Matthew Pt. 81 - A Tale of Two Sons

Turn to Matthew chapter 21. Could have had you do that

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

already, but you might have known where to go.

Matthew Chapter 21 got to pay attention to time now 'cause we

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

started late. Oh, we're good.

We're good on time. It's in Matthew 21 where we

picked up. We're picking up where we left

off. But to remind you about this

whole passage, this whole section, we're just interrupting

Jesus each week. Unfortunately, He kept going.

His whole monologue just keeps going.

The thing keeps building, the thing keeps swelling, it keeps

growing until it finally crashes on to everybody and on to

everything. So I want you to go ahead and

read through that on your own. Read through the whole section,

the context, the principle. I keep painting that picture for

you, but I just want you to have that understanding.

Again this morning. We're in.

Verse 28 is where we're picking up.

His authority's just been challenged.

Now we pick up here in verse 28. I take it back.

Let's go back to 23 just for fun.

So in verse 23, he entered the temple.

The chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as

he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing

these things? And who gave you this authority?

Jesus answered them. I'll ask you one question.

If you tell me the answer, I'll tell you by what authority I do

these things. The baptism of John, where did

it come from? From heaven or from man?

So he's saying, was this a God ordained thing or was John just

out here winging it and making it up as he goes along?

They said to themselves, if we say it came from heaven, then

he'll say then why didn't you believe him?

But if we say it came from man, well we're afraid of the crowd,

for they all hold that John was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus, we don't know.

And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what

authority I do these things. Without missing a beat he

continues verse 28, What do you think?

A man had two sons, and he went to the 1st and said, Son, go and

work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not.

But afterward he changed his mind, and he went, and he went

to the other son, and he said the same.

And that son answered, I will go, Sir, but did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?

And they said who the, the men who had come in opposing him,

the the elders, the leaders of Israel, they said the first one

did the will of his Father. Jesus said to them, truly, I say

to you that tax collectors and prostitutes go into the Kingdom

of God before you. For John came to you in a way,

in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him.

But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him.

And even when you saw it, you did not say, you did not

afterward change your minds and believe him.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your

powerful word. I thank you for the moment.

I thank you for the season. I thank you for the glorious

grace that you've extended to us in this moment as a church, The

blessing that it is, the call that it is, and how you have

sovereignly lined up, what you're doing with the preaching

of Your word each week and how you're doing it again today and

your kindness and your mercy. And in your grace.

I pray that we would be so humble.

I pray that we would really be changed today.

I pray that if anyone came this morning to the gathering with

ideas of I'm going to church because I go to church, If

anyone came with any shallow perspective in their walk with

you, if anyone came hiding, I pray that today, Lord, they

would be completely seen by you, completely known by you.

And I pray they will completely open themselves up to all that

you have intended for them. Lord, I know the great love that

you have for your people. I know the great compassion and

the kindness that you show to us in our sin to make us righteous.

So I pray you a breakthrough today as people surrender in a

deeper way, in Jesus name we thank you.

Amen. So I've been saying it.

I'm going to keep reminding you until I sense that it's lifted,

until I sense that it's shifted. I told you before, not once in

four years of Salt Church as a church have I said God's doing

something right now among us church.

He has been doing things, but it's been his normative work,

his supernatural powerful work that he does throughout the body

of Christ. And yet right now I've been

saying for the past month, there's a moment and there's a

thing happening for us. There's a seasonal moment where

the Lord is calling us into deeper surrender.

And I'm excited about it, and I'm 100% personally choosing to

step into it. But I'm also a shepherd.

And I also am watching and praying and caring for each of

you and praying that you will step into it.

And the Word is connected completely to the word

surrender. That's the thing.

It's surrender. What does that mean?

Well, we've, we've defined it a couple of different ways.

It's about submission. It's about deeper trust.

It's about yielding. It's about being known.

It's about vulnerability. Actually submitting myself and

surrendering to the Lord makes me vulnerable, right?

So the an act of surrender. And that what we do, we say put

your hands up. We got a police officer with us

this morning. So we say, put your hands up.

What are you doing? You're surrendering.

What? I can't do anything at this

point. Freeze.

You're, you're, you're in, you're now under the authority

of someone else and you will obey or you will regret it or

you'll, you might get the spicy water to the face or you might

get tased or, you know, it could be worse.

You could get the, the, the special handcuffs that they put

on you. But you got a lot of options

here. The Lord, he calls us with

gentleness, though. He calls us with gentleness and

he's saying, I'm, I'm calling you to a deeper surrender.

I'm calling you to trust. I'm calling you to follow.

And specifically, we know the Lord has been calling us to lay

things down. I've had multiple people reach

out to me and they reached out to one another saying the Lord

has asked me for this. The Lord asked me to give up

whatever. Fill in the blank with whatever

he's calling you to. The point is not to look like

somebody else. The point is to actually hear

from the Holy Spirit for yourself and say, what's the

Lord asking me to give up? Would it include sin?

Well, yeah, sin, first of all, like we should always be

stomping sin out of our lives all the time.

But in particular, if there's something else that's not even

sinful that he's saying, but can I have that?

Just like he did with Abraham. He came to Abraham and he didn't

say give me all your sins so that you can stop it and be

free. He said, can I have Isaac, your

son that you love? What?

