Jeff Durbin: Messiah, Salvation and Judgement

Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

We truly believe that it's important for the Christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the word of God.

So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor.

Though I'd love to be, I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local Christian church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders.

And so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you, to encourage you,

I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers, particularly

I think important a reformed church would be best. But we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship, where you can worship, where you can serve, where you can be connected.

That is vitally important and actually a biblical command. And so as much as again as we love for your participation, your partnership, and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives, we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church.

You can though actually partner with Apologia Church as we proclaim the gospel and provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world.

You can do that by going to ApologiaStudios .com. You can partner with us by becoming All Access.

When you do, you help to make all of this possible and you get all of our TV shows, our after shows, and Apologia Academy, all of that.

And you're a part of all that God is doing with us in the world to proclaim, herald the gospel of the kingdom.

You can partner with us. And I want to say one last word about that. Do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards Apologia Church interferes with your giving, your worship, your tithes, your offerings to a local body of believers in your area.

So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, if you would open your

Bibles. Gospel according to Matthew. We're in a Kingdom of God series. Matthew chapter 21, starting in verse 28.

Matthew 21, starting in verse 28. We've been doing a verse -by -verse exposition of the gospel according to Matthew for some time.

And again, I'm very, very excited about where we are now in this study for a number of reasons.

And today I want to emphasize the fulfillment of the expectation.

Let me say that again. The fulfillment of the expectation of the Messiah, right before you on the page.

On the page. As you get there,

I want to remind you that the series is up. You can go back and review where we've been up to this point, so you can catch up with us.

But here we are, Matthew 21, verse 28. I'm going to read a pretty significant section here, and then we're going to give the background behind why this is so significant.

Hear now the words of the living and the true God. What do you think? A man had two sons and he went to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today.

And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he changed his mind and went.

And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, the first. Jesus said to them, truly

I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes, go into the kingdom of God before you.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him.

And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Hear another parable.

There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went on to another country.

When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them saying, they'll respect my son.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, this is the heir. Come, let's kill him and have his inheritance.

And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

They said to him, he'll put those wretches to a miserable death and will let the vineyard out to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.

Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet. 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 sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

Again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see, I prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest 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 invited were not worthy. Go therefore 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 whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment.

And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.

In that place, there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen.

As far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray. Father, I want to ask that you please bless today, work through an unworthy servant to speak to your church through your holy word.

Your word's a gift to us, God. We humble ourselves before you now and acknowledge the treasure that is in front of us that we have no earthly right to hold.

And so we ask, God, that you would teach today by your word. If there's anybody in this room that doesn't know you,

Lord Jesus, as Savior and Lord, please, Lord, by your grace and mercy and power and by your spirit, bring the dead to life.

We pray, Lord, for those of us who know you, that you would teach us, instruct us by your spirit, let people forget my name, remember yours.

May I decrease, may Christ increase, in Jesus' name. Amen. So here's the question. Why do you believe that Jesus is the

Messiah? Don't shout out all at once, just I want you to answer that question internally.

Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Why? I'm asking this question because recently on our mission to Kauai, there's so many opportunities for us to impact that island with the gospel that is in desperate need of the gospel and solid, solid teaching.

I had the privilege and the honor for two weeks, two days specifically.

I had the privilege and the honor to sit with this huge Filipino family, multi -generational

Christian family. It was truly a privilege. It really was an honor to be among them.

Old and young and this just devout Christian family, multi -generational

Christian family. They loved the Lord, love him intensely.

They were such amazing believers, so full of grace and love and compassion and kindness.

And there's two aspects of this. One is they're a devout multi -generational Christian family that gets together to eat together and get into the word of God together on Fridays.

And so they love the Lord and so that's why they love to bless so much and they have so much amazing hospitality. And the other aspect of it, which is so amazing, is they're

Filipino. And if you know anything about Filipino families, when they feed you, they feed you.

Some of the stuff for this guy is a little, a little out there, a little scary, I'll confess.

But you have to eat it. You have to say thank you and it's amazing, amazing food. And so I had that privilege to be able to come and they asked me to come and and this would be an encouragement to Apologians, if that's what we're called.

