By What Authority

[0:00] I want you to open up your Bibles, if you will, to Mark chapter 11. We are going to finish chapter 11 in the Gospel of Mark this morning. And we're going to begin reading in verse 27.

[0:11] And I'm going to read down through verse 33. So as you turn there in your Bibles, I want to ask you this morning to do something for me. I want to ask you to stand because we like to stand as we read God's Word as a sign of our reverence for His Word.

[0:24] Beginning in verse 27, Mark writes, 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.

[0:36] And they said to Him, By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them? Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

[0:50] 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 did you not believe Him?

[1:05] But shall we say from man? For they were afraid of the people. For they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, We do not know.

[1:18] And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Father, send your spirit now, So that He might take your word, And open our hearts to understand it, And receive it, And be changed by it.

[1:33] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys can be seated. The reality is, That we are all in a complex series of relationship, Of various authority figures over us.

[1:49] So that we all have to answer to those governing authorities, That we just prayed for a moment ago. And we all have other authorities in our lives. We have bosses to whom we answer.

[1:59] And then if you are a boss, You're in that complex web of authority relationships, So that you have people under you, Who answer to you. And we all know that, That there is a kind of current beneath all of that.

[2:12] There's a part of us, That wants to constantly rebel, Against the various authorities, That God has arrayed in our lives. That's just naturally the way that we react. That's why that we, That's why that we sort of bristle, When the police officer pulls us over, And we begin to think, Maybe I should tell him how fast he was probably going.

[2:31] Or maybe I should ask him about all the laws that he broke, Just to pull me over. And so we bristle at authority, Because there's something within us, That wants to rebel.

[2:41] Even the meekest of us. Even those of us, Who are least disposed to, To sort of an outward display of rebellion, Have it within us. I mean you can see it within your children.

[2:52] So there are some small children, Who are really good at outward displays of rebellion. I mean they are good at it. They can throw themselves on the floor, In the middle of Walmart, And pitch a fit, And they're professionals.

[3:04] And then there are other children, You would never dream that they would do that. And then you see them when no one is looking, Or at least they think no one is looking. And you see these little, Slight displays of rebellion, Against their parents, Against whoever it is that's told them to do, Whatever it is they don't want to do.

[3:22] And they will find ways, Even the meekest and mildest, Will find ways of rebelling against the authorities, That are in place over them. That's not just the story of our individual lives though.

[3:33] That's really the story of human history. You see it laid out across the pages of the Bible. So that very early on, In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve confront an issue with authority.

[3:45] And they reject God's word, Which has authority over them, And decide instead that they want to determine, What is true and right and good and evil for themselves. That was an issue of authority.

[3:56] Whether or not they were going to trust God's word, And continue to live their lives, And submit into submission to his command, Or they were going to rebel against it. And of course, They chose to rebel against it.

[4:08] And the subsequent history of man, Is nothing different. You see it when you arrive, By the time you arrive a few chapters later, To the story of Noah, That mankind has reached a point of rebellion and sin, Such that God has to judge the world.

[4:22] But it doesn't end there. You see rebellion woven into the history, Of even God's people Israel. Very early on, Even Abraham has issues, With full obedience to God's word.

[4:34] Abraham, The man of faith, Who was justified by his faith, Struggles at times to obey God's word. And then of course, You see Israel, With Moses constantly rebelling against the word of God.

[4:47] They're unable, Even for the brief amount of time, That Moses is receiving God's commands. They're unable, Even for that brief amount of time, To remain under God's authority.

[4:57] And they want to, As Adam and Eve do, They want to create their own authority. They want to determine their own destiny. So they create a false god. It's woven through the history. So that when you read the book of Judges, You hear this refrain over and over, That everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

[5:13] And the reason it says, The text says, Is because there was no king in Israel. But even when you get human kings in Israel, There's a problem with those kings rebelling against God's rightful authority over them.

[5:24] So that we see this not only broadly in human history, But we see a basic rebellion against authority, And especially against God's authority, Even woven into the fabric of the history of God's people Israel, Throughout the Old Testament.

[5:38] So that it's not at all surprising when you come to the Gospels, To see people in open rebellion against the authority of Jesus. We see it here when these religious leaders come to Jesus, And they say, By what authority are you doing these things?

[5:55] By the time that we arrive here in chapter 11, This is the ninth time that Mark has recorded, A confrontation between the religious leaders and Jesus. And that's just Mark's Gospel, The shortest of all the Gospels.

