Untitled Sermon (2)

From the Mouths of Babes

Matthew 21:14-17

Introduction

Some years ago a four-year-old Ohio boy named Dillan McQueen disappeared and naturally his family feared the worst. But their fears were alleviated when Dillan was found riding his bicycle toward church. Dillan had traveled almost half a mile and had crossed several major streets before police located him. After this event Sgt. Peter Wiza from the local police department warned parents to pay more attention to their kids as the weather warmed up. He told reporters, “The boy was working his way to the church for a program, and he just wanted to make sure he didn’t miss it.” After the family was reunited, they all piled into the family’s minivan and headed for church.

From the mouths of babes. My friends, sometimes little ones see things much clearer than older ones, and in our Scripture today we witness little ones seeing Jesus in the crystal clarity of His Lordship while the spiritually elite around Him were blind to the glory of God standing right before them. And it begs the question for us- do we see Christ for Who He really is? Do we worship and serve Christ for the Son of David, the King of all Kings that He is? Sometimes our agendas, sometimes our focus on building our own little Kingdoms can blind us to the person of Jesus, but today we will learn to see Him for Who He is- the sovereign God of all, the King with power to heal. May you be blessed of Him and be drawn closer to Him as we ask Him to open our eyes that we might see, glimpses of truth he has for you and me as we look first today at-

I. When Our Eyes Are Blind to the King

When Our Eyes Are Blind to the King as we read in verse 14 that the blind and lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonder that he did and the children shouting in the Temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They were indignant and said to Him, “do you hear what these children are saying?” Our Scripture comes right on the heels of Jesus going into and cleansing the Temple. The Temple was designed and desired of God to be a place of prayer, praise and worship and of the faithful coming to lay their burdens at the feet of the Lord. Jesus declared it to be a house of prayer, but the High Priest Annas had turned it into a virtual brothel for making money. It was disgusting from top to bottom, that you would make a man come to Jerusalem to worship his God, charge him a crazy fee for exchange of his money so that he might buy an animal to sacrifice to God that you had to approve. The priest was making money hand over fist and the people dealt with it because they wanted to worship their God.

It’s sad and it’s tragic but churches and preachers and church leaders can get in that shape my friends, and we all must be aware and on-guard about it. Listen carefully to what Bible commentary Craig Blomberg says about this: “Contemporary application becomes even more urgent in view of the nature of the religious corruption in this passage- financial profit at the expense of a disfranchised of our society. How many millions of dollars are poured annually into our church buildings and activities and thereby taken away from the poorest and neediest of our world?” May I ask you, my friend, do you think we will not be judged for this? We will and wisdom beckons us to run to Christ now and invest more into the lives of those for whom Christ died that they might enter the Kingdom rather than building our own Kingdoms. Always, always, always be more invested in the lives of people than in the budgets and buildings and bank accounts. Measure out this ministry by that standard in all things you do brothers. For judgment is coming and on this day in our Scripture, it came to the Temple as the Son of David showed that He is the Judge of all the Earth.

And here we are directly after that work of our Lord Jesus two see two completely opposite reactions occur. On the one hand the blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and He healed them. Oh how glorious this is to see! This is what should have been happening in the Temple, this is what God desires- He always desires mercy over sacrifice, and here He is glad to receive- watch this- the very people the priests would have driven away. They cannot see, so they come in, stumbling, being guided, and there the Son of David heals them and gives them their sight. They come into being carried, limping, and there in the Temple our Lord Christ heals them. It is an occasion of great wonder and was so extensive and awesome that Matthew states the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did. Jesus has cleansed the Temple as the Holy God He is and then He healed the blind and lame and all in need by the power He has as the Great Physician of both body and soul. Glory, glory, glory to His name! Can you see it my friend, can you see Him? Can you observe the glory as the only begotten Son of the Father full of grace and truth? Oh there He stands, His works go before Him, how can anyone be blind to Him? I don’t want anyone here to not see Him and for this reason we look at secondly-

II. Opening Our Eyes to See the King

Opening Our Eyes to See the King, watch what happens here. Matthew says that when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the Temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. Well of course they were, but before we get into that I want to show you something incredible here. Now take note of this- in the middle of all Jesus had just done, the cleansing of the Temple, the healing of the blind and lame, that He would step back and receive this praise from the little ones. The Greek word used here is pais and it can refer to children of any age, boys or girls, but it is normally associated with children before their reach puberty. So young ones here, praising Jesus. And this fact led Leon Morris to say that “it is significant that on a day of such high drama Jesus should find time for children.”

