By Whose Authority?

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In an age when people don't like those who speak with authority, in a post-modern world there is no absolute truth, and if there is absolute truth it can't really be understood. And so, unfortunately, even in the Christian church there is a tendency in today's world for people to mumble. For those who have been called by God to teach His Word, to be too humble to say what the Bible means by what it says; our Lord was certainly not like that. He was One who had about Himself and about His ministry an aura of authority. Let me show you, before we begin to look at the passage we want to examine tonight, let me show you how this fleshes out even in the gospel of Mark. Look at Mark 1:22.

You remember early on we were introduced to this when Jesus went into the synagogue there in Capernaum and verse 21 says,

They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

This was Jesus' authority, verse 27, after He heals the demon possessed man; "They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."

Over in 2:10, He speaks about a different kind of authority that belongs to Him,

"… so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins – He …[says] to the paralytic, … pick up your pallet and go home."

Over in 3:15, He gave to the 12 the authority, He delegated His authority to them and allowed them to do miraculous works with authority, commanding unclean spirits.

Over in 6:7, "[Again)]… He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs (for this Galilean ministry), and gave them [His] authority over the unclean spirits."

Jesus had authority in His teaching and in His ministry and in the acts He performed. The question though, is where did that authority come from? Was it self-granted? Was it passed down to Him by some authoritative Rabbi or some other human authority? That's really the question that comes to the forefront in the passage that we come to tonight. Until this passage Mark has not clearly identified the source of Jesus' authority. But tonight, in the passage before us, Jesus finds Himself in the place where the greatest authority in Judaism resided, that was the temple, and confronted with the people in whom the greatest authority in Judaism resided, the Sanhedrin; and in that context, Jesus identifies the real source of His authority. Let me read it for you; Mark 11, beginning in verse 27.

They came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and began saying to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?" And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me." They began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'From men'?" – they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

In this passage Jesus' enemies confront Him and really question the source of His authority. What is the source of His authority for His teaching and for His ministry? I want us to walk our way through this passage and begin by looking at the question of the source of Jesus' authority in verses 27 and 28. The question about the source of His authority. It's early Tuesday morning of the Passion Week. The events of that Tuesday are recorded by Mark. They began in 11:20 and work their way all the way through 14:2. That's one day; Tuesday of the Passion Week. You'll remember that on Sunday had been the Triumphal Entry. On Monday, the day before the Tuesday, Jesus had cursed the fig tree early in the morning on their way to the city, and once He had arrived in the city on Monday, He had gone straight to the temple courts and there He had what we call, "cleansed the temple."

He chased off those who were buying and selling, and the money changers, those who had made what was supposed to be a house of prayer for the Gentiles, the courts surrounding the temple, who had made it a den of robbers. They were stealing from the people and forcing out the Gentiles who could use that area to pray and to seek the God of Israel. Later in that day on Monday, Jesus had been approached by some Greeks who wanted to see Him, and John 12 records the interchange there. Once evening had come on Monday, Jesus and His apostles left the city, returned to the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in the little village of Bethany just two miles over the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, the day when the events which we just read occur, Jesus and His disciples had left Bethany early to return to the city. On the way you remember, we saw last time, they saw the now-withered fig tree that Jesus had cursed 24 hours before, and Jesus uses that as a point of reference to teach them and us about believing prayer.

That brings us to the passage this evening. Verse 27, "They came again to Jerusalem…" Tuesday morning after seeing the fig tree and after the lesson on believing prayer, they came to the temple on that Tuesday morning. After Jesus had run out the buyers and sellers and the money changers on Monday, He had essentially taken control of the temple courts. Look back up in verse 16 of this chapter; it says that after He had done that, "… He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple." Jesus basically took over the Temple Mount for Monday and Tuesday of the Passion Week. For those two days Jesus was the authority on what could and could not happen in the temple courts.

Now just to remind you, this is a model of the Temple of Herod. The main section there in the middle with the high-rise structure, that was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and the rest of it really was a large collection point for people to gather. This area was so large and even in recent history the Temple Mount, that of course doesn't have the temple on it anymore, but the basic platform is still there in Jerusalem and for a Muslim celebration they had close to 400,000 people on this Temple Mount. So, it would hold a lot of people and at feast time, including Passover, there were 200,000 plus, Josephus tells us, that would attend for that event.

