MATTHEW 20-24 WARNINGS FROM JESUS2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Matthew 20-24 Warnings From Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

And we are here this evening in the book of Matthew. We'll be looking at chapters 20 through 24 as we continue to go through the Bible in three years and study the chapters that we read this week. We're working our way through the Gospels, of course, starting here with Matthew. We have one more week in the Gospel of Matthew, and then we'll be heading on into Mark, Luke, and then, of course, John.

The book of Matthew is written by Matthew somewhere around 41 to 60 AD, about 10 to 30 years after the events of the life of Christ actually took place. And so Matthew is recording these things very early on.

And he is writing with a particular emphasis. He's writing to the Jewish people, focusing on and emphasizing the fact that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the promised Savior that God had been declaring would come from the very beginning, all the way back from Genesis, all the way through Malachi. God was promising a Savior, and Matthew is presenting Jesus Christ as that Savior.

Here's a quick look at the geography of the Gospel of Matthew. Of course, it starts in the city of Bethlehem where Jesus is born. He goes to Egypt for a short time, but then his family moves to Nazareth, which is where Joseph and Mary were from. And so Jesus is raised in Nazareth. As an adult, he moves into Capernaum. And the focus and the majority of his ministry is based out of Capernaum and then in that region.

region around the Galilee. But then of course also we see him active in Jerusalem, which was the capital, the main, you know, city of the day. And that's of course where he goes to be crucified. And we'll see that journey into Jerusalem in our chapters this evening.

Well, as we look at our chapters this evening, as I was preparing the message for tonight, I really noticed a theme throughout the chapters that I wanted to kind of highlight as we go. And that is warnings from Jesus.

That Jesus here as he's going through these different discussions really goes out of his way to make sure to provide some warnings for the people that he is addressing. And so I think these things are things that God wants to remind us about that we would take heed to some of these things as well. And so we'll see that throughout our chapters this evening. But we start out with Matthew chapter 20 and verse 26 is the key verse.

It says,

In verses 1 through 16, we see Jesus declaring that the kingdom of heaven is like an owner who hired laborers. He tells a parable here. Now the word parable, it means to cast alongside. And so the idea is he tells this story to cast it alongside a spiritual truth. And from the story, we get to kind of see the parallels and learn things about the spiritual truth that Jesus is talking about.

And so this parable talks about different laborers who are hired at different times throughout the day.

So the first ones are hired in the morning and then the owner comes out a little bit later on. He sees people there, you know, at Home Depot just waiting to get a job. And so he says, you guys haven't got some work yet? Well, go work in my field. And then he goes back out a couple hours later and there's still some guys at Home Depot. He says, hey guys, you know, come on in. Let's go to work in my field and I'll pay you what's right at the end of the day. And he goes, does that several times throughout the day.

Well, then at the end, he calls them all in and he has his steward pay them a denarius each. Now, the first ones hired are the last ones paid. And the first ones hired, after they see everybody get paid their amount, they think, wow, we're going to get paid extra because we were here the whole day. These guys were paid a day's wage and they were only here a couple hours.

But when it gets to their turn, they get the same pay as the rest of the guys at Denarius, which was a day's wage. And they start to complain. They say, hey, we were here all day. We worked all day. And you made us equal with these guys who only worked for a couple hours. That's not right. And the owner says, hey, you agreed to work for a day's wage. I paid you what we agreed to pay, you know, what we agreed on.

So I didn't do anything wrong. I'm just being generous to these other guys. And you think it's evil because I'm being generous. And so Jesus here is giving this parable, casting it alongside the spiritual truth, illustrating and highlighting the point that the gospel is given, salvation is given, and people have opportunity to be saved anytime. Now you could be raised in the church and you could live your whole life a Christian life

And you could enter into eternity. And then someone else could live an absolutely horrible life. But on their deathbed, cry out to the Lord. And if it's genuine, if it's real repentance, then they enter into eternity as well. And I think that's what Jesus is highlighting here. That, you know, for the religious leaders, they thought we're so much better than everybody else.

of course, we're going to have a greater inheritance in the kingdom of God, especially not like those Gentiles. And Jesus is saying, actually, those Gentiles are going to enter into eternity and you might not, as we'll see later on in the passages this evening. And so he's illustrating this point that we all have access into eternity with God. And it's not so much about, you know, how long you've been walking with God. Now that doesn't

encourage you or it shouldn't mean that well I could just do whatever I want then and then get saved at the last minute because that's quite a risky endeavor you never know when your time will come and so you want to be right with God even as we'll see in chapter 24.

