SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I will be reading from the book of Matthew, chapter twenty-one, from verse twenty-three to thirty two.
SPEAKER_00: And when he entered the temple, the chief priest and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things?
SPEAKER_00: And who gave you this authority?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question.
SPEAKER_00: And if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.
SPEAKER_00: The baptism of John, from where did it come?
SPEAKER_00: From heaven or from man?
SPEAKER_00: And they discussed it among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, it will say to you, Why then did you not believe him?
SPEAKER_00: But if we say from man, we are afraid of the crowd for the old that John was a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: And so they answered Jesus, we do not know.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
SPEAKER_00: A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, son, go and walk in the vineyard today.
SPEAKER_00: And he answered, I will not.
SPEAKER_00: But afterward he changed his mind and went.
SPEAKER_00: And he went to the other son and said the same.
SPEAKER_00: And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go.
SPEAKER_00: Which of the two did the will of the father?
SPEAKER_00: They said, The first, Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitute go into the kingdom of God before you.
SPEAKER_00: For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him.
SPEAKER_00: But the tax collectors and the prostitute believed him.
SPEAKER_00: And when you saw it, you did not afterward change your mind and believe him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Peter, and we're going to be looking at Matthew 21 together.
SPEAKER_01: Well, not the total halfway through.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to start halfway through Matthew 21.
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to go there again, that would be great.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to look at Matthew 21.
SPEAKER_01: This is our last parable.
SPEAKER_01: So next week we'll be back into Psalms in the summer.
SPEAKER_01: So we've spent we've spent uh a good few weeks in parables now, and we're just coming to this, not the last parable in Matthew's gospel, but the last one we're looking at.
SPEAKER_01: So in in preparing for this, I was thinking, I was reminded of my relationship with fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Um it's uh if I'm honest, I don't have the best relationship with fruit.
SPEAKER_01: My wife would probably describe it as a bit worse than uh having not the best relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Um you see, it's the quality control that bothers me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that bothers anyone else.
SPEAKER_01: You could have a lovely apple one day, and then the next day you bite into one.
SPEAKER_01: It's just not as juicy, not as tasty as uh the last one you had.
SPEAKER_01: And I know some of you are probably thinking that I should just, and this is true, I should just get over myself.
SPEAKER_01: But, but, but, but I um my distrust of fruit, it definitely stems from when I was in primary school and as a kid, we had we had an apple tree at home, and so you got apples off that looked a bit funny.
SPEAKER_01: Um but there was one apple in particular, one day it looked fine on the outside, but then of course I bit into it and it's rotten.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just I haven't I haven't gotten over that since.
SPEAKER_01: Um it was disgusting.
SPEAKER_01: And that's actually what we see in this parable.
SPEAKER_01: Someone who looks good on the outside but doesn't live up to that.
SPEAKER_01: When we read, um, when we read that earlier, thanks uh G Day for reading that.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder who you identified with in the parable, the first or the second son.
SPEAKER_01: None of us want to be like that second son.
SPEAKER_01: None of us want to be uh the one who says the right thing but fails completely and and and just does the opposite, they fail to follow through.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna come back to the parable itself in a little while after we've looked at what's happening around it.
SPEAKER_01: So from the start of um chapter 21, I'm gonna be uh referencing there's a there's a couple of sections there.
SPEAKER_01: There's the triumphal entry, Jesus cleansing the temple, uh, Jesus curses the fig tree, and then we come to this question that the Pharisees have, and then Jesus uh teaching in the parables.
SPEAKER_01: So the triumphal entry, that was at the start of um, you know, that's when Jesus came to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: The the Passover festival is ongoing in Jerusalem, and it's a it's it's just a few days before his impending crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: So where we are with this this interaction, uh, this episode with the Pharisees is just a few days, uh a few days prior to this, Jesus rode in on a donkey as king.
SPEAKER_01: The crowds were following him, there was a stir in the city, everyone knew he was there, and he was showing his authority as king over the royal city.
SPEAKER_01: Yet he was presenting himself as a meek, the meek messianic king, the one who is promised, the messiah who is promised in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: He was presenting him as that king, himself as that kind of king, riding on a coat.
SPEAKER_01: He's not going to come in and overthrow the ruling Roman occupiers, but he is presenting himself as the promised king over the royal city.
SPEAKER_01: And then he had also been in the temple where he overturned the tables of the money changers.
SPEAKER_01: He was showing his authority over activities in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He was exercising the rule he'd been given by his father in his father's house.
