Challenge, Charge, Confronted

You have your Bibles this morning, and you would open up to the Gospel of Luke and the 20th chapter. Luke chapter 20. In seeking to give a title to the message, I tried to be on spot by using alliteration.

And so, the title of the message is, Challenge, Charge, and Confront It. Three C's. So, I want to read with you this morning the first eight verses of Luke chapter 20. And I will say this, that we will move around in the Gospels just a little bit this morning to help support the thoughts from what I believe is set before us in this chapter.

So, let's just read. And again, I read New King James. Luke chapter 20, verse 1. Now, it happened on one of those days as he taught the people in the temple and preached the Gospel that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted him and spoke to him saying, Tell us by what authority you are doing these things.

Or who is he who gave you this authority? But he answered and said to them, I will ask you one thing and answer me. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him?

But if we say from men, all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that God, that John was a prophet. So they asked that they did not know where it was from. And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Let us just ask God's blessing again. Our Father in God, now we come to this point in our worship and we pray, Oh God, that you would come down among us, Holy Spirit. That you would help us, that you would meet our need this morning to hear you in your Word.

Not only just to hear you, Lord, but to be transformed by that very Word. So Lord, we ask you to help us with meekness to receive the engrafted Word, which is able to save our souls. So Lord, be pleased as only you can.

Roll up your sleeves, Lord. Work amongst us, work in us. May we all grow in the grace and the knowledge of that one who so loved us that he gave himself for it. We ask in his name and for his glory and for our own eternal good.

Amen.

The Setting of Jesus' Final Days in Jerusalem

Let me just try to help us understand the setting and then we'll move a little bit further on. But the setting certainly is that the Savior is now entering the last days of his earthly ministry. He has moved through to Jerusalem and he has but a few days left among us in that sense as far as his earthly ministry.

And you can read that in the other accounts in the Gospel, similar accounts in Matthew and Mark. But I've chosen to look at it from Luke's standpoint. And if you think about it, Jesus' face is set like a flint towards Jerusalem.

It's amazing how in that way the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, had that very purpose laid upon him before the foundation of the world and now it's coming to pass. In history and in time and his face is set towards Jerusalem and nothing's going to hinder him from fulfilling the purpose of which he came.

If you think about it, all the things that have gone on before this point. He has healed. He has ministered to so many. He's manifested, if you will, the power of God. He's taken the lost and made them found.

He's taken the broken and healed them. He's taken the blind and now they see, the deaf they hear, and even dead are raised back to life. And now he is in that final few days before that cross. It says in verse 1, and I just want to make this side note and you want to discuss it later, we can.

It says, now it happened on one of those days as he taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel that the chief priests and the scribes and the elders confronted him. And I just want to make this remark.

I do believe there's a difference between teaching and preaching. I believe that teaching is mainly, and I'm not saying they don't have ingredients that are similar, but to me teaching is instruction and preaching is proclamation.

Now again, you might not agree with that. I do see that in the scriptures not only here but in other places. But I just wanted to at least mention that to you. I also want to mention this, that as we go through the gospels, particularly the synoptic gospels, right, Matthew, Mark, Luke, that as you go through the gospels, it's amazing how there is, if you will, been two groups that have surrounded him, two groups.

And it's a picture to me of the condition of all men, if you will. There have been those who have been his disciples, and they desire to what? They desire to follow him. They desire to learn from him.

They desire to be with him. And then there's this other group. And again, you might say, well, that's a little bit too broad. I say it's not. The other group is those that oppose him, those that seek only to undermine him, those that seek only, if you will, to oppose him and rebel against him.

And I think that's a picture, if you will, of the condition of men for all time, that there really is, if you think about it, my friends, there's only two groups of people, those that follow and those that rebel, those that want to be with him, please him, and those that want to resist him and challenge him.

And this is drawn out in this first eight verses of chapter 20, and that is really what I want to focus in on this morning, that there are this group that desires to resist, this group that I will hopefully set forth that challenge Christ.

