Looking this morning at Luke
chapter 20, we want to consider verse 1 down through verse 8. Now, I'm taking for the title
for the message from verse 2. And he spake, and these men spake
unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these
things, or who is he that gave thee this authority, this right,
this power? Now, the title of the message
then, Who Gave You This Authority? Now, always remember this very
important truth. found in the word of the Lord
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Who has authority, all power,
and right to do as he will? Who has that right? Who has that
authority? Who has that power? Well, none
other than God Almighty. God as he has all authority and
sovereign power over all things, all events, and all people. He
does according to His will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth, and none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, Lord God Almighty, what doest Thou? Of Him, and
through Him, and to Him are all things to whom be glory, both
now and forever. As God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he possesses all power and all authority. As the God-man mediator,
the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the sovereign
Messiah, he too also has all power rightly given unto him
as our mediator to act for us, as our great high priest to intercede
for us and as our advocate. He has all power and authority
to accomplish our salvation. Now aren't you glad you have
a mediator like that? The Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't
you glad you have an advocate like that in the Lord Jesus Christ? As the God-man mediator, as our
high priest, he prayed this way, Father I thank you, you've given
me power, authority over all flesh, that I should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given to me." We have an almighty,
powerful Savior who has all authority to save His people from their
sin. As a resurrected Lord of heaven
and earth, does He still have power? as a resurrected Lord
when he came forth from the tomb the third day and dwelt among
men forty days, and then he ascended to glory, having all power and
all authority. He sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God. Remember he told those disciples
in Matthew 28, he said, Go and preach the gospel everywhere
to every creature, knowing I have all authority, I have all power
over all things. He still has all authority and
power over all things as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and earth, seas, and in all deep places.
Who gave you this authority? They wanted to know. Who gave
you this right to cast people out of the temple, and to turn
over the money changers, and to take a whip, and to drive
these religious hucksters out of the house of prayer? He said,
you've made an identity. Who gave you the right to do
that? God gave him the right. As God, he has all power. There is no power but of God,
and the powers that be are ordained of God. Pilate said this to the
Lord, remember? When he came before the Lord,
when these very Pharisees and scribes and elders turned him
over, saying, this man is a troublemaker, he's a ringleader, he's one that
has violated the laws of Rome and violated the law of God.
And they brought him before Pilate, falsely accusing him. And Pilate
said, don't you know I have power to release you? I have power
to crucify you. Remember what the Lord answered? He said, you don't have any power
over me, but that which is given to you of God. You see, all authority
and power belongs unto God alone. Now, you remember what had just
taken place, found in chapter 19 of Luke. The Lord of glory
went into his temple, into his house. He called it, he said,
my house shall be called the house of prayer. And he cast
them out of the temple who were abusing and mistreating the poor
people, preventing them from observing the Passover without
paying them some money, without buying those sacrificial animals. And the Lord was, he called them
a very truthful thing, exactly what they were. He said, you're
nothing but a bunch of thieves. robbing God of His glory and
abusing the people of God. Now, when you read in chapter
20, these men, if you see the last part of verse chapter 19,
He taught daily in the temple, but the chief priests and scribes
and the chief of the people sought to destroy Him. Now, don't tell
me men don't hate God. When He dwelt among them, all
they wanted to do was to kill Him. And they could not do what
they wanted to do, for all the people were attentive to hear
him. And it came to pass that on one of those days, as he taught
in the temple and preached the gospel, the chief priests and
scribes came upon him with the elders. Now, like a pack of wild
dogs. The first thing I want to take
notice of, the Lord Jesus Christ went about daily in the temple
teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord. Do you see that
in verse 1? He was a teacher of the Word of the Lord. Many
times he would refer back to the Old Testament Scripture and
he would say, this day is that Scripture fulfilled. The Lord
was a teacher of the Word of the Lord. He was a teacher of
God's truth, but He was also a preacher. Now what is the difference
between a preacher of the Gospel and a teacher of the Gospel?
