Turn back to Matthew chapter
21. Matthew chapter 21. The authority
of Christ, the authority of our Lord is demonstrated here. Now,
once again, our Lord is about His Father's business. That's why he is in the temple.
He is in the temple teaching. Wouldn't you have liked to have
been there and to have heard? I would have liked to have been
there and heard him speak to that crowd there in the temple.
But he's about his father's business as he always was. And as he's
teaching, just like I'm doing this morning sitting here teaching,
he's interrupted. by the chief priest and the elders.
They interrupt his teaching. They just storm in, come in and
just start questioning him. Putting him on trial, so to speak.
You see, they have mustered up enough courage overnight to confront
him about running off the money changers. Our Lord ran the money
changers out of the temple. And they all left. And they left
with them. But overnight, they got together
and they got up enough courage to come back. And they're going
to confront him about this matter of running these men off. See,
they were making profit. He messed up their profit scheme.
And they want to know who gave you the authority. They ask him
this question. Looking for a chink in the armor
is what they're looking for. Looking for a way to discredit
his person, his ministry, to discredit Him. And they say,
by what authority doest thou these things? Who gave you the
power of authority to come into this place and to take over,
to perform the miracles? You remember, after He ran them
out, He performed miracles of healing. Who gave you the authority? Because they know they didn't
do it. We didn't put our hand on you. We didn't recognize you
as someone as someone having authority. It didn't come from
us. Who gave you this authority?
Now, they didn't ask him this question out of humility, seeking
to know if he was truly sent of God. Nicodemus said, Thou
art a teacher come from God. Nicodemus came. And when Nicodemus
came, Nicodemus came wanting to know something. I mean, he
came by night. And he came wanting to know something.
These men were angry. These men were angry. He touched
their pocketbook. He touched their pocketbook and
it made them angry. And they said, who gave thee
this authority? They're going to try and discredit.
You see, they could not find fault with his miracles. They
could not find fault with his person. He did no sin. He did
no sin. So they could not find fault
with His person, with His miracle. They couldn't even find fault
with His message. So what they are going to try
and do is find fault with who gave you this authority, the
person who gave you this authority, because it wasn't us. You see,
anyone who came into the temple and taught had to have the authority
of the priest. You see, that was the place where
the priest taught, described, and that's where they taught.
And they said, we didn't do this. So they're going to try and discredit
him. However, the Lord demonstrates His authority. He doesn't give
them an answer. He doesn't immediately give them
an answer. He's going to demonstrate His
authority. And He's going to do so, first of all, by not giving
them an answer. By not doing that. And He's going
to ask them a question. You know, the Scripture says
this. He giveth none account of any of His matters. He is
not accountable to me. God is not on trial by His creation. He is the sovereign. He is the
authority. He is the one who speaks. And
everything does as He says. And He's not going to be put
on trial by His creation. Why do you do what you do? Why
did you do that? No, He gives no account. of any
of his matters, and to the children of God, that's all right, isn't
it? That's all right. Believe me,
there were many times my father said, because I said so. Because
I said so. You do what I say because I said
so. Now, we do what God said because He said so. But we know
our Father. We know our Heavenly Father.
We know His wisdom is infinite. We know His goodness is infinite.
He can do no wrong. He can make no mistakes. He makes
no mistake. We trust Him. We trust our Father. And that's why He says He gives
no account of any of His matters. Now, what they wanted here were
credentials. Men are impressed with credentials. with credentials. I was telling
Jeremy once when he was getting his education, going to college,
and this is when he was talking about before he went, you know,
he set out a year and he was going to go to school. And I
was telling him, I said, well, you need to go and get a degree. And he was talking about engineering.
I said, you need to get a degree. I said, even if it's painting
Easter eggs, people will be impressed with it. I said, they'll be impressed
with it, even if it's just painting Easter eggs. Men are impressed
with degrees. They are impressed with credentials. And that's what they want. Who
gave you the credentials? Produce the credentials. Why
are you doing this? Who gave you that authority?
