1
00:00:01,574 --> 00:00:04,955
Alright, let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.

2
00:00:06,275 --> 00:00:18,468
Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before your throne grateful for the day, grateful
for the energy and the abilities that you've given to us, mindful of your word and your

3
00:00:18,468 --> 00:00:21,299
commandments, how you would have us to live.

4
00:00:21,539 --> 00:00:26,940
We pray that we might strive diligently to walk in the light as you were in the light.

5
00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,541
May we follow the example of Christ.

6
00:00:30,785 --> 00:00:47,009
your son and live as he showed us how to live, both in his desire to reach those who are
lost, but also his desire to be obedient to your commands, to speak your word, to do your

7
00:00:47,009 --> 00:00:47,849
will.

8
00:00:47,969 --> 00:00:56,091
Lord, we pray that as we strive to do so when we sin and fall short of your glory, we pray
that you will forgive us of those things.

9
00:00:56,091 --> 00:01:00,242
We pray that we will have a tender heart willing to repent.

10
00:01:00,619 --> 00:01:04,114
All this we ask and pray in Jesus' name, amen.

11
00:01:08,294 --> 00:01:26,086
After Jesus, as the text often describes, cleanses the temple, uh or at least the summary
text, the paragraph headers, describes, uh Jesus cleanses the temple as He has come in

12
00:01:26,086 --> 00:01:29,497
that second day to Jerusalem.

13
00:01:29,718 --> 00:01:38,003
And in the morning, verse 20, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the
roots.

14
00:01:38,013 --> 00:01:45,629
And Peter remembering said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered
away.

15
00:01:45,669 --> 00:01:50,633
So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God.

16
00:01:50,873 --> 00:02:00,641
Before we move on from this, it's significant and worth noting and worth even
reemphasizing.

17
00:02:00,942 --> 00:02:08,205
The primary attribution for what was done was

18
00:02:08,287 --> 00:02:09,187
God.

19
00:02:10,128 --> 00:02:30,414
Jesus tells them, based upon them having witnessed what has occurred, to trust God, to
have confidence in the power, in the ability, in the grandeur and glory of God.

20
00:02:33,022 --> 00:02:39,281
There are so many events in the Old Testament where you have

21
00:02:41,508 --> 00:02:44,980
example after example of people trusting in God.

22
00:02:45,902 --> 00:02:51,886
And God, as a result, acting on behalf of those individuals.

23
00:02:52,567 --> 00:03:09,410
When you look at Noah, and frankly, if you just look at Hebrews chapter 11, and that list,
that hall of faith as it's often called, I mean, here you have people who every

24
00:03:09,410 --> 00:03:11,311
description begins with,

25
00:03:11,337 --> 00:03:12,737
by faith.

26
00:03:13,577 --> 00:03:26,357
That is a testament, yes, to their obedience, but ultimately to their trust that God would
do what God said.

27
00:03:26,917 --> 00:03:39,997
And that's exactly the point that Jesus is trying to get across to these disciples is that
they need to trust that God will do what he has said.

28
00:03:41,629 --> 00:03:48,190
They're going to have to trust that God is going to institute the kingdom.

29
00:03:48,791 --> 00:03:50,811
It's not going to look like it, is it?

30
00:03:51,571 --> 00:03:54,602
In just a few days, Jesus is going to be hanging on a cross.

31
00:03:54,602 --> 00:03:58,273
Is it going to look like God's going to deliver His kingdom?

32
00:03:58,993 --> 00:04:00,833
No, it's not going to look like it.

33
00:04:01,474 --> 00:04:11,236
In just a few days, Jesus is going to be laying in a grave, in a tomb, and it's going to
look like it's all over, that it was all for nothing.

34
00:04:12,942 --> 00:04:25,142
And yet Jesus is reiterating to them, is reminding them, have faith in God.

35
00:04:26,083 --> 00:04:27,624
For us today,

36
00:04:29,232 --> 00:04:42,046
We understand that we live in a different time, we live in a different scenario in regards
to the miraculous gifts, the powers that Jesus had instilled in the lives and the

37
00:04:42,046 --> 00:04:57,188
abilities of the apostles, the promises that were made to them in regards to those things,
but we don't have any lesser promises in regards to His church, in regards to His kingdom.

38
00:04:57,188 --> 00:05:04,632
in regards to what he is doing and how he is active on behalf of his people.

39
00:05:05,913 --> 00:05:19,822
It is a temptation for us to go, well, because the miraculous isn't happening, because we
don't see the events of the text happening in the lives of those around us, therefore,

40
00:05:19,822 --> 00:05:24,200
well, maybe we should just adopt the philosophy of some like

41
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:29,443
uh Some in the 1700s have just decided, well, maybe it's more like deism.

42
00:05:29,443 --> 00:05:35,166
Maybe God's just kind of checked out and he's not really interested in humanity anymore.

43
00:05:35,446 --> 00:05:37,467
He's not actively involved anymore.

44
00:05:37,467 --> 00:05:41,449
He just kind of set everything in motion and then walked away.

45
00:05:42,810 --> 00:05:53,766
And that's just completely in opposition to what the text actually says, to what God has
said

46
00:05:53,766 --> 00:06:06,974
he does, and I believe it one of the pictures if we can draw over from the book of
Revelation is in the time of the book of Revelation you're going to read about all of

47
00:06:06,974 --> 00:06:16,711
these things happening, you're going to read about these judgments, you're going to read
about these things coming to pass, and yet as the visionary language describes God doing

48
00:06:16,711 --> 00:06:19,452
these things to bring about judgment on Rome,

49
00:06:21,436 --> 00:06:33,022
you have to actually step back and realize that the majority of these things are going to
be enacted without a single miraculous event by the hands of someone who's in the church.

