Luke's Gospel

We are now going to have our bible reading. So if you would like to turn to Luke and we're going to be looking at Luke's chapter chapter 20, and we're gonna look at the last bit of Luke chapter 20. So these are gonna be verses 41 through to 47 and then Rory Kanard is gonna preach God's word to us. Then Jesus said to them, why is it said the Messiah is the son of David. David himself declares in the book of Psalms.

The Lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a foot stall for your feet. David calls him Lord. How then can he be his son? While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes.

And love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at the banquets. They devour widows houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely. So I think it's true to say that a lack of understanding usually leads to kind of wrong behaviors. A lack of understanding of an authority or of of various things means that you get things wrong.

So if you think about it, if, like, there's program called undercover bosses, I think it's called. And it's interesting that they don't know the person that's amongst them, these workers, is actually their boss. And so it's quite revealing, I suppose if you're in that situation to see what people think of you as a boss and what they think of the job and and what they're like as people. And if you don't understand the boss and if you don't understand or respect him, then you'll get people that aren't very good. And who are all about themselves and don't really care about customer satisfaction or whatever.

Then you've got on the other hand, people that do get it, and and they work well, and they work hard. Because they get they get it. They understand who the boss is. They their understandings there and so their behavior fits. Or in in schools, for instance, if you have a teacher, and you go into a class and the and the student hasn't got a clue about this teacher and what they can do in the in terms of how scary they are, they might try and act out.

And But if you understand this teacher and the authority they have, then you may choose to fall in line to behave well and to get on with your work. So I think you see this all over the place. So true understanding results in correct living. True understanding of who Jesus is means that you'll live in a manner that it's fitting. Now we've been we've been looking through the book of Luca and we've we've got to chapter 20 and and it's this this amazing temple scene.

And we've got there I mean, I hope you've enjoyed looking at Luke chapter 20 because the drama is just amazing. You've got these these various people doing various things. So you've got the Lord Jesus in verse 1 of chapter 20, and he's teaching the people. He's there teaching daily at the temple. And then you've got this other group of people, the the religious establishment, the teachers of the laws, the the the scribes, the sadducees, and they're plotting again.

She's there out to kill Jesus. So you've got Jesus teaching. You've got the the pharisees, the teachers of the law plotting. And then if you go back to chapter 19 and verse 48, you've got the people, the crowds, and they're hanging onto Jesus' words. And so you've got all this sort of thing, this sort of actions going on in these these temple scenes.

And we've seen as we've gone throughout Luke chapter 20 that Jesus has been on the receiving end. Off the the plotting teachers of the law. They've been trying to trap him. They've been trying to get him to make a mistake so that they can they can get rid of him. So that really so that they can kill him.

So we've seen in verse 1 to wait. We we kind of have the authority trap. And then we then we got in verse 20 to 26. The taxes trap, who should we put should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? And then week we saw this kind of doc trial trap where where these sadducees came and and tried to cast doubt about the resurrection to try and show Jesus as an irrelevant teacher who who was who believed in absurd things.

The great thing about chapter 20 is how Jesus just deals with all of these people. He's just masterful. They try and trap him and he just bats him away each and every time with ease. And and no more so than this last time. He really exposes the sadducees because they don't know 1 the power of God as another gospel says and they don't know scriptures.

And so again with ease, he he puts away the opposition. And then you get this amazing verse 40 at the end in chapter 20. I think it I love it because it says and no 1 dared to ask him any more questions. They didn't dare. Like they they realized that 1, they cannot beat him, they cannot trap him, but also every time they do try and trap him, they end up looking a little bit silly themselves.

He's too good. He's too into that guy. I don't know if you ever watched debates, and it's like this person destroys this opposition. Well, it kind of is a bit like that. Jesus sort of destroys your opposition.

But Jesus isn't there just to tear people down. He's not there just to show himself to be a really good intellectual mind. No. Jesus actually wants people to believe truth. And he wants to win people, not just arguments.

And so he's he's faced now after after dealing with question after question after trap after trap. He's now faced with this silence. And he takes this opportunity, takes his silence to go on the attack now. And so he poses his own question to the teachers of the law. And so that's my first point.

It's a question the identity and purpose of the Messiah. But with me at verse 41 to 44. Then Jesus said to them, Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself declares in the book of Psalms. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

David calls him Lord, how then can he be his son? So what Jesus is doing here is he's saying the Messiah The long way to Messiah, this is his identity. This is his purpose. And by saying those 2 things, he's actually saying, this is my identity. This is my purpose.

