[0:00] All right, good morning again, everyone. Good morning again, everyone. That's what I want to hear. Yeah, in case you're new and I forgot, this is something I always forget to do, introduce myself.
[0:16] My name is BK. So if you're visiting, welcome. My name is BK. Smith, I have the pleasure of being one of the pastors to serve the dedicated saints here in Squamish. And I just came up without my notes.
[0:30] All right, I do know we're in Matthew 21. So please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 21. Just to give you guys a quick update, we are doing a study on the life of Christ, essentially going through the life of Jesus in a chronological order using all four Gospels.
[0:49] And we're kind of piecing the life of Christ together. And we're not so much looking at the specific teachings of Jesus, but the purpose and significance of those teachings, the events that unfold in the life of our Savior who walked this earth over 2,000 years ago.
[1:08] And one of the elements that you guys all know that we've been focusing on is not so much his deity, but the humanity of Christ. And what would it have been like for Jesus to have walked this earth so many...
[1:20] Hey, Germans are here. Great to see you guys. And to come together and to do all these things. So today we are going to be continuing our study of the Tuesday.
[1:34] So it's the Passion Week. That's where we are in the time of Christ. So I put this slide together to let you know the events that happen from the Sunday to the Sunday in the life of Christ.
[1:45] And we're going to be talking about each specific day as we go down. So as you notice, Sunday, and I believe it was March 29, 33 AD. We know that is the triumphal entry or Palm Sunday when Jesus entered into Jerusalem who made that declaration.
[2:03] And it's probably one of the greatest days in the history of mankind. I was just reading a guy. He said, if I had a time machine out of all the events that I would have gone back to see would have been this three days.
[2:16] Just Jesus Christ presenting himself as Israel's Messiah. The fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies. The fulfillment of what John the Baptist had been heralding.
[2:30] The coming king, I'm here. Right? And then he goes into the temple and he cleans it out on the Monday. Then on the Tuesday, he returns to the temple. He teaches.
[2:42] And we started getting into that last sermon. And I'm going to cover a little bit of that to bring some of the people who weren't here. Shame, shame up to date on that from the first week of July. Anyway, there he deals with the challengers, the challengers who challenged him on his authority.
[2:58] We read the parables. We also on Tuesday have what's called the seven woes. And then we have probably one of the most preeminent prophetical times of future, which is called the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus just preaches from the Mount of Olives.
[3:16] And it kind of covers all of what's going to happen from then and the fulfillment of the future. And it's also the night that Judas, for whatever reason, decides to betray his king.
[3:33] On the Wednesday, we know this as a silent Wednesday. Scriptures do not refer. That doesn't mean anything was not happened on the Wednesday. Thursday, we're going to look at the Passover meal, the time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the events that happened on Thursday.
[3:49] And then on Friday, we know there's a trial, a crucifixion, and ultimately the burial of Jesus Christ. Saturday is also a silent day, but we know it's a day where Jesus' body lay in the tomb over the Sabbath.
[4:06] And the tomb is secured with the Roman seal. And then Sunday, the greatest day in mankind's history, right? Resurrection Sunday.
[4:17] So, I kind of had this thought that I'd be able to complete this series over the summer. And then common sense kind of dropped in on me.
[4:28] So, this week, we're going to talk about the triumphal entry and also what happened in the temple on that Tuesday. So, there's a lot of ground to cover. But just to let you know where we're going.
[4:39] So, in a couple of weeks, what I will do is I will preach a lesson on the Olivet Discourse to give you guys a broader understanding. And then I'll probably step away from the life of Christ. I'll be away for most of August just preparing for what's coming up in the Philippines and doing some other prep for the church, some administration stuff that needs to happen.
[4:59] So, appreciate your prayers and all that because I hate administrative stuff. But I got to bear down and do it. So, anyway. So, I need to update you guys quickly on July 3rd.
[5:13] So, that is the day Jesus entered the temple on a Sunday to great fanfare. The city was already swollen with the Passover festival. And they were expecting to see Jesus.
[5:25] Now, what's really interesting is I was doing some reading. And one of the guys says, we need to understand that this is a great drama that is taking place. There is great drama.
[5:36] There's great tension. There's great emotions. There's great expectations. And how do I communicate that to you? I can tell you it's a drama.
[5:48] But that doesn't seem to do it justice, right? Like when we read these sections of Scripture, it's difficult to really get into it.
[5:59] But I can tell you this is Major League Oscar winning drama, all right? This is the greatest drama that mankind has ever seen. Not only do we have the fulfillment of prophecies that happened 100 years ago, it's the fulfillment of Jesus' ministry as he's been teaching and he's been healing.
[6:19] And it's all coming to a head. So, you guys remember six weeks earlier, he brings Lazarus to life. And Scripture tells us that raising of Lazarus, Jesus kind of, I don't want to say this word manipulated, but he kind of did.
[6:34] He used the events to augment this miracle that it happened with the greatest amount of witnesses around him. And if you want to know the details, we have it in the sermon earlier.