50
00:06:34,043 --> 00:06:38,826
These things aren't gonna be enacted because of great spiritual gifts that the Christians
have.

51
00:06:38,826 --> 00:06:45,470
These things are going to be enacted because God has said that He rules in the kingdoms of
men.

52
00:06:46,831 --> 00:06:48,812
And God is going to bring out

53
00:06:48,812 --> 00:06:55,451
the demise of a nation, the judgment of a nation through their own actions.

54
00:06:57,612 --> 00:07:11,478
And so over the course of 200 years of persecution as Rome persecutes the early church,
God says, don't worry, I'm storing it up and I'm going to deliver it on their heads.

55
00:07:13,452 --> 00:07:22,655
And so you have this promise of very vivid, dramatic destruction.

56
00:07:23,436 --> 00:07:33,760
And yet when we go back and look in history, don't see the city being lifted up out of the
ground and tossed into the sea, do we?

57
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:44,938
We don't actually open the books of history and go, look at the day that the sky rained
down hail and all the ten plagues on Rome.

58
00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,074
Yet that's the picture in the book of Revelation.

59
00:07:50,136 --> 00:07:52,459
But at the same time, what do we see?

60
00:07:53,081 --> 00:07:55,646
We see history as a clear testament.

61
00:07:55,646 --> 00:07:57,578
Rome fell from where?

62
00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:00,904
from within.

63
00:08:02,498 --> 00:08:19,647
God brought full and complete judgment and deliverance on a nation on the earth, not with
some great set of miracles as He did in the days of Egypt, but much more like He did in

64
00:08:19,647 --> 00:08:21,309
the days of Babylon.

65
00:08:22,271 --> 00:08:24,052
How did Babylon fall?

66
00:08:30,028 --> 00:08:32,092
Alright, Medes and Persians conquered it.

67
00:08:32,092 --> 00:08:39,805
Now they slowly came through the nation, but the city of Babylon, the capital, fell in how
many days?

68
00:08:41,028 --> 00:08:41,828
One.

69
00:08:42,551 --> 00:08:43,672
Overnight.

70
00:08:45,334 --> 00:08:52,352
What was the only, by all indication of Scripture, only miraculous event tied to the fall
of Babylon?

71
00:08:56,376 --> 00:09:07,080
the handwriting on the wall that was seen on the very night that Babylon fell where God
declared, you've been weighed in the balances and you've been found wanting and this very

72
00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,032
night this nation will fall.

73
00:09:12,842 --> 00:09:24,752
no great miracle that wipes the nation out, no great destruction brought on them, and yet
their destruction have been prophesied.

74
00:09:26,580 --> 00:09:39,869
all the way back at the beginning of the time that the Israelites would go into captivity,
even prior to that point by Habakkuk, even previous to that point by Isaiah, because he's

75
00:09:39,869 --> 00:09:44,492
going to name the Medo-Persian leader that's going to let the Israelites go.

76
00:09:47,458 --> 00:09:52,282
by Jeremiah who says the captivity is going be for 70 years.

77
00:09:53,996 --> 00:09:58,356
And that would not have been true had the Babylonian Empire continued.

78
00:10:00,330 --> 00:10:15,086
So all of these prophetic statements leading to a view that says God is going to enact
complete judgment on a nation and you would think, okay, I'm expecting to see in the text

79
00:10:15,086 --> 00:10:18,547
miracle after miracle after miracle and they're not there.

80
00:10:20,637 --> 00:10:24,057
How does God judge the nation of Babylon with another nation?

81
00:10:26,045 --> 00:10:29,180
with the foolishness of their own leaders.

82
00:10:30,781 --> 00:10:34,576
with the debauchery of their own heads of state.

83
00:10:36,273 --> 00:10:46,821
as they gather together for a drunken feast while there is a siege army outside the wall,
believing themselves untouchable.

84
00:10:48,849 --> 00:11:01,523
And so we are to be reminded that if God could do that, and the only way we know that God
was the one doing all of it is He told us He was.

85
00:11:03,237 --> 00:11:14,927
If you were standing on the outside, somebody who was not an Israelite had no access to
the prophets of Israel, you grew up in Babylon, you knew nothing about Israel or Israel's

86
00:11:14,927 --> 00:11:22,903
God, you had heard nothing about these prophecies, you would have looked at it and it
would have seemed like a completely natural event.

87
00:11:26,246 --> 00:11:27,332
And yet...

88
00:11:29,277 --> 00:11:40,689
God pictures it as the sky falling from heaven in prophetic visionary language, the sky
falling from heaven, the sun being blotted out and turning to blood.

89
00:11:43,505 --> 00:11:48,920
like mountains crumbling and new mountains being created.

90
00:11:49,622 --> 00:11:56,989
This visionary language that says, I'm going to rip the world open and start over again.

91
00:11:57,590 --> 00:12:02,395
And yet, if you're standing on the outside, what do you see?

92
00:12:02,395 --> 00:12:06,319
A nation crumble and fall and a new nation take over.

93
00:12:09,105 --> 00:12:20,757
say all of that to point out, we should not diminish the statement, have faith in God.

