Well, let us turn to God's Word
once again. I hope that my voice is going
to last out. Thankfully, it did this morning.
And we trust that the Lord will help again this evening. Turning to that portion that
we read in Luke. And I'll read again the opening
verses in that 20th chapter, Luke chapter 20. Reading the first eight verses and it
came to pass that on one of those days as he taught the people
in the temple and preached the gospel the chief priest and the
scribes came upon him with the elders and spake unto him saying
tell us by what authority they do us these things or who is
he that gave thee this authority 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? And they reasoned with
themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, ye will say,
Why then believ'd ye him not? But, and if we say of men, all
the people will stone us. For they be persuaded that John
was a prophet, And they answered that they could not tell whence
it was. And Jesus said unto them, Neither
tell I you by what authority I do these things. And particularly those words
that we have in the second verse. The text then is here in Luke
20 verse 2. They spake unto him, that is
the Lord Jesus, saying, Tell us by what authority doest thou
these things? Or who is he that gave thee this
authority? The authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he engages here in that ministry that he had received
from God the Father. It's the Jewish leaders, of course,
who are questioning that authority questioning his teaching as we
see from the opening verse he was in the temple he preached
the gospel and it was the chief priests and the scribes who came
upon him with the elders and began to to question his his
teaching and his preaching really questioning the whole aspect
of his ministry as we see from the end of the previous chapter
where he had gone into the temple and cast out the buyers and the
sellers and rebuked them. My house, he says, quoting from
the Old Testament scripture, my house is the house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves. And it was this that
was such an offense to them. The Lord Jesus then at this time
is in Jerusalem and he's ministering in the temple. as we see again
here at the beginning of this particular chapter. Now what
is the significance of the temple, the place where the Lord is engaged
in this ministry? Well, as we've seen, it was to
be a place of prayer. My house is the house of prayer. Quoting from Isaiah chapter 56,
But we can go back to the building of the temple, the dedication
of the temple, the prayer, that remarkable prayer that was prayed
by King Solomon at that time of the dedication of the temple
back in 1 Kings chapter 8. Now that long prayer, verse 22,
Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of
all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands toward
heaven. And then his prayer follows. And amongst other things, verse
27, he says, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the
heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much
less this house that I have built it. Yet have thou respect unto
the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my
God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant
prayeth before thee today, that thine eyes may be opened toward
this house, night and day, even toward the place which thou hast
said, My name shall be there that thou mayest hearken unto
the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place,
and hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people
Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou
in heaven thy dwelling place, and when thou hearest, forgive."
It is so evident that the temple was to be that house of prayer. It was a place where prayer was
wont to be made. But it was not simply a place
of prayer. It was also a place of preaching,
a place where there was the ministry of the Word of God. as we see here in the opening
words of the chapter. He taught the people, it says,
in the temple and preached the gospel. Again, back in chapter
19 at verse 45, we're told how he went into the temple and began
to cast them out that sold therein and them that bought. He wants the people to be very
much aware as to what the purpose of the temple is. It's the house
of prayer. But then, verse 47, he taught
daily in the temple. It's a place of teaching, a place
of preaching. And now the people are hanging
on his every word, as these chief priests and scribes, And all
the elders of the people seek to destroy him. We're told at
the end of that 19th chapter, they could not find what they
might do, for all the people were very attentive to hear him. Or as the margin says, they're
hanging on his words. Not just the place of prayer,
but the place of preaching. And it is that, of course, that
is so closely associated with the Lord Christ. The temple really
in the Old Testament is a remarkable type of the Messiah that was
to come. Banyan in Solomon's temple, spiritualized,
shows that so clearly. Remarkable types are to be observed
in all the furnishings of the temple. it is that that is altogether
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ and it's therefore associated
with his ministry and in it we see so much of his authority
and it's that authority that I want to concentrate on for
a little while tonight as we come to consider this second
verse in particular the question that these rulers of the Jews
come to him with. They spake unto him, saying,
Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? Or who is he that gave thee this
authority? Firstly, observe how the Lord
Jesus defends Himself, defends His authority. He doesn't evades
the questions that they are putting to him here in this verse. It's true that he answers them