[6:46] But it created such excitement that people, by the time Jesus enters into Jerusalem, they're still talking about Lazarus. And it was so talked about that the priests were actually planning to kill Lazarus, right?
[7:03] Just because he was trending so much. And just, and again, that would have worked against them because Jesus would have just raised them again. And it would have been more talk, right? So, Jesus has kind of got them snookered in this way.
[7:18] And they're excited. So, he goes in to, but before he enters the temple, as we know, he heads back to Galilee. And he returns with this caravan that's traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover.
[7:33] And of course, Jesus being Jesus, not only teaches, but he does these great miracles. He heals these ten lepers, right? And then he heals this blind beggar just outside of Jerusalem.
[7:45] The road, when you'd come down through the valley and you'd be climbing up the hill to Jerusalem, there was this well-known beggar that was there. And Jesus heals them. And then Jesus does something that the text actually says that the people grumbled.
[8:02] Jesus went to have dinner with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, right? That's like, I don't know, someone from a Western farm wanting to have lunch with Trudeau or something, right?
[8:16] You know, Jesse's not too popular on the West Side. And it just confused people. How could he do this? These were scandalous actions.
[8:29] And, you know, Jesus, of course, said, you know, this man, this chief tax collector, is just as man a man of the kingdom as anybody else, right?
[8:42] And that was contrary to Jewish thinking. So by the time Jesus arrives on the Sunday of the triumphal entry, he is Israel's one most wanted man.
[8:54] The religious authorities hate him. They want to kill him, but the crowds love him, right? The crowds are excited to see him. The crowds are excited to see his miracles.
[9:06] The crowds are whispering, what's next? What's going to happen? Is Jesus going to show up? And that day he comes in with the caravan. There would have been hundreds, if not thousands of people.
[9:18] Jesus stops in Bethany, which is a town two miles outside of Jerusalem. The crowd goes into Jerusalem, and they start talking. They start talking. They start talking. So when Jesus shows up on Sunday, triumphal entry, they're laying down palm trees.
[9:33] They're putting down their clothes, their cloaks. The king is here. The Messiah is here. And they're shouting out, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And it's just the drama.
[9:46] Do you guys get that with me? Like, it's exciting. It's exciting. And the people are anticipating. And remember, this is, and it was kind of funny, this is the Passover.
[9:59] This is the celebration when Jesus rescued his people from a wicked overlord in Egypt. How do you think the Romans feel right now, right?
[10:12] Because they're the wicked overlord over the Jews right now. They're not stupid. They know what's happening. As I said last week, there's no Roman soldier on vacation on that weekend.
[10:23] There's no days off. There's no calling in sick. Everybody's there because it's tense. They said the city of Israel could have swollen, or Jerusalem may have swollen between one and two million people in a city where there's usually 100,000.
[10:39] Like, it would have been just intense. So, last week, we told you about Jesus goes into the synagogue. And so, I got a few pictures, or the temple.
[10:50] Got a few pictures for you. Shane's got them up. And this is just going to give you a picture. That's Herod's temple. That's the size of it. Now, around it, you see the court of the Gentiles.
[11:01] So, that's where when Jesus went in, and he cleaned out all the money changers, and the people who were doing business. We'll go to number two. Do we have that other picture, or is this one? Anyhow, that gives you the size.
[11:12] So, I guess not. Anyway, so that would have been the court of the Gentiles. That's where they would have set up. So, it's massive. It's over 43 acres. And then, finally, the last picture I put in there is that's what it looks like today.
[11:24] Dome of the Rock is supposed to be a big thing. It paled in comparison to the temple. Right? That's Islam's Dome of the Rock. They set it up in the Jews' most holy place. Anyway, so three things Jesus accomplished on that day.
[11:36] He cleaned out the temple, and he stated that this is supposed to be a house of prayer. But you've turned it into a den of robbers. Now, you remember, when he's cleaning it out, the people are for him.
[11:48] Because they know they're getting ripped off. They know this is not what it's about. But Jesus kind of lays out this other offense that we don't always pick up on. He says, this is supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations.
[12:00] So, that court of the Gentiles were people who were non-Jewish were supposed to come and worship God. It was supposed to be open to them.
[12:11] But the Jews disrespected that so much. They didn't care. They didn't care about Gentiles. That they just ran this whole other operation going on, paying no care.
[12:23] We read that Jesus healed the blind and the lame. Remember, this is with 100,000. They said he can fit in about 200,000 people in the temple, historians. So, just think.
[12:33] Everybody's there. Like, this is just this massive event. And then, of course, he teaches. So, we know on that day, when he went to the temple, nobody expected this to happen.
[12:45] Like, he caught all the authorities by surprise. No one expected this to happen. The end of the day, Jesus is finished teaching and he returns to Bethany. Then comes Wednesday.
[12:58] Tuesday. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's Tuesday. Tuesday. Jesus comes back. What's interesting, on this Tuesday, the authorities are ready for him.
[13:10] Now, remember, the next day, those sellers aren't there. The people would have showed up ahead of time. Is Jesus coming back? Is Jesus coming back? What's going to happen? So, Jesus arrives.
