Marcel: We're going to continue in a sermon series that we started
a couple of weeks ago called The Road to the Resurrection.
And so what we're wanting to do during this time for the next several weeks
is really immerse ourselves into the gospel story of Jesus through the
book of Luke and allowing this time to really be spiritually formative.
Allowing us not to just have a resurrection Sunday celebration, but
for God to lead us to be spiritually formed as we, as we think, as we
consider, as we reflect, as we rejoice about the good news that Jesus came
and died upon the cross, but he didn't just stay in the grave, but he rose on
the third day and that those who would believe in him Would have eternal life.
And so we are doing that here for the next several weeks.
And we also are going to start this Friday, uh, reading a book
together as a ministry called the 30 Days at the Foot of the Cross.
And so we want to start this Friday because that will be 30 days until
we reach Resurrection Sunday.
I know many of us have the book already and a number of us.
have the book and we are selling those, I will say this, this one is not my fault.
But it didn't get shipped here in enough time.
And so we'll have it on Tuesday and so we'll figure out a way to
distribute to the family group leaders and to the campus ministry.
So if you do not have that, we'll We can try to get that to you there by
Wednesday so you can have it in time so we can all start reading together
on Friday, March 21st, 30 days at the foot of the cross again so that we can
be spiritually formed during this time.
Amen.
And so, uh, last week, uh, also if you're with us here, we have a little handout
that will guide us as we're studying.
The last several days of Jesus's life before the cross in the book of Luke.
And so we have a handout that's in our church app and maybe we
still have some physical copies.
If we do, Craig, do we still have any physical copies left?
Okay.
No, we do not.
So go to our church app and you can see a little handout that will help guide
you to understand the gospel of Luke.
Now, last week, we looked at Luke chapter 19, where we talked about the
triumph, the tragedy and the temple.
And today, what we're going to be looking at is the relative of resurrection,
identity revealed, identity revealed.
Let's go to the father in prayer.
Father in heaven.
We are grateful already for the chance to be encouraged in our faith,
to be strengthened in our faith.
God, to sing songs and to be reminded of the amazing grace that you have given us.
That though many of us, we were lost, but now We are found and all that was
through the resurrection and father to hear how you worked in Stephanie's
life to see the convictions grow and be established and firm in the in the
Baron's life when it comes to remembering the cross or giving of our offering.
God, we are built up and we know you aren't finished in
ministering to us this morning.
And God, we pray that we are not only broken vessels that have been
redeemed, but God, we can be open vessels that you can fill into us.
This morning, allow every word and everything that you want to minister
to us, reach our souls and God put away and to the side, anything
that can distract or disrupt.
We pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
All right.
So here we are.
So we are again in the holy week or what people call the
holy week or the passion week.
This is the week leading up to Resurrection Sunday.
And so again, Luke 19, we looked at Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday
before the Resurrection Sunday.
And we saw the triumphal entry where Jesus publicly declares and makes a statement.
That he is the king, he's the long awaited Messiah.
And we also looked at what they call Holy Monday.
And that's where Jesus cleared the temple.
And today we'll look at Holy Tuesday.
And so this is the Tuesday before Resurrection Sunday.
And some call this the day of questions.
The day of questions.
Cause as we'll see, Jesus is going to be asked a number of questions.
And we're gonna see his identity revealed.
His identity revealed.
Now let me ask you this, uh, this may be a safe assumption, but have
you ever played the game of Clue?
Many of us have played the game of Clue.
Okay, remember this is a little kid, you have, you're on one side, a person on
the other side, and you have that one card, and they're trying to guess who
that person is, and you're trying to guess, and hey, do they have a mustache?
Uh, is their hair red?
And they say yes or no.
You guys remember this game, right?
And so what are you doing?
You're asking questions so that you can get evidence.
So at the end, you can identify who the person is.
And at the end, you make a guess, are you Andrew?
And they say yes or no, right?
You guys know this, right?
And so really, Luke chapter 20 is kind of like a game of Clue.
And so it comes from chapter 19 where Jesus makes a declaration.
And it should be obvious to many.
But as we see, he's gonna keep giving us evidence that's going to
reveal his identity as the Messiah.
And so as we read this and we're going to try to read through all of this and
break it down as we read this, we're going to see, and I want you to take notes
of how he keeps revealing his identity.
Brothers and sisters, are you with me here?
All right, well, let's go ahead and let's get into it.
All right.
So first up, we're going to look at Luke chapter 20 verse one again.
Now he's had this entry.
He cleared out the temple.
Now just imagine this, he comes in, he makes his public declaration,
he clears out the temple and his, his enemies, his ops, the savior
haters, they're upset about this.
