The Authority of Jesus (Matthew Sermon 102)

Introduction

So we come today, in Matthew 21, to the question of Jesus’ authority. And we have to begin by asking: what is authority? It is, I think, the power to influence or to command thoughts or opinion or behavior, it’s the right to rule or the right or privilege to act in a certain way. These words all tend toward the understanding of the word authority. And I remember eight years ago I had the privilege of attending an inaugural to the President of the United States. I got a ticket from a friend, to stand there at the mall there in Washington and watch the president get inaugurated.

Now, if I had been a dignitary from a foreign country, I would have had a better view. I would have been able to be up on the steps of the capital. If I had been a representative, I would have had an even better view. And a senator, even better than that. If I had been a Supreme Court justice, I would have been able to sit right there just a few rows back, unless of course I was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in which I would be front and center and get to stand up at a certain point and pick up a Bible and face the president-elect. And yet I wasn’t any of those things, I was a peon, and my ticket enabled me to go into a cordoned area and stand on muddy ground in the drizzle and look 300 yards away at the only live view I’ve ever had of a president. That’s what my ticket got me. And there were people there checking tickets and checking credentials and passes and all that. And you were not getting further than your credentials allowed that day. It was impossible.

I think we bump into the issue of authority every single day. We may not even realize it. You walk into the bank, and there’s some bulletproof glass and there’s a little spring loaded swing gate there and some people can go behind there, the tellers and the bank employees, and you can’t. And you know it, and you don’t have the right to go back there. You just understand that.

Parents have the right to discipline their children. They have the right to train them in godliness, to correct them when they’re wrong. Others don’t have that same right. We don’t have the right to step in and interfere. We can give advice, we can pray, but we don’t have that right. It’s not given us by God. A little over 10 years ago, this congregation voted me as a senior pastor, and gave me the right and the privilege of preaching here week after week. And it’s a great privilege, and I consider it a great responsibility. That’s something this congregation had the right to bestow on me. However, if I were to go to another Baptist church in this city next week and just at a certain time in the service just get up and presumed to preach, I would not have that right, it wouldn’t be my responsibility, I wouldn’t be my right. I haven’t been given that credential to do that.

Recently, I served as a juror in a court trial right nearby here in Durham. And I was chosen to be a juror, and for a short period of time, for two days, I had the right to walk into a certain place in the courtroom and sit in a certain seat. And when the trial was over, the judge very graciously dismissed the jury and that right evaporated at that moment. If I had been there the next day and tried to walk in there, the bailiff would have arrested me probably, if I had persisted. I didn’t have the right to be there. So, we bump into this every single day.

Because I say two things to you about Jesus and authority: (…) He lived a whole life in perfect submission to God-ordained authority. And secondly, no one in history has had as much authority as Jesus Christ.

Now, in our passage today, Jesus’ enemies come to him to question him about his rights, what right he had to do the things he had been doing. And what’s amazing as I consider it as a Christian, stepping back, taking in the full biblical instruction about who Jesus is, who he was, it’s astonishing to me the unbelief that led them to come and do this and to treat him as they did. Because I say two things to you about Jesus and authority: No man in all of human history has so completely lived his life in submission to authority so perfectly as did Jesus. He lived a whole life in perfect submission to God-ordained authority. And secondly, no one in history has had as much authority as Jesus Christ. And so these two themes will be in our minds as we look at this text today, and as we consider the authority of Jesus.

I. The Authority of Jesus Questioned

The Jews Confront Jesus

So what we have here, the chief priests and the elders of the people come up to Jesus. They are the leaders of the Jewish nation. They also happen to be Jesus’ most determined opposition. They are constantly challenging him, constantly opposing him, laying traps for him, Debating with him, scheming behind his back. Ultimately plotting to take his life.

Well, here they try the frontal assault method. And this time the topic is authority. Look at verse 23, “Jesus entered the temple courts and while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you this authority?’” Now, certainly I think they have in mind here Jesus’ recent and, to them, shocking actions. The riding on the donkey, the triumphal entry, coming in with kingly accords coming to him: “Hosanna to the Son of David.” The cleansing of the temple in which Jesus overturns tables and benches and sets doves free, and he’s doing all of these things and saying amazing things like, “Get these out of here. How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace, a den of thieves?” His acceptance of worship by the children. That’s what we talked about last time.

And just the fact that he would presume to stand up there in the temple area and teach. All of these things were very offensive and very shocking to these Jewish leaders, and so immediately the chief priests and the elders had one question in mind, the question of authority. By what authority are you doing these things, these shocking things? Now, the Jews were people under authority, and they sought to respect authority. Now here the chief priests and the elders assumed, I think, that they were operating from a position of strength as they came and attacked Jesus. In their way of thinking, all actions should be done under authority, done by the will of someone who has the right to grant a privilege. No one acted as a free agent. There must be some superior human rule that gives someone the freedom to act in these kinds of ways. And as they believed, they were the religious authorities in Jerusalem, the authorities of the Jews. There was no higher religion authority than them.

So if Jesus claimed to be acting under human authority, they would be able to pull the rug right out from under him, and say, “We never gave you that authority. You have no right to do this.” By the way, even the Romans acknowledge this. Josephus tells us that when Pontius Pilate came to his rulership as governor there, he made some serious blunders and greatly underestimated the religious zeal of the Jewish people and got into great difficulties. To the point where it seems, I think, that Caesar commanded him to back off on religious issues, and so signs were put up around the temple area meant for Romans, saying that if any Roman soldier even, or a Gentile at all, would go into the area that they were not permitted go in, they would suffer the penalty of death. The Romans upheld Jewish authority over religious things. And so in effect, Jesus having cleansed the temple without their permission, teaching in the temple area, they wanna say, “Show us your credentials. What right do you have to do this?”

