FAKE NEWS ~ FAKE PREACHING

Luke 20 Sunday, September 17, 2017 FAKE NEWS ~ FAKE PREACHING Luke 20:1 8 (NKJV) 1 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him 2 and spoke to Him, saying, Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority? 3 But He answered and said to them, I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: 4 The baptism of John was it from heaven or from men? 5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we say, From heaven, He will say, Why then did you not believe him? 6 But if we say, From men, all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. 7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from. 8 And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Do you hear this question?. What authority do you have to teach, work miracles, heal the blind - the lame - the deaf and mute; what credentials do you have that permit you to cast out demons; what rabbinical school did you attend that gives you the right to raise the dead and to forgive sins? Did they hear themselves? Show us your walking on water license. Where is your permit to feed 5,000 men from a measly 5 barley biscuits and 2 small dried fish? The Pharisees asked a similar question at the beginning of Jesus ministry in John ch. 5. That time Jesus answered with These are some of my credentials: John the Baptist s testimony The miracles that I do is a second witness God the Father is a third The Old Testament Scriptures are a fourth Page 1 of 9

Shall I go on??? This time, however, Jesus isn t going to waste His time trying to answer their silly questions. But He does respond in a way to get them to think He says ~ Ok, I ll trade you answers. First - The baptism of John was it from heaven or from men? That s a fair deal. A question for a question; and answer for an answer. Thinking about it, they reasoned that they dare not answer the way they really wanted to for fear of being stoned by the general populous at the time of the Passover. So instead, they said that they didn t know. I remember when our grandson Braden was very little and he wanted to respond that he didn t know something, but didn t know how to say it. So he came up with this phrase - I can t know it. The Pharisees said I can t know it. But in reality they were saying - We re not going to answer you So Jesus responded in like manner - Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. You can almost see Him turning away from the annoying religious elite and giving His attention fully to the common folk. Luke 20:9 18 (NKJV) 9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time. 10 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him. 14 But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 15 So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to Page 2 of 9

others. And when they heard it they said, Certainly not! 17 Then He looked at them and said, What then is this that is written: The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone? 18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. When Jesus told this parable everybody got it. You see the people understood that the vineyard represented Israel. That was often a bit of symbolism that was used in the Old Testament. Let me read a portion of Isaiah to you as a parallel passage to this portion that we are studying this morning. Isaiah 5:1-7 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. 4 What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? 5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it. Page 3 of 9

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. This parable begins in the Old Testament and ends in 70 AD when General Titus of the Roman Army completely destroyed Jerusalem, slaughtered hundreds if not thousands and took as many captive. The entire city was laid to waste. The servants in the parable are the prophets of the Old Testament: Manesseh, the son of Hezekiah slew Isaiah with a wooden saw Amos (was) from the land of Tekoa. The priest of Bethel tortured him and afterwards slew him. Habakkuk (was) of the tribe of Simeon, and from the land of Sûâr (Zoar) 3. This (prophet) prophesied concerning the Messiah, that He should come, and abrogate the laws of the Jews. The Jews stoned him in Jerusalem. The Jews stoned Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah in Egypt, because he rebuked them for worshipping idols; The same thing happened to Ezekiel Zechariah, the son of Berachiah the priest, was from Jerusalem. Joash the king slew this (prophet) between the steps and the altar, and sprinkled his blood upon the horns of the altar, and the priests buried him. It is said that from that day God forsook the temple. Years ago, my dad bought an apple orchard in Anza. He started clearing the back forty, actually it was four. The area had so many rocks in it that he built a stone wall behind his house. Vineyards were everywhere on the terraced hillsides all over Israel and the land is many times more rocky than Anza. The owners would build walls and watchtowers out of the many stones that they would clear out of the land. There would be enough stones to build a house and a few outbuildings. Page 4 of 9

