Mark 11:27-33

To be here this morning with my church family and to have the privilege and honor to be able to share his word with you this morning.

! I have to thank you all for just for being willing to support me and my family and allowing us to have our child in the service.

That means so much to us here.

The Webb family really appreciates this church.

And we don't really know that we could be in another place other than here to be able to keep our child in the service.

And we appreciate that.

I know other families appreciate that about Christ's family as well.

If you would, turn with me to Mark chapter 11.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 11.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

And while you're turning there, I have to commend some of our CFC students.

I talked to a couple of them this morning just to get the full story of what was going on.

But we have several of our students here that are involved with a campus organization called Students for Life.

And among other things, they raise awareness about abortion, the number of deaths that occur each year.

They stand up for their conviction that abortion is indeed murder.

And this week they stirred things up a bit with some sidewalk chalk on campus where they wrote out some statistics.

Staggering statistics, by the way.

3,500 deaths caused by abortion each day.

Every single day.

And along with that, they included, confirmed 3,500 hearts on the sidewalk.

To represent each of these lives that died.

That died every single day as a result of abortion.

And even though the rain on Friday washed it away, I assure you it didn't go unnoticed.

It was very, very much noticed.

Their reaction on social media was remarkable.

I don't know if any of you follow any of that.

But the reaction on social media was remarkable.

There was some positive.

But the backlash was noticeable as well.

And I think the entire situation was really a stark reminder of two things for me.

The first is that the moral deterioration of our country is growing at a rapid pace.

And people are becoming more and more bold about their immorality.

And about voicing immorality in our culture.

Number two is that if you stand up for biblical truth,

you are going to receive backlash.

You're going to see conflict with our culture.

That's the way that it's going to be.

And I'm proud of our students for standing up for what they believe in.

For standing up for biblical truth.

In fact, Jesus told us that it would be this way in Mark 13, 13, saying,

You will be hated by all because of my name.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

There's no mistake that these words are recorded in all four Gospels.

These words of Jesus telling us that we will be hated because of his name.

Because Jesus knew that we would encounter conflict.

And Jesus was the one who was familiar with this conflict.

Coming into conflict constantly with the culture that he was teaching in.

And Jesus knew that we would encounter these things.

He was familiar with it.

And it happened to him over and over again throughout the Gospels.

And in the passage that we find ourselves in this morning.

It's happening to Jesus.

We're going to see the beginning of the final conflict.

Not the beginning of the conflict.

But the beginning of the final conflict that would lead up to the death of Jesus.

It would lead us up to the cross.

A couple of weeks ago we saw Jesus confront the money changers in the temple.

And this week we want to see Jesus being confronted by the Pharisees on account of what he did.

The confrontation in our text this morning was caused by Jesus' reaction to the money changers in the temple.

So Jesus overturns the tables as best as we can tell on Tuesday of what we have termed as Passion Week.

This week that were the final days of Jesus that would lead him to the cross.

Lead him ultimately to his death.

And we've come to Wednesday here in our passage in verse 27 of Mark 11.

Read along with me if you have a copy of God's Word in your hands.

And they came again to Jerusalem.

And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him.

And they said to him,

By what authority do you do these things?

Or who gave you the authority to do them?

And Jesus said to them,

I'll ask you one question.

Answer me.

And I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?

Answer me.

And they discussed it with one another saying,

If we say from heaven,

He will say,

Why then do you not believe him?

But shall we say from man?

They were afraid of the people.

For they held that John was really a prophet.

And so they answered Jesus,

We do not know.

And Jesus said to them,

Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word that was written for us,

for our ears to hear,

for our hearts to be compelled into action.

So, Father, this morning I do not pretend to stand up here alone to do these things on my own authority.

But I stand up here being only on the authority of the Word of God.

We thank you, Father, for your Word that it pierces as far as joint and marrow,

as far as the division of soul and spirit.

And we pray, Father, this morning that you would pierce us deeply

and convict our hearts through your Spirit.

My words are not convicting,

but your Spirit can convict our hearts for your glory and in your name.

We pray these things in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

So what's the key word in this passage here?

