“When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?’ And they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From man,” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’” [1]
What is amazing about the passage before us this day is the exposure of the rank hypocrisy embraced by many of the religious leaders even when they witnessed the power of the Son of God. What I mean by this startling statement is that these religious leaders recognised Jesus’ authority, but they were unwilling to acknowledge His authority! They were fully aware that Jesus repeatedly demonstrated His right to demand their fealty; but they would not give Him their loyalty, because should they do so it would mean that they would need to surrender their pretension of holding power. The religious leaders would be exposed before the people as frauds if they didn’t continue insisting that they were the powerbrokers for Israel. What happened, therefore, is that these religious leaders chose to live a lie—a lie that they knew would condemn them as traitors to righteousness—rather than honour the God Whom they professed to serve! And what was true of those religious leaders in that distant day holds true for a tragic number of religious leaders to this very day.
I’m not condemning all religious leaders; nevertheless, it is tragically true that religious hypocrisy is sufficiently widespread that one could almost be persuaded that all religious leaders are contaminated to a greater extent than any of us would care to admit. As a follower of the Christ, I accept that Muslim imams, Buddhist monks, and Hindu priests are generally hypocritical even if they do not intend to be hypocritical; but what they are is of no particular concern to me. I am concerned about the conduct of Christian leaders. Professed Christian leaders, presumed spokesmen for the Faith, especially professed Christian leaders who demonstrate themselves to be hypocritical false teachers, are an immediate concern to me. Far too many of us who claim to speak on behalf of the Risen Saviour struggle to live consistently with what is written in the Word. And in a mistaken effort to be gracious, we often give cover to wicked deceivers who demean the Faith of Christ the Lord and turn many from following the Righteous Lord of Glory.
What I mean by this is that we who are behind the sacred desk often excuse religious frauds, or worse still, we ignore those same fraudulent charlatans. Our cowardice, our negligence, our failure to provide oversight to those who depend upon us leads unwary parishioners to give credence to the religious charlatans.
THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY — “When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority’” [MATTHEW 21:23]? Those associated with this world imagine they can demand that the righteous answer them. By demanding that the one following the Master answer them, the worldling is attempting to assert their authority, which they suppose they possess.
It wasn’t just the fact that Jesus was teaching, especially that He was teaching in the Temple, but it was the totality of events leading up to Him teaching in the Temple! It was bad enough in the eyes of these religious leaders that this rude Galilean dared teach as though He was a rabbi, but to do this in the Temple was simply the final straw. There had been all those other events as the tension built over the past several years. The pressure had grown until the legitimate religious leaders had to do something.
What events had irritated these men so much? Well, let’s look at the record to discover what was going on. Jesus hadn’t merely travelled to Jerusalem; He had dared enter the city as though He was a king! And the people were stirred as He came into the city. Levi records this event in this way. “When [Jesus and His disciples] drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord needs them,” and he will send them at once.’ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
‘Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” ‘
“The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee’” [MATTHEW 21:1-11].
It was bad enough that the crowds were excited at this humble entry, but when some of the Pharisees demanded that He make the crowd be quiet, He gently rebuked them. He, a rude Galilean, the son of a carpenter, a man whom many of them considered to be illegitimate [see JOHN 8:41], dared ignore cultured and educated Pharisees and their scribes! Here’s the account as Luke recorded it. “As he was drawing near … the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” [LUKE 19:37-40].
For certain, that didn’t set well with these Pharisees. He didn’t recognise their authority to dictate how people responded to their presence. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there had been the incident when he ran businessmen authorised by the Pharisees and Sadducees to conduct their business out of the Temple. People coming to worship from all over the Empire couldn’t bring sheep or oxen, or even doves with them for sacrifice. Thus, there was a lively trade in providing animals for sacrifice. It was all legitimate and approved by the religious leaders. It was a service to the worshippers. But that didn’t seem to matter to Jesus when He came to the Temple that day.
Levi tells the story concisely, writing, “Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers’” [MATTHEW 21:12-13].
Peter’s version of events, related by Mark, fills in some of the action. Mark writes, “[Jesus] entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?” But you have made it a den of robbers.’ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching” [MARK 11:15-18].
You better believe that the religious leaders wanted to kill Him! All that restrained them at that time was their fear of the crowds. Even as He was driving the merchants out of the House of the Lord, He was telling everyone within earshot the reason for His action! They were desecrating the House of God! They were turning the Temple into a bazaar, into a mall.
