SNBS - The Book of Matthew part 21

Matthew 22 and Jesus’ View of the Bible

What's up everybody, Pastor Josiah Shipley, Witten Baptist Church, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 22. Good news for you guys, Lowell, one of our sound tech people here, one of our tech nerds here, we got some new cameras.

So next week you should be able to see all the zits on my face, because of way better camera work. Anyway, that should be fun, I'm excited about it. You'll maybe see the difference next week in our podcast and in our Sunday morning sermons as well.

So we'll see. So look, we're about to knock out Matthew chapter 22. I'll remind you just a couple things in context. But really what I want to focus on today is Jesus' view of the Bible. There is something stunning revealed here in Matthew 22 that I want to share with you guys.

So if I seem that I'm going quickly through the first part of the chapter, it's because I am. Because I want to get to what I think is the most important section of the chapter. And again, it's an amazing chapter, but bear with me as I move quick.

So look, Jesus is in the temple. This is a few days before he will be crucified, before he'll be killed. And he's given a parable, and he's given two parables in chapter 21 that bleeds into chapter 22.

Probably not the best chapter division here, because chapter 22, 1 -14 is really a continuation of the parables at the end of chapter 21. So as we've been over a million times, the chapters of course are not original.

This is probably not the best spot for a chapter breakup. I think it would have made way more sense for chapter 21 to end at 22 -14 and for 22 -15 to be verse 1. But that's my opinion. That was done centuries ago.

They did the best they could. So I won't fuss too much. So look, in chapter 22 we have the parable of the wedding feast. If you go to Witton Media Ministry, Brother Jeremiah preached an excellent sermon on this.

Maybe the end of last year, beginning of this year. If you just search Matthew 22, wedding feast, Brother Jeremiah, something like that, I'm sure it will pop up. But that is a sermon well worth you listening to.

He did a great job on that. He went into way more detail than I'm about to go into. How are we doing, Brother George? Oh, excuse me, Sister. I'm sorry I couldn't read. It's so small on my screen in there.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast and the Wedding Garment

Okay, so I'm looking at Matthew 22, and it says this. And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

So the king is throwing a party, a wedding feast for his son, and the people didn't come. Again, he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, see, I've prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fat calves have been slaughtered.

Everything's ready. Come to the wedding feast. But then they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business. While they seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, The wedding feast is ready, but those who are invited were not worthy. Therefore, go to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in and looked at the guests, he saw a man there who had no wedding garment.

And he said, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. The king said to his attendants, Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are called, but few are chosen. So the king is the father, of course, the son is Jesus, the servants are the prophets of old, and the original people invited were the Jewish people. The king judges and destroys those who rejected his invitation, that is, the Jewish people.

After all, invited without qualification, these were the Gentiles, the wedding hall is filled with guests, including Gentile guests who were not originally invited. Now, we see someone came to the wedding, but did not put on the wedding garment, which is the righteousness of God.

See Zechariah 3, 3 -5. He came as if he belonged, but he did not take the free garment that was implicitly provided. He wanted the banquet, but not the shedding of his old clothes, his old way of life.

He refused to put on the new clothes, new life. This person is thrown into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. I just want to talk about that phrase for a minute, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I think it really gets to the heart of different attitudes that will be in hell. Now, there's a lot we don't know about hell, but what we do know, there will be total darkness. There will be suffering.

You will be alone. There will be no parties in hell. You will be away from the presence of God. I think we need to get rid of the idea that people will be humbly repentant and not have an attitude of sin anymore.

I don't think that's present in the Bible. But I do think we'll have two different types of emotions. Jesus expressing here, weeping and gnashing of teeth. So there will be those weeping, crying out, realizing what they've done.

Not repentant, but almost like Esau, almost like different people we see in the Bible. They're sorrowful to the point of tears, but not repentant. Brother Christian has a saying, he says, Repentance is not when you cry.

Repentance is when you change. And that's spot on. Repentance is not when you cry. It's when you change. At any rate, we have people crying out, God, they're in pain, but yet they're not repentant. Then we have gnashing of teeth.

