00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Well, as we come to God's Word
this evening, I ask you to turn to the book of 1 John toward
the end of your Bibles this evening. There's a text I want to read
to set the stage for all of the instruction for this evening.
1 John 1, we'll read the first four verses together. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the
word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it
and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which
was with the Father and was made manifest to us. that which we
have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too
may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And we are
writing these things so that our joy may be made complete. When John opens this letter,
he is setting forth an extended statement of his apostolic authority. He's stating why he has the ability
and the authority and the prerogative to speak about the nature of
salvation, saving faith, and the truth of Jesus Christ to
those to whom he is reading. John, you'll notice that John
is appealing to the fact that he had direct personal experience
with the Lord Jesus during the time that he was a disciple of
Christ while Christ was on earth. He heard, verse 1, he heard Christ
teach. He saw Christ with his own eyes. They looked upon Him, they touched
Him, and therefore they had a direct personal experience with the
Lord Jesus that is different and distinct from anything that
anyone could truthfully claim Today, John is writing as an
apostle of Jesus Christ that goes to the question of why would
we listen to what John has to say in 1 John. As stated, frame
the question a little bit differently. Why must we believe what the
apostle John says in this letter? State the question another way.
How is it that John, the writer of this epistle, what is the
basis upon which he can interpret Christ and interpret the teaching
of Christ to the church for all time? That is a most essential
question to be able to answer in a clear and direct way if
you are going to have what we are calling a Christian mind. If you are going to think properly,
if you are going to have a transformed mind as a believer, you must
understand the nature of the apostolic office. Why can John
interpret Christ for us? John was one of the apostles. And tonight we're going, if you're
taking notes, and I encourage you to do so, tonight we're going
to talk about the apostles and New Testament authority. Last
time on Sunday, we looked at Christ and New Testament authority,
and we saw that during His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ prepared
for and anticipated the writing of the New Testament canon after
His ascension. He told the apostles that he
was going to send the Holy Spirit upon them so that who would bring
to mind everything that he said and guide them in the truth. And we need to understand the
role of the apostles in the foundational aspect of New Testament Christianity. And we're going to spend two
or three messages on this. Tonight is a very important introduction. Martin Lloyd-Jones says this. He says, do we always realize
that the apostles claimed for themselves a unique authority? They asserted it constantly. We need to reconsider the New
Testament teaching about the apostles. It was not their own
authority. It was the authority they had
derived and received from Christ. They did not speak as ordinary
men. They spoke as apostles," end
quote. Now, this is such a fundamental
question. Who is it that has the authority
to reveal and declare truth from God since the ascension of Jesus
Christ. In some ways, there is no more
important question than that. Can anyone stand up in a charismatic
prayer service and say, thus saith the Lord, and legitimately
give new truth from God to those that hear? Is that legitimate? Can the Catholic Church add to
doctrine through their teaching magisterium? Can they add to
truth and establish new doctrines? And can the Pope speak infallibly
when he sits ex cathedra and makes pronouncements that are
binding on the conscience and carry the authority that what
he says must be believed and obeyed? Does he have that authority? The answer is no, he doesn't,
but that's for another time. We're not simply talking about
the teaching office of the church today. We're not simply talking
about what we're doing here this evening, where a man opens up
the Bible and teaches and explains what it means by what it says.
That's not the same thing as what the apostles were doing
as they delivered New Testament scripture to us. The apostles
were speaking with an authority that must be believed and must
be obeyed in a way that is different and distinct from anything else.
Who has the right, in other words, who has the right to declare
truth about Christ and salvation? Or who is the appointed agent
of revelation of truth about Christ and salvation? Listen
to me carefully, beloved. I'll give you a one-sentence
answer to that question, and then we'll spend three or four
messages explaining why it must be the case. Who has the right
to reveal truth about Christ and salvation since His ascension? The New Testament answer to that
question is this, only The apostles do. Only the apostles do. Only the 12 apostles do. The 12 minus Judas plus Matthias
added in Acts chapter 1, and then the apostle Paul to the
Gentiles. They are the unique authorized
representatives of Jesus Christ to the church. And since their
passing, there is no more apostles. There is no such thing as apostolic
succession despite the fact that many religions try to build their
authority on that. There is no such thing as apostolic
succession. There is no New Testament instruction
on how that authority would be transferred and it's because
the authority was unique and it was limited to them and them
alone. That's a truth of massive, massive
implications. If this sounds new to you, if
this is something that, if this is new teaching to you, I want
to assure you and encourage you to apply yourselves to what is
to come because this has just incalculable consequences for
the entire nature of truth and of the New Testament church.
