WWUTT 413 Jesus Teaching in the Temple?

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The teachings of Jesus are not simply moral lessons or pithy quotes for us to remember.

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His words have the power to raise the dead to life when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And don't forget our website, www .tt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We are studying the events in the week leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection from the grave.

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And we've been looking at the events that correspond with the day that we are on. Wednesday is a little difficult, though, because we don't know exactly what it was

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Jesus taught in the temple on Wednesday. From the moment that he came into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, which was the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, to the time that he was arrested,

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Jesus was teaching in the temple every day. And we know this because of what is stated in Luke 21, 37.

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And every day he was teaching in the temple. But at night, he went out and lodged on the mount called

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Olivet. And early in the morning, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

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But we don't know exactly what it was he taught on Wednesday. Most of what Jesus taught in the temple, like what we read about in the book of Matthew, for example, that was all on Tuesday.

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And Tuesday was a very busy day. Tuesday was when Jesus delivered the Olivet discourse. So some of the things that we have written about Jesus teaching in the temple could have been on Wednesday.

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It's just the way that these things are chronicled makes it look more like it came about on Tuesday. So for today's study,

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I've decided to look at some of the things that Jesus taught in the temple, according to what is recorded in Luke chapter 20, because Luke is very nondescript as to the day

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Jesus was teaching. It just says one day as Jesus was teaching people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came to him.

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And so then the things that we have written there are probably just a collection of the things that Jesus was teaching over the course of that week.

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So that's where I'm going to begin. If you'll join with me in Luke 20, and I'll read once again, verse one.

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One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel.

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So you remember what the gospel was that Jesus was preaching? According to Matthew chapter four, it was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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So Jesus was preaching that even there in the temple during this final week leading up to his crucifixion.

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So as he was preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, tell us by what authority you do these things or who it is that gave you this authority.

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Now these things that they're talking about is probably related to his cleansing of the temple, driving out the money changers, turning over the tables and those who were selling pigeons and other sacrifices there in the temple, keeping the

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Gentiles from being able to come in and worship. And he was keeping anybody from passing a certain point.

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Well this upset the scribes and the teachers of the law because the people were enamored with the things that Jesus did and said, and they were feeling like that they were losing power, influence over the people.

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So now they're coming to Jesus and saying, by what authority are you doing this kind of stuff?

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And now sitting in the temple and teaching, who do you think you are? And so Jesus answered them,

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I also will ask you a question. Now you tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven, meaning was it from God or was it from man?

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And they discussed it with one another saying, if we say that it was from heaven, he will say, then why did you not believe him?

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But if we say from man, all the people will stone us to death for they are convinced that John was a prophet.

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So they turned around and answered, we don't know where his teaching came from.

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And so Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

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So Jesus is not yet ready to say that his authority comes from God because he knows the moment that he says that he's going to be arrested and put to death.

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And the time has not yet come for him to do that. There's still a couple of more days to go. That's ultimately what they're going to arrest him for and try him for is blasphemy because he's going to claim to be equal with God.

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But but the time has not yet come for that. So instead, though, the Pharisees and teachers are trying to expose him before the people as being somebody blasphemous, instead,

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Jesus turns the tables on them. He says, where did John's teaching come from?

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Did it come from heaven? Did it come from God or did it come from man? And their refusal to answer the question exposes themselves as not actually having the authority that they claim that they have and not having the knowledge that they tell the people that they have.

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And so the people now see the scribes and the Pharisees as being not all that spectacular.

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So this whole attempt to catch Jesus totally backfired on the scribes and the

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Pharisees. So then in verse nine, and Jesus began to tell the people this parable, a man planted a vineyard and lent it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.

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When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard, but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed.

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And he sent another servant, but they also beat and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty handed.

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And he sent yet a third, this one they also wounded and cast out.

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Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son, perhaps they will respect him.

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But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, this is the heir.

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Let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

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What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

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When they heard this, they said, surely not. But he looked directly at them and said, what then is this that is written?

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The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces.

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And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. Now this story was told to the people who were there with Jesus, but it was directed at his opponents.

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And it's about how God is taking the promises of the kingdom from Israel.

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When he talks about the servants that were sent to the tenants, those servants are likely in reference to the

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Old Testament prophets. But I don't think it's necessary for us to have to figure out which prophets.

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If it was two servants, then you could probably assess that it was Moses and Elijah.

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But three servants are mentioned here. So we shouldn't try to fit which servants are mentioned. It's just in general talking about the

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Old Testament prophets. But we know for sure that the landowner, when he sends his son, this is in reference to Jesus Christ.

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And they say, let us kill him. And so they killed him. It's a clear allusion to what is about to happen to Jesus when he is going to be arrested and put to death.

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What will the owner do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

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And in some sense, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70

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AD is the fulfillment of this statement. But in the in the larger sense, it has to do with the final judgment.

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Those who do not follow Christ will be destroyed at the last judgment. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces.

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And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. The Apostle Peter uses this same illustration in 1

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Peter 2, 8, where he refers to Christ as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and says that those who oppose

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Christ stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

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We go on to verse 19, the next account of the

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Pharisees trying to catch Jesus in his words. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

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So they watched him hand and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might catch him in something that he said, so to deliver him up to the authorities and jurisdiction of the governor.

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So they asked him, Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.

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So they're kind of buttering him up here, trying to make it seem like that they're, they're on his side and interested in what he has to say, but they're trying to get him to say something that will incriminate himself.

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So here in verse 22, they say, is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?

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But he perceived their craftiness and Jesus said to them, show me a denarius whose likeness and inscription does it have holding up the coin?

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And they said, Caesars. And he said to them, then render to Caesar the things that are

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Caesars and to God, the things that are God's. And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer, they became silent.

