Good morning, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 42. All hail the power of Jesus' name. ? Ring forth the royal diadem ?
? And crown him Lord of all ? ? Ring forth the royal diadem ? ? And
crown him Lord of all ? Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
be ransomed from the fall. Hail, Him who saves you by His
grace, and crowned with glory. ? Receives you by his grace so
proudly ? ? Lord of all ? ? Let every kindred, every tribe ?
? On this term is true of all ? ? To him all majesty has cried
? ? And crowned him Lord of all ? ? To him all majesty has cried
? ? And crowned him Lord of all ? ? Under sacred throne ? ? We at
his feet may fall ? ? We'll join the everlasting song ? ? And
crown him Lord of all ? Be seated we'll sing hymn number
474. 474. Not have I gotten, but what I've
received. Grace has bestowed it, since
I have believed. this is my story ? Causing my footsteps from God
to depart ? ? Jesus have found me, have made my place ? ? I
now am a sinner, saved by grace ? ? Only a sinner, saved by grace
? I must die But now I'm a sinner, saved by
grace Only a sinner, saved by grace Only a sinner, saved by
grace me a sinner, save my grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Open your Bibles with me to John
chapter 7. John chapter 7. I'm going to start reading it,
verse 14, and read down to verse 26. Now about the mist
of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the
Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, or learning,
having never learned? Now how can you learn, having
never learned? because he didn't go to their schools, didn't sit
under their rabbis. And our Lord answered them and
said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any
man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether
it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of
himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
him. Did not Moses give you the law? None of you keepeth the law.
Why go you about to kill me? The people answered, said, Thou
hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and
ye are marveled. Moses therefore gave unto you
circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers,
and ye on the sabbath day circumcised a man. If a man on the Sabbath
day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be
broken, are you angry at me because I have met a man ever withhold
on the Sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment. Then said some of them, In Jerusalem
is not this he whom they seek to kill, but lo, he speaketh
boldly. and they say nothing unto him.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Lord, we come to bless you, come
to thank you, come to praise you. Give glory and honor to
your holy name because we pray that we're true. Pray you made
us true. Lord, we have to be honest before
you, real before you. And Lord, that's the way you
were before these Pharisees, these religious people. And Lord,
we know that your doctrine is true. We know that what you taught
is true. And we believe that the Christ,
the son of the living God, We believe that the whole of our
salvation is accomplished by you. And Lord,
you even now sit at the right hand of God, and there you take
up our case and take up our cause. You deal with our infirmities,
our weaknesses, and our inabilities. You deal with us, Lord Jesus
Christ, not the way We believe ourselves to be, but the way
we really are. And Lord, I'm thankful that you
take us as we are. Take us as in all of our weaknesses
and all of our inabilities and all of our failings and falterings
and stumblings and all of the things that so unlike you. Oh
God, thank you. Blessed be your holy name. And
Lord, we ask you to meet with us today. I don't want to be
here by myself. I know these saints want to have
your presence. They want to hear from heaven
itself. They want to hear the voice of the son of God today,
not my voice, the voice of the master. So Lord, if you'd be
pleased to meet me with us and come into our midst, we'd be
ever, ever so thankful. And Lord, whatever we say or
do, let us honor and glorify you. Save you people in this
place. Lord, there's people here that
don't know you, never come to you, never confessed that they're
sinners in need of a savior, never confessed that they have
no righteousness of their own, that they're unable to save themselves.