Jesus is on this Temple Mount teaching. In that large area around there, the large open area, that's called the Court of the Gentles. That's where He chased out the money changers. That may be where He was teaching, or on the end there was this royal stowa it was called, that housed options for people to teach, the Rabbis to teach their students and pupils, and it may be that Jesus was in here. We can't be sure, but He was somewhere on that larger Temple Mount. By the way just to give you the scale, that little red piece cylinder there in the middle tells you something about what the scale was; that would be equivalent to a six-foot person; so, it was huge.

He was teaching. In fact, notice on Tuesday Mark says, "… Jesus was walking in the temple...." Somewhere on this large Temple Mount he was walking. Perhaps in the royal stowa here or in that larger Court of the Gentiles. But notice what Matthew tells us, Matthew 21:23 says, "When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching…" And Luke puts it basically the same way in Luke 20:1, "On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him," So, at this point we know that either Jesus was walking and teaching as He went, a practice that was not uncommon in the ancient world, or these leaders approached Jesus between teaching sessions, between groups of people that He was instructing.

Now, who was involved in questioning Jesus? Well, there are three groups mentioned in verse 27; the chief priests is the first one. That involved the current high priest Caiaphas, previous high priests, we know that Annas was still alive, father-in-law of Caiaphas, and other priestly families that were qualified to serve in the role of high priest. Those were the chief priests. This group was the rich aristocracy; they really dominated life in Jerusalem in the first century. They were the blue-bloods. They were the money people, and they controlled everything. They were also by theological persuasion, Sadducees. They rejected anything but the first five books of Moses; they did not believe in an afterlife; they did not believe in angels. They were essentially the liberals of that day.

The second group are the scribes. The scribes are the men who were appointed to preserve, interpret, and teach the Scriptures. They did this both in the Synagogue as well as in the temple, and they were mostly of the theological persuasion of the Pharisees. Those who were committed to a strict adherence to the Old Testament Law, and who also embraced tradition, the traditional interpretation of the Old Testament.

The third group is called the elders. The elders are the elders, the older leading citizens from leading towns across the nation who had been asked to serve on the Sanhedrin. They were essentially the lay-leaders of the nation. These other groups largely were supported by the temple system, but the elders tended to be leading lay-people from across the country that made up the Sanhedrin, that's the ruling body of 71 that ruled the government of Israel under the Romans.

So, this group came, these were essentially the entire leadership of the nation. It's likely not all 71 of them came, instead, a group that had been delegated the responsibility, officially sent by the full Sanhedrin to question Jesus. And they track Him down while He's teaching and walking on the temple grounds. Notice verse 28, "And [they] began saying to Him, 'By what authority are You doing these things, [and] … who gave You this authority to do these things?'"

All that Jesus had done since He arrived in Jerusalem for Passover constituted a constant claim to authority, to divine authority. Now the leaders of the nation, as they confront Jesus publicly, are really asking two separate questions; both of those questions are recorded by all three gospels that record it; Matthew, Mark and Luke.

These are the questions: first question is, "By what authority are You doing these things?" This has to do … the Greek text implies what kind of authority. What is the basis of Your authority? What kind of authority does Jesus have to do and to teach these things? Is it a delegated authority, is it His own personal authority? Is it authority based on the writings of the rabbis? What kind of authority gives You the right to do and to say what You're doing and saying?

The second question is "Who". Who gave You this authority to do these things? This has to do with the source of Jesus' authority. What is the ultimate source? If You believe You have some kind of authority, whatever it is according to the first question, who gave You that authority? Together these questions really amount to, "Show us your rabbinic credentials." What are You doing? You're an uneducated guy from Nazareth. What are You doing here teaching these people on the temple grounds and exerting Your authority; not allowing anyone to come and go and bring merchandise across, and throwing out the money changers, and throwing out those whom we franchise to sell their goods there on the temple grounds; who do You think You are? That was the question. Who do You think You are?