I wonder whether the entire incident might have blown over had the people not responded as they did. Levi tells us, “The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them” [MATTHEW 21:14]. Even then, the religious leaders might have refrained from saying anything, except for what was taking place as Jesus was healing those who came to Him. As Jesus healed people, there were children crying out in the Temple! Children! Imagine! They were praising God, just as though they were adults! Again, Levi records, “When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant, and they said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise?”’”
[MATTHEW 21:15-16]
This was getting to be too much! He not only drove the merchants from the Temple precincts, but He allowed children to praise God. I mean, what can a child know about God and about the Messiah? And this Galilean not only wouldn’t silence the children, but He didn’t acknowledge the authority of the Sadducees or of the Pharisees! He didn’t recognise any authority except for His own. And who could know where He presumed to obtain the authority He claimed for Himself!
Perhaps the worldling imagines he or she has obtained authority through dint of their own physical prowess, or through extensive schooling, or through family connections. The chances are quite high that the one wielding the authority they claim to possess hasn't given much thought to the reason they hold the position they hold. There is a phenomenon that is observed among politicians in which they begin with a claim to represent those who elected them. As time passes, these same politicians begin to delight in the authority they have, forgetting why they occupy the office they hold. Whereas at first they sought to serve others, they begin to crave power, authority over others.
Something like that occurs even in churches. Pastors can fall into the trap of thinking they have real authority over members. Deacons can seize authority that was never meant for one who is appointed to be a servant. I recall a gifted young man who told me that though he had trained for ministry he had no desire to pastor or to teach. His statement to me was that he wanted to stay in the shadows and make things happen. He wanted to be a power broker directing the congregation to fulfil his will. I responded to his expressed desire, “The only thing in the dark are cockroaches and worms. Which will you be?”
You may recall another incident when a mere mortal attempted to challenge the Master concerning authority. Here is the account as recorded by John. “Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to [the Jews], ‘See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.’ The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin’” [JOHN 19:1-11].
Scope in on Pilate’s assertion as the Son of God stood before him. “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Now, listen to the clear statement Jesus presented to that empty boast: “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” The authorities of this dying world receive whatever authority they may possess from Him Who rules over all and Who overrules all. Magistrates, governors, prime ministers, presidents—all are permitted to serve by the Living God. Those who imagine themselves to hold authority need to be reminded that they serve at the pleasure of God Who gives authority. They must always be humble, knowing that they ultimately serve God and not their own ego.
Authority! Here is the responsibility with which we who follow Christ are charged, as written by Paul. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” [ROMANS 13:1].
The Apostle continued providing instruction as he addressed the responsibility of those who govern, those holding earthly authority. “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” [ROMANS 13:2-4].
Those who govern, those who hold authority in this world, must know that though they have power to enforce their will, they are responsible before God Who gives authority to do good. Those in authority are to promote what is good, and to punish that which is evil. It does seem quite often that those who govern have forgotten why they are appointed to the office they occupy. Much of what they claim to be good is devastating to people who are simply trying to live, while many actions that are evil are actively encouraged. Evil is allowed to grow while righteousness is suppressed far too often.
The responsibility to recognise God’s appointment to authority for us as Christians is iterated when the Apostle writes Titus, commanding him, “Remind [those whom you instruct] to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work” [TITUS 3:1].
This necessary teaching is repeated by the Apostle to the Jews, who has written, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” [1 PETER 2:13-16].
To be sure, we who follow the Saviour must recognise the authority of those who rule on earth—this is a biblical command. However, the authority of earthly rulers does not extend into the sacred precincts of the Faith. We must never permit the authority of mere mortals intrude into the Faith of Christ the Lord. The earthly rulers, whether Prime Ministers, or Premiers, or Mayors, must realise that they have no authority over the Faith. Though we will be careful to meet standards of safety for our buildings, and even seek to obey governmental safety regulations when preparing the communal meals we may enjoy from time-to-time, there can be no yielding to the authorities of this world about whether we can meet, or how we govern ourselves as a congregation, or how we will conduct worship. Our standard is the Bible and not the ruminations of mere mortals who must answer to the Living God. Like Moses before Pharaoh, we must be free to serve the Lord according to His command and not at the sufferance of governors. Those who hold authority in this world must not set themselves in opposition to the Faith of Christ Jesus.
ANSWERING THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY — “Jesus answered [the chief priests and the elders], ‘I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?’ And they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From man,” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet’” [MATTHEW 21:24-26].
