In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest command.”
We welcome you today to our study of the life and teaching of Jesus the King. Today we're going to be studying in the word of God Matthew chapter 21 through 25.
If you haven't got your Bible handy, we want to encourage you to go ahead and get that so we can study the word of God together and so that we'll be prepared to do as the Bible says and ‘search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so.’
In Matthew chapter 21 we're now going to be introduced to Jesus as He rides in for the triumphal entry of the Messiah and King of the Jews on a donkey. You remember the story. Jesus rides in not on a white stallion like you might think of in the days of Solomon, not as you can imagine some grand and glorious fashion, but He rides in a foal, the colt of a donkey. This signifies the type of kingship, the type of kingdom; the Lord is going to have. It is this triumphal entry that verifies Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of lords.
In fact Matthew 21:4 will say this, “All this was done,” Jesus riding in the way did, “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophet saying, ‘Tell the daughter of Zion behold your King is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” One of the things that Matthew will regularly do is he will go back to the Old Testament Scripture to verify something.
Now this takes us back to the introduction of our lesson, which reminds us that Matthew is writing to the Jews about the greatest Jew to ever live- Jesus the King of the Jews-and if Matthew is going to convince these Jewish readers, he knows he's got a do it from the Old Testament. The entrance of Jesus into His triumphal entry on a donkey, on the foal of a donkey, what's that all about? Matthew says ‘Hey this is exactly what Zachariah said. You want proof? You want evidence Jesus is the Messiah? What He did is actually the fulfillment of prophecy that your prophet Zachariah said in Zachariah 9:9.’
We see Jesus being verified, affirmed, by the prophets as King of Kings and Lord of lords, Revelation 19:16.
Doesn't this also suggest to us the humility of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
When you think about maybe a presidential inauguration, you think about somebody being inaugurated as king or as president or as a leader- what pomp and prestige and how that's done in such a grand fashion- what about Jesus?
They laid down palm branches. He came in on the foal of a donkey, the colt of a donkey. He didn't come riding in a limousine. He didn't come riding in on a white stallion. His kingdom is the kingdom of service. His kingdom is a kingdom of humility. His kingdom as He already said is this “If you want to be first, get to the back of the line. The first shall be last. The last shall be first.” Jesus emphasized the humility that would resonate throughout His kingdom. Jesus said of His servants Mark 10:45 “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” Then He will say to us, “Go and do likewise.”
We're not talking about a kingdom where you elevate certain people, a kingdom where you've got a big me and a little you and we're out trying with prompt pomp. No, Jesus’ kingdom is the kingdom of humility. It's
kingdom where we realize, without God and Christ we're nothing and that we need to do everything possible not to put the emphasis on self but to bring honor and glory to God in every way. The triumphal entry, it verified Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of lords. This triumphal entry is in line with the prophecy hundreds of years before in the Old Testament both in Zachariah 9:9 and in Psalm 118:26. In these verses Jesus fulfills those exactly. Every time prophecy is given, every prophecy you can find, Jesus fulfills perfectly. Proof positive He's the Messiah.
This illustrates the type of King our Lord is and the type of servants He wants in His kingdom- humble, lowly, willing to serve others, and not to put oneself on a pedestal.
Now in Matthew chapter 21 Jesus is also going to illustrate that Christianity- it's not about the money making business. It's not about, you know, what can I get out of it? How can I profit as a Christian? I want you to read with me Matthew 21:12.
The Scripture here will say, “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves.’ Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things He did, and the children crying out in the temple say ‘Hosea the son of David. Hosanna the son of David.’ They were indignant and said to Him, ‘Did you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes. Have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you've perfected praise?’” Goes on to tell, Jesus left them then and went on to a different area.
Friend here's one the powerful lessons that we learn in the life and teaching of Jesus. Jesus at times had to clean house and especially as it related to God's house. The problem here was that of extortion and that of taking advantage of other people. Their money might be changed and made into the currency of the temple, but in the process of changing that these money changers would charge a high rate to exchange that money. And then so they could buy a dove or buy an animal to be sacrificed, whatever it may be, they were taking advantage of them. That was never
God's intent that that would occur in His house. So Jesus took a cord of whips. He became angry at those people. As the Bible will say ‘zeal for your house has eaten me up,’ and He cleaned house. He rushed those people out, drove them out, turned over their tables, straighten things up as it should have been in the house of God, and put priorities where they needed to be.