Three of them have become greatly impacted by the ministry of Apologia Church across the ocean and that God is using our teaching ministry over there to bless them, to teach them, to encourage them.

It was really a real encouragement to be among them to see that. But I got a chance.

Pastor Claudy told me, Pastor Jeff, teach on this. And I said great. So I prepared a message for it. I was ready to teach a message and I opened up with a question, that question right there.

I opened up the question, Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Just wanted to ask it. This multi -generational, devout

Christian family that loves the Lord Jesus couldn't give me a real, meaningful, coherent answer.

And I don't mean this as an attack on them or a jab on them. I meant it, it surprised me. I had to change my message on the spot to the most fundamental, basic things on how do you know that Jesus is the

Messiah. He said he's worth your whole life. He said come and do the death march. Come and die and follow me.

Come and die. It's narrow, not broad, right? That's not wide.

It's one way to life. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. He says that he was

God in the flesh. Unless you believe, ego eimi, I am, you will die in your sins. These are massive claims.

And so I asked, why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? And these are some of the answers I got. One man said, bless him, he said, because my grandfather was a

Christian. Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Because my grandfather loved Jesus. Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, as much as I sympathize with that and the fact that he knew his grandfather and saw the

Spirit of God at work in his life and everything else, but when you're faced with the Jew who rejects

Jesus as Messiah or the rabid atheist today who denies the existence of the transcendent and the spiritual, the immaterial, and Jesus as God, saying my grandfather believed in Jesus, isn't a meaningful answer.

Nor is it an answer you find in the scriptures as to how we know that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. So my question to you is, why do you believe that Jesus is the

Messiah? How come? How come you've given up your life to follow Jesus? Why do you do such foolish things like stand outside of the abortion mill to preach his gospel to people who are hostile to you?

Why do you go out in the streets? Why do you go to the university and to preach the good news of this

Messiah? Why? Why do you tell your children that Jesus is the ultimate, that he's what life is all about, that he's the most important question and answer?

Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? I want to say when you read the New Testament, you can see how the apostles answered that question.

It's vivid. It's obvious. It's easy to see. They didn't believe they were following a novelty. This wasn't a new story for them.

This wasn't something interesting in terms of a private experience that they've had. Compare, for example, the experience of the apostles with, say,

Joseph Smith, American prophet Joseph Smith Jr.

who says, I had a private experience. I met God the Father, separate and distinct

God from Jesus Christ, and they told me join none of the churches. They're all wrong. Really, Joseph?

How can I verify this? Well, you trust me. You trust my experience. You believe my word based on private experience that they've had.

You see, the apostles didn't operate that way. They didn't see this as some novelty or believe it on my say -so.

You can't move through the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament without seeing the constant references to the

Old Testament revelation of God. Constant references. Not just direct quotations, but allusions to Old Testament references.

The apostles, say, for example, in Romans, the apostle Paul, when he introduces himself in the first chapter, the very first thing that he says, besides being a slave to Jesus and an apostle, is he says that this was promised beforehand in the

Holy Scriptures. Jesus, born a descendant of David.

That means a lot to a Jew. If you're the Messiah, if you're the one who sovereignly, who

God sovereignly said is going to bring salvation in his kingdom, you better be a descendant of David.

Otherwise, you can't take that throne. You see, there's all these components to this revelation in this story that was anticipated.

Now, I want to ask this question, because most of you are probably thinking this now. Okay, I feel you, Pastor Jeff. I see where you're going.

How do you know Jesus is the Messiah? And what do we start thinking about? We start thinking about the Old Testament expectation.

Tim does such a wonderful job of giving us the psalms every Sunday, and Tim just preached one of my, or sang, or talked about one of my favorites.

Psalm chapter 22. What a psalm. Starts off, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Powerful. You realize they were singing these songs. The Jews are singing these songs.

It's part of their worship. It's part of their life. And can we be honest for a second? Really? Honest?

Brutally? Honest? With, in no way intending to disrespect the scriptures? Can you be honest about this?

