In the sermon 'Jesus vs. the Pharisees' by Peter Allison, the focus is on Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees, particularly in Luke 20. Jesus challenges the Pharisees by asking them theological questions, highlighting their misunderstanding of the Messiah's identity as merely the son of David. The sermon discusses the concept of apologetics, emphasizing Jesus' approach to defending the faith without seeking to embarrass His opponents. Jesus' method of engaging with people, even His adversaries, is rooted in His love and compassion, aiming to bring them to truth. The sermon further explains the significance of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, symbolizing the completion of His redemptive work. Additionally, it underscores the importance of Christians being knowledgeable about their faith to engage others effectively, coupled with genuine love and concern for others' eternal destinies. The Pharisees' misplaced religious priorities are contrasted with the true understanding of Jesus as both the Son of David and the Son of God.

Please turn to Luke chapter 20. I'd like to begin reading at verse 41. And he said to them, How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? Now David himself said in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, David calls him Lord.

How is he then his son? Then in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the market places, the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. Jehovah is near and his commandments are truth. Heavenly Father, your word is truth.

Sanctify us by your word and sanctify my sinful lips that they may proclaim what is holy and true and drive away any chaff. Lord as we continue to worship May the hearing of your word be mixed with faith in us. In Jesus' name, amen. The Pharisees and the Sadducees have been trying and trying, futilely, they've been trying to trap Jesus in His own words, to stump Him with questions, to make Him look foolish before the people. And of course, each time they fail.

They fail miserably. They fail so miserably, and Jesus was so effective at turning the tables on them and making them the ones to look stupid or ignorant, that they gave up and they dare not question Him anymore. And then Jesus started asking them some questions of his own. And so this is Jesus. Last week it was the Pharisees versus Jesus.

I don't know, after several rounds of that, but this week it is Jesus versus the Pharisees. Because Jesus is now asking the questions. But Jesus wasn't trying to make them look foolish. He wasn't trying simply to stump them so that He could look smart or authoritative. That wasn't His purpose at all.

In asking these questions, Jesus is practicing apologetics. He is giving a defense of the faith. This is something that the Apostle Peter taught us to do. He tells us that this is something we should do. In 1 Peter 3.15, he instructs us to sanctify the Lord in our hearts, to set apart the Lord in our hearts and always be ready, always be ready to Give a defense or an apology to everyone who asks us a reason of the hope that lies in us with meekness and fear." You probably recognize that Greek word, apology.

It's the word we get, apology. Now to us, apology probably means, we probably first think of some admission of wrongdoing. But that's not what the word originally meant. In Noah Webster's 1848 dictionary he said an apology is something that is written or spoken in defense of what appears to others to be wrong or unjustifiable. It's something that is written or spoken in defense of what appears to others to be wrong or unjustifiable.

By 1913 that definition had another, a definition appended to it. It still wasn't the first definition, but the second definition was an admission to another of a wrong or discourtesy done to him, accompanied by an expression of regret. But that has nothing to do with what Jesus is doing here. Jesus is giving a defense. These people have asked questions of him, and he's giving a defense.

And in giving this defense of the faith, Jesus is engaging the Pharisees in an apologetical ministry. In doing that, Jesus is seeking these Pharisees. That's the first point this morning in this text, that Jesus is seeking the Pharisees. He's seeking to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. Now I grant it's not immediately clear in this passage in Luke that Jesus is specifically addressing the Pharisees.

But in Matthew's account, he states that Jesus specifically asked this question to the Pharisees when they had gathered together. Now sometimes Jesus engaged people with statements or requests like when he asked the Samaritan woman at the well for some water to drink. He was waiting there and she came to get water and he asked her for some water. And you know the story how he used that question to open up an occasion of bringing her to the truth, and converting many, not only her, but many in that Samaritan town. But most often, he engaged people by asking questions.

But however he did it, the point here is that Jesus engaged people. He engaged with people. And one thing I have noticed about mature Christians is that they engage with people around them in conversations, wherever they happen to be. Riding on the airplane, standing at a checkout counter. I have noticed mature Christians engage other people in these kinds of conversations.