Here's what they had done. They had taken worship to God, they had taken sacrifice which was necessary for the people related to sin, and peace offerings, and things like that, and they turned it into a business venture. Are men's souls equated with business ventures? Well of course not! It was about praising God. It was about bringing man closer to God. It's about taking care of the sin problem, and they just simply saw that as a way to profit. It's never what the gospel is intended to be. Don't we have a parallel to that today? How many religious organizations today, especially as you see many who were claiming to heal others, and many are claiming to do great wonders and signs today- how many times will they say and by the way send us your love offering and by the way if you can send us… You know, they're just pushing this idea of making money off of tricking people and hoaxes and things like unto that. How parallel is that to what Jesus cleaned up in the house of God? In the first century cleansing of the temple really illustrated to the people this is a priority worshiping and serving God is not a money making venture. It's about helping people to draw closer to God.
A powerful lesson is taught here by Jesus the King of Kings and Lord of lords.
Now also in Matthew chapter 21, the Lord is going to teach us a great lesson about authority. Now the Pharisees and those in the lead here, those who are trying to stay in power, are now going to come to Jesus and they're going to question His power. ‘And who told you could clean up like this?’ In essence, ’Where did you get that power?’ Watch what Jesus says in Matthew 21:23.
The Lord will say now when He came to the temple, the Scripture says that He came into the temple. The chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as is as He was teaching, and said ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?’ Jesus
answered and said to them, “I'll also ask you one thing, which if you tell me I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.” Here's the question, “The baptism of John where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned among themselves saying, ‘If we say from heaven, He'll say to us why then did you not believe him? If we say from men, we fear the multitude for all count John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus and said, ‘We do not know.’ He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these two things.”
Did Jesus not answer them? Of course, He answered. Jesus illustrated their own hypocrisy. He illustrated there can only be two places of authority and only one of those is divine and the authority you ought to follow. Imagine the scene. Jesus has cleansed the temple. Jesus has been teaching about the withered fig tree, which represented Israel, and their lack of producing fruit. Jesus has sharply rebuked the Jewish elite of this day. They'd now come to Jesus, and they say in essence ‘Who put you in charge? Who told you you're going to be the master and everybody was going to follow? Where did you get this authority?’ So Jesus said, ‘I want to ask you a question. Let me illustrate for you that you really don't care anyway; I'm going to ask you a question. The baptism of John, where'd it come from?’ They knew right then there were in a pickle. They said, they reasoned among themselves that is they said, ‘If we say from God from heaven, He'll say why didn't you obey it? If we say from men, look at the crowd. We're afraid of the crowd. They're liable to stone us to death.’ They were now between a rock and a hard place. They were afraid to answer. They really didn't care about the answer, and it showed their hypocricy. They said ‘we don't know,’ and Jesus said, ‘well you don't really care. Why do I need to tell you where my authority came from?’ They knew where His authority came from.
It was evident just like the baptism of John, but this shows that authority can only come from one of two sources. Either we follow and we live by the authority of God, or we're following and teaching what we teach by the authority of men.
Only one of those sources is divine and will lead us to heaven. The Bible says, “All authority,” Jesus said, “has been given to me in heaven and on earth,” Matthew 28:18. “Whatever we do in word or deed we do all in the name of or by the authority of Jesus Christ,” Colossians 3:17. We don't
want to add to or take away from the word of God, Revelation 22:18-19. But then you contrast that with human authority many times have people given something that men ought to do, and we find out that there was ulterior motives: money, greed, lust, desire, passion- for motivating them to do that.
You see God cannot lie, Hebrews 6:18. God does not change, Malachi 3:8. Jesus is the same yesterday, past, today, present, and tomorrow future. Jesus is not going to change. God's not going to change. He cannot lie, but men can. Where are we getting the authority for what we do things? Where are we putting our emphasis? Who are we listening to in this life, is what Jesus is teaching us.
