The Authority of the Church - A Sermon on Matthew 28:18-20

I should like to call your attention this morning to the last three verses in the Gospel According to St Matthew the Gospel According to St Matthew chap 28 vers 18 19 and 20 and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in Earth go ye therefore and teach All Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I Am With You Always even unto the end of

the world I want to emphasize particularly that 18th verse and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power or all authority is given unto me in heaven and in Earth I want to consider with you in other words this whole great question of authority because it seems to me more and more that perhaps the most urgent problem confronting the Christian church today is this very question this problem of authority now there are many reasons why we should consider that one obvious reason is this that speaking very generally at any rate in this country the

masses of people are outside the Christian church and the Christians are but a Remnant and therefore the question that must present itself to us is this why is it that the church no longer can commend the attention and the interest of such people there was a time when it was very different and there is no doubt that the only real answer to that question is this whole matter of authority the church has lost a note of authority and the average person today takes up the attitude that he is not going to listen because there's nothing

in this he doesn't come to him with this Authority which demands and insists upon receiving his attention and that therefore in and of itself is a sufficient reason for considering it but there is another reason and perhaps this is still more urgent there is at the same time in the world today a a curious and a very interesting Revival of interest in religion and this is where the whole question of a Authority I say arises most acutely for it is a fact that there is a great new interest in many respects in religion speaking generally

we hear a great deal about uh successes accompanying certain great Evangelistic efforts but we don't always hear about an equal success if not greater in various other religions there is a marked Revival in the world today in Buddhism they report phenomenal increases not only in India but in other lands Buddhism is aggressive at the present time and militant and highly successful the same applies in a sense to various forms of Judaism and uh a Revival in the old Jewish religion and then we're well aware of the success of many Cults and many types of religions

I needn't specify their names we are familiar with many of them there succeeding they increasing in number and thus we are confronted by this extraordinary phenomenon of a great Revival of interest in religion and less unfortunately one feels constrained to say that there is a great deal of what presses even under the name of Christianity which I fear should rarely be classified as religion and not Christianity because it seems to be a Christianity without Christ it seems to be a vague desire to be blessed by God and somehow or another to safeguard one's future by

being in relationship to God but it doesn't seem to be New Testament Christianity though it calls itself Christianity well now I say that in the light of all these things nothing is more important than this whole question of authority here we are as it were one voice amidst this veritable Babel of vices that is preaching and propagating various teachings and various types of religion and people are asking well how do I know that yours is right why do you claim that yours alone is the right one why shouldn't we agree that there are many ways

of arriving at God and that perhaps Buddhism is as good as you are Christianity how how are we to know how do we confront such a situation what is our Authority what is our sanction and of course it becomes still more important when we realize this that the history of the great revivals and religious movements in the past shows very clearly that at such times the church has always spoken with a a great Vice and turn of authority it hasn't been a vague suggestion or a vague surise the Christian Pulpit has not approached the congregation

and the people in a kind of spirit of fear and afraid to lose them and doing everything therefore to attract them and to entice them and to hold them but rather it has confronted them with a voice of authority and they have been convicted and converted there is no doubt I say that the most urgent and acute problem therefore in many senses today is this whole question of authority and of course it another reason why it's important is this that so many people who imagine that they are Christians and who seem to have gone on

all right for years when they find themselves in trial or in trouble or when they come across another teaching that they'd never heard of before they they're shaken and they know where they are they haven't rarely a foundation to their position there are so many who seem to regard it as just a question of obtaining a certain amount of help here and there but who've never come face to face with the Bedrock of their whole position and the result is as the scriptures tell us they're carried about by every wind of Doctrine and the cunning

craftiness of men and so on and thus they end by making shipwreck of their faith well now there as I see it is the world situation at the present time particularly as regards the Christian Church there is an interest in religion but the vital question confronting us is is this true Christianity now then that brings us to this vital matter of authority what is our Authority what is our final our ultimate sanction for all we say and for all we claim now in a very remarkable manner the Bible rarely deals with that very problem let

me put it against you in this form here is men in this world confronted and baffled by problems and difficulties and perplexities he's got a sense within him that things are not as they are to be he wishes for something better though he doesn't perhaps say it in words and is not prepared to Grant it intellectually he's got a sense of God within him and he feels that somehow there is some power or some person that could help hence the success of religion in the types I've described and of the various Cults but the question