All right, verses 17 through 19, Jesus says that the Son of Man will be betrayed. And so once again, this is the third time he's telling them that he will be betrayed, he will be condemned, he will be crucified, and then he will resurrect on the third day. And so here I see this as a warning. Jesus is warning his disciples, this is not going to go as you expect. You're following me, you're my disciples, we're heading to Jerusalem. You're thinking the kingdom will be right now,

But let me warn you, when you follow Jesus, it often will not be as you expect. Things will not take place the way that you expect them to. God has plans that are way different than ours many times. In verses 20 through 28, he tells us, "...whoever desires to be great, let him be your servant."

So here Jesus warns against having the attitude of the Gentiles regarding authority. And this comes about because the mother of James and John come to Jesus and she says, Jesus, I have a request. And he says, okay, what is it? She says, well, I want my sons to sit on your right hand and on your left hand when you enter into your kingdom.

And Jesus says, no, that's not for me to give. That's appointed by my father. That's not appropriate for me to give. And the rest of the disciples got angry when they heard about, you know, this attempt to, you know, lift up her sons or for these guys to get ahead in the kingdom. And so it causes Jesus to explain to his disciples, hey, listen, greatness in the kingdom of God is different than what you're thinking about.

Greatness in the kingdom of God is different than what we see in the world. He says in verse 25, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. There's this power trip that goes on amongst the Gentiles, Jesus is saying. And they lord over, there's this authority, this power over them.

And Jesus is warning, saying, watch out for that mindset, for that mentality, because authority in the kingdom of God, greatness in the kingdom of God, is not that same way. Now, what I think is interesting about this passage is that we find that it's not necessarily wrong to desire to be great in the kingdom of God.

It's not necessarily wrong if you desire to be great in the kingdom of God. Now, typically we would kind of like correct ourselves in our minds, right? If we have that desire. But Jesus doesn't say it's wrong to have that desire. He says you need to go about that desire the right way. Don't have a mindset like the Gentiles and think I'm going to have this power and I'm going to lord over everything.

No, have the right mindset, have the right heart in it. He just tells us if you want to be great, here's how. And in verse 26, he says, whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. So the issue isn't the desire to become great, it's the way that you go about it. You don't become great by...

lording over people or you know having these positions of authority or power but you become great in the kingdom of God by becoming a servant it's achieved by serving others it's a good opportunity for us to consider what kind of entrance into heaven do I want do I want to become great do I want to have a an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God

If so, I need to be a servant. And he uses himself as an example in this. In verse 28, he says, just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So we see Jesus is the example. He gives us himself as the example. Now, we all understand, right? Jesus is the most important person who's ever lived. If there's ever anybody who's ever been important, it's Jesus, right?

But he didn't come for other people to serve him. He came to serve other people. And that is the example. No matter how important I think I am, no matter how important you think you are, my job is to serve others. Your job is to serve others. To meet the needs of others. To not come with the expectation of being served, but to come to serve.

Well, then in verses 29 through 34, we see Jesus heals two blind men who are crying out, have mercy on us, O Lord. And he calls them to himself. He says, what do you want me to do for you? And they said that our eyes would be opened. And he touches them and heals them. Well, that brings us now to chapter 21. Verse 7 is the key verse. It says, they brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them.

So in verses 1 through 11, we see that Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem. This is the parallel passage of what we studied in Luke on Sunday, the triumphal entry, where Jesus publicly declares that he is the Messiah. Now this begins the final week of ministry for Jesus. It's the final week of ministry for

As he is about to be crucified and then resurrected. And so this is often referred to, we call it Passion Week. Begins with Palm Sunday, which is what is being described here. This triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey.

So it begins with Palm Sunday. The following Sunday is Resurrection Sunday or sometimes referred to as Easter. And so this is that final week. And so these next few chapters happen within that time span of Jesus in his last week in Jerusalem before he is crucified. Well, then in verses 12 through 17.

goes into the temple and drives out the money changers. He goes into the temple and he sees this business going on. Now, the issue is not so much that there was, you know, money changers there, but that they were charging a

a high interest rate or a high exchange rate. And so they were taking advantage of people. They were ripping people off, taking advantage of the situation because people would come and they would want to give. They would, you know, be paying the tax that's required.

But they couldn't give the normal Roman currency to the temple. And so they had to exchange it. And so they would have these high exchange rates that were there. You know, you're at the temple. What else are you going to do? It's like when you're stuck, you know, sometimes you're stuck in a spot and you got to use that, you know, that weird looking ATM machine in the corner of the, you know, AMPM or something. You're like, I know they're going to charge me like $8 to get out $20. But, you know, I'm stuck. I got to get the money out. It's kind of like that. They were ripping people off.

and getting this high exchange rate in order that people could, you know, exchange the money for what they could give for the temple. And so Jesus here sees this corruption and he drives out the money changers. And so again, we see warnings here. Warnings that Jesus will not put up with our schemes, our plans, you know, to rip people off and to make money. He tells them, look,

God sees what's going on and you've turned this into a den of thieves. This isn't about serving the people anymore, but it's robbing the people. It's about getting what you want, not serving others. Well, then in verses 18 through 22, you see that Jesus withers a fig tree. It says that he's hungry. He sees a fig tree. He goes up to it. There's no fruit upon it. And so he pronounces a curse on the fig tree. He says, may no one ever eat from you again.