Some would dismiss Jesus’ response to these religious leaders as mere sophistry, as artful evasion of the question. However, He forcefully met the religious leaders’ demand for Him to state His authority by exposing them as incapable of assessing the validity of His authority should it be announced. With His response, He was compelling them to recognise that they did not even have the authority to challenge Him about what He did in the House of the Lord. Jesus was breaking no law by teaching the Word of God, though He was definitely challenging the traditions of mere men.
Jesus had already been confronted about tradition—more than once. Confronting Him about the tradition demanded by religious leaders was tantamount to challenging Him about authority. You will recall there was an earlier encounter when the religious elite confronted Jesus, incensed because His disciples were not paying proper homage to the “tradition of the elders.” The religious leaders were relentless in assailing Jesus and His disciples; they were intent on destroying His image in the minds of the people coming to Him. We looked at this incident in detail in an earlier message. [2] The religious leaders had not only exalted tradition above the commands of God, but they were insisting that everyone must align with them in honouring the tradition they had made up.
At the moment detailed in our text for this message, the esteem of the common people was growing at what the religious leaders would have thought to be alarming. That earlier confrontation that I alluded to had arisen because Jesus’ disciples were failing to give appropriate honour to the rules that were created by the religious leaders. Let’s read the account as it would have been related by Peter and recorded by Mark.
“When the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ And he said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.’
“And he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother;” and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.” But you say, “If a man tells his father or his mother, ‘Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’” (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do” [MARK 7:1-13].
For the religious leaders, tradition took precedence over the Word of the Lord. Their rules, made up and adopted through years of thoughtless use, were encrusted with a patina of respectability through long years of use. These paragons of religious tradition were ruthless in stifling anyone who failed to agree one hundred percent with their view. When officers sent by these leaders to arrest Jesus failed to seize Him, reporting instead, “No one ever spoke like this man” [see JOHN 7:46], the religious leaders, aghast, barked out, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed” [JOHN 7:47-49].
The more the religious leaders opposed Jesus, the more His fame grew. At last, they were about to despair, so they began to say, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him” [JOHN 12:19]. This provides a background for understanding why the religious leaders had grown so aggressive when Jesus was teaching in the Temple. His popularity had grown so much that they had to do something to sully His Name in the estimate of the people. Hence, the attack on His authority.
However, carefully note how the Master handled this attack against His Person. Jesus simply exposed the perfidy of these religious leaders, asking them to explain their understanding of the ministry of the Forerunner. Here’s the question Jesus posed: “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man” [MATTHEW 21:25a]? They had witnessed John’s ministry as had all Judea. After all, we are informed, “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to [John], and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” [MATTHEW 3:5-6].
Wanting to get ahead of any potential religious event, the religious leaders decided that they should be baptised by the Baptist. Thus, we read, “When [John] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire’” [MATTHEW 3:7-12].
Boy, howdy, John had their number! And they couldn’t even argue with him because he was so popular with the crowds. Those Pharisees and those Sadducees just had to take it. And now Jesus was making them face the same issue all over again. What was more, they were the reason they were now faced with this problem. If they hadn’t tried to embarrass Jesus by demanding that He tell them where He obtained His authority the issue would never have arisen. But they did ask, and now they were squirming.
The problem the religious leaders faced when Jesus answered them wouldn’t have been immediately apparent to many people, but the question He asked began to probe the innermost corners of their hearts. And these religious leaders instantly understood the peril they were facing. They reasoned with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet” [MATTHEW 21:25b-26].
Their reasoning reveals that these religious leaders recognised the validity of Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. The issue was not that they didn’t know who Jesus was, the issue for them was that they refused to accept Him as the Anointed One of God. Accepting Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah would have meant the destruction of all the traditions that the religious establishment had erected throughout the centuries, traditions that stood between the people and God, traditions that compelled people to come to the religious establishment if they wanted to approach God. Accepting Jesus as the promised Messiah would mean the loss of their authority as religious leaders. To admit that John’s baptism was given by God would mean that they believed he was the forerunner sent to announce the coming of God’s Messiah. The alternative to openly acknowledging the validity of the mission of the Baptist was to fan the flames leading to widespread rebellion against the religious establishment, which would be the result of denying the validity of John and his message calling for preparing for Messiah’s unveiling.
Remember how the religious leaders had questioned John when he first appeared? In the fourth Gospel we read, “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.’
“(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, ‘Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie’” [JOHN 1:19-27].