And not only do they challenge, then they charge Christ. And then, ultimately, they are confronted by Christ. And that that group is a picture, again, and it's given to us here as those that, as it says, they are the scribes, they are the elders, they are the Pharisees.

Basically, it's the Sanhedrin. It's the ruling class. It's those that thought that they were the tip of the spear. It's those that thought that they had the authority to keep the people in bondage under their rule and their dominion.

And they make no pretense in seeking to challenge the Son of Man. You notice it says here that they came into the temple, as Jesus was teaching in the temple, that they came to him. And I believe they came to him at this point with a whole lot of energy.

You notice it doesn't say, at least in Luke's account, it doesn't say they called him teacher. It doesn't say they called him rabbi. At this point, if you think about it, at this point in the movement of God's redemptive purposes in Christ, these Pharisees, scribes, and elders, they are looking for blood.

And I will say this, and I'm going to say this over and over again as we go through this, that ultimately, if we are not the followers of Christ, then we are, in that sense, seeking for blood. Now, you might say, you can't characterize all the people that have ever lived under two simple categories.

Yes, because that's what the Word of God does. He says, either you are for me, or you are what?

Against me.

Jesus makes that dichotomy. God has been making that dichotomy since the beginning of time. We're the ones that try to throw all this other stuff into the mix. To me, it's almost as silly as where we're having a dispute in our day, in our society, in our country, and all over the world, about gender.

And it's not enough just to have male and female. Now we've got to have 42 letters in between. Stupidity. Ungodliness. But there's only really been those two kinds of people. And as the scribes and the Pharisees seek to keep the people in bondage and seek to challenge the authority of Christ, that they are really nothing more than deceitful workers.

They are nothing more, if you will, than wolves in sheep's clothing. And as we go through this and you think about it, they only seek to undermine the truth. Do we realize that? Do we realize that today, all over the world, there are those who preach Christ out of sincerity, and there are those who preach Christ to seek to confound the truth.

Now, it might come in many, many different messages. But again, there are only two kinds of preachers. Those that will preach the truth as well as they know it, and those who will seek to preach error to undermine the truth of the gospel.

And so as we meet these this morning, that's where they are. They have only one goal, and that goal is to destroy truth. And I say this to you in that I hope you will understand there's nothing new under the sun.

You know, we think that we live in the day of absolute newness and things. Listen, friends, there's always been those who would desire to see the light grow brighter. And there have always been those who seek to have nothing but darkness.

There have always been those who have proclaimed and sought to follow what is good, and there have always been those who have sought to follow what is evil. As sure as there's clean and unclean is as sure as people today are either of the group that follows or the group that seeks to challenge and charge and undermine and ultimately to destroy the news of the gospel.

And I think we would agree history has proven that. You think about it, and you think about it historically in the life of the church, there have been times when it seemed as if the gospel was gaining ground and men were being drawn closer to God.

And then there's other times in history throughout the ages where we see that it almost seems as if the darkness was crowding out the light. And again, it's because there have always been just two kinds of people.

And in this passage this morning, I want to ask you to think about something. Because I think there's a tendency, so let me just read this again with you. Now, it happened on one of those days as he taught in the temple, as he taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted him and spoke to him saying, tell us by what authority you are doing these things, or who is he who gave you this authority?

But he answered and said to them, I will ask you one thing, answer me, the baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? And I want you to think about this. I do not believe that this is just a way of continuing the narrative, if you will.

And I think sometimes there's a tendency as we read, especially in the gospels, which are pretty much a narrative of the certain aspects of the life of Christ, that there's a tendency at times to think of it as almost as if it's just trying to get us, it's like a bridge when you read some things, and it's trying to get us to the next great event.

But I believe that these verses, as I've looked at them and been reflecting on them, that these verses really yield a whole lot of insight, not only into the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, but into the way of the hearts of men.