If you were pre -Christ ministry, and you're a Jew, or a little Jewish boy and girl, and Jewish Awanis in the synagogue, and you're singing that psalm, could we be honest?

That's kind of a strange song to sing in worship. Right? We look at it now, post -cross, and we go, whoa!

There's the passion of Jesus, right there in that psalm, before crucifixion is even a thing.

They pierce my hands and my feet. Dogs surround me. They, for my clothing, they cast lots.

My heart is like wax, melted within me. I can count all my bones. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

As Christians, we look back, and we say, glory to God. That's incredible. Jesus is right there on the page.

But be honest. If you're Jewish, before Christ and his ministry, before the crucifixion, before the piercing of the hands and the feet, and the casting of lots, it's kind of a strange thing to be singing in church.

Start off. We're going, amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Saved a wretch like me. All of us go, I get it.

His grace. I'm undeserving. I'm a wretch. It makes sense to us. But you're singing Psalm 22.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? They pierce my hands and my feet. Dogs have surrounded me.

My heart is like wax. Casting lots for my clothes. It might have been like, I'm not sure how my heart's supposed to be connected to that.

I don't know if Hillsong would sing that. It doesn't meet me in my personal private experience with Jesus, right?

I don't know if it meets me there. But we go to that passage, and we say, look, it's on the page.

And we point to things like that. We point to those texts and say, see, it's right there. God was already telling us

Jesus' story long before he came. And what we do as Christians is we go back to those texts, and we say, look, this isn't a novelty.

This is fulfillment. Jesus is the Messiah. I know it. With certainty.

With certainty. Isaiah 53. You can't run away from it. It's the life, and death, and resurrection of the

Messiah long before Jesus comes. 600 some odd years before Jesus comes.

And someone says, yeah, well, someone added those texts in later. Well, here's the Dead Sea Scrolls, buried about 200 years before Jesus, and there's the text of the

Dead Sea Scrolls. The text is in there, and it speaks to Jesus. All those details.

I have a message. By the way, it's the message that I switched to. When I realized we couldn't do the message

Pastor Claude had asked me to, I switched to one of my favorite messages to preach, and that is that how do we know

Jesus is the Messiah? Is Jesus the promised Messiah? My answer is most definitely. M -O -S -T.

M, the messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus. O, the original life of Jesus.

S, the symbols fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And T, the transformation of the lives of the apostles and people today, as expected.

But those messianic prophecies. Help me with this. And this is where you raise your hand, and go quickly, okay?

When we say messianic prophecies, give me an example. What do we point to when we say, this is

Jesus promised, and here we have the fulfillment. Wade? The Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 53.

What else? Give me another messianic prophecy. Yes. Okay.

The Proto -Evangelium. Very first couple chapters of the

Bible, in the Torah, we have that promise. The first, I love it, the fall of humanity, the rebellion against God, the king.

We don't want you, God. We want to be autonomous. And the first thing God does, is he promises the

Messiah. The seed of the woman. Right. Another one. Uh, we'll go back to Janice.

Genesis 49, 10. Okay, very good.

There you go. Okay, next. Another one. I saw another hand come up. Yes, Jermaine? Daniel 7.

13, yeah, 13 to 14. The Messiah comes up to the Ancient of Days, presented before him. And to him is given dominion, glory, and a kingdom.

All the peoples, nations, people of every language are going to serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away.

His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Let's do one more. Yes. Malachi chapter 3.

You jumped ahead of me. That's right. That's what I was, I was hoping nobody would mention that, but good job, Adam. Good.

Okay. So here's what we do. We typically go to the same ones, right? And we, it's not that, what, pause.

I'm not saying anything's wrong with that. Of course. But I want to say in these next few chapters of Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew, we can see that Matthew is telling the story that was told beforehand, and we're seeing its fulfillment.

The expectation was salvation and judgment. And you see Matthew following that course, and we're going to begin to see it expressed here in these few next few chapters.

Jesus quickly on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24, 13 through 35. Go read that later.

That's the basis here. This is what we're talking about. Jesus rose again from the dead. He's with these two people on the road to Emmaus.

