A Comparison of True and False Obedience

Attention: Example of being coachable.

Text Sentence: Jesus used a parable of two sons to demonstrate the difference between true and false obedience is.

Sermon Idea: A true child of God will be obedient.

Interrogative: What does obedience look like?

Transition: To answer this question there are three parts to our text that we need to see.

Matt. 21:28-32

Div.1: The True and False Son V.28-30

Explanation:

Jesus is hear laying out the two sons.

The first clearly reluctant but eventually submits to his fathers instructions.

The second deceives his father, saying that he will go and do what he has commanded but instead does not go.

Illustration:

Many of you have siblings and so often how well the kids follow instructions varies greatly.

The groaning firstborn who does what they’re told vs. the youngest who says whatever he has to to get his parents off his back.

Argumentation:

Jesus very often criticizes this type of disobedience.

Quoting from Isaiah He calls the religious leaders of His day hypocrites for they honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from God.

Application:

How many of us can relate to this circumstance?

So often you can ask people about what it means to follow God, or if they know/ love Jesus and their lips may say yes but their heart/actions say no.

Transition: We see this idea fleshed out in Jesus’s question.

Div. 2: The Analysis of Obedience V. 31a

Explanation:

Jesus is now turning back to the audience and asking a simple question. Which one was obedient?

Without hesitation they answer that the first was obedient.

Illustration:

Two painters. When asked to apply a second coat one did and the other lied about doing it. When exposed to the light, it becomes clear who honored the request.

Argumentation:

From the birds eye view we can clearly see who honored the father’s request, just as Jesus’s audience did.

In so many ways it is our actions and obedience that testify who we belong to.

Matt. 5:7 speaks about how those whom are merciful will be shown mercy.

If I have experienced the mercy of God, and belong to Christ, that mercy will bleed over into my life.

Application:

So we must ask ourselves, am I being obedient? Does my life show what Jesus has done for me?

Transition: Following that line of thought from Matt. 5:7, what we are going to see is Jesus indict the religious disobedient.

Div. 3: The Indictment of Disobedience V. 31b-32

Explanation:

Jesus looks at the religious elite and tells them that the those who are the worst of the worst will enter the kingdom of heaven before them.

Why? It wasn’t because the prostitute was morally perfect, but instead it was based on their faith.

They believed the message of John the Baptist as he prepared the way.

Essentially they believed in the good news of the coming Messiah.

The first thing commanded by God is for every person everywhere to repent and believe that Jesus is the messiah.

Mark 1:14–15 ESV

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

These people did not, thus they were disobedient to the God they claimed to follow.

Illustration:

This news is so shocking to Jesus’s listeners. They thought of themselves as righteous, but they were missing the initial and most integral piece.

Comparison of two fishing poles.

Argumentation:

The first step necessary to obedience is trusting in the perfect obedience of God’s Son.

The reasons for this are two fold:

It is through the Work of Christ that I am adopted in.

In Christ I am given a new heart that is able to be obedient.

Application:

So in thinking about what Jesus says here, we have to ask, do I truly believe in Christ and recognize Him as Lord?

Is my heart for Him and not just my lips.

If He commands something, will I submit to it, even if painfully, or will I brush it off?

Conclusion:

Visualization: A good wife isn’t just know by the size of her ring. In the same way a Christian is known by their obedience and trust in their Lord.

So where are you at in your life right now?

Are you the lip service person? Or the obedient servant?

Have you trusted in Him, acknowledging Him as Lord. For apart from Him you’re nothing.

If you do belong to Him, where is He asking you to repent? and will you do it?