Jesus Christ uniquely and exclusively commissioned the apostles before
His ascension. And what I'm doing here is I'm
just giving you overview, an overview summary of it, and then
we'll go back and we'll justify everything that we're saying
in the, you know, in the days to come, including this evening. The apostles have unique authority. They have non-repeatable authority. They have non-delegable authority. And this is so crucial for us
to understand. The word apostle, our English
word apostle, comes from a Greek verb, a Greek root, apostello. And that verb has the idea, it
means to send. An apostle is one who is sent. And it stresses, the word apostle
stresses that the sender commissioned the person who is sent so that
the apostle goes out with an authority that is given to him
by the one who is sent out. And we'll look at examples of
that in future messages. But for now, you just need to
be of a mind that the word apostle has the idea of someone who is
sent on a mission, and it carries with it the idea that there was
an authoritative sender who commissioned them to the work that they undertake. Now, in New Testament studies,
the word apostle is used in a technical sense that is in connection with
the 12. And we're going to look at, I
believe it's four principles this evening, to help you understand
their unique authority and how we know and receive their authority
today. And what I want to lay out for
you here is just a very, the idea of a commission with authority. Okay, keep that in mind. One
who is sent on a commission with authority. And I find it helpful
to think about it this way, to think about it in a chain of
command. Those of you that served in the
military, thank you for your service. I did not serve in the
military, but I know just enough to know that the chain of command
is very, very important in the idea of military discipline.
Well, we can think, we can borrow an idea like that to help us
see the position of the apostles and to realize the nature of
their authority. And I think, I personally find
that, as I said on Sunday, I find this, I find these doctrines
about the apostles to be very stimulating, very encouraging,
very exciting to understand. That the apostles' authority,
The chain of command by which the apostles spoke with the authority
that we saw in 1 John, the chain of command flows, beloved, straight
from the throne of God. These men were not self-appointed. They were not men who took up
their pen because they had human insights that they wanted to
share with others. No, they spoke with a unique,
non-delegable authority that comes from God Himself. And so
here's how we're going to structure it this evening. First of all,
understand, and you think about these things, and they're so
obvious when it's just set forth before you. There's nothing difficult
about this. First of all, our first point
for this evening is going to be that authority rests with
God. Stated differently, God himself
has all and final authority in and of himself. Authority rests
with God. That'll be our first point for
this evening. Our second point for this evening will be that
authority rests in Jesus Christ. Authority rests in Jesus Christ,
and we'll look at a few things to establish that beyond any
dispute. Thirdly, we will see that authority
rests in the Apostles. So God, Christ, the Apostles,
and then fourthly and finally this evening what we're going
to see is that authority rests in the Scriptures. Authority
rests in the Scriptures. So you have God with all authority. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, with all authority on earth. Christ assigned authority
to the twelve apostles, and the apostles then wrote authoritative
Scripture that is binding upon the church today. There's a chain
of command. It's a direct chain of custody
of the authority of God that goes from the throne of God ending
in the apostolic scriptures and ceasing there. There is a reason
why we hold to sola scriptura, a message that I'm going to preach
as part of this series on how to know the Bible is true. And
so four principles for this evening that I've already outlined for
you. The first two will go by rather quickly. First of all,
that authority rests in God. Now I could just assume this
point, but I'll take just a couple of minutes to just give you a
couple of scriptures to base your thinking on. You think about
God, whom we know exists. We know that God exists because
we've established that. We established that in the earlier
parts of our series. We know that God exists because
he has revealed himself. He has made himself known. He's made himself known in creation. He's made himself known in the
canon of scripture. He has made himself known in
the principle of human conscience. He has made himself known in
the person of Jesus Christ. He has made himself known in
the reality of the conversion of his people. The existence
of God is established conclusively in the mind of God in his testimony
to man. Now, the very nature, the very
being of God, then, is that he is the one who has all authority. God is the sovereign king of
the universe, and he had all authority before creation began. He has never lost authority. He has authority throughout the
whole course of human history, and he will have full authority
when he brings human history to an end. And consequently,
beloved, that is our starting point. God, whom we know exists,
God has all authority and authority rests in him. As a result of
that, any legitimate authority traces its source back to the
living God. God has all authority. He establishes
structures of human authority and human institutions which
mediate His authority, but all authority finds its source. All
legitimate authority ultimately finds its source in God Himself,
and there is no true authority apart from Him. Let me give you
just a couple of scriptures. Psalm 103 verse 19 says, the
Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom
rules over all. In the Nazbe, it reads His sovereignty
reigns over all, words to that effect. The word kingdom and
sovereignty are used to translate the underlying Hebrew term. In
Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter 13 verse 1, the Apostle Paul
says, there is no authority except from God, and that's in the context
of calling Christians to obedience to human government. So authority
rests in God. There is no authority except
from God. There's no one that has an independent
authority, independent of God. There's no one that has a rival
authority against God. He is alone in his authority. He is holy. He is separate. He is unique. He is king over
everything. And he holds ultimate authority.
And therefore, God and God alone is the dispenser of human authority. Now, at this point, it might
be helpful to give just a brief definition of the term authority,
since we're staking so much on that term here today. Authority,
just to give you a very simple definition in the context of
what we're talking about here in biblical truth and all of
that, authority is the right or the prerogative, authority
is the right to command belief or action. Simple enough. I'm not trying to be exhaustive,
give a technical lexical definition. Just to give you a working sense
of what we're talking about, authority is the right to command
belief or action. Okay? Now, Who then has the authority? This is an ultimate question,
beloved, and I mean this is an ultimate question. There are
few questions, if any, that are more fundamental than this question,
who has the authority to command us to believe and to behave in
a certain way, in the way that He determines best? Who has the
ultimate authority? Who has the final authority to
command belief and behavior? And the biblical answer is that
only God does. Only God does. And legitimate
authority, parental authority to tell and children must obey
their parents. Parents have that authority because
it's derived from God who established the institution of the family.
