AUGUST 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#25 “Which of the two did the will of the father?” (Matthew 21:31)

 

AUGUST 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   

JQ#25 

 “Which of the two did the will of the father?”  

(Matthew 21:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, my Redeemer, my Savior, 

the Only Begotten of the Most High God.

 There is no name like the Holy Matchless Name of Jesus.

 Lord, Savior, Friend, all praise is Yours. Your Kingdom will 

know no end, You will forever be the King of kings and Lord of lords.

 Jesus, I surrender my life to Praise and Honor Your Holy Name. 

I know that if I could completely abandon my selfish desires and 

sinful ways that the Holy Spirit would fill this unworthy earthen

 vessel and Your Abundant Love and Eternal Grace would spill 

over to the world through an outpouring of Your Mercy — so grant 

it Lord that I can be strong enough to let go, wise enough to let You 

fill me with Your knowledge, and Lord, weak enough to yield 

completely to the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit.   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus began Teaching further about “authority” with three 

consecutive parables, the first of which is the parable of 

the two sons. Jesus had the chief priests and elders thinking

 about the “baptism of John” so Jesus confronts them with:
 “But what do you think?” (Matthew 21:28) 

and then Jesus told this parable: a man asked his two sons to go

 work in his vineyard, one son said he would go but never went and 

the second son said he would not go but 

“afterward he regretted [not obeying his father] and 

went [to work in the vineyard]…” (Matthew 21:29)

 

— Jesus ended the parable with the 

Jesus Question JQ#25:

 “Which of the two did the will of his father?” 

(Matthew 21:31) 

The chief priests and elders that were confronting Jesus with His 

“authority” gave the obvious answer that the one that went and 

worked in the vineyard was the one that did the father’s will. 

Jesus immediately tied this parable to John the Baptist who came

 in the Name of the Father preaching “Repentance” ——

— Jesus confirmed that all who believed John and repented will 

inherit the kingdom of God, but those that did not do the will of the

 Father simply would not enter the kingdom of God. Jesus has been

 saying in His ministry that He is doing the “works that His Father” 

had sent Him to do. When Jesus told this parable it should have

 been obvious that Jesus was talking about God’s chosen people

 Israel and that God had “brought them out of Egypt” 

and had led them to a “land of milk and honey” 

but as the children of Israel they had a responsibility to 

“work in [God’s] vineyard”. (Matthew 21:28) 

The point that Jesus is making to the religious rulers was that God

 had invited them to work in His vineyard and it really doesn’t matter 

what they “said”  they would do, the important thing was that they 

actually “did the works” of the father. Jesus could not have made it 

any clearer to the religious leaders that God had given them a job

  in His Vineyard and those that did the will of the father 

would be rewarded. By tying this parable to the baptism of John, 

Jesus is stating that:

 God sent John (the Baptizer) 

to prepare the way for 

Jesus who IS the Messiah  

and if they refused to listen to the Father 

and do His Will that they will not

 “enter the kingdom of God”.

 

Jesus then makes a direct connection to John the Baptist

 with the rulers as He said, 

“for John came to you in the way of righteousness,

 and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots

 believed him, and when you saw it you did not afterward

 relent and believe him.” (Matthew 21:32) 

So with this parable Jesus is describing 

to the chief priests and elders

 the will of the Father:

 “This is the work of God,

 that you believe in Him

 whom He hath sent.” 

(John 6:29)

 

God has called all to [repent and] enter into His labors

 and it is our responsibility to get busy doing 

“the WILL and WORK of the FATHER.”

AUGUST 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#24 “Is the power and authority of baptism from heaven or from men?”” (Matthew 21:25)

 

AUGUST 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   

JQ#24

  “Is the power and authority of baptism 

from heaven or from men?””  

(Matthew 21:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, O the joy of starting each day knowing that You are always

 there, my Lord and my Redeemer, my Shepherd that leads me

 beside still waters! Thank You Jesus for the Mercy that is 

renewed daily and Your Grace that You bestow so faithfully on 

all that call upon the Name of the Only Begotten of the Father and 

believe that God came in the flesh, was tempted in all ways that 

we are tempted, yet You were without sin — what a glorious 

thought that You suffered the trials of this world yet You remained

 perfect so that You could introduce Redemption through 

Your Perfect sinless Life — Godly Redemption bought by the 

Precious Blood of the Lamb of God exchanged for the lives of 

sinners unable to save ourselves — I cannot fathom “why an 

ALL POWERFUL GOD” would die for a sinner such as I, 

but I believe and therefore I rest in the Assurance that Your Grace 

is Sufficient for ALL my daily needs and for my Eternal Security

 and Future. Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow, Praise 

to the Son who gave Himself for the atonement of sin, and Praise

 to the Holy Spirit that lives within believers and guides us

 in paths of Righteousness and teaches us the “Way”.           