They're sad. Can't believe he died. They're worried. They're troubled. And then what does Jesus do?

He takes them through the most epic Bible study in history. The most epic

Bible study in the history of the world. Jesus the Messiah taking you through the Old Testament from beginning to end, showing you everywhere it talks about him.

That must have been something else. Right? I don't care about Douglas Moo's commentary.

It ain't as good as that. Or any other commentator. That is the commentary you want to listen to.

Now, let's let's talk briefly about context. Matthew's gospel of the synoptic.

Synoptic means seeing together. You can run Matthew, Mark, and Luke side by side and you'll see them in the same discussions.

One gives a little more detail. One might telescope. One might actually give, you know, less details.

One might give you one more person's witness or story or something to the effect of differences. But you can run them alongside one another and see them together.

Synoptic. And we look at John. He has his own perspective and purpose and a different way he writes.

But I'll just say this. Matthew, I think it's universally agreed upon. It's primarily a gospel that is focused upon the

Jews and Jewish expectation. You can see that in how Matthew opens up.

Matthew chapter 1. It's immediately to the genealogies. Immediately. And then you begin to see the quotation of Old Testament promises and expectations fulfilled in Jesus.

Matthew does it throughout. However, I want to add this. Oftentimes, if we want to be faithful interpreters of scripture, we need to know what came before so that we can properly interpret what's happening in the moment in the text, right?

We've got to know what came before. Understand that context. Understand those promises so that we don't mangle

Matthew. And I want to say that as Matthew takes us through the narrative of Jesus' life and death and resurrection and his teaching, all of this is in the background.

And it's that background that we should put underneath this to get a better understanding of it.

There is a neglected aspect when we talk about how we know that Jesus is the

Messiah. A neglected aspect. And it has to do with what's right before us in these next few chapters.

And that is the aspect of the judgment on Jerusalem. We talk often, we say

Jesus is the Messiah because Psalm 23. Jesus is the Messiah because Isaiah 9, 6 through 7.

Jesus is the Messiah because Daniel 7, 13 through 14. Jesus is Messiah because Isaiah 53 and all.

We move to those texts and that's how we know Jesus is the Messiah. But I want to say as Christians, we often neglect one actual powerful element of how we know that Jesus is the

Messiah. And that is his perfect placement in the story that God promised.

And that is judgment on Jerusalem. The judgment on Jerusalem.

And we see now Matthew taking us through that story which was in the background in the

Old Testament all along. We have to first familiarize ourself with the Old Testament expectation. Now for today,

I'm going to go rather quickly through these. We've done this before in terms of a touch. I want to make sure we're all on the same page because it's going to be critical as we get into Matthew chapter 23 and 24 that this is understood in terms of making this very meaningful.

Familiarizing ourself with the Old Testament expectation, the prophecies. I've pointed you to two words.

The promise was salvation and what? Salvation and judgment.

Matthew follows this in the gospel according to Matthew. He's weaving together both stories, salvation and judgment.

I want to make sure as a church we know where to go for this. So quickly go to Malachi right before Matthew. And we did this before but I want to touch base here.

So we see it before us and have it underneath us as we approach these chapters in Matthew's gospel.

So Matthew chapter 3, I'm going to go rather quickly here. So forgive me today guys. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Quickly timeline. Who comes first?

Messenger. Then who comes to his temple? The Lord whom you seek.

The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming?

And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he'll purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the

Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old as in former years.

What's that? What do you have? First the messenger, then the Lord whom you seek.

And what does he accomplish as he comes to his temple? Purification. There's that salvation theme.

But that's not all. Next. Then I will draw near to you for what?

Judgments. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner.

And do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. So there it is. There's that theme Malachi 3.

Timeline, messenger, the Lord whom you seek and we have salvation and what everybody?

Salvation and judgment. Keep following me guys. I know we're going quickly, but stay with me here. Now we look at life and ministry of Jesus.

Who did Jesus say John the Baptist was? Elijah the prophet, the promised

Elijah the prophet, calling people to repentance. Who came before Jesus?

