Question Concerning the Authority of Jesus

Introduction to the Context of Jesus' Last Public Ministry Day

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 29th, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the Gospel of Mark in the 11th chapter, Mark chapter 11, and I shall begin the reading in verse 27, Mark 11 and verse 27. Mark, writing with reference to our Lord in the Twelve, tells us, And they come again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders. And they said unto him, By what authority are you doing these things? Or, Who gave you this authority to do these things? And Jesus said unto him, I will ask of you one question or one word, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

1:25 The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? Answer me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him? But, should we say from men, they feared the people, for all verily held John to be a prophet.

1:52 And they answered Jesus, and say, We do not know. And Jesus said unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. Now let us pray that God, by the Holy Spirit, will open up his holy word, and make it to us. What we have sung about in the previous hymn, a lamp and a light in this earthly pilgrimage, let us pray.

2:27 Our Father, we confess again that left to ourselves, our minds are nothing but a mass of darkness. When it comes to the knowledge of those things which pertain to salvation, apart from the light of your holy and infallible word, we therefore pray that as we set this word before our eyes, and its truths before our minds, that you would send the Holy Spirit as the spirit of illumination, that we may rightly understand your word, that we may eagerly and properly apply your word to ourselves and to every facet of life. O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, to us in this hour we plead, and may it be said of the preaching of the word in this place this morning, that it came not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. Hear us and answer us, we plead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

3:46 Now as we take up our study in the Gospel of Mark, at verse 27 of chapter 11, we arrived at that part of Mark's spirit-inspired account, in which the last day of our Lord's public ministry is recorded. And during this particular day, day number three of the so-called Passion Week, which began with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which was followed on day two, with the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple, on this particular day there are four main questions addressed to our Lord by four different groups of Jews. You will notice it is said in verse 27, there come to him the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, and they said unto him, and there follows question number one. Then we read, we read in verse 13, and they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians that they might catch him in talk, and verse 14 records their question. And then over on verse 18, there come unto him Sadducees,

5:15 and say there is no resurrection, and they asked him. Question number three from group number three, and then verse 28, and one of the scribes, came and heard them questioning together, and knowing he had answered them well, asked him. So there are four different groups or representatives of groups that pose four different questions to our Lord on this third day of the Passion Week. And while these four representative groups differed in many, many things, they were also, they were all united in one thing, namely their determination to get rid of this troubler in Israel, Jesus of Nazareth. And although they came determined by their questions to find some occasion by which they might directly or indirectly see him brought to public trial, to condemnation and to death, at the conclusion, of all of their efforts, after he had answered all four groups, we read in the irony of God in verse 34 of this chapter, and no man after that dared ask him

The Question Raised: Circumstances, Group, and Substance

6:41 any of our blessed Lord. Now we take this morning the first of these four questions under the general title, The Question Concerning the Authority of Jesus. Yes. And hopefully we shall consider together verses 27 through 33. First of all, notice as we attempt to think our way through the passage, the question raised as it is recorded in verses 27 and 28, and there are three elements involved in the raising of this first instance in which it tells us in verse 27 that they, that is Jesus, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord, and the Lord. verse 27 were re-entering Jerusalem, and they are coming again to and as he was walking

8:08 on in which Jesus now perhaps as teachers in that day often may have been while he was walking was probably in the outer courts many people could gather and it was not unusual for public teachers in that day as they went so he may have been as he walked You remember it is said that on that day he would not permit anyone to even pass through the temple with a common vessel, using it as a kind of shortcut for other business. He may have been on an inspection tour. He may have been made his way throughout that whole section of the outer court to make certain that none of those money changers was beginning to try to reestablish his business. But the immediate circumstances, according to Mark, in which the question was raised,

9:31 were circumstances in which Jesus, in company with the twelve and also, obviously, in the presence of an unnumbered amount of people, was walking in the temple. Parallel account in Matthew 20 and 23, Matthew says the question was raised, quote, he was teaching, end quote. Thus, in Luke 20 and verse 1, that it was a teaching that the question was raised. Mark says it was raised as he was walking in the temple.

10:16 Matthew says it was raised as he was teaching in the temple. He says it was raised as he was teaching. And, again, what we have is not a contradiction, but a clear evidence of honest, independent testimony regarding the precise circumstances in which the question was raised. The general activity is described most succinctly by Matthew.

