LUKE 19-20 19:45-20:8 JESUS HAS THE RIGHT2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 19-20 19:45-20:8 Jesus Has The Right

As we begin to consider this passage here in the Gospel of Luke, I would ask you to consider how you would feel if I came to your house today after service and

And I decided, you know, your furniture is in all the wrong places. And as I come to your house, I begin to move the couch from one side to the other side. And I take the TV from the wall and I put it on the kitchen table. And I begin to rearrange the way that I think is appropriate. How would you feel if I...

How would you like that? How would you feel about that?

Of course, you would be quite offended. You know, first of all, just moving the furniture. It's like, hey, what are you trying to say? I don't know where a couch should go. I'm not that dumb. You know, what are you trying to tell me? I put the couch there for a reason. It belongs there. And secondly, who do you think you are moving my stuff and rearranging my home? Well, that's the kind of idea what the religious leaders were experiencing as Jesus was saying,

ministering in the temple area in the passage we're looking at today. The religious leaders were offended by Jesus. They had that attitude. They were wondering, who does this guy think he is? What gives him the right to

to turn over our money tables? What gives him the right to teach here in the temple daily? He can't just come in here and do whatever he wants to do. This is our territory. We're responsible for the temple. We're responsible for what goes on here. He can't just come in and do whatever he wants. That's what was going through the minds and hearts of the religious leaders as they see Jesus come in and behave in this way.

And so this morning, the message, well, I've titled it, Jesus Has the Right. They're upset. They're offended. They're trying to figure out who does this guy think he is. But the reality is, is Jesus has the right to do all of those things that he did. In chapter 20, verse 2, as Jesus is teaching in the temple, it tells us that the religious leaders confront Jesus saying,

And they say to him, tell us. They're demanding an answer. Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is he who gave you this authority? The New Living Translation puts it this way. Who gave you the right? Who gave you the right to come in here and tell us

How things are supposed to go. Who gave you the right to come in here and overturn tables? It says to do these things. What are these things? Well, Jesus entered in. He cleansed the temple. He was instructing the people every day that week. And so he's coming and he's kind of taking charge and ministering to the people. And they're saying, what gives you the right?

Now as we consider this temple situation and the religious leaders, of course there's some things that God wants to deal with in our own hearts and some instruction for us about the rights that Jesus has in our lives. And so there's three points we'll walk through in this passage. The first one is found in verse 45 and 46, and that is that Jesus has the right to clean your house.

And you say, great, here's a broom, get to work. That's not the kind of cleaning that we're talking about. Here in this passage, we see Jesus cleans up the temple courtyard. Let me read verse 45 and 46 to you. It says, then he went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, it is written, my house is a house of prayer.

But you have made it a den of thieves.

So we see in this situation as Jesus goes into Jerusalem. Remember, he has just, you know, entered triumphantly. There was the ride on the donkey. He gets to the top of the Mount of Olives. He weeps over Jerusalem. Now he continues that journey and enters into the city, goes to the temple, and he sees the situation where there's buying and selling that is going on. Now, why is all of this happening at the temple?

Well, there was buying and selling because there were people who had to purchase animals for sacrifices. And so they were getting to the temple, they needed to get an animal, and so they would purchase an animal, and then they would take it in for the feast and to be sacrificed. There was also, in that courtyard, what was going on was the exchange of money.

Because people had to pay the temple tax. That's the time in which it was due. And so they would bring their, you know, their monies to pay the tax. But they couldn't bring Roman currency and give it to the temple. It had to be exchanged for temple currency that they would accept. And then they would be able to give that. And so there was this exchange of, you know, monies that was happening. There was this purchase of animals for the sacrifices that was going on.

And as you look at this, I could understand, I think, that this probably began as a good thing.

Even though I know you probably know the accounts and stuff and it didn't turn out to be such a good thing. But it probably started out with good intentions. And it was something that was convenient and a blessing for people. Imagine if you lived, let's say, in the northern part of Israel in the region of Galilee. And so you are going to the feast of Passover. And you have your family with you. And you have, well, you have to sacrifice a lamb, the Passover lamb.

You also need to bring the animals that represent according to the sin that you've been committing since the last time you've been to the temple. And so you gather up your little flock, you gather up your family, and now you make the couple days journey from Galilee down to Jerusalem. And so you're going through all of this trouble to bring these animals down here.