[13:21] And I'm going to guess he probably started teaching. And out of the temple comes the high priest and his entourage, right? This would have been a big event. This is drawing out the essential head of all of Israel.
[13:36] And this guy comes and he's got his little entourage and they approach Jesus. And he could just see the crowd making way. What's going to happen? What's going to happen? And I was trying to think, what word would best describe this main event?
[13:49] To put it in my, this is like my life, which is sports. It's like the Super Bowl of athletic events. Or better yet, I lived when Mike Tyson used to be the boxing champion.
[14:02] This was like the heavyweight championship of the world. The challenger, Jesus Christ, comes into the temple where these high priests had controlled it, right? And they approach Jesus with this one question.
[14:14] Whose authority do you do this by? By what authority are you teaching, doing these things? And remember I talked about in Jewish culture, they're not putting on boxing gloves to determine who's going to win.
[14:29] But they use rhetoric. They use forms of argument to outsmart the other person. And the goal is to either demonstrate how foolish that person's argument. And the crowd would go, you know, boo, whatever.
[14:41] Or there would be no response. So he comes in. They come in. Whose authority in Jesus Christ just simply says, I'll tell you what, I'll answer your question.
[14:51] If you answer this question. John the Baptist. From heaven or of man? You know, they come together and they start thinking, if we say it's from heaven, Jesus is going to ask us, well, why aren't we worshiping you?
[15:08] Because John the Baptist said this was the Messiah, right? So what do we do? But if we say he's from man, the people are going to stone us to death because they recognize John as a prophet, right?
[15:21] So they're snookered, right? So they said they have no answer. You know what that is? That's a first round KO. Boom. Jesus one shot. They're down. Crowds going nuts.
[15:32] Like nobody wins this argument. Just this one simple question. And he totally destroys any authority that they would have.
[15:43] So it's kind of interesting because then you would have seen the other religious leaders, eh? They took their shot. I'm going to go next, right? So the Pharisees go, you know, the chief priest couldn't get it done.
[15:55] I'm going to get it done. So they go over to Jesus. Hey, we got this coin. Should we pay taxes to Rome or to not pay? And if you would have asked any Jew on any corner, they hated paying taxes to Rome, right?
[16:08] They're the evil people that are overthrowing me. It's a robbing of their money. There's no right answer. But he knows they're trying to entrap Jesus because if he says, yes, pay it to Rome.
[16:19] Ah, look, you know, they try to use it against the people. He's for Rome. But if he says we're not to do it, that means he's anti-Rome and will run and tell the Roman authorities of what's going on.
[16:32] So what does Jesus do? He knows what's going on, right? Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Bam! Another group goes down. And then the Sadducees are sitting here.
[16:42] We got him. We got him. We got him. You know they've been planning this the whole night before. Hey, this resurrection. Let's talk about this resurrection. And we know the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And it's kind of interesting.
[16:53] I did some more reading on it, on the argument that they're using. So they're basically using this argument. If this woman married a brother and he died and then he had seven more brothers, according to their customs, they'd have to marry.
[17:06] So if they died and they resurrected and they went to heaven, whose bride would she be of the seven brothers, right? Because they were each legally married to her. So the Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Bible.
[17:22] And the basic reason is, if you look at the book of Leviticus, that's the book that gives them all their power. Without any mention of the book of Leviticus, the Sadducees don't exist.
[17:33] They're a nobody group. There's no religious authority in them at all. But what's interesting, if you were to ask any Jew to demonstrate or a Pharisee to prove about the resurrection, it's very difficult from actually the Pentateuch.
[17:50] You have to rely on the Psalms and some of the other books, except for this great passage. When God the Father introduces himself to Moses in the burning bush, right?
[18:04] I am the great I am. I am the father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If there was no resurrection, he would no longer be their father. You get that with that?
[18:15] So right there in this moment, another KO, right? Probably use the left hook there. Anyway, all these three guys are going down big questions, big religious leaders who had the authority.
[18:26] And it's just that kind of... Sorry. I'm so excited. There's so much drama. So, you know, there's exciting...
[18:37] And then there's this lawyer. And what's interesting about the text that it uses about the lawyer, the lawyer wasn't specifically trying to fool or trick Jesus.
[18:48] He just has a question. What is the greatest commandment? You know, what is it? And we know how Jesus answers. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
[19:03] This is the first and great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
[19:15] That's not like a knockout punch. That is like drawing people into that response. Because that is something rabbis would think about. How could we reduce all these laws that we have to one?
[19:27] And Jesus does it. Now what's interesting, other than the high priests, every other guy that Jesus knocked out essentially gets up and says, hey, that's a great punch.
[19:39] Right? Like, that teaching is incredible. You got it. Like, they thought they were the experts in the law that were able to fool them. But they're like complimenting Jesus on what he's saying.
[19:52] And the ultimate question that we have to answer is, why do they hate Jesus so much that they will kill him on a Friday?
[20:03] Why? If they love and adore him in the way that they are demonstrating on these days, and he's ruling in his temple, why Friday? So that's why we're going to turn in the text today.
