That was a blessing. One of the
things I liked about that song is that had something for the
poor vile sinner and for the poor believer. Need the same
thing, don't they? Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to begin three messages from Matthew, chapter 25. I think
I feel impressed with the spirit of God to bring these messages. And tonight we're going to look
at the parable of the ten virgins, the five wise and the five foolish. Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter four? I've entitled this message, What
New Doctrine Is This? And I borrowed the title from
the passage of scripture I just read from Mark, where in Mark's
account, they said, what new doctrine is this? For with power
and authority, he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and
they do obey him. Now, let's look in Luke chapter
4, verse 32. Same story here. And they were astonished at his
doctrine. For his word was with power. And in both Matthew and Mark's
account, they include a jab at the Pharisees and scribes, not
like the scribes. There's no power in what they
say. He spake as one having authority. Now, truth. Is its own authority,
it doesn't need to be embellished. When you hear divine truth, you
know it's the truth. I think that's powerful in and
of itself. You may not rejoice in it, you
may not like it, but when you hear the truth, You know, that's
the truth. When you hear it, you know it.
He spake as one having authority. What he said recommended itself
as nothing less than the truth of God Almighty. And he then
selected a certain individual to demonstrate the power and
the authority of his voice. Look in verse 33 of Mark, chapter
four. And in the synagogue. There was
a man which had a spirit. Of an unclean devil. This man was demon possessed. He was morally perverse, totally
under the power of an unclean devil. Is there still demon possession
today? There certainly was then. I don't
see any reason to say no. This man was under the power
of an unclean devil. Let's go on reading. We read
in verse 33, and he 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, the Holy One of God. Now, this man was not seeking
the Lord. Matter of fact, he said, leave
us alone. Who's speaking, the man or the
demon? You can't tell, can you? Both. And their desire was for the
Lord to leave them alone. We do not want you. We don't desire to have you to
do anything for us. Leave us alone. alone. What have we to do with thee? We have absolutely nothing in
common. You're holy. We're evil. You're righteous. We're unrighteous. You're good. We're bad. You're light. We're darkness. And we do not want to have anything
to do with you. We have nothing in common. And what's especially frightening
about this man is the knowledge he had. I mean accurate knowledge. We know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. fearful knowledge is without
salvation. Oh, the knowledge that this man,
this demon had. He didn't even suspect mercy. He said, have you come to destroy
us? Is that what you're here for? He didn't even suspect mercy. Now, in this man, we see that
the power of Christ does not lie in the person saved, but
wholly in Christ himself. Isn't that wonderful? This man was not looking for
mercy. He was demon possessed. He was
opposed to mercy. He didn't want to be saved. That
doesn't mean he wanted to go to hell. It doesn't mean that
at all. But he did not want to be holy. He did not want to be
like the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not want to be saved from
his sins. He said, let us alone. He did not have a drop of faith. He was an utterly hopeless case,
wasn't he? This man had the spirit of an
unclean devil, morally perverse, satisfied with where He was. Verse 35, And Jesus rebuked him. That is quite often translated,
commanded him. This was the command of irresistible,
invincible, almighty grace. He commanded him. Now, could
that fellow have said no to his command? Absolutely not. You see, when the Lord commands,
people do what he says to do. And that's what happened here.
He commanded him. He rebuked him, saying, hold
thy peace and come out of him. You see, when the Lord does something
for somebody, you know, the first thing he does is he shuts him
up. He shuts them up to himself. Gone are all the objections.
Hold your peace and come out. And he came out. He didn't have
any choice, did he? He had to obey the sovereign
command of Christ. And Jesus, verse 35, 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. Can
you imagine the people that watched this? They knew who this fellow
was. They knew what his history was. They knew he was an unclean
man. They knew he was demon possessed.
And they watched the Lord command that demon to leave him. What
power in his command. And they were all amazed, verse
36, and spake among themselves, saying, what a word is this?
For with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits,
and they come out. The authority and the power of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there isn't anything I don't
believe that thrills my soul more than thinking about the
authority and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he demonstrated
his authority and his power upon this man who was possessed with
an unclean devil. He commanded him out. And I love
the way the people responded to this. What new doctrine is
this? What new thing is this? You know,
it really wasn't new, was it? Actually, it's the oldest thing
there is. It's who he is. With authority and power, he
commandeth even the unclean spirits and they come out. Now, the word
power means inherit ability, might from within. And the Lord Jesus Christ possesses
omnipotence. power. Whatever he wills must
come to pass because he has the power to make it come to pass. He said, all power is given to
me. Christ is called in first Corinthians
one, the power of God. What a name for our Redeemer,
Christ, the power of God. Now when we think of omnipotence,
power, the first thing I think of is creation. He created something
from nothing. Now what power is involved there?
