Hey everyone, I'm Ryan, I'm one of the pastors here at Ocean Water. I'm stoked that you could be with us for today's Beach Talk. I love to help us understand every word of God that's in the world. We do these Beach Talks. Our objective is simple. It's always disciples making disciples. That's you and I helping people follow Jesus so that we can plant churches that plant churches
so we can see God's kingdom be a grassroots thing all over the world. Now in 2021 our vision is to multiply from four churches in two countries to eight churches in four countries. This is a big vision. We need you to pray with us. We need you to give towards that and we want you to go on one of the four trips that we have planned this year.
We have two to El Salvador in June. We have one to Indonesia in September. That trip is full and we have 18 people going on that and we have a trip for 12 people to Bangladesh in December. We'd love for you to help us install systems that turn Ocean Water like the water behind me into drinking water for people. We use that system to help plant a church in an area that doesn't have one. So I want you to be praying about this about how God might use you to accomplish his will.
Now Matthew chapter 21 today opens up. It says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus said to two disciples saying to them, Go into the village the opposite of you and immediately you'll find a donkey tide and a colt with her loose them and bring them to me and if anyone says anything to you, you shall say to them the Lord has need of this donkey and immediately he will send them.
And this was done that it might be fulfilled of what was spoken by the prophets saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey. A colt, the fowl of a donkey. Now this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible because God used a donkey. Just like donkey Delema here. Now the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.
Jesus knew that the religious leaders were going to arrest him and condemn him and mock him and scourge him and deliver him to the Romans for the crucifixion. Now he had yet found the courage. He found the courage to not only enter Jerusalem, but to enter in a public way as public way of possible. Then this contrast, the previous pattern of him suppressing his publicity.
Remember Jesus was healing people, always telling people, shh, don't go tell anyone or you're going to be very kind of under the radar. Now he's very public. He's going to be crucified. He's going to take the sin of the world upon his shoulders. Now he says you'll find a donkey tied with the colt heard. Jesus would ride upon the younger of these animals. The colt, he told the disciples that they would find these animals and they instructed them to bring both of the animals.
You see God always, God always provides wherever he guides. Even as something as simple as a donkey, transportation, God can provide. Jesus deliberately worked to fill this prophecy, especially the prophecy of Daniel, which many feel Jesus fulfilled on the exact day of his triumph and entry into this town. Now Jesus came to Jerusalem in humility, yet with dignity. There's a difference. Instead of coming upon a horse as a conquering general, he came on a colt as was custom for royalty.
He came to Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace. Adam Clark points out that the sentry into Jerusalem has been termed the triumph of Christ. It was indeed the triumph of humility over pride and over grandeur, over influence. Now look at verse 7. They brought the donkey and the colt. They laid their clothes on him and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Now when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, now who is this? So the multitude said, well this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. What is happening here? All of this was done to honor Jesus as a great, triumphant person coming into Jerusalem in the season of the Passover.
Now it says, Hosanna to the son of David. This was an open messianic adoration of Jesus Christ. They looked at Jesus for salvation. Hosanna means save now and was addressed to kings as in 2 Samuel and 2 Kings. They asked Jesus the titles appropriate for the Messiah. Now this was interesting for those who could understand what's happening. He came in the name of the Lord. Now Jesus receives and indeed encouraged this worship.
Again, because this was because this was the day that the Lord has made, the day when the Messiah came as savior to Jerusalem in fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy in the Old Testament. So D.A. Carson points out that Hosanna transliterates the Hebrew expression that was originally a cry that meant save in time to become an indication, a blessing and even an acclamation. The people praise God in the highest heavens for sending the Messiah.
If Hosanna retains some of its original force, they cry to him for deliverance. It was like a shout of deliverance. Jesus also showed that he wasn't afraid of the chief priests and the Pharisees. Remember the last couple chapters, we've been seeing this conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees and it's been ratcheting up every chapter. It's going to come to a head here when they crucify him.
