Well, good morning. If you care
to open your Bibles to Matthew chapter seven, Lord willing,
we'll finish our study in this chapter this morning, Matthew
chapter seven. Before we begin, let's bow together
in prayer. Our father, how thankful we are
that you've given us another opportunity to meet together
and to worship you, to have your word open to us. Father, I pray
you'd bless us this morning in our worship, that you would enable
us to worship you in spirit and in truth. I pray that your name
would be exalted and glorified, that you get much glory to yourself
in the preaching of your word, that you get much glory to yourself
in showing mercy to your people, speaking to the hearts of your
people, revealing more of our Lord Jesus Christ to us. What
we pray for ourselves and our class here this morning, we pray
for our children's classes that you bless them, Father, in a
special way. Be with their teachers and give
our young people a hearing ear and a believing heart to believe
the things that you have them taught from your word. Father,
we thank you for this place that you've given us, that you've
raised up, A place we can meet together in peace and unity,
a place where your gospel is preached. Father, we thank you
for it. We pray your continued blessing
be upon us here in this place, this ministry. Give us the wisdom
to protect it, give us the faithfulness to remain faithful to your cause,
to your gospel. Father, bless, we pray. for your
great namesake. Bless for our good, the good
of our children, our grandchildren, the good of this community. Cause your word, Father, to go
forth in power. Reveal yourself to your people
in this area, we pray. Father, we ask you to forgive
us of our many sins and failures, that you'd see us and hear us
only in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his blessed name we pray
and give thanks. All right, I've titled our lesson
this morning, Christ's Authority. And when the Lord ended his sermon
on a mount that we've been studying for some months, the people reacted
in astonishment. Look at verse 28 of Matthew chapter
seven. And it came to pass when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his
doctrine. The people were astonished at
our Lord's teaching because they never heard anything like this
before. They were astonished because
for the first time in their lives, they'd heard the true meaning
of the scriptures. Now they had the scriptures read to them every
Sabbath day all their whole lives long. But this is the first time
they heard the true meaning of it. And it made sense to them. They were astonished because
when the Lord spoke, they heard of freedom, not bondage. They
heard of life, not death. They heard of grace, not law.
And Christ showed them in this Sermon on the Mount, and this
is just a very, very short summary of what we've been looking at.
He showed them how all of the scriptures point to him. Salvation is in what the Lord
makes his people. It's not when we act right, it's
what he makes his people. God makes his people poor in
spirit and he blesses them for it. He makes them mourn over
their sin, he makes them meek, and then he blesses them for
it. He makes them hunger and thirst after righteousness, and
then He fills them with it. He makes them pure in heart.
He makes them peacemakers, and then He blesses them for having
it. Christ showed us as He spoke
how He is the true meaning of the law, of every commandment
of the law. He showed us how the law was
not given so we'd have something to obey, we could earn a righteousness
before God. The law was given to show us
how sinful that we are. It's not just in the outward.
It's in the heart, the desires. And that makes us look to Christ
by faith because he's the only one who can keep the law for
us. He showed us that salvation is so narrow. It's only in him. It's Christ alone. Christ is
the straight gate and the narrow way. He is the only way of salvation. He showed us it's one or the
other. It's either eternal life or eternal
death. It's either the straight gate that leads to life or it's
the wide gate that leads to destruction. It's hearing either a true prophet
or a false prophet, one or the other. It's either being a good
tree that brings forth good fruit or a corrupt tree that brings
forth evil fruit. It's either being founded on Christ the rock
or founded on the sands of man's works. It's one or the other,
no in between. And the people were astonished
because the Lord Jesus spoke as a prophet, not as a politician,
not as somebody trying to not ruffle feathers. He declared
God to be who he is. He God, and he declared man to
be who he is. Sin dead in sin. He didn't try
to tickle their ears with something that their flesh would like.
He didn't come knowing they're wrong in their doctrine and try
to slowly turn them to the right doctrine without them realizing
what he was doing. No, he just boldly and plainly taught the
truth, taught the truth of God, the truth of the scriptures,
which is himself, that it's all in him. And the people were astonished. They never anybody talked this
way before. Some were astonished in a good way. They loved what
they heard because it gave them hope. Some were astonished in
a negative way. They hated what they heard because
if what the Lord is saying is true, They're lost. The Lord took away all hope and
self-righteousness. He took the legs out of everything
that they'd ever hoped in before. And if what he's saying is true,
they're lost. And they're going to have to
admit that everything that they believed up to now was wrong
in order to be saved. They're going to have to humble
themselves to do that. And they hated it. They were astonished.