[6:07] If you begin to add in all the other accounts in the other three Gospels of the times, That the religious leaders of Israel confronted Jesus, And had a problem with Jesus and what he was doing, It just skyrockets the number.

[6:18] Over and over and over, Jesus has these confrontations with the religious leaders, And they oppose him at every turn. So that we can see two things pretty clearly, As we approach this story, That we need to have sort of in place, Before we can even begin to understand, What Mark wants to show us about the authority of Christ here.

[6:39] And that is number one, That God's authority exists, And is expressed in his son Jesus, And is easily recognizable, And yet on the other hand, There is a natural rebellion against it.

[6:52] You see it early on in Mark's Gospel. Turn over, just hold your place there. And I want you to turn back to Mark chapter 1. You can see the obvious character of Jesus' authority, Very early on, When Jesus is teaching.

[7:06] And he begins to teach the people, And over and over the people are astounded, They are amazed by what Jesus is able to do. So, for instance, you see, In chapter 2, You see Jesus healing a paralytic.

[7:22] And the religious leaders come again to him, And they say in Mark chapter 2, They say, And he says to them, Why do you question these things in your heart? Which is easier, To say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, Or to say, Rise, take up your bed?

[7:35] But that you may know, That the Son of Man has authority on earth, To forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed, And go home. Jesus' authority is clear, It is obvious, By the time we arrive here in chapter 2, This is the third mention of his authority, Already in the gospel of Mark, And already by the time, The third time his authority is mentioned in chapter 2, The religious leaders, The Pharisees are questioning Jesus, That they are reasoning in their own hearts, And wondering where this authority comes from, And Jesus confronts them directly, And says, But so that you know that I have the authority, That I appear to have, The authority even to forgive sins, I'm going to tell this paralyzed man to get up, And walk.

[8:16] So that there is this obvious character, Of Jesus' authority, It exists, You can't avoid it, If you encounter Jesus, One of the things that would strike you, First of all, Is that he had authority, In fact, Mark tells us that the reason, The people were so amazed by Jesus, Is that he did not teach, As the scribes did, But he taught as one, Who had authority, That's who Jesus is, That's what Jesus displays, Throughout the pages, Of the gospels, And these religious leaders like us, Bristle against that, That raw authority, That Jesus possesses, So now here we are, At the end of chapter 11, And we have reached a point, Where, Where the religious leaders, Have become so fed up, With the displays of, Divine power and authority, That have evidenced themselves, In Jesus' ministry and life, That they are now, Going to begin to constantly, Confront them until, We see as,

[9:17] As Bill read earlier, As we listen to the scriptures read, Until they finally, Come to come, And to Judas, And convince Judas, To betray Jesus, Because it's gotten to a point, To where nothing will solve, The issue of Jesus, Authority over them, Except to kill them, That's the only way out of it, That they, That they see, But here at the end of chapter 11, They're going to have another, Confrontation with them, And it opens in verse 27, And it says, That they came again, To Jerusalem, Now this is Wednesday, That Jesus entered into Jerusalem, On Monday, That's the triumphal entry, And then on Tuesday, He came and he did the famous, Cleansing of the temple, And so now he's back, On his third day in the city, On Wednesday, He comes into Jerusalem, And we're told, That he was walking in the temple, I love this vision of Jesus, Just sort of, Walking around the temple, Teaching the people, Because he's already, He's already earlier in this chapter, Showing them that the whole temple system, Has become corrupt, It's not functioning, As God intended it to function, And it's coming to an end, One day,

[10:18] Very soon, The temple system, With all of its priests, With all of its sacrifices, With everything around it, Jesus has told his disciples, It's coming to an end, Its days are numbered, And yet we see here, For at least this day, On this very day, The temple function, As it ought to have functioned, The temple functioned, As a teaching theater, For the king, Of the universe, If only for one day, We see the temple functioning, As it ought to function here, So that I picture Jesus walking, In this massive temple structure, Probably about 35 acres total, The entire temple structure, Jesus walking among the massive columns, And under the porches, And all over the place, As he teaches the people, Over and over and over, And a resounding theme, As you read through in chapter 12, That Jesus is getting at, In this temple teaching, Is that these religious leaders, These authorities, Who oppose him, Their days are numbered as well, Because he tells them,