Now, I think the Jewish leaders felt they had Jesus either way. Either Jesus would say, he would have to acknowledge he had no human authority to do this, no right to do it, in which case he would be discredited in front of the crowd. Or he would be, as they have supposed he would, claiming to be acting under God’s direct authority, in which case they would have him on blasphemy. This is exactly how they killed him. Either way, they figured they had him. Jesus seemed to them, I think, like a loose cannon, somewhat like an anarchist operating under his own whims and overturning not just tables but authority itself. And their unbelief clouded their minds from seeing the truth, that no one in history has ever submitted as perfectly to authority as Jesus did, and that no one in history has ever had as much authority as Jesus does.

What is Authority?

So, as we come to this question of authority, we’ve already had a definition from the dictionary. What does the New Testament teach us about authority? Well, Romans 13:1 says that all authority comes from God. Ultimately it comes from God. Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God,” says Paul. And so this sets up, very much, a hierarchical view of the universe. God is the ruler of all. God Almighty, sitting above these ever-ascending spheres of influence and power. God sitting on his throne. He, the King of Kings, he, the Lord of Lords, ruling over all things. And everything below him exists to serve his pleasure and to do his will. That’s the Almighty God, but the scripture reveals that God in his wisdom and for his pleasure, ordained that created beings would be given measures of authority under him. They would be rulers under him, so that the title King of Kings means something. There are kings under the ultimate King, there are lords under the ultimate Lord. And they’re given dominions, they’re given spheres of influence.

And so, God created for example, spiritual beings, angels. And they’re called powers and principalities and rulers and all that, and they’re given spheres of influence. Some of them, of course, rebelled and went wicked. And that’s a topic for another time. But he did create, therefore, archangels or ruler angels, who are given authority over other angels. God also created human beings with the same pattern in mind. Human beings were established to rule over physical creation on earth. And so it says in Genesis 1, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move over the ground.’” And so we were established physically over the earth, to rule over it. And in the pattern of things, and more explained, I think, by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2, by creating Adam alone for a time, and then Eve later to be a helper suitable for him, he created an order within the family. And so, the husband’s the head of the wife because the wife was created next. And so there is an order within, let’s say, families.

So that Joshua can say in Joshua 24:15, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” He has the right to say that. He is the father, he’s the head of the house. He has the right to say, “We are not going to be Buddhists here.” And so I’ve said before, to my children and to others, we do not practice religious freedom at the Davis home, okay, we’re going to be Christians here. We’re gonna pray in the name of Jesus, we’re gonna go to church and not temple or shrine, etcetera. We’re going to be Christians. And I have the right to say that, it’s an authority given me by God. And so on down. There are governmental leaders and all that, and all of them have their spheres and it is godly and right for us to submit to that established structure. Now in this matter, authority over spiritual issues, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees, were in fact the spiritual leaders of the nation. And ordinarily in every other sense, they would have the right to rule. And interestingly, in Matthew 23, Jesus upholds it. In Matthew 23:2-3 Jesus says, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do for they don’t practice what they preach.”

The issue there is they have the right to speak truth from the law of Moses and tell you what to do. But don’t follow their example, because they’re not obeying under authority themselves. But he established his authority. He upholds the authority of his enemies, not their personal practice, but their authority. He upholds all authorities, all genuine authorities, because he created them. And he proved this by being submissive to his own parents. When he was growing up in their household, it says in Luke chapter 2 that Jesus was submissive to his parents’ authority. Even though he was their Creator. And he proved this throughout his entire life, by his submission to the law of Moses. And right to the end of his life by not resisting those who were seeking to kill him, and who, in fact, in the end did kill him. He went like a sheep to the slaughter. He went meekly and submissively. But Jesus especially submitted to the authority of God the Father at every moment of his life, by never sinning. And so I say, no one has ever shown as much submission to authority as Jesus had. More on that in a moment.

What is the Authority of Jesus?

But at the same time Jesus wielded authority more than anyone that has ever lived. What is the authority of Jesus? Well, we see throughout his ministry remarkable displays of authority. Let’s start with His teaching. Jesus was there in the temple area teaching. But whenever Jesus taught, the initial reaction of people who heard him said, “No one ever taught like this man.” It’s funny because these same enemies, finally they had decided the time had come to arrest Jesus. And so they sent the temple police to go arrest him. You remember this story. And the temple police go and they don’t see a good moment, and so they just stand and listen to Jesus teaching for a moment. Bad mistake, at least in terms of their mission. Because they’re listening and they’re just overwhelmed by his teaching. They’re in awe. I think they were gonna become Christians, I think it’s what’s gonna happen. And so, they go back to the ones who sent them and they say, “Where is Jesus”” And they said with, it seems, stars in their eyes, “No man ever taught like this man.” And so Jesus, in his teaching, it was always authority, a sense of the authority of God, in his words.

Now the Jewish leaders did not value creativity and innovation in teaching. That’s not what they loved, they didn’t embrace it. “Teach us something new.” No, not at all. When you were a young man being trained by the rabbis, you were taught to learn what the other fathers and forefathers said, and said, “Rabbi so-and-so, in commenting on this passage and quoting Rabbi such-and-such, said this and that.” And the more you could do that, the more trained you were. But along comes Jesus, never having studied in their schools, and he says things like this: “You have heard that it was said ‘you shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment,’ but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” “You have heard that it was said ‘you shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart.” You have heard that it was said, but I say to you. Doesn’t it beg the question, “Who are you? Who are you to say these things?”

And so at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the crowd’s reaction in Matthew captures it. In Matthew 7:28-29, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because he taught them as one who authority and not as their teachers of the law.” But He did many other things to display his authority in his actions, his miracles. He had authority over demons; he would give a command and the demon would obey. He had authority over sickness; he would rebuke a fever and the fever would leave. He had authority over fish. Though I never heard him give a command to a fish, it’s kind of implied when they all swim into Peter’s net. And so Jesus could just command fish without a word and they would obey him. He had authority over the winds and the waves, he did command them verbally, “Peace, be still,” and immediately they obeyed him. “What kind of man is this?” they asked, “Even the winds and the waves obey him.”