And so I'm going to ask us to think about these three thoughts of charging, challenging, charging, and being confronted. And with this in mind, to examine ourselves. Where do we stand? Are we those that desire to follow?

Or are we those that desire to confront? Now, you might say, well, I'm here in church this morning, so of course I'm here to follow. Well, friends, just because you're here, in and of itself does not mean that you're not confronting and challenging God.

And so I hope that we can examine ourselves and think about what is the characteristic of my life? You know, if you read through the Old Testament, you certainly would see that that's the way they treated all the prophets, isn't it?

The people who were opposed to God, did they not treat the prophets that God sent in the same way? Matter of fact, if you read in this very chapter, the parable of the wicked vine dressers, that's what he talks about.

How they were sent to them servants, and how they resisted, and there's always been that. There have always been those who taught and preached the Word of God, and there were always those who received it, and there were always those that what?

Challenged it.

Charged them with not speaking the truth. And ultimately, they were confronted by God, weren't they? And so again, I say to you, as we look at this passage, let us not think that it's something that is not taking place since the beginning.

And I want to say something this morning, before I even get further on. And when I say this this morning, the way you respond to this is going to be dependent and reflective of your position. In other words, if you are a follower of Christ, then you're going to respond to what I'm about to say in a certain way.

And if you are one of those that continually seek to challenge and charge God with being unjust, or charge God with error, you're going to respond in a different way. Now here's what I want to ask you to think about.

Here's what I want to say. God never loses. God never loses. You ask the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and the muckety-mucks who thought that they were the ones that had to be listened to. Ask them in 70 A .D. what they thought when Jerusalem was leveled, when the Jews suffered unbelievable judgment.

God never loses.

And so if you and I challenge and you and I charge, be aware you will be confronted. They were confronted in that day. Or maybe even Brother Mike had brought up some of it this morning in Sunday school.

You go back into the days of the flood, as the ark was being built, until that day that God put him in the ark, and the waters began to rise, and guess what? It didn't matter what the people then thought or how they felt.

They did it.

And I say that to you this morning. This is not about how you think or about how you feel. This is about how we respond to truth. Or you could think about it in that day when God redeemed his people out of the hands of Pharaoh, and how they came to the Red Sea, and how God parted the sea, and how the children of Israel passed over on dry ground, and how Pharaoh and his chariots and his soldiers and all his power entered into the Red Sea, and lo and behold, the chariot wheels began to come off.

And then the waters began to cover them up. And guess what? It didn't matter what they thought at that point. It didn't matter how they were feeling. It mattered that their challenge was met. Remember Pharaoh?

Who is the Lord that I should serve him? Well, that sounds like a challenge. Well, he found out, didn't he? And you can go on and on and think about all the examples in the Scriptures of how it's always been that way, that there have been those that seek to oppose, and then there have been those who seek to follow, and the opposers seem to have this similar activity.

They challenge, they charge, and then they're confronted. Isn't that what Psalm 2 says? Doesn't Psalm 2 tell us that the kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed, and they take counsel together?

And you remember what it says? Which is absolutely amazing if you think about it. They're doing all this to challenge God, to challenge God's Word, to challenge God's rule, to challenge God's directives.

Remember what it says? It says, It's pretty much in this chapter, too, my friends. If you read through the rest of this chapter, just making a point, if you read through the rest of the chapter, the Pharisees are going to come up to him, and they're going to start challenging him about paying taxes.

And Brother Mike brought that up, too. And then you're going to find the Sadducees. They're going to come, and they're going to start challenging him about whose wife is going to be had in the resurrection, because the brothers died, and they couldn't raise up any seed.

Well, I'll tell you what. Challenges of God can come up with some amazing things. And then you can read through the end of the chapter, and you'll see that it talks about the scribes and the Pharisees and those that wanted to sit in the special seats, and those that desired to be looked at and walked around in long robes, and they're confronted.