And this is what Christ did. He did it because he is genuinely interested, as I believe Christians do as well. He did it because he was genuinely interested in people. And when we do it for the right reasons, it's a natural outflowing of agape love to other people. If we are concerned about other people, if we have an agape love for other people, then we can't help but be concerned about where they will spend eternity.

It is the most important question in all of our lives, in anyone's life. This time on earth seems like a lifetime, it seems like a long time, but it's really very, very short. Eighty years is a short, short point in time of no duration compared to infinity, compared to eternity. So Jesus engages the Pharisees. The Pharisees were people that had sought to kill Jesus.

They sought to trap Him. They distorted His words. They tried to demean Him. They hated him. They tried to kill him.

They sought every opportunity they could to make him look bad, to ask him manipulative and aggravating questions, questions that if we were asked, we would probably get frustrated. We would probably recognize people that are trying to manipulate us. They don't like us. They don't appreciate us. They're trying to hurt us.

The Pharisees sent people, spies, just to listen to what Jesus was saying, to pretend to be His disciples in order to ask Him questions to trip Him up, in order to aggravate Him. And yet these are the people that Jesus seeks. And I think that his seeking of these Pharisees here with this engaging question, which we'll look at in a minute, is just another demonstration of his compassion for them, just as when he was weeping over the city of Jerusalem on his way into the city. He was weeping because of his compassion for them, and the judgment that he knew would be falling on this city because of their refusal to acknowledge him as the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus engages with His enemies because He loves them, yes, but also because they were elect among them.

Acts 6, which is shortly after Jesus ascended to heaven, tells us that many priests that would have heard Jesus here speaking believed. These priests, these people, many of them, whom were listening to Jesus speak at this time would later believe. Acts 7, 6, 7 says, Then the word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. It's multiplying now, right? It starts out adding.

God adds to the church. And now in Acts 6, the church is multiplying in Jerusalem. And a great Many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Sadducees. The Apostle Paul himself may very well have been among those who were hearing Jesus speak these things.

Paul was, remember, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And though he was born in Tarshish of Cilicia, his parents would have sent him to Jerusalem to study under the feet of Gamaliel, the great Pharisee. It's like going to Harvard. Well, maybe not Harvard. Patrick Henry College.

He was brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the strictness of their father's laws. And he was zealous toward God from this early age. And he was probably almost the same age as Christ, born maybe within a few years after Christ. And so he's probably a young man in his late 20s, maybe when Jesus is here. And as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he probably was in their midst.

In fact, in Acts, he was present at Stephen's stoning. He was the one that was holding the coats. He was a young guy, right? He wasn't one of the older people at that point. He was a young guy.

Maybe 30, maybe a little bit just under. But he was there. He probably heard Jesus. This is why Jesus is engaging the Pharisees. There were His elect among them.

Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a council member. He was a secret disciple of Christ because of what the cost would be if he publicly acknowledged that he was a disciple. Even Nicodemus was, remember, the one who came to Jesus by night, was also a Pharisee. In fact, at one point, when the Sanhedrin wanted to do something, he said, well, does our law judge a person before they're convicted?

And they all said, well, are you as a disciple too? Just for saying something That was true. But Nicodemus would have been among this crowd possibly, or others like him. And so Jesus is engaging with these Pharisees not only because He loved them, He did. He had compassion for them.

He was seeking them. But also, His elect were in that midst. And that's why we need to be able and ready to preach the gospel. We don't know who God's people are or where they are. Jesus engaged with people because this was the purpose for which He came.

Jesus came for this purpose to earth. Jesus engaged with all kinds of people, regardless of their background and in station in life. From the woman at the well who had five husbands and was living with somebody who wasn't her husband Jesus said to the rich tax collector Who had sold out as a Jew that had sold out to the Romans to or to Levi to sinners to the Pharisees who hated him Jesus engaged with all these people because Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost. That's why He came. Praise the Lord that He did.

You see, when we truly love people, as Jesus loved people, even His enemies, then we'll seek them too. We'll be concerned about where they're going to spend eternity. And we'll be desirous that others may share in this life that we enjoy, in the privilege and the blessings that we enjoy from being in Christ. We'll want others to share in that as well. Now secondly, Jesus tailors His approach to this specific situation, to these specific people.