[11:18] They haven't understood the scriptures, Because he tells them, You are going to, You are the ones, Who are coming to hand me over, Jesus looks and sees, And knows exactly, What's at play here, And what's in their hearts, And so the confrontation, In chapter 11, At the end here, Is a high point, Between Jesus and his, And his interactions, With these religious leaders, So he's in the temple, And we're told, That the chief priests, And the scribes, And the elders, Came to him, Now there are, There are a number, Of religious leaders, In ancient Israel, These chief priests, And scribes, And elders, Would have been, Primarily based though, In Jerusalem, We see Jesus, Having a confrontation, With some other leaders, In chapter 12, We see him, Having a confrontation, With Herodians, And Pharisees, We see him, Having a confrontation, With Sadducees, There's all these, Different leaders, That Jesus is, Having confrontations with, But here, It's the chief priests, The elders, And the scribes, Who were primarily, This group was primarily, Based here, In Jerusalem, So they come to him, And it says in verse 28, They said to him,

[12:20] By what authority, Are you doing these things, Or who gave you, This authority, To do them, They're really asking him, The wrong sort of question, Who gave you, This authority, Jesus, Who gave Jesus, Authority, He's existed for all time, With absolute authority, This reminds me of, I was thinking this, This week, About the difference, Between the kind of authority, That Jesus had, And the kind of authority, That these religious leaders had, And it reminded me, Of a particular professor, That I had, When I was in school, Named Dr. Ellis, Now Dr. Ellis passed away, A few years ago, But when I was in seminary, He was sort of, At the end of his career, He taught very few classes, His main job, Was just to do research, And to write, He was in his late 70's, By then, But he had been, A prolific writer, In the academic world, You're not going to find, Any of his books, That's life way, Or anything like that, But he had been, A very prolific writer, In the academic world, For something like, Over 40 years,

[13:21] He had been, He had been writing, And contributing, And so I took, Every class that Dr. Ellis taught, Even though I wasn't required, To take any of them, Because he's the kind of guy, That I wanted to sit under, And that I wanted to learn from, Well if you took a class, From Dr. Ellis, The textbook, Were Dr. Ellis's books, That he had written, Of course, And one of the things, That I noticed, Was different about his books, Is they lacked footnotes, I mean they had, An occasional footnote, Here and there, But there weren't, Very many footnotes, In any of his books, And if you know anything, About sort of academic type books, They're usually loaded, With footnotes, I mean I was reading, A book just this week, On the New Testament, On the canon of the New Testament, And there's several pages, In the book, That have like, Maybe an inch and a half, Or two inches, At the top of the book, Is actually what, The writer of the book said, And the rest, Four or five inches, Left on the page, Are nothing but footnotes, Of what this scholar, Over here has to say, And what this guy, Here has to say, But you didn't encounter that, When you read, In Dr. Ellis' books, And the main reason, Was because, When these other writers,

[14:21] Who were writing, In the areas, Over which he was an expert, When they wrote, They footnoted him, Because he wrote it first, Probably in the 50's, Or 60's, And they're writing, In the 80's and 90's, And they're footnoting him, Because he was the authority, On the matter, And they were only, Sort of, Authorities, By virtue of their understanding, Of what he, And a few others, Had already said, On some of these matters.

[14:45] That to me, Is a great picture, Of the difference, In authority, That Jesus has, With these scribes, And religious leaders. In fact, The rabbis loved, In their writing, Later writings, From about 200 years later, That reflect the attitude, Of the day, Of Jesus, They loved, To quote other rabbis, So over and over, If you read, Say the Mishnah, You will see over and over, That these Jewish rabbis, Will say, Well Rabbi so and so, Says this, And Rabbi so and so, Says that, That's the way, That they taught, That's why the people, When they heard Jesus teach, Were amazed, Because Jesus taught, Not as the scribes, Jesus taught, With authority, Jesus has, A kind of authority, That is, That is simply, His, By divine, Right, The authority, That these men have, Is a very tentative, Kind of authority, It's an authority, That they have, That they have earned, Through their years of study, It's also an authority, That they have, That kind of sits, Delicately, On a delicate balance, And you can sort of,

