August 12, 2025 • 19 mins
Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem fulfilling prophecy as crowds proclaim Him as King, then demonstrates His authority by cleansing the temple of corrupt money changers who were exploiting worshippers. Through parables and confrontations with religious leaders, He reveals how true faith must bear fruit rather than merely maintain religious appearances.
• Jesus deliberately fulfills Zechariah's prophecy by entering Jerusalem on a donkey's colt
• Crowds spread garments and palm branches as a "red carpet" for the King
• Temple cleansing targets exploitation, not legitimate services for worshippers
• The withered fig tree symbolizes Jerusalem's fruitless religious appearance
• Religious leaders challenge Jesus's authority but are silenced by His wisdom
• Parable of two sons shows actions matter more than words in following God
• Parable of wicked tenants reveals how religious leaders rejected God's messengers
• Jesus identifies Himself as the cornerstone rejected by the builders
• Tax collectors and prostitutes enter God's kingdom before religious leaders who refuse to repent
Before you read God's Word, pray: "Holy Spirit, today speak to my heart and change my life." If you go looking for treasure in Scripture, you'll find it every time.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon, today, matthew, chapter 21,.
And today's title is when theKing Comes, he Brings Order.
When the Kingdom Comes, heBrings Order.
It reminds me of a story onetime that my dad used to tell,
and he would say that wheneverhis dad was in the military.
(00:23):
And he said that whenever hisdad was in the military.
And he said that whenever hisdad was out of town doing
whatever he was in the Navy.
So he'd go out on a boat for awhile and he said while he was
gone that they would do theirbest to obey.
But he had two brothers, so atotal of three.
He said from time to time theywould give their mom a hard time
and all this kind of stuff.
And he said that whenever hisdad would come home, they would
(00:48):
be so upset because when theywould get in trouble they would
have to write a letter to theirdad.
And he said they would meet,they would have dinner together,
he would have, his dad wouldhave gifts for all of them, and
then, when he was done andeverything was settled, he said
my grandfather would pull outthose letters and he would say
okay, sons, it's time to putthings back in order.
He would say that it wassometimes good, because
(01:10):
sometimes the letters would beabout good things they had done
and sometimes not so much.
We're going to read today aboutJesus who's got some letters.
He's going to put some thingsback in order.
So we'll get into all that injust a moment.
But if you like what we'redoing here while you're getting
your Bible out, getting readyfor Matthew chapter 21, make
sure you take just a moment tolike, share and subscribe to the
YouTube channel and the podcast.
(01:30):
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
it really does help.
But also make sure you go intothe Bible Breakdown discussion
on Facebook.
They're doing a wonderful jobover there writing devotions
every day, and the more we dig,the more we find, and you can
get links to all of this atthebiblebreakdowncom.
All right, well, once again, ifyou've been joining us, get
your Bible out, get your coffeeready to go, get everything
(01:51):
where it needs to be.
Make sure you remember so youcan kind of get the context with
us that the overall goal ofMatthew was to talk about King
Jesus.
Jesus is the rightful king and,as we've been saying every day
because my hope is that it getsstuck in your head forever is
that in chapter 1, matthew comesout swinging.
He's like I have got thereceipts to prove that Jesus is
(02:12):
at least the king of the Jews,but he's also the king overall.
And he spends chapter 2 through28 talking about what that
means.
And actually yesterday, when wefinished up at the end of
chapter 20, we saw how those twoblind men were saying Jesus,
son of David.
So they knew that Jesus had aclaim to the throne.
(02:35):
They knew that there was moreto Jesus than just a rabbi, just
a teacher.
And when they started callingthat out, jesus was like what
you want, I got you buddies,what you want.
And he healed them.
And then they followed him.
Well, where are they followinghim?
Well, they're following him toJerusalem.
Now here's something that youneed to know about this before
we get into this this is not thefirst time Jesus had been to
(02:57):
Jerusalem.
I know that sometimes peoplethink that, but here's the thing
In Jewish society, at least themen of the heads of household,
this kind of thing they wereheavily suggested slash required
to go to Jerusalem between oneand three times a year at least
for the major feasts.
So Jesus has been to Jerusalemover and over and over again,
(03:22):
but this time is different.
At this point he has been inhis public ministry for three
years.
He has fed thousands of people,taught thousands of people,
healed so many people.
The crowd around him is justcrazy and he knows it is time.
The Passover is coming.