is how can men know God how can men arrive at this knowledge of God that he fundamentally feels he stands in need of well he tries to do so in various ways some believe that it can be done in an intuitive manner almost an instinctive manner these are the people who talk about the inner light and about some sinking into yourself and having a mystical experience they've tried that approach there are others who try it along the line of reason and of wisdom they observe God and the marks of God in nature and in history

they say that God speaks in conscience and under along the line of thought and of philosophy they try to find God now all this is but men's Endeavor and attempt to get at some ultimate final Authority for his life and for a sure belief in God but all this still as it always has throughout the centuries ultimately leads to nothing but failure you can try all these various ways and in the end you will come back to the conclusion of the wise men who wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes vanity of vanity is all is Vanity

wisdom doesn't solve the problem pleasure doesn't art and culture don't there is still something lacking something still that a man needs and the same applies to reason for as Paul tells the Corinthians the World by wisdom knew not God one can't get there and of course it's inevitable because God is eternal and God is Holy and God is absolute in all his attributes and man is not only weak and finite but he's sinful and therefore by all his striving and efforts it doesn't matter whether it's through intellect or the denial and abnegation of intellect he

can never get there there is this impassible Gulf and man is left wondering and just query and that brings him to realize that what he needs above everything else is revelation he cannot arrive at God God must reveal himself and if God doesn't reveal himself well then men is in an utterly and entirely hopeless position well now the whole case of the Bible is that God has revealed himself and here is our Authority but the question arises how has God revealed himself and that brings us to the first great answer to this whole matter of

authority our final Authority is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself now the whole Christian position rarely comes to that and it is because as I'm suggesting that so many seem to me to leave that unsaid or to take it for granted or fail to assert it that this needed Authority is so lacking there is so much religion without Christ so much Christianity without Christ even and yet the whole purpose of this book is to say that Christianity is Christ we are confronted by this and if we are not clear about this we've got

no Authority at all and no position something unique has happened in the history of this world and that something is the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ our whole position our entire situation depends upon him and if we are not clear about him we have nothing at all we preach the Lord Jesus Christ he is our only Authority he is our ultimate our final Authority and what I want to try to do this morning is to show you that that is really the great message of the New Testament now it may Astound you that I'm

putting it in that form you may say to me well surely you needn't tell us that we are Christian people and we've always known that we've read our Bibles we've read the New Testament in particular and obviously we know that and yet I'm putting it to you that that is the thing which we so constantly forget and of which we are not aware as we should be aware it seems to me that our trouble is that we cannot somehow put ourselves back in the position of these first Christians if we could only do that in

this morning as it were forget everything else and just come back to this with a virgin mind and a new and a fresh and understanding and Outlook we would be rather surprised and astonished we would see ourselves confronted by the person now isn't it true to say of us most of us if not all of us that we are constantly in danger of forgetting him we want some particular thing always and so we come to the house of God and not so much expecting to meet with Jesus Christ as expecting to have our grief assuaged

expecting to have a word of comfort expecting to forget a problem it's quite natural it's very human and thank God the Gospel of Jesus Christ does all those things yes but you see it does them only in and through him so that if we came seeking him we would have all these other things in addition but it is possible less to have these other things without him hence the success of these other movements why do you think people become Buddhists unless they derive some benefit from it they do they are convinced that they're finding peace

that they're finding answers to such C of their problems and of their questions that is why these other Cults are succeeding that is why religion is in a sense popular people say you know I like to feel that I'm in the hands of God well you needn't be a Christian to say that an orthodox Jew can say it a Hindu can say it a mohamedan con say and all these religions are saying it and they're adding to their numbers and they're militant and aggressive and they're succeeding amazingly and religion is popular people say in a

world like this that is so uncertain and with the things that are threatening we need to be blessed by God and so they say we must believe in God and we must pray to God and wait upon God and they believe they're getting all that but the Lord Jesus Christ is not mentioned at all but you see when you come back to the New Testament the thing that strikes you at once is that it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself that is being held before us and the whole message is not about the benefits of religion

but this person you start objectively forgetting yourself all togethere and you just look at him and it's because of a relationship into which you come with him that you then begin to Rive your various blessings and benefits well now then let me try to show you just to remind you this morning hurriedly of how the New Testament asserts all this it's an astounding thing you know but the New Testament is about the LA Lord Jesus Christ it's not religion it isn't a book of religion it is a book that introduces us to the person and

tells us how we can come to know him and then goes on to tell us of the consequences of that knowledge but I say it is no there is no value at all and there is no point in considering anything else until we realize this morning that we are solely dependent upon him if this message concerning Jesus Jesus of Nazareth is not true well then I say we might as well be Buddhists or zionists or anything else you may like to choose it is the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is of course

