Setting The Stage In Luke

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You're listening to Heed the Word with our pastor and teacher Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study the Gospel of Luke verse by verse.

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Wouldn't it be awesome if when we heard the preaching of the gospel today in our nation, we were repentant and we said, What do we need to do? How can we be made right? Forgive us! Wouldn't it be awesome if we saw that kind of a move in America today? Where people were truly convicted of their sin. And where a response to Jesus Christ wasn't just fire insurance or an investment opportunity, but was rather a true conversion of the soul of man.

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The Gospel of Luke is the third account in the Gospels of the life and teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As believers, there are a few studies that will benefit us more spiritually than studying the life and teachings of the Master. We learn in the Book of Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So, in order to receive faith, you must have the desire to know the truth. God will not make you his robot of submission. He wants people that will worship with their heart. So, if you desire to know God and his word, he will give you the faith you need to believe. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about He the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20, verse 1. Join Pastor Kent.

America, Authority, And Our Resistance

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You're familiar with the words we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not the words of Scripture, but words that we hold dear to our hearts nonetheless. The words that come from our founding document, which we call, interestingly enough, the Declaration of Independence. It was our list, if you will, of excuses. Excuses that we gave to the world for why we chose to rebel against the authority that was over us at that time in our nation, that was England. And though we were very clearly justified, and though I'm very glad that we did it, I want to point out that that's exactly what it was. We were under the authority of a nation that we felt was treating us badly, and so we rebelled, didn't we? The Constitution, another of our great and founding documents, its primary purpose is to do what? To limit the powers of government or to limit the authority under which we as a people were choosing to live at that time and at this time. And what's more, we built into that constitution certain rules that would allow us to change the rules should we really want to. And we have on numerous occasions over the centuries. I point these things out to you because I want you to recognize the fact that we, as Americans, that we as human beings don't like authority. We really don't want anybody telling us what to do, do we? Is there anybody here who likes to be told what to do?

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Leaders Challenge Jesus’ Authority

