Authority Challenged

Introduction

Jesus is troublesome.

Morning Lord.

Can I go here to know what was profit? What’s that little? Oh, well, I was alone.

Please be sweet.

Let me invite you, please, to open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 will be our starting point this evening. While you are finding that chapter, let me say to you how happy I am to see you. It’s a good crowd this evening. I know that you could have done other things and come here tonight, but you came here, and I know that the church here is happy for that. And especially if you’re visiting with us, we’re honored by your presence. If you’re from the community, you probably came because someone specifically invited you, and if that’s the case, then you are especially welcome. And please consider yourself to have an open invitation. And you’ll be welcome every time you come. We’re happy to have you here tonight.

Matthew chapter 7, we find the Lord Jesus entering Jerusalem on a cope, and the crowds are shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Shortly thereafter, Jesus chases money changers and animal sellers out of the temple, accusing them of making the house of God a robber’s den. Now, not surprisingly, the chief priests and the scribes are not terrifically happy about this situation. In fact, not happy at all. And in verse 23 of this chapter, we find them asking Jesus for the source of his authority. What right do you have to do the things that you’re doing? In fact, let’s begin by reading verse 23 and going through verse 27. Matthew chapter 21, verse 23.

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him while he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus said to them, I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source? From heaven or from men. And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say to us, then why did you not believe him? If we say from men, we fear the people. For they all regard John as a prophet. And answering Jesus, they said, We do not know. He also said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

1. The Two Sons and the Will of the Father

So they would not answer his question, and so he would not answer their question. But that’s not the end of this. In fact, from this point, the Lord Jesus then shared to these chief priests and scribes three parables, which in fact were intended to leave in them no doubt exactly how the Lord Jesus felt about their refusal to acknowledge that John had the authority of the Lord of the Father. So let’s start with that first parable. Right? The very next verse in verse 28. Notice that he says there in verse 27, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. The next verse says, But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in the vineyard.

And he answered, I will not. But afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second son and said the same thing, and he answered, I will, sir. But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, The first. And Jesus said to them, Surely I say to you, that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him. And you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward, so as to believe him. Vineyards were very important in Israel. And they were often the setting for a parable that the Lord Jesus would tell.

In this particular parable, there’s a man who owns a vineyard. He has two sons. He says to them to go work in the vineyard. And the first one says, I will not go. But he thinks about it and thought thinks better of it, and he does go. Second son says, Yes, sir, I’ll go. But he doesn’t go. And then Jesus asks this question to the chief priest and the scribe. Which of the two of them did the will of their father? Okay, that’s not a tough question, is it? Even they know the answer. The chief priest and scribe know the answer. Well, the first one. The one who said that he wouldn’t go, but then he went ahead and did it. And then Jesus kind of makes the point.

And I love parables. I’ve told you this before, where the Lord makes the point. So we don’t have to wonder about this. I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. I want you to think about this for a second. Think about if you can possibly think to do this, put yourself in the sandals of those chief priests and scribes. How would this statement have impacted them? How well would they have received Jesus telling them this? I think they would have been outraged. Tax collectors, traitors to their own people who steal from their own people, prostitutes, they’re going to get into the kingdom ahead of us. It was a pretty outrageous statement. But that’s what the Lord says to them.

And then he explains why he said it. Well, think about it. John came in the way of righteousness. John lived righteously, he taught righteousness, and you wouldn’t listen to him. You wouldn’t believe him. And yet, tax collectors and prostitutes who heard the teaching of John, some of them at least repented when they heard that teaching. So initially, they were not obedient to God, but after hearing the teaching of John, they became obedient. They’re like the son who said, I won’t go. But, you know, yeah, I should. And they repented. But you guys, who are you guys like? You know, you claim to be the people of God. You are the chief priest and the ruler. And yet you’re not listening to what your father tells you.