and he answers them with a question. In verse 3, 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. Now, we're told you're not supposed
to answer a question with a question. But this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
That might be the ideas of men, but surely we're not to find
fault with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is that one who is perfect
in all his life, who only speaks truth in all his words. And in
no way is the Lord here seeking to sidestep or to evade the question
that they've come to Him with concerning His authority. Look
at the way in which they approached Him. It says here at the opening
verse how they came upon Him as He was teaching there in the
temple. You have that expression at the
end of the first verse. The chief priest and the scribes
came upon him with the elders. And the word really is quite
a strong verb that is used. It means they set upon him. There's
some aggression here as they come to him. They're not coming
with a genuine question. They're not really interested
in any spiritual sense in the question of his authority. They're
always wanting to find fault with him. And this is why the
Lord is so careful in the way in which he answers them. Later
we see how they're so bent upon his destruction. At verse 19,
the chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands upon him. or they would seize him. They wanted to destroy him. That was what they were about
and the Lord knew this. The Lord was well aware of the
opposition that he was going to meet from these Jewish authorities. Remember how after Peter had
made his great confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, in
Matthew chapter 16, it's then that the Lord begins to speak
more plainly to his disciples concerning the great purpose
of his coming into the world. Peter has recognized who he is,
that he is the promised one, the Messiah. He is the Son of
God, manifest in the flesh. and he has all that authority
therefore that belongs to God incarnate and the Lord begins
then after that acknowledgement of his person to tell the disciples
of the work that he had come to accomplish not only that ministry
that he will exercise throughout his life not only the life that
he is to live but also the death that he must die and so following
that confession in Matthew 16 we see that several times the
Lord will go on to speak of what's going to befall him at Jerusalem
and there in Matthew again in Matthew chapter 20 in Matthew chapter 20 at verse 17
in the following verses He read of Jesus going up to
Jerusalem. And He takes the twelve disciples
apart in the way and says unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto
the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death. and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify
him. And the third day he shall rise
again." Here is the Lord making that last journey up to Jerusalem,
and He takes the twelve apostles aside, and He tells what is going
to happen. Once again, He speaks of His
decease, His death, how He is going to be betrayed onto these
leaders of the Jews, the chief priests, the scribes. The elders,
and they are the ones who will condemn him to death and then
they'll hand him over to the Roman authorities. How the Lord
knew them? Oh, He knew these men, these
scribes, these elders, chief priests and Pharisees. We know
that He needed not that any should testify of man. He knew. what was in the hearts of men. And how he knew this, that they
were really the very instruments of Satan. They were of their
father, the devil. He speaks of these rulers of
the Jews in the 8th chapter of John's Gospel. There in John 8, verse 37, he
says, I know that you are Abraham's seed, But ye seek to kill me,
because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I
have seen with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen
with your father." Here is the difference you see. His authority
comes from his father. I speak that which I have seen
with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your
father. They answered and said unto him, Abram is our father. Jesus said unto them, if ye were
Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But
now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth
which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. Again, he reminds them, you see,
of his authority. I told you the truth, he says,
which I heard of God. This did not Abraham. And then
later, Verse 44 there he says, Ye are of your father the devil,
and the loss of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. How the
Lord knew them! How the Lord knew them! They
were of their father the devil. and they are devilish in the
way in which they go about things. Remember what we're told concerning
the fall of our first parents, there in the opening verses of
Genesis chapter 3, the subtlety of the serpent, how Eve was drawn
in by that subtlety as she begins to reason with the serpent, the
instrument of Satan. and how she is so ensnared. But see how different it is with
the Lord Jesus as he's dealing with these people. In verse 23,
it says, He perceived their craftiness and said unto them, Why tempt
ye me? He's not going to be drawn in.
He's not going to be drawn in. He knows the subtlety. Now the
Apostle reminds us of that, that Satan should get an advantage
over us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Let us not be
ignorant of the devices of Satan, that adversary of sorts, how
he will seek to draw us in, how he will come and lay his snares.
Do you know how so often he entraps us, and we fall, and then we
see that he is, that while he is a great adversary of man,
how he hates man, man-made in God's image, created after God's
likeness. So he hates that sinner who has
been saved, the image of God restored in the soul of a man,
that we will seek to come and to destroy all that is good.