And so they ask an obvious question, who in the world do
you think you are doing this?
And so that's our context, so alright, so let's get into it.
And you know I did this, I tried this today, I put all of Jesus words in red.
Cause you know when you read in the bible it's in red.
So somebody said, let's just try it.
So it might look good.
It might look terrible.
Amen.
Okay.
So if it doesn't look good, I won't ever do it again.
But let's go ahead and let's get into it.
One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and
proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law
together with the elders came up to him.
Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things?
They're asking, who gave you the right to do what you've
been doing the last couple days?
Jesus replied, who gave you this authority?
Where he says, I will also ask you a question.
Tell me, John's baptism, was it from heaven or of human origin?
They discussed it among themselves and said, if we say from heaven, he
will ask, why didn't you believe him?
But if we say of human origin, all the people will stone us because they
are persuaded that John was a prophet.
So they answered, we don't know where it was from.
Jesus said, neither will I tell you by what authority I'm doing these things.
And so we stop right there.
So Jesus goes, Okay, we're going to play this game.
I want to ask you a question.
And that was somewhat common in the Hellenist culture and Jewish
culture to sometimes answer a question with the question.
And so basically you're seeing kind of who's wiser and it's going to
produce really the real result and what the true question should be.
But he goes and he asked this question and they say, Hey, we
don't we know if we say this.
Then he's gonna ask us this, or he's gonna make this point, if we say
this, man, it might cost us our lives.
So let's just play dumb and say, well, we don't know.
Now, it's interesting here, because I think also Jesus had the intention
here of going, you already know the answer that I will give you.
Because if you believe that John, if his baptism, meaning if it was
inspired by God, if he was led by God, and you know what John said
about me, Then what does that mean?
What authority do I have?
Who do you think I'm going to say gave me this authority?
But if you don't believe that John was divinely inspired, then you're not
going to believe anything I say anyway.
And so he doesn't really answer.
However, he does reveal his answer even with his statements.
That my authority comes from the Father.
But Jesus is going to make this even more clear.
Through this parable that he's going to deliver, which is really
an allegory, which is a story that uses symbolism to make points.
And so let's continue reading in John chapter 20.
Brothers and sisters, are you with me here?
All right.
So we have the authority question.
Now we have the authority revealed.
He went on to tell the people this parable.
A man planted a vineyard.
Now this vineyard is going to symbolize.
Israel rented it to some farmers, the farmers, we'll see here in a
second, and went away for a long time.
At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him
some of the fruit of his vineyard.
Now the servant and servants is going to, is a symbol for the prophets
of God throughout Israel's history.
And these farmers or these tenants represent God's people and maybe even more
particular, God's leaders or the religious leaders throughout Israel's history.
Continue, he says, but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed.
He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully
and sent him away empty handed.
He still sent a third and they wounded him and threw him out.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do?
The owner of the vineyard is God.
What shall I do?
I will send my son whom I love.
Perhaps they will respect him.
All right.
Who is the son?
Obviously.
Jesus.
Let's continue.
But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over.
This is the heir, they said.
Let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours.
So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
The others is referring to Gentiles, non Jews.
When the people heard this they said, God forbid!
Jesus looked directly at them and asked, then what is the
meaning of that which is written?
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces.
Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.
The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest
him immediately because they knew he had spoken this parable against them.
But they were afraid.
of the people.
Let's stop right there.
Again, Jesus gives us this allegory, this parable that kind of highlights
the history of God's people.
And if you know the Old Testament, you know, God sent many prophets to his
people to call them back to faithfulness.
And several of them were rejected by God's people, and even several were
killed for what they were prophesying.
And he also helps us see that God sends his son, Jesus,
who will be killed in days.
For what?
For our salvation.
And so Jesus is making it clear that he's the son in the parable.
So that he has the authority of the father.
Because in this parable, the son comes in the authority of the father.
And if Jesus is the son, then he comes in the authority of God the father.
And so he's answering the question.
And he does this through this parable so that people can understand what
is taking place and that his identity will be more and more revealed.
And so he shows, hey look, I am the son.
I'm going to die.
And I come in my father's authority.
But here's the other thing, he uses imagery of a stone and
he refers back to an old song.
And he says, hey the stone that the, that was rejected.
Actually became the cornerstone.
And so he's saying that, hey, again, the Messiah, he himself,
Jesus, is the cornerstone of God's plan and God's church.
And a cornerstone is a vital piece in building.
It's it's it's foundational because you have that and you build around it.
And it also serves where two pieces come together.
And so the pieces landed, they depend on this.
And so Jesus is where all of God's plan comes together and is built upon him.