It's authority.

Exousia.

It literally means freedom to act or liberty to act.

To have authority is essentially to have the right to act,

to exercise your will,

to exercise force,

to determine,

or to decide.

That's what authority is.

And no person has ever had such authority as Jesus Christ did.

He had ultimate authority,

absolute authority,

divine authority.

And He exercised it.

In Matthew 28, 18, He put it this way,

All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

That's why Paul says,

He is far above all authority in Ephesians 6, chapter 1.

In Mark 1, 22, it says,

They were amazed,

for He was teaching as one having authority,

not as the scribes.

So what we're seeing here is

the same thing that we've really been seeing

throughout the entire Gospel of Mark

as we've been walking through,

chapter by chapter through Mark.

We've been seeing that Jesus' teaching is different.

There's something about this man.

And it's very noticeable.

Jesus teaches unlike anyone else.

When I teach,

or when Nathan teaches,

or when Clay teaches,

or when anybody teaches here at CFC,

we don't stand on our own authority.

There's nothing that gives us that authority.

We stand on the authority of the Word of God.

But Jesus is the spoken Word of God.

He is the authority.

And no less than 75 times in the Gospels,

Jesus said,

Truly I say unto you,

and then you can include the dot, dot, dot,

because He gives an incredible truth

after each time that He says these things.

He wasn't quoting anyone.

And the rabbis didn't talk this way.

Rabbis during this day typically

would quote other Scriptures

or other particularly well-versed rabbis.

But Jesus didn't have to.

Why?

Because He was the ultimate authority.

He was God's spoken Word.

Along with this,

just to make the point even stronger,

Jesus never asked for permission

from anyone to do anything.

You'll notice throughout the Gospels

and throughout the life of Christ,

He never asked permission.

He was not under any earthly authority.

He possessed all authority in Himself

as the divine Son of God.

The only authority in His life

was that perfect harmony

with the Father and the Spirit.

That He completed the Father's will

and the Spirit's power.

Jesus makes it clear to us in John 5, 19,

saying,

Truly I say to you,

and there it is again,

Him speaking on His own authority for Himself,

not quoting anyone.

He says,

Truly I say to you,

the Son can do nothing of Himself

unless it is something He sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does,

these things the Son also does in like manner.

So in other words,

He does what the Father does

in the same way that the Father does it.

He is under the submission to the Father.

And we also see in Scripture

that the Spirit is in submission to the Son.

This, by the way,

is one of the many theological truths

that author William Young gets simply wrong.

And it's a wildly popular book,

The Shack.

Anybody read The Shack?

Anybody want to?

Yeah, we have some Shack readers.

It was wildly popular about seven years ago.

Now that it was released,

it's still maintained some popularity.

And I have to warn you about it.

Read it with some.

If you ever read it,

read it with great reservations,

knowing that it has a lot of theological problems in it.

It is a fictional piece of work

that is intended to have theological implications.

And when you're writing a piece of work like that,

you have to be very careful.

And I don't believe that he was very careful.

It didn't handle the theological implications very well.

And this is one of the many things.

On page 124 of his book,

he writes from the perspective of God.

He has characters that are supposed to explain the Trinity.

And one of his characters is God the Father.

He has a character for God the Son.

He has a character for God the Holy Spirit.

And from the perspective of God the Father,

this is what he writes.

So you think that God must relate inside a hierarchy like you do.

But we do not.

And this is simply untrue.

We see the Trinity.

Even inside the Trinity,

there is a hierarchy of the persons of God acting.

All over the Gospels,

Jesus submits to the Father.

And we see the Spirit falling in submission to the Son.

And so Jesus answered to only one authority in his life.

And he never consulted the Pharisees.

He never consulted the scribes.

He never consulted the rabbis

to get permission to do anything.

He acted solely on his own authority.

Everything he did,

everything he said,

every action that he took,

it came from his own authority.

He wielded ultimate power.

He rejected the Jewish authorities.

He never consulted them because they were apostate.

They had defected from the true faith in God.

They didn't know him,

and they were illegitimate,

and it was as if they didn't even exist to him at times.

