The Right Ways To Respond To Jesus Christ Series

The Right Ways to Respond to Jesus Christ

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared December 29, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 21. Here we are less than a week away from the cross of Jesus Christ. This chapter opened with Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And in Matthew 21:9, "The multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: 'Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!''' That word "hosanna" was an emotional expression that means, "Oh save us!" They were crying out for Jesus, the promised Son of David, to save them.

*But many of the people lining the streets of that crowded city were crying out for Jesus to save them from their cruel Roman conquerors. Those people did not understand our urgent need for Jesus to save us from our sins. So, they cried out, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" But later that week, many of those same people cried out, "Crucify Him! -- Crucify Him!"

*They did not know that Jesus is the eternal, only begotten Son of God, who humbled Himself to become a man and die on the cross for our sins. They only thought He was a prophet. That's why vs. 10-11 say, "When He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?'' So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.''

*Then in vs. 12-13, Jesus went into the Temple of God and drove out all the money changers and merchants. Jesus told them, "It is written, 'My House shall be called a House of Prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" Next in vs. 14-15, Jesus healed the blind and lame people who came to Him in the Temple. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things Jesus did, they were greatly offended. Their anger over people being miraculously healed was awful, but it helps us understand how much they hated Jesus.

*A day or two later, the chief priests and elders confronted the Lord again in the Temple. Let's read about it in Matthew 21:23-32. And as we read, please think about the right ways for us to respond to Jesus Christ.

MESSAGE:

*We all respond to things hundreds of times a day. For most people, it starts with the alarm clock every morning. Then we respond to text messages, phone calls, email, and all kinds of conversation. We respond to heat, cold, hunger and pain. We respond to humor, anger, love, respect, and fear. We respond to victories, setbacks, and defeats. But how we respond makes a big difference. Chuck Swindoll once said, "I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me, and 90 percent how I react to it." (1)

*How we respond makes a big difference. And this is especially true when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than how we respond to Jesus, so how should we respond to the Lord?

1. FIRST: WE SHOULD ACCEPT THE LORD'S AUTHORITY.

*We must not be like the Jewish rulers we see in vs. 23. Rebellion and rejection of Christ dripped from their lips: "Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, 'By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?''' In other words: "Who gives you the power and the right to do all the things you are doing?"

*In vs. 24-25, Jesus answered their question with another question. And He did that, because it wasn't quite time for the cross. Jesus had more to do, and more to teach His followers. But these hard-hearted, Christ-haters defiantly questioned the Lord's authority. That was an amazing thing for them to do, considering the previous 3 years.

[1] TIME AFTER TIME, JESUS HAD SPOKEN WITH GREAT AUTHORITY.

*For example, in Matthew 7:24-27, the Lord closed out His Sermon on the Mount with these words:

24. "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

25. and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26. Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:

27. and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."