94
00:12:23,367 --> 00:12:34,651
Rather, we should be reminded, verse 25, and whenever you stand praying, if you have
anything against anyone, forgive him.

95
00:12:35,692 --> 00:12:39,814
That your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

96
00:12:40,894 --> 00:12:45,376
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

97
00:12:45,376 --> 00:12:47,097
Ask yourself this question.

98
00:12:48,297 --> 00:12:52,847
Much like what Jesus asked when the man was lowered through the roof.

99
00:12:52,847 --> 00:12:56,908
and was told, your sins be forgiven you.

100
00:12:57,828 --> 00:13:07,191
And the Pharisees and those who were there doubted and murmured amongst themselves
internally, who is this that can forgive sins?

101
00:13:07,551 --> 00:13:09,632
And Jesus asked, which is easier?

102
00:13:10,212 --> 00:13:15,113
To tell a man to rise, take up your bed and walk, or to say, your sins be forgiven you.

103
00:13:15,914 --> 00:13:21,147
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,

104
00:13:21,147 --> 00:13:23,629
arise, take up your bed, and walk.

105
00:13:24,730 --> 00:13:30,725
What does Jesus mean by which one is easier and so that you may know?

106
00:13:35,012 --> 00:13:44,318
What's he trying to teach them about the difficulty of one forgiving sins versus another
causing a person to walk?

107
00:13:53,810 --> 00:14:05,236
Okay, you could go through a whole list of prophets in the Old Testament that could have
told someone, arise, take up your bed and walk.

108
00:14:08,211 --> 00:14:17,044
You could have found a number of prophets in the Old Testament who you could say, wow,
look at that, they raised somebody from the dead.

109
00:14:19,350 --> 00:14:24,928
Name one prophet in the Old Testament that could say, your sins be forgiven you.

110
00:14:27,438 --> 00:14:28,400
Zero.

111
00:14:29,289 --> 00:14:32,161
So which one's harder?

112
00:14:33,792 --> 00:14:45,024
in human terms, a rise take of your bed and walk which many could have said throughout
history or your sins be forgiven you which zero could have said throughout history.

113
00:14:47,406 --> 00:14:48,949
Your sins be forgiven you.

114
00:14:49,612 --> 00:14:50,194
Okay?

115
00:14:50,194 --> 00:14:52,278
Now you take that same analogy.

116
00:14:54,872 --> 00:15:02,558
how many prophets of the Old Testament could say to a nation, you're going to fall.

117
00:15:04,214 --> 00:15:10,880
In history, many of them, compared to your sins be forgiven you.

118
00:15:11,762 --> 00:15:12,691
Zero.

119
00:15:14,296 --> 00:15:16,848
Now think about what Jesus has just said.

120
00:15:16,848 --> 00:15:25,455
Jesus has said, verse 23, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be
removed and be cast into the sea.

121
00:15:25,455 --> 00:15:30,438
You say, wait a minute, I don't know that anybody can actually, I've never seen that
happen.

122
00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:40,506
I don't read in the text where any prophet just told a mountain, get up and go get in the
ocean, and it did it.

123
00:15:41,752 --> 00:15:45,075
Yet this is not the only time Jesus uses this analogy.

124
00:15:47,310 --> 00:15:48,910
but consider the point.

125
00:15:48,910 --> 00:15:58,433
says, surely I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the
sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that these things he says will be done,

126
00:15:58,433 --> 00:16:00,534
he will have whatever he says.

127
00:16:00,534 --> 00:16:07,756
Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will
receive them and you will have them.

128
00:16:07,756 --> 00:16:17,338
Before he tells them, whenever you stand to pray, if you have anything against another,
forgive him, he says,

129
00:16:17,696 --> 00:16:19,117
Ask for this great thing.

130
00:16:19,117 --> 00:16:20,372
God will do it.

131
00:16:22,276 --> 00:16:25,513
But remember, which is the harder thing?

132
00:16:26,216 --> 00:16:30,806
Forgiveness or doing something prophets could do?

133
00:16:33,130 --> 00:16:45,735
His point and the value of what you're getting here is Jesus is saying, trust God because
both of them are the same difficulty in His ability.

134
00:16:46,995 --> 00:16:54,298
You pray for someone to be forgiven or you pray for forgiveness, God has the ability to
this.

135
00:16:55,913 --> 00:16:57,678
And yet no man does.

136
00:16:59,188 --> 00:17:01,647
No man has the ability to do that.

137
00:17:03,817 --> 00:17:05,961
You pray for a mountain to be moved?

138
00:17:07,265 --> 00:17:11,183
If you're going to trust God that He can forgive sins, you better trust Him that He can
move the mountain.

139
00:17:13,513 --> 00:17:19,215
Now, you can certainly apply this spiritually and metaphorically.

140
00:17:19,215 --> 00:17:30,158
Are there going to be many mountains in the way of the kingdom and its initial creation
and growth and coming to fruition in the first century?

141
00:17:30,858 --> 00:17:35,299
Yeah, there's going to be nations that are opposed to it.

142
00:17:35,539 --> 00:17:38,720
There are going to be kings that are opposed to it.

143
00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,651
There are going to be people hunting them down.

144
00:17:41,779 --> 00:17:46,994
dragging them out of houses, throwing them in prison, threatening their lives.

145
00:17:47,475 --> 00:17:50,418
Those are some serious mountains.

146
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:53,801
Are there any of them God doesn't deal with?

147
00:17:55,163 --> 00:17:57,135
No, none.