And once the sinner has been ensnared, so he immediately turns
accuser, he's the accuser of the brethren. He accuses the
brethren day and night before God. What are we to do? We're not to be drawn in by his
subtlety, we're to resist him. Resist the devil, says the Apostle,
and he will flee from you. The Lord Jesus Christ, how does
the Lord resist him? Get thee behind me, Satan. Oh,
he rebukes him. He dismisses him. Now we see
the Lord here so careful in the way in which he answers these
men. He's not going to let them draw him in. This is the one
that we need to be looking to, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is
one who is a great pattern to us. He is that one who has power. He has power over sin. He has power over Satan. He has
vanquished sin. He has defeated Satan. the language
of the Apostle to the Corinthians, O death, where is thy sting,
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of sin is the law. The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law. But thank me to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ who
has obtained that victory. Here we see then the Lord and
how we need to contemplate the manner in which he deals with
these great adversaries who come as Satan's instruments. And what
does he do time and again? We see it in his dealings with
these many silences then. Again, in Matthew's Gospel, there
at the end of that 22nd chapter, where there's one of the Pharisees
who's such an expert in the law trying to catch the Lord Jesus
Christ out. And the Lord silences him. No
man was able to answer him a word, it says. Here is that one then who answers
all his adversaries, all his enemies. And what does he do
here? As he answers these men, he really,
speaking of his authority, he directs them to God. Because
that's from whence his authority has come. When he asks concerning
the baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? Where was John's
authority? Was it from God in heaven or
was it simply of men here upon the earth? And of course, as
they reason, they realize that they are unable to answer his
question. He is speaking of that one who
is his great forerunner, the ministry of John the Baptist
he'd spoken of previously. Here in the third chapter we
read of John and his preaching how he came
into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins as it is written in the book of
the words of Isaiah, where Isaiah is the prophet saying, the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough way shall be made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. how the Lord is speaking
of that ministry that the Baptist comes to exercise. He directs them to John's authority,
an authority that comes from heaven. And his mission, of course,
is to prepare the way and to direct the people to Christ.
There in John chapter 1, Behold the Lamb of God, he says. Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. For whence came John's authority? I was told quite plainly, there
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. Right at the beginning
of the The gospel according to John, that is John the disciple
of the Lord, John the evangelist. There in chapter 1 and verse
6, so John the Lord's apostle speaks of his namesake, John
the Baptist. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. And the Lord is really saying
to them that his authority is from exactly the same place from
whence John the Baptist obtained his authority. Was the Baptist
sent by God, so too is that one to whom the Baptist bears his
testimony, so too is the Lord Jesus Christ. And how the people
have recognized the authority of John's preaching That's what
they must conclude as they reason amongst themselves these enemies
of Christ. If we shall say, from heaven,
he will say, why then believe ye him not? But, and if we say
of men, all the people will stone us, for they be persuaded that
John was a prophet. And they answered that they could
not tell whence it was. Or they knew, but they wouldn't
say. because of the people, the common people were receiving,
or had received John's ministry. And now these same people are
receiving the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. There at the
end of chapter 19, how all the people were very attentive to
him, or as we said just now, as it reads in the margin, how
all the people hanged on him to hear him. They were hanging
on his words because he was speaking with such authority. The Lord
then defends himself, defends his authority. He is not drawn
in by their subtlety. He resists them. But he defends
himself. And he directs them to the ministry
of the Baptist who was his harbinger. But he doesn't just defend his
authority here. The Lord, in this passage, is
seen to demonstrate something of his authority. He cannot and will not be silenced. While we're taught there, in verse 47 of chapter 19, he
taught daily in the temple, every day, he is teaching, he is preaching. This is the great work that he
has come to accomplish. And what do they want to do?
They want to silence him. They want to shut him up. And so, in the opening word of
the chapter, it came to pass that on one of those days, as
he is daily teaching, On one of those days, as he taught the
people in the temple and preached the gospel, the chief priest
and the scribes came upon him with the elders and spake unto
him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? Or do we see that gave thee this
authority? In other words, you shouldn't
be here. What right have you to stand here? preaching this
message, teaching the people these doctrines. They want to
silence him. But who is it that they're speaking
to? Why? It is him who is the great prophet of the Lord. It
is him who is the prince of all preachers. Some debate who is the prince
of preachers. The scripture is clear, surely.