Not Isaac, but Abraham believed and he trusted God and of course

God restored Isaac to him and then brings a greater promise

and a greater blessing because of it.

This is what the Christian walk is supposed to look like from

glory to glory. I said many people are praying

for breakthrough for years and years and years.

I believe many times we're not experiencing the breakthrough

that we've been praying for, not because we haven't prayed hard

enough, but because our breakthrough is connected to a

surrender that we never surrendered.

I've been praying for this breakthrough for a decade and

nothing's coming through. But what about the last

obedience that you still have never obeyed from the Lord?

The thing that was unique to you, the thing that was special

to you, He asked you to give up that thing that whatever.

I've been talking to my clients about it and in the work that I

do coaching men, and I've been sharing this same message

because it's just all that's bubbling out of me right now as

Lord keeps ministering to me along these lines and to you

along these lines. And I'm sharing it with my

clients and guys are saying, man, I, I the Lord, the Lord has

been asking for video games for me for a long time.

And, and I've just given it to him.

It wasn't sinful. If you can have good clean

entertainment and you can actually have self-control and

not binge in the way that they all have have tried to get you

to do so others have said I've given up television.

Others have said I've given up this or that or the other all

kinds of non sinful things that could be enjoyed in their proper

context. But for that brother, it was

sin. Why?

Because the Lord asked for it. And now anything not done in

faith is sin. There's an interesting and a

funny thing we do. Whenever the Lord has asked us

for something, we then attempt to try and sanctify that thing

if we don't want to actually give it up.

So the example I gave recently was if the Lord asks, hey, hey,

can I have hunting? Can I, can I have that?

So now if, if the Lord asked somebody for hunting, now that

brother's going to go into his tree stand and he's going to

open his Bible and he's like, Lord, I just thank you for the

gift of hunting. And he's swatting away that fly

that the Lord has asked for. And he's just, he's trying to

say, look, Lord, it's an act of worship.

I pray when I'm in the tree stand, I read my Bible when I'm

in the tree stand, I do all these other things in the tree

And just to kid himself to deceive himself.

Oh no, no, I'm going to, I'm going to make sure I devote this

thing to the Lord more. But it'd be like if the Lord

said Abraham, can I have Isaac? And Abraham goes, I'm going to

take Isaac to church today and I'm going to teach him the word

of God more. Yes, Lord, I'm going to commit

Isaac to you more fully. And the Lord said, no, no, no,

that's not, that's not what I meant.

You know, that's not what I meant.

I wasn't asking for you to disciple Isaac more thoroughly

and sanctify him and set him apart in a holier way.

I was asking if you would give him to me completely, if you

would actually hand him over and lose control of him entirely.

Well, the Lord would never ask me to do that.

Well, if anyone has that reply to something, then we already

have their answer to the Lord. If my answer is the Lord would

never ask me to fill in the blank, then we already know what

our response would be if He did ask for that very thing.

So this is an encouragement because surrender leads to

breakthrough and breakthrough leads to growth.

And I'm convinced about myself and you and the whole wide world

that many people are stuck. They're the same Christian that

they were. All they're doing from this

point, for this point of spiritual maturity forward, all

they're doing is gaining and acquiring knowledge.

And this gaining and acquiring of knowledge is very deceptive

because it makes me feel as though I am growing in Christ

and I am 100% not growing in Christ.

Even though I know more Bible than I've ever known in my life,

even though I understand that theology and I know the context

of that point. I know what Jesus meant when he

said that and where he was standing in the temple and all

the context that swirls around it.

And I can make a life application for you and for me,

but my obedience has not grown. My surrender has not deepened.

My roots haven't gone any farther down and my and my

branches haven't extended any farther out.

I'm covered in leaves, green leaves all over this tree, and

you can't find a piece of fruit on me.

That's the scary thing. Pastor, you think that could be

happening with us? I'm telling you emphatically,

that's happened with us. Why?

Because you're a human being. It's our temptation.

So this is just the reality that we need to recognize.

This is normal and this is normative.

If that shoe fits, put the thing on because the Lord is calling

to us with kindness and with graciousness.

I didn't open this door of opportunity this season of

deeper repentance and surrender. And I and I won't be the one to

close it, but I am here just to encourage you into it and say,

let's walk deeper into surrender.

Let's walk deeper into being known by one another, being

known by one another. Who knows you really beyond the

people in your household? Does anybody else know the

vulnerable thing? I was talking with somebody

recently. I was actually, I was talking

with Alan, our future pastor who's going to be joining us.

And I was telling him, I said, you know, I came from a camp,

Alan, where there was such an emphasis on what you say out of

your mouth that it caused people to be false.

So you say, hey, how are you doing?

Is I'm blessed and highly favored.

Like, hey, friend, I know what the Scripture says about you.

I wasn't asking what the Bible says about you.

I know how to read. I'm asking what's been the

experience of your week? That was my question.

My question is not what does God say about you?

I want to stand in faith with you, but I want to ask how are

you processing this Monday? That's what I'm asking.

So when I ask how I can pray for you, I don't want to hear, Oh,

pastor, just pray that I would look more like Jesus.

Brother, I was praying that already.

I'm praying that for you. I'm praying that for me.

What I'm asking you to do is step into some rent, some

surrender, some realness, leaving behind some falseness

and saying here's a real life thing.

I'm facing pastor, here's a real life thing.