10:48 He was, at this time, engaged in an activity of teaching. We have in Luke a little more. He was not only a definitive proclamation of the gospel, but a general instruction concerning the kingdom of God. Now, Mark is even more precise and tells us, Mark is even more precise and tells us, that in the midst of those general activities of teaching and preaching, he was either walking from one place once of teaching and preaching to another, or in teaching sessions, and inspect walking,

11:47 indicating that he was not rudely interrupted with question, but that the king, for an opportune time, in order to project their king under the guise, had a sense of sincerity. Had they come in an authoritative manner and interrupted our Lord, they would have threatened those who beheld their activity against themselves. In the passage, they were already very fierce, gathering at this festive season, for multitudes were acclaiming Christ as the Son of David, driving to him messianic titles and praises, and they were tremendously threatened by the presence of Christ, and by this, this groundswell among the common people adhering to Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. And so, they apparently wait for an opportunity between his teaching and preaching sessions, which were the immediate circumstances in which the question was raised. But we must not forget the more remote circumstances. The day before, the very temple in which he is teaching was cleansed,

13:11 by his own authoritative action. He had gone through overturning the tables and the trenches, and driving our money changers. And these who posed the question had seen him in that activity. Furthermore, it was just two days prior that he had come into Jerusalem, amidst the cries of Hosanna, had entered the temple, and according to Matthew, performed miracles, and received the praises of little children who cried out in that messianic exclamation, Hosanna to the Son of David.

13:51 So much so that this very crowd who raised a question, don't you read what they're saying to you? Tell them to stop the messianic acclamation. See, now it is by those precise circumstances, the more remote, under this first heading, the question raised, we've seen, the circumstances in which it was raised. Now notice, secondly, the group who raised, as he was walking in the temple, there come to him, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and they, head unto him. Now whenever you find this combination of terms, the chief priests, the scribes, sometimes simply the chief, the scribe, you have a reference to the Sanhedrin.

15:14 That was the supreme and religious made up of the chief, the head of which would be the high priest who was in office at that time, members of the priestly family, former high priests. They were what someone has called the sacerdotal aristocracy. This particular group was made up of those order, into the proper order, ever to become a part of that particular group. And then there were the scribes, and they are synonymous with the pharisaic group. Now not all pharisees were scribes, but whenever you find the word scribes, it's referring to that group, who were the popular teachers, who were interpreting to people the law of God, and passing on primarily the traditions, of the previous, authoritative teachers, so that they would continually say, Rabbi Ben so and so said this, and Rabbi Ben so and so said this. So that when Jesus was exposing the sham, and the hypocrisy of current Judaism, you remember he said again and again, in the sermon of the mount,

16:40 you have heard that it was said, but I say unto you. And then the third group that comprised the Sanhedrin, was the elders. They would be like the tribal leaders, of the various tribes of Israel, and together 70 of them, they constituted the highest ruling body in Israel. Now you remember at this time, Israel was under Roman rule, but the Roman governors, so recognized the authority of this body, that it could exercise authority in places far removed, from Jerusalem or Judea.

17:21 You remember in the case of Saul of Tarsus, he had letters from the Sanhedrin, to go all the way up to Damascus, and if he found any Jews, professing adherence to the way, he had authority given by the Sanhedrin, to bring them in chains, back to Jerusalem, and to commit them to prison. And there are clear indications, that some of the Roman leaders, greatly feared this body, and would even seek their consent, in matters pertaining to their jurisprudence, or their government of Israel. Exercise capital punishment. This is why they had, in their purposes to destroy Christ, they had to cooperate with the Roman authorities. That's where Pilate gets mixed up, in the whole matter of the affair of Christ. Because this Jewish judicial and religious body, no longer had the authority, to exercise capital punishment.

18:31 Stephen's death then, was a form of a cleastical lynching, for which there was no constituted authority. Now this is the group, which is already determined to put Christ to death. Look earlier in chapter 11 and verse 18. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him.

19:00 For they feared the multitude, for they feared him, for all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. Murder, destruction of Christ, was already a deeply seated principle in their hearts. And later on, they will be the ones who actually engineer, the steps which lead, to the crucifixion, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you find this clearly stated, in chapter 14 verses 10 and 11, chapter 14 and verse 53.

19:38 Now, it is most unlikely, that the entire 70, came to the Lord Jesus. That would have looked more like a kangaroo court. So what they probably did, was to select a representative group, from the Sanhedrin, to go and to press upon our Lord, this question. The circumstances in which it was raised, the particular group that raised it.

20:08 Now notice the substance of the question, verse 28. And they said unto him, by what authority are you doing these things? Or, who gave you this authority, to do these things? Two times, the word, authority, is found, in their question, or their questions.

20:35 Now the word authority, as used here, and in most places in scripture, refers to the right to act, and the power which attends that right. We recognize, when a man in a blue uniform, steps out of a car, and raises his hand, we recognize the symbols, of his authority, that is his right, our vehicle, and to ask for our driver's license, and our registration, and our insurance card. It used to be simple, only two things, now three. But we recognize his right to act.