That is the time when Jesusknows his time has come to be
(03:42):
crucified rise again.
But at this point the feverpitch about Jesus is through the
roof.
I mean, everybody knows there'ssomething special about this
guy, jesus, and so he is in thissituation now where there are
people all around him who arestarting to believe he's the
Messiah.
What we don't know about inMatthew but we read about in the
book of John.
(04:03):
Jesus is at the height of hisministry because he just got
through raising Lazarus from thedead, and so people are like
only the Messiah can do that.
And so there is this amazingmoment here where Jesus is
talking about the kingdom of Godand now he's coming in as a
conquering king.
So we're going to read aboutthis and watch how the king
(04:23):
starts putting his kingdom intoorder.
He's got his letters and he'sabout to wreck shop.
So here we go.
Matthew 21, verse 1, says thisas Jesus and the disciples
approached Jerusalem, they cameto the town of Bethphage on the
Mount of Olives, and then Jesussent two of them on ahead.
(04:43):
Go into the village over there.
He said.
As soon as you enter it, youwill see a donkey tied there
with its colt beside it.
Untie them and bring it to me.
If anyone asks what you aredoing, say the Lord needs them
and he will immediately let youtake them.
This took place to fulfill theprophecy that said, tell the
people of Jerusalem look, yourking is coming to you.
(05:05):
He is humble, riding on adonkey, riding on a donkey's
colt.
The two disciples did as Jesuscommanded.
They brought the donkey and thecolt to him and threw their
garments over the colt and hesat on it.
Most of the crowd spread theirgarments on the road ahead of
him, with others cut branchesfrom the trees to spread them on
(05:26):
the road.
Jesus was in the center of theprocession and all the people
around him were shouting PraiseGod for the Son of David,
blessing on the one who comes inthe name of the Lord, praise
God in the highest heaven, andthe entire city of Jerusalem was
in an uproar as he entered.
Who is this?
They asked, and the crowdsreplied this is Jesus, the
(05:47):
prophet from Nazareth andGalilee.
Jesus entered the temple andbegan to drive out all the
people buying and sellinganimals for sacrifice.
He knocked over the tables forthe money changers, in the
chairs of those who are sellingdoves, and he said to them the
scriptures declare my templewill be called a house of prayer
.
That's a hard word.
And they asked Jesus, do youhear what these children are
(06:26):
saying?
Yes, jesus replied.
Haven't you read from thescriptures?
For they say, you have taughtchildren and infants to give you
praise.
Then they returned to Bethanyand they stayed there overnight.
Now pause, a couple of thingsare happening here that I think
that are important Now.
First of all, jesus knows thescripture.
(06:47):
He wrote it.
He's the one who inspired theHoly Spirit, part of the Trinity
.
The Godhead inspired theseprophets to write this down.
So Jesus knows that now it istime for the prophecy to be
fulfilled.
So he tells his disciples go,get a baby donkey, a colt, so I
(07:07):
can ride it into the city ofJerusalem, because I'm
fulfilling the prophecies andthe reason why they would have
put their coats and palmbranches over the road is.
This is a road, right, there areno cars, and so people were
walking through this, and so itwas very uneven, unstable, and
what it was is it was intendedto soften the journey of the
colt so it doesn't stumble.
It's a colt, it's a baby donkey, it's going to be easy for it
(07:30):
to stumble, and so they aredoing this to create as much of
a flat surface as possible sothat it doesn't hit its feet up
against rocks and stuff likethat.
So that's the point is, it'stheir way of pulling out the red
carpet.
Okay, that's basically whatthey are doing.
Then what is happening is theyare praising God for the son of
David, in other words, the sonof David, remember the rightful
(07:53):
king of Israel.
So they're starting to proclaimhim as a possible king.
That's why the Pharisees andSadducees are getting angry.
They're saying now, wait aminute.
We got no problem saying thatyou call yourself a prophet.
We can't deny the miraclesyou're doing, but they're
calling you a king.
That's not okay with us.
And Jesus is saying wait aminute, it's the children that
(08:15):
have perfect praise.
So, in other words, he's notdenying it.
The second thing is and this iskind of a hobby horse, kind of a
soapbox for me as a pastor.
The Bible said that Jesus wentinto the temple and he threw out
the money changers and thosewho are buying and selling for
animal sacrifices.
The reason why this is a bigdeal to me is because at our
church if you're part of reallife church in Bowling Green,
(08:38):
kentucky we have a cafe in ourchurch.
