This morning we will be looking
at the Gospel of Luke chapter 20, the twentieth chapter of
the Gospel of Luke, which is also recorded in Matthew and
Mark. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
confronted by a group of religious leaders who ask him question
after question. They don't ask him questions
to learn from him about God or eternal life or the Scripture.
But rather, these are the foolish and ignorant questions of men
who are trying to trick him, trying to catch him at his words,
the Scripture says. And they're trying to get something
on him with which to accuse him before the authorities. There
were several different groups or denominations of men, if you
will. There were priests, there were
Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, Herodians. These were men who
did not agree with each other. They did not like each other,
but they were alike and in agreement in their hatred for the Lord
Jesus Christ, for the truth. First, the Pharisees sent some
fellows to ask him a question. They asked him a question about
taxes. They asked him if it was lawful
or proper to give tribute or taxes unto Caesar. And our Lord
answered them to give to the government, render unto Caesar
the things which be Caesar's. Render to your government whatever
is due to your government. He wisely answers them. Now,
this not only instructs us to pay our taxes. But it also does
away with all those so-called conscientious objectors who live
in and enjoy the benefits of a country but will not serve
that country. That silences all the objections
of these questioners. Well, then the Sadducees came
to him, the group called the Sadducees who were intellectuals,
they were agnostics, skeptics, they were liberal. Religious
but very liberal. They questioned everything but
believed nothing. No dogmas with them. Well, they asked him a hypothetical
question. And oh, how religious men like
to ask hypothetical questions. Well, what if this? Or what about
that? What if this were to happen?
They ask him about a woman who was married to a man who died,
married another man, he died, and on and on, seven times she
was married to seven different men. Well, these Phagisees didn't
believe in the resurrection, didn't believe in life after
death, and they said, well, whose wife is this woman in the resurrection? She had seven husbands. Which
one is her husband? Who is she really married to?
And this is what a ridiculous and foolish question. And our
Lord wisely and profoundly and marvelously answers this ridiculous
question by telling them, these Sadducees, that there are no
relationships in heaven, that no marriage in heaven, no husbands
and wives, neither fathers or mothers, but they are as the
angels, He said. They're all equal. They're all
as children of the Most High God. They are all as the bride
and Christ is the husband. Well, then along come the scribes,
these scribes, which were the modern our modern day equivalent
would be seminary professors, doctors of divinity, masters
of divinity, lawyers, the most noted men and Bible scholars
of their day. Well, these scribes asked him
a question about the law, you know, how they like to ask about
the law. And after our Lord answered their
question and silenced them, he silenced each one of these groups,
then he himself poses a question. The Lord himself confronts all
of these various groups with one question. And he asks this
question, or poses this question, not for his own information,
but rather to expose their ignorance, to confront all of these men. One passage says they feigned
themselves or faked themselves to be just men. But they weren't
men. They were cowards, and they had
to come to the Lord in groups, in strength and numbers, you
know. One on one, they were afraid
of Him. Well, He confronted these groups,
these men, with the truth, with the true God, with the true Christ. He confronted them with who He
Himself was as opposed to who they think He was, who they thought
He was, who they think He is. A question for all. And here
in Luke chapter 20, I'm beginning to read in verse 21. And this
is also recorded, as I said, in Matthew and Mark's Gospel.
