... And He Did Not Go

“ . . . and he did not go”

Matt. 21.28-32

Chester FBC Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

A There is a trilogy of parables Jesus gives to the Chief Priests & Elders of the people (21.23) who had rejected John the Baptist and Jesus Himself.

Matthew 21:23 (NASB) 23 When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"

1 His is talking to the religious elite, the men who interpreted God’s Law, Keepers of the Temple.

a Men who claimed to give their lives in obedience to God, who thought they were of all men pleasing in God’s sight.

b Jesus shocks them by saying hookers & crooked tax-collectors would enter the Kingdom of God before they would (v.32.)

Matthew 21:32 (NASB) 32 "For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

aa Prostitutes were ladies who exchanged sexual services for money.

bb Tax-collectors received the tax for Rome from Jewish citizens plus a fee/profit.

cc One commentator referred to these two professions as “the scum of society.”

2 What a shock to the religious elite these words must have been coming from Jesus!

B The first parable in this trilogy is what we’ll exegete this morning, but I want you to be familiar with the other two.

1 The sequel parable is about a landowner who rented out his vineyard to vine growers. (21.33-40)

Matthew 21:33-40 (NASB) 33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 "When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' 39 "They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"

a When it came time for harvest, settle up with the land owner, he sends three slaves to receive his produce: vine growers beat one, kill the second, & stone the last one.

aa The land owner sends three more slaves ... the renters do the same thing with these three that they did the first three.

bb The landowner sends his son and they kill him too.

b Jesus asks the religious elite, “when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” (V.40.)

aa He’ll make them pay and then go find vinegrowers will pay him.

bb Jesus replied, “There I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.”

cc v.45, “ . . . they understood that He was speaking about them.”

2 The last parable Jesus speaks in this trilogy is about a King who is hosting a wedding feast for His son. (22.1-14.)

Matthew 22:1-14 (NASB) 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3 "And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 "Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."' 5 "But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7 "But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 "Then he *said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 ~'Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.' 10 "Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. 11 "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he *said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."