the great theme of this new testament let me show it you you open at the beginning of the New Testament in this Gospel According to St Matthew and the first word you read is this the book of the generation of Jesus Christ that's it you come to this book and you say well now I'm not very happy and things are going against me and I'm in trouble and I've tried everything else but I'm not arriving satisfaction what does this Christian Church got to say can you help me with this or with that and here's the

answer the book of the generation of Jesus Christ it at once holds you face to face with a person Mark does exactly the same thing listen the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Jesus Christ the son of God you go on to The Gospel According to St Luke what you find well after his little introduction he begins to tell you about some amazing Angel visitations and certain words that are spoken you go onto your Gospel According to St John in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and you see at once

you're taken out to the realm of your subjectivity and yourself and your problems and alarms and you're looking at this person now the gospels you see don't do that kind of thing accidentally this is their whole message it was the thing that brought the Christian Church into being it was the so preaching and message of the Apostles the apostles the first preacher preachers of the Gospel didn't simply go around the world saying you know we've got hold of a marvelous idea we've got the answer to the problems the solution to all questions listen to this

no no they went round and they preached that Jesus is the Christ Jesus the son of God Jesus the Lord Of Glory that was their message they were preaching this person and their announcement was that this stupendous thing had happened that God ha visited and redeemed his people they said it's this person that matters it isn't a new religion we are propagating it isn't a new philosophy we are here as bearers of glad tidings we are announcers of events in history and they held before the people this person now I want to show you how

all this is the thing that is emphasized right through the New Testament you remember that at the very beginning that when the angel visited Joseph and told him what was going to happen he quoted to him these words Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God With Us now that's the thing that they start with and as I say this is the thing that you will find in the introductions of every single gospel here in the New Testament because

this was the message God With Us no longer a man teaching a religion propagating a point of view but that God has acted as intervene in time and has sent his only begotten son into the world and therefore what these portraits set out to do is to give us portraits of the Son of God to establish this fact of the Incarnation and then when you go on to The Gospel According to St Luke you will find in exactly the same way that the angel that visited Mary said exactly the same thing he talks to her

about this holy thing that is to be conceived in her and that of his kingdom there shall be no end that's the announcement they're making and they want us to understand it at the very beginning they seem to be saying to us look here there's no point in your reading any further unless you come face to face with this person look at that babe do you realize who he is and so the angels that Disturbed the shepherds in the field at night you remember they said that they had brought Tidings of great joy for unto

you this day is born in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord still the same message and they put all this in the very Forefront of their message because of course they are anxious that we should just stand face to face with this if you're going to read my book says John in the same way I want you to realize that it's not a book about religion it's a book about the word of God that was with God from the beginning but that was made flesh and my message he says is

just this that no man have seen God at any time but the only begotten who is in in the bosom of the father he has declared him he has led him forth he has manifested him he has spoken him it's all about Jesus Christ as he says summing it up at the very end of his book these things he says are written I haven't told you everything he says if I told you everything the world wouldn't be great enough to contain the books that should have to be written but these things are written that he

might know that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing these things he might have life through his name you see all along they're telling us that it's about this person why well there's no Christianity apart from him we have no Authority at all I can't answer the Christian Scientists I can't answer Jehovah's Witnesses I can't answer the Buddhist nor any of these people except on these grounds that here is the Son of God so I come back and I see that these gospels were obviously designed to do that they're not mere

Recs written anyhow they're written with a definite and specific end and that is to hold Jesus Christ before us and so having introduced themselves in that way they then all go on to tell us about John the Baptist the great Forerunner of Jesus Christ that amazing men that dwelt out there in the wilderness eating his locusts and Wild Honey and he preached in such an amazing manner that many listening to him began to speak to one another and to say is not this the Christ they said we've never heard a men like this before didn't

you see the fire in his eyes didn't you feel it in his burning words this they said must be the Christ the long expected prophet of whom Moses spoke and how careful are these evangelists to tell us this that John the Baptist turned upon the people and said I am not the Christ I am but a voice crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than I cometh the Le of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose he shall baptize you with the Holy

Ghost and with fire I am not he he's coming there standeth one among you whom you know not he is the one John points to him everything points to him and how careful are the evangelists to tell us that and to hold us face to face with it but you see they go beyond that they all are very careful to tell us about his baptism and not so much that they may tell us about the baptism as that they may tell us what happened at the baptism for there as he came out of the water

you remember the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove but beyond that there came a voice from Heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased there it is what are we talking about these men seem to be saying we are talking about one who has been authenticated by a voice from Heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased again the Transfiguration they all tell us about it that's what they're concerned to say again the voice Came From Heaven saying this is my beloved

