Luke 20:20-26

Luke 20:20-26

1. Let us mark the cloak of goodness under which some of our Lord's enemies approached Him.
2. Let us mark the consummate wisdom of our Lord's answer to His enemies.

"We shall discover by experience that all is not gold that glitters, and all are not true Christians who make a loud profession of Christianity. The language of Christianity is precisely that part of religion which a false Christian finds it most easy to attain. The walk of a man's daily life, and not the talk of his lips, is the only safe test of his character."

"To distinguish rightly between the things of Caesar, and the things of God, and to pay to each their real dues regularly, habitually, and cheerfully, is a great help towards a quiet and peaceable life."

Questions:

1. Ryle warns against believing loud professions of Christianity to be true, but to rather judge them by their works. Does this sound narrow-minded to us? Do you have any examples of this in your life?

2. We see our Lord’s wisdom on display in answering an ensnaring question in such a way as to expose his opponents. Do we worship our Lord for this wisdom? Also, do we entreat him for his wisdom in the difficult things that we face? May we find, as James says, that he delights to answer prayers for wisdom!