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus proved Himself to be the Messiah sent from God each time He 

confronted the problem of mankind moving away from the “command

 of God” —— Jesus always exposed the lie spawned by the “doctrines

 of men” in their selfish desires “to be like God” for the “lie” is always

 exposed by the True Light that always illuminates the Truth of God. 

Jesus was in the temple doing the work of the Messiah in the sight 

of all Israel and yet the rulers, the chief priests and the elders dared 

to question His “authority” —they did not deny the “works” that Jesus 

was doing. Their blindness to the Truth of God however made 

them revert to the “traditions of men”, for until Jesus took over control

 of the temple the chief priests and elders had been in “control” 

of the multitudes because the people had been led to believe that 

the chief priests and elders were the only “authority” in Israel.

 Spiritual blindness prevented the chief priests and elders 

from seeing the Truth of God that the kingdom of heaven was at hand

 and they failed to repent but continued in their sin against God 

by questioning the authority by which Jesus was doing God’s Holy Work! 

Jesus asked the 

“Baptism-of-John” 

Question  because the 

ONLY ANSWER 

that could be given was

 “all authority comes from God”. 

Matthew records the chief priests and elders response to the Question

 Jesus posed to them:

 “And they [the chief priests and elders] reasoned among 

themselves, saying, ‘If we say, from heaven, He will say to us, 

Why then did you not believe [John]? But if we say, 

From men, we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.’” 

(Matthew 21:25-26) 

It was at this point that the chief priests and elders made the universal 

mistake of all generations that face the Universal Question of “God” 

when they reasoned the 

“TRUTH of GOD” 

but mistakenly thought that they would get out of the problem by 

not giving an answer (sound familiar?) — 

“So [the chief priests and elders] answered Jesus and said,

 ‘We do not know.’” (Matthew 21:27) 

It was at that point that all authority was clearly and undeniably with 

Jesus as He then used the 

“power and authority of God” 

to Teach this 

Truth of God 

as Jesus Taught the parable of the two sons ——— 

He started the Lesson in the classic way, ——— 

Jesus now has the undivided attention of the chief priests and the elders

 and so Jesus begins the Lesson by making us put on our thinking caps:

 “But what do you think? A man had two sons…” (Matthew 21:28) 

describing that the man went to his two sons and asked them to 

go work in his vineyard, one son said “yes” but then did not go work

 in the vineyard and the other son replied “no” but then later “repented”

 and decided to go work in the vineyard as the father had requested. 

Jesus ended the Lesson with another Question,

 “Which of the two sons did the will of his father?” 

(Matthew 21:28-31)

 Of course, when put in such simple terms, the chief priests and 

elders gave Jesus the right answer: 

“They said to [Jesus], 

[the son that did as the father had asked]” 

and Jesus then pronounced judgement on them for not answering 

His previous 

“Baptism-of-John” Question 

which had just as obvious an answer —

 “Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors

 and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John 

came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not

 believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and 

when you saw it you did not afterward relent and believe him.” 

(Matthew 21:32) 

 The Lesson everyone should take away from this 

“refusal to answer God” mistake is most important:

 

(L1) 

Baptism is real because sin against God is real. 

(L2) 

Denying the reality of “baptism” or “God” has no bearing on the

 Truth of God that God EXISTS! 

(L3) 

God will present us the opportunity to “believe” but we must use our

 God-given Freewill to choose to “Trust God” 

instead of “trusting the doctrines of men”. 

(L4) 

ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY IS FROM GOD 

(L5) 

Ignorance or refusal to answer is not an acceptable response before 

God, the Supreme Authority,

 because refusal to answer God is the same as “denying God”!

  God will Judge each individual according to the  

Truth of God 

that God has already firmly established 

and will be fairly administered to all — 

we will get our “Just Rewards” 

as already determined by God Himself

 for whatever actions we choose to take in our lives. 

Jesus asks this Question of all generations 

and we must give Him an 

honest answer, remember that:

 

God knows your thoughts 

and nothing is hidden from God 

— so how will you answer this Question God has placed before you —

 

“Is the power and authority of baptism

 from heaven or from men?” 

(JQ#24 — Matthew 21:25)