#161 Lu. 20:1-8 JESUS QUESTIONED ABOUT HIS AUTHORITY Introduction: In our previous text Jesus drove the money-changers and the merchants out of the temple and the great masses of people gathered around Him there in the temple to hear Him teach. Luke said that they did so every day when He came to the temple. In our text today the temple officials come to Him and question the authority by which He was doing the things that He was doing in the temple. I. The time of this encounter V. 1, "And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple..." We had seen back in chapter 19 that after Jesus drove out the money-changers and the merchants that great masses of people gathered around Him to hear Him every day when He came to the temple. Luke does not tell us on which one of those days the event of our text today takes place. He just said that it was on one of those days when He was teaching. We know that it did not happen on the day of His arrival, because on that day all He did was to enter into the temple, look around and leave. Then He left. It did not happen on the next day because that was the day on which He drove out the money- changers and the merchants and began His teaching of the people there in the temple. It was also on that same day that a great crowd of children gathered around Him there in the temple and shouted to the tops of their voices proclaiming Him as Messiah- King. Luke does not mention the children at all. It appears, therefore, that this encounter with the Jewish leaders may have taken place very early in the morning of the third day. When the Jewish leaders approached Jesus on this occasion there was already a large crowd of people gathered and Jesus was already there speaking to them. (V. 1), "...and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders." This statement describes what Jesus was speaking to them about, not only on this third day, but also what He spoke to them about every day when He was teaching them. Jesus was having a great evangelistic revival meeting there in the temple preaching the gospel to the masses of people. He would remind them of the Old Testament promises of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, and would inform them that He was the fulfillment of those promises. He would inform them that His mission here was to save those who were lost in sin. I have an idea that many were saved in those few days that Jesus preached the gospel in the temple. At least they had the best opportunity in the world to be saved, because the Master Preacher of all the ages was the Evangelist in this meeting. II. The questions which Jesus was asked But on this day, whichever day it was, very early in the morning the temple officials approached Jesus as He was teaching and preaching and were ready with their questions. I am sure that on the previous day they had met together with other members of the Sanhedrin Council and plotted their strategy. They must have also planned the very questions which they would now ask. They would want to ask the questions which would give them the best advantage. I am sure that they were quite confident that they would be able to stop Jesus for certain with the questions they had planned. They just couldn't miss---or so they thought. So they must have been very anxious to get started. V. 2, "And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?" Actually, there were two questions in one which they asked. The first was, "By what authority doest thou these things?" Primarily they had in mind the authority by which He did the things that He was doing in the city of Jerusalem and especially the things He was doing in the temple. By what authority had He ridden into the city of Jerusalem being proclaimed as the Messiah-King? By what authority had He driven out the money-changers and the merchants? By what authority did He teach inside the temple grounds? The second question was, "Who gave thee this authority?" They , of course, were thinking about some official in the temple. What temple official authorized Him to do the things He had been doing in the temple? I am sure that they thought they had Jesus cornered with these questions. He surely could not claim that He was one of the temple officials. They, themselves, were the very top temple officials. He surely could not claim that one of the temple officials had authorized Him to do these things in the temple. They were the top officials. If He claimed that some other official had authorized Him to do these things they could easily summons that official and publicly show Him to be wrong. So far as they were concerned, there was just no way in the world He could show that He had such authority. They thought that they would force Him to publicly acknowledge that He had no authority to do what He was doing in the temple. They thought that they would be able to publicly show Him to be an unauthorized intruder in the temple and that they would be able to arrest Him and carry Him away. They thought they could do this without opposition from the people with whom He was so popular. Once they carried Him away from the people they would make certain that He never returned. At least, that was what they had in mind. It didn't work out that way. It just seems that this is getting to be a habit. None of their plans concerning Jesus seem to be working out. III. The question which Jesus asked and the Jewish leaders V. 3-4, "And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?" In that expression "the baptism of John" Jesus was talking, of course, about the whole ministry of John the Baptist. He was talking about what John preached as well as the act of baptizing people. He was asking, "Did John have heaven's authority in his ministry or did John have some earthly men to authorize him to do what he did?" They were stunned by His question. They were most certainly not expecting that. Note what Luke says about it. V. 5, "And they reasoned with themselves..." That is, they at first did not answer at all. Rather, they withdrew some distance from Jesus and discussed among themselves how they should answer His question. They could easily see that Jesus had them over a barrel. They had thought that with their questions they had Jesus over a barrel, but it turned out that they were the ones who were over a barrel. Now here is what they were saying among themselves: (V. 5), "...saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?" John had preached that his mission was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. John had then identified Jesus as the Christ. He had informed the people that God had given Him a way whereby He would be able to identify the Christ. The Holy Spirit of God would come down in the form of a dove and light on Him. John said that He saw this