And he had authority over life and death. He had the authority to stand in front of Lazarus’ tomb after four days, and command him to come out, and life came into him and he came out. And so in his actions, we see that. The way that he dispensed with the traditions of the elders that weren’t biblical. The hand washings and all of that, just didn’t worry about it, wasn’t concerned with what they thought. The way that he would heal consistently on the Sabbath. His actions were actions of authority, but how much more, then, his words. He claimed authority. Not just that he taught with authority, he claimed authority. For example, you remember the story when they brought the man who was paralyzed and they couldn’t get to him so they dug a hole in the roof and lowered it down in front of Jesus. And Jesus, seeing their faith, says in front of them all, says to this man, “Your sins are forgiven.” And they say in their hearts, “This man is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Which is easier: To say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or say, ‘Rise and walk’?” No problem to say them, the question is, is there any power behind it, any authority? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the man, “‘Rise and walk.’” Just pause for a moment there. Sinner, any sinners here today? I claim to be a sinner. That is your great hope: That Jesus, the Son of God, has the authority to tell you that your sins are forgiven you. And they are. Oh, how sweet is that? It’s the center of the gospel promise: Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. But he claims other authority as well. He says, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. I get to interpret Sabbath laws and you’re wrong and I’m right, and I can heal people on the Sabbath.” He has the authority, he says, to judge the world. In John chapter 5, it says, “The Father judges no one, but He’s entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father who sent Him.”

He has the authority to raise the dead. Again, John chapter 5, “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son of Man has authority to give life to the dead.” And he has the authority over his own life and death. He said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down freely of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to take it back up again. This command I received from My Father,” He said. So he has the authority to resurrect himself. He has the authority to give eternal life to whoever he chooses to give it to. And to reveal the Father to whomever he chooses to reveal the Father to. He has this kind of authority, John 17:2, “You granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” This is the kind of authority that Jesus has.

And so Jesus makes this incredible statement to Pontius Pilate. You remember how at one point He gets silent before Pilate? Doesn’t say anything. Pilate is getting very frustrated. He’s afraid, he’s frustrated and finally he lashes out at Jesus verbally. He says, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you realize I have the authority to crucify you and I have the authority to set you free?” Remember what Jesus said, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given you from above.” What kind of statement is that? It’s astonishing, Jesus’ claims to authority. And so what is the authority of Jesus? Well, at the end of this gospel he tells us, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Jesus says. Ephesians 1 puts it this way, “God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Jesus is infinitely above every other name that can be named, and every other authority there is. That is the authority of Jesus.

Jesus is infinitely above every other name that can be named, and every other authority there is. That is the authority of Jesus.

So, let me ask you a question. Did Jesus have the authority to cleanse the temple? Oh my friends, yes, he did, He had every right and privilege to cleanse that temple.

What is the Authority of Jesus?

Well, what’s the second question they asked? Who gave you this authority? Now, that’s a fascinating question. You already have enough. And with the scriptures I quoted to answer. God the Father gave that authority to Jesus. And Jesus did nothing apart from that. Everything Jesus did, all the wielding of his own authority, he did in submission to the authority of God the Father. Again, the great commission, “then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.’” I have infinite authority and it’s been given to me. So therefore, the one who gives it is above the one who receives it.

Over and over Jesus links his authority to God the Father. Matthew 11:27, “All things have been committed to me by My Father.” John 5:26-27, “As the Father has life in Himself even so he has granted to the Son to have life in himself,” stop there. In other words, I wouldn’t be alive in a body, if the Father hadn’t given me authority to do it, I wouldn’t have been incarnated, I wouldn’t have come to the earth if God the Father hadn’t commanded it. And as we mentioned about the resurrection, I have the authority to lay down my life and I have the authority to take it back up again. This command I received from My Father.

And so Jesus as a matter of fact, does nothing apart from submission to the authority of God, the Father. John 5:19, “Jesus gave them this answer, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son could do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.’” And then, in John 14:31, “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me.” John 14:31. The world must learn that because we are rebels, dear friends. We do very little with a conscious awareness of submission to authority, and we ought to do everything with a conscious awareness of submission to authority, we ought to do everything that way. You wanna know what my application is, it is to do everything you do with a sense of submission to God’s authority through Jesus Christ. That’s the application. I’m gonna unfold it a little bit, but that’s it. Jesus did nothing apart from that.

So as he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, He had the authority from God to do it. And as he cleansed the temple, he had the authority from God to do it, and as he stood up to teach the way of God, he had the authority from God to do it, he had the authority to do all of the things he was doing. This is the answer to their question. So by what authority do you do all these things? By my own authority. And who gave you that authority? God the Father did. So that’s their question. Do they get a simple answer from Jesus? No they do not. Jesus was infinitely tricky for them.

Now, for us, I think the more you go on, he becomes simpler and simpler. Pure God. I’m not saying that that’s simple. And I’m just saying he is who he claims to be, but for them, they’re never sure what they’re gonna get from Jesus. They thought they had him. You never have Jesus. Not in that sense. You can’t pin him in a corner, and now he’s frantic, wondering what to do. You can’t debate with Jesus and win the debate. You can’t play chess with God and win. And so they’re coming in intellectually and they’ve got it all figured out, they’re gonna pin him just like they’re gonna do later with taxation, they’re gonna try to pin Jesus, you don’t pin him. He is the greatest intellect that ever lived.

