Well, as Grant shared earlier, this is Passion
Week. Welcome. This is the most important time
of the year on the Christian calendar. I know
we all love Christmas, right? We love Christmas
as a holiday, and of course, the story of the
birth of Christ in Bethlehem, God, the Son taking
on flesh, is a huge part of our theology, what
we believe, but it is the cross. of Good Friday
and the empty tomb of Resurrection Sunday that
serve as the most important foundation of our
faith. It is the events of Passion Week that
are the source of our hope, our certain hope
in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
So every year at this time, we prepare our hearts
to rejoice together in recalling the events of
that day in Christ's time and celebrating. What
God has done for us through Christ Jesus. And
that is going to be a big theme that we talk
about this morning. What has God done for us
in Christ Jesus? As you can see by the splash
on the screen there, the theme of our three -part
sermon series this year fits with that vision.
We're calling the series With Him. That is with
Jesus. So this coming Friday, as we gather to
remember. Both aspects of the cross, the agony
of the cross and the glory of the cross, what
we're going to try to do is take hold of what
it means for Christians to be buried with him.
And then a couple days later on Resurrection
Sunday, we will try to examine and understand
what it means to be raised to life with him.
And both of those concepts, the union of Christ,
is so essential to what we believe and how we
live out our faith. So I hope you'll come back
on Friday and Sunday. But first, this morning,
we have to get ready. And so I want to start
today by talking about the prerequisite for being
buried with Christ and raised with Christ, and
that is the idea of being found in Christ, being
found in Him. And so we heard something about
that in our call to worship just a few moments
ago as Grant read from Philippians 3. This is
what Paul said in Philippians 3. He counts everything
he has as loss. Everything. His pedigree, his
works, everything he counts as absolute loss
for the sake of what? Gaining Christ. To be found
in him, Paul says, is by far the greatest thing.
that a human being can have to be found in him.
Now, what does it mean to be found in him? Well,
Paul says it has something to do with not having
a righteousness of our own doing. Let me say
that again. Not having a righteousness of our
own doing that comes from keeping the law or
from good deeds, but instead having a righteousness
that comes from God. on the basis of faith alone
in Christ. That is what it means to be found
in him. And then in another one of his letters,
in the book of Galatians, Paul uses this beautiful
word picture to describe more of this. He says,
we have clothed ourselves with Christ. Can you
picture that in your mind? We've clothed ourselves
with him. And then to the Colossian church, he
writes that for the believer, our lives are now
hidden. in Christ. Beautiful word pictures, right?
So to be found in him means that we are covered
by his sacrificial blood as a payment for our
sins. And it means that this amazing divine exchange
took place at the foot of the cross, which has
such an amazing benefit for us. And here it is.
Jesus takes our sin upon himself and he gives
to us his perfect holiness. Can you think of
anything grander or more glorious than that?
All of our sin gets put on Christ on the cross
and all of his perfect righteousness is imputed
to us. And now, as God the Father looks upon
us, he doesn't see our sin. He actually doesn't
even see our good deeds because they're filthy
rags before him anyway. What he sees is the perfect
righteousness of his own son. What a... I know
that's positional and sometimes it's hard for
us to understand practically what that means.
But do you believe that truth? That scripture
says God sees us through the righteousness of
his son. So this is the beauty of Passion Week,
isn't it? But as we celebrate this, I also want
to talk about a wee bit of a problem that we
should discuss this morning. And here's what
it is. So many people in the world today claim
to be found in Christ. So many people across
this world claim to be found in him. And certainly
we do, but so do Mormons. And so do Roman Catholics.
And so do Eastern Orthodox. And so do Jehovah's
Witnesses. And so do Word of Faith Pentecostals
and more. So which version of Jesus must we believe
in? Whose version of Jesus do we have to believe
in? Does it matter? We have to answer that question.
Or is it just enough to say, well, look, I trust
in Jesus. Is that enough? Well, in order to get
us ready for the rest of Passion Week, what I
want to do this morning is walk through a series
of biblical events in the gospel that tells us
exactly who Jesus claimed he was. Because it's
not unclear in the text who Jesus claimed to
be. We're going to look at events which will
make it clear which version of Jesus we must
accept and believe in if we're going to be saved.
And so this message is gonna look a little unusual
for the way we normally do things at Oak Hill.
If you've been with us in the Titus series, we've
been in Titus 2, and we're just, we're slow rolling,
aren't we? We're just covering a verse here,
a verse there, and then sort of practically applying
the principles we see in the text. Today's gonna
be the opposite. We're actually gonna read a
lot of scripture, a lot of Matthew's gospel.
And as we go along, I'm just gonna give you my
running commentary on the text, and it's been
my prayer. over the last 24 hours that some of
it will be insightful for you and will get your
hearts ready for Friday and Sunday. So grab your
Bibles. We're going to Matthew chapter 20. We're
going to start Matthew chapter 20 and especially
beginning in verse 29. So see if you can find
that, Matthew 20, 29. And before we start to
read, let me give you context, which is always
so important. This is, of course, The tail end
of Jesus' ministry and the tail end of Jesus'
physical life on the earth, okay? In the previous
chapter, in chapter 19, Matthew tells us that
Jesus and his disciples began their final journey
down south to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
This would be the last time that Jesus goes to
Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And so this
is my sneaky way of getting a map in this morning.