SPEAKER_01: He was pointing out that these money changers, um, these people who were selling sacrifices, that they were disrespecting God's house.
SPEAKER_01: And the sad irony is that what they were doing in selling these sacrifices, in in changing money that people needed to change because of the economics of the temple, they needed to do that in order to get to God and well, to where God was dwelling in the temple to worship him.
SPEAKER_01: And so they were trying to promote this, but they were doing so in a way that was actually blocking access to God, that was obstructing worship of God, especially the Gentiles, because the place they were doing it, the place that they were making such noise, um, making such a ruckus that was definitely going to distract anybody who was coming to worship, was in the temple of the sorry, the court of the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: So the people who were outside, supposed to be welcomed in, seeing Israel as God's chosen people, they were meant to see that and be like, I want to come and worship this God.
SPEAKER_01: In that place, people, these money changers uh who were saying, Yeah, come on in, we'll uh we'll give you what you need to worship God, they were actually getting in the way.
SPEAKER_01: They were actually, you know, they were being hypocrites.
SPEAKER_01: And actually, the very fact uh that they were there, those money changers um and and the people selling uh pigeons, uh, Matthew has a go with the ones selling pigeons for some reason.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the very fact that they were there was only because the priests.
SPEAKER_01: The priests had the authority in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: So it was only they would they would have sanctioned this, and it wasn't always that way.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, some some scholars even say um, they say that it was the high priest who only a couple of years previous to this had said, no, we need to get these money changers in, etc., etc.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is he's not only saying that it's wrong to profit off uh worship and prayer in the way that these money changers are and they're obstructing access to God, he's at he's challenging the authority of the priesthood and maybe even the high priest himself.
SPEAKER_01: He's showing his authority over the temple, as the judge over the priesthood, and as son in his father's house.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew also includes a note here in verse 14 that he healed the blind and the lame in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a little note, but we see his authority to heal here.
SPEAKER_01: And both triumphal entry and the cleansing of the temple, which are just leading up to what we're going to be focusing on, both those were so really, really public.
SPEAKER_01: They're very public, and the religious leaders were well aware of what was going on.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was deliberately showing his authority.
SPEAKER_01: Then he also uh showed his authority in a smaller group with his disciples in this interaction that might seem that that is strange if you when you're reading it for the first time or two, um, or three or four, as I was trying to grapple with what was Jesus doing from verse 18 with the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: So he should he should he uses this to show his authority as the Messiah to judge over Israel in general.
SPEAKER_01: The fig tree was used to talk about God's people, Israel, throughout the Old Testament, and this fig tree here was found to have no fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And throughout Matthew's gospel, um fruit is used as a metaphor for how God's people should act, what their behavior should be.
SPEAKER_01: So earlier in the book, for example, John the Baptist, uh who's who Jesus speaks about in the passage we we that G.
SPEAKER_01: Day read for us, um John uh sorry, John said um the that the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the ri the religious leaders, he was calling them out earlier on in uh Matthew 3 for not bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't behaving in a way that shows true repentance, true faith, and true belief.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise here, Jesus is basically pointing out that in in this, when he curses the fig tree, he's pointing out that those who are saying that they're God's people, especially the religious leaders, that they're not living in a way that reflects that.
SPEAKER_01: They look good, but they're not actually producing any good fruit.
SPEAKER_01: They're hypocrites, corruption it runs deep.
SPEAKER_01: No fruit is to be found.
SPEAKER_01: And so he curses the fig tree and it withers, prophesying the coming judgment.
SPEAKER_01: He's showing his authority again as a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: He also uses this um this uh episode, this um interaction with the fig tree, cursing the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, just after that, he uses that to show his disciples what the opposite of the lack of faith, the lack of belief, this lack of true repentance can look like.
SPEAKER_01: He tells them whatever they ask in prayer, they will receive if they have true faith.
SPEAKER_01: So, in again, in just in the lead up, what all that we've talked so far is a context of the lead up to where the Pharisees come to Jesus in the temple and ask this question.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus has thrown down the gauntlet, showing that he's the Messiah in a really highly provocative way in the actions that he takes.
SPEAKER_01: And all this is why the chief priests and the elders of the people questioned his authority in verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: And what Jesus says from verse 24 to 27 and in the subsequent teaching through parables is in answer to the religious leaders uh questioning his authority.