148
00:17:58,633 --> 00:17:59,834
his point.

149
00:18:01,781 --> 00:18:05,981
is they need to trust God.

150
00:18:06,121 --> 00:18:16,621
Verse 27, then they came again to Jerusalem and as he was talking or walking in the temple
the chief priests, the scribes and the elders came to him and they said to him, what

151
00:18:16,621 --> 00:18:23,757
authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority to do these things?

152
00:18:26,492 --> 00:18:33,299
You've just run a whole bunch of people who were operating under our authority out of the
temple.

153
00:18:35,091 --> 00:18:40,403
You've just done all of these things and who gave you this authority?

154
00:18:41,993 --> 00:18:44,374
Who said you were allowed to do this?

155
00:18:46,163 --> 00:18:50,218
Jesus answered and said, I also will ask you one question.

156
00:18:50,540 --> 00:18:55,466
Then answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

157
00:18:55,707 --> 00:18:58,991
The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?

158
00:18:59,492 --> 00:19:00,463
Answer me.

159
00:19:02,815 --> 00:19:04,959
Someone comes to you and says,

160
00:19:06,601 --> 00:19:08,163
You shouldn't be doing this.

161
00:19:09,225 --> 00:19:15,554
But the thing you're doing is completely in accordance with the will and the commands of
God.

162
00:19:16,036 --> 00:19:17,478
Should you be doing it?

163
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,451
Absolutely.

164
00:19:20,981 --> 00:19:27,195
But also remember that you don't have to give an answer to everybody who wants an answer.

165
00:19:28,937 --> 00:19:40,829
Peter reminds us to be ready always to give an answer to him that asks a reason of the
hope that is in us, but he doesn't say answer everybody's questions.

166
00:19:42,397 --> 00:19:46,600
He says you be equipped and prepared to answer.

167
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,283
He doesn't say answer all the questions.

168
00:19:51,764 --> 00:19:58,528
Jesus says I'll answer you if you answer me my question first.

169
00:19:59,269 --> 00:20:00,830
Baptism of John.

170
00:20:01,030 --> 00:20:03,551
Was it from heaven or from men?

171
00:20:04,092 --> 00:20:11,377
They reason among themselves saying if we say from heaven he will say why then did you not
believe him?

172
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:19,740
But if we say from men, they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a
prophet indeed.

173
00:20:20,402 --> 00:20:23,425
So they answered and said to Jesus, we do not know.

174
00:20:23,827 --> 00:20:28,483
And Jesus answered and said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I did these
things.

175
00:20:33,871 --> 00:20:39,790
Did John operate under the authority of the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the
chief priests?

176
00:20:40,661 --> 00:20:41,507
No.

177
00:20:43,129 --> 00:20:45,365
When John came preaching, where did he preach?

178
00:20:45,365 --> 00:20:46,348
In the temple?

179
00:20:48,026 --> 00:20:49,280
In the wilderness.

180
00:20:51,429 --> 00:20:55,832
But unlike those who came to the temple, all Israel came out to hear John.

181
00:20:57,905 --> 00:21:00,506
So Jesus just asked a simple question.

182
00:21:02,008 --> 00:21:06,271
John commanded baptism.

183
00:21:07,533 --> 00:21:13,858
John commanded, repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is in hand.

184
00:21:14,999 --> 00:21:17,521
And all Jesus wants to know is,

185
00:21:19,301 --> 00:21:22,187
from whose authority was the command for baptism?

186
00:21:26,543 --> 00:21:28,649
And they know they only have two options.

187
00:21:30,971 --> 00:21:33,825
God or not God!

188
00:21:34,287 --> 00:21:35,769
Those are the options.

189
00:21:36,031 --> 00:21:37,813
God or not God!

190
00:21:40,965 --> 00:21:45,508
Have you ever considered the interesting point

191
00:21:47,653 --> 00:21:58,883
that when it comes to a religious command, there are all of the commands we must obey that
originate with God, and then there's everything else?

192
00:22:03,237 --> 00:22:11,703
When someone argues that we should do something because of religious tradition.

193
00:22:12,404 --> 00:22:17,628
When someone argues that we should do something because that's how we've always done it.

194
00:22:18,489 --> 00:22:29,237
When someone argues that we should do something because some great scholar or theologian
or preacher said this is how it's to be done.

195
00:22:31,333 --> 00:22:42,337
when someone argues that some teacher in a theological school or even a school of
preaching says this is how it should be done therefore we should do it that way.

196
00:22:44,911 --> 00:22:49,410
we should take our minds back to this question of Jesus.

197
00:22:51,855 --> 00:22:53,266
baptism of John.

198
00:22:54,228 --> 00:22:55,789
Where did it originate?

199
00:22:56,210 --> 00:22:59,113
From heaven or from men?

200
00:23:01,701 --> 00:23:14,659
because the moment they answer from heaven, what do they know about admitting the source
of the authority?

201
00:23:18,033 --> 00:23:20,696
They're now a meanable little command.

202
00:23:22,307 --> 00:23:32,417
Yet when the scribes, the Pharisees, and others came out to John where John was preaching,
you remember how John greeted them?

203
00:23:34,817 --> 00:23:42,000
You brood of vipers who commanded you to be saved from the judgment to come?

204
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,490
Sean said, I'm not preaching to save you.

205
00:23:49,706 --> 00:23:54,298
because you won't actually obey God.

