Well, last night we covered some ground I'm going to try to review in about two or three minutes, five minutes. That will discombobulate low-tech man when he gets low-tech signal, because I understand low-tech signal. I do not understand text messaging and other forms of self-induced misery. So you caused me a certain amount of adrenaline rush, Eddie. I know I have no time sense, but that was pretty bad. But I think, by God's grace, I can state this with some succinctness, that authority is a subject, a concept, that God himself has invented and established. He existed in a situation of authority as the Son and the Spirit as well as the Father before the foundation of the world in a hierarchy. I did not mention that last night. But that authority is a subject that we ignore at the very least to our loss and at worst to our peril. And I proposed last night that it is impossible to have a mature Christian walk without at least some degree of competent understanding of the biblical subject of authority and acceptance of it and embracing of it and applying of it. That authority, rightly understood, is the legitimate power or capacity to manage or influence, or constrain, or command, or modify the behavior of others for one or more specific purposes. And of course, if it's legitimate authority, presumably those purposes are righteous. Authority is not well understood. There is much misuse of authority and misunderstanding of it in our culture. And the tendency of mankind is to reject it when it is abused, but that is both unwise and rebellious. And rebellion by its very nature, which God says is equivalent in wickedness to the sin of witchcraft, he told that through Samuel to Saul, 1 Samuel 15, 22, there and 23, that you and I, please God, if we're really interested in a vibrant walk with Jesus Christ, should not only not neglect this subject, but seek to understand it and to then appreciate its place in our lives. And then as we now move into some new material, I would like to say as a practical incentive to parents, do you want to give your children an advantage in a fallen world over multitudes of competitors? because we live in a competitive world. We compete for jobs and we compete for admission to college and so on. Do you really want to do that? To give them a righteous advantage, teach them to understand, appreciate, and respond with acceptance to what the Bible says about authority. I used to tell young officers that would, for one reason or another, have some interface with me, especially when they came to a command. When I was newer, I used to try to give them a whole list of do's and don'ts. I realized afterwards that was a marvelous example of benighted arrogance uncontaminated with maturity or discernment on my part. But as a poster child of being a slow learner, eventually some realities did sink upon my consciousness. And I got down to the place where I said, but few things. I'd say to the young man, if you wish to do well in this command, here is unsolicited fatherly advice, which I don't expect you to take. But if you do take it, I'll be pleasantly surprised and thankful to be wrong. And that is, don't surprise your commanding officer. Translation. Keep him informed. Don't steam off on your own without running past him what you think you want to do. And then I would sometimes say, if you really want to surprise him, you really want to surprise him, say to him, sir, I know how to take orders. And when I went to a new command, and often I did, going from ship to ship in a destroyer squadron and so on, and I'd sit down with the captain and say, do you have anything to say? I'd say, well, Captain, whatever my other deficiencies as a redeemed but not yet fully sanctified Christian, I can tell you this, I know how to take orders. And sometimes they'd get the most remarkable look upon their face, and even sometimes almost not to know what to do with it, because that's so out of sync with the norm today in America. Well, with that, I want to then propose to you that it is impossible to rightly understand Christ himself and what it means to have a walk with him if we do not understand his absolute authority. in our lives, not just generically. It's wonderful to think of Christ having authority over the world and over dreadful dictators and so on, but it comes right down to the person we meet in the morning when we look in the mirror. Whether you admit it or not, Christ is absolute authority in your life. And if you remember, we looked at Christ's remarkable exit comments before his ascension to the disciples in Matthew 28, when he said, after announcing that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him, he said, of disciples, teach them to observe whatsoever I command you. And I now want to propose that teaching believers to obey is not works righteousness. Let me repeat that. Teaching obedience is not works righteousness. Teaching obedience is not legalism. That's one of the cheapest of all sorry rejections of legitimate obedience is the claim that that's legalism. Legalism, rightly understood, means the notion that one is saved by the keeping of the law. That's a right understanding of legalism. And in fact, Jesus has some very significant things to say on that subject. Would you turn to the Gospel of John, please? John chapter 14. John 14. Verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandment. Keeping a commandment is a response to someone in authority, if you love me. Obeying is a sign or mark of grateful love, not an earning merit issue. Verse 21, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me shall be loved by my father, and I will love him and disclose myself to him. Verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him. We will come to him and make our abode with him. Verse 24. He who does not love me does not keep my