II. Jesus’ Counter-Question

Jesus’ Brilliant Conditional Question

And so he brilliantly asks them a conditional question. He said, “I also have a question to ask you. And if you answer me,” interesting statement there. “If you answer Me, then I will tell you by what authority I’m doing these things.” Notice how he already anticipates that they’re not even gonna answer him. You can’t get ahead of Jesus, he knows exactly what’s going to happen.

The Origin of John the Baptist’s Authority

So He sets this condition. And the question is, the origin of John the Baptist’s authority. Look at verse 25, John’s baptism. Where did it come from? Was it from heaven or from men? Now, in a debate there’s something called the red herring. Alright, you throw it in as a distraction. Alright, you don’t know what to do, so you do something over here and they’re like, “What do we ask? I don’t know, it’s over, he’s gone.” This is no red herring friends. This is right to the kernel of the nut. He goes right to the core of the matter here to ask this question, he’s just doing it in a different way than they expected.

This question about John’s authority really comes down to this: Does God have the right to raise up a spokesman, apart from the existing human structures that have become corrupt, and prophetically speak to those corrupt structures? Did he have the right to do that? The answer is, yes he does, He has the right to do that. So who is John the Baptist? Well, he is an enigmatic, shocking, divisive prophetic figure. He appears in the foreboding spirit of Elijah, dwelling in the desert wearing camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey. And like Elijah, he is therefore utterly devoid of love for earthly pleasures. It’s not why he’s alive. And like Elijah, he is utterly fearless. A preacher of truth, no matter what. He’s not afraid of kings, he’s not afraid of Pharisees and Sadducees, he will say the truth, no matter what, to anyone. Even if it costs him his life, which it did. And like Elijah, his words are fiery and strong and true filled and prophetic.

What of the baptism of John? Well, it’s a specific aspect of his ministry, but it really kind of summarized his whole approach. It was new. It was something they’d never seen before. Baptism isn’t commanded or even exemplified in the Old Testament. Scholars tell us it arose somewhat in the inter-testamental period, between Old Testament and New Testament, as a way to get Gentile converts that are starting to come in through the diaspora. The Jews are scattered all around and some people start to wanna become Jewish. And so they washed them in water, in addition to circumcising the men. A sense of saying, “Put off the old filth of your Gentile way of life and come into Judaism.” But now here’s John and what’s he doing? He’s baptizing Jews. Shocking, and in fact saying, “You’re all Gentiles to God. God can raise up out of these stones, children for Abraham. Don’t boast about that.” It’s unheard of. And so immediately, these same elders and rulers of the people, are thinking the same question about John that they would later about Jesus. “Who gave you this authority to do this?”

John 1 gives the conversation on this very point. Verse 19 and following it says, “Now, this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent emissaries, priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely. ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Finally they said, ‘Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”’ Now, some of the Pharisees who have been sent questioned him, ‘Why then do you baptize if you’re not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?’ ‘I baptize with water,’ John replied. ‘But after me, comes one more powerful than I, who you do not know. The thongs of his sandals, I am not worthy to untie.’” And so that was the conversation that had happened years before, a handful of years before, as they confronted John concerning the authority of his baptism.

The Trap of Jesus’ Question

Now, look at the trap of Jesus’ question. His enemies tell us very well what the trap was. They pull off into a little unholy huddle, they get off to the side. They say, “Boy, we’re in trouble now. This is unexpected. God doing unexpected things in our lives. This is something different.” “If we say from heaven, then he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ And if we say ‘From men,’ now we’re afraid of the crowd for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So that’s the problem.

III. Jesus’ Enemies: Unbelieving, Dishonest, Cowards

Unbelief

So Jesus’ enemies at this particular moment, in this exchange, are revealed as unbelieving, dishonest, cowards. First of all, they’re unbelieving, they did not believe John the Baptist, they didn’t. Believe what? Well, what he taught. Three things in particular, number one, that he was a prophet, sent from God. That he was as Isaiah said, “The voice of one calling in the desert.” Sent by God, that he was a prophet, sent by God. They didn’t believe that. They didn’t believe what one of their own, a priest named Zechariah, John’s father, had said about him. “And you my son will go on in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” They didn’t believe what that priest said about John, that he was sent from God, as a prophet.

Secondly, and perhaps most poignantly, they did not believe that they were a brood of vipers who needed to flee the wrath to come. They didn’t believe that. When John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not say to yourselves “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” They didn’t believe that applied to them. It wasn’t them and so they were brutally offended by that. They didn’t think they needed to repent for the kingdom of heaven was at hand. They didn’t think they needed repentance at all. I tell you, even John the Baptist knew he needed to repent, when he saw Jesus he said, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” Every sinner needs to repent. They didn’t think they qualified as a sinner and so they were really offended by this.

And thirdly, they didn’t believe that the one who came after was, in fact, the Lamb of God whose death would take away the sins of the world, or as John clearly testified in John 1, “The Son of God, on whom the Spirit descended and remained.” They didn’t believe his testimony about Jesus. So they were unbelieving.

Cowardice

Secondly, they were cowardly, they were cowardly, as they pull off to the side and discuss it. Look, when you’re asked a question, answer it. Where is the courage? These were not men of high principle, they were not men who said, “I’m gonna speak the truth and we’ll let the chips fall where they may. I think that John was demon-possessed and I think that you’re from Beelzebub.” If that’s what you think, say it. But instead, they’re having a little discussion, a little political conversation. “Well, if we do this and that’ll happen and… “ Look, that’s the trickiness of being a liar and a coward. And so, they’re not willing to just say what they thought.

Now, they were afraid of the crowd. They held the mob, as they called them, in contempt. In John 7, they said, “Have any of the rulers believed in him? But this mob that knows nothing of the law, there’s a curse on them,” that’s their attitude toward the crowd, but yet they were afraid of them. They were afraid that they would riot and that they would lose their position. And so, in Matthew 26:4-5, “they plotted to arrest Jesus, in some sly way … ‘But not during the feast, … or there may be a riot among the people.” So they’re afraid of the people, they’re cowards.