Sure, they were the earthly purveyors of a corrupt Judaism.

They ran the temple,

and they turned it into a robber's den.

But they had no real power and no real authority in their lives.

They were enemies of God,

enemies of truth,

and enemies of the Gospel.

So you can see why there was some conflict here.

You can see why there's some dissension

between Jesus and these people.

When you read through the Gospels,

you kind of want to cheer Jesus on through these conflicts

because on the one hand,

you have a prideful group of people,

the Pharisees and the Sadducees,

who think that they are God's gift to creation.

They really do.

They believe in their minds

that they know better than anybody else,

and they have this spiritual pride that's unparalleled.

On the other hand,

you have the Son of God

who is holy,

who is righteous,

who is indeed God's gift to mankind.

And they begin to clash.

They begin to see these reactions that Jesus has,

and it's amazing

because He just keeps kindly telling them off

and sending them on their way

because He is just and holy,

and He is all-wise,

and He knows how to handle their arguments.

But in their perspective,

Jesus is just teaching away without their permission,

without their authority,

without their approval.

And this just struck a massive blow

to their spiritual pride

for a man to walk into their temple

and to begin to teach

as if He knew everything in their minds.

And it continually infuriated them.

They had developed a vicious hatred for Jesus

because He demonstrated such scorn

toward their religious positions.

And this is what ultimately led them

to hand Him over to the Romans

to die on the cross.

So the key issue here in this passage

is authority.

Who in the world gave you permission

to overturn the money tables, Jesus?

Where do you get off?

They could have asked,

where did you get the authority

to teach what you teach?

But that's not what they said, is it?

Because it was going deeper at this point,

further past what He actually said.

It was what He was doing.

I mean, it was tough enough for them

to swallow that He came into town

on Monday with massive crowds,

by the way, arriving into Jerusalem

for the Passover.

And they are bowing down to Him

and singing praises at Him.

Hosanna, Son of David.

Blessed is He who comes

in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

And throwing messianic titles

and names at Him.

And He never refused them.

In fact, He took them.

Even well into Tuesday and Wednesday,

He received praises from the people.

So as if that wasn't infuriating enough,

Jesus walks into the temple on Tuesday

and begins to disrupt everything

they've got going on,

begins to disrupt the money changers,

overturns the tables,

and kicks the merchandisers out.

So naturally, they're asking the question,

Who do you think you are, Jesus?

You see, these men truly believed

in their hearts that they had everything right.

They believed they had everything right

in their lives,

that they were the holy ones,

they were the ones who were supposed

to be the spiritual leaders of this time.

And they had placed all faith

in their religious rituals

and believed that their obedience

to the law had earned them righteousness

on their own.

It's a very dangerous place to be.

They were so focused on earning

their own righteousness

that they couldn't see

that the Son of God

was staring them right in the face.

And we, by the way,

have people like that

in every church across this country,

including this one this morning.

I'm here to tell you today,

stop trying to earn righteousness

on your own.

You can't do it.

It's impossible.

You can't live life good enough

to earn God's grace.

There are some of you in this room,

if you would just let go of your pride

and stop looking at the issues

in everyone else's life

and begin to work

on your own sanctification

in Christ Jesus,

you would begin to see the world

in a whole different way.

And you'd begin to see church

in a whole different way.

You'd begin to see your life

in a whole different way.

You'd begin to see God

in a different way.

And you'd become more like Christ

in your own life.

The Pharisees and scribes and elders,

they didn't get it

because they were lost in their pride.

And while this is certainly

not the first confrontation

that Jesus had with the Sanhedrin,

it was the beginning

of the final series of confrontations

that Jesus was going to have.

As we move into chapter 12,

we're going to begin to see,

all the way through the 40th verse

of chapter 12,

that Jesus is in conflict

with these people.

And this is the beginning of it.

We're going to see a series of stories

in chapter 12

where the events

that will focus on

these religious leaders,

and Jesus is going to tell

a series of stories

and events that's going to

pronounce judgment

on these people.

So if you're like me

and you don't really like conflict,

you better buckle up

over the next couple of weeks.

There's going to be conflict.

Isn't it true that

in general,

we generally try to avoid conflict?

I know in my life,

I generally try to avoid conflict.

Sometimes it's unavoidable though.

Sometimes people will ask you

a question that relates

to biblical truth

and they're not going to

like your answer

because you know for sure

this is what the Bible says.

This is what God has told us.

There's times we have to tell them

the hard truth,

the hard reality

of what Scripture tells us.

And it may not be

what they want to hear,

what they want us to say.

But nonetheless,

we have to stand up for truth.

We have to stand up

for what's right.

We have to stand up

for righteousness.

We have to teach truth

to a culture

that's lost any sense of truth.

We generally don't like conflict,

but there's going to be

conflict sometimes in our lives

and that's what we're seeing

going on here

in our passage this morning

as we move into chapter 12.

as well.

So after three years of conflict,

Jesus comes to the temple.

He disrupts everything

that they're doing.

And don't miss this.

These Pharisees,

they believe in their hearts

that Jesus is the blasphemer.

In their hearts,

in their minds,

they believe that Jesus

is the blasphemer.

This is how far removed

they are from truth.

This is how deep

they've delved in their pride.

They believe that

Jesus' actions in the temple

were an act of blasphemy

to epic proportions.

So with all of that

as background,

let's take a look at this story.

It will unfold easily

for us this morning.

The first thing

that we're going to see

is the confrontation.

The confrontation.

As he is walking in the temple,

you've got to get the picture here.

This temple is massive.

One of the walls

for this temple,

just to give you an idea,

stretches four football fields long.

It's a big area

and that's just the outer wall.

You have the inner part.

In between,

you have a courtyard.

So Jesus is likely

walking around

through this massive courtyard,

acres upon acres

of massive courtyard.

And he's teaching them

as he's moving through

the temple.

This is really a very

rabbinic way of teaching.

They taught as they walked around.

And Jesus is sharing truth

as he moves about the temple.

The parallel passage

in Luke chapter 20,

Luke 20 · chapter mention

by the way,

Luke tells us

that he was teaching the people

and preaching the gospel.

So for one day,

just to get this imagery,

for one day,

the temple is his

and his alone.

The truth began to ring out

in a place

where it hadn't rung out

for hundreds of years.

So for one day,

the temple is his.

And no doubt,

he was using his time wisely,

teaching a gospel of repentance

and turning away from the sin

and the consequences of sin

being death.

And then,

the free gift of God,

which was him,

himself.

Luke 19.47 records

that he was teaching daily

in the temple.

The chief priests

and the scribes

and the principal men

of the people

were seeking to destroy

him,

but they did not find

anything that they could do

for the people

were hanging

on his words.

If there is ever

a teacher on whom

to hang every word,

it is him.

It is Jesus.

Compelling teachers

captivate me.

I don't know about you guys.

I love to listen to a compelling teacher.

I would just get captivated.

But imagine

the Son of God

teaching.

How captivating

he was.

These people are

captivated by his teaching

here.

Back to verse 27.

And he was walking

in the temple

and the chief priests

and the scribes

and elders came to him.

Those are the three groups,

by the way,

that make up the Sanhedrin.

These are the three groups

also that

we're going to see

the primary conflict

in chapter 12,

in the next chapter.

They came to him

not as ones

who are captivated

by his teaching,

but as ones

who are trying

to incite him.

They're trying

to trip him up.

They're trying to

create a conflict

that's going to make him

look bad.

Not a good idea,

by the way,

because they were

no match for Jesus.

He was smarter than them.

He has better rhetoric

than them.

And they said to him

in verse 28,

by what authority

are you doing these things?

Or who gave you

authority to do them?

So this is the primary issue

that they're having,

is authority.

It's authority.

By the way,

this is the primary issue

that all unbelievers have

with Christianity

and with the Gospel.

It's authority.

They don't want to

submit their lives

to any type of authority

other than themselves.

And really,

they might give you

a hundred reasons why.

They might say

that they were burnt

by church.