An employer has a right to command certain behaviors and call for
obedience from his employees. because God has established that
institution, and you read about that often in the New Testament.
But when it comes to the matter of commanding belief, of establishing
a way of salvation, of establishing eternal laws for the soul that
must be obeyed upon penalty of eternal judgment for a single
act of rebellion, only God has that authority. And so authority
is the right to command belief or action. There is no authority
except from God. We find authority rests in God
and in God alone. Okay? Now secondly, with that
basic principle in mind, Let's move on to our second point,
that authority rests in Christ. Authority rests in Christ. And when we think about God before
creation, before all time, God existing in the blessedness of
the ineffable Godhead, the triune Godhead, and all authority resting
with Him and all power resting with Him, Understand that in
human time and space, God manifested his authority uniquely in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Uniquely in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord, our blessed Lord, is
the second person of the eternal and blessed Trinity. Jesus Christ
has co-equal authority with the Father and the Spirit because
they all share the single indivisible divine essence. And so Christ
shares in the authority of God as a member of the blessed Trinity. And thus, when He came to earth,
He came manifesting the authority of God, the character of God,
revealing God in human flesh. And the four gospels The four
gospels are written in part to help us understand that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ of God. He is the divine appointed
Messiah. Now that's a claim of massive
proportions to claim that Jesus Christ, or that Jesus is the
Christ, that he is the Messiah. That's not a claim that can be
lightly made, that you are the anointed one of God. And so,
actually if you turn back to the Gospel of John, just to give
you a, this would really be better as a summary at the end rather
than an introduction, but that's okay. John chapter 20, the Apostle John says this in John 20 verses 30
and 31. Now Jesus did many other signs
in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this
book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in His name. These signs were attesting miracles
that Jesus did during His earthly ministry. They were miracles
that showed His authority over different realms that we're going
to look at. Jesus exercised His authority over different realms
of the spiritual and natural realm which showed that He had
a unique authority that belonged to no one else. And John said,
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I wrote down
the things that have preceded in the prior 20 chapters, so
to speak. I wrote these things so that
you would understand and know and believe that Jesus is the
appointed Messiah of God and that all authority rests with
Him. And so that's the goal of the
gospels is to set forth Christ before us so that we would believe
in Him, recognize His unique authority, submit to Him, believe
in Him, repent of sin, and receive Him as He is presented to us
in the gospel as our prophet, priest, and king. So, all authority rests with
God and Christ is sent by the Father into the world to manifest
and to reveal God in human flesh and thereby display His authority.
Now, tonight I just want to very quickly, this could be a complete
independent message of its own, I just want to show you how the
gospels show us at least five different ways that Christ displayed
authority on the earth. This authority to command belief
and action belongs to Christ uniquely And he demonstrated
that he had authority in the spiritual realm to command belief
and behavior by the way that he exercised authority over things
on earth. And we're just going to cover
this briefly. Tonight we'll cover this more thoroughly in future
weeks and months when we consider how to know that Jesus is Lord. This brief survey here over the
next few minutes is only to stimulate your thinking in the context
of dealing with the authority of the apostles. So, be ready
to write quickly here. One way that Christ manifested
His authority was that He taught with authority. He taught with
authority in a way that was recognized by those who heard Him while
He was on earth. In Matthew 7, verses 28 and 29,
you do not need to turn there, I'll just read this to you. Matthew
7, at the end of the chapter, we read this. When Jesus finished
these sayings, the Sermon on the Mount that he delivered on
one occasion, found in Matthew 5 through 7, when Jesus finished
these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for
he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their
scribes. They were used to teachers quoting
other authorities, other human authorities and teaching like
that. Jesus Christ came and said, you've
heard it said that such and such is true, but I say to you. Six times in Matthew chapter
five, he says, but I say to you. He speaks on his own authority. He doesn't need to quote others
to support the authority of what he teaches. And the crowds who
heard him at the time recognized that. And there was something
about the manner and the instruction and the content and his demeanor
as he taught that astonished them. And they said, we've never
heard a man speak like this before. That was often said of Christ
in his ministry. Words to that effect, we've never
heard a man speak like this. The very nature of His teaching
manifested His authority and set Him apart from all of the
other teachers that they had. Christ taught with authority,
and that is one way that we know that authority rests in Him. Secondly, as we look at how Christ
manifested His authority, as you read the Gospels, you see
that Christ healed diseases and He cast out demons. He healed
diseases and cast out demons. Just write down the verse reference
and then I'll read it to you. Mark 1, verse 34. Mark 1, verse
34. We read that Jesus healed many who were sick with various
diseases. and cast out many demons, and
he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him."
Jesus, unlike the charismatic charlatans of today, Jesus healed
immediately things of observable, verifiable affliction. You remember how he told the
lame man to get up off of his bed, pick up his pallet, and
walk? A man by the pool who had not walked for his 38 years or
so, and Jesus commands him to get up and walk, and he does.