When there's nothing and He willed the universe into existence and
all of a sudden there it is. Now that's almighty power, isn't
it? Oh, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. All things were
made by Him and for Him. He's before all things and by
Him all things consist. But there's a whole lot more
in his omnipotence. Hebrews 1 3 says he upholds all
things by the word of his power. Everything that is, he's in control
of. You know, there's a lot of joy
in that. I mean, joy first, because he's in control of everything.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he's in control of everything. But the
joy of this is knowing that whatever happens or whatever has happened,
Ultimately, he's the first cause of it. Can you find some joy
in that, no matter how painful something must be? He who is
too wise to err, and too kind to be cruel, controls and rules
the universe, and nothing happens without him. That's power, isn't
it? Oh, his power over providence
by him, all things consist. And then I think of that. Passage
of Scripture in John, chapter 10, I think this thing, this
shows his power, maybe more than anything else, says in John,
chapter 10, verse 17, 18. Therefore, does my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again? No
man take it from me. I have power. To lay it down
and I have power to take it again. Now, you want to talk about power.
How is it that the God-man can die? What power? That's mysterious. The God-man.
God can't die. I know he can't. He's alive.
But the God-man did. Can you explain that to me? No,
I can't. But what power there is in that that the God-man could
die. But even more so, what power
there is in that he could raise himself back from the dead. Mystery. That's all we call it. Mystery. What power He has. Oh, I think when Pilate said,
Don't you know? Are you not answering me? Don't you know that I have power
to crucify you? And I have power to release you?
And he said in sovereign majesty, thou couldst have no power at
all on me, except it be given thee from above. Oh, the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word authority means liberty
or freedom of action. The right to exercise power,
the right to do as one pleases. He said, can I not do what I
will with my own As the Father raises the dead and quickens
them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. The power and the
authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Power plus authority equals what?
Sovereignty. Sovereignty. The sovereignty
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He doeth according to His will.
In the armies of heaven, And among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can say his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Now, this new doctrine, what
new doctrine is this? Oh, it ain't new, is it? This
is the old doctrine, the divine truth. In the beginning, God. That's what that is. In the beginning,
God. Now, would to God that he would
come down into our midst And give us a glimpse of his saving. Sovereign authority, even now. Would you turn with me to John
chapter John, chapter 17. I want to look at a few verses
of Scripture which deal with his. Authority. His power. Verse 1, these words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. The hour that I'm going to, in
obedience to you, go to the cross and suffer and bleed and die
as a substitute for my people. The hour has come. Glorify thy
son. that thy son also may glorify
thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
Now, the Lord tells us at this time, That he has power over
all flesh. Know what that means? That means right now, everybody
in this room, you're in his hand. Means he can save you if he's
pleased to do it. And it means he can harden your
heart if he's pleased to do it. As an act of his irreprehensible
justice. Thou has given him power. over all flesh. That's who the
Son of God is. That He should give eternal life. The life of God in the soul. He said in verse 3, this is eternal
life, that they might know Thee. the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him." Now, there's his power. He's
got power over all flesh. That means everybody in this
room, we're in his hand. And he can do with us whatever
he's pleased to do. And we bow before that. And he's
going to give eternal life to those the Father gave him. He's going to save the elect. Turn to John chapter 5. Verse
26. For as the Father hath life in
himself, You and I don't have life on
ourself, do we? We're dependent upon Him. The life we have, He
gave it to us. But He's utterly independent. The utterly independent
being. He has life in Himself. So has He given to the Son to
have life in Himself and have given to Him authority to execute
judgment also because He is the Son of Man. Now, he has authority
to execute judgment. Now, what is this execution of
judgment? He has the authority to say,
me and you. He's justified. He's not guilty. He's not guilty. He's perfect
in my sight. And he's got the authority to
say, guilty as charged. Depart from me. I never knew
you. And that's the authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has the authority to execute
judgment, to pass out the sentence. You see, he executed judgment
on the cross, on Calvary's tree. When he said it is finished. Everybody he died for was justified
and he declares them so to be. They're just, they're not guilty. And everybody who rejects his
gospel, he says, depart from me. There's the sentence. Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. He has the authority to pass
sentence. Turn to Matthew chapter 9. Verse 1, And 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, paralytic, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of Son, be
of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now here's this man paralyzed,
lying on a mat with no ability to do anything. Now at this time,
what the Lord says to him, he doesn't say, rise up and walk.