God, how dare you put me in here. I think we see those attitudes here. Hell will be a horrible place. Verse 14 says, For many are called, but few are chosen. Now that phraseology is repeated in Matthew more than once.

And he will get to that in just a little bit. In fact, if we go back and look, I believe it was... Oh man, when did he say this before?

I thought it was back in chapter 21.

I might be wrong on that. That's okay. I'm wrong every now and then. At any rate, many are called, few are chosen. When the Pharisees went out and plotted. So after that parable, we have the next three sections.

We have challenging Jesus. So the Pharisees start by sending their goons, sending their disciples, their followers to test Jesus. And Jesus dismisses them and deconstructs their argument. So then the Sadducees come and they try.

And when Jesus dismisses them, then the Pharisees come in person. And then at the end, Jesus dismisses them all by asking them a question. So let's just look at the three challenges. And the one I really want to focus on is the Sadducees challenge.

So let's look. Now remember, we're in Jerusalem. We're in the temple. Jesus has only been here a handful of times. Most of his ministry was not in Jerusalem. It was nowhere near the temple. But he's been here a few times.

Paying Taxes to Caesar and the Image of God

So the Pharisees went out, verse 15, and plotted how to entangle him in his words. They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, those who followed Herod,.

Saying,.

That's snakely. That's a lie. They don't believe that. Trying to butter him up and entangle him in his words.

Yeah, okay.

You're not swayed by appearance. You don't look at people's faces. You're not a respecter of persons. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now they're trying to entangle him. Should you pay taxes to a pagan, unbelieving Roman emperor?

Is that idol worship? And are you supporting his wars and horrible things by doing that? But Jesus, aware of their malice, said,. And they brought him a denarius, which I believe is a day's wage, if I remember right.

And Jesus said to them,. So Jesus dismisses their case pretty quickly. I heard someone say once, and I think it's well, on the image of that coin is Caesar's image. Where is the image of God? Human beings.

So render to Caesar that which his image is on, this coin, and render to God the things that are God's. The image of God is on human beings, so you give him all of you. You give God all of you, you give Caesar the coin.

I think that's a cool way of looking at it. But I think Jesus' point is, okay, you render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but you should care more about the things that are due to God. Jesus' point is, yes, you should pay taxes, since that's the governing authority, but there's a much higher authority that you owe much more to than just money.

So that's the attempt by the Pharisees' disciples, their goons, to come and trick him up. And now we have the part I really wanted to get to, the challenge by the Sadducees. So here we go. That same day, the Sadducees came to him, who said that there isn't a resurrection, and they asked him a question.

Remember, Sadducees don't believe in a resurrection of the dead. And they only believe in the first five books of the Bible, only believe in the first five books of the Bible as authoritative, is what I mean to say, the books of Moses.

They didn't believe in angels or spiritual lives or things like that. Excuse me, angels or spirits or things like that. They asked him a question, verse 24, saying, Now right away, there's a false presupposition.

He was certainly encouraged to, and it was shameful if he chose not to, but he didn't have to. Moses said, if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up for his brother.

Again, Moses didn't say he had to, but it was definitely down upon if he did not. It's called the Kinsman Redeemer. You see a picture of this in the book of Ruth. It's taught in Deuteronomy 25. So this woman's been married to seven different men.

The first brother, second brother, third brother, so on and so forth. Now, I've heard a pastor preach it this way. This was probably their got-you question to the Pharisees they used a lot. And the Pharisees probably didn't have a good answer.

All glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, amen to that. I have to like that comment.

Amen.

Because remember, they don't believe in the resurrection. So whose wife is she going to be? And Jesus answered him, you are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. Now, I just want to look at that sentence again.

And for those of you that are on right now, please listen to me. Please listen. Jesus answered him and said, you are wrong. How rare are we willing to say that today? But Jesus said it. You're wrong. Not you're mistaken or that's your opinion or what you do you.

You're wrong.

Do we have the courage to say that?

You're wrong.

