that I did choose thee, Lord,
for Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Mattawar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. In Matthew chapter 7, verses
28 and 29, right after the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps the Lord's
most famous sermon, we read these words, And it came to pass, when
Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at
His doctrine, for He taught them as one having authority, and
not as the scribes. Now that word authority in the
King James Version is also translated power, strength, liberty, right,
and jurisdiction. He spoke as one having power. might, strength, right, liberty,
and jurisdiction. In Psalm 60, verse 11, David,
the man after God's own heart, said to the Lord, Lord, give
us help from trouble for vain. is the health of man. And truer words have never been
spoken. Vain is the health of man. Now, if you're in trouble, the
only one who can do you any good is the Lord Himself. If I'm in
trouble, the only one who can do me any good is the Lord Himself. It would be vain to look in any
other direction for help in trouble. The Lord is the only one who
has the authority, the power, the strength, the liberty, the
right to help you. Only He can help you. I can't
help you. You can't help me. I can direct
you to Him, but I can't even do that unless He causes me to
do it. Truly, Lord, give us help from trouble, for vain is the
help of man. He only can give you help. Now, in this passage of Scripture
we just read, I love this verse of Scripture where it says the
people were astonished They were dumbfounded at his doctrine,
at his teaching, for he spake as one having authority, one
having power, one having strength, and not as the scribes. What
he said recommended itself as not the words of men, but the
very Word of God. Now, when the scribes spake,
the religious leaders, the seminary trained professionals, what they
said had no authority. It was obviously the words of
man. They used man's wisdom and man's
ways. Now, when I was thinking about
this, this is a slam on the scribes. He spake as one having authority
and not as the scribes. I thought of what Luther said
to Erasmus. Many years ago, he said, Erasmus,
your God is too human. He's too much like man. Most
people have a God that's so human, and consequently, He has no authority. God said in Psalm 50, verse 17,
Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself. Now, the
God of the scribes, the God of the religious, has no authority,
has no power, and really the things religious people say,
obviously, it's not of God. But He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
spake as one having authority, one having power. This is not
just talking about the depth of His speech or the strength
of His speech. It's talking about His doctrine,
what He had to say. It recommended itself as the
very Word of God. He spake as one having authority,
possessing authority. And if you need help, if I need
help, He is the one we must go to. Now, in Matthew chapter 8
and 9, that was the last verse of Matthew chapter 7, but in
Matthew chapter 8 and 9, we have a commentary on this statement,
He spake as one having authority. and not as the scribes. And Matthew
chapter 8 and Matthew chapter 9 is about the authority, the
power, the strength, the right, the liberty, the jurisdiction
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And would to God that we can
see His authority. And if we see His authority,
we will come to Him for help in time of need. Now, in Matthew
chapter 8, right after this was said, he spake as one having
authority, not as the scribes. We read, Behold, there came a
leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. Now, here we have the sovereignty
of his authority. That leper said, Lord, I can't
make myself clean. And you can, and it's up to you
as to whether or not I'll be cleansed. I have no power in
this. I have no control in this. Everything is in your sovereign
hands. If you will, you can make me
clean. It's yours to give. It's yours
to withhold. Whatever you do is right because
you're absolutely sovereign. Now, here's where I've got to
begin. I've got to begin with bowing to the sovereignty of
His authority. Until that's settled, nothing
else will be settled. The leper came saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Can you come into the
Lord's presence like that? I don't care what kind of trouble
you're in, soul trouble, sin trouble, whatever kind of trouble
it would be. Can you come saying, Lord, if
you will, it's up to you. If you withhold your mercy from
me, you're just, you're right. But if you will, You can make
me clean. That's what I need, is to be
made clean. There's the sovereignty of His
authority. Now, let's go on reading in this
chapter. Verse 5, And when Jesus was entered
into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, saying, Lord,
my servant lieth sick, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto
him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should come under my roof, but
speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I'm a man
under authority, having soldiers unto me, and I say to this man,
go, and he goes, and another comes, and he comes, and my servant
do this, and he does it. I understand authority, and I
understand that all you have to do is speak the word. Nothing else is needed. And my
servant shall be healed. This is the singularity of his
authority. All he has to do is will it. And it comes to pass. And then in verse 14, going on
reading, I'm going to do a running commentary of these Matthew chapters
8 and 9. As a matter of fact, if you can
get a Bible and follow along, I believe it would be very helpful.