And the fig tree withers away. And the disciples are surprised by it. Now here's the deal with the fig tree. The fig tree described here had leaves upon it. Now when a fig tree had leaves upon it, that was the indication that there was fruit to be had. But although there was leaves on the fig tree, there was no fruit on the fig tree. So it had the appearance of fruitfulness, but it bore no fruit.

And so what Jesus did as he made this declaration and the fig tree withered, what Jesus really did was he revealed the true nature of the fig tree.

He just revealed. So it stopped pretending to be fruitful. He just revealed that this tree is not fruitful. He didn't make it unfruitful. He just showed that it was not fruitful. Now there's some spiritual truths that we could consider here. That if you are pretending. Now again, this is a warning from Jesus. Listen, if you're pretending.

He's dealing with this a lot with the religious leaders, with the people there in Jerusalem. If you're pretending you're religious, you look good on the outside, but there's no real fruit, it will be shown. It will be revealed. You can't hide that. That's something that the Lord sees. And so if he comes and there's the appearance of fruit in your life, it looks like on the outside everything looks good, but there's no real fruit in your life.

then it will be revealed. And so that's what happens here with the fig tree. The disciples are blown away and Jesus goes on to teach them about faith. He says, look, if you have faith and you don't doubt, not only could you do this, but you could say to the mountain, be cast into the sea and it will be cast into the sea. And so he teaches the importance of faith and believing him as we pray.

Well then in verses 23 through 27, the elders of the Jewish people approach Jesus and they say, by what authority are you doing these things? Who gives you the authority? How do you have the authority to do what you're doing? For example, like the miracles that you're doing, the teachings that you're giving, the cleansing of the temple and the driving out of the money changers. Who gives you the right to do these things?

Now Jesus responds to their question with a question. And he says, well, if you answer this question, then I'll answer your question. Here's the question. Where was the baptism of John the Baptist from? Now this put them in quite a situation because as they reasoned among themselves, they said, okay, if we say John's baptism was from heaven, then Jesus is going to say, well, why didn't you believe him?

Okay, so we can't say it's from heaven because then he's going to have a really good point and we don't want Jesus to have a really good point. Okay, what's our other options? Well, we could say that his baptism is from men. That it was just his own made up thing that it didn't have anything to do with God. Alright, that sounds pretty good except...

The people think that John the Baptist was a prophet. And so we're afraid of the people and we don't want them to be upset with us. And so, yeah, we can't say that his baptism was from man. So we can't say it's from heaven. We can't say if it's from men. I don't see another option. So they go back to Jesus and they say, we don't know where it was from. Now, you see the problem with their logic here, their reasoning here.

They're not worried about the truth. They're worried about their appearance. They're worried about winning an argument. They're worried about whether Jesus gets to be right in the public arena or whether the people are upset with him. They're not concerned about whether or not it really was from God. They're just concerned about

the appearance, how it looks, and if they'll win this debate. And so they go back and they say, hey, we don't know. And so Jesus says, well, then I'm not going to tell you by what authority we do these things. Now, I see this also as a warning from the Lord. Listen, if you don't submit to what God has already revealed, he will not reveal more to you.

The religious leaders here would not submit to what God had revealed through John the Baptist. As he brought forth the message of repentance, other people saw and heard and repented, but the religious leaders refused. And so now when they want to know, hey, where do you get this authority from? They want to know, where is this insight coming from? Where is this power coming from? Where is this authority from? Jesus says, look, you didn't submit to what was already revealed.

And so I'm not going to give you more revelation. And that is, well, you can find that to be true in the life of a believer. When we come to a point where we resist something that God declares, when we do not believe or we will not submit to what he has said, there's a darkening that happens in our lives spiritually. And we, even if we've walked with the Lord for many years,

can suddenly become very confused about what God is saying. And we can miss out on what God wants to instruct us in because our disobedience has darkened our understanding. When we do not submit to what God has already revealed, He will not reveal more to us. And that's why it's often said, listen, if you can't figure out what God is saying to you, think back in your life, go back to the last thing you remember God saying.

Because oftentimes that's where you departed. And if you weren't obedient in that, then it's no wonder that he hasn't given you further instruction later on. Well, then in verses 28 through 32, Jesus goes on dealing with the religious leaders. And he says, the tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom before you. Pretty bold words that Jesus says here. He says this along with another parable. This time it's two sons.

