Bible Chapel of Shawnee  
May 19th, 2019￼Life of Jesus series
 
How to Guarantee You'll Never See the Truth
 
**Rhetorical theme**: How to Guarantee You'll Never See the Truth
 
**Full theme**: We can guarantee we'll never fully see the truth by maintaining pride and fearing men.
 
1. Introduction
    
    1. Continue the Life of Christ series
    2. As others have said, getting into the last days and hours of Christ--His last words to some groups of people
    3. Context
        
        1. Triumphal entry
        2. Entered the temple and cleaned it out, then went back out of the city
        3. Cursed the fig tree
        4. Re-entered the temple and taught the people
        5. Was confronted by chief priests, elders, Pharisees and Sadduccees
            
            1. Questioning His authority
            2. Parable of the two sons
            3. Parable of the landowner
            4. Parable of the marriage feast
            5. Question about tribute to Caesar
            6. Question about resurrection
            7. Question of the greatest commandment
        6. Eight woes: tremendous condemnation of the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees
        7. Leaves the temple
        8. Judas' betrayal, arrest, judgement, sentencing and crucifixion
    4. What starts this final series of challenges is our passage today
      
    
    _Read 21:23-27_
     3. Why the question?
    
    1. From the immediate context
        
        1. Recent events might prompt anyone to ask the question
            
            1. Triumphal entry
            2. Temple cleansing
            3. Received praise from the people
        2. Religious authorities would need to ask the question
          
        
        _[Illustration: if someone knocked on your door, demanding to come in and search your house, you would have the right to ask the same thing. What authority do you have to search my house? Who gave you this authority? If it turned out the man was a police officer (showing you his badge) you would know he was demanding to search your house by the authority of his position as police officer. If he then showed you search warrant, you would know a judge gave him that authority.]_
        
          
        
    2. From the broader context
        
        1. More to the story, of course
        2. Pharisees, scribes, chief priests so far
            
            1. Matt. 9:3 - **accused** Jesus of blaspheming when He forgave the paralytic from his sins
            2. Matt. 9:11 - **questioned** Him eating with tax collectors and sinners
            3. Matt. 9:34, 12:24 - accused Him of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons
            4. Matt. 12:2 - **accused** his disciples of breaking the law of the Sabbath when they picked and ate heads of grain
            5. Matt. 12:14 - **conspired** to destroy Him after He healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath
            6. Matt. 12:38, 16:1 - **asked** for a sign (despite all the miracles they personally witnessed)
            7. Matt. 15:1 - **accused** Jesus' disciples of breaking the tradition of the elders when they didn't wash their hands--which may have been their only true accusation
            8. Matt. 19:3 - **tested** Him with a question about divorce
            9. Matt. 21:15 - became **indignant** when they saw what He did upon entering Jerusalem (wonderful things, receiving praise from children)
          
        
        _[Illustration: now our illustration doesn't seem to match the scenario so well. You would be justified to demand the credentials of the man at your door if you didn't know him. But, it would be a completely different story if you knew the man at your door very well. So, to be more accurate in the illustration, we'd have to say that this was the police officer who rescued your cat from a tree last week, caught the man who stole your wife's purse a month ago, pulled you over for speeding yesterday, investigated the break-in of your car last year and waved at your every time he drove by while you were mowing your lawn.]_
        
          
        
    3. Why the question?
        
        1. Clear it was most likely not from good motives
        2. Most likely: undermine Jesus' popularity in the minds of the people
            
            1. As in many previous encounters
            2. Setting: Jesus teaching people (people around)
    4. Application
        
        1. Most frightening about the religious leaders?
            
            1. So deceived and blinded: didn't see their own Messiah
            2. Would they have believed you if you told them they would reject and kill their own Messiah?
        2. Lots of similarities between us and religious leaders
            
            1. Have the Scripture
            2. Lots of time has passed since God last spoke
            3. Lots of man-made institutions built up
        3. How do we keep from landing in the same mess? Talk about it with the last point… 
_==>_  
_Transition: Seems clear that Jesus would be justified in simply sending them away! Why counter with a question about John? Why not skip right to the woes at the end of ch. 23?_  
_==>_
 7. Why the response?
    