21:18 But authority here, not only means the right to act, but the power, which attends that right. So their question focuses, upon the grounds, or the source, Jesus' right, by what authority are you doing these, or who gave you this authority to do these, and the authority by which he, and that was the focus of their question, and the thing he was teaching, authoritatively, you see the temple was under there, officious was the supreme ruling body in Israel, and if the temple was the center of its religious, and also in that sense of its national life, what right does this upstart, from upper and take under their noses, the whole system of money exchange, and commercialism had not only developed,

22:42 but apparently been encouraged. And it may well be, that they were even feeding off that in their greed. And there is some clear indication, that this may have been the case, or at least some strong suggestions, when our Lord exposes the hypocrisy, of certain of these people, in subsequent discourses. But be that as it may, they come and they ask, what authority do you have, to do these things, to come in, and pose, that we have both, and approved, what right do you have, to come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, as though you were a king, and to receive the praises of little children, and to be healing people, and having those healed, acknowledge you as Messiah, what right do you have to be doing these things, miracles, your cleansing of the temple, your authoritative teaching, and preaching. Now some say, that this is just one question asked two different ways. Others, and I agree with them, see two distinct, but intimately related questions, look carefully in your Bibles, and see if it does not appear to you, to be the second case. They first of all ask, by what authority are you doing these things,

24:11 and the Greek word, poios, means what kind, or what sort of authority, are you exercising in these deeds, that you are performing. Surely you do not claim to do these things, as an unauthorized rabbi. Are you doing them, with prophetic authority, are you doing them with messianic authority, what kind, or what sort of authority, lies at the heart of what you are doing? Is it rabbinic?

24:47 Is it prophetic? Is it messianic? What is the kind of authority, you are exercising in doing these things, and then notice the next question goes, to the source of that authority. By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do these things?

25:13 So the second question is not so much the kind, the sort of authority, but the source of this authority. If you claim to have official rabbinic authority, who gave it to you? We are the official ordaining committee in Israel, and if you are teaching in the authority, the authority of an official rabbi, who gave authority. And if you claim prophetic authority, from what source does that prophetic authority come?

25:50 And if you claim messianic authority, who gave it to you? Because we who are the chief guardians, of the people of God, and the infallible interpreters of the word of God, we recognize no such divine authority in you. These are the very ones who at one point, recorded in chapter 3 in Mark, said he was working to hoots with the devil. That his authority to cast out demons and perform miracles, was given to him by the prince of devils himself, Beelzebub.

26:22 Now it is clear from the total witness of scripture, that this was not a sincere question, asked by sincere seekers after the truth. Remember they are already set on his destruction, according to verse 18. This very group, the Sanhedrin, that sends its representative handful, question Jesus, are already actively seeking a way to kill him, to get rid of him. So when they come and ask, waiting for an opportune time, apparently showing deference to Jesus, not wanting to prejudice the crowd, and Jesus' immediate followers against them, they come, with the semblance of religious sincerity, asking a very legitimate question. As the official guardians of Israel's religious life, they had every right to know, by what authority, Jesus appeared, and began to secure a following. It was not a sincere question, by sincere seekers after the truth. It was a question, by the threateningness of Jesus.

27:48 For as we read in verse 18, all the multitude was astonished at his teaching, and they were afraid, fearful they were losing their hold, over the wonderful insight given to us, not by Matthew or by Luke, but in the Gospel of John. It was at this very period, when the news of Lazarus' being raised from the dead, had gone throughout all Jerusalem, that it was the very crowd who had heard about it, that came out from Jerusalem to meet the crowd, coming in from Bethany. And this was the crowd, that when they saw them, they said, Oh, see they were in a posture of feeling, tremendously threatened, as Jesus was rivaling the allegiance of the people. They had given him no credentials. What they are attempting to do, they want to discredit him, as a non-authorized instructor or reformer in Israel. And there's a very fascinating section, in which Peter shines, the life and times of Jesus the Messiah, volume number two, is 380 to 382, that opens up some of the background to this passage,

29:13 and I don't have time to go into it, but I commend it to you, for any who would have the interest to pursue it. Well, there's the question then. The question is, what is the kind of authority you're exercising, and what is its source? What is it?

Jesus' Counter-Question: The Baptism of John

29:29 Where did it come from? Now, do you sort of feel the situation? Having looked now at the question raised, notice, secondly, the response of our Lord to the question, verses 29 and 30. And Jesus said unto them, I will ask of you one question, or more literally rendered, one word, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

30:01 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me. Now, the response of our Lord to the question is recorded in verses 29 and 30. It may seem a bit strange to us, and the reason is that in our current ethics of discussion, we do not normally consider it proper to answer a question with a question.