[20:17] So turn with me to Matthew 21, 28. So that was just, I'm just bringing you guys up to speed where we are. Now there's some intense teachings in these parables.
[20:30] But what happens is, and I kind of went out of order. I acted like all three of those groups came and attacked Jesus. But after Jesus, the high priest, came after him, he actually gives them three parables.
[20:42] And I'm going to read these three parables to you. The answers are pretty explicit within the text. But I'm going to make a few pointers of this. So look at verse 28 of Matthew 21. And this is known as the parable of the two sons.
[20:54] So this is Jesus turning to the high priest and says, what do you think? A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he changed his mind and went.
[21:07] 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? Here's the other question.
[21:18] Which one is your favorite kid for parents, right? It's not the one who says he's going to do it. It's the one who doesn't, right? So anyhow, the question is, which of the two did the will of father? And of course they answered the first.
[21:29] Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. Just think that the demonstration of the tax collector and the prostitute was the lowest low in Israel.
[21:48] In verse 32, for John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him.
[22:01] And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Ouch, right? What a tearing down of his whole, their whole religious mindset.
[22:19] So he continues in verse 33. He says, Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it out to his tenants and went into another country.
[22:32] And that's obviously what they do. The guy who would be wealthy could build himself a farm, but he wouldn't farm it. Like you guys, some of you guys know, I used to farm in Illinois or farm in Illinois. I used to pastor in Illinois and I had a lot of farmers.
[22:45] But a lot of them actually didn't own their land. They would make deals with the landowner. Hey, I'll farm it and I'll give you half the profits and all. And a lot of guys work that way, right? So let's one guy to own the land and the other guy buys all the machinery and they do all that work.
[23:01] And this goes on for generations. They always lease those 10,000 acres from the same families and it's a great deal for both families. So this is essentially what's going on here. It says, When the season for fruit drew near and he sent his servant to the tenants to get his fruit and the servants took his servants and beat him, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
[23:24] Again, this is the owner sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
[23:37] But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
[23:50] I want you to pay attention. They knew the son was the real heir. You with me on this parable and what it's relating to? Jesus is the real Messiah.
[24:03] They knew him to be the real Messiah. Okay? They took him and they threw him in the vineyard. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will they do to these tenants?
[24:17] Now you have to imagine when Jesus is asking that question, these people are all like leaning in, right? Like, What's going on? Like this is this great parable and they said to him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give them the fruits of their season.
[24:33] So he's just going to replace the one group with this next. And Jesus said to him, Have you never read in the scriptures? And this is Psalm 118. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
[24:46] This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. So that cornerstone, we will know, will become the pinnacle of the church. Amen? Everything will fall on this. So, Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
[25:05] And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces when it falls on anyone. It will crush him. Verse 45, When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived he was speaking about them.
[25:21] Well, duh, right? And although they were seeking to arrest him. So just think, there's already hatred for Jesus, right? Now that hatred, that if it was a water boiling, it's just, it's like hot molten lava kind of burning, right?
[25:37] It's just, it's hot, red hot. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet.
[25:49] Now remember, we talked about this. The crowd's belief in Jesus is like a kilometer wide but a centimeter thin, right?
[26:02] Notice they got Jesus wrong too. He wasn't a prophet. Jesus at no point in his ministry presented himself as a prophet. But he always presented himself as the Messiah.
[26:16] So I'm not one who speaks the words of the Lord. I am the Lord. I am his son, right? So, and then he heads into this third parable. King prepares a feast.
[26:26] I'm just going to wrap this up pretty short. And none of the invited guests come. So go therefore into the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. And all these people come.
[26:37] And there's this interesting one where a guy shows up with no wedding garment and that demonstrated there was absolutely no respect for the king and he's thrown out. So what I need for us to understand is that these parables aren't being told by Jesus to be mean.
[26:54] Okay? He's not, na-na-na-na-na I outsmarted you and I'm like really hitting you to hurt you more. Or that Jesus is pronouncing judgment simply on their authority.
[27:08] What Jesus is doing here he's pronouncing judgment on the entire nation of Israel. They represent Israel. It's not just these priests.
[27:20] It's the people who accepted them as priests. Who accepted their ways as priests. Who accepted the Pharisees. Remember we learned about this. It makes many times it talks about in scripture where the people believed Jesus but they feared the Pharisees.
[27:36] And the reason they feared the Pharisees is the Pharisees could throw them out of their synagogues. Which wasn't just a place of worship but it was a place of social gathering. So they knew that they could lose their friends and their family.
[27:51] Now you guys remember a couple of weeks ago I spoke to you about the Abrahamic covenant. Do you remember that? You guys remember that? And just quickly God makes a promise to Abraham to be his people and through Abraham he's going to bless him he's going to give him land and he will eventually be a blessing to all people.
[28:09] Then we had this Davidic covenant. Remember? King David he made a promise that one from David's line would eventually rule over Israel from Jerusalem over his people.
[28:22] And that Israel was to be a people that reflected the glory of God by living as a holy people. And that holy people doesn't mean this sinless perfect nation.
