• If you watch KRBC News in the evening, you will see the lady anchor is Megan Dobbs.
• Megan was a in Jr. High, she was in the youth group where Laura and I were youth counselors and sponsors. We went to First Baptist Church of Forney.
• We took her and a big group of youth to camps, retreats, DiscipleNow weekends, SNAC nights and many other events.
• One of the things I used to do at camps was get a group of youth to go with me to meet other church groups.
• I would invite them to come on an adventure they would never forget.
• We would walk up to people and camp and I would say, “Hey, I know you!”
• They would almost always say, “You do?”
• I would say, “I think so. I can figure it out if I can ask you a question or two. May I?”
• They would sense that this was some kind of mentalist game and almost always say, “Sure.”
• I would ask, “Are you a believer and follower of Jesus Christ?”
• A few times they would say, “Not yet.”
• I would say, “Can I show you how to be?” It was always great for me and the kids to see someone accept Christ right in the streets sidewalks of camp.
• Most of the time, they would say, “Yes, I am.”
• I would follow up with, “I knew I knew you. Let me describe you.
• “You are holy and blameless because you are under the blood of Jesus.
• “You are a prophet/prophetess, a priest/priestess and royalty.
• “You are more than a conqueror.
• “I recognized you because you bear the image of your heavenly Father and your big Brother Jesus Christ.
• “I would recognize Him anywhere.”
• That always produced some interesting conversations.
• I can’t positively remember if Megan ever accepted the invitation to go with us to meet new family members, but I certainly think she could have.
• Do you recognize the Master?
• Do you see His image in your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ?
• In Mark 11:27-33, some very religious people did not recognize the Master.
• But in the story, we can see how we can recognize Him and His hand around us.
Mar 11:27-28 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?"
• It is easy to understand, the day after Jesus had cleansed the temple, that He got there early while they were setting up and was correcting everything being set up improperly.
• He had already cleared what was dishonoring to His Father and true worship.
• You will remember that he even stopped foot traffic the day before.
Mar 11:29-30 Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me."
• John was the first preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• The forerunner of the Messiah.
• It was him who testified to the world who Jesus was.
• Let’s flash back to John’s baptism ministry:
• Joh 1:26-36 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." 35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"
• Back to the moment in Jesus’ life:
• Jesus asks Pharisees and Temple leaders, “Under what authority did John the Baptist operate?”
Mar 11:31-32 And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 32 But shall we say, 'From man'?"--they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.
• Someone hollers, “Huddle up!” So these men get in a huddle to discuss the question..
• One of them says, “We certainly can’t say, ‘John was operating under the authority of heaven,’ or He will say, “Now, how many of you were NOT baptized? How many of you did not listen to Him?”
• Another said, “Well, we certainly cannot say his was an earthly authority because the people who admired John would go crazy on us. We are in a volatile situation already without losing more support.”
Mar 11:33 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
• Some translations read, “We cannot tell you,” which is an accurate translation.
• The truthful answer would be, “We will not tell you.”
• Someone has said, “People who rage against the truth at one time will claim to know everything, and if that fails, will claim to know nothing.”
• I want us to examine three right choices we can make that these refused to make.
I. Recognize your prejudices.
• Clark, “God often hides from the wise and prudent what he reveals unto babes.”
• We have the gospels in our scriptures to show us who Jesus was.
• Yet the Sanheidren could not recognize that in the things they witnessed. Why?
• They only saw how the question (or answer) reflected upon them.
• This is so true with a sinful attitude. It is always about “What does this say about me?”
• I have been in Church work a long time. I have seen disputes, battles, conflicts, rifts, whatever we want to call them.
• They always come down to the question, “what does this say about me. How does this make me look.”
• James points that out about Church conflicts in James 4. “That hurt my feelings. That made me look silly.”
• “How does this situation make me look?”
• In asking that question in the quandaries of life, we miss what God is trying to say.
• How many things in life do we miss because we focus on how something impacts us and not on how it glorifies God.
• Do you realize what these men needed to recognize Jesus, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, in their presence?
• John the Baptist has said, “I must decrease and He must increase.” John 3:30.
• These religious leaders needed to be broken. Life needed to suddenly not be about them, but become about God.
• That is not an easy thing for any of us to do, but it is imperative for Him to receive the glory.
• Ill. At the Royal Palace of Tehran in Iran, you can see one of the most beautiful mosaic works in the world. The ceilings and walls flash like diamonds with multifaceted reflections.
• Originally, when the palace was designed, the architect specified huge sheets of mirrors on the walls. When the first shipment arrived from Paris, they found to their horror that the mirrors were shattered. The contractor threw them in the trash and brought the sad news to the architect.
• Amazingly, the architect ordered all of the broken pieces collected, then smashed them into tiny pieces and glued them to the walls to become a mosaic of silvery, shimmering, mirrored bits of glass.
• Broken to become beautiful! It's possible to turn your scars into stars. It's possible to be better because of the brokenness. It is extremely rare to find in the great museums of the world objects of antiquity that are
• unbroken. Indeed, some of the most precious pieces in the world are only fragments that remain a hallowed reminder of a glorious past.