In fact, if you look throughout Luke, it's all about the messianic king. Like, Even at the very start, it talks about the David King. You get the blind man on the roadside saying, Jesus, sort of David have mercy on me. And later on, he he he really identifies himself as the Messiah. And so here we've got really his last attempt to reveal to these people who the Messiah is, who he is as the Messiah.

And and and he's trying to show the truth about himself. He wants people to understand because actually in those days, there was gross misunderstanding of who the Messiah was. What he came to do, how he came to do it. In fact, some people actually thought there was 2 messiahs there's gonna be this 1 Saya, this 1 Christ who who was like a political king ruler. And then there was this other 1 who was kind of a suffering serving and maybe there was 2 besides and and and Jesus is saying, no, that's not the case.

It's much deeper than that. And so it begins really by going, well, the Messiah is the son of David. That's what we see in verse 41. Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? In fact, in in Matthew chapter 22, he actually asks the question to the teacher of the law and they say, that he is the son of David.

And so what he then does, he he takes them to Psalm hundred and 10. And that's what goes on in verse 42 to 43. David himself declares in the book of Psalms. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. David causing Lord, how then can he be a son?

See. Do you see that? So this is Jesus is showing them sort of why this is such a complex matter because Jesus is the son of David. He's the son of the king. So usually, that would suggest that he's an inferior being in that society.

But David doesn't call him son, he causes son, Lord. And so Jesus is saying, listen, I am far more superior than you could imagine. And Psalm 110, David himself, knew that. He's saying, yes, he is a man. He is the son of David.

He is in the line of David, he is a man. He's a fully man, but actually the fact that he calls him lords reveals that actually he's a divine being. Is sowing that he is caught in psalm hundred and 10 hundreds of years before saying that the Messiah is not only a man he has also got. This here is the Godman. And then, hundreds of years later, Jesus takes on the form of a human being.

His born of men Mary in the line of David, but he's also clearly the god man. And the passage that we see here shows that he's here to defeat his enemies. You see that he he he sits at the right hand. So in other words, he's finished his work off defeating his enemies, and you know he's defeated his enemies because they're now a footstool. They're bowing before him.

They've lost the fight. Now 1 of the misconceptions in those days about the Messiah was that he was this like political leader that was gonna overthrow the Romans. But we know that actually Jesus was going far much go for a far greater enemy. He was going to deal with sin and satan and death. As he goes to a cross, and then he defeats those things as he rises from the dead.

That's why in acts chapter 2, uses exactly these words to say that because he's risen from the dead. He's exalted on high. He's defeated sin. He's defeated death. He's defeated Satan.

This is the Godman. This is the Messiah, he's the 1 who was fully God, he was the 1 who was fully man. He is the king in of David's. He's the savior, but he's not here to save us from political powers or political things or or things of this world, but actually he's here to defeat and savers from sin and death and satan. And so he poses the question to the teach of the law.

David calls him Lord how then can he be his son? He's got to be something much more special than you think. The interesting thing is here, we don't get an answer. We just get silence again. And I think if these these people, these men were actually interested in truth, surely would ask the question, oh, I don't know.

Why is that Jesus? If I if I'm not if I'm not sure about an issue, I would ask the question. Can you explain that to me a little bit further? But these these these people don't do that. There's just silence.

There is no interest in the meaning of this song. And this is the problem with the religion of the day. It's mindless. It's it's thoughtless. There's no thinking about what does actually mean This surely means he's the 1 who is god and is man.

No. It's just We know the right answer, but that's all it goes to. It doesn't actually affect their lives at all. They're so happy with just their minus religion and the way that they go about living their lives. So they refused to understand.

They refused to think. They refused to take Jesus seriously. They refused to take God's words seriously. But this this section here is amazing really. Just look at how Jesus is trying to get them to think.

He's trying to get them to deal with the scriptures in a serious manner. He's trying to ask them questions about who he is. And I think as Christians, we can really take lessons from this. When when we're faced with people who who don't trust in the Lord Jesus how we how we asking questions to get them to think. What do they think about Jesus?

Do they think he was imaginary? I mean, I've I've been in classes at school and there are genuine people that think Jesus didn't exist. And so you have to ask the question. Do you really believe that and start to get them thinking? What about the old testament?

Prophecies. I mean, that's the whole point of Luke. That all these prophecies come in fulfillment through the Lord of Christ. So how are we gonna make people think seriously about who Christ is? And then on Christ, Do you truly understand who he is?

