My God and My Country

Word of God

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God

Matthew 4:4

The Gospel According to Luke 20:1-8 

1 And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the Temple, and preached the Gospel, the high Priests and the Scribes came upon him, with the Elders, 2 And spake unto him, saying, Tell us by what authority thou doest these things, or who is he that hath given thee this authority? 3 And he answered, and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing: tell me therefore: 4 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? 5 And they reasoned within themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven, he will say, Why then believed ye him not? 6 But if we shall say, Of men, all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a Prophet. 7 Therefore they answered, that they could not tell whence it was. 8 Then Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you, by what authority I do these things.

Brethren:

They saw the dilemma they were brought into; they chose rather therefore to speak against their own consciences, and tell a wilful lie, and incur the reproach of ignorance: who, at other times, took upon them to judge of a prophet, whether he was a true or a false one, and by what authority he acted, whether of God, or man: but now being reduced to this wretched condition, contrary to their office and character, declare they did not know, and could not tell from whence John had his commission, and who gave him his authority.

Therefore since, according to the proposal of Christ, and the agreement he entered into with them, they did not give him a direct answer to his question, he looked upon himself under no obligation to inform them, what was his authority, and from whence he had it; though by the question he put to them he tacitly suggests, that he had his authority not from man, but from God; and by this his answer signifies, that since John preached and baptized without their authority and approbation, so might he; nor was he dependent on them, or accountable to them.

Herein likewise we see the wretched condition of today’s wicked generation. Those who openly deny Him, ( that at least honestly admit to it ), those that demand some sign or wonders to make them believe, and those that profess themselves to believe, but act not upon it.