SPEAKER_01: And like his actions, his teaching, uh what he says from verse 24 in answer to their question, it's really provocative as well towards those who don't submit to his authority, those who don't either don't see it or see it and say, I'm not submitting to that.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to get into that confrontation now.
SPEAKER_01: We've we've looked at the build-up, the triumphal entry, Jesus cleansing the temple, um, is showing his authority in so many different ways.
SPEAKER_01: So this confrontation with the religious leaders, it all gets kicked off by their question halfway through verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: If you read it with me, I hope you have um yeah, your Bibles open, it's good to follow along.
SPEAKER_01: Um so halfway through 23, they say, they ask, by what authority are you doing these things?
SPEAKER_01: And who gave you this authority?
SPEAKER_01: So, why did the chief priests and the elders of the people ask the question?
SPEAKER_01: Why this question?
SPEAKER_01: Well, like we've said before, it's because of what's happening since Jesus came to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Probably before as well, what Jesus had been doing, but especially because of what he's been doing since the triumphal entry.
SPEAKER_01: It's because of all the ways that Jesus has been showing his authority, the ways that we've seen him doing this in the lead up to this moment.
SPEAKER_01: And not only are they questioning his authority as the messianic king, that we saw the priest, he was showing his authority as judge, as healer, as son, as prophet, all these things.
SPEAKER_01: They're probably wondering where he got the authority to teach in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what he's doing at the time when they come to him.
SPEAKER_01: You see that the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching.
SPEAKER_01: This is in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: You see, again, the priests, like with the uh incident with the money changers, the priests had the authority over the temple.
SPEAKER_01: They were responsible for the affairs of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: So what Jesus is doing in the temple in particular is going to cause them to say to each other, like, Who gave this guy authority to do all this?
SPEAKER_01: This is our jurisdiction, so who gave him permission to do this?
SPEAKER_01: They obviously didn't think, in asking this question, and because we know their motives, they didn't think that he should have this authority.
SPEAKER_01: And it challenged their authority.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a huge deal because remember, the temple is where God chose to dwell with his people and where they came to worship him.
SPEAKER_01: So, in claiming this authority in the temple, and to do so in this way, Jesus is saying he has authority over access to God and how people should worship him and ultimately over salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It's important to think about this a bit a bit more.
SPEAKER_01: Up to this point, it might seem like, I don't know, maybe you're wired like this because of reading the news and just being in the world at this moment, at this time.
SPEAKER_01: But up to this point, it might seem like what's going on is just for a tussle for power at the top of these religious and societal structures where power-hungry men are they're just scared of another man who's claiming to have authority, left, right, and center.
SPEAKER_01: But what we're gonna see is that Jesus is he what he's challenging is their hearts.
SPEAKER_01: It's far deeper than merely a struggle for human power.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that submitting to him in every aspect of life is good and right and is the way into the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to hold on to that as we continue to look at how Jesus responds to their question.
SPEAKER_01: Keep the fact that Jesus is talking about issues of the heart, keep that in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is talking about issues of the heart.
SPEAKER_01: It can be really easy uh to see this as a just this political, religious thing happening high up here, but it's about their hearts.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus responds to their question.
SPEAKER_01: That's what kicked this whole thing, this whole interaction off, their question.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he responds to it with a single question himself.
SPEAKER_01: So, why does Jesus give this question as an answer?
SPEAKER_01: Why the question as an answer?
SPEAKER_01: Well, for one thing, uh apparently scholars agree that posing a counter question would have been a perfectly acceptable way of debating.
SPEAKER_01: Where the the question that Jesus poses, the second question, the follow-up question, uh, that that further opens up the subject that the first question was trying to address.
SPEAKER_01: So it's perfectly um acceptable because that's what uh the question that Jesus asks, that's what that does.
SPEAKER_01: It opens up um it opens up things, the subject a bit further.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the actual straightforward answer to the question is that Jesus has divine authority given by God and that he himself is God.
SPEAKER_01: So when they ask, by what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority, it would have been, you know, it the straightforward answer would have been, God's given me this authority, and uh I'm God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus' answer uh the true the straightforward answer would have been.
SPEAKER_01: But if he had have said this, then they could have arrested him then and there.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, the timing wasn't right.
SPEAKER_01: As we know, we're in the middle of Holy Week, we're in the middle of uh Passover and at the Passover festival, and uh so yeah, Jesus he's not avoiding them uh because he's scared of them or something like that, because he knows in just a few days they're gonna come at night, they're gonna arrest him, they're gonna falsely accuse him, and they're gonna crucify him.