The father asks them to go to work in the vineyard. And the first one says, no, I don't want to work in the vineyard. But then afterwards he regrets it and he goes and actually works in the vineyard. But then the second son says, okay, yeah, I'll go work in the vineyard. But then he never actually does go to work in the vineyard. And Jesus asks them, well, which one did the will of the father? They said, well, the one who said no, but then actually went and did the work in the vineyard. And Jesus says, that's right.

In the same way, tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. That is, they said no to God and lived in disobedience, but now they've regretted it, they've repented, and they have believed God at his word. You guys said, yes, we want to follow God, but you've never actually been obedient. You've never actually been faithful to God.

And so you're not entering into the kingdom of God. But these tax collectors and harlots that you despise so greatly. They're entering into the kingdom of God before you. Because they've repented. They've been faithful to do the will of the Father. And so here again we see another warning from the Lord. You can miss out.

On God's kingdom. By disobedience. Again. It's that. Contrast between the outward display. And then where's the fruit. The Pharisees. The religious leaders. And you and I can fall into this trap so easily. We're really good at having the outward display. They looked good. They said yes. When the father said. Hey go to work in my vineyard.

But then their hearts were not there and they didn't actually serve the Lord. They weren't actually faithful to God. In verses 33 through 46, Jesus then says, the kingdom will be taken from you. So he's dealing pretty severely with these religious leaders. He gives them another parable. He talks about a landowner who planted a vineyard. He leased it to some vine dressers. He goes away. He sends servants back.

And the vinedressers abuse the servants, beat the servants, and kill the servants. So he sends some more and they do the same thing. So finally he sends his son. The vinedressers kill the son. And so he says, what is he going to do? And they say, well, he's going to come back, get rid of those wicked vinedressers and lease it to those who will give him the fruit at the appropriate time. And Jesus says, that's right. In the same way,

Verse 43, therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. So in the same way, he says, look, you, the religious leaders, the leadership of this nation, were entrusted with this vineyard, Israel, but I've sent my prophets and you've abused them. Now God has sent his son and you will abuse and kill him. And so he will take from you this vineyard and

And give it to those who will give him the fruit. And so that's why we see the shift in God's focus. Shifting from the nation of Israel to the church.

And God is now shining his light through the church. We are the light of the world. That will come to an end at the rapture of the church. And then God will shift his focus back to Israel. But in the meantime, for now, the focus is on the church. And so here I see another warning for us from the Lord. If you are not faithful, God will take away what he has given and he will give it to another who will be faithful.

If you're not faithful with what God has given to you, what God has called you to, then he will remove it. He'll take it away and he will give it to somebody else who will be faithful in that. And that could be true with resources. It could be true, you know, with a particular work that he wants to do. It could be true of a lot of things. There's a need for us to be faithful. And if we're not faithful, then God will bring someone else who will be faithful and he will allow them to participate in that work.

Well, as we've been doing throughout the book of Matthew, we want to take a moment and look at the references to the Old Testament that we find in the chapters. And there's quite a few here in chapter 21. The first one is in verse 4 and 5, going back to the time of the triumphal entry.

And it's a quotation from Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9, which is when Zechariah says that the king will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. And so Jesus fulfills this prophecy there in verse 4 and 5 as he publicly announces that he is the Messiah.

Then in verse 9, we see another reference to the Old Testament. As the crowd cries out as Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And this is a direct quotation. They're crying out the words of Psalm 118 verses 25 and 26. And so the crowd is calling out for immediate salvation. Hosanna means save now.

And so they're calling out for that immediate salvation, wanting Jesus to set up his kingdom right then and there. But also in doing so, they're openly declaring that they believe that he is the promised savior as well.

Then in verse 13, Jesus says, And so this is during the time as he's driving out the money changers. He says, Hey, my house is supposed to be a house of prayer. Quoting Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7. And,

And instead, you've made it a den of thieves, quoting Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 11. And I like how he says it there. He says, has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I have seen it, says the Lord. And so God wants them to know. It hasn't got past me. I know exactly what's going on. You're ripping the people off and it's not a house of prayer any longer.

Then in verse 16, as the people are praising Jesus, the religious leaders are upset. And they say, hey, you got to tell them to be quiet. And Jesus says, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have perfected praise? It's a quotation from Psalm chapter 8 verse 2. And Jesus brings it up because the chief priests are upset because the crowd is saying that Jesus is the Messiah.

And they say, don't you hear what's going on? They're saying that you're the Messiah. And Jesus says, yes, they are. And they're right. And so again, he's openly declaring here to be the promised savior as he enters into Jerusalem on that day. Well, the final reference in chapter 21 is in verse 42.