So, because it's been too long, hasn't it? So
we should always know something about the path
that Jesus takes when he goes to, it varies at
times, but we're pretty sure that what you see
on the screen there is the path that Jesus took.
And we'll pick up on the story as we get to verse
29. Up in chapter 16 of Matthew's gospel, that
purple dot way up there in the north, up in the
Golan Heights at the base of Mount Hermon, that's
Caesarea Philippi. That's the place where we
have Peter's great confession of who do you say
that I am? That takes place way up there in the
north. So Jesus and his followers are up there.
Then they come down to the green dot, Capernaum,
which is his home base there on the Sea of Galilee
for a time. And then from Capernaum, they launch
out to travel to Jerusalem for Passover. And
it appears that they cross over the Jordan River
to the east side of the river in the land that
we call Perea. And then Jesus basically follows
the conquest route of Joshua. He comes to the
opposite of Jericho on the eastern side of the
river, and then he crosses the Jordan right there.
That yellow dot is Jericho, okay? So if you've
been to Israel, you know this. The road from
there goes straight to Jerusalem. It's about
15 miles away at this point. And Jericho is the
last major city you come to. If you're going
to Jerusalem from the east, that's the last major
city that you come to. And so 15 miles away,
they're going to have to walk. Remember, whenever
you walk to Jerusalem, it's uphill. So this is
not an easy climb. If you've been to Israel,
you probably took that route on a bus. Much easier.
But you still feel that slow grade going up to
Jerusalem. Can you go to Jericho today and tour
it? Yeah, you can, but it is part of the West
Bank under Palestinian control. So it's always
a bit of a risk. Some years you can go there,
and some years it's just not safe enough. But
Jericho, the tell, the actual archaeological
site of the ancient city is still there today.
It's amazing to see. So the yellow dot is Jericho,
and of course the blue dot is Jerusalem. Good.
So you can imagine the scene. Jesus and his followers
are definitely not alone as they are making this
pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. This road
that he's on would have been packed with hundreds,
if not thousands, of pilgrims, all going in the
same direction, all heading towards Jerusalem
for the feast with their sacrifices. And we know
from other gospel accounts that at this point,
popular excitement about Jesus is at a fever
pitch. The rumors of his teaching with authority,
the stories of his miraculous healings, it has
all gone before him, and people are excited.
The crowds are growing. So let's go to verse
29. We'll pick up the story from there. As they
were leaving Jericho, it says, a large crowd
followed him, and two blind men, sitting by the
road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried
out. Underline what they cry out. Lord, have
mercy on us. son of David. So they're sitting
by the road, this prominent road that leads to
Jerusalem. And that posture of sitting by the
road tells us one of two things. Either A, they
weren't pilgrims, they weren't going to Jerusalem,
maybe because being blind, they were considered
social outcasts and not worthy of going to Jerusalem.
Or B, they somehow anticipated that Jesus would
pass by this way, and they just decided to sit
down and wait for him. Sort of an ambush, a spiritual
ambush so that they could cry out and plead with
him. But whichever is the case, what you hear
in their cry there in verse 30 is fascinating.
First they say Lord. Now we've got to be careful.
That's kurios. It could be nothing more than
a title of honor, like saying sir, right? That's
not out of the ordinary. But the next phrase,
son of David, is extremely unique. And the implications
of that title. could not be ignored. To call
someone the son of David was messianic. That
was the Jewish way of acknowledging what the
Hebrew scriptures had foretold for centuries,
that someday one would come to Israel whose origins
were from eternity past. One who will sit on
David's forever throne. This has got to be a
special person, right? He sits on an eternal
throne, the son of David. So in their cry, and
again, this is recorded by Matthew. He would
have been an eyewitness. These blind men accurately
describe who Jesus is on two accounts. First,
his identity as Messiah and also his work. He
is the one who has mercy. Remember, they cry
out for what? Mercy. Well, we don't cry out to
other human beings for that. He is the one who
has mercy upon whom he will have mercy. Both
the person and the work of Jesus are described.
And what's so interesting about the encounter
is this is so ironic. The people in that huge
crowd that day, the people who truly see Jesus
for who he is, are blind. The irony is thick.
But that's consistent with how Jesus described
a part of his mission in John 9. He said, for
judgment I come into the world so that those
who do not see may see. And those who do see
may become blind. And so these men are going
to be special. Verse 31, look how the crowd reacts.
The crowd sternly told them to shush. The Greek
word for shush, no, just kidding. Told them to
be quiet. Is this not ironic as well? This is
a sad and tragic irony. The people in the crowd
who are supposedly, air quotes, following Jesus
are the ones who tell these men who are in great
need of mercy to hush up. What kind of followers
are those? Well, this is an embarrassment, they
think. You should not shout at the great man
of God. Mind your manners is basically what they're
saying here. And how often do professing Christians
do this? We miss the forest for the trees, don't
we? We're being more concerned about protocol
than we are about people at times. And we should
catch ourselves so we don't fall into this trap.