30:30 In fact, people often get upset if you ask, if you're asked a question and you respond by asking, they say, hey, look, you're not answering my question, you're asking one. But in the currently accepted ethics of public debate and discussion and dialogue, this was an accepted form of interchange. And when public teachers would discuss debate, it was common for a question to be answered with a question. And so our Lord was not being rude.

31:01 Our Lord was not being boorish or insensitive or evasive. Our Lord takes a framework of publicly accepted ethics of discussion and uses it as the medium by which to expose their rotten truth and asking the two-fold question of what sort is your authority and from what source did you derive it? Now, our Lord responds by saying, I will ask you but one word. That is, I will bring one, one issue into focus.

31:44 And with respect to that issue, I want to raise a question. And if you answer that question, I will then answer your question. And then he brings the issue into focus. Look at it in verse 29.

31:59 Jesus said unto them, I will ask you one word. And what was it? Verse 30. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?

32:14 Now, when Jesus said the baptism of John, he does not mean John's actual act of putting people under the waters of Jordan and bringing them up again. But the term the baptism of John is a figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole. And the baptism of John means John's honest function and message of which baptism, was its most singular and prominent distinctive. You find the phrase used that way in Acts 1.22 when they're about to select another apostle. They said find one who has come with us from the baptism of John. That is, from the time John appeared as a messenger of God with his unique function and message and activity. From that time onward, these are the requirements.

33:10 So, when Jesus said the baptism of John, he was using a figure of speech which they well understood. He was asking them this very simple question. John's office as a prophet, his function as the forerunner of Messiah, his message calling people to repentance and telling them to believe on the coming one. Did John's whole complex of office and function, message and activity of baptizing people upon profession of repentance, was that something that originated from heaven, that is, from God?

33:52 Or was it something that originated merely from men? And then our Lord two times says, I want an answer to this question. In his introduction of the question, he says, verse 29, I will ask you one question and answer me, and I will tell you. Then he brings that one issue into focus and he concludes with a terse imperative, answer me.

34:21 You cannot avoid my question. Answer me. Bring this to a resolution in your mind and openly pronounce your response. Now you can begin to feel that the air gets electric.

34:36 The disciples are gathered around our Lord. An unnumbered amount of templeship, the disciples are there in the outer precincts. They see this august group approaching our Lord and recognize them as members of the Sanhedrin and they wonder what they are going to say and they come waiting until our Lord pauses and is walking and they seem to be the very essence and epitome of politeness and graciousness and they raise their question. Jesus responds with a question and says, now answer me.

35:08 The baptism of John, in the moment those words came out of his mouth, all of the people in the temple precincts had heard of John. Many had sat and stood under his ministry. Many had responded favorably to that ministry. And now this official leading group, the highest part of Israel's life as a body politic and as a religious body must now pronounce John's baptism.

35:38 Was it of God?

35:42 Of man. Was it initiated and assumed and promoted by John or others for selfish human ends? Did it initiate purposes and to promote divine ends? Now why did Jesus ask the apostles for that for a long time?

36:07 Was he attempting to evade their question? Was he for good and wise reasons reluctant to bring forward at this time any open declaration to this murderous crowd that he indeed was the Messiah and did what he did in messianic authority received directly from his Father? Was he being evasive in judicious self-preservation? That's not wrong.

36:41 No, he was not being evasive. What he was doing was answering their question. But answering that if they were not sincere, their hypocrisy would be unmasked in the presence of those who were listening. John as a person, as a public figure and a religious leader was nothing.

37:12 You follow me? What significance does John the Baptist have as a prophet, as a forerunner, as a pointer to Christ if we did catch him? Now for John's ministry embedded in the prophecy of Isaiah 40 was to be the forerunner of Messiah. Behold my...

37:41 Who shall... Behold my face...

37:45 Steady a people prepared for the Lord. And those prophecies in Isaiah were picked inspired...

37:54 Crazes attending the conception and birth of John the Baptist when he came baptizing in the wilderness of Judea. You belong among the one who is coming. John said, I'm not worthy to unloose the sand. The one who's coming is the Lamb of God.

38:32 Behold the Lamb, he said, John 1.29. John 1.34 he attested, he is the Son of God.

38:41 I baptize with water, he shall baptize in the Holy Spirit and in fire. He was nothing from the person and the identity and the ministry of Jesus. And the ministry of Jesus as messianic in its nature, and divine in its origin.

39:12 So when he asked the question, the ministry of John the Baptist, the baptism of John, was that something that was divinely initiated, divinely authorized, divinely regulated, this ministry in which he clearly said, I have no significance in myself. I'm a voice pointing you to Jesus. The Son of Nazareth as Messiah, Son of God, one who was before me, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. He must increase.

39:51 I must decrease.

39:54 If John's ministry was of heaven, the question of my authority has already been established by him. You see? The baptism of John, was it out of heaven? If it was out of heaven, then the question of my authority has already been established by John himself.

40:15 For he announced me as the Messiah, as the Son of God, the Lamb of God, as the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. Now if John's ministry is merely of men, that is a ministry assumed under his own initiative and promoted by human promotional devices and techniques, then of course everything he said about me is false. Now there is a wonderful, a wonderful summary that I trust or convince that I have not read more into this than I should. A wonderful summary of John's ministry in Acts 19.

40:59 And it is this text which makes me bold enough to assert what I have asserted along with many others.

41:06 Acts 19.4 And Paul said, that is to these Ephesian people,

41:14 John, and Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying, unto the people that they should believe on Him that should come after Him, that is, on Jesus. So John's ministry had no significance apart from its constant authorization of Jesus of Nazareth as the long-promised Messiah.

The Reasoning of the Jewish Leaders

41:51 Then the Lord, having answered their question, with this question, presses upon them by this imperative answer, to debate this issue. And that brings us thirdly to the reasoning of Jewish leaders. We've looked at the circumstances in which the question was raised. Secondly, we've looked at Jesus' response, the essence of that question, the response of our Lord to the question, and now the reasoning of the Jewish elites.

42:25 Verses 31 and 32. The reasoning of the Jewish leaders. And they reasoned with themselves, and the form of the verb is used to indicate that this was something that went on for at least a few minutes. They reasoned with the bells saying, if we shall say from heaven, that is, John's baptism is divinely authorized, if we say that, He's going to say to us, giving us another question, why then did you not believe Him?

43:02 If John was a messenger, a messenger from heaven, why didn't you believe Him? He pointed to me. He said, I was the one upon whom men were to rest in faith, that they were to look to me. John's message.

43:17 Reason. Look, if we say John's message is out of heaven, He's got us. We've already answered then His question, what's the nature of your authority and what's the source of it? John has already answered it.

43:31 So if we say, John's message is of God, He's going to say, well, why didn't you believe Him? If you believed Him, you've had no question about my authority, that was settled with John's message. So they said, boy, we don't want to do that. That exposes our question for what it is.

43:46 Mere nonsense. The question of the authority of Jesus of Nazareth has already been established by John and here we are, three years later, after all the miracles, after all of the fame, after all the authentication of His identity, and we're not settled on this question, we will be seen for what we are, a bunch of fools, a bunch of jerks.

44:08 Well, we better not answer that. So they say, well, what's the other of it? He's only given us two.

44:15 If we say, from men, and then there's a dash, an abrupt structure that's a bit awkward, but we get the meaning. But should we say, from men, huh, he said, no, we don't even want to follow that through to its logical conclusion. Why? They feared the people for all, better translated, held John to be a prophet.

44:45 Oh, boy, they said, we're up, up the creek without a paddle. Two alternatives. John's baptism, his mission, his message, his activity, his identity, if it's out of heaven, then the question of Jesus' authority has already been established. He's going to ask us, well, then, why didn't you believe him?

45:03 Believing him? You have no question. Go away with your question. The issue's settled.

45:07 If we say, from men, people are talking to Jesus as Messiah, many of whom have responded favorably to the message of John. Who did? Indeed, regard him as a prophet of God with a divinely inspired message from God. Fear, you see, was not just the fear of losing some of their popularity.

45:31 If you look at the parallel passage in Luke 20 and verse 6, they were scared for their very lives. The mob was so volatile at this season, there was such general excitement. Notice the stroke that we find in Luke's account, Luke 20 and verse 6. But if we shall say, parallel passage, from men, all the people will stop.

45:58 For they are persuaded John was a prophet and said, here in the midst of the temple where religious pronouncements get spread like fire. If word gets out that we had the boldness to say that the ministry and measure and activity of John the Baptist was merely a human device and had no divine authorization, these people will be convinced that we're blasphemers. They'll call us out and they'll stone us. They'll be a lynching.

46:35 You can almost see everyone is waiting with bated breath. They're having their little caucus over here. And they're reasoning among themselves how we're going to answer. And now their reasoning stops and they're ready for an answer and they come back to Jesus.

The Formal Response and Jesus' Final Reply

46:53 And one of them becomes their spokesman and says, and here we have, fourthly, the formal response of the Jewish leaders. Verse 33a. Verse 33a. Here is their formal response.

47:10 How is it?

47:13 And they answer Jesus and say,

47:18 we don't know.