That messenger. And then Jesus quite literally came to his temple.

And what did he bring? Salvation and judgment. Move to Malachi chapter 4.

Another promise. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that will leave them neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You should go out leaping like calves from the stall, and you should tread them down, tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet.

On the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. Remember? The law of my servant

Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

What is the context here? Covenant. The judgment is coming upon those who are part of the covenant.

Behold, I'll send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

Now, quick question. What are the first words out of John the Baptist's mouth in Matthew?

Repent. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What is

John come in the wilderness saying? He said, repent, repent, and it's a baptism of repentance.

He is the Elijah who was to come. He's the one calling everyone to repentance. And when he sees

Jesus, he says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

He said, one is coming after me. I'm not worthy to come down and mess with his feet. Is what he's teaching.

So here's John the Baptist, the forerunner for Jesus, and his message is repentance. And who is he confronting in Matthew chapter 3?

The religious leadership. The religious leadership. Go to Matthew 3 quickly to see that encounter.

It says in Matthew 3 verse 1, in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.

When he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord, make his paths straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist.

His food was locusts and wild honey. He's a hipster. Then Jerusalem and all

Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the

River Jordan, confessing their sins. Now watch the conflict. But when he saw many of the

Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Now the word there is mellow and it can be said, warned you to flee from the wrath about to come.

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have

Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The axe is already swung. It's already swung. Axe is at the root of the trees.

I baptized you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals

I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Holy Spirit? Good. This fire? Not good.

We often hear Christians today saying, Lord, let your fire fall. No. No.

You do not want that. So, John the Baptist is here now as that forerunner proclaiming the way before Jesus.

He's warning that generation, those leaders. You are about to be judged.

Repenting your sins because he is coming. His winnowing fork is in his hand. He'll baptize you with the

Holy Spirit and with fire. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. You had better repent. You'd better repent in a hurry, is what

John is teaching. To who? He's talking to them, those religious leaders, the first century religious leaders of that day.

He's warning those people as part of God's covenant, repent. This is perfectly in line with the promises in Malachi chapter 3 and 4.

It matches up perfectly. Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? You're seeing the story unfold right before you on the page.

It was the expectation. Next, go to quickly Isaiah chapter 65.

Now, again, I would love to spend a ton of time here. I can't today.

But I just want to give you at least familiarity with these passages so you can go later and study them and familiarize yourself with the context.

Isaiah chapter 65. Another promise. Listen closely to the words here and try to put yourself into the frame of reference of Matthew's gospel and all the warnings that are now happening throughout that gospel and then

Jesus coming into Jerusalem and the confrontation that happens between him as he comes to his temple.

Isaiah 65. I said, here

I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name.

I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.

A people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks, who sit in tombs and spend the night in secret places, who eat pig's flesh.

It's okay. This has a context. And broth of tainted meat is in their vessels, who say, keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I'm too holy for you.

These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Behold, it is written before me.

I will not keep silent, but I will repay. I will indeed repay into their lap both your iniquities and your father's iniquities together, says the

Lord. Because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I'll measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.

Thus says the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, do not destroy it, for there's a blessing in it.

So I will do for my servants' sake and not destroy them all. I will bring forth offspring from Jacob and from Judah, possessors of my mountains.

My chosen shall possess it and my servants shall dwell there. Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.

Here it is. Ready? Come back. Here it is. Verse 11.

But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for fortune, and fill cups of mixed wine for destiny,

I will destine you to the sword. And all of you who shall bow down to the slaughter, because when

I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. But you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what

I did not delight in. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry.

Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame.

Behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

You, listen, shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse.

And the Lord God will put you to death. But his servants, he will call by another name.

So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth. And he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the

God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes. So there you go again, another example of that conversation of God blessing his people and giving judgment to these people over here.

God giving his people a new name. Now, there's a bit of background, more could be said, but now let's move to Matthew.

And I'm going to do this as a quick overview and reminder. Matthew chapter three, we were just in.

I want to just have you go there one more time just for a moment and have you mark it. Put your finger there if you feel comfortable.