[28:35] But they were a people that were to live as they believed in God. Do you know what I'm saying? That they were set apart. They would make decisions in how they ate how they did business how they lived their lives would reflect that they had this king and his name was God and Yahweh and they were obedient to that.
[28:55] So we see that God is the one that made these promises. Now what's interesting is that when God made these promises to both Abraham and David they were unconditional.
[29:09] What that means is God promised these things to Abraham and David and no matter what I will fulfill them. No matter what you do it doesn't matter.
[29:20] I will fulfill them. So he's made these covenants to God's people here. So triumphal entry Jesus walking in and said hey I'm the fulfillment of all those prophecies all those covenants it is here right now.
[29:42] What will you do? And Jesus knew what they would do. They rejected him. They rejected his authority. They rejected that he was Messiah.
[29:54] Now I want you to think about this for a second. What more could Jesus have done? Could he have done more miracles to convince them?
[30:09] Could he have shown them more prophecies that pointed to him? Could he do more great teaching to convince them?
[30:22] You see at this point it doesn't matter what Jesus does. The scriptures tell us that even though they knew John the Baptist to be a prophet a herald for the Messiah they knew Jesus fulfilled the prophecies they knew the specific miracles that he reflected were to come from the Messiah.
[30:50] they still rejected him and the reason being they valued their place in society. Now I want you to note from each of these parables there's a switch.
[31:06] There's a blessing that's intended for one group that gets switched to the other group. Right? So the sons it's not to the priests and Pharisees but it's to the prostitutes and tax collectors.
[31:20] the parable of the tenants the kingdom of God will be taken away from them and be given to people producing its fruit in the wedding feast.
[31:31] It won't be for those who were invited initially but who were invited later who were deemed unworthy. Now this is a momentous passage passage and some of you guys might not track with what I'm saying but a lot of theologians use this passage to point to at that moment Israel no longer was the apple of eye of Jesus Christ.
[32:02] That they were eventually rejected and replaced by the church. You with me on that? So at that point the church kind of becomes Israel so all those promises that were made in the Old Testament go to the church.
[32:20] I actually don't believe that at all because the text doesn't say he's giving the blessings to a new nation he says to a new people.
[32:31] And remember I think it was like almost half a year remember when I preached Revelation? Revelation is essentially a book about worship of God. Amen? And during the time of tribulation that happens in Revelation I believe in my premillennial system that that is God taking the Jews through a literal hell until they finally believe in him.
[32:56] Because remember when we covered it? No matter all the horrible things were going Jesus like remember he sends out eagles and these beings that kept calling out for God. Do you remember that?
[33:06] He kept calling for people to love him obey him come to him. It's constant. It's not like a time of judgment. There's a judgment on evil but as God's people and as one guy says this is how hard-hearted the Jews are is that God's got to pretty much bring them to the brink of destruction till they finally turn to their God Yahweh.
[33:29] And that's the story. And I give you several reasons why I believe that the first and foremost and I think the most important one is God doesn't break promises does he? So if he made these promises to Abraham and his people that means there is a future for Abraham and his people.
[33:48] Now obviously I believe during this time as we see Israel's cut off and it's a time for the Gentile. The church. Amen for us right? We were supposed to come to the knowledge of God through God's people in Israel.
[34:03] It didn't happen. So when I talk about the millennial period that's when God is fulfilling because it says he rules in Jerusalem over his people which are Jews at that time and that becomes the light to the world and then Jesus Christ reveals himself at that last coming judgment and then God rules over everything.
[34:28] There's a new heaven and new earth. Are you with me? I know I've said away all your questions about end times right? In that two minutes. But anyway I'm just letting you know a lot of people use this passage but I don't believe it because it's just like remember when God rescued the people from Egypt.
[34:45] They were in the wilderness and they had the promised land. Remember they grumbled and murmured and had judgment. They didn't go in. Who did God replace them with? Their children. Right?
[34:56] He still answered his promises promises but it wasn't to that generation and I believe that's when it talks about these people. I don't believe God's going to give his promises to someone else.
[35:07] So that's just in case you know a lot about prophecy and you're thinking about these kind of things. I don't know if you are but that's that. All right. So see this is what's the fascinating difference about Old Testament Jews and New Testament Jews.
[35:24] In the Old Testament they had the Mosaic Covenant and they were to live life with God as the center of everything. He was supposed to be their king. They were supposed to be a theocracy and they were supposed to reflect that and what was the Israel's biggest sin?
[35:41] They continued to worship other gods right? They kept to chasing over other gods over gods other gods and the Mosaic Covenant which was a promise I will bless you but not if you disobey me.
[35:55] God brings judgment. They lose their autonomy over Israel. He uses Syria, Babylon and this new religion develops.
[36:07] And you notice in the New Testament there is no other gods. Israel will not be accused of worshiping other nations gods right? They are so stubborn they will die.
[36:21] They're not giving up on this temple worship which becomes this thing called rabbinical Judaism. They are uber religion that they make more and more rules right?
[36:36] And it gets to a point that they begin to honor the written words of man rather than the written words of God. Does that remind you of anybody? Who here makes up religious rules?