To the temple. But then you get to the temple. The priest examines your lamb and says, you know, you can't use this lamb. It's blemished. There's spots. There's, you know, hey, it broke its leg on the way down. You know, there's problems with this lamb. You can't use it. Oh no, what am I going to do? And so they said, hey, well, conveniently we have, you know, this opportunity here. You can purchase a lamb from us. Now,

You could see, you know, at the beginning, this could have been a good thing, a blessing. Oh, it's such a relief. I have something now I can offer to the Lord. Or even, maybe better yet, hey, I don't have to bring my animal from home. I'll come down, I'll purchase one here and offer that to the Lord. And that way I don't have to bring it with me for the journey. So maybe it started out as a convenience, as a blessing, it was a good thing.

But Jesus, as he's dealing with them, explains that this has become corrupt business. He says, it's supposed to be a house of prayer, but you've turned it into a den of thieves. It's a quotation or a reference to Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 11, where God says to the people at that time, you've turned my temple into a den of thieves, and I see what's going on. Jesus is pointing out, God knows what's going on.

And so there was some corruption that happened over time. And so now instead of just offering these animals as a convenience, they were pre-approved animals for sacrifice. And so, you know, people would bring their animals and the priest would find some kind of fault with it unless they had purchased it from, you know, their licensed dealer right there in the marketplace. And so they were able to have high prices on these animals because they

Well, the priest would reject any other animals that were brought. It was like the only source where you could get, you know, animals that would be approved for sacrifice by the priest. And so the priest made sure to find blemishes in animals that were not purchased there. And so they were able to get, you know, top dollar for those animals.

In the same way, the exchange rates, you know, as they were exchanging the Roman currency for temple currency, they, you know, were out of balance and they were charging more than was necessary in order to take advantage of the people because they had to pay the tax, but they couldn't do it with their Roman currency. And so they had to get it changed and they would charge them a high exchange rate. So there was a corruption that went on in this business that was going on there, but

The corrupt business practices were not the only problem with this whole situation. Jesus, as he's addressing this, says, My house is to be a house of prayer. Here he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7.

And Jesus is pointing out that this temple is meant to be a place for people to come and connect with God. That people are to be able to come here and spend time in prayer and have relationship with God in this place. Now, specifically in Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7, the Lord says there, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. You see, the issue is,

In the temple there was different sections for different people. And so of course you had the temple itself.

The people would not go inside the temple. It was only the priests who could go inside the temple. And they would go inside and maintain the lampstand and such. But they would not go inside the temple. The Jewish people would go to the courtyard right outside of the temple where the altar was. And so they were able to go there to offer sacrifices and have their feasts together as a result of the things that they were offering to the Lord.

But Gentiles were not allowed in that Jewish courtyard. And so there was a further out courtyard that was the courtyard of the Gentiles. That is where this business was going on. And so Jesus is saying, my house is meant to be a house of prayer for all nations. Even the Gentiles, they're supposed to have a way to connect with God here at the temple. But instead...

There's all of this business going on.

So think about it this way. If you went to the swap meet and had to try to have a quiet time with God, you know how difficult that would be? You know, to focus on the Lord and spend time with the Lord. And there's all this hustle and bustle around you. Or could you imagine if we had popcorn vendors in service this morning? Popcorn! Get your popcorn! You know, people throwing peanuts down the aisle, you know, trying to sell things. It'd be kind of hard to pay attention and hear from the Lord, right? In the same way, this is where the Gentiles...

We're supposed to go to connect with God. And there's all of this transactions. All of this business. These animals that were there. And all of this is going on. And Jesus sees all of this. And he gets to work. He cleans house. He overturns tables. Because, well there's corruption. Because it's disrupting the opportunity for people to get right with God. And to walk with God. And so he's throwing over the tables. We know from the other gospel accounts that he makes a whip.

And he begins to drive out. Now, please understand, the whip was not for the people. I think sometimes people get confused on this. He wasn't beating people, okay? He was driving out the animals that were there, that they were selling. He was getting the animals out of the area. He wasn't, you know, ripping the skin off people with the whip. So Jesus is cleaning house because this is meant to be a place for people to connect with God. Now again,

As we see what's going on here, we want to take a moment and consider, well, how does this apply? And what does God want to speak to us through this? And so through this, I would encourage you and I would ask you to let Jesus clean your house. Just as Jesus had the right to cleanse the temple. As he saw what was wrong, he saw what was off. That's not what it's intended for. So let's get things in order. In the same way, Jesus looks at your life and he sees what's out of order.

He sees those things that maybe began in good ways and good things, but now they're corrupt or now they're distractions or now they're keeping, well, keeping you from what God has intended for you. And as Jesus looks at your life, he sees those things that are out of order. He has the right to clean your house. But here's the thing. Even though he has the right, he does not force it quite yet. There will come a day when

Paul tells us, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There will come a day when you will be cleansed by fire. When there will be a purging, a testing. There will come a day where you will bow and recognize that he is Lord and will be shown for what is right and what is wrong. Jesus has the right to do that at any time. But he's not yet forced it.