206
00:23:55,140 --> 00:23:57,442
They would do it for a show.

207
00:23:57,922 --> 00:24:00,424
They would do it to be seen of men.

208
00:24:00,665 --> 00:24:10,982
They would do it to have the perception of being righteous, but they weren't about to do
it because they actually obeyed and believed the commandment of God.

209
00:24:13,334 --> 00:24:17,915
So they didn't do it at all, because John wasn't about to allow them to do it.

210
00:24:19,712 --> 00:24:30,466
So they reason, wait a minute, if we say the authority and the source of the authority was
God, nobody's gonna ask.

211
00:24:31,589 --> 00:24:34,682
If you knew where the authority came from, why didn't you believe him?

212
00:24:36,926 --> 00:24:41,284
If you knew where the command originated, why didn't you obey it?

213
00:24:43,594 --> 00:24:45,949
So let's turn the question on us.

214
00:24:47,698 --> 00:24:57,182
if in a matter of religion, in a matter of doctrine, in a matter of worship, we can open
up the text and go, all right, well that's what God said.

215
00:25:00,586 --> 00:25:10,565
then the question is, are we going to be like the chief priests and go, but I'm not going
to obey it because I don't like it.

216
00:25:11,367 --> 00:25:12,847
I don't agree with it.

217
00:25:13,248 --> 00:25:15,230
I don't think it's necessary.

218
00:25:15,330 --> 00:25:17,692
I don't think that's the only way to do it.

219
00:25:18,353 --> 00:25:21,586
I don't think we need to be that legalistic.

220
00:25:23,124 --> 00:25:26,408
Jesus is pretty legalistic with this question, isn't he?

221
00:25:27,050 --> 00:25:29,072
He gives you two options.

222
00:25:29,294 --> 00:25:31,336
Is it from heaven or from men?

223
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,806
Because if it's from men, and the chief priests know it.

224
00:25:38,380 --> 00:25:40,161
there's no authority there.

225
00:25:41,103 --> 00:25:55,996
As a matter of fact, if it's commanded exclusively by men and not from God, it makes John
a false prophet.

226
00:25:58,090 --> 00:26:00,169
And now they're afraid for their lives.

227
00:26:02,732 --> 00:26:09,172
because the people consider John to be a true prophet.

228
00:26:12,972 --> 00:26:14,109
So what do they do?

229
00:26:17,696 --> 00:26:21,735
They do what most doctrinally backbone-less people do.

230
00:26:23,392 --> 00:26:26,672
They go, oh, we can't tell.

231
00:26:31,453 --> 00:26:33,441
It's a really hard question.

232
00:26:33,909 --> 00:26:34,911
Really?

233
00:26:36,778 --> 00:26:40,858
You've only got, you've got a 50-50 chance.

234
00:26:41,181 --> 00:26:42,884
Take a shot at it.

235
00:26:47,182 --> 00:26:55,055
except the problem is when you build a foundation of power on lies

236
00:26:57,113 --> 00:27:00,821
It only takes one truth to disassemble all that power.

237
00:27:03,791 --> 00:27:20,085
And so people fight and wiggle their way out of situations to avoid telling one simple
truth because the simplest truth destroys a mountain of lies.

238
00:27:22,587 --> 00:27:35,981
There's a reason why the religious world fights so voraciously against baptism as being
necessary for the remission of sins.

239
00:27:38,233 --> 00:27:52,695
And it's because if you give in to that one authoritative source and command, you wipe out
a thousand years of false doctrine.

240
00:27:55,619 --> 00:28:02,059
and authorities in religious structures in denominations across the globe.

241
00:28:05,103 --> 00:28:10,879
And when you threaten power, people will lie to defend their power.

242
00:28:13,763 --> 00:28:15,933
It's important to realize.

243
00:28:18,545 --> 00:28:24,105
that that wasn't new a thousand years after the church was created.

244
00:28:24,767 --> 00:28:31,169
That was going on even before the church was established with the baptism of John.

245
00:28:33,895 --> 00:28:38,073
A simple command, be baptized for the mission of sins.

246
00:28:39,687 --> 00:28:45,427
was fought against by the chief priests, by the elders for a reason.

247
00:28:45,427 --> 00:28:49,027
It denied their authority.

248
00:28:51,820 --> 00:28:56,078
It denied their teachings and doctrines.

249
00:28:58,565 --> 00:28:59,843
And it still does.

250
00:29:02,491 --> 00:29:05,755
They answered and said to Jesus, we do not know.

251
00:29:07,098 --> 00:29:08,589
Were they telling the truth?

252
00:29:10,279 --> 00:29:13,698
Yeah, they weren't telling the truth.

253
00:29:15,835 --> 00:29:19,199
They were just simply unwilling to answer the question.

254
00:29:20,482 --> 00:29:22,284
But he only gave them two options.

255
00:29:22,284 --> 00:29:26,289
So they said, well, can't accept A and I can't accept B.

256
00:29:26,510 --> 00:29:27,871
I'll take C.

257
00:29:29,054 --> 00:29:30,275
I'm ignorant.

258
00:29:32,084 --> 00:29:36,434
I'm more willing to look stupid, but I'm not willing to lose power.

259
00:29:37,077 --> 00:29:38,219
Or my life.

260
00:29:41,595 --> 00:29:42,615
Jesus, go ahead.

261
00:29:42,615 --> 00:29:47,482
Was it ignorant or was it just the I'm not going to give you an answer?