I'm facing brother, sister in Christ.

Here's here's something real. Here's real talk.

I know you're blessed and highly favored.

I know you're the head and not the tail.

All those things are absolutely true.

But I'm asking about what's your personal experience right now?

Are you super discouraged? Are you sad?

Are you lonely? Do you feel forgotten?

Are you angry? Are you super worried?

I'm not supposed to be worried. I know you're not supposed to,

but you are. So say that you are.

And then we can minister to that need and we can grow past that

need by putting faith in Jesus. But we have to start by being

honest about what the about our present reality.

Well, God's word says something better on my behalf.

Amen. And if you're walking out that

reality, then I would just want to stand with you in it.

But we, we don't want to be false.

So we're very much a people of the book.

We're very much people of faith. But we have to keep being honest

and have to keep being clear with one another.

Hey, here's where I'm really at. You know, I'm super worried

about my finances this month. You know, I am super worried and

discouraged in my marriage. I am super overwhelmed with this

thing or that thing or whatever it may be.

Now we're getting somewhere. Now we're actually being real.

Now we're actually surrendering. Now we're actually being known,

and now we can serve one another.

Now I know actually how to pray for you.

Now I know actually how to encourage you.

Now I know how to actually help you forward.

That was all free. This is not charismatic hype.

I think everybody knows that. Anybody who's known me for more

than 5 seconds knows that it is not charismatic hype.

I'm charismatic and I'm not sorry for it.

And also I'm very anti hype. So what the Lord's doing is a

special thing and it's a good thing He's blessing.

He's calling. This is not a day of mourning.

I feel like Nehemiah and you know, the scriptures being read

before all the people and they hear the law of God read and

everybody just mourns and weeps. That's how I feel before you

right now. And I have to tell you like they

told all the people as they mourn and wept the joy.

The Lord is your strength. This is a day for celebration.

This is only sad news and bad news for the hard heart who

won't surrender. So if you're predetermining to

stay hard hearted, then sure, it's terrible news.

It's a stiff word for a stiff neck and it's appropriate, but

that's not the point. The point is, look at the

blessing of God. Oh my goodness, what might I

have to give up? What will you gain?

Breakthrough in freedom? I can't.

I can't label and name what's in that new season for you.

But I know it's good. I know it's glorious.

I know it's great. I'm pleading with you, I'm

pleading with you and I'm pleading with the Lord in my

prayers that he that if you have not yet surrendered, that He

will wreck you with His goodness, that he will hit you

like a freight train with grace, not for exposure and shame and

humiliation, because that's not what he'll do.

Eventually you're about to see that comes, but that's not his.

That's not his aim. That's not what he wants.

He wants full restoration. He wants full encouragement.

He wants full strength. So this should not be a somber.

Nobody needs to hide their eyes, certainly not for me.

And you don't need to hide your eyes from the Lord.

He says look up, I'm calling you, I'm drawing you, I love

you. But what we are seeing here in

Jesus context, in Jesus moment as he's leading up to Thursday

night where he knows he's going to hand himself over.

He's in the last week years have been building up to this moment.

Israel's had their chance to repent.

John came and said follow Jesus. Jesus came and said follow me.

And the leaders of Israel were stiff necked and hard hearted

and Jesus is telling these parables against them.

They're seasoned. Their window has closed.

As he revealed when he cursed the fig tree, he said you got

leaves all over you. That means you should have had

fruit because we found out that was how fig trees worked.

Figs come first, then the leaves follow.

So if you see a fig tree with leaves, where's the fruit?

You faker, you hypocrite. Jesus said this, this fig tree,

it was as if he was saying this fig tree is like Israel.

Look at all of our leaves. And if that shoe can fit on us,

we should apply it to us as well and say, let me make sure, Lord,

that I don't just have leaves. Look at my church attendance,

look at my Bible reading, look at my worship music listening,

look at my scripture meditating, look at all my leaves.

But what about my fruit? So now the Lord's judgment is

coming to Israel, and now they are it's these guys are so

foolish. If they had just left Jesus

alone, they wouldn't get naked and torched like they're about

to get if they had just minded their own business and let him

teach the flock. But they can't.

And their pride and in their opposition and their hatred for

him, he says, what do you think? So he's continuing in the same

vein. We're still in the same moment.

It's interesting. He not only not only does he not

follow the chief priests and the elders into the trap that they

set for them, for him, he now draws them into a trap that he's

setting. So he has flipped things.

He's turned to the tables. He literally turned over the

tables yesterday. And now the next day he comes

in, he's teaching again. He set this trap for them.

Watch the wisdom of God himself as he works.

This is them reaping what they've sown.

Proverbs 2627 says whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a

stone will come back on him who starts rolling it.

So they want the smoke. They're about to get the smoke.

They want to set the trap. They want to mess with a rock.

They want to mess with a cornerstone.

He's going to tell them in verse 44, the one on whom falls, this

stone shall be broken into pieces.

And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

So if they left him alone, they would, they would not have been

humiliated. But they're asking for it.

So he says, what do you think? He draws them right in so they

can answer the question and then condemn themselves in the

process. A man had two sons and he went

to the 1st and said, son, go work in the vineyard today.

And he answered, I will not. But after what he changed his

mind and went, and he went to the other son and said the same.

And he answered, I will go, Sir. But he did not go.

