Rejecting the King’s Authority B

How many times can you hear the gospel and reject the gospel before the Lord says, I have no more to say?

Don't let that happen. Make sure that your knowledge of the Christ who is crucified is personal and intimate and life transforming and not just historical. Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. It's been said, if a profound gulf separates your neighbor's belief from your own, there's always the golden bridge of tolerance. Well think about that in the context of your church. What should you do if your pastor starts introducing doctrinal error or begins embracing some dangerous theology? How tolerant should you be? What can you learn from how Jesus approached false teachers?

And the answer is, you can learn a lot. Stay here for a lesson that's going to help you gauge the amount of tolerance Jesus had for false teachers and it will help you follow the Lord's example when you encounter error. The title of John's study, How to Talk to a Heretic. And now here's John MacArthur.

JOHN MCCARTHY. Luke chapter 20, verses 1 through 8, 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. And they spoke saying to Him, tell us by what authority You're doing these things.

Or 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 they're 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. In the middle of verse 1 we come to the first point that I want you to notice in this event, the confrontation...the confrontation, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him. Epistome is the Greek verb, it means to attack, to come upon, to pounce on. It's inevitable.

They can't contain their outrage and they're trying to restrain themselves and they do it by forming a question that masks their real hostility in a sort of theological case. But they come after Him with a vengeance. And please notice, it is the chief priests and the scribes with the elders. It's really important. The chief priests would encompass the high priest, the one that was immediately under the high priest, kind of a captain of the priests from which high priests were selected who had responsibility to oversee just about everything. Then there would be ranking orders of priests, priests who were over the priests who were doing their two-week service there per year.

There were all kinds of authorities and dignitaries. They're collectively represented in the chief priests. Then the scribes represent the theologians. Many of them were Pharisees, not all of them were Pharisees, many of them were. And the elders would be the remaining ones, including the chief priests would be made up mostly of Sadducees. The elders would be some Sadducees, probably some from the Herodians, some from the Pharisees. They would constitute the Sanhedrin, the group of seventy men who were the reigning group over the affairs of religion.

So a delegation comes to him of this collective body. And what is so interesting about it is this. These are divergent groups. The Sadducees had their own views. The Pharisees had very diverse views.

The Herodians had their own views, very diverse again. They are all very diverse groups who agree on one thing, we want this man dead. The whole religious establishment is unified on this account. All divergent groups are commonly united in the desire to kill their Messiah. That doesn't tell you how far from God Judaism was, I don't know what would.

They couldn't agree on much, but they could agree on this, they wanted Jesus dead. It's a good lesson, all false religions have their own diversities. But all false religions agree in taking a position opposite the gospel of Jesus Christ. What is a false religion? A false religion is any religion by any name that is not consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether it's Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or some aberrant kind of Christianity. All false religions agree on being anti-gospel. This is the greatest attack always on the truth. So they all collectively come together to be anti-Christ. And they will, by the way, at the end of the age. World religions will unite against Christ.

They're such cowards, though, they really don't know how to handle this deal. They don't want to reveal the truth of their own minds and hearts and their own convictions, so they try to trap Jesus. Verse 2, they spoke, saying to Him, tell us by what authority You're doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?

Now just let me give you a little footnote. They lived in a world where authority was a huge thing. This was sort of like a pentagon hierarchy, very complex. There were people in charge of branches for festivals, people in charge of music, trumpets, bakeries, salt, wood, drink offerings, casting lots, bird offerings, water, signs, incense, curtains, robes, everything. There was this pecking order from top to bottom, all the way up to the High Priest and under him the captain of the temple who was next in rank and all the other ranking people. And you just didn't move unless you had authority.

And they all collectively come together because they've all basically been trashed. And they can all agree that this is an outrageous man who's doing outrageous things who pays no attention to them and they think the question that they need to ask is a question about authority because they think the people will understand this, tell us by what authority you're doing these things. What things? What things? Well some have suggested teaching, that's fair. You couldn't teach in the temple unless you had been ordained by the Sanhedrin. Some people think the miracles, and you remember, he did some miracles, the blind and the lame, remember, were coming to him and he healed them.

