Rejecting the King’s Authority

Jesus was his own authority. He spoke prophetically. He rightly interpreted the Old Testament Scripture.

He forgave sin. He healed sick people. He raised the dead, cast out demons and he did it without ever seeking permission from anyone. 2001, called Christians and Muslims together. Those papers emphasize what Christianity has in common with Catholicism and Islam respectively and basically they called Christians not to worry so much about doctrine. Well, the question you need to ask yourself is this doctrine matter to God. How did Jesus deal with those who brought dangerous damning error to God's people and what can and what should you learn from his example consider that today on grace to you as John MacArthur shows you how Jesus dealt with enemies of biblical truth. It's part of John's study called how to talk to a heretic and with that years John Luke chapter 20 verses one through eight. I will read it so that you have it in mind as we listen to what the Lord says to us through this event. It came about on one of the days while he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel that the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted him. They spoke saying to him, tell us by what authority are doing these things, for who is the one who gave you this authority and he answered and said to them, I shall also ask you a question and you tell me was the baptism of John, from heaven or from men and they reasoned among themselves, saying, if we say, from heaven, he will say why did you not believe him. But if we say from men all the people will stone us to death for their convinced that John was a prophet and they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. This is a sad conversation. This is a final declaration on the part of Jesus that he has nothing more to say to Israel to the leaders he is finished with them. The issue that brings up this tragic final declaration by our Lord is the issue of authority. We understand the word authority.

We understand what it is to be in authority and to be under authority. Authority is a word that is packed full of significance it did, notes, permission, power, privilege rule, control, domination, and our world is filled with it. We face it in our homes.

Fathers and mothers being given authority over the children we face it in our schools. There are always those who are in authority over us. Face it in all of our workplaces. We face the terms of governments that are responsible to make laws and enforce them and wheeled them with authority were used to that where all people who are under authority and in some cases we have some authority as well so we we get it we know what it means to have authority. We also know what it means to be under authority, all of us are both given some authority and under generally much more authority, but when it comes to Jesus Christ. Authority is a very different reality. In Matthew 2818 Jesus said this all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth all authority. This is what it means to be absolutely sovereign. This is what it means to answer to no one outside yourself to have all authority. Jesus demonstrated his authority in a number of ways. In Matthew chapter 7 in verse 29. At the end of the sermon on the mount.

After Jesus had preached that masterful evangelistic sermon which began by dismantling the false religion of Judaism and that ended by an invitation to enter the narrow way the people's response was simply this, he spoke as one having authority that was absolutely unique. They were used to people who were their own authority. They were used to people quoted somebody else who identified with somebody else who drew their authority from somebody else. But Jesus spoke as one who himself is in authority later on in Matthew's gospel chapter 9 verses six through eight. It says he had authority to forgive sins and authority that they understood belonged only to one and that one is God in the 10th chapter of Matthew in the first verse, it becomes apparent that he had authority over all the forces of hell authority over demon power in John chapter 1 and verse 12. He claimed authority to say that his authority to give life spiritual life and salvation.

In John 527 it says that he was given authority to judge all men in John 1018 he said I have authority to lay my life down and I have authority to take it again.

That is to say he had authority over death and authority over life expressed wonderfully in Revelation is having the keys to death and Hades. John 17 to tells us he has authority over all man kind. He is not under any one. But God and he is in perfect agreement with God.

As God he has authority. He has a kind of authority that we know nothing about. He has absolute unilateral authority to do whatever he will whenever he wills with whomever or whatever he wills. Maybe a simple way to understand the essence of this authority is to grasp two Greek words that can be translated authority to first one is due to miss usually translated power. It's the word from which the English word dynamite comes due to miss refers to the ability to do something the ability to do it. The other word is ask Susie X, Susie eyes, the word usually translated authority, such as in this text, where the word authority appears three times. This means the right to do something to have all authority then is to have all power and all right to do everything and anything. One wills to do. He has the ability to do whatever he wants and he has the right to do whatever he wants with whomever or what ever he wants, and this is having all authority has both due to miss and ask Susie. He has the power and he has the permission he has it because he is God. And even though he is incarnate.

Even though he is God coming human flesh. Even though he has lowered himself as a servant. He still has the power and the authority to do precisely what God wills him to do. There are no limits to his power. No one can withstand his power. There are no limits to his ability, there are no limits also to his right. He has both the right and the ability to do everything he wills to do and he wills to do what is in perfect harmony with the father. Consequently, and this is the important point. Consequently, Jesus never in his earthly life asked permission to do anything. Never he never sought it from any normal channels in his ministry there was no one higher. Other than his own father and he said I always do with the father tells me to do I always do with the father shows me to do I always do and only do what the father wills for me to do, no matter what it was. There was no authority to whom Jesus went.