Dishonesty

And thirdly, they’re dishonest. What was the answer they gave? “We don’t know.” Okay, that’s not what they thought, if you asked them what they thought, they’d say, “We think that John’s baptism was from men, actually we think it was from the devil. And we think that you’re from the devil,” they should have just been honest. But instead they were dishonest.

Jesus’ Authority: Silence

And so what did Jesus do? Well, he kept his promise. He said, “If you answer me, then I will tell you by what authority I’m doing this. If you don’t, I’m not gonna say anything to you.” He gives them silence. He said, “Neither then will I tell you about what authority I am doing these things.” So, in the encounter between the two, who do you think has the real authority? Isn’t it obvious? They come with a question, they’re gonna orchestrate the whole thing. He takes control and it goes entirely his way. He’s a King. he’s a ruler, and he’s not gonna be dominated.

IV. The Prideful Logic of Unbelief

Before we get to application, I wanna lay out what I think is the pride for logic of unbelief. This is how it goes, the prideful logic of unbelief. These rulers and elders of the people started with this supposition, “I am righteous, and God is therefore pleased with my life. I have no need of repentance.” They start there. “Anyone then, who tells me I need to repent is from the devil, or wrong. John tells me I need to repent, he’s of the devil, he’s wrong, Jesus tells me I need to repent or I’m going to hell, he’s of the devil, he’s wrong.” I believe, in every unbeliever who hears the gospel they basically run through the same logic themselves, they don’t need a savior, they don’t need to repent. And so they don’t come to Christ.

V. Application

So what application can we take from this passage? Well, I think we need to know our culture. They accepted authority, they just didn’t believe Jesus had any authority. We question authority itself. We question authority itself. We have been sold a lie that we can somehow live our lives free from any authority except our own. That we can live completely free from all authorities. So when Joshua says in Joshua 24, “Choose for yourself, whom you will serve.” He meant this deity or that deity. Alright? “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” He assumed we’re gonna serve somebody. We are gonna serve some master, we’re gonna submit to some authority, we’re gonna, he assumed that. We have thrown off that concept and we are trying to live our lives free from any authority. And so we question authority. We have been told that we don’t need to serve anyone. And you know what happens if you’re given a choice between serving Jesus, and not serving anyone? Do not be deceived in thinking you will not serve anyone. You will be serving Satan, you’ll be serving evil. There are no options, we were created to serve, and so therefore we must choose whom we will serve.

Can I commend Jesus to you, as a King then? Can I say serve him because his yoke is easy and His burden is light, and his laws are righteous, and everything he commands is good and upright and holy, no matter how difficult to obey. Can I commend to the authority of Jesus, the Son of God? The Bible says that someday he will obviously be sitting on a throne and reigning over all things. And he will judge, as I’ve already mentioned, over Judgment Day, and all nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And everyone who gladly by faith, submitted to his authority on Earth, he will say to them, “Come into the kingdom prepared for you. The one you’ve been getting ready for, you’re excited about a kingdom, it’s ready now, come in and submit to that kingly authority, for the rest of your happy existence for eternity.” But those that thought to throw off all authority, that thought that they would rule their own lives, their lot is eternal condemnation in hell.

So therefore, I just urge you, now, come under the authority of the King, come into the kingdom, enter that kingdom through the narrow gate. Submit humbly to his rule. Confess your sins, recognize that Jesus is in fact who John said He was, the Lamb of God, whose death atones for the sins of the world, that you give your life to him, and you will receive forgiveness of sins. If you’ve already done that, I praise God for you. I praise God that you’ve already come under the authority of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. But I still wanna challenge you on that very issue. I think we know enough in this church to not separate Jesus as Savior, and Jesus as Lord, that whole thing. “I accepted Jesus, my Savior. And then seven years later, I accepted him as my Lord.” Did you know that Jesus isn’t schizophrenic or bipolar? Were you aware of that? That he actually is both Savior and Lord, all the time.

And as I was talking in the Bible study on Romans, I asked this simple question, “What is Jesus a savior you from? Is he not a savior from rebellion? Isn’t he a savior from sin?” And so, if you’ve been saved from sin that means you’re now humbly submissive to God the King. That’s the salvation he offers. Alright, you accept that. Jesus is going to get more and more invasive as you grow in your Christian life, more and more to you initially intrusive. So that you’re gonna kind of act like the same ruler saying, “by what authority are you asking me how I spend my money? By what authority are you asking how I spend my time or what I do with my recreation? By what authority are you getting involved in my thought life? By what authority are you telling me that my marriage needs to improve?”

Now, you would say now, “I would take it a lot better if it would come from Jesus coming down from heaven, shiny and glowing, and I would do it then, but if it’s just a pastor or a Christian friend, it’s harder to take.” Oh, friends, listen to what God is saying through the Word, let’s challenge one another, grow in grace and godliness, let’s realize there is an authority to the Word of God, and that God means to get in our business. And to command us to obey.

And I say something to high school graduates. Just be aware of the fact that God has the right to tell you what to do with your life. He has the right to command you in a vocation, that’s what it is, a calling from God. Seek a vocation from Jesus Christ. Say, “Lord, You are not irrelevant. You are relevant to my choice of a major. You are relevant to what I do in college.” Submit your life fully to him.