But Lord, you can bring them to that place. You can convince
them of sin, convince them of righteousness, convince them
of unbelief, convince them of judgment. And so, Lord, it's
up to you to cause the gospel to run well. Please meet with
us. Be merciful, gracious, pitiful,
and merciful to those who are not with us. We ask these things
in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. We'll stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Self-righteous souls on works
rely and boast their moral dignity, The praises known shall echo
grace, free grace. T'was grace that quickened me
when ? Does grace, my soul, to Jesus live? ? ? Grace brings the sins of
all to see ? and grace subdues my lust with Him. Grace reconciles to every loss,
and sweetens Defend thy soul when danger's
near, by grace alone I'll When from this world my soul
removes To mansions of delight and love I'll cast Be seated. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I seek, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not a good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. is the flow that makes me white
as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. is the flow that makes me white
as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Now I want you to turn your Bibles
with me to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. I read to you this morning how
that they didn't, like our Lord's
authority, didn't like that he knew more than they did. And here in verse 21 and 22 is
where I'm going to get my subject this morning, continuing in the
book of Mark. And they went into Capernaum,
and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue
and taught. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, FOR HE TAUGHT THEM AS ONE THAT HAD AUTHORITY, AND
NOT AS THE SCRIBES. THEY WERE ASTONISHED. OUR LORD
WENT INTO THE SYNAGOGUE AS HE ALWAYS DID ON THE SABBATH DAY,
AND HE TAUGHT. HOW MANY TIMES DID WE READ IN
THE LORD JESUS? HE SAT DOWN AND HE TAUGHT. JUST
A MINUTE AGO WE WERE READING ABOUT WHERE HE WENT INTO THE
TEMPLE AND TAUGHT. And they heard him, and he said,
my doctrine's not mine, but his that sent me. But they were astonished
at his doctrine. And doctrine just means teaching,
his teaching. And after our Lord had called
his disciples, and they followed him, he went into the synagogue
and taught. No one teaches like our Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody
teaches like him. And oh, Lord, teach us, teach
us. Teach us, teach us. We need to be taught. We need to be taught the things
of the Lord, the things of grace, the things of salvation, who
needs salvation, why we have to have salvation, why we can't
save ourselves, how we have to be kept saved, that we can't
do anything spiritually without Him. Mary, she sat at his feet. Martha said, Lord, what in the
world is she doing sitting there? Why don't you get her, tell her
to get up and help me. Our Lord said, she sought that
good part. She sought that good part, and
I'm not going to take it away from her. She wants to sit here
and learn of me, and I'm going to let her. I'm going to let
her. And their reaction at our Lord's teaching was they were
astonished. at his doctrine. Why did they
were astonished at his doctrine? Because it says, for he taught
them as one that had authority, authority. He didn't teach them
like the scribes did, so evidently the scribes didn't teach with
any authority. They didn't teach with any authority.
And you know where preachers get their authority at today?
If a man has any authority in the pulpit, it's because he gets
it from God's Word. That's where he gets it from. He doesn't get it from himself. But he gets it from God. He gets
it from the Lord. And I tell you, he didn't teach
like the scribes. In this word, authority, you
know what it means? It means having the power of
choice. Now who's got the power of choice
like our Lord? Anybody else got the power of
choice like He does? Huh? Preachers will tell you
that you've got the power of choice, that you've got the authority,
that you're the one in control. That He has the authority means
that He has the power of choice. I WOULD RATHER HIM HAVE THE POWER
OF CHOICE OVER ME THAN ANYBODY ELSE IN THIS UNIVERSE, WOULDN'T
YOU? AND NOT ONLY DOES IT MEAN HE HAS THE POWER OF CHOICE, BUT
IT ALSO MEANS THE LIBERTY TO DO AS ONE PLEASES. DOES OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST DO
AS HE PLEASES? I'll tell you somebody that he
done everything that pleased him. And that was his father. His father said, he always does
those things that pleases me. And our Lord said, I always do
those things that pleases him. And our Lord Jesus Christ talking
about power. He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and on earth. When he prayed in John 17, he
said, Father, thou hast given him, me, power over all flesh,
that I, I, I have the power of choice. I have the authority
that I should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
me. Oh my. And I, Lord Jesus Christ,
you remember the story when there was a man He was sick, and they
couldn't get to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in this house, and
that house was crowded. Everybody's around the door listening.
And so they got up on the roof, lifted off the tiles, and led
him down in the presence of the Lord. And our Savior said to
him, Son, he's being lifted down in a bed. These fellas, four
men, and they got a hold on each rope, and they're letting him
down. He's laying down. He can't walk. Somebody else
got to pack him wherever he goes. And our Lord looked at him and
all that crowd around listening to him. He said, Son, you be
happy. Your sins are forgiven you. And
you know what the first thing they said? Nobody has the power
to forgive sins, not on this earth, but God only. You know what our Lord said?
That you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to
forgive sins. Listen, get up, get up right
now and walk out of here. And he got up and walked out.