They might say

many, many

various different reasons,

but ultimately,

it's about authority

in their lives.

Somehow they can't,

they're not willing to

or they cannot somehow

in their hearts

submit to his authority.

And so these people

were having trouble

with his authority.

They're saying,

you can't just walk

into the temple

and do what you did

because they don't believe

that he is the authority.

And by the way,

they knew what his answer

would be

if he had answered them

directly.

In fact,

they may even hope

that he would answer

them directly.

They may even hope

that he would say

that my authority

comes from me

and me alone

or from God the Father

and him alone.

Because then they can say,

aha,

we've got you.

You're committing blasphemy.

And they could convince

the people

that he was a blasphemer.

That wasn't going to happen.

They didn't want him

to gain followers.

They didn't want him

to be teaching

in the temple

and they certainly

didn't want them

to dismantle

their entire system.

See, the truth is

that Jesus wasn't

the blasphemer.

They were the blasphemers.

This is a classic example

of literary irony.

See, some of you in here,

you think that the Scripture

is boring, right?

I know some of us

probably don't.

I see some smiles

on some people's faces

probably bringing up

some thoughts

in your mind.

A lot of us

probably really love

the Word of God,

but there's probably

a fraction of us

in here

that think it's

just kind of mundane

and boring.

This is so far

from the truth.

Because Scripture

contains literary elements

of the best novels

that we read,

of everything that we read.

It's got deep plot structure,

rich character development.

We see epic battles,

romance, conflict,

protagonist, antagonist.

There's lots of symbolism

in there.

There's even monsters

and dragons

and angels and demons

for the sci-fi fans, right?

And so,

we see that this is

not just based

on a true story.

It is the true story.

And God,

our God,

is right in the middle

of it all,

guiding history.

Because that

is what it is.

It is His story.

He was there

in the beginning.

He will see it

through to the end.

He is the Alpha

and the Omega.

And in the end,

He will be glorified

into eternity.

But there's things

that must happen

before the end

is to come.

And this conflict

where we find Jesus

must happen

before God's plan

of redemption

is to play its full course.

And we see here

that the Pharisees

had no chance.

Jesus is so much wiser

than they are.

Here's this counter

in verse 29.

Jesus said to them,

I'll ask you one question.

Jesus knew what

they were doing,

by the way.

He was wise enough

to know.

He puts the burden

of answering back

on them.

He says,

Answer me

and I will tell you

by what authority

I do these things.

And this is really

an honest response.

His offer is to

answer their question

if they're willing

to answer his question.

And by doing so,

he's leveling

the playing ground.

They may have asked him

an unfair,

trapping question.

But he says,

Okay,

if you're willing

to answer this question,

I'll answer yours.

So here's the question

in verse 30.

Was the baptism

of John

from heaven

or from man?

Answer me.

And in no uncertain terms,

Jesus puts the ball

back in the Pharisees' court.

He's doing the same thing

that they did to him.

And it's what we might call

being put between

a rock and a hard place.

He didn't resent

their question.

He just knew

their ill intentions.

And I love the command here

because he's demonstrating

his authority over them.

He demands for them

to answer him.

Isn't that great?

They didn't demand

an answer from him,

but he's demanding

an answer back.

I just want to pause here

for a second

to talk about

Jesus' question

because you may be thinking,

Why in the world,

out of all the questions

that Jesus could have asked,

why is this question

about John the baptizer?

Why would he choose

John the baptizer

to ask a question?

And I thought the same thing.

I wondered the same thing

as I was doing

my preliminary studying

for this passage.

But what do we know

about John the baptizer?

We know that he was

a forerunner to the Messiah.

He was possibly

the greatest prophet

that ever lived

up until this time.

He was foretold

in the Old Testament prophets.

And this is key

because these people

that Jesus is talking to

would have known

these documents very well.

He was conceived

miraculously

by an aging couple,

Elizabeth and Zacharias.

because of the plan of God.

And he preached

in the wilderness

a message of repentance

in preparation

for the coming Messiah.