47:22 We don't know. You see the sickening hypocrisy. They didn't even have the moral courage to say, your question has set me up horns and we don't want to be hung on you and therefore we won't tell you what we really believe. End of discussion.

47:42 No. They tried to appear agnostic. That's what an agnostic supposedly is. One who does not know.

47:52 The alpha privative with the word to know. Agnostic. We do not know. They said we're agnostics.

48:00 We're prepared to say John's baptism was.

48:04 Because if we do, the question we pose to you is already answered and you'll turn it upon us and chide us for our miserable unbelief. We'll not be publicly exposed. You've done enough damage to our credibility. You've come in here to our backyard and you're teaching under our very noses things that are drawing the multitudes after you and away from us.

48:29 We're not about to push towards Jesus. So we're not going to say it's out of heaven.

48:36 That crowd that's following you, that came with you into Jerusalem, that hailed you as Messiah, that listened to the message of John, that flocked out to hear him and many embraced his message and are now embracing Jesus of Nazareth in some degree of understanding and in some degree of understanding. of his identity. I've said if word gets out that we say John was merely a man with a man's message and a man's authority, they'll charge us with blasphemy and lynch us. So they say we don't know.

49:09 We don't know.

49:13 And what is our Lord's final response to them? 33b. He says, Jesus said unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. He replied, I refuse this to make a formal, open, public statement concerning the kind and source of authority by which he carries on his work.

49:39 Why? Because he had promised an explicit answer based on their response to his question. It was a conditional promise. Verse 29.

49:52 I will ask of you one word and in the commonly accepted rules of public discussion Jesus said, Every right to do this. And he says, Answer that and I'll tell you explicitly by what authority I do these things. And when they would not answer his question, Jesus said, I'm under no obligation to fulfill my promise. You've evaded and refused to answer me.

50:24 I refuse to answer.

50:29 Inwardly, they were already enraged against him when they came. One can only imagine how much oil, gasoline must have been poured on their infuriated spirits by his publicly shaming them.

50:48 And then immediately following this incident, though Mark records only the middle parable and Luke records the middle parable, Matthew records three parables that Jesus spoke to this representative group from the Sanhedrin. Which so thoroughly exposed them to their own judgment. It says they knew that he spake this.

Application: The Sickening Sins of the Jewish Leaders

51:15 They were all the more enraged and all the more settled in their determination that they would put the Son of God to death. Well, dear people, I've attempted to take you through the passage and open up before you those five basic units of thought with respect to this question concerning the authority of Jesus. The question raised, our Lord's response to that question, and then we've considered together the reasoning of the Jewish leaders, the formal response of the Jewish leaders, and the final response of our Lord. Now, what does all this say to us?

52:00 I trust we've been helped in just the exposition in seeing the intimate connection between the ministry of John, and the ministry of Jesus, and how they stand or fall together. And that's a vital principle with reference to many aspects of biblical truth. But what I want to do in the time that remains this morning is to focus upon two or three lines of application. It is I have labored of the passage saying to God, Lord, what is it that is the burden of this passage to Trinity Church as we meet on the morning of November 29, 1987.

52:38 What are you saying to us, Lord? May I set before you, first of all, the exhortation to behold in this incident the sickening, and I labored over what word to use, and I knew of no other, the sickening nature of the crowning sins of these Jewish leaders. What were the crowning sins of these Jewish leaders that are set before us in this passage? In all of their...

53:07 First of all, there is the sin of willful blindness and unbelief. Willful blindness and unbelief. They had heard the testimony of Nazareth and identified him as the promised coming one, Son of God, Lamb of God, the one who would, as his crowning messianic work, send forth his spirit upon all of his people and in the day of judgment consume his adversaries. That had been part and parcel of John's message. They had heard...

54:06 People had seen many of the miracles of Jesus as early as chapter 3 in Mark. We saw them right there when Jesus heals the paralytic. When Jesus performs his mighty works, they had seen them with their own eyes, and many who had not seen them had heard upon the mouth of credible witnesses the mighty works of Jesus. Two plus years before, when he first...

54:37 They came and said, What?

54:53 By what authority do you do these things? John 3.19 is here exegeted. This is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

55:12 Neither will they come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved. We have often heard it said, None is so blind as he who will, will not see. There's a worse blindness than that. It is true, none is so blind as he who will not see.

55:35 But you know what God does eventually with those who will not to see?

55:42 He puts them in a posture where they cannot because God...

55:58 His eyes. Turn, please, to John's Gospel, chapter 12, and may God give us such a sight, such a sight of the sickening nature of this crowning sin that we will flee from it if we are in any posture where it could possibly be true of us and run to Christ and ask Him to anoint our eyes with eyes that we may see. We read in this very general setting this same time frame, verse 37, John 12, that though He had done so many signs before them, yet they did not on Him.