SPEAKER_01: But he also answers in this way to link the authority John had with his authority.
SPEAKER_01: So in he's answering their question by saying, the authority that he has, which they're asking about, that he has uh this authority that's like the authority that John had, John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_01: It's been given by the same person John was given authority by, it's been given by God.
SPEAKER_01: And we see here that the people rightly saw John as a prophet and acknowledged his God-given authority to speak for God.
SPEAKER_01: But the religious leaders, they didn't believe this, they didn't accept uh John's authority.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but they didn't want to admit it because they were scared of the people, they cared what the people thought of them, so they refused to answer.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus says, I'm not going to answer your question if you don't answer mine.
SPEAKER_01: But all of this, if if we read into it, what we can see is that Jesus is saying quite clearly, um, not clearly enough for them to come and arrest him straight away, but quite clearly uh that he has divine authority, the same divine authority God gave to the prophets to speak his words, and specifically the same authority uh that that John the Baptist was given, John the Baptist, who was a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: Now, earlier in Matthew's gospel, when Jesus went to John to be baptized, he said he was preparing the way of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: John said, He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus has the authority to speak the words of God as all the prophets did, but he was even greater than the prophet he was saying, I have the same authority as.
SPEAKER_01: They reject him as king, the priest, the judge, a prophet, and they refuse to submit to his authority over all those things.
SPEAKER_01: So we come to the parable, and why does Jesus use uh this parable?
SPEAKER_01: What does this a parable what does this parable achieve, and why does Jesus tell it?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we don't just have one parable here, we have three uh parables.
SPEAKER_01: Um and then once Jesus teaches these or these three parables to uh religious leaders, they come back to him with a number of questions to try and entangle them in his words to trap him in these theological quandaries about the resurrection and about marriage after uh after death and what they're just like they're just trying to catch Jesus out, they're just trying to trap him.
SPEAKER_01: But um, we have these three parables, and we've looked at the other two parables.
SPEAKER_01: So we're looking at the first parable in this series in this um little teaching series that Jesus has in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've looked at the other two parables already, um, when David Martin was with us um over a couple of weeks, and in them, in these other parables, we see a similar theme of Jesus exposing the hearts of those who are listening, and especially the religious leaders.
SPEAKER_01: He's again he's answering, he's he's teaching in these parables in answer to their question.
SPEAKER_01: And not only is it uh in in response to their question, but it's in response to them rejecting God's way, uh, but thinking that they're good, that they're right, that they're righteous.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus sets up this parable uh by asking them what they think.
SPEAKER_01: He's letting them know that what he's that he's going to be inviting them to give their opinion after he's told the story.
SPEAKER_01: It's a really good way of uh teaching.
SPEAKER_01: And so we see a father with two sons uh in the parable here.
SPEAKER_01: The father has two sons and he goes to the first and he asks him to go and work in the vineyard.
SPEAKER_01: The son said, I will not.
SPEAKER_01: But afterwards he changed his mind and went.
SPEAKER_01: Then we see the father ask the same thing of the second son, and he said, I go, sir, but he didn't go.
SPEAKER_01: And that's it, that's the parable.
SPEAKER_01: A very short story, a very short parable, but Jesus used it, uses it so effectively in what he says in the next few verses.
SPEAKER_01: So true to how he set up uh the parable by asking them what they think, he said, I'm gonna I'm gonna come to you and ask you what you think.
SPEAKER_01: And he asks them, Who did the will of the father?
SPEAKER_01: They answer the first, which of course is true.
SPEAKER_01: The first son, despite saying otherwise, did what his father had asked, and the religious leaders saw that.
SPEAKER_01: They give the right answer without realizing that it actually spells condemnation for them.
SPEAKER_01: They've outed themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus says that they're like the second son.
SPEAKER_01: They claim they're doing God's will, but they're not actually doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew has used the phrase doing the will of the Father as not merely professing belief, not merely saying the words, but to act accordingly, to live in a way that reflects true belief.
SPEAKER_01: These chief priests and elders of the people, they worked so hard to be righteous, unlike in their eyes, the people who Jesus says will enter the kingdom, like the tax collectors and the prostitutes.
SPEAKER_01: So the fact that Jesus says that they, these tax collectors and prostitutes, enter the kingdom before the religious leaders, that would have been so offensive to them.