And one day,

Jesus shows up

and John says,

Behold,

the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

It's a bold statement.

everything that John did

pointed back to Jesus.

And everyone in the temple

knew it.

So was the ministry

of John the baptizer,

the prophetic ministry

of John the baptizer,

was it from God

or was it from man?

Answer me.

Strong challenge.

And Jesus was brilliant

when confronted.

He was brilliant.

He never lost

in a debate

or an argument.

He put them

in the hot seat.

If they say that

the ministry of John

is not from God,

then they've got a problem

because all the people

knew that John

was a real prophet.

All the people there

believed that he was

a real prophet.

If they say that

his ministry is from God,

they have to affirm

that Jesus is the Messiah.

Something that

their pride and ignorance

couldn't let them do.

You can't take John

without Jesus

and you can't

throw away Jesus

without throwing away John.

So they have

a serious problem.

So serious

in the fact

that they have

to have a side conversation.

So they begin

dialogosumai.

There we go.

Greek there for you.

Dialogosumai.

They begin to dialogue

among themselves.

They begin to talk

and discuss

among themselves.

And I have no idea

what this looked like.

I can only picture it

in my head

as them being like,

okay, we need to think

about this.

Come on, let's go over here.

Let's get in the huddle.

But apparently

they're not talking

quietly enough

for people to not hear them

because we have

the recorded words

here in Scripture, right?

So apparently

somebody must have

overheard them

or maybe they're just

guessing what they

were talking about.

I don't know

how this went down

but imagine them

kind of getting together

and talking about this

among themselves

and they're saying,

if we say from heaven,

he will say,

why did you not believe him?

Meaning,

why did they not believe

John when he says Jesus

or when he affirms Jesus

as the Messiah?

But shall we say

for man,

it's their only other option.

It's the only

an either or type

of question.

But they're realizing,

well, we can't say

for man either.

Why?

The text tells us

they were afraid

of the people

for they all held

that John was really

a prophet.

There's a minor detail

that Mark leaves out here

that Luke includes.

They weren't just

afraid of the people

because of what

they would say

or how they would

view them.

Luke 20,

Luke 20:6

verse 6 tells us

that all the people,

and get this one,

all the people

will stone us

to death.

So now we're getting

the full picture

of what's going on.

They didn't want to be

the blasphemers.

They wanted Jesus

to look like the blasphemer.

And they're realizing

that Jesus has turned

the tables on them

and he's put them

in a position

where no matter

what they say,

they're going to have

a tough time answering.

So now you understand

the dilemma.

What are they going to do?

The praise of men

was everything

to these people.

It was absolutely

everything.

Power, prestige,

privilege, honors.

They would pray

long prayers

in the streets

in public

just to look like

they were highly spiritual.

spiritual.

They wanted man

to see them

in a good light.

They wanted everyone

to know they were right,

that they had a special

connection to God.

And they wanted to be

recognized in public

as the holy ones.

So if John's ministry

is from God,

they have to embrace

that they've been wrong

for three years.

For three years

that they've been

in conflict with Jesus.

That they were

somehow wrong.

What's more

is that they would

have to accept

the fact that this man

that they've been

opposing for three years

has been right.

And how could the

spiritual authorities

in this time

be so wrong

for so long?

It's something

they just weren't

prepared to accept.

If they say it's for men,

they're liable

to get stoned.

And that's not just death,

that is a shameful death.

A disgraceful death.

So they reduced

the worst possible thing

that could happen

to someone

with intellectual pride.

And that's to say,

I don't know.

There you have it.

The religious leaders

of the day.

That must have been hard

for that to spill

out of their mouths

that we do not know.

So much for their

omniscience, right?

It's their duty to know.

It's their duty to observe.

It's their duty to evaluate.

But never,

never in their dealings

with Jesus

did they ever come to him

seeking truth.

They were always

seeking to entrap him.

They were always

seeking to trip him up.

And this is the way

of false religion.

Not necessarily

the victims of false religion,

but the purveyors

of false religion.

And so this leads us

to Jesus' answer.

They were confronted,

they went to the counter,

and now

we see the condemnation.