But what's amazing about this is the rebuke from
the crowds don't deter these men from seeking
Jesus' attention. Back to verse 31, they cry
out all the more, same phrase, Lord, Son of David,
have mercy on us. So at this point, at least
outwardly, they're showing signs of having real
faith, right? And that expression of faith combined
with the use of the title Son of David causes
Jesus to stop, which is no small thing. Right?
Because you can imagine how many people on this
journey were shouting out for Jesus' attention.
But this makes him stop. And considering the
flow of the crowd, he halts the train. And you
can sort of picture it. He stops. And everybody
else is like, what just happened? Why are we
stopping? But he stops it. It says in verse 30,
Jesus stopped. And he called to these men. He
said, what do you want me to do for you? Now,
that seems obvious what they would want, right?
But I love this. He doesn't just heal on demand.
That's not the way Jesus operates. He wants to
find out if this cry for help is born out of
faith or born out of selfish desire. And that's,
we always, whenever we pray for things, we want
to check our hearts. Is this, is my request I'm
laying before God, is it born out of faith or
is it just selfish? What do they want? Now, if
they're just beggars who are looking for alms,
which is, Very common, even in Israel today,
you have beggars asking for alms and then they're
gonna ask for money and then we'll know the truth,
right? Of course, Jesus knows the hearts of men,
so he anticipates their answer. But for those
watching and those listening, it's important
to draw out the verbalization from these two
men of what exactly they want. And verse 33 says,
they say to him, Lord, we want our eyes to be
open. Underline that phrase. We want our eyes
to be open. And I want you to think, is there
a double meaning in that? We want our eyes to
be open. Obviously, they want physical sight,
but is spiritual sight at play here as well?
Friends, this is important to understand. Opening
the eyes of the blind is prophesied over and
over and over again in the Old Testament. I'll
give you a couple of examples of this. We have,
very simply, Psalm 146 .8. The Lord, Yahweh himself,
opens the eyes of the blind. And then speaking
of his Yahweh servant, the Messiah, in Isaiah
42, it says, I am the Lord, that's Yahweh. I
will appoint you, speaking to Messiah, as a covenant
to the people, as a light to the nations, to
open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from
the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from
their prison. So this is a mark. of the mission
of Messiah when he comes. And Jesus is about
to fulfill that. The miracle he's about to do
will validate that Jesus of Nazareth has the
power to open blind eyes, physically and spiritually.
This is the meaning of why Matthew is stressing
this story. But look at the motivation in verse
34. Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their
eyes and they immediately regained their sight.
And they followed him. How beautiful is this,
right? Our Savior is moved with compassion when
sinners put their trust in him, when sinners
trust in his power. He's moved with compassion.
And it's so like Jesus to stop and do this work
of compassion, especially when the majority of
the people, the crowds, were basically saying,
look, don't stop. These guys are beneath your
dignity, great man of God. They're not worthy
of your time and attention. That's exactly when
Jesus says, uh -uh. These are men in need. And
they're faithful men. They trust in my power.
And so he stops and he does this work. And notice
he doesn't just say from a distance, be healed.
Like the way he touches the lepers. You can picture
the scene. He goes up to these men. I'm guessing
they're sitting. So he crouches down and he looks
at their eyes and he touches them. He touches
them. And he causes the scales to fall away.
And Matthew ends the account by pointing to the
best news in the whole story because physical
sight only lasts for a time, right? But there's
more to it. The physical healing is amazing,
but even more so, now these two men get up and
they follow Jesus. They become disciples themselves.
So all the elements of a divine healing from
God are packed into these six verses, right?
You have the kind of people that Jesus heals,
needy people. You have the way that the needy
person approaches him by faith, right, urgently
and by faith. You have the way that most people
respond negatively, and then the way that Jesus
responds to the needy in a very personal way,
and then you have the end result, healing and
discipleship, all packed into six verses. Matthew
is giving us a whole bunch of information here
to know who Jesus is so that when we get to the
cross, That's going to have real meaning. And
that reality about who he is, and by the way,
up until this point in the gospel narrative,
we've seen Jesus over and over again sort of
downplay his identity as Messiah. In fact, he's
told his closest friends to keep silent about
it, but here they shout publicly, you're the
son of David, and he seems to accept that title.
What's going on here? Well, his time is about
to come. So that reality is now gonna travel
with him as he gets to Jerusalem. And so we're
gonna look now, look over to chapter 21. And
keep this in mind. This miracle on the road in
front of these crowds is a pretty spectacular
miracle. That's not something you see every day
where blind guys suddenly go, boop, I can see.
And then get up and follow. So the news of that
healing must have traveled to Jerusalem, probably
arrived even before Jesus got there. So all the
heightened excitement for the miracle worker
from Galilee is now, it's gone up because he's
just done another miracle as Jesus comes near
the city. So look at verse one of chapter 21.
