With Him | Part 1

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

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

going to start Matthew chapter 20 and especially

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

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

Zechariah 9 · chapter mention

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.