It was an attempt to embarrass Jesus and to undermine His authority. It was a culture, the first century Jewish culture based on authority. Someone had to, as it were, lay their hands on you, delegate authority to you. All the teachers had been taught by previous rabbis and by other spiritual leaders who had put their mantle on them and transferred their authority. Jesus, it appeared, was operating solely on His own.

And so, this is the question. The implication from this question, or these questions, is that Jesus did not get His authority from them. And this group, they're to confront Him, they're priests, they're teachers, they're the civil leaders of the nation. Everybody who is somebody in Israel is represented in this crowd that's confronting Jesus. And clearly no recognized rabbi, no leader who was in a bona fide position of authority in the nation had given Jesus' authority. So, the question is, "Who had?"

Notice that both of the questions are phrased about, "these things." And that's a very good translation of the Greek in both cases. These things: what are they talking about? Well, there are several possibilities. It may refer to His Triumphal Entry on Sunday; some commentators think that may be involved.

Others say, no, it's His cleansing and controlling of the temple that happened on Monday and then bled into Tuesday.

And Matthew mentions that on Monday afternoon after He cleansed the temple, Jesus performed a number of miracles on the Temple Mount. It may be that they're referring to that.

A fourth option is that it refers to His teaching on Tuesday morning.

It may be that all of these are to some degree included, that Jesus' whole life and ministry is included in these questions. But I think the emphasis is probably on His teaching, because look again at what Matthew says, Matthew 21:23. "When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, 'By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?'" Luke makes it even a little clearer. Luke 20:1 says, "On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel.…" – the good news. They come to Him in that context and confront Him.

So, I think it primarily has to do with His teaching and specifically the gospel of the kingdom that He was preaching, but it may include all of these things as well, His entire life and ministry. So, the leaders of the nation are questioning Jesus about what kind of authority He supposedly had and where did He get that authority – what was the source of His authority?

That brings us to verses 29 and 30 where we see the identification of the source of Jesus' authority. Jesus responds, and He responds to their question with a question of His own. Look at verse 29.

And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question…" [Literally the Greek text says,] "I will ask you one word." [All right, we'll make this really simple;] "… I'll ask you [just] one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me."

You know I'm fascinated by the fact that Jesus here is respectful to the leaders of the nation, but He is absolutely not awed; He is not cowed by this official delegation. Now what's going on here by Jesus responding to a question with a question? First of all, understand that that was pretty typical in the first century of the rabbinic interaction and discussion. But I think there's more involved here. You know at first glance when we read it from the 21^st century, it might seem like Jesus is just sort of putting them in an uncomfortable position so that He doesn't have to answer their question. It's kind of a sophisticated dodge of their question. It could even be taken to imply that Jesus is sort of tacitly admitting He doesn't really have any authority; no legitimate authority. But He was just quicker on His feet, quicker to think, and so He was able to divert their criticism. Could come across that way.

But exactly the opposite is true. Jesus is answering their question. His question of them is completely about the reality and source of His authority. Notice what He asks in verse 30, "Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me."

Now, by the baptism of John Jesus means John's entire ministry; that was what he was about. He preached a message of repentance. That was the heart of what he preached; baptism was the sign of repentance, after there was a repentant heart. His ministry really wasn't primarily about baptism, his message and ministry was primarily about repentance. And baptism was merely an indication of that. What do you think about John and his ministry? That's really Jesus' question.

Now these leaders were all too well aware of the ministry of John. You remember back in 1:5, we learned that when John was ministering early in Jesus' ministry, all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. In fact, John's notoriety had risen so high that the Sanhedrin sent an official delegation to check him out. Look over at John 1. John 1, you remember this? Verse 19,

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews [the leaders of the Jews] sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." [The Christos, the Messiah. "I'm not the Messiah."] They … [ask] him, "What then? Are you Elijah? [the prophet that was promised to come? Malachi talked about the prophet who would come in the spirit and power of Elijah.] "And he said, "I am not." [They said], "Are you the Prophet?" [Moses had prophesied that some day a great prophet would come.] "… He answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" [And in verse 23 he quotes a passage from the prophet Isaiah.] He … [says, "Tell them this,] "I am [just] A VOICE, - OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT … [A] WAY … [FOR] THE LORD…." That's what Isaiah says. In other words, "I am here to prepare the way for someone else."