It says, when they had approached Jerusalem and
had come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
go into the village opposite you, and immediately
you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt
with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If
anyone says anything to you, you should say,
the Lord has need of them, and immediately he
will send them. And then Matthew gives us, I
guess the best way to think of it is his inspired
interpretation of why Jesus asked for the, this
is kind of a strange request, isn't it? Hey,
go grab me a donkey. But Matthew tells us why.
He says, verse four, this took place to fulfill
what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the
daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming
to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even
on a colt, the full of a beast of burden. So
this is basically the combining of two different
Old Testament prophecies. First from Isaiah 62,
listen to how Yahweh declares the coming of salvation
to Israel. Say to the daughter of Zion, lo, your
salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him.
Who? Who is he talking about? Who is coming?
Well, Yahweh's Messiah is coming, and he brings
with him salvation and a reward for the faithful.
This Messiah is special. He brings, did you catch?
He brings salvation with him, according to this
psalm. And then the rest of the passage. In Matthew
21 comes out of this very, very specific and
unique prophecy from Zechariah chapter 9 concerning
the donkey. There it is. Behold, your king is
coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation.
Same phrase. He comes with salvation, humble
and mounted on a donkey. So we have Jesus portrayed
here. Look, both the king of Israel and the donkey.
Savior of Israel. Prophesied in Zechariah, coming
true now in Matthew 21. So verse six says in
your text that the disciples went and did just
as Jesus had instructed them and they brought
the donkey and the colt and they put their coats
on them and Jesus sat on the coats. Now, I've
always marveled at, and maybe you've tried to
do this, the image that this portrays. of Jesus
on the donkey. It is so filled with disparities
in it. Think about this for a second. God on
a donkey is a funny picture. This is a, imagine
a lowly lord, a humble king. These are things
that don't go together, right? They surprise
us. But then when you step back and you think
about it, actually it's right in line with our
Christology, isn't it? Because we have the eternal
son of God, right? In all of his glory, who doesn't
consider that he's got to grasp onto his deity,
but he empties himself and he takes on the form
of a bondservant, becoming a man, takes on a
second nature, a human nature, becomes fully
man. And now we see both of his natures on display
in that picture of him on a donkey, don't we?
He is God on a donkey. He's God in the flesh.
He is Lord. He is king. But now he rides into
the city on an ornery, smelly beast of burden.
Both aspects of his nature. This is an animal
that is sort of marks the lower classes of Israel,
right? The poor, the working class. It's not
the type of an animal that a conquering Messiah
would ride on. But there is an underlying message
that Jesus is sending by choosing this animal.
Yes, it's a fulfillment of prophecy, and Jesus
would have known that, but it's also a message
of peace. Jesus is saying, look, I'm not coming
for war. I'm not coming to destroy. I come to
bring peace between God and sinners. I come to
carry the burdens of sinners, like this animal
is carrying me, to carry your burdens. It's a
really interesting picture, isn't it? It's not
the conquering Messiah. This is the Messiah of
peace. Now, the conquering Messiah is coming
someday, soon, right? But not here. And back
in his day, Martin Luther commented on this,
and he did it in a way that I think was quite
brilliant. He pointed out how, do you remember
how God came to Israel at Mount Sinai? With lightning
and peals of thunder and terror as he brought
the law to Israel. What a picture that is. And
then Luther compared that with the picture of
what we see in this text. A completely different
mountain. Not Mount Sinai, but the Mount of Olives.
And this gospel of grace, this gospel of peace
and forgiveness. God on a donkey. What a contrast.
Verse 8 says, most of the crowd then spread their
coats in the road and others were cutting branches
from the trees. No mention of palm branches.
This is for my fellow elders who've been debating,
why do we call it Palm Sunday? I did this at
the member meeting. Why do we call it Palm Sunday?
The palms are a meaningless part of the story.
In fact, Matthew doesn't even say palm. I joke
we could call it Coat Sunday or Cloak Sunday
or Donkey Sunday, all kinds of things, but there's
no palm branches here. Okay, got that off my
chest. Fair enough, but we're in Matthew. You
can tell we had fun with this this last week.
Okay, so they lay branches on the road and they
lay coats in the road. And so this is the ancient
version of creating a red carpet, right? For
the celebrity who's coming into town. And it
says the crowds were going ahead of him and those
who followed were shouting what? What is the
word in verse nine? Hosanna. Now again. This
has always intrigued me as well. I ask, when
you read the Bible, it's so good to ask questions.
Why is that word here? Why are we giving a transliteration
of a Hebrew phrase here? Why not just give us
the English equivalent? And the best way to understand
this is if we tried to just put it in English,
it wouldn't carry the full layers of meaning
that this word Hosanna means in Hebrew. Hoshiana.
which is in Hebrew a desperate plea for salvation.
If you were going to try to bring it into English,
it would literally mean save we pray or deliver
we ask. And by the time of Christ, it had become
a well -known exclamation of praise to Yahweh
used in particular at Passover. acknowledging
how in the past the Lord had delivered Israel
from slavery in Egypt, how he had saved and delivered
in their time of need, and then also looking
forward to a time when God again would come and
rescue Israel, rescue his chosen nation. So the
point of all this is this is a loaded term that
the crowds are using here when they shout Hosanna.
