We return once again to Mark's gospel. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 11. We've been away from our verse-by-verse exposition of this gospel, because of the holidays, and this morning we're going to examine verses 27 through 33, under the heading "By What Authority."

Let me give you the context before I read the passage. This scenario occurred on the Wednesday of the Passion Week, just a couple of days before our Lord went to the cross on our behalf. And the day before Jesus had purged the temple and occupied its precincts, which further infuriated the Jewish leadership, who had for some time determined to kill him. He had been, for three years, exposing their hypocrisy, their greed, their corruption, their ignorance, their works righteousness system; he challenged their authority. And that's something you never do to a narcissist. And so they were furious with him. So they had three years of pent up hatred for Jesus. But they were afraid to push him too far, because the people were truly impressed with him, albeit for all the wrong reasons. So once again, the Jewish authorities decide they're going to trick Jesus into saying something that would expose him as a fraud, as a blasphemer, perhaps even an insurrectionist. So with this in mind, we come to Mark 11, verse 27.

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

Obviously, this is a passage that deals with the issue of spiritual moral authority. And I would ask you, by what authority do you function in your life? By God's authority, by man's authority, by your own authority? Many Christians will say, "Well, the Bible is my authority." And yet, often when you look at their lives, you see that some of the things the Bible says they will agree with but other things they won't. So it's easy to pick to choose. And others will have some other religious document that they believe is their authority. Muslims have the Koran, and so forth. For many people religious tradition is their authority, or some religious denomination. Perhaps one of the most dominant ones in our country, perhaps even around the world, is the Roman Catholic Church. They have three sources of authority: scripture, tradition, and the magisterium. And they believe that all three are equal sources when it comes to spiritual religious authority. When it comes to Scripture, they reject sola scriptura; you will see as part of the five solas in this worship center. Sola scriptura was one of the dominant themes of the Reformation; the reason why the Protestants broke away from the Roman Catholics. Sola scriptura simply meant that scripture was the sole, and infallible authority for the Christian faith. But they rejected that because they would say, no man is fallible. So God uses two other forms of authority to help safeguard his word. And one of those forms is tradition. Tradition being passed down from the apostles to the early church fathers and so forth. In fact, they would argue that tradition actually preceded Scripture. They would say that the official canon of the Bible was not established until around 382 AD at the Council of Rome, which again, they would say, would refute this idea of sola scriptura. By the way, that is false. The church did not establish the canon, it recognized it. A book is canonical because it was declared to be the word of God and the people of God recognize that, and there was consensus regarding that, especially with the Old Testament. That consensus was was finalized basically by the time of Christ. And the Gospels and Paul's letters were considered canonical by AD 90. And canonicity was based upon three things: their divine qualities, the consensus of God's people, and the connection to an apostle. People recognize that and based upon these three factors, the Canon was recognized by the people and then officially recognized by around the fourth century. But Christians coalesced around the Old and New Testament books very early.

Dave Harrell

I might also add that Roman Catholics include the Old Testament and New Testament apocryphal books in their canon. These are books that are considered by most as esoteric or suspicious; even heretical. It actually came from a Greek adjective, "apokryphos," which means private and "apokryptein," which was the verb that means to hide away. And so it literally, early on, meant to be a text to be read in private. But it later came to mean that which is esoteric or that which is suspicious or heretical. And the Old Testament apocryphal books that they have added to Scripture were written sometime between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. And they were not considered canonical by the Jews, even of Jesus time, nor by most of the early church fathers. And the New Testament apocryphal books were written in the second and third century and many of them include systems of doctrine, that are contrary to, or even antithetical to, other doctrines in the canon of Scripture.

