in the story that they did
not realize that in their condemnation of these bad servants, they were
condemning themselves. The Lord let them just... He
let them hang themselves. And he says here in verse 42,
and I'll close. And Jesus said unto them, Did
you never read in the scriptures? And what he's saying here, you
have read the scriptures. I know you've read the scriptures.
You read them every Sabbath in the temple, in the synagogue.
You read them every Sabbath. You've read the scriptures. Do
you remember the part in the scriptures where you read, it's
over in Psalm 118, the stone which the builders rejected,
the same has become the head corner of the stone, or the same
has become the head of the corner And what he's saying to them,
I'm that stone that you're rejecting. That scripture applies to me.
You, the so-called builders, who should have received me,
who should have acknowledged me and recognized me, you have
turned thumbs down on me. You've rejected the stone. And
this is the Lord's doing, it's marvelous in our eyes. It's the
wisdom of God. This is of God, this is not of
men, this is of God. Therefore say unto you, the kingdom
of God shall be taken from you. I beg God, never take the gospel
away from here. Never take the gospel away from
here. He said, therefore say unto you,
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation. bringing forth the fruits thereof,
a nation of believers, born of God, a holy nation, as it speaks
of in Peter. Gentiles, like me and you, they
called us dogs. Dogs. They didn't want the dogs
in the house. But he says here, you were given
all of this, and it meant nothing. It's just
been lip service. It's just been outward ceremonies.
There's been no heart in any way, shape, or form in what you've
been doing. Now listen, here's an important
verse. Now, whosoever shall fall on this stone, the Lord Jesus
Christ, whatever sinner, falls on Christ, shall be broken. You know, God said that He did
not despise a contrite spirit and a broken heart. You're broken
over your sins. You're broken over your sinfulness.
You're broken over what you are. You're broken over your ingratitude.
If you fall on Christ, you'll be broken. And I tell you what,
God saved you. God will save you. But, He says
here, But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
But if I fall on you in judgment, like you did that tree, I'm going
to grind you to powder. And when the chief priests and
pharisees heard these parables, they perceived, oh, he's talking
about us. Well, why don't you turn to him? Why
don't you ask him to save you? If you perceive he's talking
about you, Lord, save me. If he says there's none good,
no, not one, you perceive that's you, Lord, save me. Save me. But they didn't do that, did
they? They didn't do it. God Almighty has to give a heart. God Almighty has to give life
before any sinner, whether it's just an out-and-out wretch or
a religious sinner. If God does not give life, they
will never ask God to save them. You remember the Lord walked
to the pool of Bethesda, and that lame man was there. He'd
been there for, I think, it was 38 years. And the Lord walked
up to him, and that whole place, it says, was full of sick folks,
full of them. He walks up, saves that man,
or heals that man, and tells him to get up, take his bed,
and walk, but we don't hear of anyone else there asking the
Lord to heal them also. Without a work of grace, there's
no desire for grace. You can mark that down. Here's what they did, but when
they sought to lay hands on him, they was gonna kill him. They
feared the multitude because they took him for a prophet.
Who's really in authority? Whose authority are we gonna
bow to? His or ours? His, by the grace of
God. All right.