It's called Hope Cafe.
The proceeds of everything thatwe buy, everything we sell,
rather go to support missionsall over the world and we have
had people who have told us theyweren't coming back because we
were in direct conflict withscripture, because we were
buying and selling in the quoteunquote temple, and we've even
(08:58):
had people leave us bad reviewson social media saying because
of that.
So I'm gonna clear this up foryou real quick.
It was not a bad thing at whatthey were doing.
People were coming from allover the known world.
Jewish people that were allover the world were coming to
Jerusalem and one of the thingsthey were supposed to do,
especially on the Passover, isthey were supposed to present to
(09:19):
God a lamb without a spot,without a blemish, without
anything spotless, and sacrificeit.
Well, here's the thing For someof these people, it would take
them a month or two to get fromwhere they were over to
Jerusalem In that time.
If they took a lamb it is nowno longer a newborn lamb, now
there is time for it to havespots and blemishes and stuff
(09:41):
like that and so it was aservice to the people to provide
the opportunity for them to beable to do these things.
So, in other words, the factthat they were selling resources
at the temple was not theproblem.
The problem was is they weregouging the people.
So, in other words, if a lambcost and this is not true
numbers, but if a lamb cost $10,well, because they knew these
(10:04):
people kind of didn't have achoice, they would charge them
$50.
And what are you going to do Ifyou don't buy a lamb from them?
You don't have a choice.
They would charge them $50.
And what are you going to do Ifyou don't buy a lamb from them?
You don't have one, you can'tworship.
So, in other words, they weregouging the people.
The problem was not and you canread this in a lot of the old
historical information it wasnot that they were not providing
a service.
They are well within theirright.
(10:25):
It was they had turned whatshould have been a service to
the people into a money-makingscheme.
That was the problem.
That is why we are so quick totell people at Real Life Church
all of the money that we receivefrom Hope Cafe goes into
missions.
We don't take a cut of that.
All right, it goes intomissions, because that's what
it's for, because we don't wantto be accused of this.
(10:45):
But there's nothing wrong withit, as long as it is a service
to the people of God, not ahindrance.
Okay, here we go.
Next we have verse 18.
In the morning Jesus wasreturning to Jerusalem and he
was hungry.
He noticed a fig tree besidethe road.
He went over to see if therewere any figs, but there were
only leaves and he said may younever bear fruit again.
(11:05):
And immediately the fig treewithered up.
The disciples were amazed whenthey saw this and they said wait
a minute.
How did that fig tree wither soquickly?
And then Jesus told them I tellyou the truth If you have faith
and don't doubt, you can dothings like this and much more.
You can even say to thismountain may you be lifted up
and thrown into the sea and itwill happen.
(11:25):
You can pray for anything andif you have faith, you will
receive it.
Now pause again.
There's two things happeninghere.
Number one is the fig tree wasa symbol of Jerusalem, and that
is that he went to look forsomething.
He went to look for somethingto fill him up and instead of
seeing fruit, he saw leaves.
He only approached the fig treebecause it had leaves, which
(11:46):
means it looked good.
But the reality was is itlooked good, but it wasn't good,
and it was a symbol ofJerusalem.
Jerusalem looked good, full ofpeople doing worship.
When you look closer, there wasno true worship, there was no
fruit, and so Jesus was actuallysaying it looks good here, but
it's not good.
The second thing is is it'simportant to realize in verse 21
and 22, because it has beenco-opted so much, where Jesus is
(12:08):
saying if you have faith anddon't doubt, you can do anything
.
You can say to a mountain belifted up and thrown into the
sea, and it will happen.
Well, some people, who onlyread this verse and don't put it
into context, they think thatmeans that you can ask God for
anything you want and he has todo it, but you have to read it
(12:29):
in context.
And Jesus is actually sayingthat you can in faith and don't
doubt, but it also has to lineup with the will of God.
If you ask and don't doubt, inalignment with the will of God,
god will give it to you.
But a lot of people don't putthat in the will of God in there
.
All right, here we go, verse23,.
Let's finish this up.
When Jesus returned to thetemple, he began teaching and
the leading priests and elderscame up to him and they demanded
by what authority do you dothese things?
(12:51):
Who gave you this right?
He said well, I will tell youby what authority I do these
things, if you will answer onequestion Did John's authority to
baptize come from heaven ormerely human?