All of us, we need to live every moment as bondslaves of Jesus Christ and recognize that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, and it leads to glory in the end. Close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Perhaps no city in America is as concerned about credentials as Washington, DC.  I remember well the experience of watching the Inaugural of George W. Bush to the Presidency, and there were levels of access to the event based on your ticket

If you were the Ambassador from a major European nation, you would sit on special seating set up on the Capital Steps

If you were a Member of the House of Representatives, you would sit closer on the Capital Steps, but further than a Senator

If you were a Supreme Court Justice, but not the Chief Justice, you would sit on the Platform but in a further row

If you were the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, you would sit in the front row, center stage

If you were, like I was, a relative nobody who had somehow gotten a ticket to enter the cordoned off area at the Mall near the US Capitol, you would stand out in the rain on the muddy ground three hundred yards away and squint at the only live look at a President you’ve ever had in your life

It was all about credentials… the authority to stand in proximity to the President as he was being sworn in

There were security people swarming over the grounds, and there was no way you were getting further than your credentials permitted you to go

Authority is everywhere… we face it in everyday life.  If you go to the local branch of a bank, there is a door opening into the back areas behind bulletproof glass where the tellers can walk and you can’t

If you go to a Durham Bulls baseball game and your daughter is playing the National Anthem on her violin with some other students, you are allowed to walk onto the field before the game.  But if you try to do it during the game, you may be arrested.

I have the great privilege of preaching from this pulpit week after week, and it is a privilege I take very seriously.  But the authority to preach here was granted me by a vote of this particular church over ten years ago.  It does not extend to other pulpits in this city.  If I show up at another Baptist church next week and at the sermon time go up to preach, I would be committing a major sin… the authority would not have been granted to me

Some time ago, I served as a juror in a court trial.  For one afternoon, I had the authority to walk into the juror’s box and sit in a particular chair.  That authority was granted me by the judge and it extended to the end of the trial.  When the trial was over, the judge dismissed me and my fellow jurors with his gracious thanks.  My right to walk into that part of the courtroom was now OVER.

In our passage today, Jesus’ enemies question him about His authority… His right to do the things He had been doing

What’s amazing to me is how oblivious they were to the irony of such questioning

Two basic facts about Christ and authority:

1)      No one in history so perfectly submitted to authority as Jesus Christ

2)     No one in history had as much authority as Jesus Christ

We will wrestle with those two concepts as we look at this passage

I. The Authority of Jesus Questioned

A. The Jews Confront Jesus

1. The chief priests and the elders of the people are the leaders of the Jewish nation

2. They are also Jesus’ most determined opposition

3. They are constantly challenging him, opposing him, debating him, laying traps for him, scheming against him, plotting to take his life

4. Here they try the frontal assault method… and this time, the topic is authority

vs. 23  Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

5. Certainly they have in mind here Jesus’ shocking recent actions

a. The Triumphal Entry, riding on a donkey, entering as a King to rule

b. The Cleansing of the Temple:  driving out the animals, overturning the benches of the money changers; saying things like

Get these out of here!  How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace?  A den of thieves?”

c. His acceptance of adoration by the children

6. Immediately the chief priests and elders had one question in mind:  AUTHORITY… who gives you the right to do these shocking things???

7. The Jews were a people under authority and who sought to respect authority

8. Here the chief priests and elders assumed they were operating from a position of strength

a. In their way of thinking, all actions should be done under authority… done by the will of someone with the right to act;  no one acted as a free agent—there had to be some superior human or institution that gave anyone the authority to act in the ways Jesus acted

b. As they believed, they were the religious authorities in Jerusalem… there was no higher religious authority than them

c. So if Jesus claimed to be acting under human authority, there was no human authority higher than them when it came to the temple

i) By the way, even the Romans acknowledged this…

ii) Because of some mistakes Pontius Pilate had made early in his tenure, he’d been put on a short leash by Caesar concerning the Jews and their temple in particular

iii) Any Roman soldier who violated the temple would be executed

iv) So the chief priests and the elders RAN the temple

v) Now Jesus had cleansed the temple without their permission

vi) They were saying SHOW US YOUR CREDENTIALS

d. Acts speaks of the authority Saul of Tarsus received from the chief priests concerning his persecution of the church

Acts 9:14  [Saul] has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.

e. So also the Sanhedrin asked the same question of Peter and James after they healed the lame man at the Temple gate

Acts 4:7  They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

9. The Jewish leaders figured they had Jesus either way

a. Either he had to acknowledge that he had NO AUTHORITY to do what He had done… in which case He would be discredited by the crowd

b. OR he would claim to be operating directly under God’s authority, in which case they would have grounds to execute Him for blasphemy

10. Jesus seemed to them like a loose cannon, close to an anarchist, overturning not just tables in the temple but the authority of the rulers of the Jewish nation

11. Their unbelief clouded their minds from seeing the truth:  no one in history has ever submitted to authority more perfectly than Jesus… and no one in history has had more authority than Jesus

B. What is Authority?

1. Webster’s Dictionary

power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior

freedom granted by one in authority : right

position of authority:  a person with the right to rule, to act powerfully

2. Theologically:  authority all derives from God

Romans 13:1  Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

3. Hierarchical view of the universe:  ever-ascending spheres of power, with God Almighty, sitting on His throne, ruling over it all

a. God is the ruler of all… the king of all kings, the lord of all lords;  everything exists to serve and obey him

b. It was God’s will, then, to create other beings—angels and men—and give them the right to rule over specific spheres of influence… kingdoms, if you will

c. So God created angels in a hierarchical array, with some angels having authority over others—they are called “archangels”… literally , ruler angels

d. So also God created man to rule over the physical world

Genesis 1:26  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

e. AND God established Adam as head over Eve by creating him first

4. Earthly authority:

a. Authority in the home:  the father is the head of the house, with the right to make authoritative pronouncements for his family

Joshua 24:15  as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

b. Authority in the nation:  the king is the ruler of the nation, with the right to make authoritative decisions, to enact laws and rules which people have to follow, and to exact punishment if his laws are not obeyed;  what really stuck in the craw of the Jews was that the rulership of the Promised Land had been given over to the Gentiles

c. Authority over spiritual matters:  the chief priests, the elders, the Scribes, and the Pharisees were the spiritual leaders of the nation… and ordinarily they would have the right to rule

