Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19970223.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part XI. The Crisis Of The Messiah's Offer Of The Kingdom
C. Avoiding The Blindside Of Our OWN Rebellion As Unwary Religious People
(Matthew 21:28-22:14)
  1. Introduction
    1. As the believer grows in Christ, he comes to sense God's working in him to produce stable godliness.
    2. However, along with this state can come an unsuspected spiritual threat to our welfare due to the innate wickedness or original sin that resides in every mortal's heart!
    3. Jesus exposes and warns about this threat in a series of three parables in Matthew 21:28-22:14.
  2. Avoiding The Blindside Of Our OWN Rebellion As Unwary Religious People, Matthew 21:28-22:14.
    1. When the temple leaders came to Jesus to complain that they felt He had no authority to do His works in the temple as the Messiah, they were sure they were RIGHT and Jesus was WRONG, Mtt. 21:23.
    2. However, Jesus' response to their question and their decision not to answer His question about John's credentials revealed these me n were refusing to accept known credentials by CHOICE, Mtt. 21:24-27.
    3. Accordingly, Jesus gave two parables to reveal the awful LOSS that this wrong CHOICE would cause:
      1. The Parable of the Two Sons taught these men were missing the Kingdom by refusing Christ's credentials, Mtt. 21:28-32.
        1. By His introductory question, "But what do you think?" (NIV) to the Parable of the Two Sons, Jesus tied in the lesson behind the parable with the temple leaders' previous rejection of Christ's credentials.
        2. Since the parable shows how one landowner's son at first rebelled against his father's command to work in the vineyard, only to repent and do the work where the other son agreed to work but never did, the lipservice of the temple leade rs minus their acceptance of Christ made them miss the Kingdom where the sinful publicans and harlots who repented entered the Kingdom, Mtt. 21:28b-32.
      2. The Parable of the Tenants revealed this missing the Kingdom meant others would enter their ruling roles in their place, Matthew 21:33-45.
        1. Jesus gave another parable, verbally addressing it to these same temple leaders, Mtt. 21:33a.
        2. This parable told how these leaders, like rebellious tenants who mistreated the landowner's servants, would be cast out and replaced by other tenants who would do the landowner's will, Mtt. 21:33b-44.
        3. These leaders didn't like what they heard, but were not able to kill Jesus at the time, Mtt. 21:45-46.
    4. Finally, in a third parable, Jesus provided a WARNING applied to all men throughout coming history of a similar spiritual threat: the Parable of the Wedding Banquet noted that others besides Israel to whom God's blessings would be offered would miss it by their similar choices to reject Christ, Mtt. 22:1-14:
      1. This parable talks about God's dealings with people to whom He offers the Kingdom after the originally-invited group refused the Messianic Kingdom by rejecting Christ, Mtt. 22:1-7,8-9.
        1. In verses 1-7, Jesus basically repeated the lesson of the previous parable to show how Israel's leaders would be judged for having rejected God's messengers, be they the prophets, John or Jesus.
        2. However, verses 8-9 address God's effort to reach others AFTER this failure, B.K.C., N.T., p. 71.
      2. However, even among those replacements to whom God's Kingdom would be offered after Israel's leaders rejected Christ's credential would not all accept Christ: one man is pictured being cast out into spiritual punishment as was Israel in Christ's era for similar spiritual rebellion, Mtt. 22:10-13.
      3. This was because only those who accepted Christ's credentials, and that in whatever ERA they were revealed had the same responsibility and fate, depending upon their choice of Christ, Mtt. 22:14.
Lesson: In looking back to the tragic consequences of the temple leaders' CHOICE to reject Christ's and John the Baptists' credentials, and hence their teachings, GOD wants men TODAY to take a warning: throughout history, even the very RELIGIOUS ca n be blindsided to reject God's truth by their own innate REBELLION. Men today must WATCH that they accept God's truth as given today!

Application: By way of application, even we believers must never become so self-reliant in our heritage that we cannot reject God's truth from His teachers! We must recognize and accept God's truth from His teachers NOW, whether it comes f rom John, Jesus or whomever gives it TODAY!