Christ The Cornerstone — Luke 20

0:01 Alright. Good morning. So good to be here. Amen? Amen.

0:07 Yes. We could be at home sleeping and enjoying the rain and cuddling and all that kind of stuff, but instead, here we are, ready to hear the word of God. Open your Bibles to Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20. I would like to express my word of gratitude to all of you for your kind words, for the calls, the emails, everything that you did when my man...

0:39 My mom passed away. I really appreciate it. Thank you for your kindness and your generosity as well. Okay. Luke chapter 20.

0:51 Last week, it was a Sunday, and Sunday's when he had the triumphal entry. He was on a donkey, and and they were saying Hosanna to the king who's coming in. And that... And on Monday is when he cleansed the temple. And so today, we're starting on Tuesday morning.

1:11 So this Tuesday, as we read this, so you can kind of get your head situated, this is Tuesday. This is also the last day that he publicly spoken in the temple. From there on, he went to speaking just to his disciples and to other people, and that's where we go into John, where he goes into the upper room and and and all that. Okay. So having said that, let's go ahead and and let's read.

1:36 We're gonna just read the first six verses. Then from there, we'll read the next part, but I wanna look at this first. And we're gonna basically look at three questions because the portion that I'm covering today covers three questions. So here comes the first one. So let's let's begin to read.

1:54 And it came about, Luke 20 and verse one. It came about one of the days while he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel that the chief priest and the scribes with the elders confronted him. And they spoke saying to him, tell us by what authority you are doing these things or who is the one who gave you this authority? And he answered and he said to them, I shall also ask you a question and you tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? And they reasoned among themselves saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why did you not believe him?

2:45 But if we say from men, all the people will stone us to death for they were convinced that John was a prophet. All right. So the first question is a very simple one. Who gave you the authority to do what you're doing? To do what?

3:01 Well, the the day before he had cleansed the temple. And he was also taking liberty of going to the temple in the outer courts and teaching. And there was an audience there, and so when they asked him this question, he's speaking to an audience, and they're all listening, and they want to hear the answer as well. And I want to start out quickly just by quoting MacDonald because I like what he said. To them, that is to the chief priests, which are the temple officials, the scribes, teachers of the law, were the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the elders may have been community leaders involved in politics.

3:40 Either way, they were elders who represented the people. Alright. So here's what they they wanted to know. According to McDonald, to them, Jesus was a rude carpenter of Nazareth. He had little formal education, no academic degrees, no accreditation by an ecclesiastical body.

3:59 What were his credentials? Who gave him the authority to teach and preach to others? And they wanted to know. And who gave him the authority to go in and cleanse the temple? Now the funny thing about it is when he was doing that, nobody stopped him.

4:16 Ain't that interesting? You know, there was temple police, and the priest, had total authority and control over the temple. And yet when he was doing all this, no one could stop him. Ain't that interesting? Alright.

4:56 Well, believe it or not, this is another one of those questions that the way they answer also determine their eternal destiny. Well, what do you mean by that? Because it revealed their unbelief. So when Jesus asked this question, he was asking it for two reasons. First of all, he he wasn't gonna answer their question as who gave you the authority.

5:18 He probably just didn't feel like answering it. But secondly, to reveal their heart. To reveal their heart. Now, notice the question and how specific and how they reason among themselves in verse three... Verse five.

5:33 And they reason among themselves saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why did you not believe him? Now, how does this come to this conclusion that if they say that the preaching of John the Baptist was from heaven, what does that have to do with not believing him? Because if you remember, if you go back and look at the early parts of all the gospels, you'll see that John the Baptist was preaching, and what was he preaching? He was the forerunner. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

6:08 And he was saying, this is the Messiah. He's the one that was promised. He was the forerunner. And as a consequence, many people, when they heard it, they believed him. And what did they do?

6:20 They were being baptized. Now when they were being baptized, they were saying to everyone, I agree with the message of John the Baptist, that Jesus is the Messiah, that the kingdom of God has come to us through Jesus Christ. And so basically, what they were saying by being baptized is I agree with your message, I believe it, and I repent. That's why John the Baptist said, show evidence that you truly did repent. Remember all that?

6:48 Right. So when he said, was it from God? And if they were to say it was from God, then the obvious thing is, well, then if it was from God, why didn't you believe him? How do we know they didn't believe him? Because they didn't get baptized.