He exercised, beloved, he exercised direct authority over the realm
of physical human disease and cured it in a way that no one
else could do and had ever done and therefore distinguished himself
as one having authority. He cast out supernatural beings,
he cast out demons, he controlled them, he commanded them, told
them what to do and they had no choice but to obey and do
what he said. And so in the physical realm,
Christ manifested a unique authority that vindicated that God's authority
resided in Him. He exercised authority over the
spiritual realm, showing again that God's unique authority resided
in Him, in the person of Christ. So, we join two things together
there, but we see Christ, how do we know that all authority
rests in Christ? He taught with authority. He
healed diseases and cast out demons. Thirdly, Jesus Christ
forgave sin. Jesus Christ forgave sin. Now,
the next two texts that we're going to look at are just a little
bit longer, and so I'll have you turn to those so that you
can read along with me. Mark 2. Mark 2, beginning in verse 9. Mark 2, beginning in verse 9.
You remember the story. I've already alluded to it in
a general sense. Jesus was teaching in Capernaum. Many were gathered together,
verse 2, there was no room to get to him, not even at the door.
And some men came and they had a paralytic that they were carrying. In verse 4, they could not get
near Jesus because of the crowd, so they removed the roof above
him, the soil roof that would have been above him. They made
an opening and they lowered the bed on which the paralytic lay.
And in verse 5, when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,
Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were
sitting there, verse six, questioning in their hearts, why does this
man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive
sins but God alone? And that word can, who can forgive
sins is implying who has the authority to forgive sins against
God except God alone? No one has that authority. Only
God can forgive sin. In verse 8, Jesus didn't back
down from the challenge. Instead, He pressed the point.
Verse 8, immediately Jesus, perceiving in His Spirit that they thus
questioned within themselves, said to them, why do you question
these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the
paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your
bed and walk? He said, you can say either sentence
with equal ease, but how do you know that there is authority
behind the words that are spoken? How do you know that it carries
the right of command and the right of declaration? Jesus,
so he goes on, he says, anybody could say those words. The problem with forgiving sins
is it's in an unseen realm where you can't observe it with your
human senses. And so Jesus addresses that objection
and that concern and manifests His authority. Verse 10, but
that you may know that the Son of Man, here it is, has authority
on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say
to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And this man who
could not walk, verse 12, got up. He rose and immediately picked
up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all
amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this.
This is new to human experience. to see a man heal a paralyzed
man by his spoken word alone, tell him to get up and walk out,
and he did. And that was only secondary. to the greater reality that Christ
is asserting the authority to forgive sin so that the sign,
the miracle of healing a man with the spoken word established
his authority over the physical realm. And the point is that
that authority over the physical realm shows that he has authority
in the spiritual realm to be the one to forgive sin. And so
Christ forgave sin, and they knew it, and they were astonished
at the sight of what they saw. Fourthly, Christ raised the dead. Christ raised the dead. Look
at Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7, we could have
gone, and I think it's John 11, and looked at the resurrection
of Lazarus. Lazarus, come forth. He'd been
dead for four days in the tomb, and Jesus calls him forth. But
we'll look at Luke chapter 7 for this evening, 11 through 16. Now in Luke 7, verse 11, soon
afterward, he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples
and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of
the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the
only son of his mother. And she was a widow, and a considerable
crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her,
he had compassion on her and said to her, do not weep. Then
he came up and he touched the beer and the bearers stood still. They were carrying the body through
the village. And Jesus said, young man, I
say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began
to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. seized them all, and they glorified
God, saying, A great prophet has risen among us, and God has
visited his people. And this report about him spread
through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. He raised the dead." Now, beloved,
nobody can do that. No one can do that. Oh, I know
that there are, you know, third-hand claims that charismatics make
from things that are happening somewhere in the bowels of Africa. but none of it's true. If they
really had the authority to raise the dead like some of them claim
that they do, do it in front of us with the cameras on. Go to a cemetery and call someone
out of the grave like Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave. Do
that. You know what? If they could
do that, they would do that. You know why they would do that
if they could do that? It's because they'd make a fortune
They would make a fortune if they could do that in a verifiable
way, but instead they rely on these shadowy, unverifiable,
non-fossifiable stories. to lead gullible people astray. If they could raise the dead,
beloved, they'd be out doing it everywhere because they would
make billions. As it is, they make tens of millions
with false claims, false signs. You can only imagine what they
would do if they could really do it. They don't do it because
they can't do it. We'll address that down the road
also. Jesus exercised authority over
the realm of the dead. This shows that he has the authority
of God. All authority resides in him. Authority over human disease,
authority over demons, authority over sin, authority over death,
authority in his teaching. And that's not all. Turn a page
or two in your Bibles to Luke chapter 8. Luke 8 in verse 24. Luke 8. And we'll start in verse
22, just to give the full narrative account here. One day he got into a boat with
his disciples, Luke 8, verse 22. One day he got into a boat
with his disciples, and he said to them, let us go across to
the other side of the lake. So they set out, and as they
sailed, he fell asleep, his humanity side by side with his deity.