John had stirred the consciousness, the spiritual consciousness of the whole nation. What was the essence of his ministry though? What was the essence of John the Baptist's ministry? Back in 1:4,

"John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." What was that about? Well listen to Paul's explanation in Acts 19:4. Paul, you remember, comes upon some people in Ephesus who had only experienced John's baptism, the baptism of repentance described there in 1:4. And this is what he said to them. "Paul said, 'John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, … Jesus.'"

That's so important to understand. The heart of John's ministry wasn't baptism, in a very real sense it wasn't even repentance; repentance was a means to an end. The heart of his ministry was preparing the nation for the coming of their Messiah. And John clearly, unequivocally, identified Jesus as that Messiah that had been promised. Look here in John 1 while you're still here. Look at what they heard in verse 24.

Now … [this group] had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor … [that] Prophet (that Moses promised would come)?" John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

You remember when we studied this, we discovered that this was the absolute lowest task of a slave. John was considered at this point to be the greatest spiritual influence in the nation. He was considered to be the most spiritual man, a prophet sent from God, and John says, "You think I'm great, but I'm not; I'm not even worthy to be the lowest slave, untying this Man's shoes."

These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and he … [says publicly to all who will hear], "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

He goes on and describes that "He existed before me," even though He was conceived in Mary's womb after I was conceived in Elizabeth. That's a testimony to Jesus' eternality. "I did not recognize Him." He didn't know Him until he baptized Him; he'd been told that when the Spirit descends on the person you baptize and remains on Him, that will be the One - verse 33. "Therefore…," verse 34, this is John's testimony, "I myself have seen, and have testified that this [this man, Jesus of Nazareth] is the Son of God."

John did his job. He pointed to the Messiah. He said, "There He is. That's Him!"

So, the issue of John and his ministry then, was at the heart of their question about Jesus' source of authority. And Jesus makes it clear that there are only two alternatives. Either John and his ministry are from heaven, in other words God had sent John, and he was therefore an authentic prophet, or John and his ministry were from men; in other words John was either self-appointed or appointed by men, and in either case, according to the Old Testament, he was a false prophet because God hadn't sent him.

So, Jesus laid out the two alternatives about the source of John's ministry, and then He said, "Answer Me." As the religious leaders of the nation, it was their duty to render a verdict on whether or not a prophet was legitimate. So, Jesus here is in effect demanding that they fulfill their divinely assigned role. "Tell Me, is he from God or not?"

That brings us to the third part of this passage, the rejection of the source of Jesus' authority; verse 31. "[And] they began reasoning among themselves, saying, 'If we say, "From heaven," He will say, "Then why did you not believe him?"" Now this is definitely a low point for the leadership of the nation. The key civil and religious leaders of the nation Israel huddle and begin to discuss or argue among themselves how they should answer this question. It's kind of like, you know, okay, good question Jesus, just give us a minute. And they sort of huddle away; they've been put in a box.

There are only two alternatives; John's ministry was from heaven, and if that were true – think about this for a moment – if John's ministry was from heaven, that meant that John was truly a prophet, and they should have not only believed John, but they should have believed the One he identified as the Messiah. They couldn't go there, because they didn't believe that. But the other alternative wasn't really any better for them either, and that was, that John's ministry was from men – look at verse 32. "But we shall we say, 'From men'?" And then Mark explains, "… they were afraid of the people for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet." They couldn't say that John's ministry originated from human sources because they were afraid of the people. Why? Well notice "everyone" considered John to have been a real prophet. Remember there was a crowd gathered from all over the nation, 200,000 plus on that massive platform called the Temple Mount gathered for the Feast, and they all believe that John was a real, true prophet. Now, what does that imply? It implies that the spiritual leaders having this conversation did not accept John as a real prophet; in fact, that's exactly true.