56:49 They're asking this elementary question, what is the source of your authority? What is the nature of it? Hundreds of times in their very past temple in the past He was healed.

57:12 Though He did so many signs, they believed not on Him. Why? That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which He spoke, Lord, who has believed our report, to whom is the arm of the Lord? To whom has the Lord been revealed?

57:27 For this cause they could not.

57:34 For that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, He hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and proceed with their heart and turn, and I should heal them.

57:51 What a horrible doctrine that when men will look up into the sun day after day and say, I see no light, see no sun in the sky, I see no heavenly orb diffusing light in one.

58:11 Though I feel its rays upon its beams burn, I'm to be blind. Face of light blinds them so that coming out of some dark cavern and crying, oh, that I might see the light. Snow, I've ripped your eyeballs. I've had mercy on some of you sitting here this morning.

58:53 Oh, God has done many things before your eyes, surrounding you with parents for whom there's no explanation, but that saving grace has flowed down from the Son of God into their hearts. The love and the patience they show to you as children, there's no explanation for it, but God's grace at work in that. You see men and women who were once blasphemers and, cursers and potheads and drunkards and lechers and self-righteous, religious,

59:33 and God has made them into humble, liberated, loving, self-giving followers of the Lamb.

59:44 You hear the gospel preached warmly and passionately and tenderly and earnestly. All that light coming, you say, I won't believe. I won't believe. There's no sun in the sky.

59:59 There's no gospel. There's no gospel claims. There's no Christ over me. There's no Christ that I'll answer to.

60:03 There's no judgment to which I'm going. I'm looking straight at the sun, but I say there's no sun. No sun. No sun.

60:09 A kind Christ says, you will to be blind? All right. I'll amen your will. And he will judicious blind you so that you'll go into, into our sin-loving hearts.

60:35 You, my unbelieving friends, sitting under the preaching of the gospel, old or young,

60:44 do you want it said of you, God, has blinded and hardened your heart so that you cannot?

60:56 Then just go on abusing your privileges, despising the overtures of mercy, defiant of God, of His grace, of His kindness, of His patience. Just go on. Just go on.

61:12 There may come a time when God says, none is so blind as he who will not see. Yes, there is one more blind. Yet, none is so blind as he who cannot see. My friend, you're not dealing with this preacher.

61:32 He claims no unique authority in himself. He hides and canopies himself under the authority of this book and the God in this book. And it's that God with whom you have to do in the preaching. It's with that God you have to do in the gospel of His Son.

61:52 Look forward.

62:01 Yes. Whether or not this is all real, you know right well it's not. You've had enough light to convince you a thousand times over. The issue is you love your sin.

62:14 You love your own way. You love the world.

62:19 Don't go on. See in these religious leaders, surrounded with the means of grace, and yet given up to judicial blindness. Behold the sickening nature of the crowning sin. The sins of these religious leaders.

62:38 The sin of willful blindness and unbelief. And then their second crowning sin, the sin of hypocrisy and deceitfulness. The sin of hypocrisy and deceitfulness. Here they come to Jesus as though they really wanted to be taught of Him.

62:57 They come as though they really desired an answer on this vital question. What's the source of your authority? What's the nature of your authority? But in reality, they had already become the murderers of the Son of God, according to verse 18.

63:14 Already committed to destroy Him. And this was all just a ruse. It was all a sham to try to provide some occasion of trapping our Lord and discrediting our Lord and turning the multitudes against our Lord in hopes that maybe the multitudes would become their hands to accomplish their murderous designs. What hypocrisy and deceitfulness.

63:44 When our Lord presses them with a question that forces them, forces them to face, here are the two sharpened horns of the dilemma. If we say, John's baptism out of heaven, He'll say, why didn't you believe Him? And then the question of my authority has been settled. We say from men, we're afraid of people.

64:03 We don't know what hypocrisy. What they meant is, you haven't played into our hands. You've backed us into a corner, and we're gonna wiggle out. We'll violate our own consciences and all sense of decency and honesty.

64:18 They were the hypocrites par excellence. Oh, how deceitful and hypocrite. I wonder, my friend, as you sit here this morning, is that you? What deceitful and hypocritical objections do you raise?

64:35 What deceitful and hypocritical questions do you raise about the gospel and the way of salvation and about the person and work of the Son of God? What deceitful and hypocritical questions do you raise about the gospel and the way of salvation and about the person and work of the Son of God? What deceitful and hypocritical questions do you raise about the gospel and the way of salvation and about the person and work of the Son of God? And about the church and all the rest?