[36:49] You know we do it. Right? It could be I'm never going to miss church on a Sunday even if I've got a fever of 110. Right?
[36:59] I'm always going to give a certain amount. I'm going to avoid right? We're not going to play with people who play you know what's that old saying? Oh now I forget it. Right? I stay away from cards and bowling and all those other things and I stay away from people who do.
[37:15] You know? You just start making rules. I never go to movies. Right? And you just create all these rules. But what's interesting and this is what the Pharisees did.
[37:27] I could tell you some of the rules that they had. They were absolutely silly but the point is when you make up all these rules that you have to follow what is your mind on?
[37:37] God or the rules? The rules. You're like you're worried. Outside of Jerusalem they would put special stones out. So on the Sabbath you knew not to walk past that stone.
[37:51] Because that would be more than a quote unquote day's walk which would be a violation of the Sabbath. Alright? You know they had all these rules. So you're right.
[38:02] When you start thinking about the rules. So when you start following the rules and say you're following them really good. Who do you feel proud about? God or yourself?
[38:14] You. Right? So that's what all this legalism and Phariseeism developed. They didn't worship these other gods out there.
[38:27] They worshiped the God in here. And I'm not talking about Jesus Christ who lives in your heart. Right? They worshiped in their abilities. Their ability to think and figure things out and make more and more rules.
[38:45] So that is the difference. There's like this pendulum that swings from that Old Testament sin to this New Testament sin.
[38:56] And that's why when Jesus Christ sums up the law for him he says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul and all your mind.
[39:08] Right? This is the great and first commandment. It's about God silly. But for the Pharisees the laws are designed to make them look good.
[39:20] To put them in a place of high position. So when Jesus finally comes they don't want to give up that position. And just think for a high priest to step down and say you're right this religion is all bad.
[39:37] You're denying your father. You're denying your grandfather. You're denying your great grandfather because it was all attached to generations.
[39:48] So you've got these generations of sin piled up and to step away from that you'd be giving up everything that your family had earned up to that place.
[40:00] And what does Jesus Christ always tell them? Hey you can have that or you can have me. You can't have us both.
[40:11] And this is the biggest slap in the face to the crowd. What do you mean we can't have both? Because what do they do? They respect the high priest. They respect the Pharisees.
[40:23] They want to be seen as good in society. But Jesus Christ says you can't. To have me is to deny everything else.
[40:36] So quickly let's take a look at Mark 23. 2. So Jesus tells these then he goes into these woes. And he describes a bit about how horrible they are.
[40:47] The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. So do and observe what they tell you but not the works they do. For they preach but do not practice.
[40:58] Remember he's talking to the crowd but he's looking over at the Pharisees. Not talking to my wife there. Right? You might think otherwise I'm not. Right? He's pointing to these guys. And he says they tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders.
[41:16] What's that? That's the law. They make up laws that are killing God's people. But they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
[41:27] So they do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad. That's their clothing and their fringes and there'd be this big vestment that they'd wear so that they could be seen by all.
[41:40] They love the place of honor at feasts and the best place the synagogue and greetings in the marketplace and being called rabbis by others. But woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites.
[41:55] For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites.
[42:06] For you would travel across sea and land to make a single proselytite. And when he becomes a proselytite you make him twice as much a child as hell as yourselves.
[42:19] Woe to you blind guides who say if anyone swears by the temple it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the golden temple he is bound by his oath.
[42:31] You blind fools. Jesus isn't pulling any punches here is he? Turn look at verse 23.
[42:43] Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. For you tithe mint dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law.
[42:54] Justice and mercy and faithfulness. Those are the three things that God cares about right? Justice, mercy and faithfulness. But they had given up on those three and followed their own laws.
[43:10] You blind guides. Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. Get that picture right? The gnat. You know you guys have a bowl of soup. There's a little fly in there and you're going away to pick it out but then you're eating the camel.
[43:24] Like it's comical. Like every word that Jesus is using here is getting a reaction from the crowd. Here's a reaction you might have thought not thought about.
[43:38] A lot of those people followed Judaism because of these guys. They're the proselytites. And now God's calling, Jesus is calling them, hey you're even worse than these clowns.
[43:52] Right? What is that? All of a sudden you start, is he meaning me? You know, I'm a proselyte. I follow that rabbi so and so. And now Jesus is saying I'm twice as hell.
[44:04] So he's like literally destroying their whole religious system. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and plate but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence.
[44:19] You blind Pharisees, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, then the outside. Woe, verse 27, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
[44:30] For you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanliness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
[44:46] That whitewashed tombs, remember they don't bury their dead, they put them in caves. So if you were traveling to Jerusalem and you have to go by a cave and guess what? If you touched a cave or a hill that happened to be used a tomb, guess what?
[44:59] You're rendered unclean. You can't come to the temple. So what the Jews used to do is this type of line and essentially painted all the tombs white so you could clearly see and from Jerusalem it would look beautiful.
[45:12] The hills were this bright white light. It looked great but guess what? It was death. It was death. These rebukes that Jesus is giving are not generic rebukes but they're purposeful rebukes.