7:05 Now getting baptized meant that they were agreeing with the message. And because they didn't, they were basically saying to all the public who was getting baptized, we don't believe this message. We don't believe the Messiah. That's that's what they were saying. And so John the Baptist is saying, he's finally here.

7:24 The Messiah is here, the promised one. And they wouldn't repent. They didn't agree with the message. And then followed up with that came, and if we say that it was from men, the people get angry and they'll actually stone us because they really revered, they really respected John the Baptist. And so they said, well, we can't say it was from men because then we're gonna end up getting murdered.

7:48 And so we don't wanna go there, and we can't say it was from God because then they're gonna say, well, then why don't you believe him? And so they couldn't answer. And Jesus, of course, said, well, I'm not gonna answer you either. Now, this is important because then he leads into a parable, and this parable has to do with this question and the way they responded. And and I want you to notice it.

8:23 God the? God the father. Very good. God the father is the man who planted the vineyard. And who are the renters or here, let me see, I believe he calls them something different.

8:35 The vine growers or the renters. Who were the vine growers or renter? Who were they? They were the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders whom he's talking to. Right?

8:46 And who were the slaves? They were the the prophets. Very good. So this is important that we go over this. Right?

8:53 They were the prophets. They were prophets. And who's the beloved son? Everybody should get this one right. Jesus Christ.

9:00 Right? Very good. He's Jesus Christ. And... Alright.

9:03 So it's pretty much this is it. And notice that it says that, let us kill him. Alright. So let's read it. And this all has to do with the same thing of the question.

9:17 Right? Who was John the Baptist? Was his preaching from God or from man? Now notice what he says, a man, he gave him a parable. Oh, yeah, let me slow down.

9:30 Look at verse 19. Now when you read a book, you're not supposed to say the conclusion, it's because then you kind of spoil it. But in this case, I think it's important that I spoil it for you. Look at verse 19. And the scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him that very hour, and they feared the people for they understood that he spoke this parable against them.

9:58 Alright, so as we read this parable, understand that he's talking about the chief priests and the scribes and the elders who were rejecting him, they understood that it was about them. Now normally when he says a parable, they wouldn't understand it. Right? Remember that? Only the Christians would understand it.

10:16 And when he said a parable, many times he explained what it meant. Now in this case, everybody understood it. So it's kind of unusual. Alright, so let's read it. He began to tell them, verse nine, to tell the people a parable.

10:33 Now remember, when when he's speaking, he was talking to the audience, then the chief priest, the scribes, and the elders came and they interrupted him and they said, who gave you this authority? And so the people are still listening as this conversation is going on. A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to the vine growers, the bad guys, right, and went on a journey for a long time. And at the harvest time, he sent a slave to the vine growers in order that they might give him some of the produce of the vineyard. But the vine growers beat him and sent him away empty handed.

11:13 And he proceeded to send another slave, another prophet, another preacher. And they beat him also and treated him shamefully. And he sent him away empty handed. And he proceeded to send a third, and this one also they wounded and cast out. Verse 13, and the owner of the vineyard said, God the father said, what shall I do?

11:37 I will send my beloved son, Jesus Christ, perhaps they will respect him. But when the vine growers saw him, they reasoned with one another saying, this is the heir. Let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours. So they are basically rejecting the heir, rejecting the son, the Lord Jesus. Verse 15, and they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

12:10 What therefore would the owner of the vineyard do to them? Now the audience was listening to this and they're probably coming to a natural conclusion that the owner of the vineyard should punish them, cast them out. Notice verse 19. He will come, God the father, and destroy those vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it...

12:43 Now who's the they? Who's the they? Remember, he's addressing the audience, but who's the they? The chief priest, the scribes and the elders. Basically, included the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

12:58 All of the religious leadership, all of the political leadership, and even some of their community leaders. And when they heard it, they said, not the audience, but these men, may it never be. Alright. So so as they're listening to Jesus unfold this parable, this story, which he was such an expert at, telling stories, he he says they... I mean, they understood it, and they said, what do you mean he's gonna take away the vineyard and give it to someone else?

13:31 No way, may never be. Don't even think about it. But notice though, that they threw him out, they rejected the son, and they killed him. Pretty much the story of the leadership when Jesus Christ came. They rejected him from the beginning, and no amount of evidence was gonna change their heart.