When he returns, there will be a forced cleansing. In the meantime, he gives us the opportunity to receive it willingly. And so I want to encourage you, let Jesus clean your house. He has the right, he has the authority, but he is waiting for you to volunteer, to receive it willingly. As we've been reading through the Bible in three years, we went through Matthew chapter 28 earlier this week.

And of course, there you have the great commission to go and make disciples. That great commission is attached to a statement that Jesus makes just before it. And that is, he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

And then he says, go therefore and make disciples. Jesus declares, I have all authority. There's no one with higher authority. I have all authority in heaven and on earth. So therefore, go make disciples. And so Jesus has all authority, but this authority...

Or with this authority, he does not just tell us to go and make disciples. With his authority, he has authority over your life. He has authority over your home. He has authority over your bedroom. He has authority over your cubicle. He has authority over all things. He has the right to clean your house. And I want to encourage you to let Jesus do that. Now,

I would ask you to just kind of be practical about this, okay? It doesn't have to be some, you know, weird thing in your head. Just go home today and when you walk in your house, ask the Lord, is there anything in here that is out of order? Maybe even go room to room. Check out your living room and say, Lord, is there anything in here that you need to turn over, that you want rid of, that you say, hey, this is an

distraction, this is not what I've intended your home to be for. Maybe head into your kitchen and say, Lord, is there something in here that is out of place, that is not what you want? Go down the hall into the rooms. Check out the kids' rooms. Lord, is there anything here that's not what you desire, that's not appropriate for children of God? And maybe he's going to highlight some movies that he wants you to maybe get rid of.

Or maybe watch again. Depending on the movie. But he has the right to say what movies are played in your home. He has the right to say what shows are watched. He has the right to say what substances you take and what substances you don't take. He has the right. He has authority. Let him direct you on those things. Walk through your house. And as you've gone through the house, you've gone through each room, then I encourage you to go into the bathroom and look in the mirror.

Because Paul also tells us that you are the temple of God. And ask the Lord, Lord, is there anything within me that is out of order? That is not in accordance with what you've intended? That is a distraction from walking with you, from serving you? Lord, you search my heart. Just like David prayed, right? Search my heart. Know me. Is there anything that's out of line? You could extend this to your workplace, your vehicles, maybe your digital life. You know, Lord, this website or that website.

Is it appropriate? Is it not appropriate? Is it what you desire? Do you want to turn over those tables? It's a full surrender to the Lord. Lord, whatever you want in my home, in my life, in my heart, in my work, whatever you want, you have the right, you have the authority, but I want to invite you to exercise that authority and instruct me on the things that you want to say.

I like the way that David Guzik puts this thought. He says, we do love Jesus and we want to praise him. Yet we must also allow his cleansing presence in our lives. If he wants to turn over some tables in our hearts, so be it. Understand that like the religious leaders, you might get offended by what Jesus wants to change. But he has all authority. And so even if it's not your favorite thing in the world, even if you

Maybe disagree. As the Lord instructs, as you give him that opportunity and he gives the direction, let him have that authority. Surrender to him. Let him overturn those tables so that you can honor the Lord and live the life that he has appointed you to live. Well, as we go on now in verse 47 and 48, we see the second point. And there we see that Jesus has the right to teach you. He has the right to clean your house. He also has the right to

to teach you. Check out verse 47. It says, So now Jesus has rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. He's cleansed the temple. It's his final week before the crucifixion. So that started on Sunday as he went into Jerusalem.

Now we're talking about Monday and the following days. And he's teaching every day in the temple. And so he's staying just across the way in Bethany and going back and forth every day. And he's spending time in Jerusalem for that final week to teach the people, to give instruction and to share the gospel. He was teaching daily in the temple. And this was another thing that the religious leaders did not like.

And so it tells us that they sought to destroy him there in verse 47. There's Jesus teaching and they're gritting their teeth and they're scheming and they're trying to figure out how can we get rid of this guy. They do not like what is going on. Now it's this teaching that prompts the religious leaders in the next couple verses to confront Jesus and say, who do you think you are? Who gives you the right to teach in this place, to do what you are doing? Now

Of course, we look at this from a very certain perspective, right? Because we have all this background on the religious leaders. We hear about the Pharisees and Sadducees all the time. But just put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Let's say we're in service and someone comes in and says, Hey, these chairs are all in the wrong place. We got to fix these aisles. Come on, let's everybody help. Let's fix them. And then he starts moving the book table somewhere else. He tips over the information table.