You are the ones who are not doing his will. That’s pretty straightforward. That’s pretty easy to understand. And I don’t see how they could have missed at least what Jesus is trying to say to them. He’s not through with them yet. But let’s just pause here for one moment and make an application for us. Those words are not written to us. They’re not said to us. They were for the chief priests and the scribes. But isn’t it pretty clear what the Lord is saying here? He wants more from us than words. He wants more from us than saying, yes, I’m going to do the will of the Father. He wants us then to follow through. He wants us to actually do it. Now, those of us who have become Christians, when we obey the gospel, are we not saying, I’m going to do the will of my Father?

I am giving my life to him. I’m turning away from the life that I did live. I’m going to live the way he wants me to live. I’m going to do anything and everything that he wants me to do. That’s what we’re saying when we become Christians. We have said that by our obedience. The question is, are we doing it? Are we really growing the way we said we were going to grow? Are we walking faithfully like we said we were going to walk? Are we reaching out to others with the gospel as he would have us to reach out to them? Are we doing our Father’s will? It’s not enough to say, I’m going to do it. We have to then do it. And we have to keep doing it.

2. The Vine Growers and the Landowner's Son

We have to remain faithful. Maybe that’s something we can get out of that parable. But as I said, the Lord is not through with these guys yet. He says in verse 33, listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his produce. The vine growers took his slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves, larger than the first, and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.

But when the vine growers saw the sun, they said among themselves, This is the heir.

This became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them. When they sought to seize him, they feared the people because they considered him to be a prophet. In the second parable, the metaphor, or I should say the setting of the vineyard, is continued, isn’t it? It’s a different kind of situation, though. We’re still talking about a vineyard, but here’s a landowner, a fellow who owns a vineyard, and he does everything that he can do to make this a productive vineyard.

He builds a fence around it, some kind of a protection against wild animals or people who about come to steal. He even puts a tower in the midst of it so that there can be extra security here. Men can get up in that tower, and they can see danger coming from a long way off. Everything he can do to make it a productive vineyard. And then he hires men to work this the spirit. Now, this is a tenant kind of situation. Now they’re going to receive some of his produce for their work, but he owns the vineyard, so he’s surely going to get his share of the produce too. This is the idea, just like in a parable we talked about yesterday. And then he goes off on a journey.

The idea here is that at the proper season, he’s going to send his slaves back to get what is owed to him. But this is where it gets ugly. Because he sends his servants back to receive his produce, and they don’t, they’re not willing to do that. And they kill those that were sent. And so he sends some more, and they kill those who were sent. Finally he gets the idea well, I’ll send my son. They’ll respect my son. If he really thought that, he was wrong about that, wasn’t he? Because they didn’t respect him either. In fact, they had this strange idea that they could kill him and somehow take his inheritance like that was ever going to happen. But they do kill him. And so then the Lord asked these chief priests and these Pharisees a question.

It’s an easy question. What is the landowner, the vineyard owner? What’s he going to do to these by roles? And they said, Well, he’s going to bring those wretches to a wretched end. My understanding is that the literal translation of that is that the bad ones he will destroy them badly. And that’s right. I mean, that’s kind of the obvious answer. Even they understand that is the correct answer. But then he starts leading them into the point he’s trying to get them to see. He makes no effort to be subtle, just like in the previous parable. He starts by saying, Did you never read in the scriptures? And then he quotes from Psalm 118, talking about the stone that the builders had rejected. The stone that the experts, the building experts looked at and said, this stone is just not suitable.

This is this is not what we need. Get rid of this stone, we’ll use something else. That stone actually became the chief cornerstone. That’s the most valuable stone. That’s the one stone on which everything was going to be built. And of course, we understand the point there on this side of the cross. We understand that stone that’s being talked about is the Lord Jesus Himself. These chief priests, these scribes, these Pharisees, these guys were the experts of religion. They knew about the true and living God. They knew exactly what God wanted them to do and what everybody else ought to do. And yet, when they saw Jesus, when they saw that short stone, when they saw that Messiah that had been promised, they didn’t see him as the Messiah.