Now let's notice another practical lesson, really two of them, from the life and teaching of Jesus the King of Kings. In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus will now illustrate from the old law the two greatest commandments. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second like unto it is you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Bible will go on to say that you can rest the whole essence of the law on these two commands.
Loving God and loving others is what Christianity is about. Isn't that so true? Now we say, ‘Well what does it mean to love God?’ Loving God means that He takes first place in our life, that He is are all, that we're trying to live in such a way that brings honor and glory to Him, and friend loving God is more -listen carefully- loving God is more than just saying ‘I love God.’ Loving God is more than just having a warm, fuzzy feeling about God.
Loving God requires something of us. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me,” here's the condition, “if you love me, keep my commandments.” Friend the same is true as it relates to loving man.
We’ve got to realize that every person has been created in the image of God. James will clearly say that as well as Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7. If we love God, must we also love man? John said so. 1 John 3:14-17 “You cannot say,” Jane John said, “I love God and hate your brother.” The two are mutually exclusive, and so I want to love God. I want to put Him first. I want to obey God. I want to do what He says, and naturally I want to
love that which is made in the image of God which is mankind. I want to help. I want to do good. We want to do what Galatians 6:10 says. “Do good unto all men especially those of the household of faith.” That's the practical lesson that James lays out for us in this section.
Now let's turn our attention to Matthew chapter 23 as we notice more of the practical lessons from the life and teaching of Jesus. What's one of the brig big problems that Jesus identifies among mankind at times? One of the main problem is way too often men say and do not do.
Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:3. Jesus here will say to the hypocrites and the religious elite of his day in verse number 3, therefore Jesus will say about the Pharisees who are trying to get them to follow Moses law, “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do,” listen now, “but do not do according to their works.” What do you mean Jesus? Jesus said, “For they say and do not do.” These people were great about you know telling what to do. They were great about saying ‘this is what God says and you people need to keep it,’ but they told the law. They commanded others to keep it. Jesus said, but here's the difference in what I want you to do, ‘Whatever they tell you, you need to do if it's according to the law of God. But I want you to a little different than them.’ What do you mean? ‘They're great about saying, and they do not do.’
Friend let's make sure and this is the old adage of making sure that we practice what we preach that we live up to what we say and what we do in this life. Paul had illustrated this already in 1 Corinthians 9:27. The apostle Paul said, “I buffet my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I've preached to others I myself should become a castaway.” We want to make sure in this life that not only do we say, but we also do. It's never enough just to say only. Jesus illustrated that Matthew 7:21 Jesus said, “It is not everyone that looks up into heaven and says ‘Lord, Lord’ that's going there, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Jesus sharply rebuked the religious elite of his day in Luke 6:46 with this question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?”
Now one of the problems that the Jews and throughout history many people got caught up in is placing the emphasis on some certain individual- maybe some certain person that they look up to religiously. Jesus is going to illustrate that's not the way it's supposed to be.
Look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:9. Jesus says, “Do not call anyone on earth your Father. For one is your father. He who is in heaven.” Now we're talking about in the religious sense. Jesus is talking about teachers. He's talking about people who don't who teach law of God but don't follow it. He's talking about people who make a proselyte and then go halfway around the world to make a proselyte, and then make him twice as much the son of hell as themselves.
So we're not talking about in the sense of a parent. That's not the idea. This is in a religious sense. What did Jesus say? “Call no man on earth Father in the religious sense.” Why? “One is your father, God.” We want to make sure that we don't, and this is the practical lesson, we want to make sure that we don't elevate people. We want to make sure that we don't get what we often refer to sometimes as preacheritis. It happened in 1 Corinthians. You've got some who were saying ‘I'm going to follower of Paul. I'm a follower of Apollos. I'm a follower of Cephas.’ Another saying ‘We're followers of Christ Jesus.’ What did the Bible say about that? “Let there be no division.”