there is only One who is the Prince of all preachers. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and He is that Prophet, the One
that is promised back in the Old Testament in the books of
Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 18. There at verse 15, Moses says,
"...the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the
midst of thy brethren, like unto me. Unto him ye shall hearken. And then what Moses had said
in God's name, the Lord repeats himself, verse 18, I will raise
them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee,
and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him. He is that prophet. He comes
in that threefold office. He is the great priest. He is the fulfillment of the
priestly office. He comes to make the one sacrifice
for sins he's not only the priest he's the Lamb of God as John
says John the Baptist says he's the Lamb of God that take us
away the sin of the world he comes as that one who is a king
in Zion he comes to establish his kingdom which is not of this
world it is a spiritual kingdom established in the hearts of
sinners and he comes as that one who is a prophet, a teacher
sent from God even Nicodemus recognizes that Rabbi we know
that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest except God be with him that's another
of the rulers you see there were those amongst the rulers who
did recognize the authority of this man Nicodemus amongst them
we know that thou art a teacher come from God, he says. This
is the Lord's authority, it has come from God. He says in the
course of his ministry, John 17, John chapter 7 and verse
16, my doctrine, that is my teaching is not mine, but his that sent
me. Time and again we have that declared
in the Gospel, in John's Gospel in particular. Again in John
8 and verse 38 he says, I speak that which I have seen with my
Father. And then there's that amazing
passage in the latter part of John chapter 12. John chapter
12 and the last verse is verse 49 he says, I have not spoken
of myself But the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment,
what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. He is speaking only the words
of God. And this is the mark. This is
the mark of one who is truly the Lord's servant, the Lord's
prophet. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work. Every part of that
work in His threefold office as prophet, priest and king,
He will fulfill all of it. he will accomplish the work that
the Father has given him to do. And so, we see that his ministry
is evidently with authority. It's all the authority of heaven
that we see here in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that ministry of his gospel
is still with authority. Because now, he has been vindicated. He has accomplished his priestly
work, he has made the one sacrifice for sins forever. He's risen
again from the dead. And he's ascended on high and
he rules and he reigns now. That the Father's right hand,
he is the head over all things to the church. and remember the
great commission that he gives to his own disciples there at
the end of Matthew's gospel all power he
says or authority would be a better rendering in many respects all
authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world." Well, he still
exercised his authority. He exercised it in the course
of his own earthly ministry. when he preaches there in the
Sermon on the Mount as we come to the end of that sermon recorded
in those three chapters in Matthew's Gospel. What do we read at the
end of chapter 7? He taught them as one having
authority. He taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. He has authority. And now he
has clothed his word with that authority. The authority is not
vested in any man. The authority is in the word
of God. And this is why it must ever
be to the Lord and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them. And we need
that spirit of the Bereans. Everything must be brought to
that touchstone of the word of God. You don't look to some priestly
caste. some man who has authority vested
in his own person. No, it's the Word of God. And
those who are the Lord's true servants, they are ministers.
But they are ministers of His Word, where the authority lies. Or the Lord cannot be silenced.
The Lord guides the Word. Right was the company of them
that proclaimed it. We sang it just now in the Metrical
Psalm. It's the Lord who gives the Word.
and that word how authoritative it is they cannot silence the
Lord Jesus Christ that is the great thing let us not be those
then who would seek as it were to silence him by refusing to
hear his word we are to be those who would receive his word and
what does it mean to receive his word? well remember How James
speaks of that blessed reception, as we have it there. We read
the words this morning in James chapter 1. Be ye doers of the words, he
says, and not hearers only. deceiving your own selves, for
if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, it is like unto
a man beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was. ought to be those who are truly
receiving the Word of God. And how can we receive it? We
cannot do it of ourselves. We need that gracious ministry
of the Lord. The wise man tells us, the hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made both of them. If we
would have a hearing ear, we must ask the Lord for it. We
must ask the Lord for a seeing eye. We must ask the Lord for
a believing heart. He only can give these things.
It cannot be silence. Oh, let us not be those then
who would close our eyes and close our ears and refuse His
words, but rather desire that He would grant to us such a spiritual
hearing, that mark of those who are His sheep. My sheep, He says,
know My voice. and they follow Me and I give
unto them eternal life." He demonstrates in something of His authority.