In my opinion, they're the same thing. Those who teach the Gospel
preach it, and those who preach it teach the Word of the Lord. And that's exactly what the Lord
Did. He came preaching the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ was that prophet sent of God. He came
with God's message. Salvation is of the Lord. He
came with God's message saying that salvation is in no other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a fulfillment of this scripture,
Deuteronomy 18. God said, I will raise him up
a prophet, a prophet from among the brethren. Like unto thee,
I'll put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him. and it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken to my words, which he shall speak
in my name, I will require it of him." Our blessed Savior was
a preacher of His own gospel. He came declaring the word and
will of the Lord. Listen to this scripture, Mark
chapter 1. Now after John was put in prison,
The Lord Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
saying, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,
repent you and believe the gospel. Now if the Lord Jesus Christ
went about teaching and preaching every day, In the temple of God,
we as His people should go every day preaching and teaching the
Word of the Lord. Let us as believers make much
of the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why every time we come together in the name of the Lord, we take
His Word and we teach from the Word and we preach and declare,
thus saith the Lord. The Lord commanded us to go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It
pleased God through the ordinance of preaching to call out His
people. That's why we make much of the Word of God, we make much
of the preaching of the gospel of God. The second thing I want
us to notice, found in verse 2, And all these chief priests,
and these scribes, and these elders, they came and spake unto
him, saying, Tell us Tell us by what authority that you do
these things or who is he that gave you this authority. Now while he was in the temple
teaching and instructing sinners in the way of salvation, preaching
salvation not by the deeds of the law, but by the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfilling the law, these vultures, predators, of religion
descended upon him like a pack of wild dogs, not to learn from
him, not to listen to him, but rather their purpose was to silence
him, to put an end to his ministry, to put an end of him, to kill
him. As it says in verse 47 of Luke
19, they sought to destroy him. On another occasion, these same
men went out and held a council how they might destroy him. Now here's their point of attack.
Here's their point of attack. They were upset that the Lord
Jesus Christ acted in the name of God, with the authority of
God, doing the will of God, and they did not like it. Who gave
you this authority? Now, let's make it relative to
our day and our time. If not, this is the same thing
that religious lost people argue about today. Who's in charge
in this matter of salvation? Man or God? Who's in charge? Who's in charge
of this thing that we so desperately need? Who's in charge of salvation?
Man or God? Is salvation by the free will
of man or is salvation by the free grace of God? Those who
are taught of God have only the answer from the word of the Lord.
The word of the Lord teaches what? Salvation by the free and
sovereign grace of God. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I found this to be true.
over the last 30 or more years that I've been trying to preach
the gospel, when you take a bold stand for the gospel of God,
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and insisting that salvation
is completely of the Lord, that man has no part in it, not in
the accomplishment of it, nor in the redemption of it, the
enemies of God, as they attack the Lord Jesus Christ in that
day, the enemies of God will attack us in our day. I found
that to be true. I found that to be so. When you
read through the book of Acts, when the apostles went preaching
as the Lord commanded them to do, they were severely persecuted,
imprisoned, and beaten, and commanded and threatened not to teach or
preach in His name anymore. Was that the end of their ministry,
Peter and John? What did they do? They went out
after they were beated, being counted worthy to suffer shame
for his name, and they went out publicly in the temple and daily
in every house, teaching and preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's people cannot be put to
silence. He'll raise up. If you put that
one down, He'll raise up another one. You put that minister down,
He'll raise up another one. Now, here's the third thing I
want us to see. In verse 3 and verse 4, the Lord turns the table
upon them. Rather than asking or answering
that question, He said unto them, I will also ask you one thing,
and you answer me. The baptism of John, was it from
heaven, or was it of man? The Lord wisely goes on the attack,
turns the table around, and he asks them. He did this on numerous
other occasions when the Pharisees and Sadducees asked him all sorts
of questions about, remember, taxes, about the resurrection,
about marriage, about the law, about all these different questions.