Whose school did you graduate from? You see, the Pharisees
all sat at someone's feet and learned. Paul sat at the feet
of Gamaliel. Now, they want to know, whose
feet did you sit at? It wasn't ours. We didn't see
you in school. It was not ours. By what authority
doest thou these things? Well, we know the answer to that,
don't we? As God, He has all authority. You see, He is the
authority. As God, He is the authority.
That temple is His temple. The people He's speaking to,
the people He's teaching, are His people. One way or the other. His by creation or His by redemption.
One way or the other, all are His. He said, all flesh, over
in John 17. Thou has given me power over
all flesh. That He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou has given Him. But all flesh is in His
hands. He has the power over everything
that moves. Everything that exists. Every
demon, every angel, everything that has an existence, Christ
has the power over it, first of all, as God. As God, He has
all power. He's the Creator of all, as it
says over Colossians 1. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Now, that's my power. That's
my power as Creator. It's all His. He's the potter. We are the clay. He spoke of the treasure being
in earthen vessels. I'm looking at clay pots. He's the potter. He said, can
I not do with my own as I will? And not answer to anyone for
it? Now, you and I have to answer to people. You and I have to
answer to God. But God answers to no one. He
answers to no one. He is the potter. As the high
priest, this is This is the true high priest of God right here.
This is the true high priest. This is the one who's a high
priest by an oath and not just by some fleshly lineage. This
is the high priest of God. And as the high priest of God,
he has the power. He has the right to walk into
that temple and take over and teach those who are sitting there.
As God's high priest, he has the power. And then as the mediator,
There is only one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He is the only one. All things
have been put into the hands of that one man. That hour of
sitting in that temple, at that time, teaching, is in His power. It was given to Him to do so.
As the Mediator, as the God-man, He has the power to do so. In
John 5.27, It says all judgment has been
committed to the Son. It's been given to Him. All power
and all authority. He said in Matthew 28 before
His ascension, all power and all authority has been given
to Me in heaven and earth. Now you go preach. You go preach. I'll do the same and you go preach.
I started to say you do the preaching, but He's the one who gives us
the power to preach. We can't even do that if He doesn't
give us that power. In Psalm 2, I read this morning,
I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. He has it as God. He has it as the Mediator. And
he has it as the King of Glory. This is the King of Glory. He
came riding into town on that donkey. And they all said, Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. This is the King. This is the true King.
Does he have, by what authority? Oh, as God, as mediator and as
king. He has the proper credentials,
all right. Not from your school. Not from
their school. Not from our school. He has it
from heaven. He has the proper credentials.
But our Lord, who is infinite wisdom, ask them a question. See, He takes over the situation.
He's never taken over. He takes over. So He turns this
whole thing around. Here they come, all huffy-puffy,
into the temple. And they're going to discredit
Him. They've mustered up a little courage here now, as much as
men can. And they walk into the temple
and they're going to discredit Him. And He just takes this thing
over. He's teaching. But did I tell you what? He's
still teaching. He's still teaching. He never stops teaching. Everything
he does, every word he speaks is a lesson. It's a lesson. And he takes this over. So he
asked them a question. And he said, if you can tell
me the answer, then I'll give you an answer. He knew they weren't
going to come up with an answer. He knew they were not going to
give the answer at all. And he takes them back to John
the Baptist. The baptism of John. Was it from
heaven or men? You see, John came preaching
repentance. Repent and be baptized. Turn
from your wicked ways. Turn to the Lord and be baptized. This is the first time that immersion
was presented in the Scriptures. Being baptized, immersed underwater.
Here is where it was first done, right here. Now, he's saying
here, was John's ministry John's message, his preaching, and the
ordinance that we know now as baptism, being baptized, was
it from heaven? Or did John come up with that? Did John come up with that? And
our Lord's question here shows that baptism is a divine ordinance. It's of God. It doesn't add anything
to salvation. It's like taking a marriage vow.
It doesn't make me love. It doesn't make me love, but
it shows a commitment. And this thing of being baptized,
it doesn't make me love Christ. It doesn't add to my salvation,
but it shows a commitment. It's a commitment to Christ.
It's following the Lord. It's following His command. It's
being identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. And these men,
I'll show you here in a little bit, refused to do that over
Luke. It says you refused, you rejected
the counsel of God against yourselves when John the Baptist came preaching. So he's saying here, the baptism
of John, was it divine or did God give it? Was it from God?