What can we see here? A quick and obvious point we'll

make is that parents should make their children work.

Amen. Parents should make their

children work. Pastor obvious here this

morning. It's it's an expected thing in

households. Children, you should work in

your households. Let me look at all the all the

ones who are we got multiple teenagers in here.

You should work and you should contribute in your households.

You should not behave in an in entitled ways.

Your parents love to bless you. They love to give to you.

They love to provide for you and also you should love to

contribute to your household. It's an important and godly

assignment. So that's part of growing up.

The newborn baby. The whole family's built around

the baby, right? It's the baby's world.

We're all just living in it. That's an immature baby.

But as we grow, we expect more manfulness, we expect more

womanliness, we expect more responsibility.

So it's good and right for parents to give their children

instruction and to have them work in their homes.

Idle kids are unhappy kids, and they're unhealthy kids.

Idle children, idle teenagers are unhappy and they are

unhealthy. Go do about 5 seconds of Google

searching and look at the mental health issues that we've been

facing in our nation and go back and look at when they started.

There was there was a piece of technology that was invented

that came out how many years ago now?

Has it been a full 20 since we've had these 1015?

You go look, go look at the data.

Go look at the mental health of our teenagers and watch the

decline and notice what it coincided with mom and dad.

So kids, we want you healthy. We want you strong because we

love you. So mom and dad should give kids

work, give kids assignments, give kids responsibility so they

can have a purpose in a household that they're proud of.

So this is a normal thing. Keep going though.

Here we see a tale of two sons. The question today is which one

am I? Which one are you?

A tale of two sons. The first one is rude and he's

strong willed, but then he repents and he obeys.

The second one is agreeable and respectful in his speech, but he

never obeys. Which son are you?

Notice the difference between these?

The strong willed one go on. No, I ain't going to work in the

field. Back talks, his father

dishonours his father disrespects his father and he

goes, He repents, he turns, he changes, he goes, I should, I

should go work in the field. The other one says yes Sir.

Right away, Sir. Man, I love that boy.

Yes Sir. Very respectful sounding, but

doesn't obey. He's got leaves on his tree, but

he doesn't have any fruit. The other one had fruit, but the

leaves hadn't shown up yet. Are you the one who changes his

mind and obeys in repentance? Or are you the one who is good

with words but lacking the work of turning from sin and turning

to bear good fruit in the vineyard?

So Jesus is telling this pair about parable about two

different groups of people and he reveals who it is, the son

who says no and then repents the one who goes no, I'm not going

to, I'm not going to obey, but then turns and actually goes and

works in the vineyard. This represents all lost sheep

who were once sinful but then repent and obey.

They enter the Kingdom and they enter the vineyard.

The son who says yes, Sir, represents the disobedient Jews

and the Jewish leadership over Israel.

It also applies to anyone who honors the Lord with their lips

but doesn't obey him. That's the nation of Israel, and

that's many in the American church each Sunday.

Yes, Lord. And he's going, I, I don't need.

Yes, Lord, I don't need you to study more of the Greek.

I don't need you to have more knowledge.

I'm asking you to obey and go do the thing.

I heard a pastor famously talk about it one time.

He said he compared many Christians to he said, if I tell

my children to go clean the room, I don't want them to go.

Dad, we studied out that whole sentence clean your room and we

studied out the English of it and where it came from and like

the, the, the definition of each word and we can give you a full

breakdown on what it means to clean a room.

Is that what the Father wants, or does he actually want the

fruit of obedience? No, I know all about what the

Bible teaches. I understand it.

I understand the Greek and the Hebrew, and I got more degrees

than Fahrenheit, but I still haven't actually walked out my

obedience yet. The Lord's looking for his

people to obey the first Son changed his mind.

That word that's used there in the in the original language, it

means that he was remorseful. It means to change one's

judgment on past points of conduct, to repent.

This is the Sinner saved by grace, and this is the Christian

going into deeper surrender in Christ.

Good news, good news for everybody.

Who would say, how do I qualify? Love the Lord and surrender and

say I am humble before you, I love you, I trust you, I belong

to you. Which by the way, even though

this is a particular moment for our church, even though this is

a particular season for our church, we have not leveled up

our Christianity. All we're talking about is still

kindergarten level Christianity. This isn't a higher degree of

salt. Church is going to do

Christianity, but stronger. No, no, no, we're not.

There's no such thing. It's just the basic invitation

that was always given to begin with.

If you don't take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy

to be my disciple. That's all this moment is.

The Lord just clarified it in a particular way for us and just

reframed His invitation again in His kindness.

Good news. Nothing but good news for you

this morning. Good news all the way to repent.

That's the Sinner saved by grace.

This is Jonah saying, I'm not going to go to Nineveh.

I'm not going to appreciate those people.

And then he repents and he obeys.

It's the prodigal son who takes his father's money and he goes

and lives sinfully and recklessly.

And then he repents and he decides to go back to home to,

to go back home with humility, not with pride.

Say give me my seat back. Give me my place back.

His whole point is to go back. Let me go be a servant.

It's Paul who was killing Christians, resisting Jesus, and

then repents and obeys with his whole life, all the way unto

death. It's anyone who will humble

themselves, change their mind and repent to the Lord.

It's all of us. It's the only way you can come

to Christ. The one who first disobeyed.

That's everybody, that's me, that's you.