But even more, some are now... picking up on
what the blind man had said of the road, not
just Hosanna, but Hosanna to who? The son of
David. Now this was trouble. It was one thing
to say it out there on the dusty road near Jericho,
but to shout son of David in Jerusalem, claiming
that this man who just rode in is the rightful
heir to the throne of David, that was absolutely
guaranteed to create problems. because King Herod
Antipas is in town for the Passover. He's not
gonna like to hear that. And of course, you've
got the procurator of Rome who is on high alert
and listening for anything that might stir up
the city. And now these people are shouting,
look, the son of David. Okay, and you have to
remember, Passover is already the most emotional,
most nationalistic holiday on the Jewish calendar.
So people are already in a frenzy. And now they've
got this messianic figure riding into town and
you can almost picture Pontius Pilate starting
to sweat. This is not good for Rome or for the
religious leaders in Jerusalem. But there's more
back to verse nine. Some are also saying, blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And
that is straight from Psalm 118. where it says,
O Lord, Hosanna, O Lord, Hosanna, blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord. They're
shouting scripture, well -known scripture, as
they welcome Jesus into town. So this, you have
to understand, when you read the text flatly,
you can read right past it, but this whole scene
is wild. It is wild, and Matthew then tells us
how wild it is in verse 10. When he had entered
Jerusalem, it says, all the city was stirred.
And people were saying, well, who just came into
town? This is bonkers. And the crowds were saying,
this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth and Galilee.
Oh, I've heard about him. I've heard about his
teaching. I've heard about the miracles. Oh,
he's in, we should have expected that. He's in
town. And a more accurate translation of the
Greek word for stirred is shook. It literally,
the Greek word is where we get our word seismic
from, from earthquakes. The whole city is shaken
by the arrival of Jesus. And now, because of
that, the scene is set for this showdown, right?
On the one side, you have this renowned teacher
who speaks with authority, this legitimate. miracle
worker who comes from way up in the north where
nothing good is supposed to come out of, up in
Galilee. He's a populist figure. And here he
is now marching into Jerusalem with massive crowds
behind him shouting messianic things. Yikes.
And who's on the other side of the showdown?
Well, you've got the powerful religious establishment
in Judea, in Jerusalem. The seat of all power
and tradition in Israel is concentrated in this
one city, and it's run by a priesthood who has
both the ear and the backing of the Roman security
forces. So what's about to happen is inevitable.
The conflict is going to happen. The outcome
is inevitable because all the power is weighted
to one side, earthly speaking. Let's keep going
in the text. Where does Jesus go? He comes in,
wild scene. Where does Jesus go first after he
enters the city? Verse 12, predictably he goes
straight to his father's house. And this too
is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and
a sign of Jesus' identity. Look on the screen.
Look at what Malachi says. Very, very end of
the Old Testament canon. Behold, I. Now, you've
got to follow along here. I, the Lord, Yahweh,
am going to send my messenger. And that's a reference
to Elijah, who comes in the form of John the
Baptist. I will send my messenger, and he will
clear the way before me. Before who? Before the
Lord. Before Yahweh comes, the messenger will
make a way. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly
come where? To his temple, the Lord's temple.
And the messenger of the covenant in whom you
delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord
of hosts. Wait, hold on a second. We have multiple
lords here. We have multiple Yahwehs. We have
one who sends and one who arrives. Not two gods,
but two persons who are both called the Lord.
And then in the next verse, Malachi says this
very ominous thing about this one who is going
to come to his temple. He says, but who can endure
the day of his coming? He's a judge. And who
can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's
fire and like fuller's soap. In other words,
God is coming to his temple and judgment is coming
with him. That was part of the message of John
the Baptist, right? Back to Matthew 21 now. What
does Jesus find when he gets to the temple? Jesus
entered the temple and did what? Drove out all
those who were buying and selling in the temple
and overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who were selling doves.
Now, we all know this story, sort of, right?
The details of the cleansing of the temple. If
you want to understand just how aggressive Jesus
is in doing this, The word that Matthew uses
for drove out is the same Greek word used all
over the New Testament for driving out demons.
That's what he means. Now I know some of us don't
like the picture of Jesus getting angry like
this. It doesn't make us feel comfortable. But
you have to understand this too is part of his
messianic identity. It can't just be all smiles
and rainbows because that's not the world. He's
not just a gentle savior. Not just a humble king,
he is a mighty judge. He is a refining fire.
Merciful, yes, but utterly just in his holiness.
And so he cleanses the temple with this righteous
aggression. And look, he casts out, look, not
just the money changers, not just the people
selling, but the people buying as well. The people
using the services of the sellers in the marketplace.
And there's an important lesson for us today
in this. This marketplace in the temple courts
was about two things, about convenience and profit.
Convenience and profit. Do we ever hear those
words in the church today? How does Jesus feel
about this? These are two things that are very
much alive in far too many churches in our day.
What Jesus saw that day in the temple courts
was heartless religion. It was shady business.