Christ's doctrine, His teaching, took away all hope in self and
made Christ the only hope of salvation, the only hope of forgiveness
of sin, the only hope of righteousness. Christ's doctrine made men totally
dependent upon him. There's nothing that they could
do to add to this. And the people were astonished
because they'd never heard that before. All they'd ever heard
before is everything that they've got to do to serve God. And here's
another reason, verse 29, they were astonished for he taught
them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Now,
they were astonished because when Christ spoke, he spoke with
authority that the scribes and the Pharisees did not have. Now, authority, whether it's
from our Lord or any of his servants, does not come from having a big,
booming voice. You know, you're just domineering
it. That's not it. Authority does
not come from threatening people with the law, trying to make
them conform to the law. That's what the scribes did.
And the people said they had no power, no authority in what
they were saying. Authority comes from the word
of God. This is our only authority. If
we speak according to God's word, to this book, we speak with authority. And when Christ spoke, you think
about what was happening. He went up on that mountain that
day and sat down to teach them, and there was the incarnate Word
of God, the living Word of God, teaching and explaining the written
Word of God. That was authority. And the word
authority, Matthew uses here, means power. It means the capacity
or the jurisdiction to be able to do something, and it means
the liberty to do it. When Christ spoke, He spoke with
authority. because he is God. Christ, when
he spoke, he had the power to say these things. He's got the
jurisdiction to say these things because he's God. And he's got
the liberty to say things the scribes never could say because
he's God, because he knows the truth. He is the truth. And I'm
going to look at some examples of Christ's authority. I want
to see his authority in use. put into use. What is it that
Christ uses his authority to accomplish? The authority of
the savior is so absolute. All he's got to do to accomplish
his will is speak his word. He speaks and it's done because
he always speaks in authority. Now stay right there. We're going
to look at some scriptures. Don't turn to this one. I'll
read it to you. The first thing I want to see
is this. Christ has this authority, spoke with authority, described,
did not have. How did he get it? How did he
come by this authority? Well, the Father gave it to him.
In John 5, verse 26, our Lord says, for as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of Man. Christ got this authority that
astonished the people because the Father gave it to Him. The
Father has put all authority in the hands of His Son. And
with that authority, look back at Matthew chapter 5, the beginning
of this Sermon on the Mount. Christ has the authority to bless
sinners, to do the opposite of what the flesh thinks is possible.
He has the authority to bless sinners. Verse 3, He said, are
the poor in spirit. Verse four, blessed are they
that mourn. Verse five, blessed are the meek. Verse six, blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Verse seven, blessed are the
merciful. Verse eight, blessed are the
pure in heart. Verse nine, blessed are the peacemakers. Verse 10, blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Verse 11, blessed are ye
when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Now it sounds
to us like all those people the Lord described, the poor, those
who are mourned, those who meek, those who are reviled, sounds
like they're on the losing end of the score here, doesn't it?
Sounds like that's the low, the downtrodden, the people that
don't have anything, but Christ and His authority blesses those
people. He blesses them and gives them
the kingdom of heaven. He blesses them and comforts
their heart. He blesses them and fills them
with righteousness. He blesses them so they shall
obtain mercy. He blesses them so they shall
see God. He uses His authority to bless
sinners. Number three, Christ has the
authority to explain the true meaning of the law. It's all
him. He says in verse 20 there in
Matthew 5, for I say unto you, now you think all this about
the scribes and the Pharisees, I say unto you, that except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. Righteousness has got to be him.
Verse 21, he said, you've heard that it was said by them of old
time, thou should not kill. and whosoever shall kill should
be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, see, this
is the way it really is because I say it, that whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause should be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rakeh should be in danger
of the council. But whosoever shall say thou
fool shall be in danger of hell fire. See, I see you thought
it was this way, but I say unto you, this is the way it really
is. Verse 27, You've heard that it was said by them of old time,
thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, this is the
way it really is, because I said it, that whosoever looketh on
a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart. Verse 31, it hath been said,
whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing
of divorcement. But I say unto you, this is the
way it really is, because I said it, that whosoever shall put
away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causes her
to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced
committed the adultery. Verse 33, again, you have heard
that it has been said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear
thyself, but thou shalt perform under the Lord thine owns. But
I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven for it
is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool. Neither
by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, neither shall
thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair
white or black. But let your communication be
yea, yea, nay, nay. For whatsoever is more than these
cometh of evil. So you thought this, but I say
unto you, and this is the way it really is. Verse 38, you've
heard that it has been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. That's what you've always heard. But I say unto
you, that you resist not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. See, that's the
way it really is, because that's what I said. And then verse 43. Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, this is the way it really is. Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. But
I say unto you, and I won't take the time to go through each of
those. I preached a whole message on each of those as we've gone
through here, but how each one of those commandments of the
law, when the Lord says, but I say unto you, we can't do those
things, can we? So each one of those commandments,
what is the meaning of every commandment of the law? Look
to Christ. Just, I'll just use one example.