But that really isn't the issue here. What has caused them to ask this question is the cleansing of the temple. That's these things. How dare you take over this place? These things, meaning the triumphal entry, the acclaim that you're willing to accept as the Messiah, you come in, you clean the place out and then you take it over. By what authority?

And I think that's what they're referring to because back in John, or John chapter 2, at the beginning of his ministry when he cleansed the temple, the first time when he first came, the Jews therefore answered and said to him, what sign do you show us seeing that you do these things? What permission do you have to do this? It's the same question again. They wanted to know where he got permission. The first time, they want to know where he got permission this time. By what authority?

And just who gave it to you? Everybody understood that. Everybody understood that. All the people understood that, that there were rules and there were elements of authority that had to be consulted. They also knew that Jesus always claimed His authority was from God.

He always said that. He said, I do what My Father tells Me to do. I do what My Father shows Me to do.

I do the will of My Father. I think they would have hoped that He would say, I have My authority from God. To which they would have responded, blasphemer, blasphemer, and stoned Him. And so they asked the question.

He was so indifferent to authority. You know, even a footnote, even the rabbis had not just an ordination, but it was pretty typical for a rabbi to wear a hat that signified who his mentor was. So your hat identified whoever you linked up with. Maybe Jesus didn't even wear a hat. They were so concerned about authority. And Jesus' response exposes them for what they really are. We go from the confrontation to what we'll call the counter-question, verse 3, the counter-question He answered and said to them, I shall also ask you a question and you tell Me. This is traditional rabbinic style.

Good teachers all do this, but this is pretty classic rabbinical style. You answer a question with a question to force the student deeper into the issue, the dilemma. Jesus is not evading the answer, He's unmasking their hypocrisy. They know where His authority has come from.

He has said it many, many times. They know that. They're just trying to get Him to say it so they can accuse Him of blasphemy and kill Him. But instead of answering their question, He exposes their hypocrisy. They're supposed to be the great teachers of Israel. They're supposed to know all the answers to all the issues.

They're supposed to be the leaders of the people. They're supposed to have a pervasive omniscience about all the spiritual theological issues. So He says, let Me ask you a question. By the way, Jesus did this a lot...a lot. Did it in chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 11, He'll do it again in chapter 20 where He answers a question with a question.

He says this, verse 4, I'll ask you a question, you tell Me, here's the question. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Now everybody knew about John. We're talking here about John the Baptist, right? John the Baptist, the prophet who was out in the wilderness of the Jordan River baptizing people with a baptism of repentance, preparing them for the coming of Messiah. Remember how the book of Luke begins? Angel comes to Zechariah, says, you're going to have a child even though you're barren and you're very old. Your wife, Elizabeth, and you're going to have a child, the child is going to be the forerunner of the Messiah.

They had the child, the child was John. John grows up, announces the Messiah is coming. John prepares the people for the coming of Messiah by calling for baptism, come out here, confess your sin symbolically, go into the water, symbolizing a cleansing from sin as you prepare your own heart for the coming of Messiah. All of Judea flocks out there to John. These people are all being baptized because they want to be ready when the Messiah comes.

One day Jesus shows up. John says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John baptizes Jesus, the voice of the Father, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. The baptism of John speaks of His whole prophetic ministry. The baptism of John is not just talking about the actual act of baptism. So when our Lord says, was the baptism of John from heaven or from men, He's saying the ministry of John, His call for repentance and an appropriate baptism to outwardly demonstrate that repentance, really it was a proselyte baptism, it was asking a Jew to say, you have to treat yourself as if you were a Gentile cause this kind of baptism was used when Gentiles wanted to join the Jews in their worship since they were outsiders, there was a rite they went through, He's saying you have to treat yourself as a Jew as if you were an outcast Gentile and confess your sin, repent of your sin and go through a ceremonial demonstration of it. This was the baptism of John, in order to be ready for Messiah, John points to Jesus as the Messiah. You can read all of that back in Luke 3, it's all there in detail, it won't take time to go through it.