happen. He saw the Spirit come down and light upon Jesus. Now he could bear record that Jesus is the Christ. To be more specific, John said that he saw and would bear record that Jesus is the Son of God. These temple officials knew that John had said this about Jesus. They knew also that the whole multitude knew that they were aware of what John had said. So now if they acknowledge before all this people that John's ministry was from God then Jesus will say, "Why, then, do you not believe what John said about me?" This would be right out before everybody and Jesus would have them. They just could not afford to say that the ministry of John was authorized by heaven. On the other hand, neither could they afford to say publicly that John's ministry was not from God. V. 6, "But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet." John was dead and gone, but the masses of people still loved John. These Jewish leaders knew their temperament pretty well. They said, "These people will stone us" and they were probably right. They were probably right. If those leaders had stood there in that temple and said before that crowd that John's ministry was not of God but of men, their very lives would have been in danger. They would almost surely have been mobbed and drug outside of the city and stoned to death. They were in a mess. They had gotten themselves in a real jam. So what did they do? V. 7, "And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was." What an answer! What a humiliating answer this was! These were the men who claimed to have all the answers pertaining to the Jewish religion and they had to stand before this great crowd of people and say, "We're sorry. We just don't know the answer to your question." In a way, they had answered correctly. In truth, they really did not know that John's ministry was of God. They had every reason to believe that it was from God. All of the rest of the people knew that it was from God. But these men had deliberately closed their minds to the truth and had refused to accept the fact that God had sent John to identify the Christ. So they just said, "We don't know." On the other hand, they lied. The lied about what they really did believe about John's ministry. They, in truth, really believed that God had not sent John. They really believed that John's authority for his ministry was entirely his own. It was of men and not of God. So from that point of view, they deliberately lied to the people. IV. The outcome of the encounter V. 8, "And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." The Jewish leaders were surely disappointed. They had hoped that this interview with Jesus would give them an excuse to publicly arrest Jesus and end His career. They would be rid of Him once and for all. But instead, they had been greatly embarrassed before the people and Jesus was still free to come daily into the temple and preach the gospel to the people. But they did not know anything else to do, and so they dropped the whole matter. In a way, they were glad this episode was over. They were glad that at least they got out of it without being stoned. They had come so close to being stoned to death by an angry mob. So they just walked away and did not bring up this question again. To me, what is strange about the whole thing is that the majority of people still did not believe that Jesus is the Christ. At this point the majority still accepted Him only as a prophet of God. Yet as long as the people thought of Him as a prophet, it would not be wise for them to bring up this question again. V. Others who question the authority But listen! Those Jewish leaders are not the only ones who have questioned the authority of Jesus. Down through the ages there have been those who have stood up and challenged all Christianity. They have denied that Jesus is the Son of God. They have denied that He came forth from the grave. They have denied that Jesus will come again. They have denied that Jesus can cleanse from sin and save the soul of man. They have denied the whole gospel message. In every generation since the days of Jesus here on earth, there have been men who have denied. There is an abundant crop of them even today. Those who hold to atheism deny even the existence of God. Many who do not even claim to be atheists deny that the Bible is the inspired word of God. They have closed their minds to the gospel message and there is no way at this point of time to convince them of its truth. But I am here to tell you that there is no way in this world that they are going to win this argument. I said that there is no way at this point of time to convince them of the truth. But the time will come when they will be convinced. When they stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in judgment and they see Him with their own eyes as He sits upon the throne of God, they will be convinced. The Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess. Yes sir! One of these days even those hard hearted Jewish leaders will be convinced and the atheists will be convinced and every other skeptic will be convinced. He will know for certain that Jesus is the very Son of the Living God. They will all know that He is the Christ. But what I want you to see today, is that some people who never deny that Jesus is the Christ will still wind up in the fires of hell. If you ask them if they believe that the Bible is true they will say, "Yes." If you ask them if they believe that Jesus is the Son of God they will say, "I've believed that all my life." If you ask them if they believe that Jesus is the Savior of men, they will say, "Yes." But if you ask them if they have called on Jesus and asked Him to save their souls they will say, "Not yet. Maybe some day." And the sad truth is that most of them will die in their sins and go into the fires of hell because they never do put their faith in Him as their own personal Savior. In a sense even some saved people seem to question the authority of Jesus. They seem to challenge His right to rule over their lives. But let me tell you that Jesus has all authority both in heaven and in earth. He has the right and the authority to tell us to stop doing something that we are doing. He has the right and the authority to tell us to start doing some things which we are not doing. Whatever the Bible teaches, that is what we ought to be doing. Conclusion: What about you? Do you believe that Jesus Christ can save your soul? Are you saved? If not then what in the world are you waiting for? Come today and ask Jesus to save you. Come and trust Jesus to save you and keep you out of hell. Come and trust Him to take you to heaven. Christian Friend, are you letting Jesus have His way in your life? If not, then why not? Come today and surrender your life to Jesus.