30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 20 1-8 THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS 10 Luke 20 5-7 A life of surrender to the authority of Jesus
📖 Luke 20:1-8
14Feb2021 - *A life of surrender to the authority of Jesus* - _Luke 20:1-8_ - THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS 10 – Bible reading: _John 3:18-20_
We are considering the response of the religious leaders to the question that Jesus asked them, which was regarding the baptism of John.
_Luke 20:5-7 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." (7) *So they answered that they did not know where it was from*._
We have been probing into the reasoning of these leaders. After their discussion, they came up with an answer that they gave to Jesus. They decided that the best answer would be to say that they did not know where the baptism of John was from, whether it was from above or from men.
As we have been discussing over the past couple of days, these leaders knew exactly who John was and they knew very well who Jesus was. It was their hardness of heart that prevented them from being honest with their reply to Jesus.
They decided not to accept John and Jesus, for doing so will cost them to surrender to the lordship of Christ.
Friends, isn’t this is the bottom line of our relationship with Jesus? It is a relationship of surrender and submission to the authority of Jesus over us. Many of us are still struggling here. *We want the salvation message of Jesus but we are not willing to surrender to His lordship over us*.
I have said this before, if we have not surrendered to His lordship over us, we cannot have Him as our Saviour either. The Christian life is a life of being in His kingdom, where Jesus is King and He reigns over us.
The religious leaders had chosen to remain in their blindness and so their blindness continues on them.
_Isaiah 6:9-10 And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' (10) "Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed."_
This is how it is with God. When we choose to go away from Him, reject His will over us then we will go further into blindness and darkness and we make things difficult for ourselves that we are not able to see or hear the truth.
_Isaiah 29:9-10 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. (10) For the LORD has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers._
God’s heart breaks over us that though we are His people, we are not able to discern the ways of God, for we have chosen to go our own way and have rejected the authority of God over us.
(Many of us, calling ourselves believers, when we hear God’s word think that it is for others, and not for us. Therefore, the blindness remains)
_Jeremiah 8:7-9 “Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But *My people do not know the judgment of the LORD*. (8) "How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us'? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. (9) The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do they have?_
Man thinks that his goodness is good enough. There is no one good except God. We acknowledge that we are short of the goodness of God and with a repentant, contrite heart, by faith, we receive the goodness of Christ.
_John 3:18-20 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (20) For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed._
_John 9:39-41 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." (40) Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" (41) Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains._
Let us be warned.
People who think that they do not need God, who think their goodness is good enough, who ridicule, mock, laugh at, who walk away when spiritual matters are shared, question the lordship of Christ, think that they have read much and so believing and trusting in Jesus is childish, are making it more and more difficult for themselves to return to the habitat of God.
These are our own family members, relatives, friends and neighbours. We continue to reach out to them in the love of Jesus but they seem to be heading further and further away from God.
Let us, those who are in a relationship with Christ, always have the heart to receive and learn the ways of God and appropriate them into our lives.
*Thought to ponder*
```The bridegroom will soon return and then the doors will be shut.```