And then he starts his own teaching ministry right outside the sanctuary. How would we respond? We'd be like, who is this guy? Who does he think he is? Get the ushers on that guy. I mean, what's going on here? This isn't allowed. You can't just come in here and do this. Now, prayerfully, you know, we wouldn't seek to destroy a person like they were with Jesus. But we would be reacting similarly. Like, this isn't right. You've got to get rid of this. Get out of here. This does not belong.

William MacDonald, the commentator, puts it this way. He says, to them, that's the religious leaders, Jesus was a rude carpenter of Nazareth. He had no formal education, no academic degrees, no accreditation. What were his credentials? Who gave him his authority to teach and preach and to cleanse the temple? And so they're going to demand an answer in the next couple of verses. Who do you think you are? Now, the reality is though, no matter how much

They disliked it. Jesus had the right to teach. Even if they didn't get it. Even if they didn't understand it or acknowledge it. Jesus had the right to teach. Because he is the son of God. He is the Messiah. The promised savior. He is God incarnate. He has the right to teach people.

His people. At the temple. His father's house. He had the right to be there. But they didn't get it. They weren't on board with that. They were upset by it. And so they're going to confront him about it. Now again in a similar way as Jesus dealt with the temple area.

We could consider our own hearts in this as well. And I want to encourage you to let Jesus teach you. Jesus had the right to teach there in the temple. He also has the right to teach you. He does not force this right currently. There will come a point where every knee will bow. And so you can resist for a long time. But you will stand before the Lord and acknowledge what he says is true.

But in the meantime, there is opportunity for us to refuse to hear the Lord. And some people do. It's tragic. And sometimes Christians do. And it's tragic. And we bring destruction in our lives because we refuse to let Jesus teach us. Jesus has the right to teach you.

Now, as I talk about Jesus teaching you, please understand, I'm not just talking about more information. Sometimes we kind of get caught in our Christian mindsets, kind of, you know, in our routines, and we kind of begin to think of church and Bible studies as, it's almost like just continued education, right? We're going back to school, we're learning more facts, we're learning more information, and we miss the whole connection with God aspect, right?

And that's a big thing to miss. Jesus wants to do more than teach you facts. He's not just, you know, okay, memorize in 70 AD, that's when Rome conquered Jerusalem, okay? And remember before, he's not just trying to teach you timelines and history. He's not just trying to give you new examples, you know, kind of fresh examples for truths that you've already known. No, Jesus is desiring to teach us

To be different. To think differently. The Bible tells us that we are new creations in Christ Jesus. But I'm sure you've discovered that we're kind of just barely figuring out how to live out that new creation life that he has given to us. It's not that it's unattainable. It's just we're learning how to do it. Jesus wants to teach you how to be the new creation that he has created you to be. He wants to reveal life.

The truth, and let me tell you, the truth is radical when all that you've known is lies. The truth is radical, and for you and I, I mean, listen, we've understood this concept many times. What the world teaches is completely opposite of what God teaches. And that's why sometimes spiritual things sound so backwards to us. Like when Jesus said, if you want to save your life, you have to lose it.

You're like, that doesn't make sense. Yes, because you believe the lies. Because we're trained, naturally, we do not think the way that God thinks. He told us in Isaiah, right? My ways are not your ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, that's how much higher my ways are over your ways. We don't think like God. And that's why Jesus needs to teach us. Our parents didn't teach us to think like God.

The world doesn't teach us the billboards, the commercials. Our own understanding is not like God's. And so Jesus has the right to teach you, to override what you think, whether by something someone else has taught you or by your own conclusions. He has the authority. He has the right to override those things and to replace them with real truths, with spiritual truths. Jesus was there in the temple teaching people how to walk with God.

And here's the thing. They thought that they knew that already. They were at the temple. You know, and maybe even you're sitting here today thinking like, what, I'm here. What more do you want? I'm letting Jesus teach me because I'm here at church. That's kind of how they would think. You know, we're at the temple and Jesus is saying, well, you think you know how to walk with God and get right with God, but you're off. You need some instruction. In the same way, you need some instruction. Let me put it this way.

Jesus has the right to teach you what you think you already know. Jesus has the right to teach you what you think you already know. We have a tendency, don't we, to kind of tune out. It's like, oh yeah, yeah, I already heard this passage before. I know about this passage. It's like, okay, good. I can think about the Lakers, you know. Just kind of tune back in later on. I studied this verse before. I heard this message before. We have a tendency to kind of tune out because we think we already know.

But we need to not be like that because what we think we already know oftentimes is completely opposite of what Jesus actually wants to teach us. And so we think we know, we tune out, we think, yeah, I don't need to hear that. But Jesus is saying, no, that's why you're here because I need you to hear that. There's some instruction here for you. We say things like, hey, well, this is who I am as a reason for our behavior, as a reason for our words, our actions, our thoughts, because this is who I am. Well, is it?