[45:34] And if you're a member of the crowd and you find yourself still afraid of them, what does that make you?
[45:44] So the rest of the text we see a couple of things that happens. One, Jesus laments over Jerusalem.
[45:56] Verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing.
[46:11] See, your house is left to you desolate and I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. God ain't coming back until the Jews bow the knee and say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[46:32] And then he tells this other story in verse 41 and some of you might have a different understanding of this. let's just this, this little story. And it's like Jesus is up with his disciples.
[46:43] He's on the Mount of Olives and he's looking over the temple. So he's left the temple at this point. He's talking to his guys and he says, and he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
[46:56] And these offering box, they would deposit their giving. And the people putting money into the offering, many were rich, putting in large sums. And a poor widow comes and put in two small copper coins, which made a penny.
[47:09] And he called his disciples to him and said to them, truly, I say to you, the poor woman has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance and she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
[47:24] How many people have heard that text in regards to giving in a church, right? Okay. It's wrong. What this passage essentially means is what kind of religion would take the last penny of an old lady widow?
[47:41] Like, guys, you want to know how deathful this rabbinical religion is? Look, it's taking the last penny from this widow.
[47:54] Like, that's what Judaism had become. There was no justice. There was no justice. There was no righteousness. There was no mercy. It was to fill their coffers.
[48:09] The rest of the text, we understand the amount of all discourse, which I'll cover in the future. But there's the fig tree. You guys know the story of the fig tree? I'll wrap up the fig tree. He's going into Jerusalem. He curses it because it has no fruit.
[48:19] And when he goes back, it's dead the next day when he leaves the temple. And what it essentially means is it had a lot of leaves and looked really healthy. But guess what? It had no fruit. Ding, ding, ding, Israel.
[48:31] Right? It's got all this religiosity, but it's all pointed to the heart, not pointed to God. Easy to be impressed with that kind of religion, is it not? And finally, I conclude with this.
[48:46] It's late Thursday evening. Judas sneaks off to meet with the high priest and agrees to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
[49:00] Why did Judas betray Jesus? Several arguments are offered. The first one is that if you know the story of Mary Magdalene, and remember she had that alabaster bottle of really expensive perfume, and on the Saturday before Jesus entered into Jerusalem, she poured it on Jesus.
[49:22] She used her hair to dry Jesus' feet. And Judas was like, that was probably worth about a year's wages. So the perfume that she used was probably passed down family to family to family.
[49:36] It would have been probably the most expensive thing they had in their family. She took it. What's interesting is Mary seems to be the only one to know that Jesus is going to die, right?
[49:47] He's told them so many times. No one really believes it. But I think in her heart she knows what's going to happen. So she takes it and she blesses Jesus with this. But Judas, what does he do? Hey, man, we should have sold that for the poor.
[50:01] But we know from the Gospel of John, he was the treasurer and he'd pilfer from the purse all the time. So that was money that was meant for him. And Jesus kind of undresses him a bit, confronts him on all that kind of stuff.
[50:11] So there's this little anger. But the other big thing is Jesus just sat there totally attacking all the Jewish Israeli authorities.
[50:23] And at this point he knows the jig is up because a lot of the disciples thought they were going to rule with Jesus, right? He was going to have a favored place. There's no way that's happening now, right?
[50:36] Even the crowds would have been a little bit uneasy about Jesus. And even the disciples. So he makes this decision.
[50:47] He's going to get something out of it. See, the reality is Judas is an unbeliever. Judas was not an unbeliever because he didn't have enough evidence.
[51:02] Judas was not an unbeliever because he needed more truth taught by Jesus. Judas was not an unbeliever because he didn't, Jesus didn't do enough miracles.
[51:15] Jesus was simply an unbeliever because he simply loved his sin more than he knew what was true. I'll repeat that.
[51:28] Judas was an unbeliever because he lived his sin more than what he knew to be true. This is a man who walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, saw the miracles, saw everything that Jesus did.
[51:41] But yet, he didn't believe. And to give you an understanding of biblical belief, biblical belief essentially means allegiance.
[51:54] When it says, believe in me, give your allegiance to Jesus. That is essentially the biblical understanding of belief, of faith.
[52:05] belief. So why? How could Judas not? See, the spiritual reality that we see in Judas, in some of our lives as well, is that sin makes us stupid.
[52:18] Amen? We know it. Sin makes us stupid. Now, I'm not talking about making us not very smart, but sin has a way of making smart people do stupid things.
[52:31] We know the story. And the real way that it makes us stupid is that sin distorts reality. What sin does, it makes the grotesque.
[52:47] I kind of like that. Something that is perverse, we all of a sudden think favorable of. Right?
[52:58] And good? It makes it look distorted, contorted, and twisted. The things that are supposed to be an utter delight to our soul becomes a great weight around our necks.
[53:17] And the things that should disgust us, we now have an attraction for. The more you sin, the more enslaved you become to your sin, and the more twisted your sight is.
[53:33] Just think about what Judas did and how twisted he would have been that day. He knew, he knew Jesus was the Messiah.
[53:44] But he had this seething anger that he thought that he could get something out of it.