Jesus says to the religious leaders, have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing and it was marvelous in our eyes. This is a quotation from Psalm 119 verses 22 and 23. And Jesus is quoting this to tell the religious leaders that they are rejecting Jesus because

Who is the chief cornerstone. He is the chief stone. The chief cornerstone. As far as God's plan of salvation is concerned. And they have rejected this cornerstone. They have rejected Jesus Christ as Savior. Well that brings us now to chapter 22. Verse 29 is the key verse. It says, Jesus answered and said to them. You are mistaken not knowing the scriptures. Nor the power of God.

In verses 1 through 14, Jesus says that the kingdom is like a king who arranged a marriage for his son. So here in verses 1 through 14, he gives another parable. He casts it alongside a spiritual truth. And what is the parable? Well, it's a king who has a son who's getting married. And so he throws him a feast as was the custom in that day.

And he invites the guests. Now they would give two invitations, one well in advance and then one right before. And so he sends the servants, this is the second time, saying, hey, the feast is ready. It's time to come right now. But the guests would not come.

And in fact, Jesus says some of the guests killed the servants. Those who were invited, they abused the servants, they killed the servants. And so Jesus says the king sends out his armies and deals with those who mistreated his servants who invited them to the feast.

But now the problem is he still has a feast for his son for the wedding and there's not people there. And so he sends his servants out to the highways, to the byways, find whoever you can, bring them in. We want a full feast, a full celebration for my son's wedding.

And so they all come in. Now, one of the things that was part of their culture was when they invited you to a feast, they would send with that clothes for you to wear, wedding clothes for you to wear. And so as they're going out to the highways and byways, you know, it's not just coming your rags, but they're clothing them and bringing them into the feast. But as the king goes into the feast, he sees one guy who's not wearing the clothes that were provided. And he says, hey, what are you doing here without your wedding clothes?

And he didn't have anything to say. And so the king says, cast him out where there's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Here again is a warning. Jesus is saying, beware, watch out. You will be cast out if you do not respond to the invitation appropriately. You see, there's some people who reject Jesus from the get-go. And so, of course, they don't enter into the kingdom of God.

But there are also those who accept the invitation, but they don't change their clothes. That is, yeah, I want to get into heaven. I want to be saved, but I don't want to change my life. I don't want to put on righteousness. I want to wear my same dirty clothes and still be part of the feast. And Jesus is saying, watch out. You can't respond in that way with that heart and expect to be part of the feast.

If you show up in the wrong attire, if you're not clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, then you will be cast out of the feast. Well, in the next few passages, we see three groups try to trap Jesus in his words. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and then the lawyers or the scribes. So the first group is in verses 15 through 22. The Pharisees say, hey, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?

They try to trap Jesus in his words. They said, should we pay taxes or not? And so if he says, yes, we have to pay taxes, the people are going to be upset. If he says, no, we don't pay taxes, then we could report him to Rome and let Rome deal with it. They think they've got him. You know, we're going to catch him in his words.

But Jesus, of course, says in verse 21, hey, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. The things that belong to God, give to him. The things that belong to the government, give to them. Well, then the Sadducees try to trap him in verses 23 through 33, saying, whose wife will she be?

talking about the situation, hypothetical. There's a guy, he has a wife. He dies, no children. So his brother takes her as his wife. He dies, no children, all the way through seven brothers. So now in the resurrection, these seven guys had this one woman as their wife. Whose wife is she going to be? And Jesus explains, you guys are mistaken because you don't understand the scriptures. You don't understand the power of God.

And he explains there's not going to be marriage in heaven. There's not going to be that same relationship in heaven. You know the vows that we say till death do us part? I mean that's when it parts. There's a change there at death in eternity. That relationship will be different. But then Jesus goes on to challenge them about the resurrection. He says look you're mistaken in

I'm sorry, not that. He challenges them about the resurrection, quoting, hey, God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he says, he's not the God of the living, or the dead, but of the living. And so he challenges them because the Sadducees believed the first five books of the Bible. They believed the scriptures, but they didn't believe in the miraculous or supernatural and that kind of thing.

Verse 29 has always stood out to me. It's something that is highlighted in my head every time I read it. And that's why I made it the key verse as well. He says, you are mistaken not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. Now, I think this is interesting because I would say it this way. Whenever I am mistaken, which, you know, happens once or twice a year. Whenever I am mistaken, it's because of one of these things.

It's either I don't know the scriptures or I'm ignoring or, you know, disregarding God's word or I don't know the power of God. And I think you could look through, you know, some of the examples in the scripture of the different mistakes that were made, the different mistakes Abraham made, the different mistakes David made or Peter made or then look at my own life. The different mistakes that I make, they stem from one of these two things. Either I'm disregarding

What God has said in His Word. I don't know what God says about this action or this situation. Or I know what God says about it. But still I think I have to take things into my own hand. And I'm forgetting about the power of God. And the faithfulness of God to fulfill His Word. To accomplish His purposes.