He said, which is greater, to forgive a man of his sins or
say walk? I tell you what, I'd rather be
forgiven of my sins if I never take another step. Huh? That's the only thing separates
a man from God. That man not being able to walk
wasn't his problem. His problem was sin. And there
ain't nobody got the power to forgive sins, but Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory. Ain't that right? And oh my,
you know what Elshire Lord said about his power? He says, no
man takes my life from me, no man. Ain't nobody, I'm gonna
die, but no man's takin' it. Pilate ain't takin' it. Pharisees
ain't takin' it. Jews ain't takin' it. He said,
no man hath power to take my life. I've got the power to lay
it down. I've got the authority. I've
got the choice. I've got the liberty to lay it
down. And I've got the power, I've
got the liberty to bring it back up again. Huh? No wonder they're astonished
at his doctrine. Don't you get astonished at that
doctrine? I'm still astonished at that
doctrine. Ain't you? It still astonishes me. Oh my. When he was standing before Pilate,
Pilate said to him, don't you know, Pilate, he wouldn't answer
him, you know. And Pilate said, don't you know
that I've got power to let you go or power to crucify you? You
know what our Lord finally said to him? He said, you have no
power. You ain't got no power at all.
You're just a puppet. You're just somebody that God's
using. You've got no power. That only
power you got, you got it from heaven itself. You ain't got
none. And the only reason you gonna
crucify me is because that power come from my father and from
me. You ain't got no power. Don't deceive yourself. Don't
delude yourself. And oh my. Well, let me say something
about our Lord's authority and His power. I want to tell you
something. Whenever the gospel is preached,
whenever the gospel is preached, we ought to be astonished because
of the power of it, because of the authority of it. because
of the liberty that it brings, because of the power it brings
to our heart, the power it brings to our mind, the power it brings
to our understanding. It brings such power to us. Oh,
my. And I tell you what, oh, my,
I ought to be astonished by the doctrine of Christ and the authority
of it. And if we preach the gospel,
if we preach the truth, no wonder we sing Amazing Grace. Huh? No wonder we say, to God be the
glory, great things he hath done. No wonder we're saying there's
power in the blood. No wonder we're saying there's
a fountain filled with blood. No wonder we're saying these
things, Jesus made it all. You know why? Because these truths
astonish us. Oh, it's inspiring doctrine. It'll stir up your heart. Now,
when it comes with authority, when the gospel comes with authority,
and he uses it not like the scribes and the Pharisee, they didn't
use the scriptures like our Lord did and the scribes and rabbis
did. Now, I want to show you some
things. Look in Matthew chapter 5 about our Lord's authority,
about our Savior's authority, Matthew 5. You know, our Lord
is the only one who had any authority to say who was blessed and who
wasn't. Huh? He's the only one who had
any authority, and here He uses His authority, right here, His
power right here. Oh, He has such power and authority,
and He, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain, and
when He was set, His disciples came unto Him, and He opened
His mouth and taught them, saying, Now, when Christ says you're
blessed, you reckon you're blessed? And His blessings are different
than the world's blessings. He said, Blessed are the poor.
The world says, Blessed are the rich. Our Lord said, Blessed
are the poor. Now, I tell you what, there's
nothing like, you know how we became poor? I'm talking about poverty before
God. A man can have a bank full of
money. He can have money to burn. But
I tell you what, he's poor and that's poverty. You know where
we got our poverty from? From my father Adam. He became poor and he had to
be dressed and he tried to dress himself and God said that won't
do and God had to dress him. But we became poor through our
fault. David said, I'm poor and needy.
And then our Lord said, not only that, but he said, listen, people
that mourn. And the world says, oh, I want
everybody, I want you to be happy. That's what everybody wants,
happiness. Parents say, I want my child to be happy. I want
my grandchildren to be happy. Our Lord said, blessed are they
that mourn. What do you got to mourn about?
Flesh? Sin, weakness, inability, hatred,
pride, self-righteousness, self-glory, all the things that we're, listen,
Paul said, oh, I wanna do good. I want to do good. But when I
do, you know what I find? Evil, evil, right there with
me. And when I wanna do this over here, I don't do that. I
end up doing over this thing that I hate and not do the thing
that I love. Oh. Oh my. And I'll tell you what,
this is what they looked at. Look what he says now down here
in verse 20. I want you to go look at some
things with me. Here in John chapter five, Matthew chapter
five, excuse me. Look what our Lord said, no,
excuse me, verse 17. Let's look at verse 17 first.