He said in Matthew and Mark, he began, What think ye of Christ? What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he? Who is this
coming Christ, the coming Messiah, the one sent by God, the one,
the Savior, the Redeemer? sent by God. Who is he? Whose
son is he? In verse 21 here of Luke, he
says, How say they that Christ is David's son? That's what they
answered him. Well, he's David's son. That's
who the Christ is. He's going to come from the loins
of David. He'll be the son of David. Well,
Christ said, How say they that he is David's son? How do you
say that he is David's son when, verse 42, David himself in the
Psalms, in the book of Psalms, and our Lord is quoting Psalm
110, verse 1, the Psalms which he knows very well. He knows
by heart the Word of God which he knows very well. Why? Because
he wrote it. That's why. David didn't write
it. David took dictation. Well, the
Lord Himself quotes the Psalms and says, here's what David said
about the Christ. David writes, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand. David called Him sovereign. David called the Christ his God
and King, his ruler, his reigning Lord. Verse 43, he says, till
I make thine enemies thy footstool, a reigning despot, a ruler over
all, a King of kings and Lord of lords." The Lord says, if
he is David's son, if he's just a human being who comes from
the loins of a man named David, if he's just a man, verse 44,
David therefore called him Lord. How is he David's son? David
calls him Lord, sovereign, reigning, ruling God and King. How? Why? Why is he David's son? How is he David's son? Why does
David call him Lord? And do you know this is still
the question of all questions for men and women today? This
is the question which needs to be posed to this generation,
this generation with all its various denominations and religious
leaders and various beliefs. This is still the question of
all questions which men need to be confronted with. And so
I do it this morning. Let me ask you, all who listen,
If Jesus is just a man, why did he himself call himself Lord? Some say he never called himself
God. Oh, yes, he did. In John 8, verse
24, he said, If you believe not that I am, you will die in your
sins. The very name which Moses heard
on Mount Sinai. Tell them, I am, God said. Christ said to his disciples,
you call me Lord and Master, and you say, well, for so I am. If he is just a man, why did
he call himself Lord? If men say that we must make
Jesus Lord, why does it say in the Psalms that God hath made
this Christ Lord? Why does Peter preach at Pentecost,
God hath made this same Jesus Lord? If we make Him Lord, why
did they say God made Him Lord? Well, if men say He's done all
He can do and now it's up to man, why did Christ Himself say
on the cross, it is finished? If He's done all He can do, men
say, and now it's up to man to do something, why did Christ
say it's finished? Well, if He died for all mankind,
as men preach, Why did Christ Himself say in John chapter 10,
I laid down my life for these sheep? And He looked at some
of those fellows and said, you're not my sheep. Well, if He wants
all men to be saved, as most of these Pharisees today are
preaching, if He wants all men to be saved, and yet all men
won't be saved, why did Christ Himself say, In John chapter
6, "...all the Father giveth me shall come to me." Well, if
it is as men say today that we must let Him into our hearts,
why does the Scripture say that God will give His people a new
heart in Ezekiel 37? If it is as men say today, when
they say, you must choose Him, you must choose Him, why? Did
Christ Himself look at His disciples and say, You did not choose me,
I chose you? If it is as men say today, that
we must accept Him, we must receive Him, we must let Him save us,
why did the Lord Jesus Christ say in John 10, I give unto my
sheep eternal life? I give unto them. If it is as
men say today, and everyone calls Him Jesus, Jesus this and Jesus
that, why does God, in Hebrews 1, why does God Almighty call
Jesus God? Where it says, Thy throne, O
God, is forever. If He is just Jesus, if we are
to call Him Jesus, if we are permitted to call Him Jesus,
why does God call Him God? If this Jesus that all speak
of today is merely some poor martyr, frustrated failure, a
willing but powerless Savior, a door-knocking, floor-walking,
crying, weeping, disappointed man, why do all the Scriptures
refer to Him as sovereign, successful, satisfied, seated, enthroned,
Lord of glory, with His enemies under His feet, and all heaven
and earth doing His bidding? Yes, the question still needs
to be posed today. What think ye of the Lord Jesus
Christ? What do you think of this One
who walked the planet named Jesus who is called the Christ? Whose
Son is He? Whose Son is He? This will put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men and women as it did when our Lord
said it. For it says that no man was able
to answer him a word after that, neither doth any man from that
day forward ask him any more question." And in verses 45 through
47, he told the people, he looked at his disciples, and an audience
of all the people, he said, you beware of these scribes and these
Pharisees and these hypocrites. You beware of them. Now, you
listen to me. You listen to God's Word. You
try these self-appointed preachers. Well, I hope there is someone
listening to this today, because this is the question that we
need to be confronted with. Who was this One who walked this
planet? Is He merely Jesus as men are
calling Him today? Or is this the God in whose hands
our breath is and all our way? Read it for yourself. Until next
Sunday, may the Lord reveal his sovereign self to you. Amen.