And this becomes really the core, the basis for whatever mistakes I make. It's either one of these two. Either I'm disregarding God's word or I'm forgetting about or not trusting in the power of God to accomplish his purposes. And so I think that's interesting to consider. Well, finally, the third group tests him in verse 34 through 40. The lawyer comes and says, hey, which is the greatest commandment?

And Jesus responds. He gets the right answer, by the way. The first commandment, or the first most important commandment, is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And then he says the second command, the second greatest command is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. And these two commands sum up all of the prophets, all of the law. Love God, love your neighbor. Those are the primary things.

Well, then in verses 41 through 46, Jesus now challenges them. So they've been taking turns challenging him. And now he challenges them. He says, how does David call Christ Lord? Jesus challenges them, quoting from what David spoke. And we have to understand in their culture, no elder would ever call their descendant Lord.

Younger people would refer to elders as Lord, but it would never happen where an elder person would call one of their descendants Lord. But Jesus quotes this portion where David calls the Messiah Lord. And if he calls the Messiah Lord, it means that the Messiah is greater than David and the implication being that the Messiah is actually going to be God.

And so Jesus is here highlighting the fact that Jesus or the Messiah is God. Well, we have a few references to the Old Testament here in chapter 22.

The first one is in verse 24. This is where the Sadducees come to Jesus and say, Hey, Moses said if the guy dies, there's no children, that his brother should then take her as his wife and raise up a child in his name. And so they're quoting there from Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 5 as they try to prove that the resurrection idea is ridiculous. The next reference is in chapter 22 verses 31 through 32.

And here Jesus says, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And so here he quotes from Exodus chapter 3, verse 6. And as he challenges them back, he says, it doesn't make sense to reject the supernatural because God is the God of the living and not the dead.

Then verses 36 and 37 is the next reference to the Old Testament. As Jesus responds to the question, what's the greatest commandment? He quotes Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Then we have another reference in verse 39 as Jesus says, the second greatest commandment is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And that's a quotation from Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18. So just to pause for a moment, Jesus said, here's the two most important things you should be doing in your life. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And so if that's the most important thing we should be doing in our life, it's appropriate to evaluate. Just take a moment. How are you doing in that?

You doing good? You loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? It's the most important thing Jesus says that you need to be focused on. You need to be doing in your life. Secondly, he says love your neighbor as yourself. That's the second most important thing that you should be doing. That's priority two on your list of priorities for today. How well did you do? Are you doing well in loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself? Things to consider because Jesus said these are the most important things.

Well, the final reference in this chapter is in verse 43 and 44. Again, as he challenges the religious leaders, he says, It's a quotation from Psalm 110, verse 1.

Again, no elder would call their descendant Lord. And so it means that the Messiah is greater than David. The Messiah is God. Chapter 23 now, verse 25 is the key verse. He says,

Here in verses 1 through 12, Jesus tells us to not do the works of the Pharisees. He explains to the people in verse 3, listen, whatever they tell you to do, observe that. Because they sit in Moses' seat. They bring forth the scriptures. And so when they bring forth the scriptures, you need to be obedient. But don't do their works. Don't follow their example, okay?

Because, well, he says, they say and do not do. And so Jesus is explaining the scribes and Pharisees have authority. And so you need to be obedient as they bring forth the scriptures. Obey them, but don't follow their example because they don't obey the scriptures. So even though they don't obey, because they bring forth the scriptures, they have that role of authority, then you need to be obedient to them.

Now Jesus gives insight into what's really going on in verse 5. He says, "...all their works they do to be seen by men." They're doing all of this for an outward show. So listen to their words because they have that position of authority. But their hearts are wrong. So don't follow their example and just do things outwardly. Listen to the scriptures and be obedient. But don't follow their example.

Now Jesus gives a warning in verse 12. He says, whoever exalts himself will be humbled. And so this is a warning for us to consider. The Pharisees, the religious leaders, exalted themselves, made sure they appeared very righteous and religious, but they will be humbled because their hearts are not right. They are not actually obeying the scriptures. They're just putting on a show.

Well then in verses 13 through 36, Jesus pronounces woe to the scribes and the Pharisees in a bunch of different ways. He says woe to the scribes and Pharisees. In verse 13, he says you're hypocrites. He says you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. So he calls them hypocrites. Again, just putting on a show.

And he says, look, you're not saved. You're not going into the kingdom of God. Now they were very religious. This would be a shock. They were very religious. They were considered to be the most righteous of all the nation of Israel. And Jesus says, you're not entering into the kingdom of God. You are not saved. You're not saved. Religion can't save you. And so again, we see a warning here from Jesus.