They didn’t accept him as coming from God. They would not listen to his teaching. They didn’t only reject him, they killed him. They killed him. But the greatest of all reversals took place, the resurrection, and then the church began, and on what was the church built. Paul tells us, doesn’t he? In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and verse 11, no man can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And in that quotation from Psalm 118, Jesus Himself says, This came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes. And it is a marvelous thing. A marvelous thing that he’s done here. And then Jesus tells these folks to whom he’s speaking directly the point he’s trying to make, that the Lord is going to take the kingdom away from them and give it to another people, another nation, literally, who will produce the fruit of it.

Okay, so the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going to get in before you. And by the way, the kingdom’s going to be taken away from you, away from you, and given to somebody else now. Again, how easy would that have been for them to hear, to receive. Practically impossible. They did not see themselves as wicked and disobedient vine rowers, did they? They would not have seen themselves in that light at all, but they did come to realize that’s how Jesus saw them. And in verse 45, we are told that they do eventually recognize that he is talking about them. They do realize this. They do ultimately recognize this. And their reaction is just what we would expect. That they’ve had enough. We need to silence this guy, but when they try to seize him, they really can’t because they’re afraid of the people.

3. A King Who Gave a Wedding Feast

People hold Jesus to be a prophet. The people at least understood better than they did. But he’s still not through with these guys. If we go on into the next chapter, we have yet another parable that I believe is still the context can be traced all the way back to the conversation about John the Baptist. Where did he get his authority? We don’t know. He’s still talking to them about this. So let’s go on to the next chapter 22. Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

Again he sent out other slaves, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fat and livestock are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged. And he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. But he said to his slaves, The wedding is ready. But those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast. Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all.

They found both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes. And he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servant, bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. So the setting for this parable is a celebration. And the celebration is the king’s son is getting married. This is going to be a really big feast and celebration. It’s going to be a real fancy do.

I’m told that in those days when a feast like this would be given and the person who was giving the feast was rich, as the king obviously would be, then invitations were sent out well in advance. Maybe weeks, maybe even months in advance. As soon as the wedding plans were made, people would be invited. And here’s what we’re going to do there, and you’re invited. And not only would they would they invite them very early, they would also tell them about everybody else who was invited. So planning was done way in advance. Then, right before the wedding would commence, right before the feast would begin, another messenger would be sent giving a personal invitation to get them to come. Maybe the day before, maybe even the morning of the feast, this personal invitation.

So they were expected to sort of be ready. They know when the date is. They’ve had plenty of time to prepare some, those who were invited, and then a second personal invitation comes to them. That’s what we read here, isn’t it? That seems to be exactly what’s happening here. But right at the beginning of the parable, there’s something kind of surprising. Because those who were invited don’t come. They won’t respond to the invitation. The king sent out his second messenger, they wouldn’t have the personal invitation, and they wouldn’t come. Now, if you were the king, how would you think about that? That’s kind of an insult, isn’t it? The king is inviting me. I should go. But this king doesn’t get angry, at least we’re not told that he does.

He seems to be a gracious monarch. And so he simply sends his servants out again to invite them once again. In fact, this time with a message. Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. I’m not quite sure how the servants would have said that. But the point, I think, is pretty clear. I’ve gone to lots of trouble to make this a real celebration for my son. Come to the feast. I have butchered my livestock. Come to the feast. You need to come. So naturally, this time everybody responded. No, they did not. They still didn’t come. In fact, they paid no attention. They went their own way. And some of the servants they even mistreated and killed.

Now, that’s going a little beyond insult, isn’t it? And the king was outraged by this, and he did exactly what we would expect. He sent his armies out and he killed all those people and burned their city. I mean, it’s it’s an atrocious thing for them to act that way. And it might be worth pausing to ask this question here, why in the world would they not come? Why would they not respond, knowing who the king was, and then how he might feel about this? And the only clue we get from the parable really is that they seem to simply have been preoccupied with their own affairs. One went to his farm, one went to his business, one did this. They just didn’t seem to be all that interested in the summons, or I should say the invitation from the king.