Do you really take seriously the identity of Jesus or is it like these seas, and these teachers of the law just a mindless religion. I know you may have grown up in in in Christian homes, and you just know the answer, you know, always Jesus nowadays. But does it have an effect in your life? Because if it has no effect in your life, then it's then it's mindless. It's it's thoughtless, it doesn't do anything.

And so we know if you take seriously this amazing Lord Jesus, this Messiah. We know you take him seriously if it affects your life. And so that leads me to my second point, a warning a lifestyle fit for destruction, a warning, a lifestyle fit for destruction. Look with me at verse 45, to the end of the chapter. While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples beware of the teachers of the law, They like to walk around in flowing robes.

I love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues. And the places of honour in banquets, they devour widows' houses. And for a show, make lengthy prayers, these men will be punished most severely. So here, he's revealed what the Messiah is like. He's revealed the glorious nature of who he is.

And if you get that you'll get correct living. Just like if you get the authorities around you you'll get correct living. But if you don't get it, you'll get false living, you'll get living that doesn't please God. And so he turns to his disciples and he issues them with a warning. And this isn't a new warning He's actually said this before.

He said in chapter 12, beware of the yeast of the Phar which is hypocrisy. So he he's already warned them about these guys. He's saying, these t's of the law where the mindless in the mindless religion are not interested in truth. That all they're interested in is trapping me. All they're interesting is plotting against me.

They're not about understanding truth. They're not about understanding god not understanding God's word or the Messiah. And so the misunderstanding which is which is willful misunderstanding. It's willful ignorance. Leads to a lifestyle that's gonna be judged.

And so Jesus is saying to his disciples, The teachers of the law, they are not a model for my kingdom. And so he says beware, This danger there, then they're not living lives that are fit for a resurrection world. They're not living a life that would mean that their children of the risen Jesus. There's there's nothing bigger than themselves here. Can you see this?

They wear these flowing robes. In the other words, they're there to stand out in the crowd. They wore these, like, really long white road with was on them. And so when they walked through crowds and they would go in the square, people would see them and then they look lovely and amazing and rich and elegant. They're there for high praise and grand titles.

They they they love to be greeted with respect Oh, rabbi, teacher. Oh, I feel so important. They love high praise. They love grand titles. They love to be seen as important.

They go to a synagogue. They expect the best seats. That that place in on the highest place are that You know, you might know it a little bit about Shakespeare Shakespeare's place. Well, the best place to sit in those days and the theatres was just to be seen, not in the best position to watch a play, but so that people could see how important you were. They were the high stalls above the play.

And so it's just the same. They want it to be seen as important. And so they'd be in a synagogue and someone would say something and they would be seen to agree. Yeah. It's very important.

And if they didn't, no. That's what they like. And then even in banquets, they they expected it. It might not even be their daughter's wedding. And they would expect to be in the in the top table, very important.

They devour with those houses other words, they prey on the they don't literally eat houses. I think that's just a big picture of what they're like, but they're actually there preying on the vulnerable. They weren't actually allowed to be paid. But actually they were trying to encourage people to give them gifts. And then they've got these lengthy prayers that, you know, they're not from the heart in terms of to praise God.

It's a bit like the guy previous. He's like, oh lord, I'm glad that I'm not like the tax collector. I would ramble on and on and on and on and on so that people go, look how holy he is. The thing is, I'd argue that it's the same today as it is then. The human heart hasn't changed.

It's just as religious now as it was then. It was it's just as self involved today as it was. In Jesus' day. I mean, you just gotta look at social media. Why do people post things about things that go on around the world?

Well, maybe they do wanna raise awareness but for a lot of them is to make themselves look good are well done. He's on the right side of history as we say nowadays. Or there's this 1 of my favorite things that makes me laugh is a thing called humble brags. So for instance, you know, this thing about the masks. When when when people are gonna against the mask, we I saw I saw posts from people like, well, if I could wear a mask in a 6 hour operation when I was awake as I got a hip replacement, then I think you can do it in 5 minutes.

As if look at me, how good I am with my mask. Humble brags looking goods. There's people that prey on the vulnerable still as their stories of people with YouTube accounts who encourage young children to give them money so that they will have an association with them. In the church, people love titles and to be seen as great and they wear flowing robes sometimes. And people try and appear good and they try and appear holy.