Jesus’ Counterquestion About John

Why John’s Ministry Matters

John 8: Jesus States His Authority

The Trap Reversed In The Temple

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We want to do our own thing. We want to have our own way. And as we study in Luke chapter 20 today, we're going to come face to face with the fact that really it's all about authority. That was the issue here at stake today. Let's read and see what I'm talking about. Chapter 20, starting in verse 1. Now it happened on one of those days, on one of what days? On one of the days that Jesus was teaching and healing in the temple following the triumphal entry, following the cleansing or the clearing of the temple as he drove out the money changers and overturned their chairs and tables? Now it happened on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted him. Now, who is it that is confronting Jesus right now? It's the chief priests, it's the elders, it's those who are in what? Authority, right? It's those who are in authority, who are over the nation of Israel as their spiritual leaders, who are coming to Jesus in the temple as he teaches, and they are confronting him. Now, I have to give them at least a little bit of respect here because finally, rather than just trying to dance around the issue, they're coming face to face with the fact that they don't like him and they want him to know it. They're not coming to him with any empty platitudes or trying to puff him up or tell him that he's a great teacher, but you know, what's up with this or that? No, they're coming to him and they're actually confronting him. Verse two. And they spoke to him saying, Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is he who gave you this authority? They're saying, look, we are the guys who are in authority. We are the guys who have authority. We didn't tell you you could do this. So what do you think you're doing? It's as though they're coming to Jesus and they're saying, What's with you? Where do you get off? What do you think you're doing? What gives you the right to say all these things that you're saying? To be here in the temple, our temple, right? Teaching these people? What gives you the authority to come in here and heal on the Sabbath, no less, as you had done so many times in the past? What gives you the authority to receive the praises of these people? For them to call out Hosanna, save now, son of David, and for you to say, hey, that's okay. They're supposed to say that to me. What gives you the authority to accept the praises of this people? What gives you the authority to come into Jerusalem riding on a cult and having them laying palm branches at your feet? What gives you the authority to do that? What gives you the authority and the audacity to turn over the money changers' tables and drive them out of the temples when we're the ones who gave them permission to be here and we had the authority to do it? What gives you the authority and who gave you that authority? You get the feeling they don't like him very much right now, do they? And for once they're not trying to hide that fact. Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things, or who is he who gave you this authority? But he answered and said to them, I also will ask you one thing and answer me. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? And so he's saying to them, Look, you want me to answer this question of why I'm doing this and who gave me the authority to do this? I will happily give you the answer to that. But before I do, why don't you tell me the answer to one question that I have? The baptism of John. Was it from heaven or was it from men? Tell me. Go ahead, give me an answer. Simple question, right? Only two possible answers. They got a 50-50 chance on this one. But they don't like the odds. And they reasoned among themselves, verse 5, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him? But if we say from men, all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. So they answered that they did not know where it was from. And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Jesus was predicating their evaluation of John's ministry to be the basis upon which he answered their question. He was saying, Before I can give you an answer, I need you to tell me where you stand on this thing, this answer right here. This is the important question. Because how they responded to the ministry of John was an indicator of how they would also respond to the ministry of Jesus. Now, in order for us to really know what it is they're evaluating, we really need to take a look at John's ministry and to see exactly what it is John was teaching. But before we do that, I want to show you something in Scripture. The question that they are asking is a question that Jesus had already answered. It was a question that they already knew how he had answered. And so they're coming to him today and they're confronting him today, was not coming to find out the answer to the question. They weren't coming to him because they really wanted to know by whose authority he was doing this and who gave him that authority, but because they anticipated the answer that he would give, and they knew that that answer was something that they could kill him for. And that's what they were hoping to do. Let's turn to John chapter 8, to an earlier conversation that Jesus had had with his critics. Let's start in verse 21. Then Jesus said to them again, He's speaking to the Pharisees, I am going away, and you will seek me, and will die in your sins. Where I go you cannot come. So the Jews said, Will he kill himself? Because he says, Where I go you cannot come? And he said to them, You are from beneath, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sin. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Then they said to him, Who are you? And Jesus said to them, Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. They did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. And he spoke these words. As he spoke these words, many believed in him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered them, Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, We are not born of fornication, we have one father, God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's words, therefore you do not hear because you are not of God. Then the Jews answered and said to him, Do we not say rightly, you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me, and I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Most assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. Then the Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead and the prophets, and you say, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead, and the prophets are dead? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God. Whoa. Jesus just laid it out for him. He just told him, Hey, my father is the one that you say he's your God. You say he's your God, he's not your God because you don't serve him. But the one that you say is your God, that's my father. He just laid it out in black and white. Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say I do not know him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old. How have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you that before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. They had come to him and they had accused him of bearing witness of himself. And he had said, Hey, I'm not bearing witness of myself, the Father's bearing witness of me. He confronted them on that very thing with which they had hoped to confront him, and he had given them an answer in no uncertain terms that he was the Son of God, that he proceeded forth from God, that the authority that he had was the authority of God. And when he said, Before Abraham was I am, he was telling them that he himself was indeed God Almighty. They understood what he was trying to say. That's why they picked up stones to throw at him, and they would have stoned him in that very moment had he not hit himself. And so now they come to him here in Luke chapter 20, and they say, you know what? This guy has given us cause to kill him before, but these crowds, they believe in him. So if we just come right out and kill him without any good reason, they're gonna turn on us. So let's do this. Let's ask him that question again that we asked him before, and let's get him to talk again about where he's from and who he is, and he'll tell us. Because you remember, he said that if he told us that he didn't know God, that he would be a liar like us. Well, he's gonna tell us. He's gonna come right out and say it, and we're gonna have an excuse and we're gonna get an opportunity to get rid of him right now for good. And so when they come to him and they ask him this question, by what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority? They already know the answers to those questions. But Jesus knows their hearts, he knows what they're trying to do, and he knows that though the time is near, it is not yet that he should die. And so he asks them the question instead of giving them the answer. And he says, The baptism of John, is it from heaven or is it of men? Where is it from? You tell me the answer to that, and I'll tell you the answer that you want to hear. But they were unwilling to provide that answer because as Luke told us, if they said, Well, it was from heaven, then he'll say, Then why didn't you listen to him? But if they said it was of men, then the people would stone them, the very thing they wanted to do to Jesus. And so he sprung upon them the very trap that they had set for him. Now, why was it so important for them to be able to not know or to be able to deny that the ministry of John was from heaven? Because if they acknowledge that, then as they said, Jesus would say to them, Then why didn't you listen to him? Well, what was it that John was saying that they didn't want to have to listen to? To know the answer to that question, we need to look at the teaching of John, as I'd said before. Let's go to Luke chapter 3, starting in verse 1. Now, in the fourteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip, Tetrarch of Atutia, and the region of Traconitus and Licinius, Tetrarch of Abilene. While Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness, and he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. Didn't they just do that? Wasn't John already telling them, Hey, don't even say that, don't even try to use that as an excuse. But as we saw later on, just a short time later, they would be using that very excuse with Jesus. He says, Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? You see, the masses, the people, the common people, responded to the ministry of John. They heard the words of rebuke that came from his lips. They heard this preaching of repentance in the wilderness, and they said, Oh my, what are we gonna do? God help us. What are we gonna do? Wouldn't it be refreshing if today in our nation, when the word of God was preached, instead of people responding and saying, Okay, well, now I know how to live my life with purpose, or now I know how to get all the Rolexes and Lamborghinis I want and now, you know, instead of them looking at the Word of God and the preaching of the gospel as we see it today as a means to fulfillment and prosperity and wealth, wouldn't it be awesome if when we heard the preaching of the gospel today in our nation, we were repentant and we said, What do we need to do? How can we be made right? Forgive us. Wouldn't it be awesome if we saw that kind of a move in America today? Where people were truly convicted of their sin, and where a response to Jesus Christ wasn't just fire insurance or an investment opportunity, but was rather a true conversion of the soul of man. We can pray for that, can't we? So the people asked John, What shall we do then? He answered and said to them, He who has two tunics, let him give one to him who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise. Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, Collect no more than what is appointed for you. Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, What shall we do? So he said to them, Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages. As we look through this, what we're seeing is this that when someone comes to repentance, there ought to be a change of some kind in their lives. Can I tell you that if you come to Jesus Christ and you submit yourself to him as your Lord and your Savior and you acknowledge him for who he is, there will be a change in your life. Now, are you saved because of that change? No, that change comes because you are saved. I've said it many times and I'll say it many times more, that Jesus loves you enough to receive you exactly as you are today. But he loves you too much to leave you that way. But he will change you into the likeness of his son Jesus. Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, And what shall we do? So he said to them, Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages. Now, as the people were in expectation and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the weed into his barns, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod, the Tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this above all, that he shut up John in prison. This isn't aside that Luke writes telling us what would happen eventually to John, but going on in verse 21, he continues to tell us about John's ministry. When all of the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized. And while he prayed, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, You are my beloved son, in you I am well pleased. So, was it the moral teachings on repentance and life that John was preaching that Jesus is referring to when they are anticipating his words of if John's baptism was from heaven, why then didn't you believe him? I don't think so. Because while this is the teaching of John, it was not the message of John. These were the things that John said in response to the people who came to him and said, What shall we do now that we've repented? What shall we do? And he gave them their answers. And the baptizing that he was doing was the method of his ministry, but it in and of itself was not his ministry. What was John? He was the forerunner or the herald of Jesus Christ who would proclaim his coming. And he fulfills that ministry. Let's turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, starting in verse 19. Now this is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

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Do you ever feel like the circumstances you're going through are more than you can bear? That God is in some way punishing you? Well, consider the words of Paul, and we know that all things work together for the good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. So we learn from this verse that all things, not some, but all things work together if we love God and are called according to his purpose. Just something to think about from your friends here at Heed the Word. Heed the Word is the daily Bible teaching ministry of Ken Davis, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel in Burleson, Texas. There's a great deal more that Pastor Ken has to share with us from the Gospel of Luke, so please join us again. Now, maybe you'd like to add today's message to your study library. Our online media is always available and free of charge. CD copies are also available upon request for free, but supplies are limited, so order today. To order a CD, simply log on to HeedTheWord.org and select the order a message option. There you'll find a convenient order form to fill out. The only information you need to remember is today's date. This ensures we get you the right teaching. So log on to heedtheword.org and place your order today. Or better yet, join us this Sunday for worship at 10.30 a.m. Directions are available on our website. That's heedheword.org. Well, we've run out of time today, but tune in next time as Pastor Ken will continue teaching verse by verse through the Gospel of Luke. That's next time on Heed the Word.