And then who later repents and goes, God, forgive me, forgive

my sin, forgive my foolishness, forgive my stupidity, forgive my

pride. God, I surrender to you, I love

you, I want to walk with you. That's the first son, verse 30.

And he went to the other son and said the same.

And he answered, I go Sir, but did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?

And then they answered the first.

I love how these guys answer his question.

So this is a common practice that rabbis would use.

Jesus is the rabbi of all rabbis, of course, but at this

time there would have been other rabbis who would travel around,

as we've said before. So it's a common teaching tool

that was used in ancient Israel to ask questions.

It's still a good teaching tool to ask a question of your

audience. But I love how they take the

bait because I can see them being excited even to answer his

question. He goes, which one do you think

of? Oh, I know this, Oh, oh, you

elder of Israel #14 the first son.

I got it right, I think I got it right.

And Jesus then lowers the boom on him entirely and on all of

them, the first one. Truly.

I say to you now, before I read His words again, you got to

understand the significance of the weight of what's about to

come out of His mouth. This is like slapping them in

the face. These are the guys.

These are the guys who are in charge.

They have awesome looking robes. They have excellent theology.

They are the leadership, OK? They are the ones who run this

show. Jesus is this ragtag rabbi in

their mind, although it's just because they're hard hearts.

Jesus has been performing miracles.

People have been getting getting repentance and humility, but

Jesus is called tax collectors to follow him.

Matthew, the writer of this gospel was a tax collector hated

by his fellow people because he betrayed them all.

You treated tax collectors as they should be treated, like

traitors, like backstabbers, like thieves and like liars.

These are awful men. If you're a rabbi and you're

going to choose people to follow, you will go choose the

best from the best schools and say, you young man, you can

follow me, you can follow me, you can follow me.

And Jesus goes to the docks and he goes, what you boys doing

fishing come and follow me. And he goes to the tax

collector's booth. And the people are who are

following this rabbi going, who's he about?

Hey, Matthew, come and follow me.

What kind of rabbi is this? Don't don't you know what kind

of people you're calling? The fishermen aren't as educated

as these other guys. Matthew's a traitor who we all

hate. And Jesus calls other people

like that Prostitutes loved Jesus because they stopped being

prostitutes. So when he says what he says

next to the people that he says it to in front of the massive

crowd of thousands, he's in the temple courts.

Jerusalem is packed for the Passover.

Jesus is preaching and teaching loudly so that more than five

people around him can hear and they come and interrupt.

Why? What authority are you doing

these things? Let me ask you a question.

John's baptism, was it from heaven or was it from man?

We don't know. Then neither will I answer your

question. But I have another one for you.

A man sends his sons into the field.

Which is what? Oh, that one obeyed.

Truly. I say to you, you're right.

The tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the Kingdom

before you. Boom.

What? Just what did he just say?

All the normal folks, I'm here to worship the Lord.

We're being extorted by these leaders.

We're trying to buy a dove. We're trying to buy a lamb

because this is the week of the Passover.

The, the leaders. Oh, the Jesus seems like he's

getting into it. I heard that yesterday Jesus

overturned the tables. The prostitutes and the tax

collectors will enter the Kingdom before you.

What what? And he doesn't stop.

I'm just trying to give you the the clarity of the the moment.

I can't, I don't think I can maximize it enough.

Someday maybe we can make the AI video that really like builds

the whole scene for us so we can see like that is a socially

awkward moment, but not for Jesus.

Nothing's awkward for him. He's the way, the truth and the

life. He has all authority.

It's his temple. It's his air that they're

breathing. It's his word that they're

mocking. It's His Father that they're

dishonouring. He lowers the boom.

Tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom before

you. I want to clarify, when He says

before you, He doesn't mean we're going to let them in the

door 1st and then you have to walk in after them.

He means you're not coming in at all.

That's the point. That's the implication.

So the English language there could throw us off a little bit.

How do we know this? Well, because in Matthew 550 and

his Sermon on the Mount, He told everybody, unless your

righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees,

you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.

What? So the righteousness of the

scribes and the Pharisees is at this level.

This level of righteousness doesn't enter the Kingdom of

heaven. Your righteousness has to exceed

that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

That would have been devastating news for everybody because they

think the scribes of the Pharisees are the most holy

people they've ever seen. And Jesus was saying they are

trees with leaves and no fruit. So he's making two points.

His first point was, you need my righteousness.

You can't do it on your own. His second point was they ain't

righteous at all, right? Unless your righteousness

exceeds that of people who aren't righteous at all.

That's His point. His point is you need someone

else's righteousness put upon you.

You need my righteousness put upon you.

That's what you need. Second of all, stop being

impressed with the scribes and the Pharisees, OK?

I mean, he nukes them multiple times in front of crowds.

He humiliates them, which is obvious now.

Why in his final days here, it's obvious how he Tees it up and

how he knows I know it's coming. They can't bear the shame I'm

about to dump on them. They cannot bear the humiliation

and the crowd. But I'm going to keep drawing to

me. And so I will lay my life down

and they will want to crucify me.

It's all they're just cogs in His wheel.

Jesus's will is being fulfilled and everybody else, whether they

want to or not, is falling right into place.

He's plainly speaking this parable against them and he's

not hiding it. He, he teaches the parable right

after he speaks the parable. He doesn't say, yes, one of

those sons will enter the Kingdom and 1 won't.