So the question is pretty simple. Was this work of men, or was it of God? Did it come from heaven or from men? Well this is an impossible dilemma...impossible dilemma for them. They want to say it came from men.

That's problematic. They do not want to say it came from God. They don't believe that.

They hate that idea. Back in Luke chapter 7, they are on record as taking a position on John the Baptist. When all the people, verse 29, when all the people and tax gatherers heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

So the populace all went out and went through this baptism saying, yes we want to be ready, yes we want to confess our sins and repent, we want to be there when Messiah comes to set up the Kingdom, but verse 30, Luke 7, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John. They rejected it. They weren't going to do it. That would have been an admission that they were outside the Covenant. That would have been an admission they were outside the Kingdom. They were not holy.

No way would they do that. So their answer is, John is not of God, it is of men. So Jesus puts them on the horns of the dilemma. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? By the way, Mark 11, 30 in the parallel account said, Jesus then said, answer me.

Just turning the screws a little. So they're stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. You either admit that Jesus is the Messiah, or you deny that John the Baptist is a prophet of God. You can't admit Jesus is the Messiah. That's impossible. But you better not deny that John is a prophet because that has serious consequences.

What are they? Verse 5, they reasoned among themselves. Interesting word in the Greek means to deliberate. In the parallel passage in Matthew 21, 25, it uses a different word which means to dialogue.

So they deliberated and they dialogued. And they were saying, if we say from heaven, He will say, why didn't you believe Him? If John was a prophet of God who had a ministry from heaven, why didn't you believe Him?

Why didn't you believe Him when He said Jesus is the Messiah? But verse 6, if we say from men, all the people will stone us to death for they're convinced John was a prophet. Why would they stone Him to death?

For what? For blasphemy. They'd reach back into the Old Testament, places like Exodus 17, 4, Numbers 14, 10. They would accuse them of blasphemy by calling a prophet of God, not a prophet of God.

So we've got a real problem here. If we say it's from heaven, then we have no excuse for not believing in Him. If we say it's from men, they're going to stone us to death. Now you can get from that the fever pitch of this crowd, can't you?

This lets you know how volatile that crowd was in terms of their temporary excitement about Jesus. So they can't tell the truth. So what do they do? Verse 7, they answered that they did not know where it came from. They give no answer, so much for their pretended omniscience. It was their duty to be observers of truth in matters of religion. They self-indite by being unwilling to answer the question.

We don't know. There is no way they can escape the dilemma again. And Jesus does this to them, as I said, many times. That leads to the final point, the condemnation.

The confrontation led to the counter-question and finally the condemnation. This is one of those really sad, sad statements. Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

That is just tragic. Jesus is saying, essentially, based on what you've done with the information you have, I'm not giving you anymore, it's over. While teaching the people, preaching the gospel to the people, He has absolutely nothing to say to the leaders. They knew the ministry of John. They knew Jesus claimed that He, as well as John, came from God. John and Jesus were inseparable.

You take one, you get them both. There was no point in casting pearls before pigs. They rejected all the light willfully, no reason to give them more. This is judgment on the religious leadership of Israel...judgment. Later in chapter 22 and verse 66, the council of elders of the people assembled, chief priests and scribes, there they are again, same group later, they led Him away to their council chamber saying, If you are the Christ, tell us. But He said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.

All that's left for you is judgment. And they all said, Are you the Son of God then? And finally, this is all He would say, Yes I am.

And what was their response? What further need do we have of testimony? We heard it ourselves from His own mouth.

Kill Him. It doesn't do any good to tell them anything. They're so fixed in their unbelief. Chapter 23 verse 8, Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus. He had wanted to see Him for a long time because he had been hearing about Him, was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. Verse 9, Luke 23, he questioned Him at some length. He answered Him nothing.

Herod thought He was a pretty important guy. Jesus never answered any question He asked, nothing to say...nothing to say. This is judgment. This is Genesis 6, 3, My Spirit will not always strive with man. There is an end to God's patience. This is Nehemiah 9, 30, Thou didst bear with them for many years. And admonished them by Thy Spirit through Thy prophets, yet they would not give ear, therefore Thou didst give them into the hand of the peoples of the land.