Is that really who you are? That's the new creation that you are in Christ? And so that's why you behave that way? I think you might be mistaken. You might be thinking opposite of what God is actually saying. You might be missing out. But you're convinced, this is who I am. No, no, no. You need to let Jesus override who you think you are. What you think you are. And let Him tell you who you really are. Let Him replace those lies, those errors, those lies

with what is actually true. We say things like, well, this is what I'm supposed to do. And we get stuck sometimes in our stubbornness, like, this is what I'm supposed to do, and I gotta do this. Is that really what you're supposed to do? I don't know if that's what you're supposed to do. I mean, who told you that that's what you're supposed to do? Did Pastor George tell you that's what you're supposed to do?

Did your mom tell you that's what you're supposed to do? Oh, your aunt told you that's what you're supposed to do. Oprah told you that's what you're supposed to do. Did Jesus tell you that you're supposed to do that? That's the point. Let Jesus overwrite what you think you're supposed to do. Might be completely off. It might, you might have it completely backwards. We need to let Jesus teach us. Here's another one we say, this is what I need.

We have, right, a clear grasp of what I need. I need this. And this, this is what I need. Is it really what you need? Because, you know, there's a lot of things that we think we need that God says, no, you really don't need that. That will hurt you. That will destroy you. That's not good for you. Meanwhile, we're convinced this is what I need, right? The single person is like, I need a spouse. That's what I need. And God's saying, well, obviously not because I'm not giving one to you right now, okay? So,

Let God override. Let Jesus override. You think you need that job. You think you need that career. You think you need that home. Whatever. Let Jesus teach you. Let him override. Yeah, I know you think you understand what you need and what you're supposed to do. Again, we say things like, I can't do that. There's times where we know like what the Bible says, but that's just too hard. I can't do that. That's not who I am. That's not...

You know, we talk about our nationalities. We talk about all kinds of things about why we can't do what God's called us to do. Because, well, we're believing lies. We're convinced. We got it figured out. Meanwhile, Jesus wants to teach us. He has the right to teach us. He is right in what he teaches us. But we need to allow him to override. And I'm not saying this is easy. This is actually very difficult. Because it's...

Jesus to override things that are kind of ingrained deep within us. But we need to ask ourselves the question, do I know this because Jesus taught me this? Is that what he has said? Am I doing what he has said? How did I learn this? Why do I think this? It's a lot of fun, you know, at the marriage retreat.

They did the whole personality test thing. There's a lot of different ones. So they have you compare yourself. Are you like a lion or a beaver or a hamster? No, that's not one of them. But it's good stuff, right? I mean, it helps. I always get interested by articles that talk about the differences between introverts and extroverts. And I'm very clearly introverted. So it's fascinating to me. However...

As useful as those things might be to help kind of identify some of the things that we do and why we do them, please take it with this, okay? That's not a reason to stay in a way or keep on practicing behavior that God wants you to change. It's not an excuse to just say, well, this is who I am, you know? Hey, I'm introverted. I'm supposed to be this way. That's how God created me and this is how I am. Take it or leave it. That's it. No. Let Jesus teach you.

Let Jesus teach you. In the same way, listen, we're all bent on sin. We all tend to sin. We all crave sin. And that's not Jesus saying, well, you know, have at it. You know, you want to do it. That's how you're created. And so just go sin. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, you have certain things about you. Your personality is unique. And that makes you you. But that's not an excuse to keep on being that way when it's something that God wants to change.

Again, I'm not saying this is easy. I'm saying this is difficult. But you have to let Jesus teach you. He has the right. Let him teach you. This past week I was, well, Kim and I had a good discussion. It was a good discussion because I learned in this discussion that, as is often the case, what I think is opposite of reality. So I think I'm doing certain things wrong.

And she's going to be so blessed. I mean, she's going to be just, oh, it's amazing how awesome my husband is. Because look at what he's doing for me. And so I'm doing these things thinking like, she's going to be so blessed. Well, in this discussion I learned, actually, those things are offensive. You offend me. And I'm thinking, wait, wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. You're going to be blessed. Because I'm doing this because you're going to be so blessed. And it's going to be amazing. No, no, no. That's offensive.

What I think is opposite of reality. And that just doesn't happen with husbands and wives. But that happens with life and God and what God desires. And there's no way to just like, okay, it's changed now. I fixed it. We have to let Jesus teach us. Now, how do we do that? How do we let Jesus teach us, change us,

That we would be the new creation that he has called us to be and created us to be. How do we let Jesus teach us? Well, I think the key is in verse 48. He says, well, it says that the religious leaders, they sought to destroy Jesus and were unable to do anything. Notice, for all the people were very attentive to hear him. All the people were very attentive to hear him. If you want Jesus to teach you, here is the key.

Be very attentive to hear him. I really like this word attentive. Literally, it means to hang from. The idea is...

hanging on the lips of someone who is speaking. That you are so attentive, you are so eager to hear the words that you're hanging on the lips of the person speaking. Or we have the phrase in English, you know, like they hung on every word. That's the idea. Just hanging on like, like I'm so eager. I don't want to miss one word.

And so he's bringing out a word. Okay, I got that word. Okay, I got it. I got it. Here comes another one. Got that word. That every word, I don't want to miss anything. I want to hear everything that Jesus has to say. It's an aggressive listening. Now, there's one kind of listening that's like, okay, if Jesus speaks in a way that gets my attention, I will hear it.

As I sit here on the couch with the remote flipping channels. Alright Jesus, if you strike me with lightning or you break my TV or something, you know, then maybe I'll hear you. That's not the kind of listening that we're talking about. This is an attentive listening. An eagerness, an expectation, almost a desperation to hear what Jesus has to say. Pastor Dylan used to always encourage us, listen, whenever your Bible is open, listen.

You should have a pen in your hand. Anytime. If you're at church, at home, at work. Anytime your Bible is open, you should have a pen in your hand. Why? Well, because you need to be in the Word of God with an expectation that God is going to speak. And you need to be ready to capture those things. I'm sure you've had it happen. I've had it happen. You're like, in a service.

There's a teaching going on. There's a Bible study going on. Or you're in your personal devotions. And man, God just begins to speak. And it's like, whoa, this amazing things that he's teaching you. Ten minutes after the service. What was it? Man, it was so powerful. What was going on in my heart right then? I can't remember.

So Pastor Dylan said, you need to have a pen in hand. Now we could update this to the 21st century. He's kind of old school, right? So hey, digital device, Evernote, whatever. Like have something ready so that you can record as God speaks. You can put it down and remember and say, I want Jesus to teach me. I don't want to miss one word. I don't want to forget it later on and go, I don't remember what he said. Be very attentive to hear from him.

What is the Lord saying to you? He has the right to teach you. He wants to speak to you. So what is he saying? Are you being very attentive? Well, the final point we find in the rest of the verses, chapter 20, verses 1 through 8, and the last point is that Jesus has the right to not answer you. Jesus has the right to not answer you.

Check out verse 1 and 2. It says,

And they confront him, these religious leaders, and they say, what gives you the right? Who gave you this right to do these things? To turn over these tables? To teach these people? To teach them the opposite of what we've taught them? Who gives you the right to call that sin? Who gives you the right to say those things? To claim to be the Savior? Who gives you the right to

They confront Jesus and they demand an answer. But as they demand an answer, Jesus responds in verse 3. It says, But he answered and said to them, I also will ask you one thing and answer me. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? So as they come to Jesus and demand an answer, who gave you the right? Who says you have authority to do this? Jesus responds with a question.

And the idea is, listen, if you'll answer this question, then I'll answer your question. So, the baptism of John the Baptist. Remember, that was the forerunner, right? John the Baptist came on the scene, called people to repentance, announced that Jesus, the Messiah, was here. John the Baptist, his baptism. Was it from heaven or from men? Was it from God? Was it inspired by God? Or was it just some crazy idea that John the Baptist had one day and he decided to do it?

Was it from heaven or from men? Now, Jesus is not like avoiding the question here. He's not just like, well, I'm going to answer your question with a question so I don't have to answer your question. That's not the idea. If the religious leaders will answer this question, they'll have their answer about Jesus. Because John the Baptist announced that Jesus is the promised Savior.

And so if they'll recognize the truth about John the Baptist, then they'll recognize and know the truth about Jesus. So he's not trying to avoid the question. He's trying to point them back to revelation that they had already received. And he's calling their attention to that. Well, this presents a problem for them. As you see in verse 5, it says, They reasoned among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him? So they have a problem.

The religious leaders are strategizing. They're, I picture it like they're playing chess, right? You know, good chess players are thinking like four moves ahead, ten moves ahead. Well, if I move my pawn here, he's going to move his rook there. Okay, then I'll move my bishop and then they'll move their queen. There's all this like strategy, right? Figuring out the steps ahead of time. That's what they're doing. They're like, okay, Jesus asked the question. All right, John the Baptist. Baptism from heaven, from men. Okay, first option. We could say that his baptism was from heaven.