He approached the woman at the well in one way. He approached Zacchaeus in another way. He approached the woman caught in adultery in a different way. But this is how he engages with the Pharisees. These were the scribes.

These were the theologians of the day. So he asks them a very simple theological question on which there would be no disagreement. And actually, Luke gives us a little abbreviated version. If we go back to Matthew, Matthew gives us a preparatory question that comes before the one given here in Luke. And that preparatory question that Matthew gives us, in giving us a more fuller account of this exchange, says Jesus asks them, What do you think about the Christ?

And then he specifically more specifies, Whose son is He? What do you think about the Christ? And then he specifically more specifies, whose son is he? What do you think about the Christ? That's asking their opinion.

That's a non-threatening question. It's not confrontational. It's asking them, what do you think about this topic? It's a good way to open a discussion with somebody. Asking them their opinion.

That's what Jesus does. What do you think about the Christ? He asked other people about that. He asked his disciples that same question. What do you think about the Christ?

He asked other people about that. He asked his disciples that same question. What do you think about the Christ? Who is he? But in this case, what do you think about Christ?

Specifically, whose son is he? Now This was a point on which there would be, he expected no disagreement. And there wasn't. This was not a debate. This was something that they all could accept.

Whose son is he? And they immediately answer him, he is the son of David. This was not a hard question for them. This was not confrontational. This was a very simple question.

Kind of like asking, you know, Who's the President? You don't have to like or dislike Him, but who is He? Given their very devious and malicious treatment of Christ and their manipulative questions with which they sought to trap Him, this is a very gentle response. This is a very gentle approach to them. The question that Jesus asks these Pharisees is formulated though to lead them and to enable Jesus to address their central problem and misunderstanding.

That of their refusal to receive Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and Son of God. But he asked it in a very indirect, non-confrontational way. What do you think of the Christ? Whose Son is He? Because they understood very clearly that The Christ, the Messiah, and you know that Christ and Messiah and anointed one are just the same word in three different languages.

Christ is the Greek word. It's His office. Messiah is the Hebrew word. That's His office. The anointed one would be the English translation of Christ and Messiah.

So you'll see all three of these, in most English Bibles you'll see a free use of all three of these words, Christ, Messiah, and anointed one. Sometimes when you see the anointed one, it's translation of Messiah or Christ. So they knew that the Christ, the anointed one, would be the son of David, the physical son of David. Psalm 89 says, I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to my servant David your seed I will establish forever and build up your throne to all generations.

I've established this covenant with David and his seed, and you would build up his throne to all generations. In Isaiah 9, 6, you probably have this memorized, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this this is a messianic prophecy and it is that Messiah would reign upon the throne of David and over his kingdom." Very clear there. The Pharisees knew that. So they could readily say, whose son is the Christ?

Whose son is the Messiah? He will be the Son of David. He will reign on David's throne. Isaiah 11 says that there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The stem of Jesse is David's father.

So they knew that Christ, the Messiah, the one that they were looking for, the anointed one, God's anointed, would have the throne of his father David. Gabriel told Mary when he announced to her that she would conceive. He said that she would conceive in her womb and bring forth a son and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord, " Gabriel said to Mary, would give him the throne of his father, David. Now, he wasn't telling Mary anything new about Christ at that point.

He was simply telling her that she would be the one who would bear this son. And so the Jews viewed the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ that they were looking for, they didn't think Jesus had anything to do with that person, that Messiah. They knew that He would be a human king, descended from David, the son of David. So they had no problem answering. When Jesus asked, whose son is He?

They said immediately, He is David's son. In their view, He was another human descendant of David who would ascend to the throne and reign like David did and push out all of the enemies. But see, of course, Jesus is more than just a human, descended from David, who would reign on David's throne. And Jesus gets to that with this next immediate follow-up question. How then, Jesus asks, can they say that Christ is the Son of David?

Or as Matthew says, how then does David in the Spirit call Him Lord? Saying, and then Jesus quotes from Psalm 110. So basically they've said, okay, Christ is going to be the son of David. And Jesus' immediate answer is, well then how can David call this His Son, Lord? You theologians, answer that.