Jesus said to them,

neither will I tell you

by what authority

I do these things.

false.

So Jesus refused

to answer their question,

and this is important

this morning

because we're about

to turn a corner.

You don't ever

want to be

in the position

where Jesus says to you

that I am through

talking with you.

Because that

is what's going on here.

Jesus is saying,

I am done.

I've said

all that I have

to say to you.

you are not entitled

to any further information.

And when you continue

to reject the light,

eventually the light's

going to go out.

It's the reality of it.

Jesus had already

given them

a stark warning,

a grave warning

in Luke 13,

saying,

Oh Jerusalem,

Jerusalem,

the city

that kills the prophets

and stones those

who are sent to it.

How often

I would have gathered

your children together

as him gathers

her brood

under her wings.

But you

were not

willing.

Behold,

your house

is forsaken.

The words

of the Son of God

cast out

upon the city.

You see,

God's grace

does have limits.

You say,

well how can a loving God

allow a well-meaning

person to suffer

eternity in hell?

And it's true

that our God

is infinitely loving,

infinitely kind,

and infinitely good.

But as a good

and holy

and righteous God,

He is also

necessarily just.

And justice

must prevail

for Him

to maintain

holiness

in His life

or in His being.

And even the best,

most well-meaning

people on this earth

are guilty of sin.

Romans 3.23

tells us,

for all have sinned

and fallen short

of the glory of God.

There is not

one person

in this room

that is free

of sin.

We are all,

we are all sinners.

We've all fallen

short of His glory.

And that's why

Jesus is so important.

That's why His life

is so important.

That's why His death

is so important.

He lived

a perfect life

and gives His life

up as a perfect sacrifice

for our benefit,

for our behalf.

And ultimately

so that He would be glorified.

He hung

a gruesome death

on the cross.

and provided

payment for the sins

of those who would

give their lives to Him.

The Pharisees

and elders

and scribes,

they were all looking

for some evidence.

They were all looking

for a source of authority.

I'm telling you,

you might not ever find

a scientific source

of authority

or a scientific evidence

of God

in your life.

There might be

difficult to come by

for you

to come by

scientific evidence

because it's all

about faith,

placing faith

in Christ Jesus.

And I'm confident

this morning

that there are people

in this room

that have been struggling

and struggling

with the authority

of Christ

in your lives.

Some of us in here

may even be

among the redeemed

and saying,

I know that I believe

Christ is the authority

of this area

of my life

and I'm happy with that.

But there's some stuff

over here

that I'm hanging on to.

I'm not going to let Christ

have authority

in my life

in this area

because this is

making me feel good.

This is making me

have some temporary

happiness

in the short term.

But this area

over here

I'm happy about.

This area

I'm going to keep

for myself

for a little while.

It's all or nothing.

You either give Him

all the authority

in your life

or nothing.

There's some people

in here

who have never

been able to submit,

you've never been able

to find the gumption

or the will

to submit your whole life

over to Him ever.

And if that's you

this morning

and I just want

to plead with you,

plead with you,

don't let it go

another day

without taking action

in your life

on this.

If you still have

questions,

come talk to me,

come talk to Nathan,

come talk to somebody

who's an elder here

or somebody

who understands

the Scriptures,

understands

God's plan

of salvation.

will be happy

more than overjoyed

to talk with you

about this.

But God is calling

you to Himself.

He is calling you

to salvation

that can only come

through His authority

in your life

over sin.

There's one final truth

this morning

and that's that

this unique authority

that Jesus wielded

to say

whatever He wanted

and to do

whatever He wanted

to do

was amazingly

delegated to

the apostles.

apostles.

It's truly amazing

what happened.

In Luke 9,

Jesus gave them

authority over demons,

over disease

and to proclaim

the kingdom.

How could they do

these things

with the same authority?

Because they spoke

the same truth

and they wielded

the same power.

So did it end

with the apostles?

Well, a portion

of it did.

A portion of it

did end with them.

There were signs

and wonders

and miracles

they were able

to do

during this time.

There was a gift

of the Spirit

that Jesus

had imparted

on them.