And yet the king looks at it this way. He says, those who were invited were not worthy. They weren’t worthy. And so then he sends his slaves out again, and this time he tells his slaves to go out into the main highways and invite all that you can find. Invite all that you can find. Would that include tax collectors and prostitutes? Apparently so, because we’re told that both the evil and the good were invited, and the wedding hall was filled. So he people were there. They made it. They filled it up. Well, then the king comes down, and he wants to look over the dinner guests. I mean, he had in his mind a long time ago who he wanted to be there, but they’re not there.

So he goes down to look over the dinner guests, and he sees a man there who’s not wearing proper attire. Now I’m told that when a large feast like this was to be given, that the one who was who was giving the wedding feast, with the invitations that were sent out, would often send wedding garments so that they would have proper attire to wear when they came to the wedding. We’re not told that happened in this case, and it probably would not have been true for these last ones who were who’ve been invited, because this is sort of a last-minute thing. Even so, even though they hadn’t been supplied with garments, it does seem as though it was understood that they should come dressed appropriately.

There was a proper way to respond to this invitation. And this man did not do so. Now I don’t know what he was wearing. Maybe he was wearing old clothes, maybe he was wearing work clothes, whatever it was, it was not appropriate for this situation. And so the king says, bind him hand and foot, cast him into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I mean, I just get this picture of this wedding hall. They’re probably, it’s probably at night. There are fires blazing, candles everywhere, it’s probably very bright, everyone can see, and outside it’s dark. And so this guy just gets pat up and he gets out the door he goes. And he has to walk away with the idea that I had been invited by the king to his son’s wedding.

4. Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen

I had been invited to this great feast, and now I’ve been cast out. And that would have been a shameful thing for him. A terribly shameful thing. Now, of course, we recognize also that this language is found in other places in the New Testament to describe judgment, eternal judgment. This is judgment language, that’s what it is. Jesus concludes the parable by saying, For many are called, but few are chosen. Now, I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but I’ve been told that this saying of Jesus right here, many are called, but few are chosen, is listed by a lot of folks as one of the really hard sayings of Jesus. One of those things that’s very difficult to understand. Many are called, but few are chosen.

Now, having gone through the parable, does that seem like a difficult saying to you? Is that a hard thing for us to understand in this context exactly what Jesus is saying here? I don’t think it’s that hard at all. What is the main point? I think he’s I think he’s really summarizing the main point, not only of this parable, but maybe of all three parables that we’ve looked at. And that is that it is a marvelous thing to be invited by the king, to be asked by the Father, to work at his vineyard, to be called. But it’s another thing to respond in an appropriate way. And it’s how we respond, which is really the most important thing. These chief priests and these scribes didn’t respond very well when John came, did they?

They wouldn’t listen to him. They simply wouldn’t do it. The children of Israel, their leaders, they’d been invited into the kingdom. But their unresponsiveness to John the Baptist and to the Lord Himself made them unworthy to come into that kingdom. And look if you would in Acts chapter 13. I suspect that some of you, a little earlier in this parable, your minds may have gone there. In Acts chapter 13, the context in Acts chapter 13 is that Paul and Barnabas are in Psybian Antioch, and they’re preaching the gospel, but they are encountering some resistance from the Jews. Look at verse 46. Because of this resistance, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first.

Since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. This is almost exactly the situation that’s described in this parable, isn’t it? These people who were invited by the king judged themselves unworthy because they didn’t respond. And some, even who responded, didn’t respond appropriately. And so here we see the first beginnings, I guess, of when the kingdom was being taken away from the Jews and they turned to the Gentiles, which is exactly what was said in the second parable.

Another nation who will produce the fruit of it.

Way in advance. And then right before the feast was to commence, then you send out another invitation, a personal invitation, saying, okay, the time is ready. Now it’s time to come. If we’re right, that even this third parable really goes all the way back to what we talked about in Matthew 21 with the occasion of questioning the authority of John and Jesus. Think about who’s represented by that personal messenger who comes to the Jews saying, Now it’s time. It’s going to be John. John the Baptist would fit that second personal messenger perfectly. We’re talking about the Jews. They’ve been invited all the way from the days of Abraham, right? All the way from Abraham they’ve been invited. They were chosen people of God. They were supposed to receive this.