13:52 And they threw him out, and they killed him. They didn't have anything to do with Jesus. Now he's gonna give the vineyard to others. Who's he gonna give the vineyard to? Who's he gonna give the vineyard to?

14:05 He's gonna give it to the local church. The New Testament church, the believers in Jesus Christ, they became the heirs because they rejected it. This included all nations. And the renters, of course, may never mean. What do you mean?

14:23 You're gonna give it away to someone else. It belongs to us, to the Jewish people. Now verse 20, notice how interesting. But he looked at them, at these men, and what then is this that is written? And then he comes out to and he quotes Psalm 118 and verse 22.

15:01 And then the master builder would then go to the stones and said, no, not this one. Throw it out. No, not that one. Not that one. And then finally, he says, Oh, this will be a perfect cornerstone.

15:13 Now, cornerstone, the whole building depended on the cornerstone. And so it had to be perfect, and it had to be the select one. And once they did, everything would have to be level, and it would be... Everything would rely on the cornerstone. You couldn't build the building correctly if the cornerstone was not right.

15:36 But a week and a half ago, Roger was putting some talent for me. And he says, oh, the first row, I'm have to make some adjustments to make it level. And it took him longer to fix it and adjust it. He goes, the bottom is not level, so I had to fix it. Because if I don't, by the time I get to three feet, you're going to notice the flaws.

15:58 So the cornerstone is key. Having the foundation straight from the beginning is important. Now, we have to understand what he's trying to teach here. Jesus Christ was the father's selection. He is the one.

16:14 He's the Messiah. He's the cornerstone. He's the most important piece to the believer. To the believer, he's the chosen one. He's the Messiah.

16:24 He's our all in all. Without him, our life, it's only a matter of time. Your life starts to go crooked, and it shows up with time. It shows up with time. He's the one.

16:37 He's the cornerstone. And so notice what he's the stone which the builders rejected. But notice what he's saying, though. The builders, which is the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, they rejected it. But God the fellow is saying, but this is the cornerstone.

16:55 This is the one I picked. He is the Messiah. They're like, no, we don't want him. We don't want him. And they rejected him.

17:03 So as he's quoting this Psalm, he says, but notice though, but this became the chief cornerstone. You rejected him, but he's the most important stone of all. He's the chief cornerstone. And so to the believer, Jesus Christ is our cornerstone. Doesn't the Bible teach that?

17:25 Look at look at Ephesians chapter two. Look at Ephesians chapter two. And notice what it says And verse 19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, because remember, he took away the vineyard and he gave it to others. You're no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints.

17:53 That's Christian. Every believer is a saint. And are of God's household. Having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. There it is.

18:07 There it is. And so what God did was temporary set aside his plan for Israel. And he, right now, is working through the local church, through New Testament church composed of all true believers, and the cornerstone of all true believers is Jesus Christ. Amen? That's right.

18:32 Amen. He is our cornerstone. To the believer, he's our lord and savior. He's the only savior, the object of praise. Now go back to Luke.

18:46 So you rejected him, but he became the chief cornerstone. The main thing for every believer, the object of our praise and love. Now look at verse 18. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. Wow.

19:22 He can't be the only one. I reject him. Then Jesus is gonna fall on him on judgment day and crush him like dust. Wow. And it's gonna come.

19:36 The day's gonna come when everyone will stand before Jesus. Why did you reject me? Why did you push me away? I was indeed the chief cornerstone, the Messiah. And noticing that they understood this completely, the men...

19:53 So verse 19, now it makes more sense. Let's read it. And the scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him that very hour, and they feared the people. In other words, they understood what he was saying. You rejected me, I'm gonna crush you in the future.

20:08 I'm gonna fall on you, and you're gonna be judged for having rejected me. They understood they got mad. I'm gonna give it to someone else because you're rejecting me. And boy, they wanted to just get hold of them right there, and they feared the people because they knew they would stone them. They would stone them because they they they had great respect not only for John the Baptist but for Jesus.

20:30 And notice the fact... The the the plot thickens. Notice verse 20. And they watched him, and they sent spies to pretend to be righteous in order that they may catch him in some statement so as to deliver him up to the rule and the authority of the governor. Can you imagine?