[15:46] See that in the text, You can see, That when Jesus, Asks them a counter question, About well, Well about John the Baptist, That they are afraid, To really give a, Straightforward answer to that, Because they are afraid, Of the people, Well what sense does it make, If these guys have, Real authority, Why are they afraid, Of the people, Well because their authority, Is somewhat shaky, Yeah it's a real authority, Yes they have authority, Over the people there in Jerusalem, But at the same time, These people, Could sort of rebel, Against them, Alright, Everyone's authority, Is a little tentative, Is a little shaky, Even Pilate, Who would have had more authority, Than anyone else in Jerusalem, Is when we read the story, A little afraid, Of what the people, Might do, There's a limit, They won't push things, Too far, They have to, At least to a certain degree, Maintain the right, Political correctness, And Jesus is never interested, In political correctness, Because Jesus has no fears, And no concerns, About his authority, Being usurped,

[16:47] Because it cannot be, Jesus has an authority, That is simply his, By divine right, In fact you can, You can get a taste for that, In the gospel of Mark, The gospel of John, Very, Very clearly lays out, The divinity of Christ, Christ's God, But you can see hints, Even in the gospel of Mark, To Christ's divinity, And to his divine authority, So for instance, In the story, That I just mentioned earlier, Where Jesus healed the paralytic, The issue there, Was that the Pharisees, Knew that only God, Had the right, To forgive sins, And it was on that basis, That they challenged Jesus, What right do you have, To tell this man, His sins are forgiven, Only God can do that, To which Jesus says, So that you may know, That I have the authority, To forgive, Get up and walk off, Jesus demonstrates, His divine authority, To forgive sins, By healing the paralytic, It's a clear example, Of Jesus having a kind of,

[17:48] Divine authority, In the gospel of Mark, Or I don't know, How many of you remember, When we were, When we were in Mark chapter 6, You can, In fact, Why don't you turn there, To Mark chapter 6, When Jesus walked upon the water, A very famous story, That many people know, Who have never even really, Read the account, In the scriptures, As Jesus walks out on the water, To his disciples, Who were in a boat, In the midst of a storm, They become very afraid, Because they think, That they're seeing a ghost, And when we were covering, This passage, I pointed out to you, The way in which, Jesus identifies himself, In verse 50, Jesus says to his disciples, Take heart, It is I, Do not be afraid, And what I told you, When we were covering this passage, Is what Jesus says, Take heart, I am, Do not be afraid, Now that I am, Is all over the gospel of John, Because John wants to emphasize, Over and over, The divinity of Christ, But it only crops up here, In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says to his disciples, In their moment of fear,

[18:49] Take heart, I am, In other words, He's identifying himself, With God, I am, I am, The one at the burning bush, I am, Who I am, So at a few places, In Mark, You can see, That Jesus' authority, Is directly, Tied to, His divine, Status, His divine, Nature, He has that kind of, Authority, And yet we also, I think, Have to say, If we look more broadly, In the gospels, And in the new testament, That while Jesus has an authority, That is, Is by divine right, Jesus also, Now possesses, An authority, That is his, By merit, What I mean by that, Is that although Jesus, From all eternity past, Has, Has possessed, The kind of authority, That the religious leaders, Here come to question, Even though that has been his, Throughout all history, Even so, Through his, Through his life, And especially his, Death and resurrection,

[19:50] Jesus has also now, Earned the right, To have the kind of authority, That he has, It is his, By divine right, And yet he, Earns it, That's why, Just before the great commission, Jesus says to his disciples, All authority in heaven, On earth, Has been, Given to me, Well what do you mean, Authority's been given to you, Jesus?

[20:09] You've had authority, For all time, How can it be, Given to you? Do you remember, Just a few weeks ago, During Christmas, We turned to Philippians chapter 2, And we saw there, In Philippians chapter 2, That Paul describes Jesus, As one who was, In the form of God, But did not consider, Equality with God, A thing to be grasped, And I told you then, That Jesus, Though he has existed, For all time, As God himself, Did not cling, To his divine status, Or his divine rights, But humbled himself, Was willingly, Willingly humiliated, And took upon himself, Flesh, And then if you read on, In Philippians chapter 2, We are told that, Because, Because Jesus, Who, Who is in the form of God, Who is God himself, Because he was willing, To empty himself, And become a man, Because of that, God has, Highly exalted him, And bestowed upon him, The name that is above every name, So that at the name of Jesus,

[21:09] Every tongue should confess, And every knee should bow, In heaven, Under the earth, And on the earth, So that Jesus, Is divine, And he possesses, Divine authority, All the way back in eternity past, And yet he has, Through his death, And his willing obedience, To the father, He has also earned, Or merited the authority, That he has, So Jesus has authority, In every sense of the word, Oh he didn't have to die, In order to have, The authority that he has, But by willingly submitting himself, To the will of his father, He has now not only, He can not only claim authority, By divine right, He can claim authority, Because he has earned authority, These religious leaders, They have an authority, That is somewhat earned, Partially earned, But not so with Jesus, Jesus is going to demonstrate, His ultimate authority though, In the way that he discusses, The question that they ask him, Take a look, It says, Verse 28, They said to him, By what authority,