Religious hypocrisy condemns you to hell. It doesn't save you. You can look really good. You can go through and be very meticulous. And that's what they did. But their hearts were wrong. He says you're devouring widows homes. You're fools. You're blind. You're hypocrites. He talks about their oaths and their ridiculous things that they would say about oaths. If you swear on this part of the temple it's not valid. You don't have to keep that oath. But if you

on this other thing, the gold, you know, of the altar. Well then, now you have to keep that oath because you swore on the gold and not the altar itself. And just all these little things that totally miss the point because their hearts are wrong. He talks about their tithing practices. He says, look, you guys tithe the tiny details.

So picture this. Let's say you've got an herb garden, right? And so, you know, you grow, I don't know, all the herbs are just like, I don't have them. So let's say you have a taco garden, okay? And so, and you're growing all this ground beef. And you measure out the ground beef, okay? And you make sure you get it 10%. Of all the ground beef that you get the whole year long, you measure it out, you make sure you get 10%.

All the seeds from the herbs, you're counting them out. Okay, one, two, three, 4,001, 4,002, 75,001. All right, now let's count 10% of those. They're making sure they tithe the tiniest details. But Jesus says you're neglecting the weightier matters of the law. Again, you're going through this outward motion saying, hey, look, I'm great because I tithe.

Look how faithful I am. I even tithe of these tiny little things. But your hearts are far from me. You're not changed. He says you cleanse the outside but not the inside. And so he tells him in verse 33, you serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell?

And so again, Jesus is making it very clear. This is strong words from the Lord. He's saying, it's a warning, religious hypocrisy condemns you to hell. You will not be saved by outward religion. Verses 37 through 39, Jesus now cries out, O Jerusalem, how I wanted to gather your children. Here Jesus laments, he cries out because he loves his people.

But as he looks over Jerusalem, he's thinking about how they've refused to hear him. He says, you're going to remain blind until the second coming of Jesus because you've rejected me on this day, on the day that I proclaimed myself to be the Messiah, the Savior. And here I see another warning from the Lord. Listen, you will miss out.

If you resist God's call. If you don't let him. You know like the author of Hebrews says. Today if you hear his voice. Don't harden your hearts. If you harden your heart. You'll miss out. And you'll be blind. Jesus wants to draw you near. He wants to draw you close. Let him. Don't resist it. Well there's a couple references here in chapter 23. The first one is in verse 35.

He talks about the religious leaders being guilty of the bloodshed of all the prophets. And he says from Abel all the way to Zechariah. And so Abel is mentioned there in Genesis chapter 4. Of course you have Cain and Abel.

And he was the first one to be murdered. And so from Abel all the way through Zechariah, and that's in 2 Chronicles chapter 24, that's the end really of the political history of the nation of Israel when the prophet Zechariah is killed. That's a different Zechariah than the book Zechariah, but he was a prophet in 2 Chronicles 24 and he's killed. And so Jesus says, they all spoke of me.

And your forefathers killed them. But now you've rejected me, the one who they spoke about. And so you're guilty of not just my blood, you know, putting me to death. But all of those prophets from the very beginning all the way through Zechariah.

Well then in verse 39 we see the other reference. He says, I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And so this is a quotation from Psalm 118, 26. Now there was a group of people who were just saying this at the triumphal entry, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. But Israel as a whole has rejected Jesus. That group at triumphal entry received Jesus, but

The nation as a whole rejected Jesus. And Jesus says, you will not say that then until the second coming. You won't see me again, he says, until you say, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And so that's a reference to when he will come again at the second coming of Jesus. Well, our last chapter of the evening, chapter 24, verse 3 is the key verse.

It says, Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? So in verses 1 through 3, the disciples ask, What will be the sign of your coming? Now this comes about because the disciples are showing Jesus the amazing buildings of the temple.

Herod had spent many, many years building up and beautifying the temple and all the buildings around it. And so it was impressive. It was huge. It was beautiful. And the disciples are amazed. They're like, wow, check this out.

And Jesus says, yeah, it looks nice, but not one stone will be left upon another. That is, the whole thing is going to be completely leveled. And that happened in 70 AD when Rome attacked Jerusalem.

But the disciples say, when is this going to happen? When are these things going to be? What's going to be the sign of your coming? And what's going to be the sign of the end of the age? And so Jesus now goes on this explanation of the end times events and the future things that the disciples can expect. And so in verses 4 through 14, he says, nation will rise against nation.

Now these things that Jesus is describing here began happening really immediately after Jesus ascended to heaven. And they will continue to happen until the end. He says, you'll see these things, but it's not the end yet. But we see that they will be increasing as we get closer and closer to the end. And so he says, many are going to deceive in my name. There's going to be wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, etc.