20:52 Man, like, as if he was some kind of a criminal or a murderer. And so they're watching him, and they're sending spies. And then I want you to notice verse 21. Please don't miss this. And they questioned him saying, so they come up with a with a nice little plan, teacher.

21:12 I want you to notice three things that they say about him. We know that you speak and teach correctly, and that you are not partial to any but teach the way of god in truth. So, notice that you can say the right things about Jesus Christ and yet be his enemy. You can say the right things about him. You can even be here right now.

21:38 And say, oh, yeah. I've heard about Jesus and say all these nice things about him, but you can still be his enemy. Now notice the three things they say. We know you speak and teach correctly. Wow.

21:51 That that's a great acknowledgment. We know you're not partial to any. God doesn't care if you're rich or poor, black or white, educated, uneducated, everybody is valuable in his eyes and look at what they're saying. And then and then thirdly, you teach the way of God and truth. You you teach the truth.

22:13 You teach us the way of God. Now you would assume then if somebody says these three these three things that they would be believers. This is so true, but their words were dripping with truth but full of sarcasm. Their words were flattering words, but they were fake as can be. Their words were from their lips, yet their heart was far from Jesus.

22:42 Well, have you acknowledged him as your lord and savior? Is he your cornerstone? Now the next question is about, should we pay taxes? And basically, Jesus says, yeah, you should pay taxes. Alright.

22:55 Third question. Let's go to the third question. That was easy. Right? That was easy.

23:02 Pay taxes. Now, I I say it sounds funny to you, but some guy told me, well, know, I'm a Christian now. We belong to the kingdom of heaven, so I don't think I'm gonna pay taxes. They're like, alright. Go ahead, dude.

23:12 They're gonna take everything away from you, put you in jail. Pay your taxes. Don't come up with that to try to make an excuse for not paying your taxes. I have to pay them, so do you. Alright.

23:42 The Sadducees were the were the left wing liberals. Right? Everything goes. They didn't believe in resurrection. They didn't believe in angels.

23:50 They didn't believe in miracles. And that's why they were sad. You see? Have you ever heard that one? I heard that one, like, twenty years ago for, I think, John MacArthur preached or somebody.

24:01 But... Anyway, who said there's no resurrection, it's important to see that the text clears that up. Gives gives us that clarity. Now notice, and they question him saying, teacher, and they come up with this ridiculous story, and it's indeed ridiculous. There were seven brothers.

24:20 Each one had the wife. Whose is she when when they die in heaven? It's like, oh, come on. You couldn't come up with a goofier story. I mean, something more ridiculous than this.

24:32 And so verse 32, finally, the woman died also in the resurrection. Therefore, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had her as a wife? Now, first of all, they're being hypocrites because they don't even believe in the resurrection. Right?

24:49 And so, like, alright, very good Sadducees. Nice one. I mean, you can just see the... How fake they are and how they're just trying to trap them. So in the resurrection, whose wife is she?

25:29 But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age, heaven, and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels. Now notice please because there's a big theology going on right now that when someone dies, they become an angel. You do not become an angel. You don't want to do that.

25:56 That would be lowering your standard. We're going to be above the angels. We're going to become like the angels and that we'll be spiritual beings, but you will not become an angel. So so much for earning your wings and stuff like that. So neither can they die anymore.

26:14 Verse 36, but they're they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush where he calls the lord, the god of Abraham, and the god of Isaac, and the god of Jacob. Now, he is not the god of the dead but of the living for all live to him. And some of the scribes answered and said, teacher, you have spoken well. For they did not have courage to question him any longer about anything.

26:54 So let's notice a couple of things about the future. First of all, there is going to be no marriage in heaven. Now for those who have a miserable marriage, they're saying, amen, hallelujah. Right? Yes.

27:07 Thank you, Lord. Now for those who have a good marriage, saying, oh no, are you serious? There's going be no marriage in heaven? No, there's not. There's not going to be marriage in heaven.

27:16 That is just a thing from now on earth. It's it's for for now. So it has nothing to do with heaven. It's something that God created just for the... Our time on earth and these physical bodies that are staying with sin, unfortunately.

27:34 So in the resurrection, so there is a resurrection. They neither marry nor are given in marriage. Now what is what is the point of marriage? You know, when you get married, you get to know someone more than anyone else knows you. Right?