This is what our Lord said to him, showing you his power and
his authority. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. That's what they accused him
of. They said, we're Moses' disciples. As for this fellow, we don't
even know where he comes from. He said, I'm not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. For I'm gonna tell you, till
heaven and earth pass away. Now he's talking about authority.
He says, God, he said, heaven and earth pass away until it
does not one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from God's
word till every bit of us fulfilled. Now, when he talks about the
law here, he's talking about God's word, God's word. Look what else he says here in
verse 20. For I say unto you, except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. They said if two men went to
heaven, one of them would be a Pharisee, shall in no case
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And then look what he says. And
this shows you his authority, the difference between him and
a scribe, him and a Pharisee. You've heard it said, He said, this is what these fellows
been teaching you all your life. You've heard it said by them
of old time, as long as you've been alive, you've heard it said
that thou shall not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall
be in danger of the judgment. But our Lord said, but I tell
you, I'm gonna go a step further. I'm gonna tell you what the law
really means. I'm gonna show you just what
it means. But I say unto you, whosoever is angry with a brother
and has no reason for it whatsoever, he'll be in danger of the judgment. That's the one's gonna be. Next
time you get mad at somebody and get angry with somebody,
you better go and say, oh, listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I, please forgive me. I, I was
upset with you. I was upset with you. I remember
years ago we were somewhere and there was a, there was a brother
there and, and, and I got upset. He said something, I got upset
and I really, I mean I really raked him over the coals in front
of some people. I was upset, man. I was really upset. And
it's been a long time since I've been upset, but I was upset.
He just said the wrong thing at the wrong time. And later,
later, right out there in that, I rebuked him in front of people
and right out there in that foyer, I said, please forgive me. I've
sinned against you publicly and I want your forgiveness publicly.
Cause I got upset. and really didn't have a reason
other than my own feelings. And I said, please forgive me
for what I said, what I done, and how I treated you. Now I
tell you what, because you know why? Because our Lord said that
you heard, but I'm telling you, I'm gonna go by what Christ says,
ain't you? Not by what some old scribe or rabbi says. And then
look what else he says down here in verse 33. Again, again, you've heard it
said. He said, oh, listen, this is
what they've been teaching you. And this is what we went through
our lives till God come and we heard what he had to say. But
I said, again, you've heard it said by them of old time, don't
swear by thyself, but thou shall perform your oath unto the Lord.
Oh, listen, but listen, our Lord said, I tell you what, Don't
you swear. There's no reason for you to
swear at all. There's no reason people say,
I swear, I swear, I swear. Christ said, don't swear. Don't do it. Why? Because heaven for it's God's
throne, nor the earth for it's God's footstool. Oh, my. And so he goes on and on, and
he says here in verse 43, and look at it again, you have heard
it said, you have heard it said, you love your neighbor and hate
your enemy, hate your enemy. Oh my, and our
Lord said, listen, I'm going to tell you what really you're
supposed to be, love your enemies. Love them. You got somebody that
you feel like's an enemy? You know how in the world to
get over that? Start praying for them. Start praying for them. And I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. So our
Lord Jesus Christ shows us his authority, his power. He says,
you've heard it, I'm gonna tell you. You've heard it, I'm gonna
tell you. And I'll tell you what. Christ
is the one we've got to listen to, and that's what He's doing.
He's teaching. He said He's TAUGHT. Why did
He teach them? I'm going to tell you what's
really the TRUTH. I'm going to expose, I'm going
to expose FALSENESS. I'm going to expose FALSE DOCTRINE.