He lets him lay there in his paralysis. He doesn't do anything
for him physically, but he does say this, your sins are forgiven. Now, what a glorious thing. Let's go on reading. And behold,
certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemous.
How is it that a man can say to somebody, your sins are forgiven? Can I say to you, could I look
at you and have the authority to say your sins are all forgiven?
Do I have the authority to do that? Does any man have the authority
to do that? No. I think it's interesting. People
say, do you think I'm saved? What difference does it make what
I think? Really? What if I think you are? Does
that mean you are? No, not at all. What if I think you're not?
Does that mean you're not? No, men don't have authority.
And I can understand these men looked at the Lord Jesus Christ
as nothing more than a man. And they said, this man blasphemy.
Who has the authority to say your sins are forgiven, but God
himself? They were right there, weren't
they? They were right. Verse four, and Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, said, Wherefore, think ye evil in your hearts."
You see, any thought regarding the Lord Jesus Christ that is
not giving Him the glory as God is evil. This is the Son of God. Oh, what are your thoughts concerning
Him? Then He says, "...for whether
is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, Or to say,
arise and walk. Now, which is easier? Which is
easier? Let's say a guy's laid out on
a mat, quadriplegic, can't move. What's easier to say to that
fella? Your sins are forgiven, or rise up and walk. Well, it's
easier to say your sins are forgiven. Because you can say that and
nothing happens. Your sins are forgiven, but there he lays.
It's harder to say, rise up and walk. Because there you're going
to see if there's anything to it. Rise up and walk. So he asked that question, 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 on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick
of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose and departed to
his house. And those folks saw, this man
has the authority to forgive sins. When they saw this fellow
rise up and walk when he said to, he's got the authority to
forgive sins. Now, listen to me real carefully.
He has the authority. I don't care how evil you are. I don't care how grievous your
sins have been. I don't care how many they've
been. He has the authority to forgive
all your sins so that they are no more. I want to know Him,
don't you? I want, I want to have some kind
of saving interest in this one who has the authority and the
power to forgive me of my sins, because my sins are ever before
me and I can't do anything about them, but he can. Oh, what authority
in the Son of God. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
seven. Verse 25. Wherefore, he is able. Now that word able is powerful.
He has the power. He has the might. He has the
ability. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now he has the power
to save to the uttermost. Now what's the uttermost mean?
What's that mean? That's almost an undefinable
word, the uttermost. But I know this. Our Lord, when
he, Psalm 69, he says, The waters have come into my soul. And that's
a psalm of the cross. You look at that psalm. The waters
have come into my soul. Save me. You know what? His father saved him. He put away sin, but his father
saved him. How saved is he? He's now seated
at the right hand of the father. He is saved to the uttermost. You can't get any more saved.
You can't get any more secure. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't get any more loved than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is saved to the uttermost,
and he is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God
by him. Jessica Clark is the only lady
I know of right now that's with child. When she comes into that door,
that child doesn't come beside her. It's a little girl. I asked
her if they knew what her name is. Her name was, I shouldn't
say it's, her name, and they didn't know yet, but she's with
child. She's got a child living in her. When she walks into the
room, that child doesn't come beside her. That child doesn't
come behind her. That child comes in by her. When she comes in, that child
comes in. And when I come to the Father,
the reason I come to the Father is I'm in the Son. I come by
the Son. When He comes to the Father,
I come to the Father. No man cometh to the Father But
by Me and all who come by Him, He is able to save to the uttermost. Now, however saved He is, that's
salvation to the uttermost. That's how saved all who come
to the Father by Him. 2 Corinthians 12. Verse 9, And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. Now, this was said in answer
to that plea that the thorn in the flesh might be taken away.
Now, he didn't say, No, I'm not going to take it away. If he
would have said, no, I'm not going to take it away, Paul could
have probably went ahead and given in to it. He didn't say,
I'm not taking it away. But he did say this. My grace. The grace that comes from me,
my grace, not just a doctrine, my grace, my saving grace is
sufficient. It's enough for thee. Four, my strength, my omnipotence,
my power, my omnipotence is made perfect in weakness, powerlessness. Now, one thing I know about myself, In and of myself, I am utterly
powerless to do any spiritual good. In and of myself. And I
know that. I can't believe. I can't love. I can't do anything. But thank God, somebody that
fits that description, anyone who is weak, powerless, impotent,
spiritually impotent. He says my power is made perfect
in completion, in weakness. So what does Paul say? Most gladly,
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, my weakness,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take
pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am powerless, weak,
then Am I strong? Hebrews 2, verse 17, Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, Were his brethren flesh? He was made flesh. Were his brethren
sinful? He was made sin on the cross.