27:50 So no one knows me better than my wife. And if you are honest, we we hide things and we cover things up from each other. But in heaven, there'll be nothing to hide. There'll be nothing to hide. So in heaven, with our glorified bodies being spiritual beings, there will be, it'll be deeper than marriage.

28:19 But even better in that, there'll be an open relationship, and we never have to apologize or fix things because there'll be nothing to hide because there'll be no sin. It'll be a perfect relationship. You never have to apologize. So that we're gonna get to know each other without the necessity of marriage because that's not gonna be necessary anymore. I can get to know you with no interference, no interruption.

28:44 I don't need that vehicle in order for me to get to know someone deeply and profoundly. Wow, so it's going to be better. Right, now don't get sad. This is a good thing. It is better, it's not worse.

28:59 Right? So they're going to be immortal also. There'll be no more death. Now, this is beautiful to me because my mom just passed away. Right?

29:10 And so she's up in heaven with, and soon her her new glorified body will be up to match it, to go up there with her. But I can know for sure that she's never gonna die anymore because you don't die in heaven. We're eternal beings. Right? And so it's better.

29:30 It's better. Some people tell me, Why don't you all sack of your mom? Because she's better. She got promoted. She's not suffering anymore.

29:39 She's not worrying about sin and all the effects of it and taking medications and having those deformed feet that she had. Praise God. So heaven is better. Why? Because we're gonna...

29:51 We're not gonna die anymore. We're gonna be spiritual beings like the angels that don't die. They're spiritual beings. We're not gonna need to procreate anymore. We're gonna get to know each other better.

30:03 We're not gonna have anything to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. It's going to be deeper than marriage. It's going to be better than marriage. Heaven will. And then he says, hey, listen, think about it.

30:19 God is the God of the living, not of the dead. When he spoke to Moses, he says, I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. He didn't say I was their God, but I am their God. Why? Because they were with them right now in heaven alive.

30:39 And if you remember, you go back to the Mount Of Transfiguration, who shows up there? Moses. And who's the other guy? Was it Elijah? Elijah.

30:51 They were there. They were talking to him. They were alive. They were alive. And so yes, go to die to be with Christ.

31:01 You go immediately to heaven, but your resurrected body doesn't meet you up until the day of resurrection when the trumpet's played, right? Boom, the trumpet sounds, the Lord calls up, and the dead in Christ shall rise. And their new bodies will meet their spirit up there, and they're going to have those spiritual bodies for all eternity that have nothing to do with sin. Transformed, glorified bodies. Oh, can you wait?

31:29 Isn't it exciting? Yes. Yes. And so we need to stop being scared to talk about death because for us, it should be something better. And not get all miserable when someone dies because saying, hey, if they're believers.

31:45 But say, hey, man, they're promoted. They're up there with the Lord. They're in glory. They're like the angels now and that they're never gonna die and they're spiritual beings now. And so God, it says right here, is the God of the living.

32:04 Praise God. When Jesus Christ came to die on that cross and to resurrect, that resurrection ensured that we are ourselves then going to resurrect and have our spiritual beings be up there with him for all eternity in glory. Wow. Wow. And so the first question, who gave you the authority?

32:25 I'm not gonna answer you. You don't believe me anyway. Why am I gonna answer you? You didn't believe John the Baptist? You rejected him.

32:36 And then they come up with that scheme. We're gonna trick them, and they say a bunch of truth about Christ, but they didn't believe him. You can say a lot of truth about Christ and not be saved. But if you are saved, man, we got heaven waiting for us, and it's going be better. Yes?

32:54 It's going be better. Alright? Good. Looking forward to seeing you all tonight at 06:00, and we're going to rejoice some more, have some fellowship, and enjoy it. Father, thank you for your word.

33:08 Jesus, your your wisdom was incredible. These men couldn't trick you or couldn't fool you because you were beyond them. And even though they rejected you, you were still offering salvation to those who believe. Yes. You are that cornerstone.

33:26 You are precious to us as believers. We appreciate you. We love you, and we praise you. And because of that, we are sons of the resurrection. No more dealing with pain or sin or bad relationships, but we're gonna be like the angels spiritual beings.

33:45 Wow, we're looking forward to that. Thank you, Lord, for these truths of this chapter. Now looking forward to coming back together tonight at six. Be with us, Lord, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.