But don't miss

this brothers

and sisters

in the room

this morning.

The authority

to proclaim

the truth

has been passed

down to us.

We are designed

to be proclaimers

of God's Word

and God's truth.

Jesus'

final recorded

words in Acts 1,

you will receive

power when the

Holy Spirit

comes upon you

and you will be

my witnesses

in Judea,

Samaria

and to the ends

of the earth.

Paul writes

to Titus

in chapter 2,

young church

leader,

Titus,

Titus 2:15

chapter 2,

verse 15,

these things

speak with all

authority

and let no one

disregard you.

Let no one

disregard you.

I feel a special

burden this morning

to speak to the

young people

in the room.

Teenagers,

college students,

young professionals

in the room here.

Do not think

for a second

that you are

too young

for God

to use you.

And do not

let people

discourage you

because you

are young.

God has

historically

used young

people to

start

incredible

movements.

Martin Luther

nailed the

95 Theses

to the door

of Wittenberg

in 1517,

starting a

reformation.

He was only

34.

Nicholas

Zinzendorf

witnessed the

birth of the

100-year

Moravian prayer

revival in 1727,

when he was

only 27 years

old.

Jonathan

Edwards was

only at the

age of 31

in 1734,

when his church

experienced a

revival that

led to the

conversion of

half their

town.

George

Whitfield

launched what

some call

the greatest

single evangelistic

tour in New

England in the

first Great

Awakening when

he was only

25.

Some of you

are coming up

to that age.

Some of you

are already at

that age.

At the

age of

23,

Samuel

Mills led

a group

of peers

to what

would be

the birth

of foreign

missions

in America.

God

uses people

young and

old.

I don't

mean to be

discouraging

old people.

God uses

old people

too.

God uses

people young

and old,

but do not

think that

you are

too young

to do

something

great for

the glory

of God.

Mary,

mother of

Jesus was

likely a

young teenager

when she

raised and

nurtured the

man that

would become

the cornerstone

to every

great movement

of God

for the rest

of history.

So young

people,

do not believe

for a second

you are too

young for God

to use you

as a catalyst

for revival.

And pray for

revival.

We need it

so desperately.

We need it

so desperately

in our country.

So for all

of us,

young,

old,

as we go

away from

here this

morning,

remember that

we live

in a

fallen and

broken world

that desperately

needs the

authority of

Christ in

their lives.

I think about

all the terrible

things that are

happening in

this world

and my heart

breaks.

You've got the

conflict going

on between

Syria and

Russia,

where people

are being

killed

meaninglessly.

There's an

ever-escalating

conflict in

Israel and

Palestine.

there's the

Islamic State,

or whatever

they're calling

themselves this

week,

Islamic State,

ISIS,

whatever it

is,

they're killing

Christians among

other minority

religious groups

for apparently

no good reason.

There's the

voices of

feminism,

homosexual rights

activists,

proponents of

abortion that are

growing ever

louder in our

culture.

We have all

the chaos,

all the bad

ideas,

all the

misrepresentations

that are floating

around our

world.

And yet God

has placed us

here in

North Georgia

to impact a

culture for

His glory.

Let us never

forget that.

Let us never

forget that the

most important

thing that can

happen in this

world is for

God to be

glorified through

His truth being

made known,

both here and

abroad, both

locally and to

the nations.

God's.

And the only

place that

they're going

to receive

this truth is

through the

instruments in

which He has

deposited His

Word and His

Spirit.

And that's in

us.

See, in this

passage, Jesus

comes up against

a great conflict

and He's promised

us that if we're

going to follow

Him radically,

if we're going to

share truth,

if we're going to

represent Him

locally and to

the nations,

then we're going

to come into

conflict.

There's going to

be times of

discouragement.

There's going to

be times of

joy.

There's going to

be times of

difficulty and

times of

happiness.

And we can

expect confrontation

as we carry the

light of the

gospel truth to

the world.

But I want to

leave you this

encouraging passage

that this light

and momentary

affliction is

preparing us for

an eternal

weight of glory

that is beyond

all comparison.

Let's pray

together.