So they believe in Scripture, but also you have to have tradition for your authority, but you also have to have one more thing and that is the magisterium, which is a compendium of Creed's and councils and articles of faith and traditions. Ex cathedra pronouncements by infallible Popes; and all of this is considered authoritative and binding upon the souls of men and women, even if it contradicts Scripture. Some of you may hold to that. In other words, Roman Catholicism as your authority, and sadly because of this, you have numerous heresies--that salvation is not by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone--but it's by faith plus works; grace plus works and so forth. You have the unbiblical concept of the mass where you have repeated sacrifices and the substance of the bread and the wine supposedly, become truly the body and blood of Christ. So, you have this constant infusion of grace in the sacraments which is blatantly unbiblical. You have the veneration of saints, the veneration of church relics, the immaculate conception or the sinlessness of Mary, and her ascension into heaven, her perpetual virginity, literally the worship of Mary. You have punishment and purification in a place called purgatory. And you have the infallible pope that can say just about anything. And now of course, he's blessing that which God calls an abomination with respect to same sex marriage and so forth.

Well, for others, the spiritual authority is really society. Its culture. It's what you were taught at home, what you were taught at school, what you were taught at the university, kind of the spirit of the age--after all majority rules, right? Some people just trust their gut. If it feels good, I'll do it, as long as it doesn't hurt somebody else. That's my authority. And for some, maybe you're a synchretist. You just combine all kinds of different beliefs, different philosophies, different religion, until you come up with your own. And frankly, that's where most people are at.

But the most important question before us today, dear friends, is, what is your spiritual authority? And if I can put it a little bit differently? What authority does Jesus have in your life? Is he the Lord and the master of your life? Or do you just say he is, and then go and do your own thing? Along with this, we need to remember who Jesus said he was? Is he really God? Or was he just a man? If he was truly God, how do we know how to obey his authority? What happens if we don't? So all of these were issues that the first century Jews, and many of the Gentiles were grappling with, and what every person should answer correctly. So let's look closely at what happened here, and then let's allow the Bible--God's Word, which should be our spiritual authority--to answer these questions. And we're going to do so under two headings this morning. We're going to look at number one, the attack on his authority. And then number two, the consequence of rejecting His authority. And I pray that each of you will listen very carefully, as well, especially you young people. Because the authority that governs your life, will determine the eternal destiny of your soul.

So let's look first of all, at what happened in this historical narrative under the heading: the attack on his authority. Verse 27, "They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple," let's stop there. Remember, the temple area was filled with courtyards, there were hundreds, perhaps several 1000 people constantly milling around. And rabbis would typically walk around, and they would teach groups of people. That's what Jesus was doing. Luke adds a little bit more of a perspective regarding what was happening in Luke 19, beginning in verse 47, we read, "And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes, and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said. And then in chapter 20, bringing it right to where we're at, in Mark 11, this is what Luke says, beginning in verse one, "On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, and they spoke, saying to Him, 'Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?'" Now we read in that passage that he was teaching and he's preaching the gospel. May I remind you what that is. What he would have said to them had to do with the holiness of God; that God is infinitely holy and that we are a sinful people, that we have violated his law. That we are depraved people. We have an inability to save ourselves, frankly, to even see our sin unless God does something. And therefore, it is crazy to think that through keeping laws or rituals or whatever, that somehow you could merit God's grace in saving you. He would teach them about the inevitability of divine judgment and eternal hell. He would speak to them about the love of God and the promises of God and, and all of the authority that is in his word. He would speak to them how the saving truths of Christ and his kingdom were veiled in the types, and the shadows of the law; and how they were promised in the writings of the prophets until John the Baptist announced Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. In fact, we read in Luke 16, verse 16, that he said, "'The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.'" What does that mean? They are passionately, with great zeal and with great fervor, demonstrating their need for Christ, and crying out to him for saving faith. But what he said was incredibly contradictory to what they had been taught. And horribly blasphemous, because he actually is telling them that he had the authority to forgive sin.

Of course, we know this from other passages. Remember when they took the paralytic and they cut a hole in the roof and they dropped him down in front of Jesus, in front of the crowd, and Pharisees and the scribes are watching all of this. And in Luke 5:21, Jesus said to him, "'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'" And of course, the Pharisees at this point, they were apoplectic. I mean, they just exploded in rage. And in verse 21 they said, "'Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" And then Jesus responded in verse 24, "'the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.'" This is what Jesus was teaching and preaching in the temple.

