And now if you turn to the front side of your handout, you'll see that we're in chapter 20 of the Gospel of Luke and verses 1 through 8 of the 20th chapter. Give ear as we hear God's word to us. It reads, one day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, Tell us, by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority? He answered them, I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? And they discussed it with one another, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why did you not believe him? But if we say from man, all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet. So 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. We've seen Jesus in the just few preceding passages to this one, entering into the city of Jerusalem, having long expected His arrival there. He comes, meek, lowly, riding on a donkey as a king into His city. And then we read just after that of his bold action in the temple. You remember he purges it of the money changers. In so doing, he enacts his message bodily with his actions, saying, something new has arrived, has entered where the old had stood and is now being established. And now, now he's presented to us as a priest. ever in the temple and doing what the priests are expected to do. Jesus was teaching the people in the temple. True instruction was in His mouth. And no wrong was found on His lips. I'm reading from Malachi 2.6-7 as He speaks or writes about the priests. He continues, For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge. And people should seek instruction from His mouth, for He is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." So you see, Christ is presented to us here as one doing that very thing. He is guarding knowledge. And He is, as one who guards knowledge, also the one from whom, from whose mouth we should seek knowledge or instruction. From Him, through His words, His teaching, we might learn the distinction between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean. We ought to seek His lips, as Calvin writes, as a storehouse of knowledge and the rule of religious life. Such He is as a priest in His temple. It is the very thing that those He interacts with seek here. They are there seeking, it seems, knowledge. The chief priests and the scribes and the elders come up and they ask, seeking knowledge about a very particular thing, namely, His authority. They desire knowledge concerning it, or more perceptively, we might say that they seek to know whether he, in his actions and his words, is clean or unclean, holy or defiled, good or evil. In verse 2, they say to him, tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority. Their question is a two-pronged inquiry, we might say. They seek to know first what kind of authority he is operating under, by what authority you do these things, and further, secondly, they ask from where this authority comes, the source of it. Clearly, according to their way of seeing things, he is not operating under the authority of the law as they understand it. What he does seems of another kind and from another source. And so they're wondering about it. They're asking him point blank. And this is because, of course, the words and deeds of Christ, these things that they describe, things he does, they are of another kind, and they are from another source. He is not of the tribe of Levi, nor is he a son of Aaron, and yet here he stands in the temple like a priest, guarding knowledge. His work and words are to the people of Israel, as the prophet Isaiah prophesied, strange. Isaiah 28, 21, for the Lord will rise up to do his deed. Strange is his deed and to work his work. Alien is his work. He's caused the apparatus of the sacrificial system to, if not cease, at least slow down and stop its normal rhythms in order that he might stand in that place to teach. That's completely unexpected. No one saw that coming. A man in the temple who is not descended from Aaron. Such a thing. It is without precedent. It is strange. Where does it come from? From whom has he gotten the authority to do such things? They assume the strangeness is due to something in him rather than something in themselves, you see. The error lies with him, not in them. It is the folly, is it not, of every critic of the text of the Bible, the Word of God. Every time they encounter something in Scripture which does not fit, they assume the error is a problem in the Bible and not a problem with them in their reading of it. It is our error, is it not, every time you and I find ourselves in disagreement with something in the Bible that we come across and assume the problem is the Bible and not us, or of course We wouldn't exactly say it like that, would we? We wouldn't say the Bible is problematic, but rather we'd say something like, oh, it only says that, that thing that's a little objectionable to me because it was written in a different time in a faraway place and they lived lives differently than we do now. If Paul lived today, he would never have written those things that he writes in that place. Moses, well, you know, he didn't have all the scientific knowledge of the world and the way things work that we do, and so he wrote the way he does. It's really, in the end, nothing but poetry. And so we can just take it like that. However we spin it, though, it is nothing short of doing what the religious leaders do here as they question Jesus and His authority. They are questioning God's Word. They set themselves in authority above or over the Lord. They assume that they are in the place of God and that they know good and evil apart from Him. They think they're the ones to ask the questions, to guard knowledge, to decide between the clean and the unclean. They demand an answer from Christ rather than coming humbly and seeking it from Him. His strangeness seems to give them justification to do that very thing. He is so strange and so out of accord with the way we understand the way things ought to be, we ought to and should confront Him and do so with commanding voice. Tell us. It's in the imperative. They