Son in whom I am well pleased hear him it's all about him because he is our final Authority and without him we have no message we have no faith we have no final belief well now there you see is but the introduction to these gospels but then go on and listen as they tell us about our Lord's own teaching and you will find again that they go on asserting this selfs point you listen to the Lord Jesus Christ and you find that he talks about himself and he talks about him himself in an extraordinary manner

he says without any hesitation no man knoweth the father but the son and no man knoweth the son but the father always this separation always this standing apart he doesn't hesitate to say I am the way and the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me he doesn't hesitate to say ye have heard that it was said by them of old time but I say unto you this I he emphasizes it he stands before them and he's always saying look at me and you remember how he ended his Sermon on

the Mount with these words everyone therefore which heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them shall be likened unto a men that built his house upon a rock every man that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be liken to a man that built his house upon the send it's my says Heaven and Earth shall pass away he says but my words shall not pass away here's the authority the authority of this person Jesus of Nazareth and as you work through your gospels and it's something we should do constantly and keep your

eye on this you will find that all the the time he is asserting his authority and commanding people to listen and then he works his miracles what are they well they're signs says The Gospel According to St John he didn't work his miracles merely to perform acts of kindness this sign he did them to authenticate his person he did them to prove to the people who he was so he turns to them and says if he believe not my words believe me for the very work sake look at my Works behold the miracle and supremely

he doesn't hesitate to assert that he has power and authority to forgive sins and there was nothing that annoyed the Pharisees more than that they said who can forgive sins but God alone and yet he says son thy sins be forgiven he stands and he claims this Authority and what's so interesting is that the gospels tell us that the people recognize this Authority that was the very impression that was made upon them we are told that when he finished his Sermon on the Mount the people looked at one another and they said this men teacheth

with authority and not as the Pharisees and scribes they said we've never heard this before we've always heard people saying Hill said this chiel said that this father said this and they quoted them and their subdivisions and the exact references and they spent the whole time in quoting a authorities here is one without a book as it were and who doesn't quote anybody but says I say unto you the authority of the Son of God they felt it and they were conscious of it and you remember that on one occasion the authorities sent some soldiers

to arrest him they said we must put an end to this and the soldiers went but they came back without the prisoner and they were challenged by the authorities who said where's your prisoner and all they could say is this never man SP like this men we couldn't touch him they seem to say we couldn't get near him there was an authority there was something about him they felt it and have you noticed that almost every time he performed a miracle we are told the same thing the people glorified God they were filled with a

sense of amazement and of utter astonishment they said we have seen strange things today they magnified God they looked at him and they felt this is beyond men what is it and indeed these gospels are careful to record that even the Devils acknowledged his authority you remember that poor men of gadara that was filled with a legion of devils when the Devils saw Christ approaching they said what have we to do with thee thou Son of God Art Thou come to destroy us before our time others they said other times they said we know who

Thou Art the holy Son of God they recognized they felt that Devils believed and trembled and you know his very enemies recognized it and felt it they realized that he claimed to be the Son of God and thus there is this Universal testimony the disciples after much hesitation and fumbling they come to see it so that when our Lord turns to them at cesaria Philippi and says but whom say ye that I am Peter answers for them saying Thou Art the Christ the son of the Living God and then he tells them on another occasion

as people were leaving him because of his message they had followed him and they' listened to him and they' said who can stand these things and they were leaving him in large numbers and our Lord turned to the disciples and he said will ye also go away and the only answer they could give was this to whom shall we go to whom can we go thou Hast the words of everlasting life and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the son of the Living God and there it is the whole emphasis you

see is upon the person the whole thing comes to this either the Son of God has come on Earth to save us or else he hasn't and then they go on all of them to record the resurrection they are careful to give us the details about his death upon the cross and his burial in the grave in order that they may tell us about this amazing fact of the Resurrection there it is he died he was buried the stone was rolled at the face of the grave and yet it's gone and he risen and he

has appeared Christ and the resurrection they went round and that is what they preached Jesus Son of God risen from the dead Jesus and the resurrection now the point you see I'm making all along is just this are these the things that are most Central in our minds Christian people are these the things about which you meditate or do you spend your time in thinking about your own happiness and your own experience you know these books tell you look at him they say there he is you realize what's happened that was the apostolic message that