Make a mark in your Bible, highlight it, circle it. There is Matthew opening with the first discussion of the coming judgment.

Coming judgment upon those people. Axes at the root of the trees, winnowing fork in his hand, holy spirit and fire.

Repent, brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? The wrath about to come.

Matthew chapter three. Again, we're just doing a quick overview here, not touching every space. But another one, Matthew chapter 10.

Move to Matthew chapter 10. In terms of background, Matthew's already told this story.

We've already been here and seen these warnings. Matthew chapter 10 verse 16. Jesus gives his people a warning.

Matthew 10, 16. Behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues.

And you'll be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. Pause.

Let's do this faithfully. Who is Jesus talking to?

You? Now, of course, we can, as Christians, read this and take the principles that are being taught here.

This is the very word of God. It does apply to us today, but not always in the same way. Who is

Jesus talking to? He's talking to the disciples. He's warning them about what is about to come.

These are people just like you, real flesh and blood, probably in sandals, listening to Jesus, and He is telling them what is going to befall them.

And He says this, verse 19, When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say.

For what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child. And children will rise against parents and have them put to death.

And you'll be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For truly

I say to you, Who is He talking to? Those disciples.

You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Be careful.

There are many comings of God in judgment in the Old Testament. When you see

Son of Man comes, that doesn't have to refer to the resurrection of the dead, the second coming or final coming of Christ.

There was an anticipated coming of judgment upon that generation.

And so Jesus talking to His disciples in the same context as John the

Baptist. You brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath about to come?

The axe is at the root of the trees, winnowing fork in His hand. Jesus in Matthew 10 sends

His disciples out. You go out and here's what you're going to expect. You're going to be hated by all for my name's sake.

They're going to deliver you over. You're going to be killed. And He says this to them. You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the

Son of Man comes. The expectation was judgment upon that generation.

The same kind of conversation that happens throughout the synoptics. Jesus says things like this in Luke.

These are the days of vengeance, in order that all that has been written may be fulfilled.

Jesus promises that generation in particular judgment before they all died.

The promise of the temple's destruction. Not one stone left upon another.

All of those things promised to that generation. Another one, Matthew chapter 16.

We did this before. Now, just so you know, there are Christians who take differing perspectives on this particular passage.

We did a study on this before. I won't go through that entire one again, but just in terms of this impending judgment.

Matthew 16, 24. Then the disciples said, Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? What shall a man give in return for his soul?

Now, let's stop there for a second before I read this next verse. Remember at the beginning I asked that question, right?

So why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? This is vital. This one little section alone.

Jesus is telling us, telling the world, his testimony is, that we have to come and die.

We have to follow him. We have to lose our lives to save it.

That if we don't come to him, we're forfeiting our soul to gain what?

The world? Jesus' message is a message that is exclusive.

We lose so much of that in today's modern context. Many people who profess to be evangelicals today would say,

Well, your truth is your truth. My truth is my truth. Jesus is just one God, maybe among many. I really don't know.

I don't know what to say about that. Like, is Jesus the only way to God? I just really don't know.

That's for God to judge. No, Jesus is the only way to God. If you do not turn to Christ in faith for salvation and for forgiveness, you will go to hell.

You will die in your sins. You forfeit your soul without Christ. This is why the question is so meaningful.

And our answer to it had better be meaningful. Why do you believe Jesus is the

Messiah? Because his claims are not ambiguous. He says he is the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by him. But after this discourse, Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his

Father. And then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Some of you will not die until you see the

Son of Man coming in his kingdom, in his rule.

Another move forward now, 21. And we're going to wrap up pointing you to the discourse, and we're going to unpack them starting next week.

Matthew chapter 21, we've talked about Jesus now entering into Jerusalem. One of my favorite times with Our Body at Apologia Church has been on those passages.

I absolutely was honored to go over them. Jesus told his followers in 20 that he's going to Jerusalem and they're going to kill him, and then he'll rise again.

Now he goes into Jerusalem, and we have, of course, this moment of the beast of burden and the branches on the trees, and Jesus is hungry now, going from place to place.