I'm going to expose the FALSE INTERPRETATION OF THE LAW. I'm
going to expose HUMAN NATURE. I'm going to expose men's SIN,
and his FAULT, and his DEPRAVITY, and his HATRED FOR GOD. I'm going
to EXPOSE IT! NO WONDER THEY WERE ASTONISHED
AT HIS DOCTRINE. NO WONDER THEY WERE. NOW LOOK
OVER HERE IN MATTHEW 7. LOOK IN MATTHEW 7. THERE'S TWO THINGS OUR LORD DEALS
WITH HERE. AND THEY WERE THIS. TWO DIFFERENT GATES AND TWO DIFFERENT
BUILDERS. AND HE THROWS HIS AUTHORITY AND
HIS POWER and his liberty in what he's teaching. He said in verse 13, ye enter
at the straight gate. Straight means narrow, narrow,
very narrow. You know, they've got straights
where nothing but a ship can just barely pass through, barely
pass through. And this says here, which leadeth unto life, and
few there but be that find it." Few, just a few. Well, I tell
you what, you listen to most preachers, and you go some of
these places where they got, you know, six or eight, 10, 12
ministers in their congregation. There's a place, Todd's telling
me in Kentucky, that thing takes up two city blocks. IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE,
GOD. THOUSANDS. AND THEY'LL TELL YOU
THAT THEY'RE ALL ENTERING THE STRAIT, THEY'RE ALL COMING IN,
THEY'RE ALL, LISTEN, WE'RE GETTING THEM, WE'RE BAPTIZING THEM BY
THE DOZENS. YOU KNOW, YEARS AGO, THERE WAS
A FELLA THAT WAS SUCH A BIG SOUL WINNER AND ALL THAT, AND HE WAS
BUSING PEOPLE IN FROM ALL OVER, AND YOU KNOW HOW HE BAPTIZED
PEOPLE BECAUSE HE HAD SO MANY? And this is the truth, you look
it up. They had a big old baptistry, and they had a big old spigot
on it, and the water just gushed out of it. And they had so many
people to baptize, they had them walk under the water. That's what I used to do with
my kids and grandkids. Get the hose out. Had more fun with them. But that
wasn't baptism. No, no, it might be a lot of
things, but it ain't baptism. And that's why our Lord said,
and you know where he said the false prophets hang out at? And
that's what I just said. And he says, beware of false
prophets. You know where they hang at?
Right at the gate. They don't want you to get in
the gate. They don't want you in that straight gate. They hang out
at the gate. And they got on a sheep's, over
their clothes, but they're ravening, ravening, Oh my. He talked about false prophets
and gates. Now look what He talked about
now, down here in verse 7, verse 21. He says, now listen, here's
His authority, here's His power, I'm telling you. And I, Lord,
when He says something, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. I'm gonna
tell you who gets in. I'm gonna tell you who's gonna
be saved. I'm gonna tell you who gets in
that straight gate. I'm gonna tell you. He that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven. What is the will of the Father
which is in heaven? This is the will of him that sent me, that
everyone that sees the Son and believeth on him, on him has
everlasting life. Now that's what he said the will
of God was. Then look what he goes on to
say now, and this is scary when you think about it. Many will
say to me in that day, that day, that day of judgment, that day
when we all have to face him, Lord, Lord, have we not preached
in your name, and in your name have cast out devils, and in
your name done many wonderful works? They said everything we've
done, we've done it in the name of Jesus. And that's what they
call Him, Jesus. And they talk about all the things
they've done for Jesus. One fellow told me how many churches
he established for Jesus. Larry Simpson told me before
God saved him he would go with busloads of preachers and they
would go to Chicago or go some big city and they'd get out tracks
and they'd walk the streets and win souls to Jesus and he said we won that was just
win them over and over we win souls to Jesus And there's a fella, an old man
now, he's probably dead and gone, but I remember talking with him
one time and he told me about that. I said, now listen, let
me ask you something. How in the world did you win
him to Jesus? How'd you do that? And he had to think about that
a minute. He said, well, he told me how they'd done it and I said,
well, how does that work? How does that work? How do you
win somebody? And know that they know Christ.
Know that they've been brought to Christ. How does that happen?