SPEAKER_01: And again, his teaching is so provocative towards them.
SPEAKER_01: And even more than this, although it's not explicit in the way that Jesus tells the way that Jesus teaches here in the words and the language used here, those who don't believe, those who don't believe and repent, will not enter the kingdom at all.
SPEAKER_01: It's clear elsewhere, including many of the parables that we've looked at over the last few months, that this is the case.
SPEAKER_01: So to argue that Jesus, when he just says before that that these others enter the kingdom before them, it's not like the religious leaders are just sec in second place.
SPEAKER_01: They're not just second in the queue now.
SPEAKER_01: In saying that the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before them, he's saying that their place is gone.
SPEAKER_01: That is, unless they're like the first son, unless they change their minds and do the will of the Father, truly believing and repenting.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus then brings up John the Baptist again.
SPEAKER_01: People, including the religious leaders, had gone out from Jerusalem and other places to hear John when he was when he was preaching.
SPEAKER_01: And many believed, many repented, and they were baptized.
SPEAKER_01: John had subsequently been executed, we read about in Matthew, by one of the kings called Herod.
SPEAKER_01: And John was a godly man who lived and preached the way of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus says about him, that he came in the way of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: He preached that the kingdom of heaven was about to arrive.
SPEAKER_01: He was pointing to Jesus as the one who was bringing this.
SPEAKER_01: He was pointing to Jesus as the promised Messiah, the one who was bringing the kingdom, the one who was going to save them, the one who was gonna uh was that promised Messiah, the king.
SPEAKER_01: So many, as I said, believed John, trusting that their savior was arriving and was bringing the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: These people, those who listened to John, who were repented, they believed, they repented, they were baptized, they believed Jesus, He's the Savior of the world, He's gonna save me.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do it myself.
SPEAKER_01: They're like the first son, they changed their minds.
SPEAKER_01: They repented.
SPEAKER_01: That's what repentance means, to turn 180 and go the other direction to change your mind.
SPEAKER_01: So the language here of change the the sun changing, uh the first son changing his mind.
SPEAKER_01: And uh Jesus at the end of that teaching, uh down in verse 32, he said that the religious leaders they didn't change their minds.
SPEAKER_01: That repentance, so many people who came to John, they did repent, they believed, they were baptized, and they lived accordingly, doing the will of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: However, there were those like many of the religious leaders who didn't believe John.
SPEAKER_01: They just dismissed him.
SPEAKER_01: They'd refused John's call to repentance and faith.
SPEAKER_01: And despite the fact that they saw how the lives of the tax collectors and the prostitutes had been completely transformed, these people, they these tax collectors and prostitutes, the ones who the religious leaders would have looked down on, they would have seen them come to John, believe, have faith, repent, be baptized, and see their lives transformed.
SPEAKER_01: And yet they still refused to believe him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus is saying in verse 32.
SPEAKER_01: So they refused to believe John, and they were also then they were going to refuse Jesus, who came with the same divine authority.
SPEAKER_01: So what is it that Jesus is getting at here?
SPEAKER_01: Who is he challenging?
SPEAKER_01: Is it just religious people with great power?
SPEAKER_01: It's certainly directed at them here, and it's they who approach Jesus and ask the question But does anyone else need to listen to this?
SPEAKER_01: Does it matter for anyone else?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells this parable for the sake of all of us.
SPEAKER_01: It's for people who say they're good with God but they're not.
SPEAKER_01: People who seem to do all the right things but don't truly believe and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They live lives that don't reflect what they say.
SPEAKER_01: They live lives that don't reflect what they tell people they believe.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe not even what they tell themselves they believe.
SPEAKER_01: And that's them not submitting to the authority of God.
SPEAKER_01: See, what were the hearts of the religious leaders like?
SPEAKER_01: Well, they think they have the authority and they challenge those who have been sent with the authority of God, these prophets like John, like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And as we said earlier, this includes that they exercise authority over their own lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just about things going on in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: They think they can make their own way to God, that they can earn their way to him by doing all the right things.
SPEAKER_01: See, the favorable outcome of all this for Jesus, he's not wanting them to welcome him into the temple as one of them or even to make him the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: They'd never have done that.
SPEAKER_01: But rather, what he's saying to them is that they need to submit to him in their hearts, seeing that he's the only one who can save them.
SPEAKER_01: They need to change their minds from a place of self-righteousness to relying on him alone to provide salvation.
SPEAKER_02: So for all of us, we need to look at our own hearts.