And of course, we have the cleansing of the temple, the second cleansing of the temple. There's one in John, and then there's one in the synoptics we have later that happens here.

And if you didn't catch that sermon series, that's because the Old Testament gave the law of God in terms of a priest cleansing a house.

He had to first visit and assess, and when he comes back, if he still finds disease, it has to be taken apart, stone off of stone.

Jesus comes in now and he cleanses the temple. He comes in as that perfect priest. Jesus now, of course, comes to the roadside.

There's the fig tree example, the moment where Jesus curses the fig tree. The fig tree clearly represents

Israel. It's got leaves, right? But no fruit. He still leaves them hungry.

He's coming to cleanse, to assess their fruit. And what does he do? Cleanses the temple.

He's coming for judgment. Cleanses the temple. Curses the tree. And he says to his followers, say to this mountain, be cast into the sea.

It'll be done. We talked about how that is very symbolic language understood in the light of God's word.

He's talking about an imprecatory prayer of judgment. This mountain be cast into the sea and it'll be done.

The context here now as Jesus comes into Jerusalem is salvation and what?

Judgment. Salvation and judgment. Now, here's where we're going to finish today.

Jesus confronts the covenant breakers. The first is, of course, in verse 28 of chapter 21.

Now, quick thing. You already see Matthew highlighting the conflict, don't you? I thought

Zach did such a wonderful job. He did such a wonderful job in unpacking the conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities here.

Where were they challenged him about? By what authority are you doing this? By the way, that should be a highlight moment for us.

They see Jesus coming into Jerusalem. People saying, Hosanna, he's cleansing the temple.

He's cursing fig trees. He's coming in with authority and judgment. And they're saying, by what authority can you do this?

And I love the wisdom of Jesus. It is so, so unbelievably powerful.

It's amazing. We have to learn to argue like Jesus. He says, of course, in that epic moment, how about John?

From God or man? Answer that question. I'll answer you. I love that.

That's precept, by the way. I love it. He goes into it.

Well, you tell me first, John, men or God? Because they knew we're in big trouble if we say from men.

And if we say from God, they're going to say, why didn't you believe him? So we don't know. We're undecided, right?

No opinion here. And the answer is, if they would have said from God, they could have easily seen where Jesus got his authority from.

But there's the conflict again. Jesus versus the religious authorities of his day, salvation and judgment.

Now Jesus goes and starts confronting them about their religiosity. What about these two sons?

One says he wouldn't do it. Then he did it. The other says he would do it. Didn't do it. So these tax collectors and these prostitutes are getting the kingdom of heaven before you.

There's judgments. All these people, foul sinners, right? Yuck. Ew. Sinners.

Gross. Wretches. Right? Yeah. They're coming into God's kingdom before you. All these religious rulers think they know

God. They're holding the Torah and the Tanakh. Well, in their hands or under their armpits, right?

In the scrolls. They think they know the God of Israel, but it's all profession. It's only leaves.

No fruit. And Jesus now confronting. And then Jesus has the parable of the tenants.

Again, not going to unpack the whole thing today, but he points them clearly to themselves. He'll destroy those miserable wretches.

They killed his son. They killed his son and his servants. Why would they ever do such a thing?

Of course, they'll destroy those miserable wretches. And I love what they say. Their answer.

He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.

And that's what he did. And I like the answer there.

Verse 45. When the chief priests and the Pharisees... I couldn't help smiling there. When the chief priests and the

Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he's speaking about them. Great job, guys.

And although they were seeking to arrest him, see the conflict, they feared the crowds because they held him a prophet.

Now here's the big one. And we're going to end on this one. Now that you have the overview, now you have the background, that foundation underneath you, now listen to the parable of the wedding feast.

Jesus spoke to them in the parable saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

And again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see, I prepared my dinner, my ox and my fat calves have been slaughtered.

Everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off. One to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully and killed them.

Listen to Jesus here. The king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

What took place, brothers and sisters, within the generation that Jesus was speaking to?

By 70 AD, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman armies.

Rome quite literally set fire to the city. Josephus records that there was blood flowing through the streets.

A woman killed her child and was offering to feed it to people who were passing by.