    1. Grace - giving them another chance
        
        1. Even though they were not honest
        2. Even though it was His last days/hours to be with His disciples
        3. Religious leaders' last chance to change course
            
            1. Chapters 21-23 in the temple, answering questions, teaching
            2. Chapters 24-25 answer disciples questions about end times
            3. Chapters 26-27 last supper, Judas betrays, Jesus goes to the cross
        4. Bringing them back to the beginning: John
            
            1. John's ministry was done
            2. The fruit of it could be clearly seen and evaluated
            3. If they could see John truthfully (the forerunner to the Messiah), they would have to conclude Jesus was the Messiah
              
            
            _[Illustration: Let's say you're a math teacher teaching multiplication. Your students challenge you on why they should trust you that this multiplication stuff really works. You might ask them, "Well, your teacher last year taught you addition. Was his teaching correct or not?" If they didn't trust their last teacher who prepared them before you for your class, how would they trust you? Jesus was doing the same thing. John and Jesus' authority came from the same source. John taught the truth, preparing the people for Jesus. If they didn't believe John, why would they believe Him?]_
            
              
            
    2. Exposing their hypocrisy to themselves
        
        1. The way they had to reason with themselves
        2. An opportunity to realize how ridiculous it was that they couldn't honestly answer a simple question that the "simple" people had figured out long ago
    3. Application
        
        1. Not be afraid to approach the Lord with honest questions
        2. For dishonest men, He:
            
            1. Heard them
            2. Gave them a chance to hear an answer
            3. Gave them an opportunity to honestly reflect on themselves
        3. How much more for an honest man? 
_==>_  
_Transition: It was clear to so many people at the time that John was a prophet. And now that some time had past, there was even more opportunity to see the fruits of his ministry and his disciples and see whether his message and baptism was from God or not. So why did they have to reason it out? Why wasn't the answer obvious?_  
_==>_
 11. Why the reasoning?
    
    1. Two halves
        
        1. Unwilling to be corrected
        2. Fearful of men
    2. Amazing arrogance
        
        1. Jesus says: John's baptism was from heaven
        2. People say: John's a prophet
        3. We say: there's no way we believe John
    3. Why the reasoning? They had no interest in the truth.
        
        1. If they had been interested, they could have said either answer
            
            1. Heaven or men
            2. Jesus would have answered either way
        2. Would have cost them something
            
            1. If from heaven: exposed to have failed to believe John
            2. If from men: lost stature with the people
            3. Wasn't it worth knowing the Messiah?
    4. Application
        
        1. Make the simple realization: the religious leaders were hindered from understanding truth because they refused to humble themselves
            
            1. See the conversion of John's disciples (tax collectors and prostitutes!), they still refused to believe
            2. Seeing all the miracles of Jesus, they refused to believe He was the Messiah
            3. Given an opportunity to hear truth from Christ, they refused to humble themselves and admit they did not believe John
        2. Be willing to be perceived as foolish by some when we are confronted with having been wrong 13. Conclusion
    
    1. Beginning of a series of challenges and tests
    2. Looked at three questions about the passage
        
        1. Why the question?
        2. Why the response?
        3. Why the reasoning?
    3. We saw:
        
        1. The blindness of the religious leaders, refusing to recognize their Messiah right before them
        2. The grace of the Lord to offer one last avenue of opportunity to believe, change course
        3. The true motive of the religious leaders
            
            1. Maintain their pride
            2. Maintain their standing among men
        4. Which lead to the truth being hidden from them
    4. We can be challenged to always be willing be humbled or risk the same fate of never perceiving the truth