word. The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. Chapter 15. Well, we better get 31 too. And 30. I will not speak much more with you. This is still 14. For the ruler of the world is coming. He has nothing in me. But the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so do I." Note that. As the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Obedience to legitimate authority is both caught and taught. Christ was the superb example of both teaching and exemplifying a discerning, righteous, effectual, God-honoring obedience to one in authority, as he again and again, in his state of humiliation, reiterated his own submission to the Father. The Jews could never say they did not have an example. And then in chapter 15, verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. There's the pattern. There's the divine model, the paradigm. And Jesus Christ is saying to us, I require of you nothing that I do not willingly require of myself. Verse 14, you are my friends if you do what I command you. And then toward the end of the New Testament, This subject again comes up. 1st John, chapter 5, verse 2. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. Do you want comfort? Would you turn to Christ in times of trial to be comforted? Let me take you to a surprising passage on comfort. Matthew 11. A great invitation. Verse 28 of Matthew 11. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. I will pat you on the shoulder and say, don't feel badly. Is that what he said? No. No. Listen to what he says. Take my yoke upon you. What's a yoke? Well, it's something that you put across your shoulders to carry a burden and it's also a submission, I mean a symbol of submission or servitude. When the Romans would capture a nation or a tribe, and they would take their leaders back to Rome, they would make them, quote, pass under the yoke, end of quote, as an exhibition of the fact that the Romans had now achieved effectual authority over that particular conquered nation or tribe. And here Christ says, take my yoke upon you. And this is something about leadership, of course, and the right use of authority, for he says, I am gentle and humble in heart, you shall find rest for your souls. And then he goes back to this in verse 13, my yoke is easy. It's there, there's a yoke. But as I suggested to you last night, the more you learn to obey legitimate authority and to embrace legitimate authority, thankfully and in love, the more freedom you have. And here Christ is clearly supporting that remarkable, startling, and utterly surprising, non-surprising idea. So, dear ones, a willing obedience to Christ is a door of liberty that is lustrous. Now, if you will, please, turn for a minute to Matthew 7. If you recall, for those of you who were here last night, I proposed to you that in looking at this idea of authority, we have the authority that comes from command presence, personal integrity, and understanding principles of authority. And at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, there's a remarkable insight, and you'll find that in Matthew 7, 28, and 29. He finishes this great introductory sermon that really, in principle, encapsulates most of everything he taught in his three or three and a half years of public ministry. And here's the comment of the writer of the Gospel, Matthew, under the inspiration of the Spirit. Verse 28, was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Now, a digression. I would like to propose to you, as we are looking at non-negotiables on this subject, biblical non-negotiables, that one of the non-negotiables is that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be proclaimed with authority. To be proclaimed with authority. Now the word proclaim is interesting, because if you understand history, both biblical and secular, you know that the original use of that word developed with the development of kingdoms, as opposed to just little busy local tribes running around in furry clothes, or something of that sort. And the word proclaim referred primarily and especially to some official pronouncement that a king would generate. And then, depending on the size of the kingdom and so on, men would be sent out to the various cities and towns to make a proclamation. And in a proclamation, there were certain well understood and expected identifiers. Usually the herald or the proclaimer or the king's messenger or emissary would come into town and a trumpet would blow. When people heard, you know, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, or something of that sort, they would come to the village square. And often The message would be, if it were in English, it would be like this. In other languages, something similar. Hear ye, hear ye. And for people who had some sense of their place in society, when they heard that, their ears perked up. And they really tune in their listening attention. And then the proclamation would be read. Now, many people tend to think that that's the end of it. But it wasn't. Because there's a little loop at the bottom of that, without which you cannot rightly understand a proclamation. And that is, that after it was read, it was understood and expected that the hearers, the subjects, the king's property, remember, if you're in a kingdom, the king owns you, they would be expected to respond with obedience. And so rightly understood, if the gospel is proclaimed in the proper sense of the word, preach, that's the sense of what the word preach means, it is to be understood as the words of the king for which a response is expected. And anything less than that is an anemic and sorry substitute. I continue to be sadly impressed that we get young men out of the seminaries and some of them teach a sermon. They don't preach it. A sermon should not be a seminary lecture with a little sermonic flavor. A sermon rightly preached, not, God