That's why he said when he says from heaven, he means from God.
Was it from God or men? were men. Now, these men, when
they heard that, and I think they knew that this,
you know, John was a prophet. They acknowledged John as a prophet.
And they, you know, if a prophet comes preaching, his message,
his ministry is of God. But they knew if they said that,
then he's going to say, why don't you believe on me? Because I'm
his message. John pointed to Christ. Behold
the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. Then why
don't you believe on me? And here they are going to complicate
this thing by their dishonesty. So they huddle up. I can just
see these men. He asked them this question.
They kind of go off and they kind of huddle up, you know.
And they're going to put a game plan together here. And the best
game plan they can come up with is to plead ignorance. That's
the best game plan of men, ignorance. They're going to plead ignorance.
And they come to him in verse 27, and they say, we cannot tell. It would have been better if
they said, we will not tell. We're just not going to tell
you. It would cause us too much trouble. And he said, neither
do I tell you. I'm not going to tell you. I
don't owe you an answer. I don't owe you an answer. However, I
have a parable for you. He's not done with it. The teaching
is going to go on. He's going to let them condemn
themselves. A man had two sons. And what
he's going to show here also is true repentance. True repentance. And those who truly repent believe
on Him. Believe on Him. A man had two
sons. Here in verse 28. A certain man had two sons, and
he came to the first, and he said, Son, go to work today in
my vineyard. And he answered and said, No.
He refused. 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 he went on. The first son
was rebellious. The first son was rebellious.
The second son pretended obedience. He pretended. You know, pretended
obedience is not faith. He pretended obedience. The first
repented and went into his father's vineyard to work. He didn't apologize. He didn't come up with any explanations.
He just turned and did what he was told to do. That's repentance. You know, you can say, I'm sorry
all day long, but if it's not followed up by obedience, it's
not real. It's not real if it's not followed by obedience. And
he says, the first one says, I will not go. But then he turned. Something happened. Something happened
to him. And he went into the vineyard
and worked. He went in there and got busy. But the second
son, I'll tell you what he did. He repented of his obedience
and turned and left. He said, I'm not going to go
work in that vineyard. That's just beneath me. That's
beneath me. Just as those Pharisees felt
like and thought the preaching of John the Baptist and repentant
and being baptized in the same water that harlots and publicans
are baptized in was beneath them. I'm not going to get in the same
water they get in. I'm not going to do what they
do. That's beneath me. Just like that second son, it
was beneath him to go to work in the same vineyard that the
first son went to work in. Now, both sons were under duty
to the command of their father. They were under duty. And the
first one was rude. He was crude. He was rebellious. He was ungrateful, but he repented. Do you see what
the grace of God does for sinners? It can take a rude, crude, rebellious
man or woman and make them an obedient son. That's grace. That's the work of grace now.
Preaching alone will not do that. Religion will not do that. But
a powerful work of grace will do that. It can make the crudest
sinner in the world an obedient, loving son. And that's what that first one
was. He was rude and crude and rebellious, but he went. The first sign of faith. You
know what the first sign of faith is? Obedience. When Philip read Well, the eunuch
was reading Isaiah 53. Philip joined him in the chariot,
took the same verses of Scripture, Isaiah 53, and preached Christ
to him. And after he preached Christ to him, he said, whoa,
here's water. Stop this chariot. He said, here's
water. What hinders me from being baptized? That was the first sign of faith,
his obedience to the command of our Lord. And that's what
he did. True repentance is a hard work. I mean, it is a radical. Now,
listen, it is a radical hard work, a radical hard work. And it's recognized when that
person is obedient to the Lord's commands. When he follows after
his Lord. It's a change. It's a complete
change inward. A person goes from loving sin
to loving God and righteousness. That's what happens when true
repentance is known and felt and experienced in the heart.
That's what happens. He falls in love with God and
out of love with the world. That's what happens when true
repentance is experienced. It is a turning from sin to God.