And then John comes after 400 years of silence. And what is his message? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now is the time. The invitations were long given, but now it’s time to come. And he was preparing the way for Jesus who came after him, and they wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t receive it. So even though back in Matthew 21, Jesus says, I’m not going to tell you where I got my authority. He still made it very clear to them how he felt about their unwillingness to acknowledge John and his role in this. That he was sent from God, that he was sent with authority from God, and they should have listened to him. And because they would not, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will get in before them, the king will be taken away from them and given to another nation, and they would be cast into the outer darkness.

Conclusion

They’re the ones who would not receive it. Get your songbooks out if you would. And we’ll conclude with an invitation that still relates to this. I didn’t want to leave you hanging here. Many are called, but few are chosen.

Why is it you suppose that people have such a difficult time with that? I mean, in the context of the parable, it’s not that hard to understand. People were invited, but they didn’t respond, and so they weren’t actually chosen to be a part of the future. You can understand that. But in terms of the big picture here, what in the world does that mean? Why do people struggle with this? I’m going to tell you what I think, and I don’t know if I’m right about this or not, but I’m going to tell you what I think about this. What I suspect is that it has something to do with the tendency that a lot of folks have to accept the Calvinistic doctrine of irresistible grace. There are a lot of religious people who believe that a person can only be saved when God chooses him.

Really, they don’t think that man can do anything to be saved. It is God who decides. He will either choose somebody or he will not choose somebody. And if he chooses somebody, there’s not a thing they can do about it, they’re going to be saved. And if he doesn’t choose somebody, there’s not a thing they can do about it, they’re not going to be saved. It’s entirely up to God because frankly, men are so depraved, they’re not able to make this choice to choose good things. Well, if that were true, then I’d have some difficulty with this phrase as well. Many are called, but few are chosen. How can I make sense of the fact that God would call someone and then not choose them? I think that is probably responsible for a lot of this confusion.

The truth is that’s not the way things are. God calls everyone. He calls everyone to come to Him in faith. He calls everyone to come and be a part of the kingdom. But some don’t respond. And some respond, but they don’t respond appropriately. You see, everything hinges on how we respond to the calling of God. What he said we must do to respond appropriately is that we have to believe in him. We have to be willing to turn away from the sin in our life. We must confess his name before men, and we must be baptized to have our sins washed away. Then we have to make it our life’s work to live for him, to live as faithfully as we can each and every day to try to bring glory to his name, to think about him, what he would have us to be doing.

How can we help further his cause? How can we grow in grace and knowledge? We strive to please him with all of our life. There are people who will say that there are all kinds of ways to respond to the call of God, but I can’t read about any other way. Faith, repentance, confession, baptism. That’s how to respond. And maybe there’s someone here tonight who needs to respond to the call of God.

He wants all to come to repentance and to come to him and be a part of that for which Christ died. He died for all men. Are you a Christian tonight? Have you obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you have not, why would you delay? Why would you put it off? Why would you say no? There’s nothing, there’s nothing else that’s nearly as important as this. Absolutely nothing. It is the biggest decision you’ll ever make in life. And it’s one you must make in order to have life. So if we can help you tonight, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come confessing Christ as God, as the Son of God? Why don’t you come resolving that you’re going to turn away from sin in your life?

Why don’t you come and let us baptize you? We have some water right back here. We’d be thrilled to baptize someone into the Lord this evening. Or three or four someone, however many are needed. Let us help if we can. And maybe you don’t know. Maybe you’re not sure. Well, I’m hearing some of this for the first time. I need to study with somebody. We’ve got folks here who want to do that. We’d be happy to talk to you. Happy to show you book and chapter and verse for everything that we’ve said tonight and everything that the church here practiced has practiced tonight. We’d do everything we could to show you why we stand on the Word of God. Don’t leave this room tonight if you have a question or if you need to obey.

Let us help. And let us do it now while together we stand and while we sing.

Oh where are we going?