• Never underestimate God's power to repair and restore. But also never overestimate the importance of you holding yourself together.
• God will not use material that refuses to be broken for His glory.
• I know that sounds harsh and goes counter to the modern gospel of health, wealth and prosperity.
• But that is the gospel message of Jesus Christ and has been.
• That is what these religious status-keepers were stuck in, and caused them to miss a chance at redemption.
• It is not supposed to go your way, to be as you see it.
• God is bigger than you and bigger than how you see things.
• It is not about you, it is about Him, and no matter the cost for us, our goal must be to keep it about Him.
II. Recognize His Power
• These men had seen Jesus do some pretty miraculous thing.
• They were all aware of Lazarus and that Jesus raised him from the dead.
• He had performed many miracles right before their eyes.
• Why was that not enough?
• Perhaps Matthew 12 will tell us what they were thinking.
• Mat 12:22-24 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons."
• When the people saw Jesus perform miracles, they questioned, “Could this be the Messiah, the Son of David?”
• When the religious leaders heard that, they responded, “He gets his power from the devil.”
• They did not recognize God’s voice in Jesus’ life.
• They did not acknowledge God’s hand in His touch.
• Because it did not align with their own self-interests, they had to come up with another explanation.
• In doing so, they denied the power of God.
• It’s amazing to me that an outsider can recognize the power of God at work in a Church before some members can.
• In Matthew 8, a Roman Military officer comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his servant.
• “Say the word and my servant will be healed,” he requested.
• Jesus said, “I will come with you and heal him.
• Mat 8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
• What he was saying was this, “I recognize your authority, and one with such authority really just has to speak and it will be done.”
• Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
• Today, God is asking you if you acknowledge His authority.
• Can life happen as He calls for it, even at an inconvenience for you, or must you insist in having it your own way?
III. Recognize His Providence.
• The approach of Jesus did three things. Silenced them, convicted them, and showed their cowardice.
• He silenced them because they could not come up with a dignified answer.
• It is always difficult to say, “I do not know the answer”, particularly in an area in which you claim expertise.
• These were viewed by others, and certainly viewed themselves, as the expert in spiritual affairs.
• Yet, when asked where John received his authority, they had no answer. They were silenced.
• There is a good and a bad silencing before God.
• This wasn’t the good one, but you can see the good one in the lives of the humble.
• This was the silencing that says, “We have no answer but we are not budging.”
• The other silencing is, “OK, Jesus, I will be quiet and let you speak to this situation.”
• I want you to speak peace into my life, victory into my battles, grace into my attitude, love into my responses and hope into my outlook.
• I am speechless when God begins to teach me about peace, victory, grace, love and hope.
• I pray our speechlessness before God will be in wonder, amazement, and love, not rebellion and stubbornness.
• They were convicted. They were uncomfortable. The truth was twisting inside them, churning their stomachs, raising their heart rates, making beads of sweat to pop up on their foreheads.
• Suddenly, they feel like the heat was turned on; a hot-flash type of thing was going on.
• How do I know that? Because the Spirit of God was active all around Jesus Christ.
• You cannot rage against the truth without hearing that internal testimony of God’s Spirit.
• You will either agree with God about your error and sin or despise the testimony of the truth and resist God.
• But you will be convicted when you stand against pure righteousness represented in Jesus, the Son of God.
• And they showed their cowardice; fearing man more than God.
• They were afraid of what the people would say if they said John was not of God.
• They were afraid of what Jesus would say if they said John was of God.
• They were in a no-win situation.
• Can I tell you a secret? When you resist God in your life, there is no winning position.
• The fears that flood your mind will control you.
• They will mislead you because you have already chosen the wrong path.
• But the great news is this. There is a way to God.
• How can you find the way to God?
• Recognize your prejudices. Recognize what is keeping you from surrendering to the winning Way.
• Recognize His power. Recognize it by placing your trust in Him.
• Recognize His providence: His ability to get to the heart of the matter.
• He has the power to control anything and everything in this life.
• But He loves you enough to honor your dignity and gives you the power of choice.
• Can I show you something about the power of God to accomplish His purpose, even with us having the power to choose our way in this life?
• Php 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
• Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, but the disposition of the worshipers will be drastically different.
• You see, these very religious leaders will bow to Jesus and confess His authority.
• The very ones who said, “Hey, bud, by who’s authority do you do these things. Who under heaven do you think you are?”
• Everyone will bow and confess.
• Some will bow the knee and confess with the tongue in victorious reverence.
• These have recognized their prejudices that held them back, recognized Jesus power and providential control, and surrendered in this life with trust and faith.
• Oh, what a glorious time it will be for us who have chosen to follow Jesus.
• Others, like these, will bow the knee and confess with the tongue when it is too late.
• All doubt will be removed but all opportunity for redemption will be over.
• One has said, everyone will wave a flag in that day.
• Some will wave the flag of victory and celebration.
• Others will wave the flag of defeat and surrender to destruction.
• Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of surrender. Choose Jesus while it is yet day, for the night is coming.