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Jesus was in a sense here saying that you are to pay your taxes, but there was a double meaning to this statement as well.

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Whose inscription is on the coin? Whose image is on that coin? Well, it's Caesars.

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And so a followup question in the minds of those who were there hearing what Jesus said would have been this, whose image is on you?

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Remember, we are all made in the image of God, male and female. He created them according to what we have stated in Genesis one 27.

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So you being made in the image of God are to render yourself unto God.

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You are to follow in the service of God. You are to be obedient to God because you have been made in the image of God.

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This is the expectation that is upon every man, woman, and child. And those who do not obey

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God will be destroyed at the final judgment. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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And because we have desecrated this image of God, what we deserve for that is death.

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But God shows his love for us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

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All who follow Jesus Christ have their sins atoned for by his blood.

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And before God, we are justified, received as righteous because Christ's righteousness has been impugned to us.

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So all who are in Christ will not perish but will live. It says to us in John 3 .36

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that everyone who has the Son has life, but whoever does not obey the

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Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. So I tell you to turn from your sin, that sin which has desecrated the image of God, and seek a renewal of that image which only comes by faith in Jesus Christ.

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The old man is gone, the new has been made brand new in Jesus Christ.

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So now walk in his ways before God and you and your sanctification will enter into glory on the day of judgment.

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Let us go on to the next story, Luke 20 .27. There came to him some

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Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying,

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Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

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Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children, and the second and the third took her and likewise all seven left no children and died.

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Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?

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For the seven had her as a wife. Now the situation, the scenario that they present here for Jesus is not necessarily so unusual.

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I mean, it was probably very rare for a wife to have been married to seven of the same brothers, but this was according to the

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Leverite marriage. This was according to the Leverite law, that if a man were to die, his wife should be taken by that man's brother.

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So it was very likely for there to be women married to the brother of her first husband.

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And so say in a rare situation she ends up married to seven brothers, which brother does she belong to in the resurrection?

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So the Sadducees are asking this question based on the resurrection because they don't believe in the resurrection. So then in verse 34,

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Jesus said to them, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage for they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels and are sons of God being sons of the resurrection.

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But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the bush where he calls the

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Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not

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God of the dead, but of the living for all live to him.

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Then some of the scribes answered, teacher, you have spoken well for they no longer dared to ask him any question.

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Now this, this story, this one story right here exposes the false teaching of the

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Mormons who claim that the spouse that you have in this life is the spouse that you're going to have for all eternity and you'll get your own own planet and then populate that planet through celestial sex with all kinds of, of spirit babies.

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But that's totally false because of what Jesus says here, it is only in this life that we are married and given in marriage because marriage has been given to us as a picture of the way that Christ loves his church.

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But in the next life, the church is unified with Christ and there is no reason anymore to get married or be given in marriage because we who are the church as the bride of Christ are now united with our bride groom

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Christ, so there will no longer be marriage. That will be the final marriage and it will be a marriage that will last for all eternity.

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So this, this false doctrine, this false teaching of the Mormons just simply cannot be just based on the fact of this story that Christ teaches here in Luke chapter 20 and there are much worse doctrines that the

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Mormons teach, but this is just one example for how what it is that they say is completely contrary to what is written in the scriptures.

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So for now, we have this wonderful gift of marriage that is a picture of the way that Christ loves the church, but a day is coming when our faith will be sight and we don't need that picture anymore.

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Marriage is not just a picture of the way Christ loves his church to those who are married, but even those who aren't married can look at marriage and be given a picture of that relationship between the church and Christ.

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And then finally we have this story that closes out Luke chapter 20 beginning in verse 41.

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Jesus said to them, how can they say that Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, the

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Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

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David thus calls him Lord. So how is he his son? And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts who devour widows houses and for a pretense, make long prayers.

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They will receive the greater condemnation. So let that be spoken to us as a warning as well, that we would not desire certain clicks and fellowship with only certain people in the church or desire certain appointments of prestige.

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So to be seen by others as having greater spiritual gifts or greater opportunities or more talent than somebody else, because I have this position, if that is the intention in our hearts, then we will have the greater condemnation.

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But let us understand what Jesus taught to his disciples, that if you want to be great in God's kingdom, you must learn to be a servant of all for the son of man.

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Jesus, referring to himself, did not come to be served, but to serve and to lay his life down as a ransom for many.

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So we, by that witness, must do the same. We must lay our lives down in service to one another.

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Jesus said elsewhere in the book of Luke, Luke chapter nine, verse 23, that if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow after me.

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Whoever tries to find his life, whoever tries to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

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So let us lay our lives down for one another in service to our king.

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And if we humble ourselves, then God will exalt us.

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Let us pray. Our wonderful God and savior, we thank you for the forgiveness of sins that is given to us through Jesus Christ, our

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Lord, and help us to have humble and repentant hearts before God. Understanding another story that we read about in the book of Luke, the attitude of the tax collector who came into the temple and beat his breast, saying,

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Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Let us not have the heart of the

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Pharisee in that same story who came into the temple saying, God, thank you that I'm not like this guy, like the tax collector or the prostitutes or any of these other people boasting in himself and his own ability to keep the law and his own position and prestige.

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For if that's what we think we get by this faith is earthly recognition and earthly importance, then we're in for quite a shock when we enter into the kingdom.

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For Jesus said that the first will be last and the last will be first.

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Help us to understand what it means to be humble and to lay our lives down in service to one another.

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And in doing so, we are serving our Lord Christ. For Jesus said to his disciples, if you love me, you will obey my commandments.

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And that commandment is that we would love one another with that same love and intensity and sacrifice that Christ showed to us.

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Thank you for this season and this time in which we are reminded of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the grave so that all who are in Christ Jesus will not perish, but will also have his eternal life.

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We thank you in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.