To the world today. I fear some of us don't.

Why are they wrong?

Because they don't know the scriptures nor the power of God. Now, these were men that thought they knew the scriptures. But Jesus said you don't know the scriptures and therefore you don't know the power of God.

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given into marriage but they are like the angels in heaven. Yes, you will not be married to your spouse in heaven. We're all the bride of Christ. Angels in heaven are not married either.

But as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He's not the God of the dead but of the living. When the crowd heard it they were astonished at his teaching.

Now, in those few verses, Matthew 22, 31 through 30, well really 31 and 32, there's so much amazing things there I don't want you to miss. So, skip the rest of the video, I don't care. Just listen to this part.

As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He's not the God of the dead but the God of the living.

What's that a quote from, guys? Anybody know? What's that a quote from? I'm looking in the comments section hoping to see somebody. That's a quote from Exodus. That's a quote from Exodus chapter 3 at the burning bush.

So, when Yahweh is speaking through the burning bush to Moses, he said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Now, all of those guys are dead and have been dead for centuries by the time Moses gets around.

But God doesn't say, I was the God of Abraham, I was the God of Isaac, I was the God of Jacob. He says, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, signifying those guys are really still alive.

Even though they're dead physically, they're still alive. So, Jesus is proving the resurrection of the dead by saying, I am still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they're up here with me in heaven.

Do you understand? I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not I was, because they haven't ceased to exist. There isn't annihilationism. Their spirit lives on and will be reunited with their body one day when I resurrect the bodies.

But that's not the most amazing part. Hey, Brother Christian. Guys, Brother Christian is getting ordained this weekend with Brother Jeremiah. And I'm very excited for that. It's a special moment in our church.

And that's well deserving of them. I pray they know what they're getting into. But that's not the coolest part of Matthew 22, 31, and 32. And one day I'm going to get Lowell to do the thing where he just takes this most important part and puts it at the first ten seconds of the video so people can at least see the most important part.

This is it right here. As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? Now, just listen. Have you not read what was spoken to you by God? You would think it would say, have you not read what was written to you by God?

Or have you not heard what was spoken to you by God? But instead it says, have you not read what was said to you by God? Ladies and gentlemen, do you not understand that the Word of God, what you hold in your hand, is called the Word of God because it's literally His words, Him speaking to you.

God the Son can look at the Pharisees in 29 AD and say, have you not read what was said to you by God? And quote the book of Exodus written 1 ,500 years earlier. Jesus can quote a book of the Bible 1 ,500 years earlier that was said on a different continent to a different group of people in a different language and say, have you not read what God said to you?

So that I can hold up the book of Ephesians that was written in a different language on a different continent to people who are dead now and look at you and say, have you not read what God told you to do, Christian Josiah?

Have you not read what God told you to do? The Word of God is living and active so that Jesus can look at people a millennium and a half later. 1 ,500 years. The United States has only been a country 250 years.

1 ,500 years later, God can look at them and say, have you not read what God told you? So that I can look at every one of you in the eye and I can open up to the book of Isaiah, to the book of Matthew, to the book of John and say, have you not read what God told you to do?

You individually, even though you weren't there, that's Him speaking to you. That's the power of God's Word. That's what it means when it says it's living and active. That's what it means when it says all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training the righteous so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

You know, man, Peter calls Paul's letters Scripture in 2 Peter 3, 15 and 16. Did you know that Paul quotes Luke a couple times? When Paul says it's more blessed to give than receive, that's a quote from Luke.

And in 1 Timothy 5 .18, 1 Timothy 5 .18, Paul quotes, I think it's Exodus, I can't remember if it's Exodus or Deuteronomy. We'll call it Deuteronomy. Paul quotes Deuteronomy and Luke and calls them both Scripture.

Even though Luke was someone he trained and was written in his day because Paul knew it was Scripture. So we have two times where explicitly New Testament writers call another New Testament writer's work Scripture.

The church did not form or make up the canon, they discovered the canon that God had already made. Anyway, have you not read what was spoken to you by God? I hope what I just said has, I hope you're understanding with spiritual ears what that means.

