Sermon Tone Analysis

The Right Ways to Respond to Jesus Christ

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared December 29, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 21.

Here we are less than a week away from the cross of Jesus Christ.

This chapter opened with Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

And in Matthew 21:9, "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!'''

That word "hosanna" was an emotional expression that means, "Oh save us!"

They were crying out for Jesus, the promised Son of David, to save them.

*But many of the people lining the streets of that crowded city were crying out for Jesus to save them from their cruel Roman conquerors.

Those people did not understand our urgent need for Jesus to save us from our sins.

So, they cried out, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"

But later that week, many of those same people cried out, "Crucify Him! -- Crucify Him!"

*They did not know that Jesus is the eternal, only begotten Son of God, who humbled Himself to become a man and die on the cross for our sins.

They only thought He was a prophet.

That's why vs. 10-11 say, "When He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?''

So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.''

*Then in vs. 12-13, Jesus went into the Temple of God and drove out all the money changers and merchants.

Jesus told them, "It is written, 'My House shall be called a House of Prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

Next in vs. 14-15, Jesus healed the blind and lame people who came to Him in the Temple.

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things Jesus did, they were greatly offended.

Their anger over people being miraculously healed was awful, but it helps us understand how much they hated Jesus.

*A day or two later, the chief priests and elders confronted the Lord again in the Temple.

Let's read about it in Matthew 21:23-32.

And as we read, please think about the right ways for us to respond to Jesus Christ.

MESSAGE:

*We all respond to things hundreds of times a day.

For most people, it starts with the alarm clock every morning.

Then we respond to text messages, phone calls, email, and all kinds of conversation.

We respond to heat, cold, hunger and pain.

We respond to humor, anger, love, respect, and fear.

We respond to victories, setbacks, and defeats.

But how we respond makes a big difference.

Chuck Swindoll once said, "I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me, and 90 percent how I react to it."

(1)

*How we respond makes a big difference.

And this is especially true when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Nothing is more important than how we respond to Jesus, so how should we respond to the Lord?

1. FIRST: WE SHOULD ACCEPT THE LORD'S AUTHORITY.

*We must not be like the Jewish rulers we see in vs. 23.

Rebellion and rejection of Christ dripped from their lips: "Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, 'By what authority are You doing these things?

And who gave You this authority?'''

In other words: "Who gives you the power and the right to do all the things you are doing?"

*In vs. 24-25, Jesus answered their question with another question.

And He did that, because it wasn't quite time for the cross.

Jesus had more to do, and more to teach His followers.

But these hard-hearted, Christ-haters defiantly questioned the Lord's authority.

That was an amazing thing for them to do, considering the previous 3 years.

[1] TIME AFTER TIME, JESUS HAD SPOKEN WITH GREAT AUTHORITY.

*For example, in Matthew 7:24-27, the Lord closed out His Sermon on the Mount with these words:

24.

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

25. and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26.

Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:

27. and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.

And great was its fall."

*Then in Matthew 7:28-29, the Apostle closed out this passage by writing:

28.

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,

29. for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

[2] TIME AFTER TIME, JESUS HAD SPOKEN WITH GREAT AUTHORITY, AND HE HAD ACTED WITH GREAT AUTHORITY.

*Think about how many miracles Jesus worked during His earthly ministry.

In John 20:30-31, the Apostle tells us that "truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

Then in John 21:25 John wrote that "there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

*Only 39 separate miracles of Christ are reported in the four Gospels, and that includes His resurrection from the dead.

But Jesus actually worked countless more miracles here on earth, so it's hard to understand why the chief priests and elders refused to accept His supreme authority.

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*That fatal mistake doomed them for all eternity.

And God forbid that any of us would be like those stubborn people!

We must accept the Lord's authority.

*And Matthew 8:5-13 tells the story of a Roman soldier who did accept the Lord's authority.

Please listen to it today from the Living Bible paraphrase:

5.

When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman army captain came and pled with him to come to his home and heal his servant boy who was in bed paralyzed and racked with pain.

7. "Yes," Jesus said, "I will come and heal him."

8. Then the officer said, "Sir, I am not worthy to have you in my home; [and it isn't necessary for you to come].

If you will only stand here and say, 'Be healed,' my servant will get well!

9.

I know, because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers, and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave boy, 'Do this or that,' and he does it.

And I know you have authority to tell his sickness to go -- and it will go!"

10.

Jesus stood there amazed!

Turning to the crowd he said, "I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!

11.

And I tell you this, that many Gentiles (like this Roman officer), shall come from all over the world and sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12.

And many an Israelite --those for whom the Kingdom was prepared -- shall be cast into outer darkness, into the place of weeping and torment."

13.

Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, "Go on home.

What you have believed has happened!"

And the boy was healed that same hour!

*That soldier responded to Jesus with great faith.

He accepted the Lord's authority, and that's what everyone should do.

2. BUT WE SHOULD ALSO ANSWER THE LORD'S QUESTIONS.

*Please listen again to what happened in vs. 23-27:

23.

Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things?

And who gave You this authority?''

24.

But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:

25.

The baptism of John, where was it from?

From heaven or from men?''

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

26.

But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.''

27.

So they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know.''

And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

*These religious politicians remind us of far too many of our own politicians.

They didn't care about what was right.

They only cared about what was going to further their own selfish agenda.