Matthew 23:2-3  “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  ³ So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach

Jesus thus UPHELD the authority of His enemies… just not their personal practice

Jesus upholds ALL authorities, since He created them and they are essential to His plan

Jesus proved this by being submissive to His own parents when He was a boy in their home

Jesus proved this by not resisting the authorities when they arrested, condemned and killed Him… He went meekly and quietly like a lamb to the slaughter

But Jesus especially submitted to the authority of God the Father at every moment of His life

AND Jesus wielded the authority God gave Him perfectly as well

C. What is the Authority of Jesus?

1. Displays of authority

a. Through his teachings

Jesus taught like no man they had ever heard

John 7:45-46  the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”  ⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

The Jews did not value originality in teaching… they valued submission to traditions that had been passed on by their elders;  a young man training in the Law of Moses was considered to be making progress when he could quote at length the teachings, the traditions  of the elders;  “Rabbi so-and-so, in commenting on this passage, gave such-and-such instructions for us to follow”

Jesus quoted NO rabbis… none at all;

Matthew 5:21-22  “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

Matthew 5:27-28  You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’  ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

You have heard… but I say to you…

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the crowds marveled more than anything else at the absolute certainty of His teachings… of the tone of AUTHORITY in His words and manner

Matthew 7:28-29  When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,  ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

b. Through his miracles

i) Authority over demons

ii) Authority over sickness

iii) Authority over fish

iv) Authority over weather

v) Authority over life and death

c. Through his actions

i) His decision to dispense with the traditions of the elders (handwashing)

ii) His healings on the Sabbath

iii) His granting authority to the apostles to preach and heal

iv) The Triumphal entry

v) The cleansing of the Temple

2. Claims of authority

a. Authority to forgive sins

Matthew 9:2  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Matthew 9:6  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”

b. Authority over the Sabbath

Matthew 12:8  the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

c. Authority to judge the world

John 5:22-23  the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,  ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

d. Authority to raise the dead

John 5:21  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

e. Authority to die and to rise again

John 10:18  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.

f. Authority over all peoples, to give life to whomever He chooses

John 17:2  you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

3. He makes a stunning claim to Pontius Pilate concerning authority

John 19:10-11  “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”  ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

4. So… what IS the authority of Jesus?  In the end, it is TOTAL and COMPLETE… the authority of Almighty God Himself

Matthew 28:18   Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Ephesians 1:20-22  God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,  ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.  ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church

5. So… does Jesus have the authority to cleanse the temple?  YES!!

a. Jesus is God the Son

b. Through Jesus God created all things

D. Who Gave Him this Authority?

1. The second question they asked:

“And who gave you this authority?”

2. This is the key question… for Jesus constantly saw himself as a “man under authority”… namely, God’s

a. All His authority came from God the Father

Matthew 28:18   Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

b. Over and over Jesus links His authority to God the Father

Matthew 11:27  “All things have been committed to me by my Father…”

John 5:26-27  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.  ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

John 10:18  No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

c. As a matter of fact, Jesus did NOTHING apart from the command of His Father

John 5:19  Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

John 14:31  the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

3. So, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, cleansed the temple and healed and continued His teaching ministry on the authority of God the Father

This was the answer to their question:

“By what authority do you do all these things?”  A:  “By my own authority.”

Q:  “Who gave you this authority?”  A:  “God the Father”

II. Jesus’ Counter-Question

A. Jesus Knew they Could Never Accept This Truth

1. They would consider His claim to be blasphemous

2. When He said to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven”, they thought He was blaspheming

3. When He defended His healing on the Sabbath by saying His Father was working and He too is working, they picked up stones to stone Him

John 5:18  For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

4. So He asks them a question instead

B. Jesus’ Brilliant Conditional Question

Matthew 21:24  Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

1. Jesus sets them a condition… if they meet it, He will answer their question

2. If they don’t, He won’t

3. See how wise Jesus is, and how much in control of every encounter

4. They are trying to trap Him before the crowd… they end up being trapped themselves

5. Jesus… the greatest thinker in the history of the world

a. Debating with Jesus was like playing chess with God…  no matter what move you make, you lose

b. And, when Jesus makes a move, you realize your predicament

c. So Jesus asks a probing question that puts them in a terrible bind

d. More than that, Jesus asks a question that exposes the heart of the problem

C. The Origin of John the Baptist’s Authority

Matthew 21:25  John’s baptism– where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?”

1. This is not beside the point, nor is it a red herring to distract his opponents from the questions they asked

2. No, this question about John’s baptism really goes to the heart of the matter… the authority of a heaven-sent spokesman for God

3. John the Baptist:  an enigmatic, shocking and divisive figure

a. Appeared in the foreboding spirit of Elijah, dwelling in the desert, wearing camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, eating locusts and wild honey

b. Like Elijah, he was utterly devoid of love for worldly comforts and luxuries

c. Like Elijah, he was utterly fearless, a preacher of the truth no matter what

d. Like Elijah, his words were fiery, calling on all his hearers to repent

4. The baptism of John:  a specific aspect of his ministry

a. Baptism had never been taught in the Old Testament… there were no commands for prophets to baptize, nor any examples that they ever did

b. Baptism had arisen in the intertestamental period as a ceremonial ritual by which Gentile converts to Judaism could be cleansed of their filthy past lives as Gentiles and be welcomed as pure Jews

c. BUT JOHN was baptizing JEWS who confessed their sins

d. UNHEARD of!!  Where did he get this authority?

e. The Jewish leaders sent emissaries out into the desert to learn the answer on authority:

John 1:19-27  Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.  ²⁰ He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.”  ²¹ They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”  ²² Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”  ²³ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.'”  ²⁴ ¶ Now some Pharisees who had been sent  ²⁵ questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”  ²⁶ “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.  ²⁷ He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

D. The Trap of Jesus’ Question

1. They say it very well themselves:

Matthew 21:25-27  They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’  ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men’– we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 

III. Jesus’ Enemies: Unbelieving Dishonest Cowards

A. Unbelief

These Jewish leaders DID NOT believe John…

Jesus told us what they said about John:

Matthew 11:18   John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

But WHY didn’t they believe John?  Believe WHAT?