We have other examples of his authority to forgive. In John one and verse 12, we read very familiar passage, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right." In other words, to them, he had the authority to make them "children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born out of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." We have another public acclamations of his authority to forgive in John seven, verse 37. We read, "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out"-- can't you imagine this? They're having a feast and all of a sudden, Jesus stands up, and he cries out so everybody can hear--"'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" Likewise, in Matthew 11, beginning of verse 28, Jesus said, "'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle, and humble in heart, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For my yoke is easy, and My burden is light.'"

Furthermore, you will remember after Christ's death, this was at the very heart of Peter sermon, recorded an Acts four beginning in verse 11, where he said, "He," referring to Jesus, "IS THE STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED BY YOU, THE BUILDERS, BUT WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." So these are the essential truths of the gospel, that Jesus would have been preaching in the temple, that infuriated the Jewish leaders.

So again, "He was walking in the temple, and verse 27 goes on to say that as he was doing this, "the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him and began saying to Him, 'By what authority are You doing these things or who gave You this authority to do these things?'" Now, they knew full well what the answer was, because he had clearly and publicly stated it before. For example, in Matthew 11, verse 27, we read that, "'All things have been handed over to me by My Father.'" Plus they witnessed His authority over the demons, did they not? All the people had seen this. In fact, in Mark 1:27, in light of that, we see that, "they debated among themselves saying, 'What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.'" And in John five, beginning in verse 21, we read Jesus words, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.'" He goes on to say in verse 26, "'For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.'" And then in verse 30, "'I can do nothing.'" Jesus said, "'on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.'" There is where his authority is from. He had made that abundantly clear. The scribes and the Pharisees knew it. John 6:38, Jesus said, "'I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.'" And of course, they witnessed the power of His authority, even from the response of the crowds. You remember, after Jesus finished his sermon on the mount, recorded in Matthew five through seven, in chapter seven, verse 28, we read, "When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." You see, what they were used to, were the scribes and the Pharisees just quoting what other rabbis had said; not speaking on their own authority.

So again, Mark 11:28, "They began saying to him, 'By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things?'" Basically, what they're challenging him on is, is your authority, human or divine? Are you speaking the Word of God or the word of man? Because they thought in their minds, if he says his authority is divine, then we can say, he's a blasphemer. And we can insist upon his execution. So they're setting a trap, and waiting for Jesus to step in it. And if he says, it's not divine, then well, he's a fraud. And once again, he's doomed.

Verse 29, you learn a very clear lesson. Don't ever try to outsmart God. Don't ever try to trick God. Verse 29, "Jesus said to them, 'I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" And here's the question, verse 30, "'Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me.'" By the way, answering a question with another question was a common thing for rabbis to do. But this was a real quandary for these guys. They had to choose between two very difficult and frankly, dangerous, choices; two equally difficult alternatives. Because the people recognize John the Baptist as a true prophet of God, who called them to repentance, who declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

So in verse 31, we read, "They began reasoning among themselves saying," Ooh. By the way, "ooh" isn't in there, okay? But I hope you see that I think you could kind of put it in there in your mind. Can't you see these guys? It's like, guys, we got to huddle here, we got a big problem. "If we say 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'" Well, what were the things that they should have believed if John was from heaven? By the way, this is rather comical, I think, because John the Baptist, he made it very clear what he thought of these guys, and he exposed them. Remember, in Matthew three and verse seven. "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from the stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'"

So they're thinking, My goodness, if we say, John, the Baptist authority is from heaven, then he will say, Well, then why didn't you believe him? Verse 32, But shall we say that his authority is "From men," then we got to deal with the people, right? The text there in verse 32, goes on to say, "they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet." So what did these unparalleled theological experts--the wisest of the wise, the spiritual authorities--have to say to all of this? Now, mind you, there'd be all kinds of people gathered around, waiting to hear this. Don't you know, you could heard a pin drop?