Now you have to understand this is shocking in the experience of the Jews to teach as he did in the sermon on the mount and basically attack every treasure of Judea stick legalistic religion and smash it and to have no authority outside himself is an outrageous thing to do. He went after their giving. He went after their fasting. He went after their praying he went after their sacrifices. He went after their self righteousness. He went after everything they considered sacred. He went after the sum and substance of their entire religious system in his teaching and he quoted no rabbi.

He had permission from no Sanhedrin. He had no rabbinical Council, to which he was answerable he was not ordained in the appropriate way that all teachers and rabbis were ordained and nor was his theology checked and signed off on by the Sanhedrin even when he made a whip at the beginning of his ministry and through all of the buyers and sellers out of his father's house.

He asked no one for permission to do that he did not go to the ruling council of the temple which was made up of course of the, the high priest, the chief priests, the priest under them and all the rest of the people who ran that enterprise to get permission. He didn't go to the Sanhedrin, the ruling body made up of chief priests and scribes, and other official elder Sadducees and Herodian's. He didn't seek any permission when he did it the first time, nor did he seek any permission when he did it the last time as you remember, don't you, in verse 45 of chapter 19. He entered the temple began to cast out those were selling thing to them. It is written, my house shall be a house of prayer you've made it into a robber's Cave and he cleaned them out. He didn't get any permission to do this. This is a total disruption of all that's going on there without any authority to do this but he never sought human authority. You have to understand that this is in a sense, just another huge offense to the Jews who are in leadership in Israel they are distressed. First of all that he attacks their theology attacks their credibility unmasks them as the hypocrites of the rank just kind and now he gets physical with their very domain and he teaches without any connection to any prior mentor or rabbi and without credentials and without ordination, which can only be given by the Sanhedrin. Such behavior is outrageous to start with and such unauthorized behavior is doubly outrageous.

Jesus was his own authority. He spoke prophetically. He spoke truly, he rightly interpreted the Old Testament Scripture bespoke the true word of God. They even admitted that he forgave sin. He healed sick people. He raised the dead. He cast out demons and he did it without ever seeking permission from anyone on the bottom line is this he treated their entire religious system as if it was nonexistent. He didn't care about the Sanhedrin even care about the chief priest. He didn't care about the councils he didn't care about any popular opinion.

He didn't care about anything. He was totally indifferent to the priests. He was indifferent to the rabbis he was indifferent to the lawyers describes the theologians. He was indifferent to the sacrificial system. He was indifferent to the temple enterprise. He treated it as if it was non-existent. It had no bearing on his life. It had no bearing on what he taught.

It had no bearing on what he said. In fact, he basically attacked it with a vengeance. You have to understand that the mounting hostility at this point is is really immeasurable.

He treats them all.

And remember this they lived to be elevated.

They lived these leaders did to wear long robes and tassels on their robes and pretend holiness.

They live to fast in public and put ashes on their head and make their donations in the temple and full view of everyone while someone was blowing a trumpet to announce their arrival, they sought the chief seats in the high places and to be elevated and to be called master and teacher and father and all of those things.

It was all about elevating them and Jesus literally treated with it them with the utter disdain as far as he was concerned they were nonexistent.

They had nothing to do with God. They had nothing to do with the kingdom of God. They had nothing to do with the true people of God. They were alien to the purposes of God and the life of God is nothing more devastating and hard to swallow than being treated as if you don't matter when you think you really do and you add all of the elements of this together, and there is a fury inside of them. To the degree that their souls are literally on fire with the flames of hatred and it's escalating rapidly and it explodes in a conflagration of crucifixion. On Friday not to give you the setting on Monday. He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. As you know on the cold, full of an ass to fulfill Zachariah 99 that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on the cold, the fold of the beast of burden becomes through the Eastern gate.

He is hailed by the massive crowd as the Messiah, the great parade then ends at the temple which is just inside the Eastern gate. He just gets in the gate in this mass of humanity. And he's right there at the temple site that's Monday Monday ends then at the temple it's twilight Cindy evening and so he leaves Jerusalem works his way back through the crowd returns to Bethany to spend the night with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and his apostles Tuesday.