[53:56] What's interesting about sin is every step we take gets as deeper and deeper in the rabbit hole. And then resentment sets in, and there were just one car wreck away from disaster.
[54:10] Maybe that's you. Maybe you are listening to me, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe there were things in your life that you rejoiced over, and you thought were holy and heavenly.
[54:22] But now they feel a burden to you. Maybe you come to church now because you're dragged, not because you have a desire. You sit and stand for the songs, but you do not sing them.
[54:35] You don't pray as much, or at all. If that's true, you most likely have become a slave to your sin and not a slave to righteousness.
[54:47] You have transferred your allegiance from Jesus to the evil one. And the ultimate reality is your neck deep in shame, and you do not know how to get out of it.
[55:08] Because you're afraid to come to God's people for fear of judgment, and you're afraid even to come to God. And you know in the deepest part of your heart things aren't what they should be.
[55:24] Because the reality is distortion. Well, my friends, I'm here to tell you there is freedom that you can find from your sin.
[55:35] The same thing that Jesus offered those high priests and those Pharisees. And don't think he rebuked them because he wanted to hurt them.
[55:47] Do you not think he would have rejoiced if they would have sided with him? That if they would have transferred their allegiance from an empty, horrible law to find freedom in him?
[55:59] The same thing for us. The freedom is found at the foot of the cross. But the reality is we cannot have allegiance to the things we love and to Jesus at the same time.
[56:13] We have to make a choice. The reality is the gospels demonstrate that Jesus Christ claimed to be the son of God. And his actions demonstrated that it is true.
[56:26] The call for you here today is to trust and move your allegiance to Jesus. How do you do that? You repent of your sin. Right now, you take the time. You pray.
[56:37] You ask God, Father, I need these chains of sin. Broken, I need them taken away. There's a lock on the door. I can't get out. I can't unlock it. Can you do this for me? Jesus says, yes, I can.
[56:48] Ask. Ask for that sin to be broken. Ask for that habit to be taken away. Today is the day of salvation.
[57:02] Ephesians says, God, when you accept him, he holds you in his hand. You cannot. You are sealed for eternity. You're locked in. There's no taking you away. What's interesting is we are celebrating communion this morning.
[57:18] This communion is a demonstration that our allegiance has been given to Jesus Christ. Amen? That's why we take this communion. Our allegiance is to Jesus Christ.
[57:31] It's to nothing else. There's no other secondary or third. It's all Jesus. And what's interesting about communion is that we take this, not individually at home, but we take this as a church.
[57:46] You know why? Because we attest to each other's lives. Do you know that? If you're not living for Jesus and I know that and you're taking communion, I'm pulling you out of the line. This is meant for those whose sole allegiance.
[58:02] You don't want to be like Israel who are a horrible example of what it was to follow God. You want to be an example to the grace of God. Amen? He saved a wretch like me.
[58:22] There's no shame in turning it down. If you are a believer in Christ, you've been struggling with habitual sin, there's no shame in stepping away from this. But today's a great day to get right with him again.
[58:34] It's a great day. We're going to pass this out there. We're going to have a time of meditation and prayer of silence. And it's a great day to say, Father, forgive me.
[58:46] I gave my allegiance to my happiness. I gave my allegiance to please my parents, to please my kids, to please my work. I let wrong priorities take part.
[58:58] But if you love Jesus, but your love doesn't demonstrate that, please do not come and take this table.
[59:11] It's actually a disgrace to those who do. It will disgrace the cup, and it will disgrace the bread. My friends, there is no shame about being honest with your life.
[59:27] In fact, when you feel that need and that shame comes up, that's usually Satan whispering in your ear, but God's got something else. I will save you from your shame as well as the judgment.
[59:40] Amen? Give it up. So, dear Lord, Heavenly Father, the story of Judas is such a horrible story.
[59:53] He walked with you. He was taught by you. He lived with you. He saw and heard everything you said and did. Yet he still would not place his authority, his allegiance in you.
[60:11] He worshiped himself. And we know the sorrow that came over him after you were crucified. He tried to give the money back, but they would not take it.
[60:26] So in his deepest sorrow, he hung himself. Those are the words of Satan that make us dwell in our sorrow. But in you, Jesus Christ, we have hope.
[60:40] We have hope for a whole new life. Whole new relationships. Whole new way of doing business with other people. All found because our allegiance is in you.
[60:53] You promised to never leave us or forsake us, to be with us during these times. Father, forgive us when we doubted. Forgive us when we tried to be like Israel and we didn't trust you as our king and we wanted men to rule us and that only created greater problems for us.
[61:16] Father, we just give you thanks for this bread and wine as we come to partake in this communion. For those who are indeed allied with you, I pray that you would strengthen them, bond them together as a church with one another, and that we would go forth demonstrating this love that can only come from you.
[61:41] In your most holy and precious name, amen. So I just ask you to come one at a time through the middle aisles and then turn away and go to your seat and Dustin will play and then after that we'll give thanks ultimately for the communion.
[61:55] We'll take the cup and bread together. Sound good? Sound good.
[62:15] Sound good. Sound good.