1. Believe that John was a true prophet from God

Matthew 3:3  This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'”

Luke 1:17  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous– to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

2. Believe that they were a brood of vipers who needed to repent

Matthew 3:1-2  In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea  ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 3:7-12  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  ¹¹ ¶ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

3. Believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, through which they could be saved

John 1:29-34  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  ³⁰ This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’  ³¹ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”  ³² Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.  ³³ I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’  ³⁴ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

Jesus referred to John’s witness to Him:

John 5:33-35  “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.  ³⁴ Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.  ³⁵ John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

But they did not believe John’s testimony about Jesus

B. Cowardice

1. These Jewish leaders were constantly afraid of the crowd

Matthew 21:26  if we say, ‘From men’– we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

2. They generally held the crowd in total contempt

John 7:48-49  “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in [Jesus]?  ⁴⁹ No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law– there is a curse on them.”

When the man born blind tried to show the clear evidence that Jesus was from God, their overwhelming pride reared its ugly head again:

John 9:31-34  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.  ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  ³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

3. But they feared that they would riot if they arrested Jesus during the Feast

Matthew 26:4-5  they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him.  ⁵ “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

4. So these were not men of principle, but they were cowards… scheming off to the side, figuring out the most politically correct answer, FEARING THE PEOPLE but DESPISING THEM at the same time

C. Dishonesty

1. All of this led to their dishonesty

“We don’t know”

2. That was a lie, from their perspective

3. They actually had made up their mind both about John the Baptist and Jesus

4. Their authority was false… John was demon-possessed, Jesus was Satan possessed, as far as they were concerned

5. BUT as we just said, they were afraid of the people, so they refused to say what they really thought

D. Jesus’ Authority:  Silence

Matthew 21:27  So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

1. These Jewish leaders came demanding an answer from Jesus

2. Instead, they got a tricky question in response… one that put them in a challenging position

3. Jesus set the terms, with the authority that was His… they didn’t meet His condition, He didn’t answer their demands

4. Who is the real authority here?

5. Jesus wasn’t being petulant… the real issue is that for Him to defend His true identity as the Son of God would not convince them;  they had already set their minds against Him;  why cast pearls before swine?

Later, as His trial, Jesus would say this to these same leaders.  They asked him…

Luke 22:67-68  “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me,  ⁶⁸ and if I asked you, you would not answer.

IV. The Prideful Logic of Unbelief

So let’s return to Jesus’ implied question… the one the Jewish leaders feared

If John’s authority was from heaven, why didn’t you believe him?

This is how the prideful logic of unbelief goes.

These men were full-time religionists… they spent their whole time thinking about spiritual things.  They felt they had addressed their sins completely by being more outwardly observant to the Law of Moses than any of their neighbors, as far as they could tell… they were more righteous than anybody… that was beyond question

They were in positions of spiritual authority in Israel; thus anyone who addressed spiritual things without their permission was by definition insubordinate and not from God.

Even more forcefully, any person who questioned their spirituality or righteousness was clearly wrong… and their message was to be rejected

John the Baptist came in the desert without their authority and preached;  huge crowds of people went out to him, and those crowds could see his righteousness.  The Jewish religious leaders were filled with jealousy.  Even worse, John the Baptist preached directly to them that they were a brood of vipers who needed to repent.  Their pride riled up like a hissing serpent.  IMPOSSIBLE!!!  We are righteous… you must have a demon

Then along comes Jesus… even worse than John, Jesus was doing miracles;  huge crowds were thronging around him; He was flouting their religious traditions and healing on the Sabbath

He is teaching the Scriptures with incredible power and authority, and never once giving any credit to the Jewish spiritual leadership

He tells them they are sinners, needing to repent… just like John the Baptist said

THEREFORE, they rejected John and

THEREFORE, they rejected Jesus

Pride breeds unbelief

Jesus’ answer:  The miracles He did could only have been done by the power of God

John 3:1-2  Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.  ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

John 5:36  the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.

John 14:11  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

The man born blind summed it all up:

John 9:31-33  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.  ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

Prideful response:

John 9:34  To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

V. Application

A. Recognize the Heavenly Origin of Jesus’ Authority

1. The Jews should have seen in Jesus’ miracles clear evidence that God was with Him

2. Jesus also pointed to the way the Scriptures testified about Him

3. This should be enough for any of you to recognize Jesus’ authority

4. What authority?

a. To enter as King

b. To cleanse the Temple

c. To speak the Word of God prophetically

d. To declare that our sins are forgiven

e. To raise the dead

f. To Judge the world

g. To rule the universe

B. Submit to Jesus’ Authority:  Take His Yoke Upon You

1. To the lost:

a. Don’t let pride stand in the way of your own salvation

b. Don’t boast of your own righteousness, or that you don’t need a Savior

c. Come to Christ and take His yoke upon you

2. To believers

a. Some separate accepting Jesus as Savior and submitting to Him as Lord

b. Christ has the right to rule everything in your life

c. Submit to His authority

i) In how you spend your money

ii) In how you spend your time

iii) In the calling of your life

iv) In evangelism and missions

d. Live each day as a bondslave of Jesus Christ

i) We tend to live as autonomous beings

ii) We decide what is right, what we’ll do with our days

iii) A bondslave of Jesus Christ rises each day with a full understanding of Jesus’ authority… and a deep desire to submit to it fully and joyfully