Participants: Glenn Russell & Ranko Stefanovic (Host)
Series Code: MTBOTB
Program Code: MTBOTB00016B
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00:01 Welcome back. We've been exploring
00:03 this marvelous parable in Matthew Chapter 20. 00:06 It deals with the issue of salvation. 00:08 You know, Ranko, as we were talking about, 00:10 I was thinking about my parents 00:12 who spent their entire lives in mission service. 00:16 My dad spent four years in prison camp. 00:19 They served from the beginning of their lives. 00:21 They were the early morning laborers. 00:24 And then, you compare the thief on the cross. 00:28 Last moment-- He's messed up. 00:29 His life is a mess. He gives his heart to Jesus. 00:33 And yet, the same God gives the gift of salvation to both. 00:38 Actually, last year, I also buried my own father. 00:45 He knew Christ for exactly 60 years. 00:50 When he became a Christian, 00:51 his life was changed completely. 00:54 He embraced the Gospel message. 00:57 The only talk that he knew it was about Jesus Christ 01:01 what He did for me and he died. 01:03 But I meet very nice people 01:06 and may be they are some of those 01:08 among our viewers who may be, 01:11 are already the advanced age. 01:14 They heard about the Gospel message 01:16 and they wonder if God can forgive them, 01:19 if God can accept them. 01:22 I would like to tell you that the Gospel of Matthew is a-- 01:26 has a very encouraging message to all of us. 01:30 Even if you are 50, 60 and 80, 01:34 God is calling you come to Him. 01:39 That's no matter how long you have known Jesus Christ. 01:42 Of course, it will be good if you know Jesus Christ 01:45 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. 01:47 But if this now an opportunity is take that opportunity, 01:52 accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. 01:55 Salvation and His acceptance 01:58 is not based about your worst 02:00 on the years of the service. 02:02 It is on your complete dedication to Him 02:06 and to His service. 02:07 So if we come early in the day or at 5 o' clock, 02:10 we still receive this gift that comes from God. 02:12 Now after the parable Jesus presses towards Jerusalem. 02:16 It says in verse 17, He took the disciples aside. 02:20 Now in the past, 02:21 He had spoken about His death in a general way. 02:24 He gets more specific now. 02:26 He tells very, very clearly verse 18 02:28 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, 02:30 and the Son of Man will be delivered up 02:32 to the Chief Priests and to the Scribes. 02:34 They will condemn him to death and deliver him 02:36 to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified 02:39 and he will rise on the third day." 02:42 It's very clear. 02:43 It said that the Gentiles will mock and scourge him. 02:46 Jesus actually told them everything in detail 02:49 what--what will happen to him. 02:51 There was no any, any doubt. 02:52 But the next story tells us they didn't quite get it. 02:55 But they didn't get it. 02:56 Not only that, we know when we read 02:59 the end of the Gospels, how much they were 03:01 disappointed when Jesus was crucified. 03:03 They did not get anything. 03:05 And actually this is a great way for me personally. 03:08 And to all of us, ask so many times 03:11 we can be obsessed with some of our ideas, 03:14 what we have been believed for years, 03:16 what we have known for years. 03:17 When the message of the Bible comes to us, 03:21 when Jesus Christ knocks on the door of our hearts, 03:24 we don't get it. 03:25 Because it's very, very much important 03:28 to surrender ourselves to God 03:30 and ask God to emptiness of anything that prevent us 03:35 to accept Him as our personal savior. 03:38 But, Ranko, the story of the mother of the sons of Zebedee, 03:43 James and John coming, 03:45 and kind of manipulating in the background, 03:47 she's got a family connection. 03:50 She can work it and you know in the East, 03:52 you don't say no to mother. 03:54 So she calms and she wants to give the special place. 03:56 They really don't understand where Jesus is heading. 04:00 Yeah, actually Jesus is making very clear. 04:04 We are going to Jerusalem. 04:07 The Gentiles will kill Me there. 04:10 They will scourge Me. They will kill Me. 04:12 Actually, He really provides in details 04:15 what will happen to Him in Jerusalem. 04:17 But the disciples did not get it. 04:20 He's talking about cross. 04:21 They are remembering what He said about thrones 04:24 and they wanna make sure they get the right thone. 