SPEAKER_02: Do you submit to the authority of God?
SPEAKER_02: Do you submit to his authority in every part of your life?
SPEAKER_01: Do you question it?
SPEAKER_01: Do you question the words and actions of Jesus like the religious leaders did, making yourself the final arbiter?
SPEAKER_01: You say that you're going to do the Father's will, but then your actions don't reflect that.
SPEAKER_01: Do you say you'll love your neighbor as the Father has willed and called us to, and then you hate them, you treat them poorly, you use them for your own gain?
SPEAKER_01: Do you say you'll love God and live your life for Him and then proceed to live it for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: If so, then you're like the second son.
SPEAKER_01: You're like the hypocritical religious leaders.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not merely the distinction between what you say and what you do.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus isn't saying that if you do the right things, you'll get into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: It's not as simplistic as that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the people who he's talking to here, they're the best at doing the right thing, these religious leaders.
SPEAKER_01: They've a whole they've they've all these extra laws and things to help him, to keep them on the straight and narrow.
SPEAKER_01: It's not only people who literally say they follow God and then don't follow through who Jesus is talking about.
SPEAKER_01: It's people who want to say through their actions that they're righteous, that they're doing the Father's will.
SPEAKER_01: Like the second son is saying.
SPEAKER_01: The second son wants to be seen to be the one who's doing the will of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to plead, he wants to uh just be get all this um attention, uh this good attention, people saying, Oh yeah, you're great, you said you go, yeah, yeah, do that, and then not follow through.
SPEAKER_01: It's people who want everyone around to see that they're good, that they're doing God's will.
SPEAKER_01: I know for me, I don't want you to be so guilty.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in this camp.
SPEAKER_01: I know for me that that's such a temptation to be motivated by what others think of me.
SPEAKER_01: For a lot of people, this can happen in church.
SPEAKER_01: You show up on a Sunday and you serve, and then the rest of the week you're living for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: People see you serving on a Sunday, playing music, setting things up, teaching the kids, being unwelcome, hospitality, going along to community group even during the week, and yet your heart motivation may be wrong.
SPEAKER_01: It may all be like the second son, who communic the second son communicating one thing, and yet his heart is desiring another.
SPEAKER_01: It's like the religious leaders who do all the right things, but they want to exercise authority over their own lives instead of submitting to the authority of God.
SPEAKER_01: Praying with others, leading a Bible study, or even preaching, even me right here can all be done with ill motives, seeking to work for the favor of God and trying to show everyone around that you're good enough, that you're moral, that you're a good Christian, when in fact you could be hiding skeletons in the closet.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't give you a set list of things that would show you that you're like the second son.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the point of this parable.
SPEAKER_01: All the things I've mentioned are actually things that could and are, I know, done out of a heart that wants to serve like the first son.
SPEAKER_01: Or it could be all those things are done out of a heart that wants to be seen to be good like the second son.
SPEAKER_01: So it's about examining your heart and asking, am I submitting to the authority of God in every part of my life?
SPEAKER_01: Or am I doing things to show people, whether that's other people around you, even yourself, trying to fool yourself, or even God, that I'm a good Christian, I'm good enough.
SPEAKER_01: If yes, then you're like these hypocritical religious leaders.
SPEAKER_02: No matter how hard you try, you're still going to be like the second son.
SPEAKER_01: But if you see that Jesus has come with the authority of God, then submit to him and repent.
SPEAKER_01: Be like this first son.
SPEAKER_01: See, you've rejected the Father.
SPEAKER_01: I've rejected the Father.
SPEAKER_01: I failed to do what he said, and then change your mind and repent.
SPEAKER_01: Follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's doing the Father's will.
SPEAKER_01: We see such mercy and grace here that those who rejected him and said we want it to go our own way, that through Jesus we're welcomed into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: We're welcomed into the kingdom by the King Himself.
SPEAKER_01: Many of Jesus' other parables describe the kingdom to be a place where joy and life are abundant.
SPEAKER_01: It's described as a wonderful wedding feast.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not only in eternity in the future.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was, through his ministry, was ushering in this kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He was giving life, he was healing the sick.
SPEAKER_01: So submitting to the authority of King Jesus is good, not only for the future, but in the here and now.
SPEAKER_01: Entering his kingdom is to have life.
SPEAKER_01: So come, delight in the authority of King Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Submit to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is where life is found.
SPEAKER_03: If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found in the link below.