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Repentance Over Religion

Repentance Over Religion

Mar 01, 2026

Passage: Matt. 21:28-32

Preacher: Rob Holster

Series: Gospel of the Kingdom

Summary:

We've been looking at Matthew 21, where we see a different side of Jesus. He'd been doing things that angered the religious elites, who ruled in the temple and were supposed to shepherd the spiritual lives of the people. Last time we looked at a confrontation where the chief priests and elders of the people came and found Jesus teaching in the temple. They stopped him and asked, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus didn't answer directly, but posed a question to them––a question about John the Baptist––where did he get his authority? Was it from man? Or from God? And in doing so, he put them in a dilemma. How were they to answer this question? So they didn't answer. They said, "I don't know." So Jesus, true to his word, said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." So you could say that Jesus avoided the question, but I don't think that's the case. And he's going to continue to answer them with three parables––which we'll cover in the next three weeks. The first one is about two sons. It deals with repentance and religion. You could say the chief priests and elders of the people were good at religion, but they were not good at repentance. Tying the story from last week to this week, remember that John the Baptist's ministry was about repentance. That's what he preached. He taught, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In other words, "Repent, in preparation for Messiah"––for Messiah had come. Only the religious leaders weren't interested in repenting. They didn't feel like they needed to change their minds. Instead, they turned to religion––the outward, ceremonial expression of worship. In other words, they did it for show. Because they wanted to be seen in a certain way. The parable we'll cover this time teaches that God is more interested in repentance than external religious ceremony.

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