And you go, who's who's it really represent?

Who's it really mean? Well, obedient people are the

obedient son. Disobedient people are the

disobedient son. He's plainly speaking against

them. And of course, they're not the

first and they're not the last to just say the right words and

to still disobey. King Saul's early reign begins

with him walking in God's favor, but his disobedience is revealed

and unfortunately it continues until the end of his life.

He said I will God, but he didn't obey and he didn't carry

it out. The rich young ruler comes to

mind who we saw just a just very recently here, just a couple

weeks before this moment in the passage.

The rich young ruler says he keeps all of God's commands, but

when his works are tested, they're burned up, just like all

his wealth will be, because he would not follow Jesus.

The older brother in the prodigal son parable, that was

who Jesus was actually telling the parable against was the

Pharisees. We often emphasize the problem

apart. Praise God, I was lost, I was

filthy, and in my repentance I turn and God forgave me and

welcomed me back home. What a blessing.

But that parable was told against the Pharisees because

they were like the older brother.

And as Jesus is bringing prostitutes and saving them and

bringing tax collectors and saving them, by the way, which

includes no more tax collecting, which includes no more

prostituting. So now that they're coming to

Christ, Israel should be rejoicing.

The Jewish leadership should be going praise God.

The prostitutes are turning from their sin, the tax collectors

are repenting. They should be rejoicing.

But instead they're going. The filthy people, bro.

That's what repentance is. We are the filthy people.

That's the only people there are.

There's nobody else except filthy me and filthy you.

So for us to respond to the grace of God and for us to shun

somebody else and we go, do you know his past?

Hey, Pastor, I just want you to know.

I mean, he's got a past. Oh, really?

I had no idea that people had a past because I certainly don't.

I mean, I was born a Christian, but that's how the Israelites

were acting. That's how the Jewish leadership

were acting. They're acting like, bro, what

did you do? What did you do to get your

righteousness? If you have any, It came from

someone and it was given by grace and you received it by

faith, which makes you nobody except loved by God like the

rest of us. So you should always rejoice

when you see others repenting instead of instead of like

Jonah, hard hearted at first. I don't want those people to

repent. They're filthy God and God goes,

yeah, Jonah, but but they can repent.

And Jonah goes, I know you, Lord, if I go preach, they're

all going to get saved. That's why I'm not going to go

preach. I know who, I know how kind you

are. I know if I go preach, they're

going to repent. And you're not going to kill

them. God's going.

Are you right to be angry? So Jonah Khan is funny because

he, he's hard hearted and then he obeys and then he gets mad

again. And that's how his story ends.

I don't know what happens with Jonah.

Thin ice. I don't want to be there.

But the older brother and the prodigal son parable.

The prodigal son returns home. The father says, my boy is

returned. Put the gold ring on his hand,

put the nice sandals on his feet, put the beautiful robe on

him. Kill the best cow that we've

got. We're going to feast and

celebrate tonight. And the older brother walks

outside and he won't stay in the house for the party.

The father comes out, goes, hey, come inside.

He goes, no, my brother is wasted and squandered all your

wealth and this is how you welcome him back.

My father says your brother was dead and now he's alive.

He was lost and now he's found. Come and rejoice with us.

He said, you've never given me so much as a goat to celebrate

with my friends. He said, son, everything I have

has always been yours, but you should rejoice over your

brother. He was telling that parable

against the Jewish leadership. He's like, you are the older

brother. You're the hard hearted jerk who

won't celebrate. Everything's already yours.

You're loved, you're in. Then it's like the 99 sheep

being mad when the shepherd goes to look for the one.

What about us? You.

You've always been here. You've always been here.

You're safe. But the but your brother, your

sister's lost. Well, they always run off.

It's about time they got what's coming to them, get what's

coming to him. I don't think you want to say

that. I think you should take that

back because God loves that sheep.

And when they're being restored and when they're being returned,

the heart of the Father rejoices, and all of heaven

rejoices. And if all of heaven's rejoicing

and you're not rejoicing, that tells us that you're not of

heaven and that you're not of the Kingdom that you claim to be

a part of. So you look like you're in this

flock, but are you really in this flock?

Because this flock loves this flock, Ananias and Sapphira,

they want to present themselves as holy.

So Jesus has been resurrected. Jesus spends 40 days on the

earth. Jesus now ascends into heaven.

10 days later he sends the Holy Spirit.

The church is blowing up growing up.

Jesus is building his church. The Holy Spirit is moving in

power. People are so moved, they're

bringing all their money to the apostles and they're saying

distribute it. However whoever has need in the

church. I don't know everybody, I don't

know everything, but we just, we sold this and we sold that, and

we sold this on Facebook Marketplace, and we sold this

car and I sold my motorcycle and we sold the boat here, here,

here. Whatever's needed among the

church, make sure God's people have all that they have need of

an ananiasis of fire. When, oh, is that what we're

doing? So they sold a piece of property

and they brought some of the money, which is fine.

No one's requiring you to bring anything.

This isn't communism, this is generosity.

But they claimed that they brought all of the money and the

Holy Spirit told the leadership, no, they're lying.

They said, is this all the money you got for the property?

Yep. And got struck Ananias dead.

And then a few hours later, Sofia didn't know what happened.