They talked it over amongthemselves and they said that if
we say it was from heaven, hewill ask us why we didn't
believe John.
It's a good question, but if wesay merely human, we will be
(13:11):
mobbed because the peoplebelieve John was a prophet.
So then they replied we don'tknow.
And then Jesus responded then Iwon't tell you by what
authority I do these things, butwhat do you think about this?
A man had two sons and he toldthe older boy Son, go out and
work in my vineyard today.
The son answered no, I won't go.
(13:31):
But later he changed his mindand he went away.
He went anyway.
Then the father told the otherson you go?
And he said, yes, sir, I will.
But he didn't go.
Which two obeyed the father?
They replied the first.
Then Jesus explained themeaning.
I tell you the truth taxcollectors, corrupt tax
collectors and prostitutes willenter the kingdom of God before
you do.
For John the Baptist came andshowed you the right way to live
(13:55):
, but you didn't believe him,while tax collectors and
prostitutes did.
And even when you saw thishappening, you refused to
believe him and repent of yoursins.
(14:20):
Now listen to another story.
His servants to collect hisshare of the crop.
But the farmers grabbed hisservants, beat one, killed one
and stoned another.
The landowner sent a largergroup of servants to collect
from him, but the results werethe same.
Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking surely they'll
respect my son.
But when the tenant farmers sawhis son coming, they said to
(14:43):
one another here comes the heirof his estate.
Come on, let's kill him and getthe estate for ourselves.
So they grabbed him, draggedhim out of the vineyard and
murdered him.
When the owner of the vineyardreturns, jesus asked what do you
think he will do to thosefarmers?
The religious leaders repliedhe will put the wicked men to a
horrible death and lease thevineyard to others who will give
(15:05):
him his share of the cropsafter the harvest.
And Jesus asked them Didn't youever read in the scriptures
that the stone that the buildersrejected has now become the
cornerstone?
This is the Lord's doing.
It is wonderful to see.
I tell you, kingdom of God willbe taken away from you and
given to a nation that willproduce the proper fruit.
(15:26):
Anyone who stumbles over thatstone will be broken to pieces
and it will crush anyone itfalls on.
When the leading priests andPharisees heard this parable,
they realized he was telling astory about them.
They were the wicked farmersand they wanted to arrest him.
They were afraid of the crowds,because those crowds consider
Jesus to be a prophet.
(15:47):
Wow.
So the reason why we call thischapter when the king comes, he
sets things in order is becausethat's what he's doing.
He comes in with this greatshout of the people, he sets the
temple in order, he starts toheal people and then he starts
to set the leaders in order andsay, hey, for a long time you've
(16:09):
known what was right, but youdidn't do it.
There were other people whodidn't do it at first and now
they do.
I'm going to honor those,because I'd rather honor the
people who are doing it rightthan the people who know to do
good and are not doing it.
He's setting the kingdom inorder.
That is one of the things I loveabout us reading through God's
word one chapter at a time iswhen we do, god is setting his
(16:33):
kingdom in order in our lives,and when we think about that,
then, when we're going throughGod's word, it becomes a joy and
an honor.
When God points out things thatwe need to work on, because
he's not sitting there pointingthings out, because he's not
sitting there pointing thingsout because he's trying to shame
us or embarrass us, think aboutthat.
Why would God do that?
He's, he's God, he's not.
He has nothing out of shamingor embarrassing us.
(16:55):
He does get something out of uswalking closer to him, and so,
therefore, when we read God'sword and he puts things in order
, he, he kind of gets on to usevery once in a while.
You know, just like he droveout those who are buying and
selling and gouging the people.
And he does this over there,does that over there.
What he's doing is he's tryingto set his kingdom back in order
, which you know, just like Iwas telling you about my dad
(17:18):
that when my grandfather wouldcome in, they would celebrate,
they'd have dinner together andthen he'd pull out his letters
together.
And then you pull out hisletters and say, okay, guys,
it's time to set things back inorder.
And so I want to ask you thisquestion when you go to God's
word, are you willing to go toGod's word and say, okay, god,
set my life in order.
If your word says to dosomething, I'm going to do it.
When your word says to not dosomething, I'm not going to do
(17:39):
it?
That's what it means to be aChrist follower.
We follow Christ and we realizethat's the best place to be.
So I'm going to challenge youwhen we're reading through God's
word, before you start theYouTube video or start the
podcast, pray and say HolySpirit, today, speak to my heart
, change my life.