So, as you think about these things and as we go through this, I want us to think about, first of all, if you will, what they say when they challenge him. There it is again. He spoke to them, verse 2, and spoke to him, saying, Tell us by what authority you are doing these things, or who is he who gave you this authority?

There has been continual opposition. I'm going to ask you to turn. I want to look at a couple of places to draw this out, and the first is in, if you will, go to Matthew 12. Just look in. We'll stay in the Gospels.

Matthew 12. I want us to see something. So, if you will, look with me from verse 38. They say to him, Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.

He answered and said to them, An evil and an adulterous generation seek after a sign, and no sign will be given you except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Let's think about that for a minute. They have followed Christ in almost every place he was.

Just think about that. You read through the Gospels. Wherever you find the disciples, guess what? The Pharisees and the scribes and the elders and those that wanted to challenge him were not far behind.

They seemed to enter into almost every single account given to us, apart from those where Jesus took the disciples alone. And they say to him, We want to see a sign from you. Have they not seen the authority and the power of Christ?

Did he not heal the man with the withered arm? I don't know about you, but if I saw someone whose arm was withered away, and then I saw someone whose arm was fully restored, I would take it as a sign of something.

They saw leopards cleansed. They saw the centurion's servant restored. They have seen these things. They have been witness to it, and yet they have the audacity to challenge the authority of the Son of God and request a sign.

What is wrong with them? I'll tell you what's wrong with them. They have hardened hearts. You know what, friends? Nothing will change a hardened heart but the grace of God. A heart of stone is a heart of stone.

They've seen men receive sight. They've seen the dumb speak. They've seen all this, and yet they want more. It's the same way today. There are people that want to just challenge the Word of God and challenge the truth of God, and they're sign seekers, and they'll never be satisfied.

Wasn't that brought out in the rich man in Lazarus? Send someone back from the dead. Listen, if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe even if they saw the sign of someone returning from the dead.

Now, again, one of the things about preaching is at least you get to say what you want to say until people start disagreeing with you later. So I want to say something else. I've always thought this. I always thought that as the sun rises, not every day, but as the sun rises many times, the sky becomes pink for a short period of time.

I think we've all probably seen that. I've always taken that as a sign of the blood of Christ. That's just me. I've always seen it as God demonstrating that as the sun rises, the cost was the blood of his son.

And it's even in the sunsets. Now, I understand, and Brother Mike had brought up the idea of a rainbow, and I think that that could be something else. Is that not a sign from heaven of God's faithfulness, of God's promise, of God's enduring Word?

Now, I know there's all kinds of science behind all these things, and it's reflection and reflection of the sun and the light and the particles and glop-a-dee-gop. But I will submit this to you. If God painted a cross across the sky, it wouldn't be long before sign seekers would say, Hey, we want to see two crosses, because a sign seeker is not satisfied with the Word of God.

And they weren't satisfied with Christ. By whose authority do you do this?

You remember what they thought about Jesus?

This is Joseph's son.

His father's a carpenter.

Where did he get these truths that he speaks of? He's not like us. We certainly didn't give him a diploma. He didn't graduate from our school. And so they seek a sign. It's an amazing answer, isn't it, what Jesus said?

An evil and adulterous generation seek a sign. You and I need to ask ourselves, even as God's people, is that all we want is for God to give us signs? Is that all we need in our life is we need to be encouraged by signs concerning his authority?

Now, I want to say this. I'm not saying that we don't need encouragement. I'm not saying that we who are frail, that we who are weak, that we who are so movable and changeable and so ruled by emotions and this thing and that thing, that we don't need encouragement and, if you will, confirmation from our God.

I thought about Gideon. Remember Gideon? God had called him to be a judge and God had raised him up to fight for Israel. And there's that section in there, right, of Gideon with the fleece. Remember that?

Oh, Lord, I'm not really sure that you really want me to do this, so could you help me out? Could you give me a sign? How about if I wake up in the morning and the fleece is dry and the ground is wet?