Scripture describes this in an effortless way. Two natures, one person. But he fell asleep, and a windstorm
came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were
in danger. And they went and woke him, saying,
Master, Master, we are perishing. And he awoke and rebuked the
wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a
calm. He said to them, Where is your
faith? And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to
one another, Who then is this, that he commands even winds and
water, and they obey him? He controlled nature. There are
just so many simple ways to picture this, to contrast our human impotence
with what Scripture describes about the absolute authority
of Jesus Christ. If you've ever been to the ocean,
see the waves coming in, stand on the beach, look out at them,
lift your hands and say, I command thee to stop and watch what happens. Go out and speak to the thunder,
the lightning and the thunder of a Midwest thunderstorm and
say, cease, be still. And watch what happens as the
storm continues, because it does not heed your voice. It does
not obey you. Beloved, contrast that with the
person of Christ speaking to a raging sea, saying, in effect,
that's enough, stop. And the billowing waves turn
to a flat sea of glass. that is breathtaking, frightening
authority. We say frightening because that's how the disciples
responded. Look at it there in verse 25. They were afraid and they marveled. They realized that they were
in the presence of deity. They went from being afraid of
the storm to having a deeper fear transferred to the one who
had authority over the storm. Back in Luke chapter five, you
don't need to turn there. Jesus performed another miracle
with the waters. You remember they'd been fishing
all night and Jesus tells them to let down the net and they'll
catch fish. And Peter says, Lord, we've been
fishing, we're professionals here. We've been fishing all
night, haven't caught a thing. But at your bidding we'll let
the net down and, you know, I don't want to...I just want to warn
you, we've done this and there's nothing there." Verse 6 of Luke 5, they lowered
the nets and they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets
were breaking. They signaled to their partners
in the other boat to come and help them. They came, filled
both boats and they began to sink. What was Peter's response? Here's the point. Peter's response
when he saw all of this and he saw that manifestation of divine
authority, the authority of absolute deity manifested before him,
he fell down before Jesus saying, "'Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord.'" They feared Jesus as He manifested authority
over the elements to Him. Peter seeing that manifestation
of authority earlier in Luke 5 realized that he was in the
presence of holy deity, he was convicted of sin as a result
and he fell down at Christ and worshiped. He said, I'm not worthy
to be in your presence. I see who you are and I should
not be here. You should not be with me and
I should not be with you because you are holy with authority and
I am a sinful fallen creature. I have no business in your presence.
Depart from me. But Jesus said to him, don't
be afraid. From now on, you'll be catching
men. So Christ showed mercy and kindness to him, even in that
supernatural display of his divine authority. Now beloved, that
brief overview there, these signs that we have looked at show the
authority of Christ over all things, seen and unseen, physical
and spiritual. It is a comprehensive authority
over all. And those who saw it at the time
recognized it and responded to Him. They acknowledge the authority
of his teaching. We've seen amazing things today.
Depart from me. I'm a sinful man. They all saw
it. It was manifest to them, for
God made it manifest to them. So Christ has all authority.
Now, as we build a Christian mind, you and I are in a different
position compared to those earthly witnesses of the earthly ministry
of Christ. We have a different situation. We live after that. We live after He walked on the
earth and did all of these things. How are we to know? How are we
to receive these things with authority? How are we to know
that these things are true? This is a problem. Christ is
not with us now. He's ascended up into heaven
and we cannot see Him. We cannot observe Him. So how
do we know anything about Him with authority? He did not write
any books of His own. He did not record His own words,
His own deeds. So how do you and I in this day
and age know anything reliable about Him whatsoever? Because
His earthly life is done. We can't transport back in time
to see it with our own eyes. So how do we know? anything reliable
about Him. Well, beloved, that brings us
to our third and crucial point here this evening, is that authority
rests in the apostles. Authority rests in the apostles,
and oh, is this a dear, dear doctrine for our souls. All authority belongs to God,
part of being God. All authority belongs to Christ,
who manifested the authority of God when He was on earth. And so all authority, Christ
has all authority, and we'll see that stated by Him in His
own words in just a moment. Beloved, watch this. Because
all authority belongs to Christ, He has the prerogative to delegate
that authority to whomever He wishes. He can delegate authority
as He sees fit, and no one can challenge that because it's His
authority to do with as He pleases. And as you study the Scriptures,
particularly in the New Testament, what you find is this. is that
by divine prerogative that same Jesus conferred His authority
on the Twelve Apostles. They have spiritual authority
directly from Jesus Christ in order to exercise the ministries
that was given to them. This is essential to understanding
New Testament Christianity. This is essential to protecting
yourself from false claims to spiritual authority and new revelation. The things that we are discussing
here this evening are of foundational significance. This is a matter
of, as I said earlier, this is a matter of first principles
when it comes to New Testament Christianity. And again, we're
going to look at this over two or three messages. Not all of
it can fit into the time we have remaining here this evening.
How are we to approach, how are we to think about the authority
that the apostles received from the Lord Jesus? Well, we'll go
through this and get as far as we can in the time remaining.
First of all, understand that, you know, the third point here,
authority rests in the apostles. How do we know that? How was
that manifested? How did that transfer of authority,
that delegation, better stated, delegation of authority from
Christ to them occur? Well, first of all, Jesus chose
them. Jesus chose the Twelve Apostles,
and He chose them to uniquely be His representatives on earth.