was Apostolic preaching Jesus here's the authority the only Authority he's risen from the dead and therefore he is the Son of God declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the dead and so they are careful to tell us that poor Thomas who doubted it all and couldn't believe it when he saw him he fell at his feet and cried saying my Lord and my God he worshiped him and all we are told the other disciples did the same thing and they worshiped him and

returned to Jerusalem with great joy and then they tell us of his Ascension and how those disciples stood there on that mountain saw him going back to heav my friends this is Christianity this is the whole Essence God has visited and redeemed his people and then you go on to the book of The Acts of the Apostles and you're confronted by that tremendous thing that happened on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem the Holy Ghost fell upon these men and they were transformed and transfigured and began to preach with a new boldness and a new

Authority what was the message Jesus is the Christ Jesus the son of God Jesus the savior of the world none other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved the exclusiveness of this message pointing to him what is this well this is nothing but a fulfillment of a prophecy that was made by the Lord himself do you remember how he told these disciples it is expedient for you that I go not away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I go away he will come

unto you and then he tells them and when he is come he shall reprove or convince convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of Judgment of sin because they believe not on me of righteousness because I go unto the father and the world seeth me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is John what does all this mean well sometimes you know I'm afraid we misinterpret those statements and we think it just means this that the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment he does but

you know it means much more than that it means this the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the church on the day of Pentecost is the final assertion that Jesus is the son of God that's what he said himself he shall convict the world of sin in what respect well because it hasn't believed in me I have confronted them with a statement that I am the Son of God and that though they kill me I would rise again they didn't believe me I have risen again I said that when I had risen again I would

send the comfort of the Holy Ghost I am sending the comfort of the Holy Ghost here is the proof of my words I am the Son of God he convicts the world of sin the sin of unbelief the coming of the Holy Ghost is the final proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God come into this world and therefore we have this long account of it in the second chapter of the book of The Acts of the Apostles and in the same way he convicts the world of righteousness because he has established this

that it is he alone that can make men righteous that is why he died that is why he bore the sins of men and their punishment that is why he went to the cross and suffered it all and expired and his body was taken down and buried in a grave here is God's way of righteousness how do I know it well he's risen again and he sent the spirit all these things are about attestations of his person and in exactly the same way he convince convinces the world of judgment convicts it he has defeated the

devil the prince of this world he says is already judged on the cross he put him to an open shame Rising again he proved that he defeated him he is stronger than the strong man armed he has robbed him of his authority he he has the authority so the Holy Spirit coming on the church convicts the world of sin and righteousness and of judgment by establishing that he is as he said the only begotten Son of God that's his authority and now these Apostles filled with this Holy Spirit go out and preach in the Name

of Christ and so the book of act opens with these words the former Things o Theophilus have I written unto you of the things that Jesus began to do what's he going to write about now he's going to write about the things that Jesus continue to do there are some people who say the book of Acts should be called not the book of The Acts of the Apostles but the book of the acts of the Holy Spirit I think both are wrong it is the book of the continuing action of Christ here are the things

that Jesus continued I've told you what he began he's going on and therefore you read your book act and you look at him and you feel his authority Peter preached him on the day of Pentecost and then you remember the next day Peter and John are going up to the temple to pray at The Hour of Prayer and they see a man impotent from his mother's womb sitting at the beautiful gate of the temple and he looked at them expecting to receive arms of them they hadn't got any to give but Peter and John looking

steadfastly upon him said Silver and Gold Have I None what then but such as I have give I Thee Well what is this here it is in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he arose and stood upon his feet and went leaping and jumping and praising God into the temple and the people came and looked at Peter and John and were ready to fall at their feet and to worship them and Peter and John say why look he on us as if by our own strength or power or authority

we had made this man to walk or had given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all his name that's it it's the only explanation His Name by faith in his name hath given him this perfect soundness it's Christ that's acting and then you see as they go on preaching him the authorities try to stop them and they say we cannot but speak of the things which we have seen and heard Jesus he preaching his miracles he's death his resurrection the Holy Ghost the things which we have seen and heard there is none

other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved the name of Jesus and so you see the book of Acts is the book of the actions of Jesus Christ he had said hadn't he on this rock I will build my church he is the builder of the church it is there's action in the book of Acts it isn't the building of the Apostles it isn't the building of the Holy Ghost as such it's Christ doing it all through them he's building the church so follow him see him arresting sa of tssus on