He says in verse 8, all these are the beginnings of sorrows. So this isn't, you know, the final end. This is just the signs of the times. This is just part of, you know, the things that will be increasing until the end. Then in verses 15 through 28, he says, flee when you see the abomination of desolation. So the great tribulation...

Starts now. When you see the abomination. That's when you really know this is it. This is the worst of the worst is about to come. When you see the abomination of desolation. That's the primary sign of the great tribulation. Now this is talking about an event where the Antichrist. Future leader to come on the scene. He will proclaim that he is God.

In the temple. And demand to be worshipped. And so that is the abomination of desolation. And when that happens. Jesus says. Get out of there. Because now it's going to get as bad as it could ever be.

He says in verse 27 about his return, "...as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man." And so that's going to happen. Get out of there. And then at the end when Jesus returns, it's going to be clear. It's going to be apparent. It's going to be obvious. He will return at the end of the tribulation period. And it will be as lightning flashing from the east to the west. In verses 29 through 31, he says that the Son of Man will appear...

the Son of Man is going to appear at the end of the tribulation period. And so all of this will happen, these signs and all these tribulations, the abomination of desolation, and then Jesus Christ will return. The people will say, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord as Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom to reign upon the earth for a thousand years.

And then in verses 32 through 51, he says, be ready because no one knows the day or the hour. Be ready. And so here we find the final warnings. He gives the parable of a fig tree. He says, look, when you see a fig tree and you see the leaves on it, you know then that summer is near. And so I've listed all these different signs to you. When you see these things happening, you know that it's near, that it's at the doors, right?

And so the point is, he says, be ready. He gives a warning. He says, beware, watch out, pay attention because no one knows the day or the hour. No one knows when Jesus will return. He says in verse 42, watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. And so he talks about the future events but then he brings it back to us. He says, look guys, you need to be ready because you don't know

What time Jesus will return. You don't know what time you'll be caught up to meet him. That hour is not known. It's going to come unexpectedly. You're going to be caught off guard. And so you need to be on guard. You need to be ready. He then talks about in verse, well in the end verses, verse 48, the evil servant. He says, blessed is the one who's a faithful servant who's found being faithful when the Lord comes.

But woe to the evil servant because he says, hey, my master is delaying his coming. And so he begins to act inappropriately and is caught off guard and is cast out when the master returns. The warning is if you are not looking for his return, you will be cast out. You will weep and gnash your teeth. There's a couple of references to the Old Testament here in chapter 24. Verse 15 is the first one.

He says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. And so Daniel chapter 11 verse 31 is one reference where Daniel talks about the abomination of desolation. You can also find it in Daniel chapter 9 and Daniel chapter 12. But the final reference and the final thought for the evening is in Matthew 24, 37.

In this final portion where Jesus is telling us to be ready, he says, as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. And so you could look back there at Genesis chapter 7, Noah and the flood that came upon the earth. Jesus' point here, he talks about the days of Noah, he says, as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be with the coming of the Son of Man.

His point is, watch. Again, verse 42. Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming. His point is, in the days of Noah, people continued to live their lives as if tomorrow was going to be just like today. Next week was going to be just like this week. Next month was going to be just like this month. Next year was going to be just like this year. We have all the time in the world. We're just going to continue to go on. And so people were still getting married.

They were setting wedding dates for after the flood was going to start. Thinking that, yeah, we'll be around until then. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage. They were living their lives normally. So that when the flood came, they were caught off guard. Jesus says, my return will be like that. So watch out. Pay attention. Again, it's the warning. You don't know when Jesus will return.

You can't assume that you'll be around next week. You can't assume that you'll be around tomorrow. You need to be living for Jesus today. You need to be pursuing Jesus today. You need to be loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength today. You need to be loving your neighbor as yourself today. You can't wait until tomorrow because you don't know if you even have tomorrow. Today's your chance. Today's your opportunity. Watch, therefore. No one knows the day or the hour.

Yeah, make your plans. It's wise to plan. You need to plan. But don't think that just because you have a plan, it doesn't mean that Jesus might not come back tonight. Because he might. He could come back right now. Would you be ready? Would you have all the loose ends tied up? All those conversations that you need to have, would you have had them? Be ready. Watch therefore. You do not know when your master will return. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us. Lord, impress upon us a sense of urgency. Help us not to be complacent, thinking that tomorrow will be exactly like today. Because it might not be. You could return at any moment. And so God, I pray that you would help us to be watching, to be ready, to be waiting, to be looking for you, passionate about you. And Lord, knowing that you're about to return today,

Help us to put first things first, to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourself. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.