Now it was here before he entered the city that he took over, that he looked over the city and wept knowing that Jesus would come upon Jerusalem for what they were about to do. Now this continues the earlier identification of Jesus with Nazareth. Now it would sound strange to many, especially in the religious establishment, that a prophet would come from the obscure and unnoted city of Nazareth. Isn't it interesting that God often uses people from places that we don't approve of?
This is exactly what is happening here. They thought, how could Jesus come from Nazareth? How can the Savior come from Nazareth? Now later on in the chapter it says, it is written my house will be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. Now the purpose of this was to drive out the merchants, who in cooperation with the priests, they cheated the visitors to Jerusalem by forcing them to purchase approved sacrificial animals and currencies at high prices.
They had taken the temple of God and turned it into a tax refund. Now William Barclay notes that the wages and the currencies were almost 20 times more expensive here. Now Jesus' anger was against those who bought as well as those who sold. Now everyone was on the hook here. Jesus said he overturns the tables in the temple because Jesus wanted his house to be a house of prayer, not a house of profit for his people, a house of prayer for his people.
Now the merchants were operating in the outer courts of the temple, the only area where Gentiles would come to pray. Therefore the place of prayer was made into a marketplace and a dishonest one is that. That's why he calls it a den of thieves. He said, it is not written that my house would be called a house of prayer for all nations?
Now this was what Isaiah had pointed out and Jesus demanded that the temple be a place for all of the nations to pray because it being a place where all nations will pray symbolizes how heaven will be, a place where all nations will be represented. Now look at 21 verse 14, Then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. Now the bold action of Jesus when he drove out the merchants and money changers from the temple courts did not discourage the needy from coming to him.
You see, the blind and the lame were restricted to the court of the Gentiles. They could not go closer to the temple and could not go to the altar to sacrifice. After purging the court of the Gentiles of merchants and robbers, Jesus then ministered to the outcasts who congregated there. Just like Jesus ministers to the outcasts now in our world. Now after driving the money changers and the merchants out, Jesus didn't establish the society for the perfect people.
He got back to the business of what he was about, helping the hurting. There's a lesson here. He drove the money out and he helped the people that were hurting. Now look at verse 15, When the chief priests and scribes saw that the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple, saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said to him, Did you hear what these are saying?
And Jesus said to them, Yes, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have perfected praise. Then he left them and went out and out of the city of Tabithany, he was lodged there. Now this was their response to the wonderful things that he did and to the praise of his children for Jesus in the temple courts. The hypocrisy of the religious leaders is evident. Greed and theft in the temple didn't bother them, but praise did Jesus did. Isn't that ironic?
Now this reminds us that children can have a real relationship with God in spiritual life, yet they will still be children, won't they? Now did you hear what these are saying? Jesus answered this question from the chief priests and scribes. The answer was clear. Yes, he had heard what these were saying and it was perfected praise in the ears of God. Now at the time of the Passover, thousands and thousands of pilgrims crowded into Jerusalem.
It was common for some to stay in the surrounding villages and Bethany was close by, so it's a common practice. Now look at verse 18, Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry and seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, let no fruit grow on you ever again. Immediately the fig tree withered away. What's happening here? This seems like a weird thing.
Well, some wonder why Jesus would be hungry in the morning, leaving the home of Martha and Mary. Charles Spurgeon speculated it was because he woke up early to have time with God, forgot to eat his breakfast. Highly likely. Now in a dramatic way, Jesus performed one of his few destructive miracles. He cursed a fig tree to wither away.
Now it's worth noting that the two destructive miracles of Jesus, this and the events that ended in the destruction of the herd of the pigs, remember that when we talked about it in Matthew 8? He cast the demoniac spirits into the pigs and they ran off. They weren't directed at people though. This explains why Jesus did this destructive miracle.