Verse 33, "Answering Jesus, they said, 'We do not know.' Now, the text doesn't say this, but I would imagine Jesus said, "Say what?" "I did not, or we didn't, we do not know." "A little bit louder."" We do not know." Jesus said to them, "'Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" You see, friends, these men knew the answer, but they stubbornly refused to submit to it, and therefore, to submit to Jesus, and they had murder and violence in their heart. So they stood before himself condemned. If you want an example of the unpardonable or the unforgivable sin, here it is. It is the deliberate, conscious rejection of the truth that has been given to you through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God--the very Word of God, from the very lips of God. And we don't have Jesus here today, but we have his Word. And that is the authority. Three years of undeniable examples of his deity in his miracles. Three years of irrefutable, compelling, divine truths. And now because of their persistent, hard-hearted rejection, the door of opportunity will be forever closed. Frightening thing. The light of divine revelation will now be forever extinguished.

Perhaps like some of you, they rejected Jesus warning, recorded in John 12, beginning of verse 35. "Jesus said to them, 'For a little while longer, the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.'" Well, they rejected the Light, and so there would be no further Light. They would be sealed now, permanently, in the darkness that they loved.

And this brings us to our second category of thought, and that is the consequence of rejecting his authority. And folks, this is where the rubber really meets the road. Jesus said, "'Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" This is a terrifying condemnation. They knew exactly what Jesus had said, they knew exactly who he claimed to be. It was irrefutable, but they rejected him. And they found every possible reason to condemn him. Satan had blinded their minds as we read in Second Corinthians four, four. And by extinguishing the convicting light of truth, Jesus acted consistently with what he said in Matthew seven in verse six. "'Do not give what is holy to dogs, do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.'" You see, friends, these men loved the darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. So God judicially sealed them forever in the darkness that they loved. Jesus said in Matthew six, verse 22, "'If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!'" And one day they will be according to Matthew 22:13 thrown "'into the outer darkness; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"

This is not easy to preach, but I want to give it to you as clearly and as forthright as I possibly can because I fear that some of you may be perilously close to having the light forever extinguished from you; that some of you might be forever sealed in the darkness that you love. Here we see an example of the wrath of divine abandonment where God judicially seals hard-hearted unbelievers in their unbelief. This is a terrifying form of judgment. You know, Jesus saw this coming when he entered Jerusalem on his final journey. Remember Luke 19:41, we read, "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and he wept over it." The idea that he cried aloud over what he saw; it was breaking his heart. And here's what he said, "'If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.'" We see this illustrated in a number of passages of Scripture. You may recall if you go to the book of Nehemiah, in Nehemiah chapter nine, verses five through 37, there's a long confession there and a recitation of God's mighty acts; it's probably written by Ezra. And it was read by a group of Levites to the people. And in verse 30, of Nehemiah nine, we read this, "You bore with them for many years, and admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets, yet they would not give ear. Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the land." Isaiah speaks of this in chapter six, familiar passage, beginning in verse nine. When God commissioned Isaiah, He said, "'Go and tell this people: Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking but do not understand.'" Then he tells him "'render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and return and be healed.'" We read more of this in Isaiah 29, beginning in verse nine, where he says to the apostate rebellious people, "Be delayed and wait, blind yourselves and be blind; they become drunk, but not with wine, they stagger but not with strong drink. For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; and H has covered your heads the seers." In other words, when you deliberately blind yourself to the truth, you will be blinded by lies. And that's what happened to the people. They refused to heed the words of the true prophets. So God allowed them to be deceived by the false prophets. And he judicially seal them in the lies they embraced.

In fact, Paul later described the same condition in Romans 11, verse eight, "Just as it is written, 'GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.'" You realize this is why Jesus began speaking in parables. It was an act of judicial hardening. Matthew 13, verse 12, he says, "'For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have abundance;, but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCRCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'"

We read about this as well, how it will happen during the days of the Tribulation, under the rule of the Antichrist. Paul speaks of this in Second Thessalonians two beginning in verse 11. He said, "For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness." And certainly, that is occurring even now, in our culture, as it has been down through redemptive history. Paul spoke of this so clearly, you will recall in Romans one, beginning in verse 18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." In other words, they try to keep a lid on the truth so it won't spring forth, and they have to deal with it. So they will suppress the truth in unrighteousness because, "that" he says, "which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." Later on in verse 28, we read that he finally gives them over to "a depraved mind," he says, "and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind"-- literally a worthless mind, a mind that cannot function as it should--"to do those things," he says, "which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving and merciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." And certainly, we can see this being played out in our society today. We live in a postmodern, post-Christian world, that does not recognize the authority of God as it is revealed in Scripture. They do not recognize the authority of Christ. People no longer believe in absolute moral truth and so skepticism and subjectivism and relativism now rule the day. You hear people saying often, "these folks have no moral compass." And it's true. And as a result, all viewpoints no matter how absurd, or how contradictory, must be considered equally valid, unless of course, it is a viewpoint that comes from the Bible. So biblical values have been replaced by laws that impose a godless, immoral, oppressive social agenda on our country. The priority of the left today includes absurdities like climate change, white supremacy, DEI, racial reparations, abortion on demand, adherence to Coronavirus group think, transgenderism, unquestioned allegiance to the LGBTQ ideologies; and certainly, the woke cult in our country has successfully divided our country into oppressors and the oppressed. And Satan's end game through the use of this cultural Marxism that receives its authority from Satan himself is to somehow legalize unrighteousness and criminalize righteousness and then prosecute those who refuse to submit.

Reminds me of the Israelites after they had settled in the Promised Land. They were filled with apostasy and idolatry, gross immorality, And in Judges 17 verse six, we read, "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what is right in his own eyes." Dear friends, you must understand that Jesus Christ has the sovereign authority over all that he has created. And he repeatedly demonstrated this in his incarnation and affirmed this. In Matthew 28, verse 18, he declared, "'All authority has been given to me on heaven and on earth.'" And He has revealed the essence of his authority in his word, because Christ is the living word. As we read in John one, for example, the same one who spoke the universe into existence is the one that imparted revelation to the prophets, often being personally there with them. And we know that the Father sent the Son as his Messenger, and then the Holy Spirit superintended, the inscripturation of the message that he was delivering through his inspired writers. And this resulted in divinely authoritative, and inerrant words written in the original autographs. And for this reason, Paul says in Second Timothy three, this passage that you're also familiar with, beginning in verse 16, "All Scripture is inspired,"--"theopneustos" in the original language--it is God breathed; God breathed out the word of God that we have in the canon of Scripture. "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Dear friends, can there be any greater proof of the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture, when it comes to my life and how I need to live my life to honor God, and to enjoy his blessings? I don't need a psychologist. I don't need a philosopher. I don't need psychotherapy. And I certainly don't need the government. I need the Word of the living God who created me.

So the question is, is Jesus and His word, your sole authority? Or do you just give lip service to his lordship in your life rather than genuinely obeying him from the heart? Jesus addressed this in Luke 6:46. "'Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?'" He went on to say, "'Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.'" Dear friends, I fear that for some of you.