And so God's church and God's people and God's plan is built upon Jesus.
Showing that even when people and his own chosen people, the Israelites,
the nation of Israel, even if and when you reject, you won't stop God's plan.
But there's also consequences for rejecting Jesus, and that's judgment.
And so he makes that clear, that if you, if you reject me, then yes, you
will fall on me, it will be just, or if you rebel, you will be crushed because
you rejected God's plan of salvation.
And so the leaders, they got this.
They understood, whoa, he's talking about us.
And so what'd they do?
Man, we gotta find a way to kill this man.
He's embarrassing us.
He's trying to uproot and, and upturn everything that we have going on.
We're sick of this.
We got a plot to kill him.
Now Jesus was killed for the words he said.
Think about that for a second.
Jesus wasn't killed because he was like Mr.
Rogers.
Oh, he's just so nice and so cuddly.
But Jesus was speaking truth.
A man of conviction.
A man of love.
But a man of conviction and of truth.
That would share the truth.
To, to redeem.
But also to warn so that we won't suffer consequences.
Let's continue.
Brothers and sisters, are you still with me here?
We continue Luke chapter 20.
We see the attempted trap.
Keeping a close watch on him.
They sent spies.
Interesting.
Man, look, look.
We got it.
We can't just come through the front door.
Let's, let's, let's throw some spies at him.
Who pretended to be sincere.
They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said.
So that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.
So the spies questioned him.
Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right.
And then you do not show partiality, but you teach the way of God
in accordance with the truth.
They laying it on thick, aren't they?
You're just awesome.
We love you.
The crazy thing is, it actually, everything they're
saying is actually true.
But they're not saying it sincerely.
But we continue.
Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
Now this was an interesting question.
This was a political question.
Uh oh, we talking politics in the church!
But it was also a religious question.
Because, see, at the time here, there was a, a tribute, this is called a tribute
or a poll tax by the Roman Empire.
And so, some felt, especially the zealots, those that, uh, uh, were definitely
common, they, they, they were wanting to rebel against the Roman, uh, uh, Empire.
And so they felt it was wrong religiously, like, it is, we are
sinning against God if we pay this Roman tax to this pagan emperor.
And so they're trying to set him up because if Jesus says, yes, pay the tax,
then all those zealots are going to be mad and he's going to lose their support.
But if he says no, we got him, cause now he's going against the Roman Empire.
Hey, we got a lawbreaker over here, let's send him over there.
He's trying to cause a riot so that people will rebel against the Roman Empire.
You better get rid of him.
Some sneaky people right there, huh?
What does Jesus do?
Says he saw through their duplicity and said to them, Show me a denarius, this
is the coin, this is the Roman coin.
Whose image and inscription are on it?
Caesars, they replied.
You know, let's continue.
He says, He said to them, Then give back to Caesar what is
Caesar's, and to God what is God's.
They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public, and astonished.
By his answer, they became silent.
The trap doesn't work.
You know, it's interesting because there was actually several types
of coins that they would have.
They had a Roman coin, there was a Greek coin, there was some
Jewish coins, a Tyrrhenian coin.
So there's several coins that people could have had during that time.
And they asked them about the Roman coin.
Said the only way you could pay the Roman tax is if you had a Roman coin.
So they actually kind of expose themselves when he says, Hey,
show me the coin right now.
And they pull out the Roman coin.
So they themselves believe in what?
Paying the Roman tax?
So they expose themselves, but they think they're slick in trying to trap Jesus.
And Jesus says, Well, whose picture is on there?
And there was a picture of the Caesar on there.
And they say, Well, it's Caesar's.
He says, Well, give the Caesar's what's Caesar's.
His image is on there, so give it to him.
But give to God what's God's.
But what belongs to God?
All of us.
Everything belongs to God, but especially God, and you know
what, whose image do we bear?
God's.
So what should we give to God?
Ourselves.
Everything we should give to God.
And so here we go.
So yes, we're going to abide by the law.
And yes, we're going to give to God.
Because the law of the land is never going to supersede God.
But we're not going to be these crazy radicals.
So Jesus, not being political, but helping us understand how we should
be a citizen in God's kingdom.
And no matter what country we live in.
And so I love this, and I wish we could do a whole sermon on this, but
we give first and foremost to God.
But here's what's interesting, just a little tidbit.
Jesus didn't align himself with a political party in this situation, did he?
He wasn't the crazy liberals!
And he wasn't the ultra conservative, let's go nationalists!
But he was righteous.
We'll save that for another sermon.
Let's keep moving here.
Some of y'all mad at me.
That's okay.
They were mad at Jesus.