Here it is. And he goes right back to the Psalms. This psalm is a psalm of David. And even the Pharisees acknowledge that this Psalm 110, which Jesus then proceeds to quote from, is a Messianic psalm that speaks of Christ. And in that psalm, David writing in the Spirit.

So it's saying that David is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Scriptures were written by holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus says that David writing in the Spirit says something, He's saying that David is writing under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That what he is writing is prophecy. It's the Word of God.

David writing, not just as a human writing a letter to his wife, but David writing in the Spirit says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Now, in this New Testament, the Lord said to my Lord, those are the same words, kurios, the Lord said to my Lord. But in the Psalm 110 that Jesus is quoting from, in the Hebrew, it's very clear, Those are two different words. The Lord is Yehovah. Yehovah said to my Adonai, my Lord.

So David is saying, Jehovah said to my Lord, speaking of the Messiah. David writes, Jehovah said to my Lord, speaking of Christ, he's calling Christ his Lord. Sit at my right, this is what Jehovah told Christ, sit at My right hand till I make your enemies their footstool. David writing prophetically says that the Christ was his Lord, and Jesus' question is how can that be? No king would call another person my Lord unless you were conquered and a vassal.

No father is going to call his son My Lord. So if the Messiah is just another human descendant of King David, then why is King David calling the Messiah his Lord? Who sits at the right hand of God? Jesus is pointing out that David writing prophetically says that the Messiah sits at the right hand of God. And He's going to sit there until Jehovah makes all His enemies His footstool.

Who sits at the right hand of God? In the book of Hebrews, the writer to Hebrews uses this very point to show that Christ was far superior to the angels. He writes in Hebrews, but to which of the angels has He ever said, has God ever said, sit at My right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? In fact, this psalm is one of the most quoted messianic psalms in the New Testament. To which of the angels has God ever said anything like that?

The answer is, Of course, none. The angels were ministering spirits sent out to do God's will. He never said to them, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. But who can sit in God's presence like that? Hebrews 10 also draws on this exact same point of Christ sitting.

To show that Christ's work as our High priest is finished. Every priest in Hebrews 10 says every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins offering repeatedly their work was never done because their sacrifices could not take away the sins of the people or their sins or anyone else's. But this man, speaking of the Messiah, Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice of sin forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one suffering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after He had said before, this is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put My law into their hearts and in their minds, and I will write them." And then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more.

Now where there is remission of these, Where there is a remission of sins, there is no longer an offering for sin. There's no longer an offering because Christ's sacrifice once and for all has satisfied the wrath of God. Our sins are remembered no more. The Old Testament priests could never sit because their work was never done. Christ sits at the right hand of the Father because His work is finished.

Our sins are remitted. The fact that Christ sits tells us that our sins are forgiven. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are with Christ Jesus. And that our sins are indeed remembered no more. And there is no further need of another offering for our sin.

Because Christ is sitting. His work is done. Now He is sitting at the right hand of God. This is the only place, this is the only one, where someone is said to sit in the presence of the Father. We are said to be seated in the heavenlies, but it is with Christ.

We're not there on our own. We're seated there with Christ. You know, it's kind of like, you know, maybe When I was nine, I wanted for my birthday present to be able to go to work with my dad. And so he, I don't know where I came up with that idea, but he thought it was okay, and I got to go to work with him. Now he was working on a farm.

But I went with him the whole day and he went into the office and sat down. I went into the office there and sat with him. And today a lot of companies will have a take your son or daughter to work, Take your child to work day. And if your dad works in a high secure facility, I remember I had this once when I worked in a secure facility, you know, you need a card to scan yourself in to get in. Well, I could go to work and My son could come in with me.

He didn't have to have a card and a badge. He could come in with me on my badge. And he got to go inside the facility with me and to sit at my desk with me. But if my son were to just show up on his own and want to come in, no, he wouldn't be admitted, would he? And that's what it is for us to sit in the heavenlies with Christ.