And if you go looking fortreasure, you're going to find
it every time.
(17:59):
Let's pray together, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your word, thankyou that you speak your truth to
us, and your truth is the truth.
It leads us, it guides us, itchallenges us, it heals us, it
encourages us.
I pray that every day weencounter your word, we'll
encounter you, and that you, god, will set in order our lives so
(18:19):
that we can live free every day.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amenand amen, god's word says Jesus
said in Matthew 28, verse 19,.
If you know it, say it with me.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations.
No-transcript.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon, today, matthew, chapter 21,.
And today's title is when theKing Comes, he Brings Order.
When the Kingdom Comes, heBrings Order.
It reminds me of a story onetime that my dad used to tell,
and he would say that wheneverhis dad was in the military.
(00:23):
And he said that whenever hisdad was in the military.
And he said that whenever hisdad was out of town doing
whatever he was in the Navy.
So he'd go out on a boat for awhile and he said while he was
gone that they would do theirbest to obey.
But he had two brothers, so atotal of three.
He said from time to time theywould give their mom a hard time
and all this kind of stuff.
And he said that whenever hisdad would come home, they would
(00:48):
be so upset because when theywould get in trouble they would
have to write a letter to theirdad.
And he said they would meet,they would have dinner together,
he would have, his dad wouldhave gifts for all of them, and
then, when he was done andeverything was settled, he said
my grandfather would pull outthose letters and he would say
okay, sons, it's time to putthings back in order.
He would say that it wassometimes good, because
(01:10):
sometimes the letters would beabout good things they had done
and sometimes not so much.
We're going to read today aboutJesus who's got some letters.
He's going to put some thingsback in order.
So we'll get into all that injust a moment.
But if you like what we'redoing here while you're getting
your Bible out, getting readyfor Matthew chapter 21, make
sure you take just a moment tolike, share and subscribe to the
YouTube channel and the podcast.
(01:30):
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
it really does help.
But also make sure you go intothe Bible Breakdown discussion
on Facebook.
They're doing a wonderful jobover there writing devotions
every day, and the more we dig,the more we find, and you can
get links to all of this atthebiblebreakdowncom.
All right, well, once again, ifyou've been joining us, get
your Bible out, get your coffeeready to go, get everything
(01:51):
where it needs to be.
Make sure you remember so youcan kind of get the context with
us that the overall goal ofMatthew was to talk about King
Jesus.
Jesus is the rightful king and,as we've been saying every day
because my hope is that it getsstuck in your head forever is
that in chapter 1, matthew comesout swinging.
He's like I have got thereceipts to prove that Jesus is
(02:12):
at least the king of the Jews,but he's also the king overall.
And he spends chapter 2 through28 talking about what that
means.
And actually yesterday, when wefinished up at the end of
chapter 20, we saw how those twoblind men were saying Jesus,
son of David.
So they knew that Jesus had aclaim to the throne.
(02:35):
They knew that there was moreto Jesus than just a rabbi, just
a teacher.
And when they started callingthat out, jesus was like what
you want, I got you buddies,what you want.
And he healed them.
And then they followed him.
Well, where are they followinghim?
Well, they're following him toJerusalem.
Now here's something that youneed to know about this before
we get into this this is not thefirst time Jesus had been to
(02:57):
Jerusalem.
I know that sometimes peoplethink that, but here's the thing
In Jewish society, at least themen of the heads of household,
this kind of thing they wereheavily suggested slash required
to go to Jerusalem between oneand three times a year at least
for the major feasts.
So Jesus has been to Jerusalemover and over and over again,
(03:22):
but this time is different.
At this point he has been inhis public ministry for three
years.
He has fed thousands of people,taught thousands of people,
healed so many people.
The crowd around him is justcrazy and he knows it is time.
The Passover is coming.
That is the time when Jesusknows his time has come to be
(03:42):
crucified rise again.
But at this point the feverpitch about Jesus is through the
roof.
I mean, everybody knows there'ssomething special about this
guy, jesus, and so he is in thissituation now where there are
people all around him who arestarting to believe he's the
Messiah.
What we don't know about inMatthew but we read about in the
book of John.
(04:03):
Jesus is at the height of hisministry because he just got
through raising Lazarus from thedead, and so people are like
only the Messiah can do that.
And so there is this amazingmoment here where Jesus is
talking about the kingdom of Godand now he's coming in as a
conquering king.