[22:10] Are you doing these things, Or who gave you, This authority to do them, Verse 29, Jesus said to them, I will 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, Now picture the moment, If you will, These are a number, Of religious authority figures, Who have approached Jesus, And they've asked him, A direct question, Give us an answer, To this question, And yet Jesus does not, Cow to their authority, Jesus instead, Expresses his authority, Over them, By demanding, That they answer, His questions, I will ask you, One question, Answer me, That's a command, That Jesus gives, To them, And then he says it again, At the end of the verse, Answer me, Jesus receives, A command, From these religious leaders, And instead of, Complying with it, He immediately turns around,

[23:12] And issues a command, To them, Because while Jesus, Has authority, That is his, By divine right, And by merit, The nature of that authority, Is such that, It is ultimate, It stands, Over all other, Authority, What do I mean by that?

[23:31] What I mean is that, Jesus has, He has the, He has the right, To do whatever he wants to do, And he has the ability, To accomplish whatever he wants to accomplish, He has the right, He can turn the question around on them, Because he's the sovereign here, Not them, He's in control of the situation, Not the supposed religious leaders, And he has the ability, To do it, Because all authority, Is his, When, When we rebel, Against the authority of Christ, We need to understand, And recognize, Exactly what it is, We are rebelling against, When these religious leaders, Question his authority, And resist his authority, And oppose his authority, In having him arrested, And tried, And convicted, When they do those things,

[24:33] They are sealing, Their fate, When we reject, Christ's rightful authority, Over us, And we reject him, As the sovereign, Over our lives, If we do not, Eventually repent, And bow to his authority, Then we are, Sealing our fate, Adam and Eve's problem, Was that they rejected, The authority of God, Over them, And our problem, Is that we continually, Like these religious leaders, We reject, The rightful authority, Of Jesus, Over us, But beware, Because his authority, Is not only his, By right, His authority, Is ultimate, And he will rule, And reign over you, It may be, Willingly, As you rejoice, Forever in his presence, Or it may be, Unwillingly, As you suffer, Forever under his wrath, But, His authority, Will never be, Overthrown, These religious leaders,

[25:33] Are unable, To overthrow his authority, And you are unable, To overthrow, His authority, The issue is simply, Whether or not, You will joyfully, And willingly, Through faith, Submit to his authority, Or whether you will remain, In rebellion against him, And seal your fate, For all eternity, Back to the question, That Jesus asks them, I will ask you one question, And answer me, And I will tell you, By what authority, I do these things, And the question, That he asks them, Is one that he knows, They cannot really answer, Was the baptism of John, From heaven, Or from man, That term from heaven, Just means from God, So what Jesus is saying is, I want you to tell me, Was the ministry of John, That he did out in the wilderness, All the baptisms, For repentance, That he had ministered, To all the many crowds, That flocked out to John, Was that a ministry, To which God had called him, And to which God, Had commissioned him, Or was it simply something, That John, Did on his own,

[26:33] Was John, Does it turn out, That John was just a, Crazy guy, Wearing weird clothes, And eating weird things, Hanging out in the desert, Who happened to attract, A crowd, Or, Was he genuinely called, By God, To do the things, That he, That he did, Now there is no doubt, That they did not believe, That John's ministry, Was, Was his, By divine calling, There is no doubt, About that, They sat, And they watched, And they scrutinized, John's ministry, Just as they do, Jesus here, There is no doubt, About that, But what they know, Is the very people, Who flocked to see John, In the wilderness, Are now surrounding them, In the temple, When you think about it, Who goes out, To hear a preacher, In the desert, Only the really, Fervently religious, People do that, You know, They are the only ones, Who do that, Well, Who shows up, To the temple, And crowds the temple, Year after year, At Passover time, Well the really, Religiously further, So there is, Absolutely no doubt, That there would have been, At least a number of people,

[27:34] Who experienced, John's ministry, Or were familiar, With John's ministry, Who were there, In the temple, On this day, And Jesus, Asked them a question, Out in the open, That they cannot, Answer truthfully, And their discussion, Bears that out, They said, If we say from heaven, Then he will say, Then why did you not believe him?