Look back at Matthew 11. Jesus Himself made this point. Matthew 11:16, Jesus says,

"But to what shall I compare this generation? [It's] … like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children, and say, 'We played the flute for you, and you didn't dance; we sang a dirge, and you didn't mourn.'" [You're not playing along with the game.] "For John came neither eating nor drinking, [… he lived a very spartan lifestyle …] and they say, 'He has a demon!'" [That was the testimony of the religious leaders of the day about John. The people thought he was a prophet; the religious leaders said He must have a demon.] "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'"

You're not happy either way.

Look over at Matthew 21. Matthew 21:32. Jesus ends the parable of the two sons that we'll briefly look at next week, and He says in verse 32, "For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; [you did not believe him] but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him." That was how the religious leaders thought.

Now go back to Mark. This gives a lot more sense to what they're saying here. "We can't say from men." If they had answered straightforwardly Jesus' question, "Do you think John and his ministry was from heaven or from men?" what would they have said? From men, but they're not about to say that because they were afraid. What were they afraid of? Well Luke makes it really clear. Luke 20:6, "But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet." You see to call John the Baptist a fraud when the people believed him to be a true prophet would invite the charge of blasphemy and would bring death by stoning.

In fact, Josephus writes, [the Jewish historian writing for the Romans] he writes that the Jews believed the troubles that came on Herod Antipas were divine punishment for killing John the Baptist. So, they're in a no-win situation here. They can't say what they really believe. They could have said, notice verse they basically wimp out. Notice verse 33, "Answering Jesus they said, 'We do not know.'" Now they could have answered honestly and simply said, "We're not going to answer Your question."

But these religious leaders of the nation lie. They say, "We don't know." That's not at all what they believe. They believed John was from men; he was either self-appointed or appointed by men, but not from God, in fact, he might even have been appointed by Satan; he was demon-possessed. But their admission here is very telling. Because it shows that they rejected the Old Testament prophesy about the forerunner that had been fulfilled in John, they rejected the forerunner of the Messiah Himself, and therefore they rejected the Messiah that the forerunner pointed to. God had validated Jesus' ministry in a variety of ways, and they simply rejected it all. How could they do that? It's not because they didn't have enough information. It's because a hard heart will always blind you to the truth.

There may be someone sitting here tonight who simply will not accept the claims of Jesus Christ on your life. And you give yourself plenty of reasons, there are lots of excuses, like these religious leaders. But in the end, it's not because God hasn't provided sufficient information. It's not because there isn't enough weight of evidence. It's because you will not. The reason they didn't see the truth was that they had hardened their own hearts against it. Jesus Himself said in John 7:17, "If anyone is willing to do God's will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself." If you want to do what would honor God, it'll become clear to you. And if it hasn't become clear to you it's because you don't really want to do it.

C. R. Erdman writes, "An increasing knowledge of divine truth is conditioned upon humble submission of the heart and will to what has already been revealed." If you want more truth you've got to submit yourself to what you already know. You've got to be willing to do His will wherever it takes you as you see it in the Scripture.

D. Edmond Hiebert writes, "Their trouble lay not in their dullness of mind but in their stubborn will." You see the question Jesus asks them. It wasn't a trap – do you understand that? Jesus wasn't trapping these men with this question. This was yet another expression of grace in their lives. He's giving them yet another opportunity to realize and confess their blindness and to ask for sight, to see the truth of who Jesus was. But they're so hardened and so blinded by their own sin that they refuse His grace; they refuse to see what is so plain, that John's ministry affirmed Jesus and His authority.

By His question Jesus did answer their question. "By what authority do I do these things? The authority of having been identified as the divine Messiah, by the divinely appointed forerunner." Who gave You Your authority? Heaven; God Himself. Verse 33, "... Jesus said to them, 'Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" Jesus is saying, "Listen, God has already made the source of My authority clear. I just made it clear to you in the question I asked you, and I'm not going to give you another if you won't accept that."

As we will see in more detail next week, Jesus follows this confrontation with three stinging parables. Immediately on the tail of this conversation Jesus tells three parables about Israel's leaders. The first is the parable of the two sons in which the leaders are the son who only pretended to obey, but never really did. He tells the parable of the vine growers in which the leaders rejected and killed the prophets and will eventually kill the son.