So we're going to read aboutthis and watch how the king
(04:23):
starts putting his kingdom intoorder.
He's got his letters and he'sabout to wreck shop.
So here we go.
Matthew 21, verse 1, says thisas Jesus and the disciples
approached Jerusalem, they cameto the town of Bethphage on the
Mount of Olives, and then Jesussent two of them on ahead.
(04:43):
Go into the village over there.
He said.
As soon as you enter it, youwill see a donkey tied there
with its colt beside it.
Untie them and bring it to me.
If anyone asks what you aredoing, say the Lord needs them
and he will immediately let youtake them.
This took place to fulfill theprophecy that said, tell the
people of Jerusalem look, yourking is coming to you.
(05:05):
He is humble, riding on adonkey, riding on a donkey's
colt.
The two disciples did as Jesuscommanded.
They brought the donkey and thecolt to him and threw their
garments over the colt and hesat on it.
Most of the crowd spread theirgarments on the road ahead of
him, with others cut branchesfrom the trees to spread them on
(05:26):
the road.
Jesus was in the center of theprocession and all the people
around him were shouting PraiseGod for the Son of David,
blessing on the one who comes inthe name of the Lord, praise
God in the highest heaven, andthe entire city of Jerusalem was
in an uproar as he entered.
Who is this?
They asked, and the crowdsreplied this is Jesus, the
(05:47):
prophet from Nazareth andGalilee.
Jesus entered the temple andbegan to drive out all the
people buying and sellinganimals for sacrifice.
He knocked over the tables forthe money changers, in the
chairs of those who are sellingdoves, and he said to them the
scriptures declare my templewill be called a house of prayer
.
That's a hard word.
And they asked Jesus, do youhear what these children are
(06:26):
saying?
Yes, jesus replied.
Haven't you read from thescriptures?
For they say, you have taughtchildren and infants to give you
praise.
Then they returned to Bethanyand they stayed there overnight.
Now pause, a couple of thingsare happening here that I think
that are important Now.
First of all, jesus knows thescripture.
(06:47):
He wrote it.
He's the one who inspired theHoly Spirit, part of the Trinity
.
The Godhead inspired theseprophets to write this down.
So Jesus knows that now it istime for the prophecy to be
fulfilled.
So he tells his disciples go,get a baby donkey, a colt, so I
(07:07):
can ride it into the city ofJerusalem, because I'm
fulfilling the prophecies andthe reason why they would have
put their coats and palmbranches over the road is.
This is a road, right, there areno cars, and so people were
walking through this, and so itwas very uneven, unstable, and
what it was is it was intendedto soften the journey of the
colt so it doesn't stumble.
It's a colt, it's a baby donkey, it's going to be easy for it
(07:30):
to stumble, and so they aredoing this to create as much of
a flat surface as possible sothat it doesn't hit its feet up
against rocks and stuff likethat.
So that's the point is, it'stheir way of pulling out the red
carpet.
Okay, that's basically whatthey are doing.
Then what is happening is theyare praising God for the son of
David, in other words, the sonof David, remember the rightful
(07:53):
king of Israel.
So they're starting to proclaimhim as a possible king.
That's why the Pharisees andSadducees are getting angry.
They're saying now, wait aminute.
We got no problem saying thatyou call yourself a prophet.
We can't deny the miraclesyou're doing, but they're
calling you a king.
That's not okay with us.
And Jesus is saying wait aminute, it's the children that
(08:15):
have perfect praise.
So, in other words, he's notdenying it.
The second thing is and this iskind of a hobby horse, kind of a
soapbox for me as a pastor.
The Bible said that Jesus wentinto the temple and he threw out
the money changers and thosewho are buying and selling for
animal sacrifices.
The reason why this is a bigdeal to me is because at our
church if you're part of reallife church in Bowling Green,
(08:38):
kentucky we have a cafe in ourchurch.
It's called Hope Cafe.
The proceeds of everything thatwe buy, everything we sell,
rather go to support missionsall over the world and we have
had people who have told us theyweren't coming back because we
were in direct conflict withscripture, because we were
buying and selling in the quoteunquote temple, and we've even
(08:58):
had people leave us bad reviewson social media saying because
of that.
So I'm gonna clear this up foryou real quick.
It was not a bad thing at whatthey were doing.
People were coming from allover the known world.