forbid, in fleshly authority, but in the authority of the king who has established the gospel. It should be preached with authority, and Paul says that precisely to Titus in chapter 2 of Titus. Let's just look at those words for a moment. Titus chapter 2. In chapter 2 of Titus, beginning with verse 11, Paul says this, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, literally to all classes of men, instructing us to deny ungodliness, worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and Purify for himself of people for his own possession zealous for good work That's just a summary summary of the gospel the content of the gospel And then he says these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority But no one disregards him. Now that last part I'm not going to get into too much. Because the question of how a minister preaches so that no one disregards him is a very interesting subject. And we don't have time for that. But we need to be careful that we don't think as ministers that we can make sure that our hearers will understand. We don't have that power. So my digression ends with this, that the problem of teaching even presumably biblical subjects with an absence of legitimate authority is as old as the human race. And when the Israelites during Christ's earthly ministry heard him speak, and here he is in his state of humiliation as a bond slave, he speaks with such authority. that the people are astonished. What a damning indictment of the clergy of that day, damning indictment, that they had substituted the traditions and laws of men for the Word of God. Well, what gave Christ that authority? In great measure, it was his superbly faithful commitment to speak the truth as God gave it to him. No personal embellishments of the sort that we can now consider as Americans essential to innovative speaking. Jesus Christ was not a speculative theologian marked that well. So if you and I then are serious about this subject, we need to understand it. And I would like to propose to you by way of understanding it, this is not non-negotiables, this is sad, a sad bit of insight, but that there are countless ways to resist God-ordained authority. And when I mention some of these, I suspect you can probably figure out some for yourself. Children, when we disobey parents, we're disobeying God, and we are kicking against the authority of God. When we argue with our parents, teenagers, if you fall into that sin, you are resisting the authority of God. If we try to hide our sins and other information from our parents, we're resisting the authority of God. If we're adults and we are working in the business world and we use the employer's computer for our own personal concern, we're resisting God. God says don't steal. That's resisting authority. If we disregard our Sabbath obligations, we are in America, in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I submit that's one of the most egregious of all areas of disobedience, is syrupy, sloppy, emotional, subjective thinking about the Lord's Day. Turn to Matthew 12, please. Matthew 12. And as you're turning there, let me propose to you an evidence of how crucial this subject is. It's died down somewhat now, but about 10 years ago, there was a big issue in Reformed and Presbyterian circles called the Lordship Controversy. And you remember that? The Lordship Controversy. The lordship controversy was a big argument in Christian circles about the idea that you could have Christ as your savior, but you didn't have to have him as your lord. Insanity. Absolute, consummate insanity that God, the Son, is going to save us on our terms. Oh, please. The fact that that could actually bubble to the surface and people with Rev in front of their name, Bible teachers in seminary and so on, could argue that is, in my opinion, as damning an indictment of our mushy thinking in this country on the subject of authority as the Pharisees was mushy in the days of Christ's earthly ministry. Matthew 12, verse 18. Behold, My servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor quarrel, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A battered reed he will not break off and a smoldering wick he will not put out until he leads justice to victory and in his name the Gentiles will hope. And so, then, here is the picture of one who does not abuse authority, telling the Jews that he is the Lord of the Sabbath, the Son of Man. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. This one, prophesied as being a servant with flawless submission to the authority of the Father, carrying out the will of the Father, prophesied centuries before he came, yet in his state of humiliation, nevertheless describes himself as Lord of the Sabbath. Look at verse 8. There it is. Matthew 12. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Now, it's not abusive. It's not a lordship of the Sabbath that is unreasonable or unloving. I remember back during World War II that it was the idea that children shouldn't wiggle on the Sabbath. And I remember sitting on a horsehair couch in my grandparents' sitting room that was only used on Sunday, in short pants on a summer day. And I think that constituted a form of unwitting torture, because I was expected not to wiggle. Well, I think that's unreasonable. And many times, for lesser reasons even, people have rejected the right keeping of the Lord's day, not buying things on the Sabbath, and so on, arguing that the fourth commandment is not part of the moral law, and so on, which always amazed me, is something that somebody could say without blushing. But my bottom line is, how can Christ be the Lord of something if it's claimed to be nothing? If he's Lord of the Sabbath, that means he's Lord of something. And the minute that you admit he's Lord of something, then it's incumbent upon you and me to say what exactly is he