There comes a time when God says, I have no more to say to you. Isaiah reiterates it, Isaiah 63, 10, they rebelled, they grieved His Holy Spirit, therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them. Jeremiah chapter 11, very similar, a couple of verses, verses 7 and 11, for I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt even to this day, warning, persistently saying, listen to My voice, they didn't. Verse 11, therefore thus says the Lord, I'm bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape and though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them. You remember chapter 19 of Luke, verse 41, when He approached the city, He saw it and wept and said, If you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your eyes. To the people there is still mercy extended, the gospel extended, the message extended and on Pentecost there will be three thousand who will believe and thousands more after. But for the leaders, it's over...it's over. And even the resurrection when He rises from the dead, they will not believe but will fabricate a lie to cover it up. There are those who are like the people and the Lord is still reaching out.

There are those who are like the leaders. The door is shutting for good. How many times can you hear the gospel and reject the gospel? Before the Lord says, I have no more to say.

Don't let that happen. Make sure that your knowledge of the Christ who is crucified is personal and intimate and life transforming and not just historical. That's John MacArthur here on Grace To You. His current series is showing you how to talk to a heretic. And you know, John, Scripture says Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it's no wonder if his human servants do the same thing.

Heretics don't come with a badge that identifies them as heretics. And so I can imagine some of our listeners wondering, how am I supposed to apply this study? It's one thing for Jesus to confront error, but I'm just an average Christian. Am I really going to be able to confront error?

Yeah, look, this is very basic. The only way you can recognize error is to know the truth. So it is the understanding that you have of sound doctrine that allows you to know what error is. Error is readily exposed to somebody who has sound doctrine. And you know, Phil, you and I have for decades together fought the battles of sound doctrine, right, and applying that sound doctrine to what's going on. We've been, without saying it, we've been on the, I think, on the front edge of trying to be discerning and warn people about error that most people don't recognize that's maybe too subtle. But it's completely related—our ability to do that is completely related to the fact that we understand sound doctrine.

Right. And one thing I learned from you is that doesn't happen by accident. It's hard work to study Scripture, to study to show yourself approved. But that's the only way you can acquire sound doctrine. So if you have trouble recognizing a heretic, it's because you don't really understand the truth. Or maybe you think you understand it, but you don't yet have it developed enough in your mind so that it's a conviction. When you go from knowledge to conviction, that's a big step.

When you go from conviction to affection, that's an even bigger step. It's when you know the truth and love the truth and then confront the heretic that you're coming with full force, because you're coming with knowledge and with love—the love for the truth and the love for that individual. So this series that we're doing on how to talk to a heretic is undergirded and will be undergirded in your life with a copy of the new book, brand new book, Jesus Unleashed. Jesus was not passive, polite, politically correct. He was confrontive.

He was challenging. He made people angry, furious, in fact, to the degree that they executed him on a cross. But that was still an effort to bring the truth to them that would save them from their sins and from eternal judgment. That kind of confrontation isn't designed to produce judgment, it's to produce salvation. So get a copy of the brand new hardcover book, Jesus Unleashed, 150 pages available from Grace To You. Friend, it's not easy to confront error in a way that can lead to a person's salvation, but you have the perfect model to follow in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pick up the new book, Jesus Unleashed, when you contact us today.

To place your order by phone, you can dial toll-free 800-55-GRACE or use our website, gty.org. Jesus Unleashed would be a great book to go through with your Bible study. Most people probably know less about Christ's boldness toward false teachers than they should, but it's crucial to understand that aspect of His nature.

Again, the title to ask for, Jesus Unleashed. Call 800-55-GRACE to order or go to gty.org. And let me suggest another foundational resource, really the most foundational one we have. It's the MacArthur Study Bible.

It's signature feature, 25,000 footnotes that explain virtually every passage. The MacArthur Study Bible is available in several English and non-English translations as well as in hardcover, leather soft and premium goatskin. You're sure to find one that's right for you. To order, call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making Grace To You part of your day, and join us tomorrow when John looks again at the boldness Jesus showed when he faced hypocritical false teachers. Be here for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.