Oh, you compare yourself to Jesus?
That's not what I'm doing, okay.
Some of the Sadducees.
The Sadducees were a group.
There was, uh, kind of three basic religious leaders, or groups
within the religious leaders.
And the Sadducees, they were the more wealthy and more politically minded.
And so it says, some of the Sadducees, who say there is no
resurrection, came to Jesus with the question, Teacher, they said.
Moses wrote for us that a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but no children.
The man must marry the widow and raise up his offering for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first one married a woman and died childless.
The second and then the third married her.
And in the same way, the seven died.
Man, don't, I don't know about marrying this woman.
Everybody who marries her dies, you know what I'm saying?
But we know this isn't a real story.
They're just trying to trap him.
Okay, alright, so.
Leaving no children.
Finally the woman died too.
Now then, at the resurrection, whose life will she be?
Since the seven were married to her.
Again, they're trying to say, Hey, that afterlife stuff, that's some nonsense.
That's foolish.
Let's expose how foolish this is.
Let's use our logic and we'll expose him to everybody that he's
not really this great teacher.
Jesus replied, The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and
in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
And they can no longer die for.
They're like the angels.
They're God's children since they're children of the resurrection.
But in the account of the Bernie Bush, even Moses showed that the
dead rise for the, for he calls the Lord, the God of Abraham and the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
He is not the God of the dead, but the living for to him are all alive.
Some of the teachers of the law responded, well said teacher.
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
They're like, oh man, we tried, but man, this ain't working.
And so he said, man, just kind of like that sound.
Whatever we're trying to do to stop that sound, it ain't working.
And so he goes, and Jesus, what does he do?
He, he corrects their incorrect theology.
They have some incorrect theology.
They don't believe in, in really kind of the spiritual realm.
And they don't believe in the afterlife.
And so Jesus corrects this.
But what does he do?
He reveals eternal truth.
Now, who can reveal eternal truth except for one who is in position or has
the authority to speak on the matter?
The one who has knowledge, not a theory, but one who knows.
Who could that possibly be?
The Messiah.
And so he goes and he corrects and he says basically, hey, life in the age
to come is different than life here.
Your view that it's going to be the exact same, that's wrong.
The afterlife is going to be different and it's going to be magnificent.
It's going to be better than even what we can imagine.
But he reveals his wisdom, his authority, and his divinity to
be able to speak on the matter.
Brothers and sisters, are you with me here?
Let's continue.
The Messiah.
Then he goes on, verse 40, Then Jesus said to them, And he turns
around, now he's asking questions.
You guys have been asking me questions.
Now you don't want to say anything.
So now let, let me start asking you some questions.
Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David?
Because everybody believed that the Messiah would come through
the line of David, which is true.
So he's not negating this, but he's asking them a question.
David himself declares in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, sit
on my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
So he quotes the scripture.
He says, David calls him Lord, how then can he be his son?
And now again, he's revealing truth.
Hey, hey, you guys, you're excited about the Messiah, you should.
The Messiah's gonna come through the line of David.
But here's the thing that you're missing.
You think it's a political Messiah.
You think he's gonna establish an earthly kingdom.
That's the kind of Messiah you're looking for and you think that David
is great and he's just gonna come and he's just gonna Come in that line.
He said no.
No, no the Messiah God's Messiah.
He's greater than David In fact, David calls him my lord And so he
shows us that the Messiah is much more and a greater mission Than even
what they believed or even King David
and so he he's declaring remember When I walked a couple days ago
and I declared publicly that I'm the king coming in, that messiah
you're looking for, he's right here.
I'm revealing truth.
I'm telling you what God is like, what the kingdom is like, what the messiah is like.
And you're looking for him.
Again, the peace that he said when he was crying over them,
the peace that he wants to offer.
He says it is available.
We continue the warning.
While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, Hey, guys,
let me tell you something real quickly.
Beware of the teachers of the law.
They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with
respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seat in the synagogues
and the place of honor at banquets.
They devour widows houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.
These men will be punished most severely.
And now he warns.
Why?
Because he knows of the hypocrisy that's taking place and he knows
of the evil that is taking place.
And he knows it and he exposes it.
And he declares that there's going to be judgment if there's no repentance.
And so what do we see through the book of Luke in chapter 20?
Again, we see identity revealed.
We see his identity revealed.
We see it validated through his wisdom, his teaching, and his authority.
His declaration and claim to be king in the Christ is demonstrated through his
authority, his teaching, and his supreme knowledge and truth that he delivers.
These guys think they're wise, let me show them true wisdom.
You're trying to trap me, let me go ahead and correct your incorrect theology.