It's a turning from self. It's a turning from self-righteousness,
which is, if you want to catalog sins, the worst of all. It's turning from sin to God.
from self-righteousness to God, is a true sorrow over sin. Not
just something I've done or things I have done in my past, and we
do have sorrow over that, but it is a real, genuine, true sorrow
over what I am of original sin. It's a true sorrow of, Lord,
forgive me for what I am. That's repentance. That's repentance. And that's
of God. I said to Bruce when he was here,
we were talking, I said, you can tell when someone's been
broken, can't you? You can tell when someone has
truly been broken. There is a real humility that
comes out of their life and out of their mouth when they've truly
been broken by the Spirit of God and repented. This is not
an empty profession. It's not a mere religious profession.
It is a genuine desire to turn to God and to follow after Him. Like that demonic, our Lord healed. He said, Lord, I want to follow
You. And the Lord said, you go back
home and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you. But
he wanted to follow Him. He wanted to follow Him. It is a real love
for God and a real contempt for the world and a real contempt
for yourself. It is. He said, now, John the
Baptist came preaching righteousness. He came in a way of righteousness.
He was appointed of God. He had a righteous message. He
was a forerunner of Christ. He pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sin of the world. Christ was His message. And when the publicans and the
harlots, the ones whom the Pharisees despised, wouldn't even get close
to them. And when they heard that message
of redemption, of Christ and His glory, of how God saves sinners. When they heard John preach,
they turned and they obeyed. And I'll tell you what, they
walked into that water and said, John, I want to be baptized. I want
to follow my Lord in baptism. I want to be identified. I want
to be identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be identified with
the Redeemer. That's what they did. That's
what baptism is, being identified with the Redeemer. Because that's
what baptism pictures, His death, His burial, His resurrection
for us. And that's what they did. But
you Pharisees, you scribes, you elders, you refused John's message. You refused his ministry. You
refused to be baptized. You refused repentance. You're
too good for it. Too self-righteous for it. You
didn't think you needed it. All you have is outward show. When they went through their
services, and the temple, and the ceremonies, that's all it
was. Empty ceremonies and empty service. They went in. Well, it's time
to go to the temple, and they go to the temple. It's time to
do whatever the temple services were at that time. I mean, they
did everything on time. And when it was done, they were
gone, back to the house. We did our service today. There's
no heart in it. There was no genuine love for
God in it. That describes 99% of them. I described it. Look over in
Luke chapter 7. In Luke chapter 7 and verse 30. But the Pharisees and the lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Well, let me go to
verse 29. And all the people that heard
John and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism
of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. They rejected the
message. They rejected the messenger.
He's not talking about us. He's talking about those harlots
and those publicans, but that's not us. This message doesn't
apply to us. He's talking to someone else. You know the gospel has come
in power when you realize he's talking about me. He's describing
me. How did he know that? How did
he know that? When they heard the gospel preached
by John the Baptist, they rejected the counsel of God against themselves,
being not baptized of him, not submitting to the baptism of
John. And then our Lord said, now,
was that baptism of John from heaven? Now, if they say, yes,
it was from heaven. Then they have to admit they
rejected God. They rejected God's ministry.
They rejected God's message. They rejected God. And they knew
that. They knew that. They said, if
we say that it's from heaven, then he's going to say, why didn't
you believe John? Why weren't you not baptized? Why were you
not following me? Why did you not believe on me?
Checkmate. Checkmate. He had them in a corner. The Gospel has been preached
to us for years. For years. And the Lord has been
pleased. He's been pleased to grant faith
to many of us. He's been pleased to do so. But the command is still. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. It's still the same. And when
these kids grow up, when they grow up, and if God is pleased
to grant them faith and repentance, the first sign of obedience is
when they'll come and say, I want to follow my Lord in baptism. I want to follow Him in baptism.
That's the first sign of faith. First sign. And that will never
change. That will never change. We will
continue to preach the Gospel, preach His message, and continue
to call on sinners to repent and believe the Gospel and be
baptized. And those Pharisees, they wouldn't
do it. They're religious. Religious. Oh, they're religious
as could be. But he said, you rejected the
counsel of God against yourself. But if you believe it, if you
believe it, you follow Him in baptism. You follow Him.