64:50 Isn't it just a facade behind which you hide in your, to run your own life, to do your own thing? And yet you have veiled all of that under the hypocrisy and deceitfulness of religious garb and activity and form and ceremony and even apparently religious and sincere questions. May God help us to vomit out the lies. May God help us to vomit out the lies.

Application: The Searching Power of Pointed Questions

65:24 May God help us to vomit out the lies. May God help us to vomit out the lies. The last traces of the crowning sins of this. But then I ask you very quickly to behold in the second place in this incident the searching power of pointed questions addressed to the consciences of men.

65:39 Behold in this incident the searching power of pointed questions addressed to the conscience. What found them out and forced them out into the open? I'll tell you what it was. It was a question framed by Jesus which demanded an answer.

65:55 He said, I'll ask you one word, answer me. And if you answer, I'll tell you, the baptism of John out of heaven or of men. Answer me. And it was that question that forced them into a period of discussion.

66:12 Maybe it had been weeks or months or perhaps even years since some of them had thought about the baptism of John and what John had preached about the coming one when he pointed to Jesus of Nazareth and identified him as the Lamb of God, as the Son of God, as the messianic messenger of heaven. But this question, you see, brought it all into focus. And they said, if we say John's message is of heaven, we didn't believe John. John pointed to this very one that we are now questioning concerning his authority.

66:46 And oh, how the slumbering conscience became awake. My friend, listen, do you wonder why there are times when we who preach prayer, press almost relentlessly questions upon you? This is why, left to ourselves, we don't want to face ourselves honestly. And well-framed questions which force us into the inner chambers of our own souls to face reality can often be the first steps to spiritual reality and liberation.

Concluding Question: Do You Know and Love Jesus?

67:21 And I want to close by asking you a question. I had other lines of application, but time is gone. I want to ask you a simple question. Just like Jesus said, I ask you one word.

67:32 Is the baptism of John out of heaven or out of men? Is its origin heaven or man? Answer me! My friend, I ask you one simple question.

67:44 This Jesus, this Jesus, whose interaction with these hypocritical, deceitful, judicially blinded leaders is recorded. I ask you one question. This Jesus. Do you know him and love him?

67:59 Say, what's following? Nothing. Nothing. Just that.

68:06 One word. I ask you him and love. How many do I know him? The very fact you have to answer with that question shows you probably don't know him.

68:30 Have you come into a saving relations with him? Is he your only hope of life and salvation? Is he because he loved and died for sinners? Is he the object of your supreme religious desire and affection?

68:48 Can you say with Paul, to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain? For to die is to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, the Lord, who is the supreme object of my affection and my object of my greatest longings. Far better, my friend.

69:14 Do you know and love him? Do you know and love? If I say yes, then the onus is on me to know by my life that there's no explanation for me but devotion to and love to and trust in and faith in Jesus. And I know I couldn't make that stick.

69:37 I say I do, but if I say I don't know him and love him, that's to declare I'm lost and I'm made a hell in spite of being in Trinity Church and under the gospel. And that would be to declare I'm guilty of willful horrible. Self-willed rejection of light. I don't want to appear that bad.

70:00 And no, I can't say I know and love him because the onus would be on me to prove. No, I won't answer yes and I don't know if I know. You see how the human heart has not changed, friend? Don't sit there and say you don't know.

70:17 You do know.

70:20 It's the answer.

70:24 That you don't know him and love him. The reason you don't know him and love him is because you love your sins and you love your own way. And you love the world. Oh, may God help me not to take the posture of these people and say, I don't know.

70:43 So that's a pious cop-out. My friend, my Bible says, if any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed of God. 1 Corinthians 10, 22.

70:59 I ask you one word. Answer me. You know and love him. If not, give yourself no rest.

71:11 Until you. You can say, God who knows the hearts of all men knows that I know and love his son because of his love to me.

71:29 Oh, the service.

71:32 Let pray.

71:40 God, our heavenly father, we earnestly pray that you would deliver us from the horrible, sickening sins of the religious leader. Willful blindness, hypocrisy, hatefulness. Oh, God, give us. Grace to be honest with our own hearts and with you.

72:05 And we thank you that we believe in this case this morning, that there are many who could say with Peter, you know, Lord, that we love you. And yet in that very confession, we cry out, have mercy upon us for the fickleness of our love, for the inconstancy of our love. And, oh, Lord, strengthen our faith that our love may increase. Strengthen.

72:31 And our love, that our obedience may be more extensive. Write your word upon our hearts. May it result in calling some out of dark and into light and in the strengthening of the faith of your elect. We ask in Jesus name.

72:52 Amen.