He was made sin. What's that mean? Just what it
says. He was made sin. He never committed
sin. But what's worse, he was made
sin. In all things, he was made like
his brethren, he was made flesh, he was made sin, that he might
be a merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
Being tempted, being tried, he is able to succor, to help, to
give divine aid to them that are tempted. Tempted and tried and beat up, he's able to help, to succor,
To give aid to them that are tempted. Now, you take that promise
if you're somebody who's tempted, Lord, Lord, you said in your
Word that you're able to help them that are tempted, them that
are tried. That's me. Help me. He's able. He's able. Somebody says, my problem is
my will. That's my biggest problem. My will. I want to want to, but I can't
seem to get past that. I want to want to. I desire to
want to. I want to want to believe. I want to want to want to believe.
I want to want to want to. I want, but my will. Listen to this scripture. Psalm
110.3 says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. You see, it's God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So you
can't get stuck there. Lord, make me willing. You said
if you want to be willing, Lord, make me willing in the day of
your power. Turn to Jude 24. Right before
the book of Revelation. Jude 24. Now unto him. That One who has all power and
all authority. He's omnipotent. He's sovereign. That means whatever He wills
is going to come to pass. Now unto Him that is able, that
has power to keep you from falling. Among the many fears that I have,
is the fear of falling. The fear of the Lord taking His
hand off of me and me proving to be nothing more than a reprobate. I fear that. I fear that. I fear any fall, but most especially
this fall. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling. Oh, Lord, keep me from falling. I will fall and I'll feel hard
if you don't prevent it. Lord, keep me from falling. He's able. He's able to help
those that are tempted and he's able to keep us from falling. But not only that, go on reading. And to present you, what's that next word? Faultless. My soul, when the
Lord presents me before His Father, I think of all the sin that is
on my mind, that's in my heart, but I'm going to be presented
faultless. That's the power of the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to be presented. And
listen to me, this doesn't mean, well, everybody's going to know
he's faulty, but he's got Christ's righteousness counted to him.
And so he's he's fault. No, I'm going to be faultless.
Faultless. Faultless. Now, you want to talk
about power, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. That he could present me faultless.
before His presence with exceeding joy. Now unto Him. Now that's power,
isn't it? The power and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. One
last scripture, turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul says in verse 11, wherein
to I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles. For the which cause, because
of what I preach. As a teacher to the Gentiles,
as an apostle, as a preacher, I think it's interesting the
order. First a preacher. Then an apostle. I think of Solomon. saying, I,
the preacher, was king in Israel. Isn't that amazing? What a blessing
to be called to preach the gospel. He said, I'm appointed a preacher
and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles for the witch
cause, because I preach. You remember where Paul went?
He was beat, beat, beat with a A cat of nine tails, five times,
beaten with rods, stoned everywhere he went. He knew wherever he
was going, he was going to get beat. You know, a lot of times
we think of the Apostle Paul as kind of probably a weak, sickly
fellow. I don't know about that. He probably was weak from how
much he'd been beaten up. But you think of the beatings
he took. I mean, he was beat with a cat of nine tails, five
times, stoned. He was something else. For which
cause I suffer these things? Because of the message I preach. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. And here's why. It's not because of my courage
in preaching the gospel. It's not because I'm a preacher
or an apostle or a teacher. Here's why I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed. I know what I believe, who cares? I know whom I have believed. You see, what you believe is
determined by who you believe. And when the who is known, the
what becomes obvious. I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded, I am convinced
that He is able, that He has the might, the strength, the
power, the ability. I am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which our community against that day, that great
day of judgment. Now, what Paul is saying when
he's talking about keeping that which I've committed to him,
Paul saying, I'm not looking to myself for a thing. Not a thing. I've committed the
salvation of my soul to his keeping. And my hands are off. I've committed
it all to him. Now, if you don't do that, you've
never really committed. You're holding on to something.
If you believe in works in any way, you've never committed.
Do you understand that? Do you hear that? If you believe
in works in any way whatsoever, you've not committed the salvation
of your soul to him. But I tell you this, I say with
Paul, I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded, I am convinced
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him against
that day. That day when my name is called. You know what I'm going to be
doing? I'm going to be looking to Him to answer for me. And
He says when my name is called present and accounted for, I'm
persuaded. He's able to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day. New doctrine? I don't think so. Not new at
all. It's the doctrine of God. Let's
pray together.