In verse 14, And when Jesus was coming to Peter's house, this
is the third event that took place. When Jesus was coming
to Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of
a fever. And he touched her hand and the
fever left her and she arose and administered to them. Here we have the success of his
authority. He didn't say to Peter's mother,
if you have enough faith, your fever will leave. No, he came
and touched her and the fever left. You see, he has the authority
that whatever he does, it comes to pass. He touched this woman
and the fever left her. You see, while man's help is
vain, his help is never in vain. He is omnipotent and whatever
he does takes place. Whatever he wills takes place.
Here we have the success of his thought. Do you need help? Oh,
if he helps you, you're helped. Now let's go on reading, verse
16, And when the evening was come, they brought unto him many
that were possessed with devils. And he cast out the spirits with
his word, and he healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took
our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. Now here is why he
can help somebody like me or you. I guess if I was going to
give this point a title, I would talk about the substitutionary
nature of His authority. He took our infirmities, our
sin, our sickness. Now, you can't give your sin
to Christ. You can't take your sin and lay
it upon Christ. You can't put your sin under His blood. He's
the only one who has the authority to do that. He's got the authority
to take your sin and make it His own. That's why He died on
the cross. The sins of God's elect became
His so that He became guilty of them. And He's got the authority
to take His righteousness and give it to you so that you're
righteous before Him. And everything He does for you,
you deserve to have it because you're righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is why He helps, because
my sin became His. His righteousness becomes mine.
And only He has the authority to do that. You can't take your
sin and place it on Christ. You can't take His righteousness
and make it your own. But He can. And He does that
for all His people. You come into His presence knowing
your need of Him to do that for you. Verse 18, Now when Jesus
saw a great multitude about Him, He gave commandment to depart
upon the other side, and a certain scribe, came and said unto him,
Master, I will follow thee whethersoever thou goest. Now listen to me
real carefully. Anything that begins with an
I will is going to end up bad if man sayeth it. You see, anything
man initiates is going to be no good because man initiates
it. Man's a sinful, weak creature.
Now he speaks well. Oh, I'm going to follow you whethersoever
you go. But that was said in the strength
and the energy of the flesh and he's met with a rebuke. And Jesus
saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father." Now, evidently, the Lord said,
you come and follow me. And the man gave a bad response.
He said, let me go bury my father first. Let me wait until he dies,
and after I get all that business taken care of, then I'll follow
you. But Jesus said unto him, follow me, and you let the dead
bury their dead. You see, when the Lord initiates
something, He causes it To come to pass that man is going to
continue following even though he had a bad response The Lord's
gonna cause him to follow him. He says you suffered the dead
to bury their dead you go and follow me Verse 23 and when he
was entered into the ship his disciples followed him and behold
there arose a great tempest in the sea in So much that the ship
was covered with the waves, but he was asleep And his disciples
came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us! We perish! And he saith unto them, Why are
ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men
marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the
winds and the seas obey him? Now this gives us the extent
of his authority. He controls the weather. There
can be a raging storm, and He says, peace, be still, and immediately
there's a great calm. Now, when men think of what they
can't control, they think, well, I can't control the weather.