Can you love your enemies? Can you bless them that curse
you? Can you do good to them that hate you? No, we can't,
can we? But who did? Christ the Savior. He's the one who loved his neighbor.
And he blessed them that cursed him. He did good to them that
by nature hated him. He prayed for them which despitefully
used him. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. Each commandment of the law is
look to Christ, trust him to keep it for you. But I say unto
you, he has the authority to say that. In Matthew six, Christ
has the authority to show us that true religion is not in
the outward. It's not in the outward form
and motions and ceremonies of religion. True religion is in
the heart. In verse chapter six, verse one,
take heed that you do not your arms before me and to be seen
of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your father, which
is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not
sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily
I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest thine
alms, or when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what
thy right hand doeth, that thy alms may be in secret, and thy
father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. The people never heard that before.
All they'd heard was the outward motions of religion. And the
Lord taught, has the authority to tell us it's in the heart.
And he's got the authority to speak to our heart and make us
worship him from the heart. Christ has the authority to teach
us to pray and to enable us to pray. Verse seven, Matthew six. But when you pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they should
be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto
them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before
ye ask him. After this manner," now don't memorize these words,
after this manner, therefore pray ye, our father, which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. There is
power in the Lord's words there. I've seen books that thick on
how to pray. Have you seen books like that?
Books that thick on how to pray. And I've never read one of them,
but this is what I'm guessing. If you read one, you wouldn't
have no more idea how to pray at the end than you did at the
beginning. But the Lord, in just a manner of verses, had the power
to teach his people to pray. He got the power to do that.
Christ has the authority to put down a harsh judgmental attitude
in his people. I hate that in myself. Oh, I
hate that in myself. And I can't make it stop. But
the Lord has the authority to do it. Look at Matthew 7 verse
1. Judge not that you be not judged,
for with what judgment you judge, you should be judged, and with
what measure you meet, it should be measured to you again. And
why beholdest thou the mote that's in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not the beam that's in thine own eye? Or wilt thou say to
thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, just
the twig, let me pull that out of your eye, and behold, a beam
is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out
the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. The Lord, in just
a few words there, has the authority, the power in his word to put
down that harsh, judgmental attitude toward one another. Christ has
the authority to speak as the judge of all. He has the authority
with his word to damn rebels. That's very serious. Look here
at verse 21, Matthew seven, not everyone that saith unto me,
see they're speaking to him as the judge of all, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, which
is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them. Then will I say, I never knew
you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. And they went away. Christ has
the authority as the judge to save or to damn. Christ has the
authority. What is it that he does with
his authority? He has the authority to hold his people firm in every
storm. Every storm. Whether they be
storms of God's wrath, they won't sweep away if Christ speaks for
them. Or the storms of this life. You
think the trials of this life, when they come upon us, we think,
well, I've stood before. but I won't be able to do this
one. This one's gonna sweep me away. Not if Christ speaks for
you, you won't. Look here at verse 24. Therefore,
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, you hear them and you
do them by faith. I'll liken him unto a wise man
which built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, the storm was violent and beat
upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon
a rock. They could not fall, could not
be swept away because of the authority of Christ's word. They
heard his sayings and did them. Now that's what the Lord's told
us about this sermon on the mount. And here's where we're going
to begin next week. The next chapter gives us several
illustrations of God's authority, the authority of his word. Christ has the authority by his
word. to heal our sin sick souls. And
any physical healing you read about in scripture, there's always
a picture of true healing. The physical healing in scripture
is never the point. The point is always true healing,
spiritual healing. I love this story in chapter
eight of Matthew verse one. And when he was come down from
the mountain, great multitudes followed him and behold, there
came a leper. and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth
his hands and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. He was immediately cleansed because
of the authority in Christ's word. And look here at verse
five. Here's a place where the same
word authority is used. Verse five. And when Jesus was
entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching
him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I'll
come and heal him. And the centurion answered and
said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under my
roof. but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
You just speak. He said, I understand how this
works. Verse nine, for I'm a man under authority. That's the same
word used up here in chapter seven. Describe me how the Lord
spoke with authority. I'm a man under authority. I
have soldiers under me. I say to this man, go, and he
goes. I say to another man, come, and
he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. He
said, I understand authority in words. And when Jesus heard
it, he marveled and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto
you, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel, this
faith. And all the Lord had to do was
speak the word. And look, verse 13, Jesus said
under the centurion, Go thy way as thou has believed. So be it
done under thee. And his servant was healed in
that self same hour. All it takes. for our sin sick
souls to be healed is the Lord speak the word. And we're healed
that self same hour. In Matthew, look at Matthew chapter
nine. Christ has the power, the authority to forgive sin. He entered into a ship and passed
over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their
face, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee. Now you'd think he'd say, son,
be of good cheer, get up and walk. That's not what he said,
is it? Be of good cheer, your sins be
forgiven thee. And here, boy, they're astonished.