Jewish people that were allover the world were coming to
Jerusalem and one of the thingsthey were supposed to do,
especially on the Passover, isthey were supposed to present to
(09:19):
God a lamb without a spot,without a blemish, without
anything spotless, and sacrificeit.
Well, here's the thing For someof these people, it would take
them a month or two to get fromwhere they were over to
Jerusalem In that time.
If they took a lamb it is nowno longer a newborn lamb, now
there is time for it to havespots and blemishes and stuff
(09:41):
like that and so it was aservice to the people to provide
the opportunity for them to beable to do these things.
So, in other words, the factthat they were selling resources
at the temple was not theproblem.
The problem was is they weregouging the people.
So, in other words, if a lambcost and this is not true
numbers, but if a lamb cost $10,well, because they knew these
(10:04):
people kind of didn't have achoice, they would charge them
$50.
And what are you going to do Ifyou don't buy a lamb from them?
You don't have a choice.
They would charge them $50.
And what are you going to do Ifyou don't buy a lamb from them?
You don't have one, you can'tworship.
So, in other words, they weregouging the people.
The problem was not and you canread this in a lot of the old
historical information it wasnot that they were not providing
a service.
They are well within theirright.
(10:25):
It was they had turned whatshould have been a service to
the people into a money-makingscheme.
That was the problem.
That is why we are so quick totell people at Real Life Church
all of the money that we receivefrom Hope Cafe goes into
missions.
We don't take a cut of that.
All right, it goes intomissions, because that's what
it's for, because we don't wantto be accused of this.
(10:45):
But there's nothing wrong withit, as long as it is a service
to the people of God, not ahindrance.
Okay, here we go.
Next we have verse 18.
In the morning Jesus wasreturning to Jerusalem and he
was hungry.
He noticed a fig tree besidethe road.
He went over to see if therewere any figs, but there were
only leaves and he said may younever bear fruit again.
(11:05):
And immediately the fig treewithered up.
The disciples were amazed whenthey saw this and they said wait
a minute.
How did that fig tree wither soquickly?
And then Jesus told them I tellyou the truth If you have faith
and don't doubt, you can dothings like this and much more.
You can even say to thismountain may you be lifted up
and thrown into the sea and itwill happen.
(11:25):
You can pray for anything andif you have faith, you will
receive it.
Now pause again.
There's two things happeninghere.
Number one is the fig tree wasa symbol of Jerusalem, and that
is that he went to look forsomething.
He went to look for somethingto fill him up and instead of
seeing fruit, he saw leaves.
He only approached the fig treebecause it had leaves, which
(11:46):
means it looked good.
But the reality was is itlooked good, but it wasn't good,
and it was a symbol ofJerusalem.
Jerusalem looked good, full ofpeople doing worship.
When you look closer, there wasno true worship, there was no
fruit, and so Jesus was actuallysaying it looks good here, but
it's not good.
The second thing is is it'simportant to realize in verse 21
and 22, because it has beenco-opted so much, where Jesus is
(12:08):
saying if you have faith anddon't doubt, you can do anything
.
You can say to a mountain belifted up and thrown into the
sea, and it will happen.
Well, some people, who onlyread this verse and don't put it
into context, they think thatmeans that you can ask God for
anything you want and he has todo it, but you have to read it
(12:29):
in context.
And Jesus is actually sayingthat you can in faith and don't
doubt, but it also has to lineup with the will of God.
If you ask and don't doubt, inalignment with the will of God,
god will give it to you.
But a lot of people don't putthat in the will of God in there
.
All right, here we go, verse23,.
Let's finish this up.
When Jesus returned to thetemple, he began teaching and
the leading priests and elderscame up to him and they demanded
by what authority do you dothese things?
(12:51):
Who gave you this right?
He said well, I will tell youby what authority I do these
things, if you will answer onequestion Did John's authority to
baptize come from heaven ormerely human?
They talked it over amongthemselves and they said that if
we say it was from heaven, hewill ask us why we didn't
believe John.
It's a good question, but if wesay merely human, we will be
(13:11):
mobbed because the peoplebelieve John was a prophet.
So then they replied we don'tknow.
And then Jesus responded then Iwon't tell you by what
authority I do these things, butwhat do you think about this?
A man had two sons and he toldthe older boy Son, go out and
work in my vineyard today.
The son answered no, I won't go.
(13:31):
But later he changed his mindand he went away.
He went anyway.
Then the father told the otherson you go?