And He tells the parable of the wedding feast, in which the leaders refuse the wedding invitation that was extended to them and so others were invited. This is a crucial moment in the intersection of Jesus' life and ministry with these spiritual leaders. He, in a sense, offers them another expression of grace, and they slam the door; and in response to that, He lays out these parables in which they incur God's coming judgment.

So, what is the application of all of this to us? There are three that stand out immediately to me. First of all, the obvious one is that God gave Jesus the authority to teach and to do all that He accomplished during His ministry. It wasn't Jesus' authority; it was the Father's authority. And by identifying the source of His authority, Jesus is forcing the leaders and – are you ready for this? – Mark is forcing the readers of his gospel, he's forcing us, to decide how we will respond to Jesus. There are only two options: John the Baptist is from men. That means he's self-appointed; God has not sent him; he is a false teacher who has no right to speak for God; Jesus therefore has no authority, and neither Jesus nor the gospel He preached should be believed.

The other option is John the Baptist is from heaven. If that's true, it means God sent him. It means he's a true prophet of God who speaks for God; Jesus is the true Messiah and all that He claims to be, and He has divine authority. That means Jesus and the gospel message He preached must be true and must be believed. Jesus' authority is from the same place as John's authority – from heaven, from God Himself. Listen folks there's no middle ground. You have to decide about Jesus. Is He from men, or is He from God? If He's from God, then why don't you believe Him? Why don't you believe what He taught?

When you look at the outworking of this authority in Jesus' life, there's so many different ways, but just a couple jumped out at me. God gave Jesus the authority to forgive sins. Isn't that exactly what you and I need? Jesus has authority, according to John 17:1 and 2 to give eternal life to those the Father has given Him. Jesus has delegated His authority to those who receive Him, according to John 1:12, to become the children of God. And God has given Jesus the authority ultimately to judge every human life; those who believe in Him will receive eternal life, and the joy of the Father's presence forever, and those who reject Him will be judged by the very One they rejected. He has authority.

A second application for us is that if Jesus has all authority, then we must obey everything He said. Isn't that what He said, in the Great Commission, Matthew 28, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." And once you've made them disciples; once they become true followers of Mine; once they've entered into a relationship with Me where I'm their Teacher, and they are My student; where I'm their Lord, and they are My slave; where I am their Savior, and they are the one redeemed; then I want you to baptize them, and I want you to teach them to observe – underline that word – not just to know but to observe all that I commanded you. You remember how Jesus began this? He said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." And therefore He says, "… teach My disciples to observe all that I have commanded them."

Listen, folks, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, or you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you can't opt out of this part. All authority belongs to Him, and He has said that I am, as the pastor of this church and one of the elders, the elders of this church, we are to teach you to observe, to do all that Jesus commanded us to do. And until that becomes the passion of your life, then there's a question about whether or not you're truly His disciple at all. Because disciple means student, who goes to school in the school of Christ, and doesn't merely accumulate knowledge but who lives out what he learns. You see this throughout Jesus' ministry. Look at John, very briefly look at John, several places here; John 7:14.

But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?" [In other words, He never went to the rabbinical schools.] "… Jesus answered them and said, 'My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.'"

My teaching is from the One who sent Me. Look over at 8:26. "I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world." Verse 28, "… Jesus said, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.'" Look down at verse 38 in the same chapter; "I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." According to those who did not follow His teaching. Verse 40, "But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God…." Jesus' authority was not His own, it came from the Father.

Look over in John 12, "For I did not speak to you...." verse 49,

"For I did not speak [to you] on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me."

Do you understand, then, that not to follow the commands of Christ is not only to reject Christ but to reject the One who sent Him, to reject the Father; it's to say, "I don't belong in this family." If Jesus has all authority, and we who profess Him must obey His commands.

There's one final application. If Jesus has true authority from God, then we must listen to and obey those who represent Him. For us that means the apostles and their writings. Jesus Himself put it like this in John 13:20; "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send …" [and in our case it's the apostles who have written us the New Testament,] "… receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."