And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this
man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether it
is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise
and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man hath power. And that word power is authority,
same word used over here in Matthew 7, authority, power on earth
to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of
the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house.
And he arose and departed to his house. And when the multitude
saw it, they marveled. and glorified God which had given
such power, such authority unto men. This man has the authority
to forgive Satan. All right, now look at Luke chapter
four. Christ has the power, the authority, just by his word,
to cast out the power of Satan. Luke chapter four. Verse 33. And in the synagogue, there was a man which
had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with a loud voice
saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art. You're the holy one of God. And
Jesus rebuked him saying, hold thy peace and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown
him in the midst, he came out of him. and heard him not, and
they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What
a word is this! For with authority and power
he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. Christ has
the authority to cast out the power of Satan, to cast out the
power, the controlling power of sin in the hearts of his people. He speaks, and it comes out. All right, now look at John chapter
one. Christ has the power to make sinful men and women to
be sons of God. John one verse 12. Well, verse 11, he came into his own
and his own received him not, but as many as received him to
them, gave he power to become the sons of God. even to them
that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. He had the power to make them
be born again and make them be sons of God. I tell you what,
I'm interested in that. I'm interested. That's something
I need. Look at John chapter 10. Christ has the power to lay down
his life and got the power to take it again so that his people
will be redeemed. John 10 verse 15, as the father
knoweth me, even so know I the father and I lay down my life
for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this
fold. Them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down in myself. I have power, the authority to
lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father. Christ had the power to lay down
his life as a sacrifice for the sin of his people, and he had
the power to take it again, to raise himself from the dead as
the evidence, his sacrifice justified all of his people. All right,
now look at John chapter 17. Verse two, as thou has given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. Christ has the power to give,
just by His Word, eternal life to His people. Now look at Romans
chapter 9. Christ has the power over all
of us. I mean, we could have looked
at many other additional examples, illustrations of Christ's power.
After seeing all that, this is the only logical conclusion you
can come to. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power. over all of us to do with us
as he pleases. Whatever it is he wants to do
with us, he'll do because he's got the power. And whatever it
is he's going to do, it's going to be right just because he did
it. He's got the power, the authority
to make us vessels of mercy or vessels of wrath. It's all up
to him. Romans 9 verse 21, hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same to make one vessel under
honor and another under dishonor. Yes, he does. He's got the power. It's up to him. It's up to his
power to make us a vessel of mercy or a vessel of wrath. It's
all in his hand. Now, never man spake like this
man. I mean, it's no wonder the people
were astonished, isn't it? Grace and truth came from his
lips. He spoke with authority, not
as the scribes, because Christ's word has authority, has the power
to give life because he speaks of grace. The scribes, their
word can only speak of death because the only thing they can
speak about is the law. And the only thing the law has
the power or the authority to do is to condemn. It doesn't
have the power to forgive, doesn't have the power to make righteous.
It only has the power to condemn. There's no authority in a message.
There's no life giving authority. There's no comforting authority
in a message that makes any part of salvation dependent upon a
son of Adam. That's why there is no authority
in what the scribes spoke. But the gospel, oh, the gospel
reveals the power of God and the wisdom of God. Only Christ
has the power, the authority to save to the uttermost all
that come unto God by him. Only Christ has the power. the
authority to present us faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. Christ has all authority. His will is always done. Wasn't
that demonstrated in creation? He spoke and it was so. And it
was good. God said, let there be light
and there was light and God saw it was good. That's been demonstrated
in all the events of history. We see throughout the Old Testament
the Lord telling Israel what He's going to do in the future,
and then He goes and does just exactly what He said He's going
to do. No surprise it happened, just like God said it would,
because His Word makes it happen. That's been demonstrated in the
salvation of God's people, in their regeneration, and in their
glorification. It happens just because He spoke.
Now what can we conclude from hearing of the Savior's authority?
That is good, sound, doctrinal teaching. Christ has all authority.
Let's apply it to right where we live right now. What do we
conclude from this authority of the Savior? The only thing
we can conclude is we are totally dependent on God to do for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. We are dependent on God to speak
and give mercy or we won't have it. We're dependent on God to
speak and give us life and give us faith in Christ or we won't
have it. So where does that leave you
and me? Now we've seen here, we preach God as God with authority
and power to do as he will. Let's preach man as he is. Where does that leave you and
me? It leaves us as nothing, doesn't it? It leaves us as mercy
beggars before God. And I don't know about you, but
this is what I've determined. from looking at these passages
this morning. I don't know if the Lord will
be pleased to show mercy to me or not. But I tell you what,
I'm determined to beg Him for it. Stay at His feet and never
leave in begging Him for it because He's the only one that's got
the authority to give mercy, to give life, to make me a son
of God. All right. I hope the Lord bless
that too.