But then Jesus is going to counter. And he's going to say, why did you not believe John the Baptist then? Well, he was sent by God. That's going to put us in a bad spot. You know, the people are going to be like upset. You know, they're going to prove then that we knew John the Baptist was from heaven, but then we didn't follow him. We didn't obey him. So we can't. Yeah, that's not a good option. All right. Second option, verse 6.

But if we say from men, all the people will stone us for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. Alright, so moving that pawn, that's not a good idea. That's checkmate. Okay, let me try this. What if we say John the Baptist, what he did was not from God at all, but it was his own invention. He just thought it up and he did it. Well, that's not a good option. Why? Well, because the people believe that he's a prophet. Why?

Now we understand that, right? It's clear. The people responded. They went to John the Baptist. They were baptized. They repented of sin. He prepared the way for Jesus to come on the scene. And the tax collectors and sinners and the people went out to John the Baptist and heard him preach and repented of sin. So the multitudes received John as a prophet of the Lord. And so if we say that

John the Baptist wasn't a prophet of the Lord. Well, then they're going to be upset at us. The people are going to be upset because they're convinced he's a prophet. And we don't want to upset the people. They're going to stone us. So what are we going to do? Verse 7. So they answered that they did not know where it was from. Here's the thing about the religious leaders that we can see from this passage. They don't actually care about the truth. Can you see that? They don't actually care. They're not interested in whether or not it really was from heaven or from men. They're not interested in whether or not it was from heaven or from men.

That's beside the point. That's irrelevant. They're trying to win an argument. They're trying to maintain their position. They're trying to keep what they have. And they figure, well, if we answer this way, ah, we're going to lose what we have. If we answer this other way, we're going to lose what we have. So, well, let's just say we don't know. It's the safest way to respond. We don't know where his baptism was from. They don't actually care about the truth. Unfortunately, that's

That's a characteristic that we can see carried on throughout leadership in all realms throughout all history. Very often we see that leaders do not care about the truth. If you look at political leaders, you could look at religious leaders, you could look at leaders of movements, leaders in the realm of science or education. There's many examples we've seen where leaders

The truth isn't really important. It's maintaining position, maintaining power. That's what the religious leaders were focused on. Quite clear by their strategizing, their reasoning in response to Jesus' question. And so he responds to them in verse 8. He says, You won't tell me if John the Baptist was from God or not. So I'm not going to tell you who gave me the right.

Who gave me the authority to do what I have been doing. Jesus has the right to not answer them. They're demanding an answer. But Jesus is a higher authority. He doesn't have to answer to these religious leaders. He doesn't have to answer to you. Jesus has the right to not answer. Now there's many times where we also demand answers from God. Sometimes when people are hurt. Hurt deeply.

they have this mentality now, God, you must answer because this really hurt me. This horrible thing happened in my life. This was really bad. You need to tell me what's going on here. Jesus has the right to not answer. He doesn't have to tell you everything. He doesn't have to tell me everything. He has the right. I'm sure you've experienced that Jesus does not tell you everything. If I had it my way, then I would know

everything about my life before I ever live it. You're like, Jesus, just give me the whole blueprint. I want to know where this is going. But Jesus, he's not accountable to me. He doesn't give me everything I want to know. He doesn't tell us everything. Now, he does tell us some things. And so here's the point I want to make from this. What we need to do is to hold fast to

to the things that we do know. Something Pastor Chuck used to always say. When you encounter those situations where there's things that you don't know, hold fast to what you do know. Grasp hold of the things that you do know. Don't trade in what you know for those things that you don't know. Yeah, there's questions. There's uncertainty. There's a lot of things we don't know.

But we can't get caught up and tripped up over those things that we don't know so that we reject the things that we know because, well, I don't know. I don't know why God would allow this in my life. I don't think I can follow Jesus anymore. That's rejecting what you know, that Jesus is the Savior for something that you don't know. Why would God allow this? Why would God do this? Jesus has the right to not answer you. He knows what's best. He has all authority.

Not only does he have all authority, he has all information. He knows what's best. And he reveals himself to those who seek him. See, there's an important lesson we can learn from these religious leaders. Listen, if you do not receive things that God has already revealed, then you should not expect him to reveal more to you. Jesus says, look, you're not receiving the revelation that God brought through John the Baptist, right?

So I'm not going to give you more revelation when you've rejected what has already been revealed. We need to hold fast to what has already been revealed and Jesus will reveal himself more. But if we reject what has been said already, what God has already revealed, then, well, it's likely he's not going to bring more revelation. He's not going to speak more if we're rejecting what he has already said.