He can, and He does. This shows the extent of His
authority. He controls everything. Now, you go on reading in Matthew
chapter 28, and He comes into contact with two demon-possessed
men whom no man could tame. And when He rebuked the demons,
they said in verse 31, So the devils besought Him, saying,
If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into this herd of
swine. And He said unto them, Go. And when they were come out,
they went into the herd of swine. And behold, the whole herd of
swine ran violently down a steep place in the sea and perished
in the waters." But here, the demons themselves couldn't make
a move without asking His permission. They couldn't even go from these
men to the swine unless the Lord said, You can do it. Do you know
Satan himself is under the thumb of the Lord Jesus Christ? Satan. is God's devil. And he's on God's
chain. And he can't make a move without
the permission of the Lord God Himself. He can't make a move
without the permission of the Lord Jesus Christ. This gives
us some idea of His authority. Demons can't even move unless
He lets Him do it. Can such a one help you? Oh,
the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in chapter 9, We
read where our Lord was preaching in a house. And there were some
men who wanted to get their friend to the Lord Jesus Christ. So
they broke up the ceiling of the house where our Lord was
preaching because it was too crowded to get the man in. And
they let the man down on a rope in the midst before everybody.
And then we read, And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto
the sick of Palsy, Son, be of good cheer. thy sins be forgiven
thee." Now, when the Pharisees heard this, they said, why is
this man blaspheming? Who can forgive sins but God
only? Now, they were correct about
that. Only God can forgive your sins. You know, if I forgive
your sins, really, I can't forgive them. You may do something wrong
to me, and I can forgive you, but I can't make your sins be
forgiven before God. Only God has the authority to
forgive sins. Jesus Christ is God, and He has
the authority to forgive your sins, and His forgiveness is
such that He makes them not to be. Their sins and their iniquities,
He says, I will remember no more. Why? Because there's nothing
there to remember. When He forgives, He forgives
in such a way that your sins are blotted out because of His
blood, because of His righteousness. He has authority on earth to
forgive you of all your sins. He said to that man, Son, be
of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven me. Oh, what authority He has. And then we read in verse 9 of
Matthew, Chapter 9, and Jesus passed forth from this and saw
a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. Now we
know that Matthew was a publican and he was very rich and he was
a dishonest man. He would collect taxes for the
Roman government and he would pad the bill to make money for
himself. He was the most despised, all
publicans were. They were the most despised men
in all of the Jewish nation because they worked for the Roman government
and ripped off their brethren. But our Lord comes by and sees
Matthew sitting there and says, Matthew, follow me. And that
publican rose and forsook everything and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's what I see in this.
The Lord Jesus Christ has the authority, has the power, has
the right, has the strength to cause a man to obey. And you
know what I say? That Lord caused me to obey.
Lord, turn me, cause me to walk in your path. Say to me, just
like you said to Matthew, rise and follow me, and give me the
grace to follow you, just like Matthew did. You see, the Lord
has the right, He has the power, He has the authority to cause
obedience, and that's precisely what I need. And then in verse
10, and it came to pass, Matthew chapter 9 verse 10, and it came
to pass that Jesus said to me in the house, behold, many publicans,
And sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why
eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? They were criticizing
Him for this. You know one of the glorious things about the
Lord Jesus Christ? He's holy. And yet sinful men could come
into His presence and not feel threatened, not feel condemned,
and not feel judged. What a character He had that
publicans and sinners would feel comfortable with Him. And here
are what our Lord's reply was to the Pharisees. But when Jesus
heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Now, here I see the need of his
authority. Now, if you have some ability,
if you have some power in your own mind, if you have some spiritual
ability, you don't believe you need his authority. But if you're
sick, if you're without power, You need His authority. You need His power. You need
His strength. You need Him to do something for you because
you know you cannot do anything for yourself. So you need His
authority. Lord, save me. Lord, do something
for me. It's in Your sovereign hands.