People try and appear like Godly people like good people but really they're any self centered. And they don't understand god and they don't understand the Messiah. And Jesus is saying, I've come to take that down. I'm here not to back that living. I'm here to take it down.

It's interesting that when Jesus comes to do that, how do they react? Whereas soon as there's a threat, to their religious life and then being the king of their own life and self rule. They start to plot to murder Jesus. You see that in chapter 20 in verse 19. And even before in chapter 19 in verse 47, they're trying to kill Jesus.

They're like them. If you've ever seen Toy Story, the bad guys in Toy Story, whether it's that stinky pea or that teddy bear in the third 1. When they look really nice, they look lovely and nice, but as soon as something threatens their existence and threatens their way of life, they turn into evil monsters. And that is the teachers of the law. And so they try and kill Jesus.

The thing is they can't stop Jesus. They can't touch him. Only if he lets them touch him. The only scars that he lets them then flipped on him are the wounds that the the nails and the and the floggings and the beatings cause him as he goes to a cross, but then he rises And Jesus is saying if you live like these religious people, then you will be serving as a footstool. That's what he's saying there.

Do you see that at the end of chapter 20? These men will be punished most severely. You're gonna be a footstool. You're gonna have eternal condemnation. If you live like this, this is a life that takes you straight to hell.

See that the end, if you reject Jesus, if you if you say I don't want you in my life, Jesus. If you say actually I'm gonna live for myself and make myself look good and live for the praise of others as these men do. Then you will lit then you will end up bowing before the king, but not as a as as 1 of his people but actually is a defeated enemy. You're gonna serve as a footstool for the conqueror. See, if you live for a life, if you live your life without an understanding of the Messiah, the things you live for are actually temporary.

You know, the the the the the important places in the synagogues and the banquet halls. They're temporary. They don't last forever. The the praise of men is temporary doesn't last forever, but your destruction will be eternal. And so I would urge you not to trust in yourself but to take seriously the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because either he will be your savior or he will be your judge. And true followers of Jesus. If you understand who he is, then and if you understand him, then you're gonna live accordingly. You're gonna take in seriously. And so therefore, we're gonna live for him.

So in Luke chapter 6, you see a list of ways that you expect. Bless it is the poor. The humble. The 1 who suffers, the 1 who who is rejected. And that's that's gonna happen.

You're gonna start living because you realize the authority. You realize that he's the judge of the world and so you realize he's pure, you realize he's sinless. And so that means that I'm not like I don't deserve praise of men. But not only that, because you follow a savior and as you revel in that savior, as you look at the lord Jesus and see the 1 who humble enough to make himself a servant even though he was very niche gods, then you will be humble. When you realize that he was a suffering servant then you 2 can suffer When you realize that he was rejected, you can face rejection.

See, Jesus doesn't say this is gonna be an easy life. But just as if you live for the things of this world, that is temporary. The rejection, the suffering. Is temporary in this world. Just as the destruction for the teases of the law is eternal.

The promise of a resurrection future is also eternal. I think that's why this comes on after the verses before it after the sadducees opposition. See, there's 2 ways we can live here. You can live yourself and reject Jesus' king and reject him and live for the praise of men and live for the things of this world. But you will suffer eternal destruction or you can truly get Christ and submit to him and live a life of holy obedience to him.

So you may have heard the other day that a famous preacher and writer, j I Packett died. Well, as as I was preparing for this, I read 1 of his quotes and I think it's brilliant. It says the life of true holiness is rooted in the soil of ord adoration. Say it again. The life of true holiness is rooted in the soil of all adoration, and that's all adoration of Christ.

See, as I understand Christ, and what he has done and who he is and I realize what he's done for me. Then that should change my life so that I want to obey him and I want to live for him. The thing is the life of false holiness is rooted in the soil of all adoration of self. If you just love yourself that's all there is. So don't love yourself.

Don't begin to yourself. Look at Christ. See what a picture, what a glorious human, what a glorious god man, what a glorious messiah is. Adore him, be in awe of him, and live a life of holiness in response to that. And he pray.

Father we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you that even David realized that his son was gonna be the god man that he would be the 1 who was in very nature man and very nature god. That he was 1 who would come to defeat our greatest enemy of sin and death and satan. And so we pray father that we will understand him that we will truly get a grasp of who he is and that we will live in the light of that. Father help was not to be people that don't get you.

Health was not to be people that live lies for empty praise and for the things of this world. But help us to live for the Lord Jesus Christ with the promise of resurrection future. Praise in Jesus' name, amen.