And the Lord asked them this question when they asked Him
about taxes, about the law, about marriage, about the resurrection. He asked them one question. Do
you remember what it was? What think ye of Christ? That's the issue. What do you
think of the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, in verse 4, the baptism
of John, the Lord said, now He's setting a trap for them. They
thought they were entrapping Him. The baptism of John, was
it from heaven or was it of men? The baptism and the ministry,
the message of John, God's servant, it was from heaven, was it not? Remember when they had sent a
committee to John to examine him? And had these Jews acknowledged
John's ministry to be of God, they also must acknowledge him
as the Christ, for John identified the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the one Son of God. Remember John said, behold the
Lamb of God. Now if these men said, well we
believe that John was sent of God, they would have to recognize
John's message identifying Christ as the Messiah. Remember John's
message, behold the Lamb of God? John's own testimony was that
he must increase, I must decrease. John said, I'm not even worthy
to untie his shoes. Now, these religious leaders
heard the preaching of John. John preached to them saying,
there cometh one mightier than I, the latch of his shoes I'm
not worthy to stoop down and untie. I indeed baptize you with
water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. They heard
the message of John. They did not own the message
of John. They did not believe the message
of John, but they heard it. Now, look at verse 5, 6, and
7 in Luke chapter 20. And they reasoned with themselves.
Now here's their shameful, unreasonable reasoning. They reasoned with
themselves saying, If we shall say from heaven, that is, John's
ministry was of God, he will say, Why then believe ye him
not? But if we say, of men, well all
the people will stone us. They were caught and entrapped.
They didn't know what to answer. For they be persuaded that John
be a prophet, verse 7. And they answered that they could
not tell, they would not tell from whence it was they were
dishonest. Best, they were dishonest. They
reasoned with themselves. That's never a good thing to
do. To reason with yourself about the things of God. And then their
outright lie was declared. We can't really tell. We don't
really know. They pretended ignorance rather than profess the truth. In other words, what did they
do? They lied. We don't really know. We can't tell. One old writer
said this, lying is just one of the sins to which the human
heart is most naturally inclined and one of the most common sins
in this world. Did you ever teach your children
how to lie? Jason, I know you're a father
who believes in the principles of the word of the Lord. Do you
teach your children to lie? Do they lie? How come? Lying is their nature. They're
born speaking lies. That's what the Word of God teaches.
The Word of God teaches that the wicked are straying from
the womb. They go astray as soon as they're born, speaking lies. I used to whip my children when
they didn't tell the truth. Tell the truth. Well, it's painful
to tell the truth sometimes. But the truth is necessary. Let
God be true and every man a liar. These folks lied, but the sad
thing about it is they lied in the face of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God. They lied to God Almighty. We don't really know. Now, the
Lord knows their heart. He's looking right through them.
And He says unto them, Well, I tell you the truth. And the
Lord said unto them, Tell I you by what authority I do these
things. Now, in closing, I want us to
look at this carefully right here. Verse 3 and 4 again, back
up there. I will ask you, also ask you
one thing. And you answer me this one thing. I want you to consider this personally
in your heart. You ask me this one thing. I
want to ask you this one thing and you answer this in your heart
before God. Salvation in the gospel concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, is it of God or is it of men? Now you answer that question.
Don't be like these folks. You can't claim ignorance here.
I've told you for 25 years that salvation is of the Lord. The
gospel of God concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, it is of God. It is totally of God, not partially
of God. It's completely of God, all of
God. And that means that man has no
part in the accomplishment of salvation. Now we receive it
as the gift of God, but we don't have any part in the accomplishment
of it. The answer is obvious to us who
believe the gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. But
now listen carefully. If you listen to the average
preacher in most churches, you will find that most preaching
that goes on in our day has a totally different message. They preach
somewhat that salvation is dependent upon what you do. Now you listen
to them. You listen to them. They say
things like, God has done all He can do. Now He's waiting upon
you to act. Now, is that of God? Is that
the truth of God? Is that the message of this book?
No! Now, I opened up the newspaper, our local paper, the News Express. Headline, this is Friday's paper,
headline, Minister in Western Kentucky
reaches a new milestone, 10,000 baptisms. This one preacher in
Bowling Green, Kentucky, headline in the newspaper, some of you
may have seen it, Minister Reaches New Milestone, 10,000 People
Baptized. Wow! I bet a lot of people were
impressed. You know, headlines in the newspaper
are stated in such a way to get you to read the rest of the article.
Well, I read the rest of the article. And they said in that
article how this man started in 1991 with 30 people, and now
this ministry has grown to over 5,000 people, baptizing at least
500 people a year. He sets the state record every
year. I didn't know they kept such records. He sets the state
record every year. 500 people baptized every year.
