“But he looked directly at them and said, ‘What then is this
that is written:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces,
and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Luke 20: 17-18
I remember several years ago listening to a sermon where the preacher was speaking against the heresy of trying to present Jesus in a more “user-friendly” way to people. He said that these people often say, “If only we could show Jesus to the world.” The pastor responded, “The Father did show Jesus to the world, and they crucified him.”
Luke 20 tells of several situations in which Jesus was confronted by unbelievers, and they were desperate to discredit Him. Each time they ended up falling into their own trap. Rather than examine how Jesus beat them at their own game, I’d like to ponder why they were so determined to discredit Him.
It is not possible to come face to face with the real Jesus Christ and have a neutral reaction. Even Peter when he met Jesus said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man’. Confronted with the holiness of God in the person of Jesus will force a person to confront their own sinfulness. The religious leaders refused to do that. Therefore, they had to attempt to disprove that he was who he claimed to be. But each attempt only further established that he really was the Christ. AND…it exposed their hypocritical duplicity. Finally, in verse 40 it says that no one dared ask him any more questions.
There are only two choices when confronted by the real Jesus; either fall on him in surrendered obedience and allow yourself to be broken. Or have him fall on you and be crushed. As Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said, “The gospel has only one message for the unrepentant sinner; judgment is coming.” There is no in-between. Either we repent and surrender to Him, or we reject Him and face judgment.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let
him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our
God, for He will freely pardon.”
Isaiah 55:6-7
Today is the day of grace. Come to Him.
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