He comes back in the morning in a holy fury. The last site that he had on Monday night was the temple Nessie came to the Eastern gate after the triumphal entry looked at the temple he would've seen the disastrous cacophony that the robbers were perpetrating in the place that was to be God's house. That image remained in his mind is surely over night and in the morning he came back with a vengeance in holy fury. He came in and throughout the wretched wicked Dessa craters of his father's house while that was going on some boys in the temple. We are told by one of the other gospel writers were healing him with shouts of hosanna further in sensing the leaders just imagine while he's throwing them out. Boys are hailing him with hosannas and so they escalated the necessity to murder him to stop this on relieved desecration of their sanctimonious religion. They cannot tolerate one who's overthrown their false worship unmasks the rabid hypocrisy and done what he's done without permission. After cleansing the temple on Tuesday. He goes back to Bethany on Wednesday. He returned so in chapter 20 verse one it is Wednesday. He returns again to the city he comes back into the temple clean now. They didn't come back, which speaks of the power that he wielded these now claims that he's going to become its center. The Lord has come to his temple as the prophet said he would come suddenly to his temple. He has come to his temple Wednesday morning when he arrives and becomes to teach verse one.

The came about on one of the days, namely on Wednesday when you compare all the accounts while he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, it's time for some truth in the temple. It's time to run out the liars and the fabricators and the manipulators the false teachers in the hypocrites and the frauds in the face. It's time for some truth it's time for God's true teacher and God's true word and God's true gospel of salvation.

It's time for the real good news. So he comes in he becomes the center of attention. Back in verse 47. Remember, it said he was teaching daily in the temple with the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy him. They couldn't find anything that they might do for all the people were hanging on his words and they continued through these few days to hang on his words. If you look at verse 38 of chapter 21 chapter 21 ends saying verse 37 he was teaching in the temple and then verse 38 all the people would get up early in the morning and come to him in the temple to listen to him. So this was his daily routine Wednesday Thursday for certain Friday. The events of the trial take place in his crucifixion. So here on this Wednesday comes back to bring truth to a place where there's been nothing but lies to bring God's genuine message to a place where there's been nothing but a satanic counterfeit and deception and so he comes teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, it's his final time to teach his final time to speak to the people.

He preaches the gospel to the people he teaches the true word of God. This is grace.

This is compassion. This is sympathy.

This is tenderness. This is patient's this is endurance. This is mercy, and this is his turf. One final few days to call Israel to repentance, to call Israel to salvation.

He has no interest in bringing about social reform, political reform, military reform, not to an unbelieving nation and so he comes to teach the truth and to preach the gospel and Mark tells us he did it while walking around in and around that great courtyard in the temple with all of its locations and colonnades in an courts. He moved in this vast crowd.

Always the leaders were there always trailing him. Verse 47 of chapter 19 says he was teaching daily in the temple to chief recently men among them were trying to destroy him. Couldn't find anything they might do for all the people were hanging up on his words.

He wanted to find something to track them with the couldn't and they were afraid of the people.

This was a rabbinic way to do things you walked in you and you moved and you reacted and you interacted and there was dialogue and there was disputation and that's how he taught what was he saying while he was teaching the people what was his message.

Well, probably the same as it tells us in acts 13. He was speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. It wasn't about politics and it wasn't about economics and it wasn't about civility and it wasn't about those things that the people wanted the Messiah to bring to them. It was issues of the kingdom.

He probably talked about sin and the wretchedness of it in the folly of hypocritical religion, which couldn't deal with sin. He probably talked about judgment the inevitability of divine judgment and hell probably talked about righteousness, the hopelessness of trying to achieve righteousness on your own. I'm sure he talked about humility, the need for bankruptcy of spirited brokenness and a contrite heart and he talked about love the compassionate love of God for sinners and he talked about the possibility of peace with God and entering into the kingdom and eternal life.

The hope of glory. He probably also talked about the folly of false prayers in vain repetition and doing superficial religious deeds and being seen by men. And being satisfied with that. Rather than having God's approval. He probably talked about false humility and spiritual pride in maybe talked about the cost of following him self denial taking up your cross. Perhaps he talked about persecution. The suffering of one who identifies with him maybe talked about the Scripture, the word of God about honesty, about forgiveness, about true riches about a about grace and mercy. All those thing all a part of you on the lives of my the verb preaching the gospel talked about all the matters that had to do with salvation and they listen, this is grace to you with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us today. John showed you how to talk to a heretic. That's the title of his series, and friend.

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