Now there is a lot to talk about here, but before moving on I just want to state publicly and openly again that Jesus truly does love the little children, all the children of the world, red or yellow, black or white they’re all precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” And as He loves them, so do I, and I want you parents of little one to know that I never despise them, I never find them an annoyance, I never view them as a problem. What I’m saying is, you bring them here among the people of God, you raise them here among the people of God. And do not ever tell yourself that Pastor Milam has a problem with them because he doesn’t. They may run like crazy around this place, I’d rather them run here than anywhere else. They may cry, I’d rather them cry here than anywhere else. They might be fussy, well, seems like they’re just little versions of us then. You bring them. If you want to convince yourself that they are a problem, just know that is on you, they are not a problem to me. And if they are a problem anywhere else here, you bring them anyway and I will deal with them. Bring them.

For you never know what God will do with them! These little ones that saw Jesus that day all looked to Him and cried out hosanna to the Son of David! This straightly means praise Christ, the heir to the throne of David, the everlasting and eternal King of Israel! What a wonderful praise from those wonderful little ones! Oh how blessed their eyes were to see Jesus and their hearts to praise Him! Heaven had truly come down in this praise, and sure enough, as always say, when Heaven comes down, Hell is gonna rise up. And it sure did. These chief priests and the scribes fully understand that these kids are praising Jesus as the King. And so these religious leaders are filled with madness and they look to Jesus and ask do you hear what these children are saying? Now there is a lot in that question because they are asking Jesus “do you hear these kids call you the King? Do you hear them call you the Messiah?” And Jesus owns it 100%. He says, Yes, have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babies? Now that quote comes from Psalm 8:2. The Psalm begins by saying, “Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.

Now I want us to pick up on exactly what has happened here. Jesus looks at these chief priests and scribes and is saying “you have read Psalm 8, right? You understand why they are saying this of me, right? How can these little children see this so clearly and you who are supposed to lead Israel in the light of God’s Word be so blind to it?” But man they were and they were blind because Jesus threatened their Kingdom, He was overturning their agenda just like He overturned the money changers tables. He was a threat to them and while the little children who could not even read understood who He was, those who should have known and embraced Him hated Him and moved to crucify Him, the little ones who could not even read understood exactly who he was, for they brought nothing in their hearts between themselves and Him and for that reason they could see Him clearly.

Listen my brothers and sisters, it is one of the great tricks of our Enemy to blind us to the person and glory of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4, in their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. He is like a zookeeper, Jack Toomey, of the Bronx Zoo once said about the black cobra. He said that he spits his poison fifteen feet- aims for your eyes. He blinds you first and bites you afterward.” Yes indeed my friends, and one of the worst strains of his venom comes when he makes someone think they are doing a work for God when they are actually working against Him. That’s what had happened with the chief priests and scribes and that’s what happens too often to church leaders and believers today. And that blindness led them to not only not see Christ for Who He actually was, it lead them to hate Him with the deepest hatred from Hell itself. And it is this heart of hatred towards Him, this heart of jealousy against Him that God would use to offer Him up on the cross, there to die under the wrath of God against you and me.

But, isn’t it awesome that the very act man used to get rid Him opened the way for the antivenom for our blindness, for our hard heartedness, for our pride, and arrogance and for all our sin to be answered- all in the blood of Jesus Christ our King. He heals us from the power by which He rules all things.

Conclusion

Can you see Him as those little ones did that day? Can you hear his song in your heart and soul? “Blessed redeemer, precious redeemer, seems now I see Him on Calvary’s tree, wounded and bleeding, for sinner’s pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me.” May God grant us all a greater vision to see the King and to praise Him today, just as praise came that day from the mouth of babes. Who would be saved today? Who would turn to Him today? Who would come a lay burden down at his feet today? Let’s pray.