But oh, they talked about all, then look what I, and this is
the four awfulest words that a person will ever hear. Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. I don't know anything that you
ever done in my name. I don't know anything you ever
thought in my name. I don't know any work you ever
done in my name. I don't know any preaching you
ever done in my name. Oh, depart from me. He said everything
you done was a work of iniquity. And then that's pretty authority,
ain't it? That's got some power behind
it. Who else could say things like that? And then look what
else he goes on to say, and then he talks about these two buildings. And he says, and he shows the
difference between what false profession is and a true profession
is. Those that trust Christ and those
don't. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, not the
scribes, not the Pharisees, hear these sayings of mine, mine,
and does them, I LIKEN HIM UNTO A WISE MAN, WHICH BUILT HIS HOUSE
ON A ROCK." And I tell you what, listen, as long as we're going
to be in this world, we're going to have RAIN, and the rain is
going to come down, it's just going to come down, like Shirley
says, hammerheads and shovels. Anyway, shovels and hammerheads
or something. But anyway, these sands are mine. He said, oh, listen, the rains,
and then the floods are going to come up. They're going to
get flood. You're going to be flooded with
heartaches, going to be flooded with sorrow, going to be flooded
with sorrows, going to be flooded with tears. Oh, and then the winds is gonna
blow. Oh, the wind's gonna blow the wind of summer, the wind
of winter, and the cold wind blowing and beat on that house,
and it don't fall. Why? Because it's founded on
a rock. He said, you listen to what I
got to say, and you'll have a house that'll stand. He said, now listen. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine and just says, well, Listen, we're going to
build a house according to our standards, according to what
we believe, according to our doctrine, according to our freewillism,
according to our choice, according to our power. Everyone that heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them shall be like unto a fool,
build his house on the sand. And people are doing it all the
time. And the same storms come. You
know what the difference is? That house falls. That house
falls. All right, let's go back. You know, well, why? Why was their reaction like this
to his doctrine? They were astonished at his doctrine,
astonished at his authority, astonished at his power. They
said, well, he's just a carpenter. We know who he is. Where'd he
get this wisdom from? Oh, my. Let me talk about just
a few minutes about the contrast between Christ and the scribes,
what Christ and what He taught and how the scribes did. First
of all, He spoke the truth. You know why He spoke the truth?
Because He is truth. He is truth. I AM the truth. I mean, there is no spiritual
truth, no eternal truth apart from Him. And oh my, he spoke
the truth. He spoke the truth. Why do you
hate me? Because I speak the truth? But you know how they
spoke with? They spoke with corruption, carnal
reasoning. When he said, you've heard it
said, that's what he's saying. He was just corrupt teaching
their corrupt teaching and exposing it for what it was. The scribes,
the scribes didn't know anything. And I'll tell you another reason
he spoke the truth. Here's another reason why he
spoke with authority, and they were astonished. He dealt with
matters of life. Matters of life. Matters of death. Matters of eternity. I just told
you about it. Straight gate, narrow way. Oh,
he spoke of matters of life and death and eternity. They wasted
their time on trivial things. Look with me in Matthew, excuse
me, Luke 11, 42. Look in Luke with me. You know,
they wasted their time on trivial matters. Trivial matters. They waste their time on trivial
matters. Our Lord dealt with things of life and death and
eternity. true things. And here in verse
42, look what he says. He said they dealt with matters
of trivial things. But woe unto you Pharisees, for
you pay your tithes, you pay a tenth of your mint and rue,
and all manner of herbs, and you pass over judgment. You ain't
got nothing to say about God's love. You ought to have done
all these other things. But oh no, woe unto you, Pharisees. You love the uppermost seats
in the synagogue. You want to be greeted in the
markets. You ain't interested in souls. You ain't interested
in the love of God. You're interested in paying tithes. You're interested in getting
the church to pay their tithes so they'll get a blessing from
God. And here's another reason why they were staunched at his
doctrine. Our Lord had a system. to his preaching and his teaching.
He had a system. He started at one place, and
all the way through, you can follow him. He had a system.
Like, blessed are you, blessed are you, blessed are you, blessed
are you. You've heard it said, you've heard it said. They said,
Lord, teach us to pray. He would start talking about
prayer. And I'll tell you, our Lord had a system. He had a place
to start, he dealt with issue after issue, and he had a place
where he'd stop. They didn't. They get up like
a lot of preachers I've seen, and they just ramble on, ramble
here, and there goes that rabbit. Let's go after him. There's another
rabbit. Let's go after him. They go after everything under
the sun. I heard a preacher preaching
this. I didn't hear him, but I seen him and seen what he was
saying. He was bringing a whole message
on transgenderism. Why? Why? You can't change human nature.
If a man wants to be a woman, let him. God will deal with him
when it's all said and done. If a woman wants to be a man,
God will deal with him. What are we dealing with here?
We're dealing with sin. That's their problem, everybody
else's problem, sin. Why make an issue out of things
that ain't going to change nothing? Christ didn't make an issue out
of those things! He made an issue out of LIFE!