262
00:29:48,164 --> 00:29:52,890
Well, they would appear ignorant from the people because the people knew.

263
00:29:58,468 --> 00:30:03,448
No, they're willing to appear ignorant because ignorance doesn't harm them.

264
00:30:03,588 --> 00:30:06,408
They're willing to lie and say, don't know.

265
00:30:06,828 --> 00:30:11,748
Because by saying we don't know, they don't have to pick one choice or the other.

266
00:30:11,748 --> 00:30:20,108
They don't have to claim amenability to the command, and they simultaneously don't have to
inflame the people against them for denying that John was a prophet.

267
00:30:30,305 --> 00:30:40,158
So, you know, sometimes generals get their army out to battle and things are not going
well.

268
00:30:40,798 --> 00:30:47,380
And they realize, well, I can go this way and I'll kill off my army.

269
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,581
Or I'll go this way or kill off my army.

270
00:30:49,581 --> 00:30:52,021
Or we can retreat and we can try another day.

271
00:30:53,522 --> 00:30:54,998
And that's essentially what they're doing.

272
00:30:54,998 --> 00:30:56,233
They're like, let's back up.

273
00:30:56,233 --> 00:30:57,523
Let's try this again.

274
00:30:59,459 --> 00:31:03,710
because they're not done arguing with Jesus' authority.

275
00:31:05,431 --> 00:31:08,112
But they're not going in this one.

276
00:31:11,708 --> 00:31:15,898
as we mentioned before about not answering every question.

277
00:31:18,869 --> 00:31:32,194
It is important to realize that sometimes the greatest power you have to answer the
question is by not answering the question.

278
00:31:33,155 --> 00:31:40,283
Because the question is framed to cause you to look as though you have no answer.

279
00:31:41,993 --> 00:31:55,647
If Jesus had said the authority is from God concerning his driving the people out of the
temple, they could have argued, show us the proof, do another miracle, give us another

280
00:31:55,647 --> 00:31:59,488
sign, show us that you are who you claim you are.

281
00:31:59,488 --> 00:32:00,768
He didn't do that.

282
00:32:01,409 --> 00:32:09,131
He defeats their position by forcing them to defend their position.

283
00:32:11,201 --> 00:32:14,335
by asking them a very basic simple question.

284
00:32:15,278 --> 00:32:16,799
Whose authority is this?

285
00:32:17,221 --> 00:32:19,073
If you can tell me, I'll tell you.

286
00:32:21,239 --> 00:32:22,493
They said, We do not know.

287
00:32:22,493 --> 00:32:26,965
Jesus answered and said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these
things.

288
00:32:29,891 --> 00:32:43,591
If you are not capable of determining the authority of John, who all the people could
determine the authority of John, that's why they were afraid of him.

289
00:32:44,031 --> 00:32:47,031
That's why they were afraid of the people, to say he wasn't a prophet.

290
00:32:47,031 --> 00:32:51,531
All the people had it figured out, but they couldn't figure this out.

291
00:32:51,531 --> 00:32:51,971
This is fine.

292
00:32:51,971 --> 00:32:55,911
If you can't figure this one out, then I'm not going to tell you whose authority I have.

293
00:32:58,487 --> 00:33:00,869
Then he began to speak to them in parables.

294
00:33:01,670 --> 00:33:08,415
A man planted a vineyard, set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat, and built a
tower.

295
00:33:08,456 --> 00:33:12,619
And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country.

296
00:33:12,700 --> 00:33:21,907
Now at vintage time he sent a servant to the vine dressers that he might receive some of
the fruit of the vineyard from the vine dressers.

297
00:33:21,988 --> 00:33:26,131
And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed.

298
00:33:26,373 --> 00:33:36,025
Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head,
and sent him away shamefully treated.

299
00:33:36,145 --> 00:33:44,507
And again he sent another, and him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing
some.

300
00:33:44,668 --> 00:33:54,910
Therefore, still having one son his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, They
will respect my son.

301
00:33:55,282 --> 00:33:59,806
But those vine dressers said among themselves, This is the heir.

302
00:33:59,806 --> 00:34:04,529
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.

303
00:34:04,710 --> 00:34:09,333
So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

304
00:34:09,333 --> 00:34:12,596
Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do?

305
00:34:12,596 --> 00:34:17,820
He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others.

306
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:22,223
Have you not even read this scripture?

307
00:34:22,484 --> 00:34:25,404
The stone which the builders rejected.

308
00:34:25,404 --> 00:34:28,117
has become the chief cornerstone.

309
00:34:28,238 --> 00:34:35,006
This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

310
00:34:37,028 --> 00:34:41,904
Jesus begins teaching the people.

311
00:34:42,866 --> 00:34:51,768
During the last week of Jesus' life, Jesus will go out of Jerusalem at night, Jesus will
come in, He will begin teaching in the temple.

312
00:34:54,278 --> 00:35:07,352
Jesus presents a parable, the parable of the vineyard owner who plants the vineyard, then
leaves for a long journey, and sends back his servant to do what?

313
00:35:09,468 --> 00:35:11,557
What's this servant supposed to do?

314
00:35:13,832 --> 00:35:14,622
What?

315
00:35:15,862 --> 00:35:16,705
All right.

316
00:35:16,886 --> 00:35:23,974
Collect the benefit from the vineyard.

317
00:35:25,928 --> 00:35:27,310
Who's vineyard was it?

318
00:35:29,534 --> 00:35:30,692
and your donors.