demand knowledge while Christ, notice, guards it. He responds in verse 3 saying, I also will ask you a question. In the Greek it says, I have a little word, a word for you. And he says in commanding voice, answering their command with his command, meeting their supposed authority with his own, now tell me. And then verse 4, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? So easy for us who are familiar with this passage, I think, to read this question and zip right by it as a gotcha question, because Jesus so clearly gets them with it when He asks it. But I think we ought to notice it is given not just to get them, but rather as a guarded invitation into the very knowledge which they seek. It is, if it is a trap, then it is set not to catch them for destruction, but rather to catch them and bring them to the very place they need to go. It's not an answer, but actually a means toward an answer. By his question, you see, Jesus means, as he ever does, to give them exceedingly more than they thought to ask or think from him. if they would but listen. They come seeking to know about authority, and He gives them a key which will open the door to know not only His authority, but to know Him as He is in truth. It is a chance to know Him in that full-orbed biblical sense of knowing that we use to describe Adam knowing his wife Eve. It is a knowledge that has in it the power to make or to give life. It is thorough and known by experience. And I think I can show you what I mean if we look at it a little closer. Notice what he does by his question. If you look at it again in verse 4, he is inviting them, these religious leaders, to consider John. Or maybe we should say to reconsider him because it seems that these are those who have already come in contact with him in some way. Presumably they've met him or at least they are familiar with his ministry. He says, Tell me about the baptism of John. John's ministry was baptism. He is in that way not an unknown quantity to them. They or some of their company were probably among those who we read in chapter 7 verse 30 rejected the purpose of God for themselves by not submitting to the baptism of John. And so we might say of them, they've made a prior decision about this man. And it is to that prior decision about this man that He calls their attention and bids them to think again. You've previously rejected Him in His baptism, but think again. Consider it again. You want to know about Me and My authority. The only way to such knowledge is for you to reconsider the very thing that you think you know and you think that you have done rightly. I believe that such moments of reconsideration litter the path of all of those who reject the gospel in their lives and die as those who reject the gospel. Their way, like the Jewish leaders, is marked by a repeated, regular call to repentance from the Lord. As the scripture speaks about wisdom, remember, she is there continually and she cries out in the streets in the open ways. She sends her young women, the Proverbs tell us, to call out from the highest places of the town in order that all might hear. The psalmist warns us today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. The Savior, you see, from a place of abundant kindness and infinite patience, repeatedly, regularly calls men to repentance. It is a guarded call, yes, but nonetheless a call to them. He calls them, he calls us who may have refused, who have in times past hardened our hearts to consider again the message. And notice it is not his own person that he calls them to reconsider. He doesn't say, look at me and think again about my word and works, but rather he points away from himself to the work and words of another, namely John. Consider John. I think today Jesus would point us not to John the Baptist, but rather to the church and her ministry. When we come wanting proof of His divine authority, when we want to know the source of His commission, He bids us to take a look at the ministry of the One who points to Him, the One who is always declaring Him. As John bore witness to Christ as the Lamb of God, so now the Church does the same, pointing to Jesus and saying, Behold, here He is, the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the King of Israel. And so the question is, have any of you among us today ever questioned the authority of Christ? Have you ever found yourself reading Scripture and thinking about Him and doubting whether or not the whole thing is really that trustworthy? Do you ever waver in your acceptance of all He did and said, Well, if so, consider that it may be that your difficulty began in an initial rejection or a decision regarding the Church. You need to consider her again, to look and take her in, in all of her fullness, in her many denominations, in her preservation across time and space, throughout many languages and cultures and countries. Consider and ask yourself, where does she, this strange institution, gather or get her authority? From whence comes this odd reality in the world? How is it that the church is even here? Is it from men or is it from heaven? Our answer to that question will, of course, involve far more than just mere intellectual assent. And I think we see such a realization in the Jewish leaders' reaction to the word. Notice in verse 5 what they say. First it says they discuss it. with one another, or more literally, among themselves. They don't look outside of their own little group, they stay within themselves, they talk about it, and then they say, if we say from heaven, He will say, why did you not believe Him? He's going to ask us to do something. He's going to call us to some account. To acknowledge authority from heaven is to give weight and glory which demands a response. To acknowledge John or the church to be authorized by heaven and then reject Him That would be to reject not just the institution, but God who sent or made the institution. It would be to find yourself condemned by the highest of courts, subject to the severest of judgments. You know, it's one thing for me to