And he said, yes, sir, I will.
But he didn't go.
Which two obeyed the father?
They replied the first.
Then Jesus explained themeaning.
I tell you the truth taxcollectors, corrupt tax
collectors and prostitutes willenter the kingdom of God before
you do.
For John the Baptist came andshowed you the right way to live
(13:55):
, but you didn't believe him,while tax collectors and
prostitutes did.
And even when you saw thishappening, you refused to
believe him and repent of yoursins.
(14:20):
Now listen to another story.
His servants to collect hisshare of the crop.
But the farmers grabbed hisservants, beat one, killed one
and stoned another.
The landowner sent a largergroup of servants to collect
from him, but the results werethe same.
Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking surely they'll
respect my son.
But when the tenant farmers sawhis son coming, they said to
(14:43):
one another here comes the heirof his estate.
Come on, let's kill him and getthe estate for ourselves.
So they grabbed him, draggedhim out of the vineyard and
murdered him.
When the owner of the vineyardreturns, jesus asked what do you
think he will do to thosefarmers?
The religious leaders repliedhe will put the wicked men to a
horrible death and lease thevineyard to others who will give
(15:05):
him his share of the cropsafter the harvest.
And Jesus asked them Didn't youever read in the scriptures
that the stone that the buildersrejected has now become the
cornerstone?
This is the Lord's doing.
It is wonderful to see.
I tell you, kingdom of God willbe taken away from you and
given to a nation that willproduce the proper fruit.
(15:26):
Anyone who stumbles over thatstone will be broken to pieces
and it will crush anyone itfalls on.
When the leading priests andPharisees heard this parable,
they realized he was telling astory about them.
They were the wicked farmersand they wanted to arrest him.
They were afraid of the crowds,because those crowds consider
Jesus to be a prophet.
(15:47):
Wow.
So the reason why we call thischapter when the king comes, he
sets things in order is becausethat's what he's doing.
He comes in with this greatshout of the people, he sets the
temple in order, he starts toheal people and then he starts
to set the leaders in order andsay, hey, for a long time you've
(16:09):
known what was right, but youdidn't do it.
There were other people whodidn't do it at first and now
they do.
I'm going to honor those,because I'd rather honor the
people who are doing it rightthan the people who know to do
good and are not doing it.
He's setting the kingdom inorder.
That is one of the things I loveabout us reading through God's
word one chapter at a time iswhen we do, god is setting his
(16:33):
kingdom in order in our lives,and when we think about that,
then, when we're going throughGod's word, it becomes a joy and
an honor.
When God points out things thatwe need to work on, because
he's not sitting there pointingthings out, because he's not
sitting there pointing thingsout because he's trying to shame
us or embarrass us, think aboutthat.
Why would God do that?
He's, he's God, he's not.
He has nothing out of shamingor embarrassing us.
(16:55):
He does get something out of uswalking closer to him, and so,
therefore, when we read God'sword and he puts things in order
, he, he kind of gets on to usevery once in a while.
You know, just like he droveout those who are buying and
selling and gouging the people.
And he does this over there,does that over there.
What he's doing is he's tryingto set his kingdom back in order
, which you know, just like Iwas telling you about my dad
(17:18):
that when my grandfather wouldcome in, they would celebrate,
they'd have dinner together andthen he'd pull out his letters
together.
And then you pull out hisletters and say, okay, guys,
it's time to set things back inorder.
And so I want to ask you thisquestion when you go to God's
word, are you willing to go toGod's word and say, okay, god,
set my life in order.
If your word says to dosomething, I'm going to do it.
When your word says to not dosomething, I'm not going to do
(17:39):
it?
That's what it means to be aChrist follower.
We follow Christ and we realizethat's the best place to be.
So I'm going to challenge youwhen we're reading through God's
word, before you start theYouTube video or start the
podcast, pray and say HolySpirit, today, speak to my heart
, change my life.
And if you go looking fortreasure, you're going to find
it every time.
(17:59):
Let's pray together, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your word, thankyou that you speak your truth to
us, and your truth is the truth.
It leads us, it guides us, itchallenges us, it heals us, it
encourages us.
I pray that every day weencounter your word, we'll
encounter you, and that you, god, will set in order our lives so
(18:19):
that we can live free every day.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amenand amen, god's word says Jesus
said in Matthew 28, verse 19,.
If you know it, say it with me.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations.
No-transcript.
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