04:26 How does He respond to them? 04:28 So just few chapters earlier, 04:30 they came to Jesus asking Him. 04:32 When He establishes His kingdom, 04:34 they would like to be the prime ministers 04:35 one on the right, another one on the left. 04:37 Evidently, they were unsuccessful. 04:39 What are they now doing? 04:41 They're sending their own mother to persuade 04:43 Jesus to give them permanent place in His kingdom. 04:47 Well, now the other disciples are upset probably in part 04:51 because they didn't think of this idea, 04:52 this strategy, you know? 04:54 And Jesus speaks about 04:55 a purpose of this mission in verse 28, 04:58 Ranko, it's so important. Let's read that. 05:00 Actually from 26 would be nice. All right. 05:03 It shall not be so among you 05:05 but whoever would be great among 05:06 you must be your servant 05:08 and whoever would be first among you, 05:10 must be your slave even as the son of man 05:13 came not be served but to serve 05:15 and to give His life as a ransom for many. 05:18 What a beautiful statement. Powerful, powerful. 05:21 What Jesus made the statement 05:22 at His kingdom is not about the prestige, 05:25 is not about getting power to rule over the people. 05:29 If you really want to have 05:31 a permanent place in the kingdom, 05:34 it means you want to be servant, 05:36 to serve to the needs of people, 05:39 to bring the salvation, 05:40 to bring Jesus Christ in the lives. 05:42 Actually, if you want to be the follower of Jesus, 05:46 you have to follow in the footsteps of the master, 05:49 because Jesus came not with the power, 05:52 He came to be the servant 05:53 and to save people from their sins 05:56 as we read at the beginning of the chapter 05:57 and Jesus repeats it in verse 28. 06:01 And His mission to be a ransom 06:03 for many is what takes us in Chapter 21 06:06 to the entry into Jerusalem. 06:08 May I read some of that, 06:09 and when they drew near to Jerusalem, 06:11 and came to Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, 06:13 then Jesus sent His disciples, 06:15 two off them saying to them 06:16 go into the village opposite you, 06:18 and immediately you will find 06:19 a donkey tied in a colt with her, untie them, 06:22 and bring them to me. 06:23 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 06:25 The Lord has needed them, 06:27 and he will send them immediately. 06:29 This took place to fulfill 06:30 what was spoken by the prophet saying 06:32 tell the daughter of Zion, 06:34 'Behold, your king is coming humble, 06:36 and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, 06:38 the foal of a donkey. 06:40 The disciples went, 06:41 and did as Jesus had directed them. 06:43 They brought the donkey, 06:44 and the colt, and put their garments on them, 06:46 and He sat there on most of the crowds, 06:48 spread their garments on the road 06:49 and others cut branches from the trees 06:51 and spread them on the road and the crowds 06:54 that went before Him and followed Him shouted 06:56 "Hosanna!" to the son of David. 06:59 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. 07:01 Hosanna in the highest.' 07:04 And when He entered Jerusalem, 07:05 all of the city was stirred saying who is this? 07:09 And the crowd said, 07:11 "This is the Prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. 07:15 Now, Ranko, one question I have is, 07:17 He is going to Jerusalem. 07:18 He knows the cross is ahead Him, 07:20 but He asks about these animals, why? 07:25 Number one is again, again, 07:28 we have the same truth in Gospel of Matthew. 07:31 It's verse 4. 07:33 This took place in order 07:35 that the prophecy can be fulfilled. 07:38 Now in many of the pagan nations, 07:41 a king would come riding on a warhorse, 07:43 very much a warrior and so forth. 07:45 Have you ever seen any picture of Rome-- 07:47 Roman general or any prominent 07:50 ancient ruler riding on a donkey? 07:53 No, I think, no. 07:54 A donkey is the beast of burden. 07:56 It's the common laborer's animal. 07:58 Yeah. It's the animal of poor people. 08:00 Yes, living there in the mountain areas 08:03 and you can use the donkey. 08:04 But it's not reserved for the ruler. 08:07 So Jesus is still arriving. 08:09 He is as a king entering city, city of Jerusalem. 08:14 But according to the prophecy, 08:16 He came--actually this is the elaboration 08:18 what we arrived. 08:20 Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, 08:24 He is coming as a servant. 08:26 in order to fulfill that prophecy. 