30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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Luke 20 1-8 THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS 07 Luke 20 3-6 Instruments of God, not hindrances
📖 Luke 20:1-8
11Feb2021 - *Instruments of God, not hindrances* - _Luke 20:1-8_ - THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS 7 – Bible reading: _I Thessalonians 2:15-16_
As we trust in the Lord, the Lord will guide us on how to respond to the threats and challenges posed at us and through our response, bring those who oppose us to see for themselves their own hardness of heart and have the opportunity to repent.
Jesus posed a counter-question to His detractors, His question to them was not with a view to pin them down, or to beguile them or to prove their deceit.
_Luke 20:3-4 But He answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: (4) The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?"_
His question to them came from a heart that was always reaching out to them, to return to Him, the God of heaven and earth.
_Romans 10:21 But to Israel he says: "ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE." Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!_
Even when Stephen spoke fearlessly to the religious leaders, it was not for his own defence or to throw the blame at them but it was out of a heart that they would be convicted, repent and return to the Lord.
_Acts 7:51-53 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. (52) Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, (53) who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."_
We see the heart of Stephen in his dying words.
_Acts 7:60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep._
Did these leaders repent or acknowledge that they were wrong and seek the Lord’s forgiveness? No, they did not but began to reason out, out of the treachery of their heart.
Let us now look at the response of the leaders of the people.
_Luke 20:5-6 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' (6) But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."_
Their response to Jesus came from the position of finding out a way to prove their superiority over Him, to show Jesus as having failed in some way and most importantly to ensure that their power over the people, remains.
What does the response of these religious leaders tell us about the state of man?
Man has rejected God to be the King of His life. He has chosen to be the lord of his own life. In doing so, man has fallen into the clutches of the evil one. The evil one is now dictating his agenda through man.
The plan of the devil to destroy man and all of God’s creation, which he is executing quite effectively. The final purpose of satan is to steal, kill and destroy _(John 10:10)_
God is reaching out to us in His love, not wanting us to perish (eternal separation from God) and He has sent His Son to restore us and reconcile us back to God. Man continues to remain in his rebellion and rejection of God. Man also has the conceit to question the wisdom of God.
The religious leaders, who should have been the shepherds of the people, shepherding people to return to God, were the ones who were the Lord’s staunchest enemies and were intent on destroying the Saviour of the world.
They neither entered into the kingdom of God nor were they allowing those who were eager to enter in, to do so.
_Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in._
_Luke 11:52-54 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered." (53) And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, (54) lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him._
_I Thessalonians 2:15-16 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, (16) forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but *wrath has come upon them to the uttermost*._
Isn’t it so very sad and frightening too, to know that the wrath of God has come upon the religious leaders, to the uttermost? They will be the ones who will be most severely punished.
This is a warning to the church. _Luke 12:48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more._
*Thought to ponder*
```Let us not be hindrances but instruments and bridges for people to be reconciled with God.```