David Guzik puts it this way, if we want answers from Jesus, we must deal rightly with the truth that has already been revealed. If you want answers from Jesus, hold fast to what he has said. Hold fast to what he has revealed. Now there's nothing wrong with genuine questions, but sometimes questions are just excuses for unbelief or excuses for rebellion. I want to do what I want to do.

And I can do what I want to do because God didn't answer me this question. God didn't tell me why he did that. God didn't tell me about this. This didn't happen. Whatever. Genuine questions are okay. And that's fine. And God may or may not answer those questions. That's up to him. He has the right to choose to answer or not to answer. But if you don't care about the truth, then you really shouldn't expect anything more from Jesus. If you care about the truth, listen, you will find that Jesus has all authority over

And He will give you exactly what you need. He will tell you what you need to hear. He's not going to give you everything you want to know. But He will give you what you need to know. So hold fast to what has already been revealed. Accept. Acknowledge. He doesn't have to answer to your demands. He doesn't have to give you answers for everything that happens. Or for everything that He tells you to do. Why should I do this, God? Look what they did to me.

He doesn't have to give you the answers. Why should I go that way? What's going to happen? How am I going to get from here to there? How is this going to get paid for? He doesn't have to give you all those answers. Think about Abraham, right? God said, leave your family, leave your country, go to a land I'm going to show you. If I'm Abraham, I'd be like, okay, I got my GPS, God, give me the address. No address? You're not going to tell me exactly what my destination is? You just want me to go? But I want all the answers. I want all the information. And God says...

I'm going to give you this step. Let's see what you do with that. Hold fast to what you do know. And if you've been in a situation, if you're in a situation currently where you're asking God, but it seems like there's no responses. There's like, it doesn't seem like God's speaking to me very much. Looking for that direction. I'm asking God to teach me, you know, like we talked about in the previous point.

and you just feel like there's not really anything coming, then here's what I would encourage you to do. You need to kind of backtrack a little bit and think about, what was the last thing that God instructed you to do? What was the last thing that the Lord put upon your heart and told you to go forward with? How are you doing with that thing? Because a lot of times we'll find that, well, we weren't obedient in that last thing. We didn't hold fast to that truth that He revealed or that instruction that He gave. And so He's not going to give more instruction later on.

Oftentimes, if we'll go back and do the last thing He told us to do and be faithful in that, then we'll see Him, bring more revelation, more instruction, more insight into our lives. Jesus has the right to not answer. So hold fast to what you do know. Hold fast to what He has said. That's sufficient for you to be obedient and to walk with God. Jesus has the right.

He has the right to clean your house. Let him. Let him. Again, I'd encourage you, as you go home today, just do a walkthrough. And Pastor George was sharing with me recently because they're selling their home and purchasing a new home and there was the inspections that had to take place and go in and inspect and check out, okay, is there issues here? Is there issues there? Maybe do a home inspection. But you're not the inspector. Let Jesus do the inspecting. Say, Lord, is there something in here?

Is there something rotten? Is there some issues that are preventing us from being who you've called us to be? That this home is not what you intended it to be because there's these things that are going on. There's this corruption that has taken place. Let Jesus overturn those tables. Clean house as he gives you that insight and instruction. Jesus has the right to teach you. You are a new creation in Christ.

But you have to let Him teach you how to be that new creation. What it means to live that out. If you're living like you've always lived, you're missing out on that new creation. You haven't let Jesus teach you to be the new creation. Don't just keep on living the way that you've always lived. Let Jesus teach you. Let Him take out those lies, those errors, those things that are based on the things that are false, that are contrary to God.

And let Him replace in you thoughts, attitudes, behaviors that are according to God's ways. Let Jesus teach you. And Jesus has the right to not answer you. So don't get freaked out when He doesn't answer. Don't get upset. And don't demand as if He answers to your beck and call. Accept that He is Lord. Trust Him that He knows best. He'll give you what you need when you need it.

Even if you disagree with the timing or the information, He has the right. He knows all things. So hold fast to what you do know. Hold fast to what He has said and be faithful to that. Lord, as we consider Your Word, we pray that You would help us. Lord, these are not easy things. These are very difficult things for us. Some of them affect areas of our hearts, areas of our life that have been with us for as long as we can remember.

Yet, Lord, you promise that you can transform, that you can do radical works. And so, Lord, I pray that you would just help us to allow you to do so, to get out of the way. Help us to see, Lord, if there's areas that we're insisting that we know when really we don't, help us, Lord, to see the error of that. Lord, if there's areas that we're insisting, this is okay, I can do this,

But Lord, it's something that you want to overturn and get rid of. Help us, Lord, to see that. If there's areas where we're not doing something that you want us to do, Lord, I pray that you would help us to allow you to give that instruction and that we would be obedient to all that you speak to our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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