And God does that. Remember Gideon again? Oh, Lord, please don't get angry with me. But how about we do it the other way? How about tonight the fleece is wet and the ground is dry? And God did it. I believe there's a reason for that, is that Gideon was looking for confirmation.

He wasn't seeking confrontation. Listen, my friends, this morning, if you came here for confirmation, then God will give it to you. But if you came here this morning for confrontation,.

God will give that to you.

You see, because again, and I just love to say it, so I'm going to say it again, God never loses. God's the ultimate victor. God has no enemies. God does whatever he pleases to do in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and there are none that can stay his hand, and there are none that can say to him, what are you doing?

Listen, I'm not a Calvinist just for the sake of being called a.

Calvinist.

I'm a Calvinist because I believe in the sovereignty of.

God.

And I say this to all of us. Be careful about challenging the truth of God's word. Be careful about challenging the truth of God's word. Well, here they are, and they're seeking a sign. Well, let me ask you to just turn real quick to Mark chapter 11.

Here's another instance of them challenging Christ. Mark chapter 11. And again, these accounts run especially through the synoptic Gospels, and you could find similar wording. But I just want us to see it again.

And in this one now, in Mark chapter 11, he's been teaching. He has fed, if you will, he's fed the fourth, I'm sorry, Mark chapter 8. I knew I was looking in the wrong place. Mark chapter 8. He has fed the 4 ,000, and he's, and I don't know about you, but that would be a sign, wouldn't you think?

What do you got there, fellas? Oh, we got a couple of fish and a couple of loaves of bread.

Okay.

Have him sit down. Have the boy sit down. I'll tell you what. I'll go to Publix and buy that kind of bread. I'll go buy those fish if they're going to feed 4 ,000. So he's fed the 4 ,000 and look at verse 11.

And the Pharisees came out and they began to dispute with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven testing him. But he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why does this generation seek a sign? Surely I say unto you, no sign shall be given to this generation.

See, the heart of unbelief is always challenging God. The heart of unbelief is always challenging God. It always seeks to put God on trial. It's always desirous to take God from his throne and to exalt himself on that very throne that he takes God off of.

Because if you think about it, what was really at the very heart, and I said it, it was hardness of heart, but the reality was the scribes, the Pharisees, the elders, the Sanhedrin, all of them, their main opposition was this.

We will not have this man to rule over us. We will not have this man to rule over us. Let me ask you a question, friends. Why are we here this morning? Why are we here this morning? Are we here because we want to follow Christ?

Or are we here because we want to challenge him, challenge his authority, challenge his word, challenge his truth?

Why are we here?

To worship, to praise, or to tear down? Are we here to fight against the Lord, friends? Well, Lord, I just don't like what's going on in my life, and so I challenge you to fix it.

Bear us.

I'm not saying we shouldn't pray to God to heal us and to help us and to cause us to grow in grace, but be careful because it is a fine line between seeking God to comfort us and challenging God when we don't like what happens, or a sign seeker.

I've heard that, haven't you? I've heard it a million times. Well, I don't know what to do. God, send me a sign. God, do I go left or do I go right? Can you send me a sign? Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't ask God for direction.

I'm just saying be careful when it crosses and it becomes a challenge rather than a prayer. But anyway, that's where these guys are at. Real quick, John 2. I was just trying to make the point that they challenge.

They constantly challenge. John 2, look at it real quick. John 2, and this is, again, he's turned the water into wine. I don't know about you.

That's pretty cool.

Now it says in verse 13, Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and money changers doing.

Business.

And when he made a whip of cords, he drove them out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out to change his money and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, take these things away and do not make my father's house a house of merchandise.

Says the disciples, remember that it was written, zeal for your house has eaten me up. And so the Jews answered and said to him, what sign do you show us since you do these things? Again, challenging.

And we're going to see very shortly, not only do they challenge, but it's not long after challenging that you begin to charge. But here they are again. What sign do you show us since you do these things?

