Christ Taught with Authority

Introduction: Setting the Scene in Capernaum

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 12th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now we return to our expositions in the Gospel of Mark this morning. Will you follow, please, as I read Mark chapter 1 and verses 21 through 28. Mark 1, verses 21 through 28. The Lord Jesus, now in Galilee, has called four men into a more intimate relationship of discipleship, leading to ultimate appointment as apostles.

0:51 And with these four, at least, as his intimate companions, Mark says of our Lord and them, and they go into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue and taught. They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority and not as the scribes. And straightway there was in their synagogues a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Nazarene? Are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God.

1:36 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching?

1:59 With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And the report of him went out straightway everywhere into all the region of Galilee round about. Now let us again pause to seek the help of God's Holy Spirit as we seek to understand his word. Our Father, we have celebrated the wonder of having your word in the hymn we have sung together.

2:34 And yet we acknowledge that unless the same Spirit who gave us that word, is present to open our minds and to give us understanding, we shall hear its reading and its exposition in vain. Come then, O Holy Spirit, gift of the ascended Christ. Come with power as the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Come as the spirit of illumination.

3:03 Give us understanding in your own truth. And then give us hearts that will, run in the way of your precepts. Amen. Now in our previous study, some five Lord's Days ago, we looked at the beginning of verse 21, in which Mark sets before us three very important elements in this section of his record of the life, the ministry, and the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3:41 You will remember, I trust, that we were introduced, to the geographical location of these events, they go into Capernaum, and then secondly, the day on which these incidents took place on the Sabbath day, and then the specific place where they occurred, that is in the synagogue. And in that previous study, I sought to open up, mainly from the scriptures, introducing a little bit of extra scriptural material, some of the things, that would help us have a feel for this geographical location, for this day, and for this specific place. We considered Capernaum, that city sovereignly chosen by the Lord Jesus to be the base of his Galilean ministry, the place where many of his mighty works were done, but alas, a place of impenitence, a place of unbelief, a place which Jesus said would receive a frightening judgment in time and in the day of judgment would find its condition worse than the condition of Sodom and Gomorrah. And then we considered the Sabbath day, that day originally instituted by God in celebration of his completed creative activity,

5:07 formally reinstituted in the wilderness and embodied in the world, but that day, which had become so encrusted with rabbinic legislation that it had become, for the most part, an insufferable burden to all who attempted to keep the day, not as God had required in his law and by his own pattern of rest recorded in Genesis 2, but it had become a burden for everyone who sought to keep the day according to the law of God, according to all of the rabbinic legislation. And yet it was a day, in spite of all of that abuse and all of the encrustments of rabbinic legislation, that still was that day in which, for the most part, one could count on much of the ordinary business coming to a halt and people gathering in synagogues throughout the Roman Empire and, of course, in Jerusalem, there was intensified activity at the temple on that day. And then we consider the synagogue, that venerable institution which provided centers of biblical knowledge and exposition throughout the Roman Empire so that James could say in Acts 15.21, Moses from of old has those who preach him

6:34 being read in the synagogue every Sabbath day. Now then, in that particular place, Capernaum, on that day, a Jewish Sabbath day, in the synagogue there at Capernaum, it is recorded in verses 21 through 28 that our Lord did essentially two things. He taught, verse 21, and then we have the reaction to that teaching in verse 22, they were astonished at his teaching, and then we have the record in verses 22 to 24, verse 26, of his casting out of a demon, and then the response to that in verse 27, they were all amazed, and then the paragraph closes with this summary statement of the combined impact of these two events, his teaching and his casting out of the demon, both of which created astonishment and amazement, verse 22, verse 27, now this report, based upon the two, activities and the response of the immediate eyewitnesses, that report goes out everywhere into all the region of Galilee round about. Well, that I hope will give you a little feel for the structure of the passage. What we will do this morning is concentrate upon this first activity

The Nature of Jesus' Teaching Activity

8:01 and the response of the people to that activity. Verse 21, they go into Capernaum, straightway on the Sabbath, the day he entered into the synagogue and taught, more literally translated, and he was teaching. Now when the text says that the activity of Jesus was one of teaching, how should we think of that in our minds? Should we picture the Lord Jesus going into a synagogue and setting up perhaps a portable blackboard and then having an overhead projector and putting an outline on the blackboard and putting transcripts and transparencies on the projector and talking to the people?

8:44 Is that what he did? Well, of course not, because they didn't have any blackboards as we now know them, or green boards or white boards or any other kind of boards of that nature. And certainly they had no overhead projectors. Well, should we think of him as going into the synagogue and asking and answering questions, entering into dialogue?

9:05 Is that how we should think of that activity? Should we think of him going in with an armful of textbooks, and saying, all right, now every pupil take a textbook, and then giving assignments? When the text says he entered into the synagogue and he was teaching, how should we think of that activity? Well, we don't need to go outside of the Bible for the answer.

9:26 For if you'll turn to the Gospel of Luke, we have a beautiful description of what would be an ordinary pattern of teaching in the synagogue.

9:39 We read in Luke chapter 4 that when Jesus, returns into Galilee, his fame goes out, verse 15, and he taught in their synagogues. And then we have a description of one such teaching session, verse 16. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and he entered as his custom was, notice, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So this was a gathering at the synagogue on another Sabbath, in another town, but up in that general northern region.