Mark chapter 3, and that word uniquely is essential to it all. It is essential to it all, and
I use uniquely, advisedly, Because when you understand that it's
a unique authority, you're not misled into following men who
claim to be apostles or in apostolic succession today. So many people
get deceived and go down that path because they have not given
adequate heed to the clear teaching of Scripture on these matters
that we are discussing in our day right now. Jesus chose the
12 to uniquely be his representatives on earth. Mark 3, verse 13. Mark 3, beginning in verse 13. And we're just, all I can do is just
touch on it. Jesus went up on the mountain
and called to Him those whom He desired, and they came to
Him. And He appointed 12. That number is significant. He
didn't make a general appointment to the crowds. He chose 12. He appointed 12 whom he also
named apostles so that they might be with him and he might send
them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. Jesus appointed
12. men, that they, those 12, might
be with Him in a unique way, that He might send them out to
preach and have authority to cast out demons. Jesus has authority
to teach, to declare the truth from God, and now He is delegating
authority to these 12 that He chose, and the subsequent narrative
names those 12, as happens in parallel passages of Scripture.
He wanted them to be with him. He sent them out to preach. He
wanted them to have authority to cast out demons, the same
kind of authority that he did. Now, beloved, understand, the
apostles were more than the buddies of Jesus. Yes, they had a close,
intimate relationship with Him, but they had a unique purpose
in the revelatory program of God that Jesus is establishing. They had unique authority, authority
given to the 12, not given to the crowds. And this pertains
to the teaching and the supernatural signs that would vindicate their
own teaching in days to come. Jesus chose the 12 to fulfill
his own sovereign will. You don't need to turn there,
but when he was speaking to the 12, minus Judas at this point,
in John chapter 15, on the night prior to his crucifixion, he
says, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed
you so that you should go and bear fruit. in that small room,
in that small upper room, in this crucial transitional evening
at the end of His earthly ministry as He is about to go to the cross
and bear the sins of all who would ever believe in Him. Jesus
looks, as it were, around the table. and says, you didn't choose
me. You're here by my appointment.
You're here by my will. I chose you, I appointed you
for a purpose that you would go out and bear fruit. So Jesus
chose these men in a way that he didn't choose others. And
so he chose the apostles, first of all. Secondly, As we talk
about the apostles and New Testament authority, and that authority
rests in the apostles, how do we know that the apostles and
the apostles alone have authority? Secondly, Jesus commissioned
them. Jesus commissioned them. After His resurrection, Jesus
commissioned the apostles to... Oh, this is so important, beloved.
Jesus commissioned the apostles to speak in His absence with
the very authority of Christ Himself. Jesus chose them, and
then He gave them authority to speak on His behalf. As an attorney has authority
to speak on behalf of his client in a courtroom proceeding, In
an even greater way, the apostles had authority to speak on behalf
of Christ because Christ gave them that authority. They did
not take it to themselves. He gave them that authority. And we're going to look at a
few passages here now. Matthew 28. Matthew 28, verse
16, after his resurrection, Now, the 11 disciples, Matthew
28, verse 16, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain
to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped
him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. This
is what we're talking about. All authority, heaven and earth,
it belongs to me. He's speaking to the 11. And now He gives them the command. You eleven, you go, therefore,
and you make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I
am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus asserts His
authority and then He gives the commission to the disciples to
go out and to teach in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. They were under divine commission,
divine command to teach what they had heard from Him. They were men on a mission, they
were men under authority, they were men assigned to do a task
in the name of Christ Himself, in the name of the triune God
Himself. So they were commissioned. And
we carry out the evangelistic and teaching aspect of apostolic
ministry, but we do it in a derivative way, not with the direct authority
that was given to the apostles. Look over at the gospel of Luke
24. Luke 24, and as you're turning
there, you can put your finger at Acts 1 also. In verse 44, We read this as he speaks to
the disciples again. He said to them, these are my
words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything
written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the
Psalms must be fulfilled. Then He opened their minds to
understand the Scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written,
that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from
the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should
be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. In other words, you are the witnesses
who are going to go out and proclaim repentance for the forgiveness
of sins in my name to all nations. In verse 49, he promises the
equipping power so that they're able to carry out the task. Verse
49, behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you,
but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on
high. You're to go out and be my witnesses. Look at Acts chapter 1, the opening of the book, Acts
chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. I realize we're going kind of
quick here. Acts 1, verse 1, in the first
book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to
do and teach until the day when he was taken up. By the way,
Acts written by Luke, the same person who wrote the gospel that
we were just reading from, Luke being a close associate of the
Apostle Paul. Verse 2, until the day when He
was taken up, after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom He had chosen. He assigned the apostles, and
then verses seven and eight, he said to them, it is not for
you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by
His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You are going to receive power
from the Holy Spirit. Following the logic from the
beginning of the book, Jesus chose apostles, he gave them
their assignment, and he made provision that the Holy Spirit
would come upon them in order for them to carry out what he
had commanded them to do. In a similar but a distinct manner
with the apostle Paul, look at Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter
26. Jesus chose these men. He commissioned
these men. And you remember when Jesus stopped
Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul here in Acts 26 is describing
to the authorities what happened on that day, which was now years
in the past as he is speaking here. Verse 14, when we had all
fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew
language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard
for you to kick against the goads. And I said, who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But
rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for
this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the
things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will
appear to you. I'm appointing you as my servant
and the witness to these things," verse 17, delivering you from
your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to
open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light,
from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in
me. Jesus chose Paul, he commissioned
Paul, and gave him power in order to carry out the commission,
just as the same way that he had done with the eleven after his resurrection. As you
read the book of Acts, you see how the apostles founded the
early church. Jesus chose them. He commissioned
them. And, beloved, what He was doing
was He was giving them the authority to speak on His behalf. They had full authority to speak
on His behalf. the Holy Spirit empowered them.