It was the first youth group event.

The scripture says the young men carried him out.

So it's the first youth men's gathering.

I'm sure they had pizza and Gatorade as well.

Like carry out Ananias, Hooray. We'll play basketball and we'll

play games afterwards. And then Sapphira comes in and

they say, tell me, is this the amount of money that you got for

the property? And she said yes.

And they said, the men who carried your husband out are at

the door and they're going to carry you out as well.

And God judges her and drops her dead.

That's in your New Testament, not in your Old Testament.

It's the same God. And he said, I'm going to judge

this thing. They said, yes, Sir, yes, Sir, I

go, Sir. But their hearts were seeking

influence instead of seeking God's Kingdom.

Saul, the rich young ruler, the older brother, and the parable

Ananias and Sapphira, they all said yes, but all their actions

said no. And notice they're all cut off

from God and His Kingdom like the fig tree.

Jesus doesn't just ignore it and give it time forever.

He reveals that there is a time that there does come a time when

time is up. He does it with Israel.

He does it with King Saul. He does it with the rich young

ruler. We never see the older brother,

the older brother of the prodigal, come into the house.

It doesn't end with him going all right.

It just ends with him saying no. And that's where he stays

outside of the house. Can you see the imagery?

Can you connect the dots? We don't have to be brilliant

rabbis here. He's outside of the feast.

He's outside of the celebration. He's out in the darkness while

everyone else is in light and joy.

Look at what God's generosity has blessed us with.

All the servants were inside celebrating.

There was wine, there was meat, there was light, there was

dancing, there was joy, there was the Kingdom and ananiasis of

fire, of course, are killed by God himself in judgement.

Which brother are you today? Only good news, church, only

good news. Oh, this is this is this is this

is just easy for a humble heart. A humble heart goes, yes, Lord,

help me. That's the heart posture that we

should have right now. Yes, Lord, help me.

Yes, Lord, help me to obey, not just to say yes, Lord, I'll

leave my family. But will you actually shepherd

your household so that your lips don't just say yes, Lord, but

your life is still saying not right now.

Yes, Lord, I'll respect my husband, but are you

quarrelsome? Are you hard to please?

Do you undermine his leadership in front of the kids?

Are you saying yes in church but no at home?

Yes Lord, I'll live for you, but do you date someone who doesn't

follow the Lord? Or are you using your singleness

to serve yourself instead of serving God better?

Are you singing yes Lord on Sunday but living your own way?

Are you saying yes Lord, I'll honor my father and mother?

This is for my teenagers, but do you roll your eyes, argue over

every instruction, and obey only when it suits you?

You say yes to God with your lips, but no with your attitude.

Yes, Lord, I walk closely with you, but your walk is mostly

talk. You know the words, you know the

verses, you know the right answers, but the people closest

to you see something different than the one that you present

publicly. Yes, Lord, I'll be a part of

your church. But you say guarded, only

showing people the surface. Maybe you attend the gathering,

but you won't let anyone into your life where it's messy or

hard or vulnerable. You say yes to showing up, but

no to actually being known. If that's a stiff word, just

make sure you don't have a stiff neck.

I don't want you to miss out on what God is doing and what God

is offering. I feel exposed.

Then feel humble. Don't respond with pride.

That's all there is to it. In the in in your New Testament,

in the book of Acts, we have two different occasions.

Peter preaches, the scripture says they were cut to the heart

and they said, what must I do to be saved?

That was the right answer. Stephen preaches, it says they

were cut to the heart and they gnash their teeth at him and

they stoned him to death. The scripture always cuts to the

heart. What will it find when it gets

to the heart? Will it find soft or will it

find stone? Good news, you and I get to be

the brothers who choose. So it's that simple.

God is sovereign, and in His sovereignty He is.

He is chosen and selected for you to have the freedom to do

what you will with your own heart, to surrender it to Him or

to harden it against Him. He calls to you with kindness.

He calls to you with gentleness. Hebrews 3, seven through 8,

which is actually quoting Psalm 95 that we read earlier for the

magnification today. If you hear His voice, do not

harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of

testing in the wilderness. We're closing now, verse 32.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not

believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes

believed him. And even when you saw it, you

did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

So Jesus is still connecting this all back to the original

point. But what authority do you do

this? I'll ask you a question.

If you answer it, I'll answer you there.

Sure. John's baptism, heaven or man.

Oh, well, we don't know. Yeah, You do know they're liars.

They're hypocrites. They know exactly where it came

from. But now he wanted to make this

whole point. The two sons, He now ties it and

connects it to John. Prostitutes and tax collectors

are going to enter in before you.

And just to clarify, prostitutes were completely shamed.

That was not a good thing in their culture.

In our culture, it's like becoming a more and more

celebrated thing. It's just called only fans now,

but it's the same exact thing. So at that time, it was deeply

shamed. Now it doesn't have the same

stigma that it used to. But to clarify, that was a

really bad thing that everybody looked down upon.

So truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes

go into the Kingdom before you. Now he's turning to John.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness.

So Jesus comes in the way of righteousness.

But Jesus also comes with miracles and signs and wonders.

He's raised somebody from the dead just a couple of weeks ago,

Lazarus. Jesus isn't even anchoring his

argument there, is he? He's not making his argument for

himself there. He's anchoring his argument in

righteousness and in repentance. He's saying that miracle should

have transformed all of you. When you saw prostitutes and tax

collectors turning to Christ at John's baptism, turning in

humility to God, you should have said God is moving.