It was an environment of merchandising that got
in the way of people truly worshiping the living
God. And they're in his house of all places getting
in the way of worship. And much of it done in
the name of convenience. And you can picture
the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the wealthy
priests who ran this whole scam on the pilgrims.
And you can picture them saying, well, look,
guys, we're only trying to help the pilgrims
here. They've gotta come from all these different
places, and we don't wanna make them carry a
sacrificial animal, so we're gonna make it easy
for them. They're gonna come, and well, yeah,
we exchange the money and make a profit on that,
and well, yeah, we raise the prices, of course,
because everybody's gotta make a living, right?
But look how convenient it is. They can buy a
dove right here. You can picture them saying
that, but friends, is that the point of worship,
convenience? Is that the point of sacrifice?
Convenience? Is it supposed to be easy and efficient?
Behind the veil of convenience then was also
the Sadducees just lining their pockets with
the temple tax and in the exchange of the currency
and skimming off the profits of every person
who sold a product there in the temple. And the
reason Jesus drives out the buyers too, and we
should learn from this too, by participating
in that system, they are partly culpable for
its existence. Because without buyers, there'd
be no sellers. So Jesus is frustrated with everybody.
Lacking discernment, these buyers who are looking
for easy worship, convenience, fall into the
trap. Just like people today. People today will
go, I need to find a church. What's the most
comfortable one? What's the most comfortable
church I can be a part of with the nicest building
and the best cup of coffee and the comfiest chair?
All these things, that's what they're looking
for, convenience and ease. I want a church that
doesn't demand too much of me, that doesn't get
in the way of my life, that doesn't ask me to
do too much or to belong or to participate. I
can just sit in the back row and consume. That's
what I'm looking for here. Human nature doesn't
change much, does it? Verse 13, and Jesus said
to them, meaning everybody involved here, it's
written, my house shall be called a house of
prayer, but you, all of you, you're making it
a robber's den. And that condemnation comes right
out of God's rebuke of Israel through the prophet
Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter seven, God says to
his people, his fallen people, will you steal?
murder and commit adultery and swear falsely
and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other
gods that you've not known and then come and
stand before me in this house which is called
by my name and say, we're delivered, you hypocrites.
Has this house which is called by my name become
a den of robbers in your sight? Do you think
you can live as you please like that and then
walk into my house? And throw up your hands in
praise and say, God saves me. The Lord won't
have it. What a question. Will you do this, Israel?
And we could say the same. Will you do this,
church? I read this insightful comment from a
pastor in a blog post. He said, when a church
exists for the comfort of its members to the
exclusion of challenging its members, It becomes
a hideout for spiritual thieves, not a house
of worship. That's true. So we can learn from
this, right? What does God require in his house?
All right, continuing in verse 14. And the blind
and the lame came to him in the temple, and he
healed them. Look at the implication here. He
drives out those seeking convenience. He drives
out the wicked who are profiting from worship.
And then who comes in to seek him? The people
who really need to be healed. The folks who the
religious establishment had kept out because
they're outcasts. They're not whole. They're
not worthy of being in the temple. And Jesus
invites them in and he heals them. And you get
another glimpse of what Isaiah promised that
when the Messiah comes, he will have this great
healing power. And you would think, gosh, you
would think that the chief priests would gather
around that healing session and just praise God,
right? Wouldn't you think that? But they don't.
They don't, sadly. When they see Jesus healing
in the temple courts, all of their jealousy rises
to the top. All of their wickedness comes out.
and we see the truth of their hearts. Look at
verse 15. When the chief priests and the scribes
saw, and this is Matthew's inspired interpretation.
When they saw the wonderful things that Jesus
had done, and the children who were now shouting
in the temple, what? Hosanna to the son of David.
They'd heard the adults do it, and now they're
doing it. Hosanna to the son of David. The chief
priests become indignant. They're furious. They're
not praising God for healing. They're furious.
They're outraged that Jesus would do such a thing
on their home turf, in their temple courts. Can
you see the wickedness? Can you see the false
shepherds of Israel? Verse 16, and they said
to him, do you hear what these children are saying?
They're literally looking at him and go, hey.
You, rabbi from Galilee, are you not going to
stop what they're saying? You cannot let that
stand. And Jesus said to them, yeah, I will.
That's what it says. Jesus said, yes, I hear
what they're saying, but have you, chief priests,
Have you never read, and this comes from Psalm
8, a Psalm of David, have you never read that
out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies,
you have prepared praise for yourself? That's
what's happening before your eyes. Verse 17,
and he left them. And you picture he just like,
I am done with you guys. And he wheels around
and he went out of the city to Bethany and spent
the night there. Can you feel the heat being
turned up? We wonder when we get to Friday, well,
why did they want him dead so badly? The heat's
being turned up here. Now, from this point forward,
all the way into chapter 22, what Jesus is going
to do is lay judgment upon judgment upon judgment
upon the religious leaders of Israel. If you
thought at this point, well, you know, maybe
Jesus is going to de -escalate, that's not happening.