the road to Damascus it's the Risen Lord that does it it's still the same Authority the same person have you met him do you know him are you interested in Christianity or in Christ have you some subjective Sensations or you have you come into the presence of the Lord that's the question there is so much religion I say but he isn't there they don't mention him they don't speak about him they're speaking about Thrills and feelings and excitements but it's the Lord that matters and so you go on and listen to Peter preaching in the

household of Cornelius and this is what he says Jesus Christ is Lord of all and Saul of TS has become Paul is preaching but he's in trouble and the Jews are against him and he goes to the temple and Jesus appears to him and sends him to the Gentiles it's always the Lord Jesus Christ my time has gone but I could take you in the same way right through the Epistles and you'd find they're all saying the same thing they're always talking about the Lord and you know this word the lord it's a designation of

divinity do you know that when he's referred to as the Lord it means the Old Testament term Jehovah that's the one they're speaking about that's the one they're writing about who am I writing about says Paul well he's my answer in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily that's the message that God ha visited and redeemed his people it's the great message of the Incarnation who was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God but humbled himself and made himself of no reputation and came in the

form of a man and being in the likeness of men humbled himself and took on him the form of a servant and humbled himself even to the death of the Cross wherefore God ha highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every other name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and and things under the Earth that's the message Jesus men dead buried Risen Lord ascended seat at the right hand of God far above all principality and power and might and dominion

and every name that is named not only in this world but in the world to come that's the message who is he well says Paul he is the Lord Of Glory and that is Christianity that is the Christian message that is the Christian faith it's our only Authority it's God come down amongst us the person of the son and he has dwelt amongst us and he has come to redeem us and he's risen and he's gone back and his authority is based therefore upon those three things that I've been indicating to you his authority is

the authority of the Eternal Son of God his authority is the authority of the one who came down and took unto him human nature and bore our sins and bore their punishment therefore he says I have the keys of death and of hell and he is the only way to God the authority of the Redeemer and the finished work of redemption and it is the authority of the one who because he has done all these things he is seated at this moment at the right hand of God waiting until his enemies shall be made his

foot stols yes here it is God who at Sury times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom Heath appointed heir of All Things by whom also he made the world who being the in the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding All Things by the word of his power when he had purged all our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high and there he is at this

very moment with all authority in heaven and in Earth sitting waiting until his enemies shall be made his foot stol the government is in his hands he's opened the books he's the controller of History he's working to a plan and he'll finish it there is a day coming when he will return again and judge the world in righteousness and appoint a to every man is eternal Destiny and it will all be in terms of our relationship to him it won't help you to say that morning I always believed in God and prayed to God and

waited upon him that's not the question God has committed it all to the son it's the son who judges it's the son who determines everything he has appointed a day in which he shall judge the whole world in righteousness by this man whom he appointed whereof he has given notice in that he raised him from the dead he has the authority he is the authority so I take leave to ask you this question as I'm privileged to resume my Ministry and to stand in this Pulpit again is you are everything in Christ do you base

all on him are you seeking everything in him are you seeking God through him you'll never find God except in him no man have seen God at any time the only begotten who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him no man cometh unto the father but by me my dear friends I have a fear that it's true of all of us that we are trying to find God in seeking blessings and forgetting him God forbid that I should continue in this place preaching anything or anybody save Jesus Christ and him crucified

the Lord Of Glory the only way to God the only Authority the only sanction for our belief it's all in him if we're not right here we're wrong everywhere if we're right here we're right everywhere is he you all and in all is he the beginning and the end the Alpha and the Omega are you looking only unto him look only unto him turn away from everybody and everything else keep your eyes steadfastly gazing upon him these books invite you to do that the whole of the Old Testament is looking forward to him the gospel

set him before you the acts and the and the Epistles look back to him Jesus Christ Son of God savior of the world he and he alone he is he the center with you there is no salvation there is no knowledge of God there is nothing apart from him for in him God has treasured up all the treasures of his grace and his wisdom and his love oh that we realize this moment The unsearchable Riches of Christ go to him and you will have more than you've ever desired more than you can ever contain in

him dwelleth all the fullness of the god bod amen we do hope that you've been helped by the preaching of Dr Martin lyd Jones all of the sermons contained within the mlj trust audio library are now available for free download you may share the sermons or broadcast them however because of international copyright please be advised that we are asking first that these sermons never be offered for sale by a third party and second that these sermons will not be edited in any way for length or to use as audio clips you can find our contact

information on our website at mlj trust.org that's mlj t.org