Well, to most people that would say, Whatever that guy's doing,
I want to find out what he's doing and copy it, emulate it. Now, listen carefully. Here's what this man said, and
I wrote it down. Here's what this man said. Now,
is his ministry of God? Did God give him the message?
Is what he's doing, doing in the name of God? Listen to what
he said. Here's what he said, quote, God created everybody,
and everybody is worthy of grace. Now, you see anything wrong with
that? Everybody is worthy of grace?
Well, that makes salvation by merit, not grace. Now, listen
to this. We know the Scripture says that
Jacob have I loved, right? Esau have I hated. Now what was
Jacob's own testimony? We know he was one of God's elect,
chosen of God, loved of God. What did Jacob say concerning
salvation? Here's what he said. He said,
I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies. Jacob would not
have fitted into this man's ministry because that man's ministry thinks
everybody is worthy of grace. My friend, grace is not merited. Grace is the gift of God. All
this man has done, and all this man is doing, is recruiting people
to join his church, baptizing these 10,000 people. I went to his website just to
look and see if it was what they said it was. And they have, he's
called the senior pastor, they have about 10 others to take
care of these 5,000 people. Get them in, get them in, get
them in, pray over them, pray over them, get them busy, get
them busy, get them involved. I don't want anything to do with
that. That's nothing but salvation
by works. Now, let me give you this in closing, three things. is of the Lord. I'm not interested
in filling buildings or making headlines in the newspaper. I
could fill this building three times over in one week. Guarantee
it. Three times over in one week
I could get it done. I could do it. I'm not interested
in filling buildings. I'm interested in preaching the
gospel. I'm interested in glorifying God. Now if he uses that message
to call 10,000 people, I'll give thanks. Give thanks unto the
Lord. But now remember three things.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what the scriptures plainly teach. It's not of man or men. I've given this to you many times. I'm going to give it to you one
more time. Salvation is of the Lord and it's planning. And it's
planning. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Salvation is of
the Lord and it's execution. How does it get accomplished?
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him in our room and in our stead.
Salvation is of the Lord and it's application. Who applies
this salvation? God who has begun a good work
in you, he will finish it. That's what the Word teaches.
Salvation of the Lord and its sustaining power were kept by
the power of God. Salvation of the Lord and its
ultimate perfection. You see, man has no part in this
thing. We receive it as a gift. And
we thank God for it. Second thing, redemption from
all sin. Is it from the Lord? From the
Lord Jesus Christ the Lord alone? Or is it some way dependent and
determined by what I do? Redemption from sin. Is it of
the Lord? Or is it something that I kind
of cooperate with Him and, you know, we have this cooperation
and together we get it done. That's not what this book teaches. Redemption from all sin, that
too is of the Lord. I'm not interested in the opinions
of men, for there are many. What does the Word of God teach
about redemption? In whom we have redemption from
our sin, the forgiveness of our sin through the riches of His
grace. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He obtained redemption for us
with His own blood. Thirdly, justification before
Almighty God. Is it of God totally alone or
does man have some part in it? when we know the Scriptures teach
we're justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Creature merit, work, deed, righteousness
have nothing to do with it. It's all of God and in Christ. justified by him all who believe
are justified from all things which could not be justified
by the law of Moses. May God give us grace. to believe
the gospel, not because we're deserving or worthy, but because
He is gracious and He delights to show us grace. To you who
do believe the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is precious
to you who believe. You see, His obedience is our
righteousness. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness where that works. His blood sacrifice
is our atonement for our sin. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sacrifice
for our sin. His prayers for us, that is his
intercession for us. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him, seeing he ever lived to intercede
for us. His reign is our glory, right? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor and glory. His coming is our hope. You see, salvation is all of
God. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. And the
hope we have is a good hope. Our Lord Jesus Christ and God,
even our Father, who has loved us and has given Himself for
us in everlasting consolation, and we have a good hope through
grace. Now, I'll ask you one thing.
You answer this question. Salvation. Is it of the Lord
or of man? There's no middle ground. You're
either on this side or on that side. You answer that question. And you don't need to tell me
the answer. You do business with God. You go home and do business
with Him. Don't do business with me. You
do business with Him.