I wish to give you an example of what happens when people depart from the authority of Christ and his word; one that we would be familiar with in our culture. We're all familiar of Harvard and the other Ivy League schools that are so antisemitic. And you know, all of the full blown woke stuff that we've seen on the news and so forth. That reminded me of something. Harvard was founded in 1636, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by English Puritans that migrated to New England. And they would have believed, as we do, the five solas of the Reformation. They saw a need to train clergyman in their new Commonwealth; men who would proclaim the saving truths of the gospel; truths so instrumental in the founding of our country, and frankly, inherent in our Constitution. And at Harvard, even today, there are tablets flanking the Johnston gate which read, quote, "After God had carried us safe to New England and we had builded our houses provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship and settled the civil government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust. And as we were thinking in consulting how to affect this great work, it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard (a godly gentleman and a lover of learning then living amongst us) to give one half of his estate, it being an all about 1700 pounds towards the erecting of a college and all his library. After him and other 300 pounds others after them cashed in more in the public hand of the state added the rest. The college was by common consent appointed to be at Cambridge. A very pleasant and accommodating place and it is called according to the name of the first founder, Harvard College. Alright, there's the history. But now, because they gradually, little by little, at times imperceptibly, rejected the authority of Christ and his word, we see an institution that is not only hostile to Christianity, but it is violently opposed to it, even their seminary. I went to the website of Harvard Divinity School and here's part of what they said, "Students come to Harvard Divinity School from a variety of spiritual and religious backgrounds, including non-religious backgrounds." In other words, you can come to Harvard Divinity School, you don't have to be a Christian; goes on to say, "Some of our students come with a faith tradition. We have a number of students that are not affiliated with a religious tradition. What all Harvard Divinity students share in common is a willingness to explore the complexities of religious thought, and life through academic curiosity and practical encouragement." Another part of their statement has the goal. And the goal of the training is, quote, "to study religion with attentiveness, to issues of diversity in regard to race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religious tradition and ideology." And it went on to say, "to foster a welcoming and inclusive community among our faculty, students, alumni and staff." And then finally, it says, "to commit to ecological sustainability and good environmental stewardship." I mean, that's just woke insanity. It has nothing to do with the gospel, with the Word of God; the authority of Christ in His Word. Contrast that with The Master's Seminary, I went on their website. And here's part of what they had to say--here's what they're trying to produce, "to have a ministry that pleases God, pastors must prioritize His Word. Our doctrinal statement carefully outlines the seminaries teaching position on major biblical doctrines. It is the framework for every class, syllabus and lecture." And in their preamble, they said this, "The affirmations which follow carefully specify our teaching position with regard to the major biblical doctrines and thus provide a framework for curriculum and instruction at the seminary. They also provide an anchor to protect the institution against theological drift. For this reason, members of the Board of Directors, administration and faculty members are annually required to sign a statement affirming agreement with this statement of faith." And their goal is to produce "a well-rounded pastor and preacher; The Master of Divinity program prepares you to handle God's word precisely and shepherd God's people effectively." You see the difference?

I'm reminded of what Paul told Titus in Titus two and verse 15. He said to the young pastor, "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you." What things was he talking about? Well, the things in verse one, "Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." That's what you teach. With all authority. I have no authority over you, whatsoever. The only authority that I have is what comes from God through his word. There's the authority. He even said, in verses 11 and following, here's the type of thing you've got to teach, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, and instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, and righteously in the present age looking for the blessed hope in the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you."

Dear friends, new revelations conjured up in the imagination of someone's mind has no spiritual authority. Self-appointed, phony apostles have no spiritual authority. Creeds and councils and tradition, and a pope has no spiritual authority. The government has no spiritual authority when it comes to faith and practice. Nothing apart from the Word of God recorded in this canon of Scripture has any binding spiritual authority on the souls of men. And for this reason, Paul charged Timothy to preach the word right? "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside under myths." The grammar in the original language indicates that when they hear the truth, they will deliberately, consciously reject it. And when that happens, without realizing it, the myths will take them over and deceive them as an act of divine judgment. Beloved, every time you have an opportunity, you need to speak the truth of the Word of God. Unleash its power on people. Never underestimate its power, "for the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, both joint and marrow, to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

So this morning, I pray that you will examine your heart. Ask yourself, is the Lord Jesus and his word my authority? Or is it something else? Is my authority from God or from man? When I raise my kids, do I look at the authority of the Word of God or the authority of man? When I conduct my business do I look at the words of God from the Bible or something else? When I choose a wife or a husband? Or whatever it is? Do I go first and last to the only divine authority? Or do I come up with my own? Dear friends, once again the destiny of your soul depends upon how you answer that question. And so I leave it with you that by the Spirit of God, he will bring conviction to your heart. And if you don't know Christ, today is the day that you need to believe on him. Place your faith in him. Repent of your sins and cry out for his saving grace and he will absolutely forgive your sins and change you in ways that you cannot imagine. And then the authority of his Word and of his person will not be onerous, it will be the very desire of your heart. Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. I pray that by the power of your Spirit, they will find access into every heart and that you will do what only you can do. And that is to save sinners and sanctify saints. We thank you, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.