It's going to keep getting ramped up because
why? Because it's time. He is sovereignly in
charge of the entire time frame. And his time
has come. So I'm just going to spend a few moments
summarizing the judgments that come after this.
If you look at verses 18 to 22 in your text,
Jesus, first of all, curses a fig tree. And you're
like, oh, why would you do that, a poor fig tree?
I mean, what did the fig tree do? But there's
a purpose here, right? He curses it because he
gets to the fig tree and what? There's no fruit
there. And he says, this is just like the shepherds
of Israel. No spiritual fruit. And he curses
it. In verses 23 to 27, this is one of the funniest
stories. The chief priests try to lay a trap
for Jesus. They challenge his authority to do
what he did in the temple courts by driving out
the market. But Jesus turns the trap on them
and he stumps them. into not being able to answer
a simple question. And in front of the crowds,
he reveals what cowards they are, that they won't
answer a simple question about believing in John
the Baptist. They won't do it because they know
they're now having to, like hypocrites have to
do, I've got to balance. If I say this, I'm in
trouble. If I say this, I'm in trouble. So I'm
not going to answer. And Jesus says, look, what
cowards. And then right after humiliating them,
he proceeds to give them three parables. Three
parables for their consideration. The first one
is called the parable of the two sons. And he
talks about their blindness and failing to believe
all the warnings that John the Baptist issued.
And here's what he says to them. He says, truly,
oh, there. Truly, I say to you that tax collectors
and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of
God before you. He says this to their face. Now,
these guys were 100 % sure they had a place in
heaven and 100 % sure that tax collectors did
not. Jesus says, no, if there's a line, you're
behind them. For John came to you, he says, in
the way of righteousness, and you did not believe
him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes
did. Ouch. Then the second parable is called
the parable of the landowner or the parable of
the vineyard in which Jesus reveals how the false
leaders in Israel had historically always, always
persecuted the messengers that God sent to Israel
over and over again. They shut down the prophets.
And in this second parable, Jesus actually lays
out a prophecy that is only days away from being
fulfilled. He says, He says, the owner of this
vineyard sent you servant after servant, and
you persecuted them. And then he sent his own
son. And what did you do? You threw him out of
the vineyard, outside the city walls, and you
murdered him. And Jesus asks them a question
then. Based on that, what will God do? And here's
what it says. Therefore, when the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to the vine growers
who murdered the son? And by sheer force of logic,
Jesus actually induces these enemies to pronounce
guilt upon themselves. Because he asks that question,
what's the owner going to do? And they give the
answer. He will bring those wretches to a wretched
end. That's you. That's you. You just answered
your own question and acknowledge your guilt.
They don't even understand it. And then he goes
on and he will rent out the vineyard to other
vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at
the proper seasons. Now that's a reference to
the Gentiles and this is coming up in the third
parable as well. The third parable is called
the parable of the marriage feast, right? And
here he reveals Israel's unwillingness. to respond
to Yahweh's constant invitations, to come to
him and participate in the building of the kingdom,
how they constantly just reject the invitation
and instead say, well, look, I'm about my own
business. I got a farm to run. I got a business
to run. So thank you, but no thank you. And so
he condemns them through this. And then the king,
how does the king respond to that snub? He says,
well, fine. I want you to go out to everywhere.
I want you to spread the invitations to my marriage
feast all over the place and bring in all kinds
of people. And it's a reference to how the gospel
is gonna go out to the Gentiles. And among this
new people, where these invitations go out to,
many respond and they come to the feast. But
then Jesus ends this parable in such an interesting
way. And friends, it's a warning to us. And this
is gonna bring us full circle as I close with
this. It's a warning to us. God comes down and
he reviews the dinner guests who responded to
the invitation. And here's what it says. The
king saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding
clothes. And he said to him, friend, how did
you come in here without wedding clothes? The
man was speechless. He didn't respond. Then the
king said to the servants, Bind that man hand
and foot, throw him into the outer darkness in
that place where there's weeping and gnashing
of teeth for many are called but few are chosen.
Now listen, this is a reference to the final
judgment and the question is posed to you and
I here this morning, do you have the right garment
on for the wedding feast? This Gentile, came
to the marriage feast with his old clothes on.
And they couldn't save him. Those clothes could
not save him. And he was thrown into hell. So
what is the proper attire at the marriage feast?
Well, this is where I started this morning in
this message. I said, we have clothed ourselves
with Christ. That's the garment. We are found
in him. That's the garment. By faith alone, we
wear the garment of Christ's righteousness. That's
what's required at the marriage feast. So Jesus
is telling a parable aimed at the chief priest,
but adjacent aimed at us even today in the church.
What garment are you wearing as you sit here
this morning? He's warning us about trying to
come to the marriage feast in our old clothes.
relying on our own adequacy, our own good works,
our own self -righteousness, that we can somehow
put on filthy rags and show up at the marriage
feast and fit in. And God says, no, it doesn't
work that way. Those filthy rags you're wearing,
that won't cut it. So unless we have the righteousness
of Christ, we don't attend the marriage supper
of the Lamb. Let him who has ears hear. So today's
all about just setting the stage for Passion
Week. Let me try to wrap up by coming back to
the question I asked at the beginning. What have
we seen Jesus do in his coming to Jerusalem in
this final time? The short answer is we've seen
Jesus do the same works that God does. And we've
seen him do the works of the promised Messiah,
right? Is this not who he is? He does the works
of God. It is interesting in the Gospel of John,
Jesus says to the crowd at one point, God is
working and I'm working. I do the works of God.
