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by Sandy Shaw
In Luke Chapter 20 we read of religious leaders coming to Jesus Christ, the Son of God with a question regarding His authority, and Jesus challenged them with a question about His cousin John. If we had called him ‘John the plunger’ instead of the religious sounding title of John the Baptist we could have saved ourselves from wrong thinking and erroneous theology. Jesus would not answer their question and they wondered what to do.
In verses 5,6, they got together in a huddle, and look what emerges from that hurried unexpected discussion. How will it affect us?
They did not know where the authority of Jesus Christ came from. They did not know. How tragic when leaders do not know what God is doing, when in one sense it is so obvious. He is fulfilling their Scriptures.
They emerge with quick answer. They do not spend very long trying to discover the truth to what is a very important question.
Jesus sometimes comes and asks us questions, especially if we have challenged Him. He comes and probes and prods and questions and challenges us, and sometimes He does leave us alone - not when He has a purpose for our lives.
Jesus puts them on the spot, and they hide behind their religious cloaks.
They hummed and hawed. They knew perfectly well, but, it suited them to question it all - to doubt and to do so deliberately - deliberately refusing to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ the Lord.
They reached that point where Jesus Christ had no more to say to them. If a man ignores the voice of Jesus, after a while it becomes fainter. God does not give more light to those who refuse the light they already have, and have already been given.
Those who refuse to accept, harden their hearts, so that they are unable to accept. That is the position these religious leaders are in.
Sometimes you do not need to answer the questions which people put to you, not because you do not know the answer, but because you know they could not accept it.
We saw how Blind Bartimaeus had been able to see more than all the other people put together. And, there are situations where it can be hard to remain quiet and silent - almost ignoring certain requests - and that can even arise in the Temple - in the place that was intended to be a place of prayer.
Have you not found that people have asked you questions and they were not really interested in the answers!
Jesus had no more to say to them, but He continued to speak to those who wanted to listen and hear. That must be a horrendous position to be in – a terrible moment in a man’s life – when, because of rebellion and hardness of heart and being closed to Almighty God, Jesus Christ has nothing more to say to you. Be careful that you never reach that very dangerous point.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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