You want to respond rightly to Jesus' authority in your life? Then get engaged with this book. Read it. Study it. By God's grace pursue doing what it teaches. Get into the school of Christ, where you learn His lessons and you put them into practice. And if you don't, then don't say, "I'm His disciple."

By what authority? By God's authority.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for the authority with which our Lord spoke. Thank You for His teaching which has been passed on to us by those He handpicked to do so. Lord, thank You for the authority that that bears in our lives. You have enabled us to see the reality of who He is, that He is in fact Your divine Son, the One sent as the Savior of the world, our Lord and Master.

But Father I pray that You would help us to live that out, to acknowledge His authority in our lives, to obey His words and to obey the words of those He sent, the apostles. Father, forgive us for saying that we are disciples of Jesus, that we are followers of Jesus, that we have accepted Him, and yet refusing His authority to speak into our lives, to tell us how we ought to live and how we ought to treat one another in our homes and how we ought to live out our lives in the workplace and in our schools, with our families, and in the church. Father, I pray that You would help us to not only to acknowledge His authority with our mouths, but to acknowledge His authority with our lives.

I pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, it's our joy tonight as we conclude our service, to welcome some new members. God continually adds to His church, and there are some folks that He's brought our way, and we are so grateful for that. I'm going to just ask them to come quickly up here, to the front, just come and line up across the front as I call your name, and we'd love to get to know you a little bit. So let me ask you to come up, and I hope you'll pick some of these folks, pray for them, get to know them at the reception in just a moment.

First of all, Daniel Bassinger. Daniel is from Hurst, he's a cashier at Tom Thumb, he's been attending here for about a year. Welcome, Daniel.

Martha Dennis. Martha is from Carrollton. Her family is here; her daughter is Mandy Hunt. Mandy's husband, of course, Craig. Martha is a secretary for the Lewisville School District; she's been attending about three months. Welcome.

James and Jordan Acconomitist. Now James and Jordan were just married, two months ago, right, July? And they're traveling to our church all the way from Mesquite. James is – and I have no idea what this means, James – but you are an HRSC representative for KPMG. (Laughter) Okay, Human Resources – okay I got it. I just thought it was code, and you know it it you could tell me, but then you'd have to shoot me. (Laughter) Jordan is a teacher for the Mesquite ISD and they've been coming for about seven months. We're so glad the Lord's brought them our way.

Phil and Martha Cob – did I get that right? Whatever; no, no, that's not good. Cob…okay, thank you. I was afraid I was going to mispronounce it, see? I shouldn't have asked; I think I'd have done better not asking. Phil and Martha are from Ft. Worth, and Phil is retired. Martha makes custom window treatments, and they've been coming for about three months. Welcome, you guys.

Jennifer Simmons. And Jennifer is married to Nathan, so we'll let him come along. Jennifer lives in Grapevine, she's a homemaker; they're expecting their first child, and she's been attending for about a year. So welcome.

Joey and Emily Jessup. Joey and Emily are from Trophy Club, and Joey is a pharmacist at Walmart, and Emily is a student and medical coder. And they've been coming for about a year. So welcome. Let's welcome these guys together, shall we? (Clapping)

We are so grateful the Lord brought you our way and just know that we want to be, and our prayer is that we'll be, a blessing in your lives as I know you'll be in ours. Okay, now here's what we're going to do in just a moment; we're going to pray, and after we pray you go get your stuff if you would, and head down to the Fellowship Hall, and then we'll sing a song, and we'll join you shortly, all right?

So, let's pray together.

Father, we do rejoice in Your goodness; thank You for this church. Thank you for the people that You bring here, for how they so much enrich our lives. Thank you for the fellowship that we enjoy because of Christ, that although we're still getting to know some of these dear people You've brought, we feel like we've known them forever because of the relationship we have in Christ.

I pray that You would help us as a church to be a rich blessing in their lives, and in turn, Father, I pray that You would enable them to use the gifting You've given them for our good as well. Lord, we pray that You'd help us to grow together into the full…. (recording cut off)