I alluded to this on Sunday, so I won't turn to these texts. But Jesus sent the Holy Spirit
upon them. You read about that, the history
of that in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. He had promised
the Spirit to them in John 14, 15, and 16. And the purpose of
the Holy Spirit The ministry of the Spirit in
the life of the apostles was this. He quickened their memory
to recall the teaching of Christ. He guided their words so that
they transmitted the history and interpretation of Christ
without error in the New Testament books as we have them today.
Beloved, not a church council some centuries after the writings
were made, but the Holy Spirit himself was the guarantee that
the apostles were trustworthy in what they said. Again, Martin
Lloyd-Jones says this, Christ enlightens and reveals his will
and teaching to these apostles. He endows them with a unique
authority, fills them with the needed ability and power and
gives them the teaching that is essential to the well-being
of the church and God's people." End quote. Christ chose the apostles,
he commissioned them, he empowered them. And in the book of Acts
and in the epistles, you read what they did and what they taught
with divine authority. Now, in some ways, In some ways,
as we just think through this step-by-step, we're faced with
the same difficulty, the same question that we had about Christ. Christ is not here with us physically,
so we can't observe Him with our own eyes like John did in
1 John 1 verses 1 through 4. We can't see Him. In like manner,
Someone might say, but those apostles are all gone. They were
all martyred with the exception of John, who was exiled to Patmos. They're gone. How does that authority
and that commission that they received, how does their authority
help us today? How do we know that we have apostolic
authority today? Now, the fact that this is an
important question is shown by the fact that so many different
groups either say that they have modern-day apostles now or that
they have a line of succession going back to the apostles There's
this intrinsic awareness that somehow we need the authority
of the apostles resting upon a ministry in order to give it
validity. What I've described just now
are false claims to that authority. But it does illustrate the fact
that this matter of apostolic authority, having authority directly
from Christ, is a matter of grave significance. Otherwise, people
wouldn't waste their time on it. How does the authority of
the apostles help us today? Now we come full circle to the
theme of these set of messages, how to know the Bible is true.
How does the authority of the apostles help us today? Point
number four here, Scripture speaks with apostolic authority. Scripture speaks with apostolic
authority. And again, I just remind you,
we're laying out, we're outlining some things this evening. There's
much more to come about it. I am not at all pretending to
be exhaustive in the treatment of the subject here tonight.
Just giving an overview so you see the chain of command. All
authority rests with God, authority rests with Christ, authority
rests with the apostles, and now Scripture speaks with apostolic
authority. Beloved, this is beautiful and
the wisdom of God is just astonishing. The apostolic men are gone, but
the apostolic writings, they abide. The apostolic writings
are with us. Apostolic authority is preserved
and contained and expressed in the New Testament. As the apostles
wrote or their close associates under the direction and supervision
of the apostles, apostolic authority is preserved in the New Testament. And in the New Testament, beloved,
Jesus Christ himself speaks through his apostles. When you read the
New Testament, you are reading the Word of Christ because you
are reading what His divinely appointed, authorized representatives
said on His behalf. And the apostles made this clear
multiple, multiple times in their writings. Look at the book of
1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14. As you're turning
there, just a little side tangent introduction to what we're about
to say. Some of you may have red letter
Bibles, and if you do, that's fine. I don't have any problem
with that. Publishers make a decision to print the words of Christ
in red, and they stand out distinct from the rest of the Bible. This
is not a hill worth dying on, but that is a misleading practice.
Because the words of the apostles have equal authority. The red
letter suggests that there's more authority, there's something
more important about the words of Jesus than the words of the
apostle. That's not a right way to look
at Scripture. because Christ appointed the
apostles to speak on his behalf. They were speaking with his divine
authority. He commanded them to do what
they did and to say what they said, and they wrote under the
inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, guiding them to make
sure that they were expressing the very Word of God, the very
Word of Christ. so that there is no diminishment
in authority, accuracy, or truthfulness between the words of Christ and
the words of the apostles found in the New Testament." That is
essential for you to understand, so that you do not diminish the
authority of God's Word by pitting it against itself. No, in fact,
the apostles made it plain that that was not the case in 1 Corinthians
14, verse 37. The Apostle Paul says, 1 Corinthians 14 verse 37, if anyone
thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the
things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. That is
astonishing, an astonishing assertion of authority. Paul tells the
church at Corinth, what I'm writing to you is what the Lord commands.
There is no distinction, no diminishment there. In verse 38, if anyone
does not recognize this, he is not recognized. You must recognize
the unique authority of the apostles or you're not a Christian. Look at 1 Thessalonians, turning
a few pages further deeper into your New Testament. Over Ephesians
and Colossians, you come to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. And what Paul means by this is
distinct from anything that man can rightfully
claim today. When we say, thus saith the Lord,
we better be saying, and look at this chapter in verse. So
we're pointing people to biblical authority. Someone's saying,
thus saith the Lord, and adding something to the Bible is a blasphemous
denial of what Christ established so that His church would know
His word and His shepherding presence among them. 1 Thessalonians
2, verse 13. And we also thank God constantly
for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard
from us, Paul, yes, Paul saying, when you received our teaching,
you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as what it really
is, the word of God. which is at work in you believers."
