The Road Thru Corruption - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

The Road to Resurrection,

Part Two: The Road Through Corruption

By Louie Marsh, 4-3-2022

 

Corruption examples – last one old age.

 

1) Jesus calls me to speak to people in their LANGUAGE.

 

35  And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36  And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37  As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38  saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39  And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40  He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Luke 19:35-40 (ESV)

 

The Triumphal Entry

 

Jesus publicly confronts the leaders in a language that they and everyone understood. There no doubt who he’s claiming to be, and because it’s such a huge public event they can’t avoid taking action for long.

 

• He does this publicly to FORCE the issue.

 

2) My interactions with people must always be focused on JESUS

 

41  And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42  saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43  For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44  and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44 (ESV)

 

Weeps over Jerusalem

 

Jesus never forgets the real issue is the spiritual condition of Israel. They were corrupted, in spiritual entropy, and he had come to change all that. He weeps because he knows most won’t listen. He is profoundly saddened by their sin and blindness.

 

• I must always REMEMBER just how far from Jesus the world is.

 

• GRIEF not anger should be my dominant emotion.

 

Cleanses Temple

 

He confronts the corruption in another public act that cannot be ignored. First he speaks to the people in the Entry, now he strikes at their pocket book, and stands in their temple and challenges their teachings.

 

3) Jesus fought against SIN not people.

 

45  And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46  saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47  And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48  but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. Luke 19:45-48 (ESV)

 

• Again Jesus is IN CONTROL.

 

Authority Challenged

 

Jesus plays coy with them because he knows his time hasn’t quite come. He teaches with authority and then turns their questions back on them. They are afraid to answer because they are corrupt, live by the fear of man, and have much to hide. Then he nails them with the parable of the wicked tenants.

 

4) Being like Jesus means I take the initiative at the RIGHT MOMENT.

 

1  One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2  and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3  He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4  was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5  And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6  But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7  So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8  And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Luke 20:1-8 (ESV)

 

• Jesus exposes their TRUE MOTIVES.

 

• Uses a parable to do it.

 

 “9And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”” (Luke 20:9–18, ESV)

 

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