Why? Because I'm God. There's only one being
that does the works of God. It's God. So he does
the works of God and he does the works of Messiah.
What does he do? He shows mercy. He has mercy
to extend to human beings. He brings divine healing.
He opens spiritual eyes to see. He cleanses the
house of worship. He brings divine judgment,
and he receives praise as king, as the eternal
son of David, and as both savior and lord. That's
what we must believe about Jesus if we want to
be saved in the end. Back to that original question
now, which version of Jesus must we believe?
What we just read in Matthew. The true version
of who Jesus claimed to be. And no other. And
no other. Don't get this wrong. We believe what
the scripture says about Jesus and not things
that we make up, not things that we add to it,
but what the gospels tell us. Does it matter?
Does it matter which version of Jesus we have?
What we believe about him? Absolutely. Because
if you're trusting in anything less than what's
described here in the gospel, you will not have
that garment at the judgment seat of Christ.
Absolutely. And this is the urgency for those
of us who have friends who are Mormon or some
other religious system where they don't believe
this is the picture of Jesus. They won't have
that garment in the last day. They won't be clothed
in his righteousness. And then let me take it
a step further. Beyond the person of Christ to
the works of Christ. Let's say you acknowledge
the truth about the person of Jesus, his identity.
Then the question about his works remain. And
that question is what do you believe about the
sufficiency of Christ's work on your behalf?
Is he enough? Is he enough or is there more that
you have to do to add to who he is? If you think
so, you will not have that garment. On the day
of judgment. When he said on the cross, it is
finished, do you accept that promise? Do you
believe that promise? Or are you saying, no,
no, no, no, no. It's kind of finished. I just
have to add some more things to it. If so, you
will not have that garment. If you're trying
to earn your way to heaven, it's a fool game.
It's a deadly game that will not end well. Because
by trusting in your own good works, your own
goodness, you nullify God's grace. Guys, understand
this. What is the definition of grace? It is
undeserved favor. It is unmerited favor of God.
If you're going to add a bunch of things to it,
you say, no thank you, I don't want grace. You've
nullified it. Paul talks about this. At the end
of Galatians 2, he says, if righteousness came
through the law, if your righteousness comes
through your good works, Jesus doesn't have to
die. You can just work and work and work and
earn it. So what's the point of Jesus' death?
He says, therefore, I do not nullify the grace
of God. My faith is in Christ alone. For the
cross to remedy your sin problem, for the resurrection
to give you life, you must believe in these two
things that the scriptures clearly state, the
true and full person of Christ and to trust in
his work alone on your behalf, renouncing any
merit in yourselves if you want to be clothed
in his righteousness. By the way, that's why
the cross is efficacious, because of who he is.
And we'll find that out on Friday as we look
at what it means to be united with him in death.
I'm just going to close with this now because
I want to come back to our call to worship. And
I'm going to give you some time to read this
on the screen and then just meditate on it because
what Paul says in Philippians 3 is so important
and just lines up with this text. Let me just
read it one more time and then I'll send you
guys into prayer. Whatever things were gained
to me. Whatever it is, any good thing that you
think you've done, whatever it is, Paul says,
those things I've counted as utter loss for the
sake of Christ. And more than that, I count all
things to be lost in view of the surpassing value
of knowing Jesus as my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish
so that I might gain him, that I might gain Christ
and be found in him. Look at this now, not. having
a righteousness of my own, derived from the law
or from good works, but only that which is through
faith in Christ. Father, we are so blown away
and grateful as we sit here this morning that
you have made a way for us to be righteous in
your sight. The idea that we would dare to wear
old clothes filthy rags to come into your presence
and to trust in ourselves is so outlandish, so
outrageous, so foolish that we would try to nullify
the grace that you've extended to us, to simply
trust in you alone and to honor you with our
lives rather than working and working and working
to try to pump ourselves up, to try to make it
seem as though somehow we can outweigh our sin.
What a fool's errand. God, you've made a way.
And this text in Philippians 3 is such a powerful
reminder of that. The way that Jesus taught as
he came into Jerusalem on that fateful day is
so beautiful in all the things that he communicates
to those who have ears to hear who he is and
the work that he's done. Lord, may we trust in
your scriptures and not all the nonsense and
the noise. that comes at us. We would come back
to the scriptures as an anchor for our souls.
Lord, thank you for the text this morning. Thank
you for the narrative that Matthew gives us.
Lord, may your spirit seal these things in our
hearts. May your spirit help us to keep thinking
about it, keep meditating upon it, and keep praising
your name for all that you've done for us. Thank
you for our time. May we now praise you from
our lips, but more importantly, from our hearts
as we sing more this morning. In Jesus' name
we pray.