319
00:35:32,648 --> 00:35:37,870
who was being paid to take care of it.

320
00:35:41,182 --> 00:35:44,069
All right, the servants.

321
00:35:45,790 --> 00:35:51,718
But what did the servants come to think about the vineyard?

322
00:35:54,482 --> 00:35:55,663
that it was theirs.

323
00:36:00,530 --> 00:36:07,474
Now, don't separate, I know we had a chapter break, ignore that.

324
00:36:08,175 --> 00:36:13,978
Don't separate this parable from that fig tree.

325
00:36:16,892 --> 00:36:20,784
What was the problem with the fig tree?

326
00:36:24,026 --> 00:36:28,795
looked like it ought to have fruit, but it was bear.

327
00:36:31,620 --> 00:36:33,171
Here's the vineyard owner.

328
00:36:33,171 --> 00:36:35,592
Has the vineyard produced fruit?

329
00:36:36,693 --> 00:36:39,794
But is any of the fruit getting back to the owner?

330
00:36:40,235 --> 00:36:41,275
No.

331
00:36:42,216 --> 00:36:43,356
Why?

332
00:36:44,077 --> 00:36:51,521
It's all being hoarded by the people who are the servants, supposedly, of the vineyard
owner.

333
00:36:51,941 --> 00:36:58,785
The caretakers, the stewards of the vineyard owner and of the vineyard.

334
00:37:00,115 --> 00:37:03,658
are stealing what belongs to the owner.

335
00:37:05,923 --> 00:37:06,674
Now.

336
00:37:08,779 --> 00:37:21,067
Jesus presents the scenario and says, here's the person who has the vineyard, here's what
he does, here's all the work he puts into it, here's all the preparations that he gives

337
00:37:21,067 --> 00:37:27,901
for it, he puts it in the hand of somebody, all they have to do is not mess it up.

338
00:37:30,037 --> 00:37:33,277
and it's going to produce fruit.

339
00:37:35,743 --> 00:37:51,325
And yet, instead of it producing fruit for the owner, every time the owner tries to get
any value out of it, the stewards come in, intercept it, and do more damage.

340
00:37:54,093 --> 00:38:06,679
to the owner by beating the servants and progressively working up to killing the servants
that are sent to get the owner's portion.

341
00:38:09,347 --> 00:38:10,417
question.

342
00:38:11,820 --> 00:38:20,607
In the scenario, does the owner insist that the stewards should never have received any
benefit from the vineyard?

343
00:38:21,349 --> 00:38:22,209
No.

344
00:38:22,590 --> 00:38:28,976
Does the owner seek to get all the proceeds from the vineyard?

345
00:38:29,457 --> 00:38:30,317
No.

346
00:38:32,819 --> 00:38:40,759
The vineyard owner is providing for the livelihood of the caretakers.

347
00:38:42,483 --> 00:38:47,609
And in return, they're stealing everything that belongs to him.

348
00:38:51,351 --> 00:38:59,384
So Jesus presents this and says, so the vineyard owner says, I have a son.

349
00:39:02,531 --> 00:39:05,716
Surely they will respect my son.

350
00:39:07,447 --> 00:39:18,893
The thing we have to be careful about with parables is they illustrate a single particular
point.

351
00:39:20,579 --> 00:39:33,761
But that does not mean that we are to take a lesson or create a point-to-point equivalent
with every detail of a parable.

352
00:39:35,935 --> 00:39:38,407
It doesn't mean there's not significance there.

353
00:39:38,407 --> 00:39:55,120
It means that you should not assume that because the vineyard owner, obviously who is a
parallel to who, God, who sent prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet to a

354
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:56,901
nation, Israel.

355
00:39:58,807 --> 00:40:11,173
whose leaders, whose teachers, whose priests, and whose false prophets have rejected God's
messengers, defied God's messengers, killed God's messengers.

356
00:40:12,970 --> 00:40:23,921
You should not now assume that God, as premillennialists do, that God is now ignorant of
what Israel and its leaders are going to do to His Son.

357
00:40:27,177 --> 00:40:38,492
that God was somehow confused and thought Israel would accept his son and that Jesus would
come and establish his kingdom on the earth and everything would be great, except that's

358
00:40:38,492 --> 00:40:43,067
never what God said he was going to do and that's certainly not Jesus' point.

359
00:40:45,191 --> 00:40:56,609
Jesus is not emphasizing that God somehow had the wool pulled over His eyes concerning His
Son any more than God had the wool pulled over His eyes concerning His prophets.

360
00:40:59,113 --> 00:41:01,915
Go back in your mind to the days of Jeremiah.

361
00:41:02,576 --> 00:41:07,041
In Jeremiah chapter 1, God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet.

362
00:41:07,041 --> 00:41:09,062
Jeremiah is a young man.

363
00:41:09,323 --> 00:41:19,332
God tells Jeremiah, I'm going to send you to my people, you're going to deliver my
message, whatever I put in my mouth you're going to say to my people and they're not going

364
00:41:19,332 --> 00:41:20,673
to hear you.

365
00:41:24,691 --> 00:41:31,829
God wasn't confused about Israel's rejection of His Word or His prophets or His
messengers?

366
00:41:34,309 --> 00:41:36,190
back to the days of Moses.

367
00:41:37,352 --> 00:41:47,463
Israel comes out of Egypt, they get to Sinai, they've been grumbling along the way, they
continue grumbling all the way till they get to the land of Palestine and they're about to

368
00:41:47,463 --> 00:41:53,649
go into the land, and when they finally decide they're going to reject God entirely, who
do they decide they're going to kill?