We are seated there, yes, but we are there because we are in Christ. We died, and our life is hid with Christ in God. It is only in Christ, it is only because we are united to Him that we are seated in the heaven. No one else sits at the throne of God but Christ. Jesus is God.

He is the Son of God. He is the only one that could satisfy the wrath of God. He is the only one that can sit in the right hand of God. Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come to the Father except through Him. Now either He is what He says He is, or as others have famously pointed out, He's a lunatic and a liar.

He's either God, the only way, the only truth, the only life, and through whom alone we can come to the Father. Or He is none of that. He can't be just some great prophet, some great rabbi, some great teacher like the Jews and Pharisees wanted to make Him out to be, just a person, a human. He can't be. He is the Son of David, but He is far more than the Son of David, because David called Him His Lord.

His Lord. Christ is the eternal Word, the pre-incarnate Jehovah, the one who existed before time began, the one who was there when the world was created, the one through whom and by whom everything that was made was made. He is the one who spoke and it was done. And this is the one who comes to tell us that the Bible is true. If Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, His work is finished and everything, he is the truth.

He is the only way. He is the only life. See, that's really the fundamental question for us too. Who is Jesus? Who is He?

Is He the Christ? The Son of God? Then His Word is true, every bit of it, Everything in the scriptures is true. Even when it speaks of creation, even when it speaks of today, even when it speaks of us, or even when it speaks of things like civil magistrates and mundane things, it's true, but it's also true when it speaks of our sin and of our Savior and of the forgiveness of our sins and of the peace that we have with God because of that. Jesus goes on to point out that the religion of the Pharisees was useless.

The Pharisees loved the scribes, he says, loved the long robes. They loved the trappings. The formalism. The liturgy. They loved the greetings in the marketplaces.

The respect that they felt they deserved. They loved the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts. All these outward things. And there is nothing wrong with beauty and glory. God designed the clothing of the priests to be for beauty and glory.

He's given women long hair for a glory to them. There's nothing wrong with glory and beauty in His rightful place. But these are people who devoured widows' houses. They prayed long prayers for a pretense. There's nothing wrong with long prayers.

There's everything wrong with long prayers for a pretense. Jesus often prayed all night. Those are long prayers. Certainly far longer than I pray. I've never prayed all night.

But Jesus is saying that these are long prayers, they are just a pretense. They are just for show. They are just useless. Their religion is useless. The fundamental question is who is Jesus Christ?

We can learn a couple applications from this, and one is the importance of apologetics, the importance of defending the faith. That takes study. Jesus asks a theological question here. He asks it because He expects them to know the answer. If we're going to be able to engage people like this with this kind of question, a question that is tailored right to them, then we also have to be those who study the Scriptures, who understand these theological points and are able to engage with people on them, to ask this kind of question, to know, to discern where the heart of the issue is, and to ask a question that opens up a conversation that we can bring people to Christ and tell Him, tell them of who Christ is and what He has done for us.

But of course, knowledge, just knowing all these things is useless if we don't love people. Paul said if I even give my body to be burned, if I have all knowledge, but don't have love, it's worthless. Knowledge by itself just puffs up. But that doesn't mean that knowledge is therefore bad. We live in a day where often it is, it's not cool to be a knowledgeable person.

A few years ago there was the, you know, there was the caricature of the nerd who was somebody who had a lot of knowledge but just didn't fit into anything. Knowledge by itself is not bad when it's used out of love to engage people and to give a defense of the hope that lies within us. May God enable us and equip us to always be ready to give an answer, To give an apology, to give a defense of the hope that lies within us and to do so in an engaging and appropriate way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, We thank you that you have loved us and that you have sought us and that you have redeemed us and purchased us with your own blood, the precious blood of Christ.

The precious blood of Christ. We thank you Lord for your Word that is so rich, that is truth, truth that will never change, Truth that doesn't get overturned by another discovery. Truth that never is out of style. We thank you Father that you have preserved your word. We ask that we may love it more, for in it are words of life.

We ask that we might live by every word that proceeds from your mouth. That we would hang on every word. That we would meditate upon it and read it for all it's worth. We ask that you would give to us this kind of love and compassion that is willing to engage even enemies for the sake of the gospel. In Jesus' name, Amen.