He didn't say because you saw the dead raised or the blind

healed, or the thousands of miracles that Jesus did, or the

the time I fed the many thousands with the bread.

He didn't say any of that should have persuaded anybody.

He said the repentance of others.

That's your condemnation. John came preaching

righteousness. John didn't do miracles.

John preached righteousness and repentance.

That should be breakthrough enough.

That should be blessing enough. That should be transformation

enough. He came in the way of

righteousness and you did not believe him.

But the tax collectors and the prostitutes, they believed him

and it was counted unto them as righteousness, just like

Abraham. Abraham believed God, and that

was counted to him as righteousness.

Not all the things he did. That doesn't count righteousness

unto you. believe in God makes things count you as

righteousness. And then of course, there's

plenty of walking out that follows from there.

Even when you saw it afterward, you did not change your minds

and believe him again. Jesus keeps making emphasis on

people changing their own minds. He's like, you didn't change

your mind. That's why I'm mad at you.

You wouldn't change your mind. That's my problem with you.

You get to change your mind. But because they keep opposing

the way in the will of God, this is what they get.

The humble get forgiveness, and the repentance of the humble

should also soften the hard. But some chose to say hard and

hard. That's what a tree without

leaves looks like. That's no fruit.

Or sorry, that's a tree with leaves but no fruit.

That's what it looks like. That's what a person who has no

fruit sounds like, like these Pharisees.

But there is good news. There is another son.

This son says yes, Sir, and this son obeyed right away and this

son obeyed all the way through to the cross.

His name is Jesus. So if you feel weight, if you

feel heavy, Jesus carried that weight, Jesus carried that

heaviness. If you feel shame, if you feel

condemnation, there's one thing and only one thing you can do

with it. It's actually take it to Jesus

and surrender. It's actually give it to him and

say God, I need you. I need to be saved.

I don't want to be self-righteous like the

Pharisees. They believed in a God, but they

didn't know that God was staring them in the face.

I don't want to be deceived by worldly philosophy that tells

me, well, there are many ways to God.

Jesus says that's not true. He's the only way.

He is the truth. He is the life.

There is no other name under heaven by which men can be

saved. Everyone must come through the

name and the blood of Jesus. Why?

Because no one else has been the perfect son except for Jesus.

He said yes, Father, and he obeyed the Father.

None of us can say that I can't and you can't.

None of us can say that we were the perfect Son.

Both sons had a problem. No.

And then obeys. Praise God.

That's to us who came in, came into Christ, but Christ is the

perfect Son. Yes, Father, not your, not my

will, but your will be done. And he carries it all the way to

the cross for all of his disobedient lost brothers that

the Father would adopt all of the lost brothers and sisters

you and I lost and not in the family of God, but Jesus the Son

pleases the Father with his perfection, with his

righteousness. And the Father will now adopt

all who will change their minds, turn in repentance, and fully

surrender to Jesus and his full invitation, not the partial

invitation. I would like to not go to hell.

I would like to go to heaven, join the club.

But the full invitation that says love God with all your

heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbor as yourself,

take up your cross and actually follow Jesus and Saints and

friends, that's got to look like something.

You can't just sound like something.

It's got to look like something. So Jesus obeys for all the rest

of us who disobeyed it at first, or all of us who disobey

entirely. And God's grace, his obedience,

can count for you if you soften your heart, if you humble

yourself and turn to Jesus. God, thank you so much for your

word. Thank you so much for this

season, for this moment, for the day of repentance.

Lord, we hear your voice, and we're not hardening our hearts

as many rebellious have done. God, we ask that you would

forgive us for so much rebellion.

So right at your seat, you can turn your heart to the Lord in

the quiet of your own heart, in the quiet of your own mind, you

can give yourself fully and completely to God.

And in doing so, it will look like something.

It's not a secret private thing that I just keep to to myself

that I did and it I'll look back on many years from now.

Now it's it's something that will transform your whole life.

You don't get married in secret and never tell anybody.

And much more importantly, you don't come to Christ and keep it

to yourself. So if you want to turn to God,

if you want to trust in Jesus, the one who died for your sins

and for my sins, you and me, the disobedient sons, if you will

trust in him, if you will believe that His sacrifice was

the satisfaction that satisfied the wrath of God so that you and

I could escape the wrath of God. If you will commit your life to

Him, He will do all the hard work.

He will give you new desires. He will actually give you a new

heart, and in His grace and His kindness and His goodness to you

right now, He's even offering that.

What does your surrender look like?

Surrender for yourself. I can't surrender for you,

Heavenly Father, as hearts are surrendering to you right now, I

know that You're meeting them with grace.

I know that You're meeting them with kindness.

Lord, I rejoice in this day as you call sinners to repentance,

as you called believers to deeper obedience, to deeper

truth, to deeper vulnerability. God, I pray that our roots will

go down so deep that we would have all the nutrient we need to

truly bear fruit. God, don't let us be those who

say yes, Sir God, and then are slow to obey or even

disobedient. God, help us to be humble,

loving and sweet. When you speak, we listen.

When you, when you desire, we desire align our hearts with

yours. In Jesus name we thank you and

now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen. You're dismissed.