Oh, Lord, do something for me. I need His authority and His
power to help me. And then we read in verse 16,
of this same chapter. No man puts a piece of new cloth
onto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it taketh
from the garment. The rent is made worse. Neither do men put
new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break and the wine
runs out and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new
bottles, and both are preserved. Now here we have the supply of
His authority. He says you don't take a new
piece of cloth and use it to patch up holes in an old dry-rotted
piece of cloth. Neither do you take new wine
and pour it into old wineskins that are dried and cracked and
can't be stretched out anymore, but you put new wine into new
wineskins. Now here's the supply of his
authority. He says, you don't take my righteousness
and use it to patch up holes in your own. My righteousness
is the only righteousness. And God doesn't take the wine
of His grace and pour it into an old heart because it will
all spill out and break. But He gives a new heart to receive
the wine of His grace. Now, what that tells me is that
all God requires, He supplies. He requires righteousness, He
gives righteousness. He requires a new heart, He gives
a new heart. Such is His authority that all
that He requires, He Himself supplies. Verse 18, While He
spake these things, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped
Him, saying, My daughter is even now dead. But come and lay thy hand upon
her, and she shall live. Now here is the authority of
the Lord Jesus Christ. How much ability does a man have
to give a dead person life? Absolutely none. No ability whatsoever. But the Lord Jesus has such authority
But He can say to the dead, live, and the dead lives. He can say
that to the physically dead, and He can say that to those
who are dead in trespasses and sins. Live, and they live. Oh Lord, say live to me, how
I need His power and His authority. Now we read, and he gave this
young maid life, as you go on reading in this passage of Scripture.
Then in verse 27 of Matthew chapter 9, when Jesus departed, thence
two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. And when he was come into the
house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus saith unto them,
Believe ye that I am able to do this. Do you believe that
I'm able to give you sight? Do you believe that I am able
to do what you can't do for yourselves? And they said unto him, Yea,
Lord, we do believe. Then touched he their eyes, saying,
According to your faith, be it unto you. Now, do you believe
that He has the power, He has the authority to make you to
be all that God requires of you. Do you believe He has the ability
to save you with absolutely no help from you and to make you
perfect and holy in God's sight? Do you believe He's got the authority
and the ability and the liberty and the right and the strength
to do that? Well, I say with those blind men, yea, Lord! Verse 32, And as they went out,
As these blind men went out of the house, and as he went out,
behold, they brought to him a dumb man, possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out,
the dumb spake, and the multitude marveled, saying it was never
so seen in Israel. His power is such that he makes
the dumb to speak, and they speak the language of grace." You see,
What you believe is seen in your speech. I can tell what somebody
believes by what they say. And when God does something for
somebody, it comes out in the speech. Their words are grace
words. Verse 34, But the Pharisees said,
He cast out devils through the prince of the devils. You know,
religious people have always attributed His sovereign authority. When they hear that, they say,
Well, that's the devil. That's the devil. Somebody once said,
I think it was to Calvin, your God is my devil. You know, it's no different today.
People hear the absolute sovereignty of God and they say that's wrong,
that's unjust. Religious people have always
said that. Verse 35. And Jesus went about all the
cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes,
He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Now
here we have the compassion of His authority. Yes, he has all
authority. He said, all power is given to
me. But, oh, the compassion of his
authority. He's moved to compassion when
he sees the helplessness and the sinfulness and the hopelessness
of a poor sinner crying for mercy. There's never been a sinner that
cried for mercy that he turned down. He's got all authority. And He's the only one who can
do you or I any good. I can't help you and you can't
help me, but oh, the help that's in Him. Give us help from trouble,
for vain is the help of man. Now, I want to conclude by reading
a passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 15. It's where that Syrophoenician
woman had asked the Lord to have mercy on her and He ignored her.
He didn't answer her word, and she continued to ask for help.
And he said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. I've only come for a specific people. I've only
come for the elect. I didn't come to save everybody.
Now, what was her response to this? Verse 24, Then came she
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Help me. Now, here is the one who has
all authority. Here is the one who came to save
a specific people. He didn't come to save everybody.
Now, does that make you give up and quit? It sure didn't this
woman. She said, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
It's not right to take my gospel and throw it out to dogs." And
she said, Truth, Lord. She didn't object to this. She
said, Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and
said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee
even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. He has the authority and the
power to help you. You be like this woman and cry
out, help Lord. Now we have this message on cassette
tape. Call us and we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Diver,
friend of God. We'll be pleased to make Himself known to you. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at ToddsRoadGraceChurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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