ignore the advice of a friend to slow down on the highway. It's a whole other thing, is it not, to ignore the man with the badge on his chest and the gun on his waist when he tells me to slow down. And how much more is it for us to ignore the one who made the officer and gave him his authority, the king of kings himself, to dishonor or ignore God? Any sober-minded person would be moved by such thoughts, as they were thinking them among themselves, to repentance. We would want to confess, you know, you're right, I was wrong about John. I want to repent and be forgiven for that, Lord. We would, in short, be led to a very different view, would we not, of this man Jesus in the temple. Instead of questioning His authority, we would be hoping against hope in his authority, gladly bowing to his authority, the authority of the one alone on earth that has power to forgive sins and to cleanse of all unrighteousness and bring us who had been far off near. On the other hand, we may, with the chief priests and the scribes, with the elders, claim that the authority of John, the authority of the church, well, it's from man. It's from man. And for them, this too is an unacceptable position. They may be saved from having to deal with God, but now they're going to have to deal with men. They merely trade the wrath of God for the angry crowd of men who accept John. The people who receive him, that is John, will judge them. Verse six, all the people will stone us to death for they are convinced that John was a prophet. So either way, they're stuck. But for us, I think it's interesting to consider what it would mean for us to say merely that it is an institution of men. It seems to come without the same ramifications, does it not? I can say that the church is just an institution of man and not worry about the wrath of men. In our culture, people dismiss God and his teaching and thoughts of his authority with complete impunity. There's no ramifications to it. There's not even a hint of fear. No one is going to pick up stones to threaten us with. There will be no social isolation. We're more likely to be praised than shunned. We might even find a community of new people who agree with us that the whole thing is just man-made. And I think that this reveals something of the deep darkness of our own present time in the world. The darkness is quite deep in which we find ourselves, where once for the majority of human history to reject religion meant the anger of the majority and ostracism at the least and stoning at worst. Now, well now, we can do it and it means nothing. No one bats an eye or raises an eyebrow. They don't even notice. But a day is coming. when a great host, convinced that the church is a prophet, will rise, and they will sit with Christ in judgment, and cast not stones, but rather their voice of Amen to His eternal sentence on all those who have rejected Him and said He was but a mere man. See, whether we follow our own culture or go the way of the Jews, either way, the end is the same. The way we respond to the question of Jesus is not an empty thing. Life and death eternally hang in the balance. The whole scene is reminiscent to me of the Garden of Eden. You remember that Adam is led to a tree. And He's given a choice regarding that tree. You may listen to heaven's revelation regarding this tree. Or you may follow your own authority and understanding of it. He may do either one. And of course, if he acknowledges heaven's authority concerning the tree, he will receive knowledge and more access to life eternal itself. But if he fails, well, something funny happens to his knowledge and life will be cut off from him. And so you see here, I think John is set in a similar place to these chief priests and scribes and elders of the people. If they receive John rightly, as heaven sent and heaven established, they will know Jesus as He is meant to be known. And in Him, they will find life. But, refusing John, receiving him as a mere man or refusing to decide altogether, they get As they confess here, agnosticism, verse 7, they said they don't know. We just don't know. And they find Jesus, instead of being open, is now a closed door. Verse 8, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. It's hard not to hear that verse and not see him turning away and leaving them. The conversation's over, and they've chosen wrongly. The way is barred. Turning from John, the identity of the one who could have given them life is hidden from their eyes. You see, our refusal to know the church, like their refusal to know John, will result in Jesus refusing to reveal Himself. Jesus and life in Him will be closed off from us. We will be agnostic. Not knowing. in a world where eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. He is the heaven sent one and thus the heaven ordained one. All authority on heaven and earth is his. John, if you will but pay attention to him, will point you to it. The church is ever proclaiming it week after week from her pulpits. and she embodies it in her existence on earth. If you refuse to hear judgment, judgment is coming. The wrath of the lamb riding on a white horse with all of his holy ones with him and a sword in his mouth to smite the nations. See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven. For He stands as a great high priest in His temple, teaching and preaching the Gospel. Receive the instruction from His mouth, lest that which was meant to be your sure foundation becomes a boulder, a stone that crushes your head. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, be it far from us that we would ignore the words of our Lord Jesus, that we would refuse to answer when he calls and asks us or questions us, but rather, oh Lord, let us turn towards him and consider what he calls us to consider and acknowledge the truth of all that he does, that it comes from you. He was sent from heaven and sent that he might save all those who believe. We pray that our faith might be increased and that we might walk with him and according to the light of his word, in Jesus name, amen.