Paul commends the Thessalonians. He says, I thank God for his
work in your hearts. and his work in your heart is
shown by this. When you heard my teaching when
I was in your midst, you received it not as simply a mere human
instruction, you received it as an authoritative word from
God himself. Paul could say that because he
was an apostle of Jesus Christ. Turn further back in your Bibles,
pass the book of Hebrews to the letter of 2 Peter, 2 Peter 3.
2 Peter 3 verses 1 and 2. 2 Peter 3, 1 and 2, this is now
the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them,
I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. That,
here's what I want you to remember, that. You should remember the
predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord
and Savior. Remember what the Lord and Savior
commanded you. And how did that command come
to you? It came through your apostles. The commandment of Christ through
the apostles. The apostles being the vessels
through which Christ spoke to the church. And now we have their
writings, we have their teaching preserved for us in the New Testament
over in verse 15. 2 Peter 3, count the patience of
our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also
wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does
in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There
are some things in them that are hard to understand, which
the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they
do the other Scriptures." The word Scripture indicating the
Word of God, Peter alludes to the writings of the Apostle Paul,
and he says, Paul is writing and speaking as do the other
Scriptures. And Paul's writings are put on
an equal plane with the other Scriptures. One last one, 1 John
chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Who you listen to, beloved? as the authoritative voice of
God, what you listen to, what you esteem, what you defer to,
what you obey, what you recognize as the Word of God is a definitive
expression of the reality or the falsehood of your salvation. The apostles leave no room for
any other conclusion, 1 John 4 verse 4. John says to his readers, little
children, you are from God and have overcome them. They've overcome
the false teachers that were plaguing them and which prompted
his letter. You're from God and have overcome
them for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the
world. They are from the world, therefore they speak from the
world and the world listens to them. Now watch what happens. In verse 4, he says, you, speaking
to the readers. Verse 5, he uses they, third
person, and addresses the false teachers that had been troubling
them. Now in verse 6, he says, he uses
a different pronoun that changes everything. He says, we are from
God. meaning we of the apostolic circle. There's the you, the true believers
in the church. There's the they, everyone else
out in the world. Well, who's left to be we? It's the apostles. It's the apostolic circle of
which John was the last one. We, going back to the first four
verses, we who saw this, we who heard this, we who touched them,
we are the ones from God. He is asserting apostolic authority
that is unique and distinct from anyone else. So that, he says,
whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever knows God listens
to the apostles, the true appointed apostles during the lifetime
of Christ. Whoever is not from God does
not listen to us. Someone who disregards, diminishes
apostolic authority, John says, they don't know God. And that's
a mark of one who is lost. He says, by this we know the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error. There's the you in
the church, the they in the world, and the we of the apostolic circle
who, I remind you, heard Christ, saw Christ, looked on Him, touched
Him. And now what they had seen and
heard, they proclaimed. to the rest. So, beloved, how
do we know the Bible is true? We know it by the authority of
Jesus Christ. We know it by the authority of
the apostles that He appointed. And in the apostolic text, Jesus
Christ speaks to his people as the savior of sinners. In the
apostolic text, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word
of Christ, Romans 10. In the apostolic text, in the
apostolic text, Christ appeals to sinners and invites them to
salvation in a free loving offer to come to him and to be saved. He speaks through the scripture.
It's the word that creates faith. The Word and the Word alone.
In the apostolic text, Jesus Christ Himself feeds and sustains
His church. In the apostolic text, Jesus
Christ feeds and sustains you through what the apostles have
recorded about His life, teaching, and their interpretation of it,
and in Revelation, the things yet to come. Beloved, our faith
has a sure foundation, one that is built on the apostles, Ephesians
2 verse 20. As I promised you, we will develop
this theme more in the days to come. Let's bow together in prayer. Gracious Father, thank you. for the Word of God, the written
Word of God in the 66 and no more books of the Bible. What
a precious gift that tells us in a reliable, true way the truth
about Jesus Christ and the saving gospel by which our souls must
be saved. Thank you for appointing the
Apostles. Thank you for empowering them,
commissioning them. We are the beneficiaries. We
believe today, Father, through the word that the Apostles gave.
What an amazing thought to contemplate. that their word from 2,000 years
ago in chronology is the same word that leads us to believe
in Christ today. Help us to grasp the implications,
the ramifications, and the magnificent reality of these things. that
we might be established rightly in the faith, that You might
build in us a truly Christian mind. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to
Pastor Don Green from Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. You
can find more church information, Don's complete sermon library,
and other helpful materials at thetruthpulpit.com, teaching
God's people God's Word. This message is copyrighted by
Don Green, all rights reserved.
The Apostles and NT Authority
Series Building a Christian Mind
70-223 - truthcommunitychurch.org
| Sermon ID | 38231655242268 |
| Duration | 1:25:45 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | 1 John 1:1-4 |
| Language | English |
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.