SEPTEMBER 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#28 “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?” (Matthew 22:18)

 SEPTEMBER 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#28 “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?”  (Matthew 22:18)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, King of kings, Lord of lords, my Savior, Redeemer and Friend, You are the Worthy Lamb, You are the Son in whom the God Most High is well pleased. You and You alone will be praised by every tongue for by the Name of Jesus all souls will be judged and each soul will then spend eternity praising Your Holy Name, the Matchless Name of Jesus <<< Author’s Note: All souls are Eternal - All souls will praise the Name of JESUS — If you confess Jesus on earth you will spend your eternity in Heaven praising His Holy Name — However, if you reject JESUS on earth you will spend your eternity in HELL praising His Holy Name — that, my friends, will be TRUE HELL, KNOWING YOUR REJECTION OF JESUS BOUGHT YOU ETERNITY IN HELL PRAISING HIS HOLY NAME, WHICH YOU COULD HAVE DONE IN HEAVEN IF YOU HAD ACCEPTED THE GIFT OF GOD — just sayin’>>>! For every one that does not call on You for Salvation will be condemned to Hell because they did not believe, but they still will confess You as Lord. O Lord, Your Ways are so marvelous and Thy Works are to be praised forever. Holy Spirit, breathe on me this day, let my old ways fade into yesterday’s past and my new nature walk proudly through today proclaiming the Matchless Name of Jesus and may all my tomorrows be directed by Your Mercy and Grace and may my only claim be as Paul proclaimed — “…to LIVE is CHRIST”!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been in Jerusalem for less than a week and all he has received from the religious authorities has been contention. The major confrontation during His Triumphal Entry came as the multitudes cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9) and immediately the religious leaders began their confrontation with Jesus as “some of the Pharisees called to [Jesus] from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’ But [Jesus] answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.’” (Luke 19:39-40). Once into the city, Jesus went immediately to the temple in Jerusalem “and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple” and when confronted by the religious leaders Jesus responded, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” (Matthew 21:12-13) Once the temple had been cleansed, “the blind and the lame came to [Jesus] in the temple, and He healed them. But the chief priests and scribes…were indignant…” and confronted Jesus as He was Teaching and Healing in the temple. Jesus responded to their indignation towards Him by quoting passages from the Psalms that clearly pointed out that Jesus was fulfilling prophecy. Jesus then, “left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.” (Matthew 21:15-17) The next day as Jesus returned to Jerusalem and was going to enter the city through the Eastern Gate, He cursed a fig tree and “…immediately the fig tree withered away…” and it was when His own disciples marveled and asked Jesus “how did the fig tree wither away so soon?” that Jesus began Teaching them “…if you have faith and do not doubt…whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:18-22) As soon as Jesus entered the temple, “the chief priests and the elders confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” (Matthew 21:23) The works of God that Jesus was doing in the temple never came into question but rather their question was by what “authority” was Jesus doing these “wonderful things”(?) that was causing all the confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders! This questioning of His “authority” and wanting to know “who gave” [Jesus] this “authority” is what began a series of some of the most important “Teachings” of Jesus in these last days of His Life before the Cross, before the Only Begotten Son of God surrendering Himself willingly to be the Ultimate Sacrifice, before fulfilling all the Messianic prophecies of Holy Scripture during the Passover! Jesus began these Lessons on “Authority” by asking His own Question: “The baptism of John — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (Matthew 21:25)  and once Jesus had turned the discussion to making a “choice”, and that “choice” being whether we will choose to follow the “commands of God (heaven)” or the “traditions and doctrines of men” that had been established by the religious leaders (doctrines of men), Jesus Taught a series of parables to reveal the Truth of God that God IS the Supreme Power and Authority of all creation! Jesus Taught in succession (1) a parable of a father that asked his two sons to go work in his vineyard, one said “yes” but did not go and the second son initially said “no” but later “regretted” disobeying his father and went and worked in the vineyard as the father had requested. Jesus asked the religious rulers and elders, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Matthew 21:28-31) (2) Jesus next Taught a second parable of a landowner that planted a vineyard and “leased” it to the vinedressers who later decided to “seize” the “inheritance" and killed the son of the landowner. Jesus then asked what should happen to the vinedressers when the landowner finds out what they had done to his son? The religious rulers condemned themselves as they answered, “…the [landowner] will destroy those wicked men miserably…” and Jesus then let them know that their “authority” was going to be taken from them and given to others when He told them that the landowner would “…lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their season.”  (Matthew 21:33-40) (3) Jesus continued His Lesson on “True Authority”  to the religious leaders as He Taught the parable of the marriage feast, “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.” (Matthew 22:1)  Jesus, after Teaching those 3 parables continues His Teaching on the “Authority of God” (and NOT the “doctrines of men”) for when “…the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk…” (Matthew 22:15) Jesus confronts them with yet another accusing Question, JQ #28 “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?” (Matthew 22:18) So now Jesus has called out the religious leaders who choose to question His Authority given to Him by God and called them “hypocrites” ——— maybe we as a nation (that is “no longer just a nation of Christians” as observed and stated by a former President of the United States of America) should stop and reflect on why our society and the world is questioning the “Authority of the God of Jacob” and pushing the “doctrines of men” !?!?!?!?!