And you know what, I'm gonna expose what most people don't know.
And so he does answer that question through all these interactions.
Whose authority do I have?
I have the Father's authority.
Because I am God's Son.
I am the Messiah.
I bring truth, I bring revelation.
And I'm going to die for your salvation.
And we know later, he fully is validated when he raises on the third day.
But he reveals himself here in Luke chapter 20.
And so again, like in the game of Clue, when there's only one option left.
And you're looking at the cards and you say, You are Andrew.
When we look at all of chapter 20, we can say, Jesus is the Christ.
Like that show, The Masked Singer, you ever seen that?
I don't watch it, I tried and I just couldn't get into it.
I was like, I just don't understand.
But at the end I know they take off the mask and it's like, Oh, it's Lady Gaga!
It's never been Lady Gaga, but you know what I'm saying.
And so here it is, spiritually, Jesus has been telling and he takes off the
headpiece, revealing that he It's not a mass Messiah, but he is the Messiah.
His identity is revealed.
And so what is our response?
What should we take from this brothers and sisters?
I believe one thing we should do is this.
Recognize the authority of Jesus.
He's the authority of all and overall, but that means.
That we also need to recognize the authority Jesus should have in our lives.
Here's what Jesus said one time as he's preaching, they call this
the Sermon on the Plain there.
And so it says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?
You call me Lord, but yet I don't have a role of authority in your life.
So why do you call me this?
I'm obviously not your Lord, I'm something else.
Because if I was your Lord, then you would recognize my authority
and you would submit and surrender to my authority in your life.
You would do what I say.
And so the question for you and me today is, does Jesus have
this authority in your life?
Does Jesus have this authority in your life?
And if not, why not?
Or maybe he once did, but not so much today.
Maybe he did when we first was baptized.
30 plus years ago, 20, 5, 2 years ago.
But he hasn't been recently.
Maybe that's the case.
Or maybe he's never been lord of your life in authority.
Well the good news, and it says Jesus came and brought good news.
I love that it's good.
The good news is that God gives you today a chance to make him lord of your life.
God gives you a chance today to surrender to his authority in your life.
And maybe you're having reasons as to why you can't.
I would say there are many reasons but no excuse.
I'm too young, it's too hard, or it's too late.
Those are all reasons but not an excuse.
You see, life with Jesus is far better in this life and in the life to come.
Then the life you have when he's not the authority.
I know many of us can testify of the blessings when Jesus
went from being a good teacher and a good coach to being Lord.
You see, for many years growing up, Jesus was a good moral teacher for my life.
He was a good idea, but he wasn't the Lord and the authority of my life.
And so when that transition took place by the grace of God to recognize who
he is and the authority he should have in my life, my life has been
radically transformed for 24 plus years.
And I have zero regrets, regrets of submitting to his authority in my life.
And I know many of you can testify to that as well.
And so we make an appeal to everyone here, no matter your status or your situation,
to make Jesus the authority in your life.
So if you're visiting here with us today, I want to encourage you to
set up a time to study the Bible.
You know, Stephanie talked about it.
When she studied God's Word, she realized who God was, ministering to her
personally, so she was able to respond.
I know we have some people, you've been studying the Bible.
I want to encourage you today.
Jesus wants to be Lord and have the authority in your life.
Not next week or next month, but today.
And to make a decision to surrender today.
And I know we have some here, maybe you're struggling.
Or maybe you left the faith.
I believe Jesus is calling you to resume Jesus being the authority of your life.
To resume where He is.
Lord and the authority in your life and for others is to continue recognizing
the authority of Jesus in your life.
And you say, man, he's been the authority with the call is to continue
to recognize, submit, surrender to that authority in your life.
Because what are the opportunities that await if Jesus has
the authority in your life?
What are the possibilities if Jesus?
What's to become or to resume his rightful place and have the authority in your life.
We would have peace with God, a hope of eternal life, a faith that we
know with absolute certainty will be rewarded, a love that meets your
soul's deepest need and desire.
We'll have wisdom and direction from the creator of life to navigate
through life's twists and turns.
So again, what opportunities await you today, this week, this month, and your
future if Jesus were to become or to resume being the authority in your life?
The road to the resurrection, the day of questions, the authority was
questioned and the identity was revealed.
Jesus wisdom and authority validates that he is the Christ, the chosen one,
the Messiah, the son of the living God.
May we recognize the authority Jesus has and should have in our lives.
We'll close out with Luke chapter 9 verse 20.
He asked his followers.
He says, hey guys, who do you think I am?
And Peter replies, you are God's Messiah.
Let us praise God for Jesus' identity being revealed.
Amen, brothers and sisters.