08:28 And He's wanting to change 08:29 their understanding of what the messiah was, 08:31 because other sections of the prophets, 08:33 the prophecy of Zachariah 08:35 described a conquering king and so forth, 08:38 but this section it is chosen here, 08:40 it speaks to that servant role. 08:42 Let's put it in this way. 08:44 The prophecy was telling us 08:46 the messiah would come into His own city, city Jerusalem. 08:51 He would sit on the throne of David. 08:55 So according to the Gospel of Matthew, 08:57 when people saw Jesus entering Jerusalem, 09:00 they recognized the fulfillment of the prophecy. 09:03 The Messiah is coming into-- He is entering His city. 09:10 However, so they had the fulfillment of the prophecy. 09:15 However, the lesson that Jesus told them, 09:17 He did not come to establish the earthly kingdom. 09:20 He did not come like, like a powerful ruler on the horse. 09:24 His mission was not in His power and authority. 09:27 His mission was in servanthood. 09:30 He came to save people from their sins. 09:32 So its freedom from sin rather than 09:34 freedom from Rome that is His primary focus. 09:37 They recognized this is a great event. 09:40 Hosanna to the son of David, 09:42 blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 09:44 Hosanna to the highest. 09:45 What attributes they are giving. 09:47 Now they still don't quite understand 09:49 because all they say is that He is a Prophet. 09:50 Actually you could expect 09:52 that Jesus would-- would be real. 09:54 You see finally they recognize Him 09:56 as the promised king. 09:57 However, when we go to other Synoptic Gospels, 09:59 I think its Luke or Mark. 10:01 I forget it. They said, 10:03 "At that shouting when Jesus saw the city, 10:05 He started weeping." 10:08 Because He knew that people 10:11 were shouting to Him for wrong reason. 10:13 They were shouting Hosanna. 10:15 Just few days later, they are shouting crucify Him 10:18 and crucify because their hopes 10:20 were not fulfilled into that earthly kingdom. 10:22 That's right. Let's remember 10:23 that this is the first of the Passion Week 10:26 and very soon the crowd will change 10:28 how fickle the crowd is. 10:29 But, you know, you said, 10:31 we might expect Jesus to be happy 10:33 and certainly if you think about the disciples, 10:35 they must have enjoyed this. 10:36 Probably, Judas the most. 10:38 Now at last, we've come. 10:40 Everything looks good, 10:41 but then He does this strange thing 10:43 of going into the temple and cleansing the temple. 10:46 Ranko, you would've thought the disciples would say, 10:49 okay, now look, you've come to Jerusalem. 10:51 The crowds are accepting you. 10:53 Work with the Pharisees a little bit. 10:55 You know, compromise a bit with Sadducees Jesus. 10:58 This is the time for you to set up your kingdom. 11:00 Actually, we go and see 11:04 the picture of Ancient temple in Jerusalem 11:07 is we know that the temple had several courts. 11:13 The first court was known as the court of the Gentiles. 11:18 Into that section of the temple, 11:21 all Gentiles could come. 11:22 That's all where they could come. 11:24 The next one was the court of the Jews-- 11:27 the court of women were women could come, 11:30 the next one the court of Jews, Israelites 11:33 and then after the court of the priest. 11:36 The Gentiles could come only into the first section. 11:40 At the door of the next section, 11:41 there was an inscription that any Gentile 11:44 who would go through this door, 11:46 will be responsible for his own death. 11:49 That temple that God established 11:51 to be the house of prayer to all nations. 11:55 Actually, the greedy Sadducees, 11:57 they made it to the place 11:59 to steal money, money from people. 12:02 When Jesus came, 12:04 He came to save His people from their sins. 12:06 He wanted to save all people and what He could see 12:09 there were greedy Sadducees. 12:13 There was nothing for the Gentiles 12:15 that they could learn about the God of Israel, 12:17 about those promises of salvation 12:19 that is actually offered to them. 12:22 This was the only new occasion that made Jesus angry 12:25 and provoked the action that He did. 12:26 We don't have time to explore it 12:28 but the bearing fig tree acted 12:30 out parable is exactly 12:31 what the temple would become. 12:33 Jesus comes to cleanse the temple. 12:35 Ranko, it's the second time. 12:36 What does that tell us about 12:37 our lives just for a little devotional thought, 12:40 Jesus comes to cleanse the temple. 12:42 Yes, Jesus wants to cleanse us as well. 12:45 He does not look always at our mistakes, 12:48 our shortcomings because He is Savior, 12:50 He wants to save us. |
Revised 2014-12-17