Essentially the tree was a picture of false advertising, having leaves but no figs. This should not be the case with those particular fig trees, which customarily bear figs like us. We're supposed to bear fruit. Now look at verse 20. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree wither away so soon?
Jesus answered and said to them, And surely I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but if you say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, the ocean behind me, it will be done. Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive. Now Jesus explained that this miracle was really the result of prayer made in faith.
If you have faith and do not doubt, he then encouraged his marveling disciples to have this kind of faith, trusting that God would hear them also. Now the promise of God's answer to the prayer of faith was made to the disciples, not to the multitude. This is a promise to those who are following Jesus. You must get the benefit if you're a follower.
Now verse 23, now when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders and the people confronted him, and as he was teaching, he said, By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority? But Jesus answered and said to them, I also ask you one thing, which of you will tell me? I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? Was it from heaven or was it from men?
And they reasoned amongst themselves saying, Well, if we say from heaven, he'll say to us, Well, why then didn't you believe him? But if we say from men, we will fear the multitude for all count John as a prophet. So they answered Jesus and said, We don't know. And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. So Jesus again had one upped the religious people.
Now, in his previous visit on the day before, Jesus drove out the money changers and the merchants from the temple courts. Now he's returned there to teach, unafraid of the religious leaders at all. Now, the religious leaders raised the question of Jesus's authority, and he answered by raising the question of their competence to judge such an issue. Savage. Now, their ability to judge John the Baptist in his ministry was a measure of their ability to judge Jesus as well.
They answered only after carefully calculating the political consequences of each answer. They didn't seem interested in answering the question honestly, only cleverly. Now, this showed that they were more interested in opinions of the multitudes than the opinions of God. That, my friend, is a trap.
Jesus kindly and compassionately met the needs of the hurting multitude, as demonstrated in Matthew 21, where Jesus didn't show so much patience with those who arrogantly question him and hope to trap him in his own words. Jesus never fell into their trap. Now look at verse 28, But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go to work today in my vineyard. And he answered and said, I will not. But afterward he regretted it and went.
Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, Well, I'll go. But he did not go. And these two did the will of the Father. Now they said to him the first. Jesus said, Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you do. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But tax collectors and harlots believed me, and you never saw it. You did not afterward relent and believe me.
Well, this parable shows us two different kinds of sons. They were in the same house, and we could say that the Father had a right to the services of both of his sons. Perhaps they wished that the Father would just leave them alone, but he didn't. Now it was good and right for his Father to expect that his sons would work for them. That's normal in that time. Now there's much to see in the simple words of the Father to the Son here. Now let's look at those.
Now the Father spoke to his son individually. He didn't speak to his sons together, though they had the same invitation that was given to both sons. He came to the second and said likewise. It was an individual call to work, like God calls us to work for him. Now the Father appealed to him first as a son, knowing he was the son of his father, should have made him willing to do his will, just like with us. The Father asked the Son to work, to participate together in the family business.
Yet it was work and not play, just like we do God's work in God's family, through God's family. The Father asked the Son to work today, not in some distant time. God asked us to work for him now, not in the future, right now. The Father asked the Son to work in his vineyard, to do his work his way, and that it should have mattered to his Son. But the Son refused to work for his father. He didn't want to bend to the Father's will, just like we struggle in our will with God.
Yet later he regretted it and went. He spoke wrong, but did right. Now the second son said the right thing, and he said it with respect, but he did not do what his Father asked. A lot of people say, yo, yeah, God, I'll do that, but they don't, and God then calls them on that. Now there are many church people today that imitate the second son. They would admit that the Word of God is true. They intend to get serious and someday far off. Now they talk about doing the Lord's work, but they don't.
Now they keep up the external appearances of religion, but their heart is not right with God. Think about that. They think that words and promises are enough. Now this is dangerous because it is lying to the Holy Spirit. It's dangerous because it hardens the conscience. The point of the parable is clear. What matters is living for God, not saying the right words.