369
00:41:56,393 --> 00:42:01,382
Moses and Aaron, let's kill those guys and let's go back to Egypt.

370
00:42:03,509 --> 00:42:13,776
From generation one until the first century, there was no confusion about Israel's
rejection of God.

371
00:42:15,268 --> 00:42:29,999
there would be times Israel would come back, but those were anomalies in a people entirely
given over to following leaders who would tell them to reject God, and they'd listen.

372
00:42:32,371 --> 00:42:37,811
So here you have a picture of God saying, I'll send my son.

373
00:42:38,354 --> 00:42:40,297
They will respect my son.

374
00:42:42,421 --> 00:42:47,813
But the vine dressers said among themselves, this is the heir, come let us kill him.

375
00:42:49,653 --> 00:42:56,569
Does that phraseology bring to mind any Old Testament events?

376
00:43:01,237 --> 00:43:02,641
Joseph's Brothers.

377
00:43:06,357 --> 00:43:10,457
We went back as far as Moses for Generation 1 of Israel.

378
00:43:12,201 --> 00:43:17,949
but Jesus' parable really draws to mind the forefathers.

379
00:43:19,881 --> 00:43:28,635
the ones who saw the, at the time, only son of Jacob through Rachel.

380
00:43:30,321 --> 00:43:34,815
and said, come, let us kill him.

381
00:43:37,838 --> 00:43:52,735
And Jesus, through His statement, draws out that their rejection of God and their
rejection of His authority has been from the days of their fathers and the fathers of

382
00:43:52,735 --> 00:43:55,336
their tribes all the way till now.

383
00:43:59,396 --> 00:44:03,998
He says, this is the heir, come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours.

384
00:44:04,338 --> 00:44:09,020
So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

385
00:44:09,020 --> 00:44:17,904
Now how do we know these are not just because the parable is not a true full parallel to
reality?

386
00:44:19,748 --> 00:44:21,468
Was Jesus killed in vineyard?

387
00:44:22,689 --> 00:44:27,451
No, Jesus was uh hung on Golgotha.

388
00:44:28,292 --> 00:44:31,253
Jesus was hung on a cross.

389
00:44:31,773 --> 00:44:35,895
They did not then cast him out of the vineyard, right?

390
00:44:35,895 --> 00:44:37,215
They buried him.

391
00:44:37,996 --> 00:44:47,100
Not a point for point parallel with reality, rather an object lesson with significant
emphasis.

392
00:44:47,100 --> 00:44:48,310
Yes, Walker.

393
00:44:49,430 --> 00:44:50,981
that it's about consistency.

394
00:44:50,981 --> 00:44:57,477
You could even go a little further from the idea of vine dresser or it being in a vineyard
to, well okay what if Jerusalem is the vineyard?

395
00:44:57,477 --> 00:44:59,949
He was still killed outside of Jerusalem.

396
00:45:01,871 --> 00:45:05,715
So verse 9, therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?

397
00:45:05,715 --> 00:45:16,694
The whole significance of the parable is not all about the events leading up to it, it's
about the question Jesus asked.

398
00:45:18,402 --> 00:45:23,867
What will the vineyard owner do?

399
00:45:26,062 --> 00:45:32,974
He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others.

400
00:45:36,312 --> 00:45:46,416
Jesus is applying in parable form the prophecy of Isaiah about the chief cornerstone.

401
00:45:47,597 --> 00:45:54,900
Jesus is saying that which was spoken is going to come true.

402
00:45:55,020 --> 00:45:59,152
Sorry, the prophecy from Psalms, Psalm 118.

403
00:45:59,802 --> 00:46:05,014
And what God has spoken, He's going to fulfill.

404
00:46:06,786 --> 00:46:12,334
And so as they will enact their own demise.

405
00:46:14,070 --> 00:46:17,335
as they will enact their own destruction.

406
00:46:17,335 --> 00:46:22,102
I want to draw back one point that we made at the beginning.

407
00:46:24,900 --> 00:46:27,882
Jesus is going to prophesy the fall of Jerusalem.

408
00:46:28,963 --> 00:46:33,146
The Old Testament is going to prophesy the destruction of the Israelite nation.

409
00:46:33,848 --> 00:46:38,491
The Old Testament is going to prophesy the destruction of the Jews.

410
00:46:39,152 --> 00:46:44,596
Jesus is going to give them the signs leading up to the event of the fall of Jerusalem.

411
00:46:46,404 --> 00:46:52,500
But with what miracles is God going to bring about the destruction of Jerusalem?

412
00:46:56,915 --> 00:46:58,149
How's going to it?

413
00:46:59,913 --> 00:47:16,081
He's going to Titus's army, Roman general, son of Caesar, and they're going to besiege the
city, and then they're going to go into the city, and then they're going to dismantle the

414
00:47:16,081 --> 00:47:20,357
city, and they're going to dismantle the temple.

415
00:47:22,023 --> 00:47:33,253
And when they do, Jesus will have said almost 37 years before that, it's God doing it.

416
00:47:35,189 --> 00:47:38,801
So we're reminded, have faith in God.

417
00:47:39,542 --> 00:47:48,688
For we do not know how He will do what He will do, but we do know this, He will carry out
His will.

418
00:47:49,179 --> 00:47:51,070
All right, thank you for your attention.