Death! Eternity! These scribes got up
and rambled on! They just talked about this,
that, and the other! Oh, my! I had several bulletins
in a row that talked about six different bulletins they put
out on why I'm a Baptist. Why I'm a Baptist? You're talking about a waste
of ink. Why I'm a Baptist? Why not why
I'm a believer? Why I trust Christ? Why I need
Christ? Why I don't have a righteousness
of my own? Why not deal with issues that
have to do with men's hearts? That's what our Lord did. And I tell you, I know I'm taking
too long, but listen, the common people heard him gladly. You
know why? Because our Lord used things
that they understood. He used illustrations they understood.
He talked about sowing seed. Everybody knows about sowing
seed. He talked about catching fish. Everybody's been fishing.
He talked about the birds that fly through the air, about their
nest and how that God feeds them. He talked about flowers. Look
at all them beautiful flowers out there. My Father closes them. If He closed them, you reckon
what He'll do? Well, reckon what He'll do for
you if He takes care of the flowers. And oh, look at them trees. He
said that fruit on them trees comes from my Father. Talked about marriage. Oh, this
man had a marriage for his son. And he invited everybody. That
son didn't want to come. So he said, I tell you what,
you go find the sorriest bunch you can find and bring them in.
I won't feed them. And that's what he done when
he found us. He found the sorriest bunch there was to find. Oh my, he talked about water.
Everybody knows like water. I love, I drank lots of water. And he talked about water. Everybody
loves water. Gotta have water. And he said,
I'm that water. Talked about bread. Oh my, I
love bread. Shirley makes this bread that's
so good. And listen, everybody likes bread. Toast it, butter
it, cheese on it, ham on it. Oh, it's good. Bread's good.
Oh my. And they taught only the things
that were outward, that could be seen. Our Lord said, you know
what they do? He said, they put such a burden
on you, they put burdens on you. And they won't, after they put
the burdens on you, they don't lift a finger to get them back
off of you. And he spoke as one who loved men. He loved men. Oh, and he stood at last and
said, Oh, how he loved him. He loved Mary and Martha, it
said. He was concerned with their everlasting
souls. He pointed to his father and
his love, and how many times does it say he was moved with
compassion. The scribes, the scribes had
no love. They had no love for anybody. Oh, no. He spoke with authority. His message came from the heart
and mind and will of His Father. And I'm going to close with this.
Look over here in John chapter 9 with me. Look at this, John
chapter 9 and verse 39. Talking about our Lord's authority
and His power and being astonished at His doctrine. Oh, our Lord Jesus said, I came
down from a father My message came from the Father, come from
His heart, He spoke from His heart. And I'll tell you something,
He has the authority and He's got the power and He's got the
liberty and He's got the choice of who believes and who doesn't.
And right here He tells us that. This is about the man that's
born blind and the Lord healed him and gave him sight and they
just fought and argued and debated with him over it. And our Lord
said, for judgment I am come into this world. That they which
see not, people that say, boy, you know, which see not, might
see. How many times did we go through
life and we didn't see Christ, didn't see the gospel, didn't
see sin, and then look what he says. That they which see not, might see, and that
they which say, I see. I see, like I prophesied, preached,
and done all these wonderful works. He said, They're going
to be blind. I'm going to make them blind
as bats. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these
words and said, Are we blind? Are we blind? I once was blind,
but now I see. And look what he says now. Jesus
said, if you were blind, if you were blind, like this man here,
born blind, if you were blind, born blind, and you understood
that you couldn't see, you would have no sin. But now you say,
we're not blind. We're not blind. Oh, we see how
salvation is. We see by the law and by Moses
and all. He said, therefore, your seed's
gonna remain. And you know what, I'll tell
you how much power and authority he's got. He said, my sheep hear
my voice. And you know what happens when
they hear his voice? My sheep hear my voice and they
come to me and they follow me. That's some power, ain't it?
Huh? That's some power. Our Father, oh God in heaven,
how blessed is your name. Lord Jesus, we thank you that
you've got all power and authority in heaven and in earth. We thank
you that you've got all power over all flesh and that you'll
give life, you'll give life you'll give sight, you'll give eternal
life to those that the Father gave you. And oh Lord, we don't
know who the Father gave you. If there's some in this building
this morning, some that ever comes in this building, I pray
that it'd be your pleasure and it would please you so When you
said, my sheep hear my voice, maybe somebody heard your voice
today. You said, oh, I hear. I see, I see, I see. Oh God,
grant it for Christ's sake. Forgive us of everything that's
unlike you. Meet the needs of every soul. We ask it for Christ's
sake. Amen, amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. See you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.