That was my favorite part of chapter 22, but we'll just finish off here. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them, a lawyer, asked a question to test him.

Again, no real true humble motives here, this is just to test him. Teacher, what's the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to them, no hesitation. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the greatest, this is the great and first commandment. And as second as like it, you will love your neighbor as yourself. On these two depend all the law and prophets. There are 613 laws in the law.

I'm not even talking about the prophets yet. 613 commandments in the Torah. Half of Exodus, most of Leviticus, some of Numbers, and most of Deuteronomy. 613 laws. The Ten Commandments, the first ten, are a summary of all 613.

These two commandments are a summary of the Ten Commandments. Love God with everything you've got, and love your neighbor, your fellow traveler, as yourself. On these two commandments hang, depend, all the law and prophets.

The entire Old Testament is summed up in love God and love neighbor. 1 John summarizes any more when he calls those the same commandment. But we've been over that a hundred times, so I'll move on. Let's finish the chapter.

Jesus’ Question About the Christ and Psalm 110

Now it's Jesus' turn to go on the offensive. He's been on the defensive. He's silenced all his critics. And now it's his turn to be on the offensive. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question.

Saying, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. That's the correct answer, because the Messiah was going to come from the line of David. 2 Samuel said this.

Psalm said this over and over again. He said to them, how is it that David in the Spirit calls him Lord? Saying, Yahweh said to my Adonai. The Lord said to my Lord. Set up my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word. Nor from that day did anyone dare ask him any more questions. This is a quote from Psalm 110. The most quoted passage from the Old Testament in the New Testament.

Second is Leviticus 19, 18. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus, after establishing that Messiah Christ is the son of David, he asked them to explain Psalm 110, verse 1. If the Messiah is the son of David, why does David call him Lord?

Why would someone ever call one of their descendants Lord? Normally, high regard could be given to someone that came before you, but not to someone that comes after you. The point of Jesus' question is obvious.

I'm going to read what I wrote here. David called the Messiah Lord, because David recognized that the Messiah would be far more than a mere man, but God himself. You understand? David, in Psalm 110, is calling the Messiah Lord.

Yahweh said to my Lord, my Adonai. But normally you don't say that of a descendant of yours. You say that of an ancestor of yours.

Maybe.

David's saying that about his great, great, great, great, say it, what is it, 14 times, grandson. And here we are here. David recognized that the Messiah, though from his seed, his bloodline, would be far more than a mere man, but God himself.

None of the Pharisees uttered even a word of response. After this, none of them questioned him any further, for they knew that what he was saying was true, but they refused to submit to it, but not all of them, and not forever.

The Pharisees refused to submit to it, but not all of them, and not forever. Acts 15, verse 5. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.

Now, while they may have gotten this theological point wrong at the Jerusalem Council, they were true believers. Luke tells us in Acts. We have Nicodemus. We have Joseph of Arimathea. We have members of the Pharisees who through Jesus' ministry to them, and yes, his harsh judgment, sometimes his ministry, the Holy Spirit awakened some hearts to see the truth.

Matthew 23 and the Need for Hard Words

All right. Very good. Now, I want you to be aware that next time we're going into Matthew 23, and I have said this before, and I said this when I did the in-person Bible study, I think if I were to take some of the words Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, and not tell you they were from the Bible, and not tell you Jesus said them, many of you would say whoever said that was being too harsh or too mean.

That should stick out to you. Sometimes, sometimes harsher beak is necessary. Sometimes Paul had to call out people by name. It's rare, but it happened. At any rate, thank you for staying with me this long, guys.

Anyone who did, like, share, subscribe. We're getting the new cameras. I'll be excited about that. Any way you ever feel that you can help the ministries here, you can always download the Witten Baptist Church app and give online.

Of course, we would appreciate it. But at any rate, we do this to tell the truth to as many people as possible. That's what we want to do. Love you guys very much. Until next time, obey God, love him, and obey him by serving each other.

God bless.