People were trying to survive by eating dung in the streets. They were slaughtered.

Their city set on fire and taken apart. The temple stone off of stone within that generation.

Jesus comes into Jerusalem here. He has conflict with the religious authorities, with those who are breaking

God's covenant. And you're going to see soon in Matthew 23, he then works into his indictment upon those leaders.

And one of the things he indicts them for is what was anticipated in Malachi. Those who swear falsely.

A whole section on that. Jesus says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. It kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

He talks about how often he'd wanted to gather her children. But you were not willing.

And he tells them all the blood of the righteous is going to be upon this generation.

That whole section is coming. Jesus now cleansing the temple, cursing the fig tree, giving them the parables.

Judgment's coming upon you. The king's going to burn your city. Send his troops to burn your city.

You've been invited. You won't come. Then he indicts those covenant breakers. All the blood on this generation.

And then he departs from the temple, goes to the Mount of Olives and sits. And his disciples, of course, are freaking out.

Pointing out the temple, its buildings. And he says, you see all these things, there should not be left one stone upon another.

And brothers and sisters, I want to highlight this. As I said in the very beginning, when we ask the question, is

Jesus the promised Messiah? We have to have an answer for that. Because as we've seen,

Jesus doesn't ask for part of your life. Jesus doesn't ask for a corner of your living room.

He's not something you simply add as a piece in your life. When you come to Christ and turn to him for forgiveness and salvation, you lose yourself in him.

But you gain everything. What shall a profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

If anyone would come to me, take up your cross, come and die, and come and rise again. Jesus demands of you, all of you.

And we have to be able to answer that question. Is he the promised Messiah? And it's my hope, as your brother, as your pastor, that you will find in this section of Matthew the fulfillment of the expectation that the

Messiah was bringing salvation and what? Judgment. And it's on the page.

When you see the destruction of Jerusalem promised, when you see the judgment upon the covenant breakers in action, when you see

Jesus' indictment upon the rulers in Israel, just know that that ought to settle your heart with peace.

That this is the promised Messiah because his role was to bring salvation and what?

Judgment. So we shouldn't see the Olivet Discourse and this moment in Jerusalem as just some wild, unexpected moment between Jesus and the religious authorities.

This is, in fact, the playing out of all of God's promises from the

Old Testament. Every amazing detail of the

Messiah all put together in this beautiful portrait of Jesus.

Every detail. Down to his person, down to his timing, down to his

DNA, down to his kingdom, down to his purposes, salvation, and judgment.

And the glory of it is you're in the story. The glory of it all is if you trust in Jesus, you're in the story.

So here's the powerful thing for me. I want to just speak very transparently here.

When I see this, it causes me fear.

Godly fear of God. Because what you see here is another moment of the true and living

God who declares the end from the beginning, who controls all of history. And here's what you know.

He keeps His promises. He keeps His promises. And though we think we can abate

His judgment, and though we think we can distract Him, and though we think

He's not concerned with us and won't lay His hand down as He's promised, He will.

He's the faithful God. He always keeps His promises. He does not lie. Listen, these first century religious rulers thought they were going to escape the judgment of God.

They didn't think it applied to them. The warnings of Jesus, they ignored. They went on their own way to their businesses, doing whatever.

And the warning was, you're about to be judged. You're about to be judged. You're about to be judged.

Repent in a hurry. And they said, never mind. And the application of us today is this.

What does God's Word say to you and me today? What's the call of Christ in your life and my life today?

And here's the thing. Will you and I respond as the religious rulers in the first century, dismissive to the obvious nature of His divinity and His power and His promises?

Or will we submit ourselves to the Lord of glory and experience life? Jesus is

God in the flesh who lived righteously and died for sinners and rose again from the dead.

The command is to repent and to believe the good news. Come to Christ and live, my friends.

Let's pray. Father, please bless the word that went out for your glory. I pray, Lord, you take any aspect of this message that was not truly from you and let it fall and turn to ashes.

But every word that was faithful in accordance with what you say, we pray that you'd use it to change us, to renew us, to transform us.