Lord of. And he's Lord of an institution that we subsume under the term Sabbath, or Sunday, or the Lord's Day, we have different terms for it, in which we're to rest from our ordinary labors, begin and end the Lord's Day, and worship and refrain from commercial enterprises and undertakings. That pretty well sums it up. Other ways that we can resist authority. Resenting our boss at work. Despising the idea of authority in our heart. Here's a common one. You don't have to answer to me. But have you ever been asked by your spouse for forgiveness for a sin that he or she had committed a lot of times, and in your heart of hearts you thought, oh, why do I have to forgive him? Why do I have to forgive her? This is the 30th time he's asked for forgiveness for that sin. It's non-negotiable. Luke 17. Let's turn there. Luke chapter 17. Verses 3 and 4, be on your guard. Now, why do you suppose Christ says that occasionally at the beginning of a commandment? This is a no-brainer. This is not rocket science to figure this one out. That's a warning that He is saying to us, be ready, guard your heart that you don't run roughshod over this one. Don't dismiss it lightly. Don't be careless with it. Well, what? If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. We could say, of course, if your brother sins, your sister sins, same thing. Let me ask you, have you ever had the occasion in which somebody in the church, in your opinion, has sinned against you? You've said nothing to that individual and you've turned around and complained to somebody else. Have you ever done that? Hands are going up. I love it. I didn't even ask. God bless you. Well, that's resisting authority because if somebody sins against us, and we think so, we're to go to that person. F-I-R-S-T. Matthew 18 says the same thing. Well, verse 4 says, if he sins against you seven times a day, returns to you seven times saying, I repent, forgive him. Forgive them. Now I'll have another momentary digression. If he comes and says sorry or I apologize, both of you deserve the misery you get for not being able to walk out of that one very well. Because the Bible doesn't talk about saying sorry or apologizing. The Bible talks about confessing sin as sin. Please forgive me for the sin of being rude or unkind. That's what God wants. I repent. Well, if your brother does it seven times by the sixth or seventh time, what are you tempted to think? Let's be careful. He's not really repenting. He may say the words, but he's not really repenting. No. You may be tempted to think he's as insincere and ungenuine or lacking in genuineness as a $3 bill. But if he says, I repent, please forgive my sins. You and I have a duty to extend to him the transaction which constitutes biblical forgiveness, which is not, first of all, a feeling. It's a transaction commanded by God. We are to say to him, I forgive you. Even if in your heart the gift of suspicion has wrought its effectual work, And you're looking at him with slitty eyes and thinking, well, he's about as sincere as an angry marmoset. Doesn't matter. You have a duty to forgive him. Because the one in authority who is the Lord of forgiveness has said, that is a non-negotiable spinoff of being the recipient of my forgiveness for which I paid with my life and my shed blood." There it is. So, the exercise of authority in the kingdom is not negotiable. That's a given, and you and I either accept it or reject it. But the subject of authority, its exercise, its acceptance, and yielding to it is non-negotiable. Now let's try to do some qualifications that are important. Matthew 20, would you turn there please? And as you're turning there, you may remember that last night I proposed to you that there is no such thing as a biblical principle that mankind hasn't contaminated. You cannot show me a biblical truth that multitudes have not corrupted one way or another, twisted, misunderstood, misrepresented, and so forth. So as we look at a subject that is sensitive, We need to guard our hearts that we don't let abuses intrude on our acuity of understanding or our submission for implementation. Matthew 20, verse 20. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, bowing down and making a request of him. And he said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and one on your left. Now I'd like to propose to you that here is an example of odious momism preserved for eternity. This is an ultimate example of misguided maternal coaching, shepherding, implementing, interfering, interceding, and otherwise behaving badly. Now we may presume, and I don't think presumptively, that it's altogether possible that her two sons put her up to this, which if they did is to their disgrace, or that she took it upon herself with understandable but misguided maternal desire to have her own fledglings in a position of preeminence. But she asks Christ that her two sons will sit on either side of his kingdom throne. Very bad. Not the least of which, is a demonstration of her own failure to understand kingdom authority and its eternal consequence and significance. Well, Christ answers both her and her sons, for he says, you don't know what you're asking. Ten minutes. I have to submit. Well, He says, are you going to drink the cup I'm able to drink? And they answer, yes. And then he says, but to give what you've asked for is not mine to give. That's the father's. And that leads him into a discussion on the subject of authority. The other 10 are indignant. How dare you ask that of Christ? You can just imagine that little buzz going on amongst the 12. Jesus says to them, you know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. And then there's some additional perspectives in the account in Luke 22. Let's go there quickly. Luke chapter 22, parallel account. Verse 24. And there was also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be