He cannot, He will not be silenced. He cannot, He will not be denied
or destroyed. And we see that quite clearly.
Or they would have killed Him, but they could not. And why?
In some ways it was because of the people. As we see it here
at verse 19, the chief priests and the scribes the same hour
sought to lay hands on him and they feared the people for they
perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. That
parable that we read. How pointed it was against them
and they understood it and they're offended and they want to kill
him. But going there at the end of chapter 19. As he's teaching
daily in the temple, the chief priest, the scribes, the chief
of the people, sought to destroy him, it says, and could not find
what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to
hear him. Because his ministry is being
so well received by the generality of the common people, It prevents
their wicked design to kill him. But of course, ultimately, they
could not kill him because of the purpose of God. There is
the great purpose of God. Twice in John's Gospel, chapter
7 and verse 30, and again in chapter 8 at verse 20, we're
told that they sought to take him, but no man laid any hands
upon him, for his hour was not yet come. Oh, they couldn't touch Him till
His hour came. There's a time to be born and
there's a time to die. And how true it was in the life
and the experience of the Lord Jesus, the time to be born when
the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth His Son
made of a woman, made under the law. It was that time ordained
from all eternity, the fullness of the time. We read in Galatians
chapter 4. and so also when it comes to
his death here in chapter 9 of Luke's Gospel and verse 51 when
the time was come when the time was come that he should be received
up he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and they could do nothing you
see until God's time all the sovereignty of God in
the life, the experience of the Lord Jesus. And it's true, of
course, in regard to all. And certainly with regard to
all those who are in Christ. All our times are in the Lord's
hands. It was God's purpose, and He
knew God's purpose. And ultimately no man would be
able to take His life. He is the priest. The great high
priest. He is going to make the sacrifice.
Therefore does my father love me, he said, because I lay down
my life that I might take it again. No one takes it from me.
I have power. That is authority. I have authority
to lay it down and I have power, I have authority to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. All his authority comes from
that fact that he is about his father's business. nor they cannot
destroy Him. They cannot deny Him. And ultimately
this is that one of course who has authority. He has authority
to give faith, to give repentance, to give the forgiveness of sins.
Do you want faith? You have to look unto Jesus.
He is the author of faith. He is the finisher of faith.
He is faith from beginning to end. He is the object of faith. He is the one to whom we have
to go. He has authority to give faith to sinners. He has authority
to give repentance. Acts chapter 5 and verse 31,
Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and
a Saviour. To give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins. He gives repentance. as well
as faith. And how vitally important are
these graces of faith and repentance. He comes preaching that gospel
of repentance and saying, believe. You see what he preaches, faith
and repentance. But he doesn't just preach that
message, he is the one who is the giver. He is the author of
faith and of repentance. And how he is that one who has
authority to grant the forgiveness of sins. Remember that miracle
that he performs when those men bring their paralyzed friend
where the Lord is. And there's a great press of
people all about the Lord and they cannot get near to him.
And they climb up onto the roof of the house and they let their
friend down before the Lord. It's recorded in the second chapter
of Mark's Gospel. And there we see, again, the
remarkable authority that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees their faith and he says
to the man who's sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven. And here again we have certain
of the scribes sitting there, reasoning in their hearts. And
what do they say? Why doth this man thus speak
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? How true that is! God only can
forgive sins. And immediately when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto
them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it
easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. But that
ye may know that the Son of Man hath power, it's the same word
really, authority, exousia, that ye may know that the Son of Man
hath power, authority on earth to forgive sins. He saith to
the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy
bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately He arose,
took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that
they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw it
on this fashion." All the people were amazed. He had authority.
He has authority not only to perform the miracle, He has authority
to forgive sins. Why? He is God. This is God's
manifest in the flesh. He cannot be denied. They come
to these awful opponents and enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. They want to silence Him. They
question Him about His authority. But now time and again in the
course of His ministry, we see Him as that one who will demonstrate
His authority. And still, He has that authority. Oh, He is that One who is exalted
at God's right hand, a Prince and a Saviour, able to save to
the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. Oh, let us not be
those then who would in any way silence Him, but rather come
to Him, call upon Him, seek Him, cry to Him, that He would grant
all that we stand in need of, all that is necessary to the
saving of our souls. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless His Word to us. Amen.