We don't want to put the emphasis on man ever. Now friend let's make a really practical point here. In Catholicism when people go to worship in Catholicism, when people talk to the person in charge in Catholicism, when they maybe get in the cubicle and confess their sins, they will call that religious leader ‘Father.’ I want you think about this with me, if Catholics called the priest ‘Father’ and if Jesus said “Call no man Father in a religious sense giving them honor and precedent preference,” can those two ideas merge? Can Catholicism be true if Jesus said, “Call no man Father,” and every adherent of Catholicism calls their priest ‘Father’? Those ideas don't merge. They're diametrically opposed. This is one of the reasons, and they're multiples, but this is one of the reasons we know Catholicism is not from God.
Now in the remaining time let's talk about some principles from Matthew 24 and 25 that will help us to better understand these texts. I understand Matthew 24 is a difficult section in which Jesus is going to talk about the three things: the destruction of the Jewish nation, the when that will be, and when the end of the world will be. Jesus basically answers three questions, and really for today's lesson here's what we want you to
realize, there is a huge divide in the context which tells us when the destruction of the Jewish nation and the signs of it would be versus when the world would end and the signs, or if they're going to be any of that.
Where is that divide? I want you to turn your attention to Matthew 24:34. Everything before Matthew 24:34 is about to occur in their generation. Notice why we say that. Matthew 24:34 the great Continental divide of this text says Jesus speaking, “Assuredly I say to you,” listen now “This generation will by no means pass away until or till all these things take place.” Now I want you to listen real carefully, there may be some apocalyptic language, there may be some things that sound like the second coming and end of the world, but friend Jesus is already said ‘Everything I just said is going to happen in this generation. This generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.’ Friend what I've got to realize is that was to the people in that day. They were they were preparing, and Jesus was teaching them to prepare for the destruction of Jerusalem to know when it was going to be, so they could get ready and leave the city. History records that they did get ready and they all left the city when Rome came in. Too many times we want people want to take everything before verse 34, and they want to transpose that on the second coming. Can't do that. Jesus said ‘This is going to happen in this generation.’ That was for the immediate problem.
What about after that? Well let's look to the text to see. Look in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will no means pass by no means pass away,” Jesus said. Now watch what Jesus says about the second coming in the world verse 36, “But of that day and hour,” the third question, ‘When will be the end of the world?’ “But of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven but my Father only.”
Throughout history people have tried to predict the second coming of Christ in the world. It's happened not too long back had some fellow out in California who wanted to try to predict exactly when the world's going to end. The false teachers throughout history have done that. Don't miss this point. Anybody who tells you they know when Christ is coming and the world's going to end is a liar period.
How do we know that? No one knows the day nor the hour when the Son of Man comes. The Bible as explicitly and as clearly, as you can imagine, tells us we don't know when Christ is coming back. Nobody knows the day and the hour.
Now what do we know about that? According to Matthew 25 the end of that chapter there's going to be a great separation when that occurs. Listen to Matthew 25:46. Jesus said, “On that great day the righteous will go away into eternal life. The unrighteous into eternal condemnation.” There will be a great separation. God will separate the righteous from the unrighteous. “All that are in the graves will come forth, those who do good to the resurrection of life.”
As we think about the life and teaching of Jesus, let's make sure our lives are being lived in harmony with the authority and teaching of Christ.
Are you a Christian? Have you obeyed the gospel of Christ? If not, friend we're begging you to submit to God and obey the gospel.
If as a child of God maybe you're not ready for that great day. Maybe it's not something you look forward to.
Friend we beg you- get your life right before that day comes, and live in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Study Questions for: “Matthew: Lesson 7”
1. According to Matthew 22:37-38, what is the first and greatest commandment?
2. According to Matthew 21:4, why did he ride in on a donkey?
3. What does Matthew 10:45 say about the son of man?
4. Why did Jesus overturn their tables in Matthew 21:12?
5. According to Matthew 28:18, who has all authority?
6. According to Colossians 3:17, how should we do things?
7. What does Revelation 22:18-19 say about the Word of God?
8. According to Hebrews 6:18, God cannot what?
9. What does Malachi 3:8 tell us about God?
10. According to John 14:15, if we love God-what will we do?