the greatest. Oh please. Doesn't this tell us something about us? Arguing who would be the greatest. Miserable sinner. Called sheep by God. And if you could interpret sheep talk and two sheep are in the sheep call, I'm greater than you. No, I'm greater than you. That's the level of maturity of this argument. Who decides who's going to be great? Not us. And so he says the kings of the Gentiles lord it over them. Those who have authority over them are called benefactors. And that's a part that isn't in the parallel account in Matthew, that so profound is this authority problem amongst us that we love titles that give a sense of authority. Garbage collectors aren't garbage collectors anymore. They're sanitation engineers. We now have funeral directors labeling themselves as grief therapists. And the list goes on and on. And so here we have a case where Christ says the Christian understanding of leadership as a response to authority is very different from what the world thinks. So that's negotiable principle, next one in line, that the exercise of authority in the context of the kingdom is not like the world. It's going to be different. So if you have a husband who believes that being the head of the household means that he's a mini-tyrant, he is sinning. He is sinning. It's not biblical. The father who believes that keeping his children in submission means to terrify them with commandments given as if from a throne has not understood this principle. that God is to be the one who defines the exercise and expression of well-defined, finite, limited authority. None of us have unlimited authority, none of us have absolute authority, and none of us have permanent authority. Every expression of authority is finite, limited, and clearly and carefully defined by God. So, if we take seriously the several parables that have to do with the master leaving his servants in charge of his estate and then coming back and calling them to account, we ought to realize we will be held accountable for our use or misuse of authority, our understanding of it or lack thereof, and our regard for it. That is our attitude toward it. Remember the servant who said, Lord, I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you've not sowed, and so on. That's an example of an evil attitude toward one in authority. Oh, authoritative time person, how much time do I have left? Five, oh, five minutes, all right. Now, we have time for another non-negotiable. Part of a right understanding of authority starts with a right understanding of the authority of the gospel. Will you turn to Mark chapter 1. Mark 1. Verses 14 and 15. And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God. Now, what is the gospel? What's the helpful little parallel or term or the definitional term? What does gospel mean? Good news. Wonderful. You got it. And the good news is not that the great Satan, I mean Walmart, has things at half price today or something like that. The good news is that there's bad news for which there's better news When we hear it God's way, which is the bad news were sinners and we deserve hell forever Because of our imputed sin from Adam and our committed sin in actuality And we can't solve it ourselves and we can't save ourselves. And the good news is God will give us what we can never earn in sending a marvelous Savior who died effectually to bear the price and the penalty and the judgment of every sin we ever commit as well as the imputed sin that falls on all of us by virtue of our descent from Adam. And that's good news, isn't it? That's good news. Thank you. Somebody said amen. All right. Look what he says, verse 15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. That's a commandment. That's astounding, isn't it? Now we don't think of it as a command, we think of it as an invitation. That's very American, to present it as an invitation, but it's also a commandment. Christ is a claim on us. God is a claim on us. And He commands us to believe and repent. Now, if you think I'm stretching the truth, and I might run a minute or two over, oh, diligent time-giver, OK? May I? Please? Please, please, please? Gracious as well as authoritative. Gracious as well as authoritative. Oh, wonderful. All right. Will you turn to Romans chapter 10? Romans 10 and verse 16. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings. For Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now, does your Bible say obey your translation? They did not all obey the glad tidings? Some translations don't say it. Welcome to the world of watering down scripture. In the Greek, the best translations obey. Heed is nicer. Well, they didn't heed it. No, no, they didn't heed it. They didn't obey it! What a difference! But, lest you think that's a single instance, 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 1. Verse 6, For after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven. with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution, I think you know what that means, just punishment, to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, those who do not obey the good news. There's a paradigm, that's a little unusual. Dealing out retribution to those who don't obey the good news of Jesus Christ. And finally, and then we'll break, 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 17. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel? of God. It's a phrase we don't often use. Those who do not obey the gospel. To obey the good news means you've got to have some involvement of the intellect, the brain, the thought life. You have a duty to figure out what the gospel is in the light of Scripture, and then decide if you believe it. And if you believe it, are you going to respond with acceptance? That's how you obey good news. And acceptance means the implications that come with embracing it. Let's break.