The landowner leased the land out to others and at harvest time he sent the Jeremiahs, the Ezekiels and the Zechariahs to collect the rent. You now know what happened to them. What happens next in the parable is startling. The landowner should have been so fed up that he would get a band of mercenaries to wipe those guys out and take back the vineyard. Instead, he is gracious. Gracious enough to give it one more try. Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him. - - Probably - it stands to reason - that they should respect the top dog s son and capitulate to the afore-stated agreement of leasing this land. Let s kill him, the tenant farmers said - and did! The plot thickens - - 15 Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it they said, Certainly not! - - - Why did they cry out certainly not? Because they knew that Jesus was talking about Israel. This is not just a bedtime farm story. This is a prophecy of what did happen 38 years later. Certainly Not - God will never give this land over to others. Oh, but He has ~ and He will again. Luke 20:19 26 (NKJV) 19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people for they knew He had spoken this parable against them. So now we know who it was that hollered certainly not. 20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. 21 Then they asked Him, saying, Teacher, we Page 5 of 9

know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, Why do you test Me? 24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have? They answered and said, Caesar s. 25 And He said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar s, and to God the things that are God s. 26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent. Taxes were a bigger burden then than they are here at home today. By the way, we would have had tax reform years ago if it weren't for the withholding method of collecting taxes. Now I know why the government uses that method. Otherwise, you had to shell out the money, reach into your wallet or purse and shell it out and place it in the government s hands. On April 15 you would have to pay it all. Ask people who pay quarterly estimates. It s painful. That s money that was in your bank account yesterday and in the government s hands today. Most people never see it. It doesn t hurt. It doesn t dawn on them how much they pay. If your property taxes weren t wrapped up in your house mortgage and you paid it separately, you might realize how much you are paying. That s what these people were doing. Tax time comes around and they had to cough up a wad of loot. This was a hot button topic. We ll get Him on this one, they thought. We ve got Him trapped. If He says don t pay, we ll inform the governor. If He says pay up, then we ll take it to the people. Before we go any further - taxes are necessary to run a government. The more government you have the higher the taxes. First of all, there was actually a shovel-ready infrastructure project that boggles the mind. The Roman road system. An outstanding transportation network of the ancient Mediterranean world, extending from Britain to the Tigris-Euphrates river system and from the Danube River to Spain and northern Africa. In all, the Romans built 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of hard-surfaced highway. Much of it is still around and used today. It looks better than Hemet Street just outside. Page 6 of 9

Secondly there was the The Pax Romana (Roman Peace). Roman soldiers were everywhere keeping the peace between all of these ancient war factions. That cost a lot of money. The Roman machine was huge. Taxes were at an alltime high. Ok, Jesus says, let me answer that one, but first show me a coin. Whose image do you see? Caesar, they said. Good eyesight. Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar s, and to God the things that are God s. Give your tax money to Caesar and your life to God. Did you hear that? Give your tax money to Caesar and your life to God. If you will read Romans 13 you will see that we are to obey the laws of the land. Give your tax money to Caesar and your life to God. Luke 20:27 38 (NKJV) 27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 28 saying: Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. 32 Last of all the woman died also. 33 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife. 34 Jesus answered and said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels [they don t become angels, they are equal to the angels] and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But even Moses showed in the Page 7 of 9

burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him. The Sadducees are extremely liberal Pharisees. They only believed that the first 5 books of the Old Testament were proper reading. They rejected the notion of spirits or angels and they didn t believe in the resurrection from the dead ~ that s why they were sad-you-see. <:-) The Pharisees are having difficulty in trapping Jesus, so the Sadducees give it a try. When some people that I know read this portion of Scripture they say, Wait a minute, we re not going to be married in Heaven? I don t like that. Others read this and rejoice. This is a goofy story to attempt prove their point of view about the resurrection from the dead. Jesus blows them out of the water. By the way Deuteronomy 25:5 (NKJV) 5 If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband s brother to her. The law of Levirate marriage - - - That s the story of Ruth and Boaz in your Bible. Gentile - Ruth then becomes a part of the genealogy of Jesus. Luke 20:39 47 (NKJV) 39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, Teacher, You have spoken well. 40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore. 41 And He said to them, How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? 42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, 43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool. 44 Therefore David calls Him Lord ; how is He then his Son? 45 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, 46 Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 47 who devour widows houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. Page 8 of 9

Well, that just wraps up all of the religious elite. The Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes into the same pen. Everybody is complaining about Fake News these days. Jesus was concerned with Fake Religion that took advantage of people; that led the common folk astray. Yeah, we ve got plenty of fake news going around these days and I hope you can find your way through its maze. But more importantly. we ve got tons of Fake Preaching, Fake Pastors, Fake Churches filled with Fake Worship & Fake Bible Studies. Don t get caught up in it and don t let your family and friends get caught in its web either. Jesus exposed it and so should you and I. Page 9 of 9