The condition of religion in Judea in the days of Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t terribly dissimilar from the state of religion in this day. There were true believers, and many people who longed for Messiah to reign. Today, there are many who worship the Risen Saviour, longing for Him to reign in their hearts. In Judean religious culture in the days when Jesus of Nazareth walked the dusty trails of Judea declaring the message calling people to repentance, the religious regime had erected barriers that forced people to honour the establishment if they wanted to draw near to God. These fences were designed to funnel people toward compliance rather than setting them free to know God personally. Often, contemporary churches have erected fences to keep people from God, forcing them into paths where they can be controlled by the religious hierarchy.
Exposure as religious frauds? Or endure the wrath of the people? The religious elite faced an unenviable choice. The religious leaders were trapped by their own refusal to believe the Messiah and by their own cowardice. They were trapped between a rock and a hard place. There was no escape for them. They would have to whiffle.
THE IMPASSE — “[The chief priests and the elders] answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things’” [MATTHEW 21:27]. Fearing exposure, the religious leaders would not answer Jesus’ challenge. They understood the consequences of their answer, and any answer they might provide would compel them to position themselves, leading to potential exposure that they were fraudulent or that they were uncaring.
The chief priests and the elders made the best of a bad situation—they confessed, “We don’t know.” But they weren’t fooling anyone, especially the Lord Who knows the heart. They gave an agnostic answer, much like the common response people give to this day when questions concerning their understanding of God and their relationship to Him make them uncomfortable. If they are truthful, they know there is a God, but they imagine that they can put off the inevitable by ignoring Him. In effect, they are saying, “We don’t know if there is a God. We don’t know if He will in fact judge us. We do the best we can and hope for the best. Maybe God will weigh my good deeds against my bad deeds, and all the good I’ve done will surely outweigh the bad I may have done.”
Now that is living in a fantasy world. However, it is a rather common sentiment when people do speak of relationships with the True and Living God. I suspect that for most people, the Lord God is thought of as a distant entity that is unconcerned with them. However, the prevailing perception is far removed from the revelation given in Scripture.
God is holy. Because He is holy, He cannot accept sinful people into His presence. For a sinner to come into the presence of the Living God, atonement must be made for that sinful individual. A covering for sin must be provided. And God has provided just such a perfect covering by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful man, so that He might present His life as a sacrifice for sin. That Son Who was sent is Jesus. God’s Word testifies, “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” [ROMANS 8:3-4].
Elsewhere, we witness the instruction delivered to followers of Christ concerning how they are to view their life. In the Letter to Christians in Philippi, the Apostle wrote, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” [PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11].
The sacrifice of Jesus, God’s own Son, was not a spur of the moment decision by the Father, but centuries before His birth, the Spirit of God, speaking through Isaiah, said,
“He was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
[ISAIAH 53:5-6]
It was as though God was detailing how the sacrifice of His Servant would be performed.
This sacrifice was required because you and I could never do enough good deeds to induce God to even consider that we might be worthy of His acceptance. We understand that we are flawed, we are broken, we are ruined by the sin of our first parents. This is the reason we read in Scripture, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [ROMANS 3:23]. We are helpless, and we need One Who is able to rescue us from our own fallen condition. What we could not do, God has done for us.
This is the promise we have received when the Lord God tells us in His Word, “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [ROMANS 5:6-8].
If the Lord has provided a sacrifice, the only reasonable response to that knowledge is to ask how we may avail ourselves of what God has done. Again, the answer to that eminently reasonable query is provided when we read in the Word of God, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9-10].
There is nothing profound in what I have just presented. It is likely that you have heard this before, perhaps in a church service, or perhaps from a friend who was concerned about your eternal welfare, or perhaps from a godly mother or a father who prayed for your salvation. However you may have heard of this sacrifice God offers, we would urge you to receive the gift of life God offers to any who will receive it. Scripture promises, “[The Son of God] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” [HEBREWS 9:26-28].
The message concludes with a plea for you to cease dismissing the Christ through claiming not to know Who He is. He is Jesus, the Son of God—born of a virgin, raised as an obedient son to a carpenter. He walked among men, healed the sick and raised the dead, strengthened withered hands and enabled crippled legs to again bear weight, gave sight to the blind and restored the ability to speak to silent tongues. I’m talking about Jesus. His Name stands for life for the spiritually dead, health to the diseased mind, and full pardon to sinners labouring under the sentence of death. That’s my Saviour, my King, my Master; and He is willing to be your Master. The Father has given Him all authority to save, to judge, to reign. We can testify that our Saviour will always keep His Word, when He promises, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. Receive His promise today. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Michael Stark, “Wrong About Religion,” Sermon, 1 December 2024, Wrong About Religion Sermon by Michael Stark, Mark 7:1-13 - SermonCentral.com, accessed 13 December 2024