The religious leaders were good at talking righteous talk, but their stubborn, unrepentant hearts showed that repentant sinners would enter the kingdom before they would. Look at verse 33. Here another parable. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to the vinedressers and went into the far country.
Then the vintage time drew near, and he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit, and the vinedressers took the servants, beat one, killed one, stoned the other. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. The last of these sons he sent to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir, come let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.
So they took him and cast him out from the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to the vinedressers? They said to him, I will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers, who will render him to the fruits in their season. So what's happening here? Well, Jesus told of a landowner who prepared his vineyard carefully and hired men to manage it, the vinedressers.
Now, the men were supposed to manage his vineyard, but they mistreated and killed the messengers sent by the landowner. Finally, he sent his son and they killed him and they foolishly believed that they could take control of the vineyard. But the response of the landowner was not to yield to the vinedressers, but to judge and destroy them. Now, Jesus portrayed the madness of the chief priests and the elders who plotted to kill the father's son, sent to the rebellious leaders of Israel.
He put them on blast. Now, the message of this parable was totally clear. With this answer, the chief priests and elders understood what the wicked servants deserve. Truly, those who rebel against their master from this deserve judgment. Now, they knew the owner of the vineyard had the right to expect the fruits of their seasons. In the same way, God looked for fruit from Israel's leadership, but found very little.
Now, the leaders of Israel were so corrupt, God was transferring leadership from others specifically to the apostles and then to the Jew and Gentile church that they would then lead. Now, look at verse 42. Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? Now, this was the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes.
Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to the nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind them to powder. Now, when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was talking about them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes because they took him for a prophet.
Now, the manner of speaking, this manner of speaking to the chief priests and elders of Israel must have made him really angry. Jesus speaks to the leading theologians of Israel and asked them if they've ever read their Bible. He put them on blast straight up. And he reminded them of the rejection of him and the coming judgment. Now, though they reject him, Jesus was the chief cornerstone fulfilling this promise of Psalm 118.
Like a painting from a great master, Jesus is not on trial. Those who look at him are. These leaders are rejected. Jesus had to hear the eventual consequences of their rejection. Now, clearly, Jesus claimed to be the rejected stone of Psalm 118 that God appointed to become the chief cornerstone. He is also the stone of Isaiah that people would stumble over, the foundation stone and precious cornerstone of Isaiah 28 and the stone of Daniel 2 that destroys the world in rebellion to God.
Now, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Jesus warned the religious leaders that if they continued the rejection of God and his Messiah, they could expect that God would pass the leadership of his work on to other people. God wants to use us, but we have to choose it. And if we pass, God will pass over us and he will use someone else.
That is a reminder of the humility that we need in our life every day so that God doesn't choose to go use someone else. We want him to use our lives. That takes humility. So instead of repenting, the religious leaders responded with anger and continued to increase the greatness of their sin in rejecting Jesus. Now, this wraps up our time in Matthew 21 today. I want you to think about what God was talking to you about through his word today.
Sometimes we need to hit reset in our lives, sometimes stopping some things, sometimes starting some things. Prayer is a chance to think about all of that. And why don't we pray together right now? Just say, God, would you help me to change my life? Help me to stop the things I need to stop, start good habits to follow you closely and walk in a loving relationship with you every day. And if I need to hit reset, would you help me to start over in my life today and to follow you?
And I ask for your help with all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Now, last part of today, we want to want to give as part of our worship. Giving is what God does. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave. Giving is part of our worship, just like giving God's son was part of his giving to us. And that's what we do as a church. We give. Now, right now, we've managed to plant four churches. We want to plant a lot more. That takes funding.
We want you to step up, be a part of what God's doing, help people get their water from the ocean, help us love others, help us plant churches. Help us be the hands and feet of Jesus and spread the love and the gospel of the Lord. Now, how can you do that? You can go on our website at Oceanwater.com and you can click give there. Make that a part of your worship. And as always, have a beautiful day.