[27:51] Because John's ministry, Was all about, Testifying to Christ, Behold the land of God, John says, They cannot affirm, The ministry of John, Because in affirming, The ministry of John, They affirm Jesus' authority, Which they have just questioned, They cannot do that, But on the other hand, They cannot deny, The ministry of John, To have been from God, Because they are afraid, Of all the people, Surrounding them, So instead, They opt, For the coward's way, Out, Verse 32, But shall we say, From man, For they were afraid, Of the people, For they all held, That John was really a prophet, So they answered Jesus, We do not know, So Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you, By what authority, I do these things, There is a crucial lesson, To be learned here, And that is that, The refusal, To deal with the issue, Of who Jesus is, The refusal to deal, And to confront, Head on with, His authority, And to make a decision, To either bow to his authority, Or openly rebel,

[28:52] Against his authority, The refusal to do that, Is a decision, In and of itself, These religious leaders, They are not finding, A middle way, By refusing to critique, John, Or affirm John, They are not finding, A middle way, At all, They are ultimately, Rejecting John, And then therefore, Rejecting Jesus himself, There is no middle way, There is no way, To say, Well, Well I think that, Well there is some value, And there is some value, In this religious viewpoint, And I think that this one, Has some mixture, Of admixture of truth in it, And so I am not really sure, Which way I want to go, But I want to affirm everyone, You cannot do that, There is no middle way, These men are politically correct, Jesus is not, And he does not require, Nor does he want, Political, Or religious correctness, From us, He wants us, To either bid to him, Or be open, And admit that we will not, There is no, There is no middle way, Not only, Is there no middle way, But we must,

[29:54] Also realize, And recognize, That the authority of Christ, Is being expressed, Constantly, Toward us, Even when we do not, Realize it, Here is what I mean by that, There might be those, Who would think, I have never had this kind of encounter, That these religious leaders are having, I have never had this kind of, Direct encounter with Christ, And had this, This open argument with him, About his authority, I have never done anything like this, This is not, This is not me, I don't fit into this text at all, I can't see myself here, In any way, But what we need to realize, Is that Christ's authority now, Is mediated to us, Through this word, That we hold in front of us, You do not need, To have a physical encounter, With Christ, To encounter him, In all of his sovereignty, And authority, You have shown up today, You have opened a Bible, You have listened to a Bible, You have been confronted, With the authority of Christ today, His authority is mediated, Directly to us,

[30:54] Through this word, He is the word made flesh, This is the word, Written down for us, It is no less authoritative, Than Jesus was on that day, In the temple, So there is no one, Who can say, I have not had this great encounter, I have not dealt with Jesus, In this sort of way, There is no backing away, From this, This authority confronts you, And the only question, To be answered today, Is will I bend to it, Or will I reject it, There can be no middle way, The word has come to you, And you must decide, And the church has a role, In this as well, We can't ever forget, That Paul tells us, That the church, Is the pillar, And buttress of the truth, If the word of God, Is the authority of Christ, Expressed to us today, If this written word, Is his authority, For us today, Then we, The church, Are the ones, Who are tasked, With taking this word, Into the world, How will the authority,

[31:56] Of Christ, How will the sovereign, King Jesus, Rule over this world, Only as his kingdom, Is extended, Through the church, So that we as a church, Have a sacred task, Before us, Will we take the authority, Which Christ has handed to us, And will we carry it, To our neighbors, And will we carry it, To our family members, And will we carry it, To our co-workers, Or will we hide it away, And in so doing, Refuse to bend, To the very authority, Which we have been charged, To take into the world, Let's pray, We can scarcely begin, To fully grasp, The extent of the authority, Of Jesus, And we know that father, We are all too often, Like these Pharisees, These scribes, And these elders, We are all too often, Like the religious leaders, Of Israel, When we try to avoid,

[32:59] Giving a real answer, We try to avoid, Dealing with Christ, Head on, But we must, And so I pray this morning, That if there are those, Here among us, Who have not been, The need to have, In genuine, Saving faith, That they could do that now, That they would not, Walk out of here, And continue rebellion, Against you, Father I pray for the church, Not for church at the cross alone, But for the church, That we, That we would not fail, In the task of taking, The word of Christ, To an unbelieving world, That they might be in the need, In faith, And become a part of us, Let us not fail, In that endeavor, And pray this in Jesus name, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen,