Says Who?
And they (the Pharisees) came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances but truly teach the way of God…” ~ Mark 12:14 ESV
False teachers can often be identified swiftly by their disdain for the authority of Jesus (Mark 11:28). They tend to downplay His significance in order to promote their own fabricated beliefs. Regardless of how hard Satan, the ultimate deceiver, attempts to undermine this truth, Jesus remains the sole and unwavering authority (Matthew 28:18).
Jesus lived under only one authority—His Father’s divine will. He never sought permission from religious leaders or consulted the Sanhedrin. His words and actions were entirely His own, always true, righteous, and perfect.
Unlike human leaders, Jesus had absolute freedom to act according to His divine authority, with the power to fulfill all He declared. He rejected the Jewish leaders, who had abandoned true faith (like many today) and wielded no real spiritual authority. They were enemies of God and the gospel.
Jesus’ independent teaching exposed their corruption, shattering their illusion of power. Their hatred for Him grew, leading them to seek His death. Yet even in His crucifixion, He proved His authority—rising again as the one true King and ultimate authority over all.
When talking to false teachers you may quickly know them because they do not like Jesus’s authority and will quickly try to mimimize who Jesus is so they can teach their man made deceptions. Jesus is the only true authority no matter how hard the deceiver Satan trys to tear it down. Only through Jesus can you find salvation and the promise of eternal life with Him.
Read / Listen
Numbers 2:1-3:51
Mark 11:27-12:17
Psalm 47:1-9
Proverbs 10:24-25
New Testament
Mark 11:27-12:17
Video Tract
What is the Gospel?
Summary
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
The Parable of the Tenants
Paying Taxes to Caesar
Listen to John MacArthur on today’s scripture below:
Mark by John MacArthur
He was the ultimate authority. He wielded ultimate power. He not only had the authority to say what He said and the authority to do what He did, He had the power to pull it off. He rejected the Jewish authorities. He never consulted them because they were apostate. They had defected from the true religion; they didn’t know God, they didn’t represent God. They were illegitimate; it was as if they didn’t exist. Sure, they were the earthly purveyors of a corrupt Judaism; they ran the temple and turned it into a robbers’ den. They had no real power and no real authority at all. They were enemies of God, enemies of the truth, enemies of the gospel.
Jesus’ teaching without their approval and Jesus’ action without their permission struck a massive blow to their formidable spiritual pride, devastating their imagined privilege and power; and it just continually infuriated them. They had developed a vicious hatred for Him because He demonstrated such scorn toward their religious positions. That is ultimately what led to them having Him murdered at the hands of the Romans.
The issue here is this issue of authority. “Who in the world gave You permission to do what You did in this place yesterday?” They could have asked about, “Where did You get the authority to teach what You teach, because it’s not what we teach?”
It wasn’t what the Pharisees taught or the Sadducees, the conservatives or the liberals. It wasn’t what the historic rabbis had taught. In fact, He even said, “You have heard it said; but I say to You.” What He was teaching was in contradiction to what the rabbis had said.
But the big issue was what He did. I mean, it was tough enough for them to swallow that He came into town on Monday with massive crowds there for the Passover who were saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” throwing messianic titles and names at Him. And He never ever refused to receive them. In fact, He took them. Even days later in the temple, little boys, maybe the sons of Levites scrambling around the temple, were saying hosannas to Jesus when He was teaching in the temple Tuesday, Wednesday; and He received it. That was aggravating enough, infuriating enough. But the real issue was His action on Tuesday when He tore up the temple and threw all the merchandisers out.
There have always been critics who said that Jesus was a noble teacher, He was a religious leader, and He was a spiritual man. He had grandiose ideas of what He wanted to accomplish. He wanted to teach people true religion. He wanted to teach people morality and virtue. He made a noble effort at it, but it all kind of went bad. It all ended up in a terrible tragedy. He got caught in the gears of His own ambition and He ended up dead; and the critics have often said this was not the plan, it was a tragic ending to a noble effort.
Well, of course, nothing could be further from the truth than that Jesus was surprised by His death. Jesus was not surprised by His death, He came for that purpose. The murder of Jesus came as no surprise to Him, the cross was the very reason for which He came. Scripture says He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world; and believe me, from before the foundation of the world, the eternal Son knew exactly why He was coming into the world. And even Jesus the man in the world understood that the purpose of His incarnation was His death and resurrection.
For entire sermon – Click Here
Mark 12:13-17 by Dr. J. Vernon McGee – Thru the Bible
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