I guess it wasn't enough when Jesus was baptized by John and saw the dove descending on him. That's not enough. It wasn't a big enough sign. Like I said, God puts one cross in the sky. Before you know it, people want two crosses.

And then they want two crosses in the temple. And before you know it, they'll have every day it will be the challenge of the day. As if God is, as if God is some genie in a bottle that we call when we want something.

And then when we satisfied whatever we wanted, that we put God back in the bottle until we need him again or want him again. Here they are. And again, I say to you, they thought he was nothing more than.

Jesus' son.

And these are the same men in Luke 20. They are nothing but those who seek to trap, undermine, tear down, hurt, dishonor, exalt themselves. Sound like they were speaking in tongues for a second there.

Why are we here today, friends? Are we here to bow before him? Or are we here to challenge his authority in our lives? And that leads, as I said in the second place, to charging God. And challenging and charging God are of the same family,.

By the way.

These men in Luke 20 are now going to lay a charge against him concerning his authority. Who is he? Who are you to do such things? Who are you to tell us how to teach the truth? By what authority do you do these things?

You cannot be who you say you are. You cannot be the one sent by the Father. You cannot be the one who has been prophesied since the very beginning in the garden. You can't be him. You're not like us.

You didn't go to our school. Now, I'll tell you what. You look at the churches and sometimes, unfortunately,.

That's what we do.

Especially when we seek to call ministers. Well, we see your resume and can you tell us what school you went.

To?

What seminary did you attend? And if it's the wrong one in many churches, next. I'll say this and I know this for a fact. I know my brother Mike has not been through seminary. Have you been through seminary?

I didn't think so. I'll tell you what. If there's anybody that I'm willing to sit under and learn the word of God from is brother Mike. You didn't have to go to seminary. Just had to be with Christ. But not these.

These are the ones who now want to charge.

Who are you?

Who are you to tell us anything about anything? Go back to Luke 11. Luke 11. In Luke 11, we've got to pick up a little speed here. Let me just ask us to think about this. Check this out. Verse 14. He was casting out a demon and it was mute.

And so it was when the demon had gone out that the mute spoke and the multitudes marveled. They were amazed at the authority of Christ. They were amazed at the power of the son of God, the son of man.

But look at verse 15. Some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. And others testing him sought from him a sign from heaven.

You believe that?

He cast out demons by the power of the demons. Listen, my friends, if you and I are going to live a life of challenging God, it won't be long before we start charging God with being unjust or God being wrong or God missing the mark.

And I do believe it happens in that way in our day because, you see, man still thinks that he's the victim. Man is not the victim. God is the victim. God is the one who's been sinned against. We're the criminal.

And so that's what usually happens when you start making false charges. You get things backwards, upside down, and inside out. And so as you read this, and he goes on, he talks about how could demons cast out demons and all those other things.

If you will, just quickly look down and go down to verse 53 in this chapter because Jesus will confront them. There's the woes on the lawyers and the scribes and the Pharisees. And look at verse 53. And he said these things to them, and the scribes and the friends, if we were to seek Him vehemently and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him and seeking to catch him in something, he might say that they might.

Accuse him.

Friends, is that the character of our own lives? That we're always challenging God, we're always seeking to charge God? You ever talk to believers? I mean, you ever talk to an unbeliever when they witnessed a conversion of a man's heart?

Just think about it. When people come to Christ, when people all of a sudden are changed.

By the grace of God,.

How many times have you heard people say, well, you know, they were going through a rough time and they needed a crutch. And so I guess Jesus is a crutch. Not Jesus is the Lord of glory. Not Jesus takes dead men's souls and bring them to life.

No, they just needed a crutch. And so they were leaning on religion. Well, let's say things like this. They'll say, well, you know what? This is just a fad. This will pass. They'll come back to their senses.

Sooner or later, they'll come to their right mind. And all they do is challenge and charge the Lord of glory. Well, I'll tell you what. I needed a crutch.

I needed help.

I needed a savior.