10:17 And now we're going to have a description of how the teaching was done.

10:22 And he stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. So not only was there a portion of the Pentateuch, the law of Moses, that would be read, but a section from one of the prophets would be read. And so the leader of the synagogue hands to our Lord a scroll, this scroll being the book of the prophet Isaiah.

10:48 And Jesus opens the book and found the place where it was written. This is chapter 61 in our Bibles, Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable, acceptable year of the Lord and he closed the roll he rolled up the scroll again and gave it back to the attendant and he sat down now see there they didn't stand to preach they sat to preach and to teach now notice and the eyes in all the synagogue were fastened on him because they knew that this one who had read was now going to comment upon what he had just read and he began to say unto them today has this scripture been fulfilled in your ears and all bear him witness and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth and then we go on to read how there was some interaction with these people and then our Lord again assumes the role of the Lord

12:07 of a teaching. So what was the basic activity when it says in Mark chapter 1 that Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching? Well, in all likelihood, it involved these simple activities. A reading of the Old Testament scriptures, whether a portion from the Pentateuch, and in many of the synagogues there was an outline that would take them through the entire Pentateuch every three years. They had 154 or 156 segments of the Pentateuch, so that every three years the entire first five books of Moses would be read through, and then a portion would be read from one of the prophets, and then there would be an exposition, a comment upon those scriptures. And in all likelihood, our Lord did hear what he did, as recorded in the synagogue in Nazareth, asserted his own identity, in the light of the Old Testament scriptures, and then, as we read further in Luke 4, he would make

Why Jesus Prioritized Teaching

13:13 application to the consciences of his hearers based upon the reading of the Word of God. So when our Lord gave himself to teaching, it was a ministry of instruction based upon the Word of God, based upon the Old Testament scriptures, expounded in his own authority and power as God's anointed prophet to his people, and it is this activity to which our Lord gave himself. Now, why did the Lord Jesus give himself to the ministry of teaching? When he had this tremendous power from his Father to perform all kinds of astounding miracles, why would he go again and again into synagogues and read from a scripture, and then, as we read further in the New Testament, what was the most powerful thing that he did, and how could he have done it? Well, our Lord understood better than any of us that although the human heart is the battleground of heaven and hell, and that whoever and whatever has the heart has the man, he knew that the way to capture the heart was by illuminating the understanding. What the mind perceives to be reality, what the mind judges to be worthy of devotion, what the mind perceives to be reality,

14:37 and love and homage, it is that to which the heart will give itself. And the first work of God in bringing sinners to the experience of grace is to open their spiritual eyes. When Paul was commissioned by the risen Christ in Acts 26.18, the Lord Jesus said, I'm sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light in the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins.

15:12 You see, there is no reception of forgiveness. There is no coming into the inheritance of faith apart from that work of spiritual illumination. And that work of spiritual illumination is accomplished by instruction, by teaching, by the word of God being brought to the understanding. The understanding of men.

15:36 And though our Lord performed many miracles, the miracle in itself does not proclaim anything. The miracle attests what a man proclaims and validates him to be what he claims to be. But you see, the mere raising of a man from the dead tells you nothing about that foul, wretched heart with which you were conceived and born. Seeing multitudes fed, loaves, and fishes tells you nothing of the necessity of turning from sin and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

16:16 And so the Lord Jesus gave himself to this ministry of teaching because he exemplifies that great principle in the kingdom of grace that truth is the mighty instrument by which God accomplishes his purposes of grace in the hearts of men. In a lovely book by Garth, Gardner Spring, in which Christ is set before us in his glory in many facets in a chapter entitled Christ as a Preacher. Gardner Spring writes these very perceptive words. The knowledge of God's truth is the germ and principle of all holiness.

16:57 Spiritual life can neither germinate nor be developed in the dark and cold bosom of ignorance. Spiritual life is the germ and principle of all holiness. Spiritual life can neither germinate nor be developed in the dark and cold bosom of ignorance. There is no appeal to the conscience or heart, no obligation urged, no right emotions excited, and no practical conformity to God cultivated except by presenting and believing the great doctrines of the gospel.

17:36 God's spirit operates in us. God's spirit operates in us. God's spirit operates in us. It's only through the instrumentality of truth.

17:43 It is one of the laws of his kingdom that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So when Mark tells us that Jesus entered into the synagogue and was teaching, Jesus gave himself to that activity because he was committed to extending the kingdom of grace and the grace of God. The grand instrument of that extension is God's truth. And if he had done anything other than this, he would not have fulfilled the identity of Messiah as given to us in the Old Testament.

18:23 This very passage that he quoted from Isaiah 61, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me and what is mentioned first? He has anointed me to do what? To preach. To preach.

18:36 He has anointed me to preach. He has anointed me to give myself to the proclamation of divine truth. And so throughout the gospel records, we read as we do in Mark 10 in verse 1, as his custom was, he was teaching them. Matthew 9, 35, he went about all their cities and villages teaching and preaching and healing.

19:05 Now granted, he raised the dead. He fed the multitudes. He calmed the troubled seas. He paid his temple tax money by the miracle of retrieving that coin out of a fish's mouth.

19:20 But you must never think that the bulk of his time was spent in performing miracles. The bulk of his energy was given to preaching and to teaching. And Mark tells us that on that Sabbath day, in the Sabbath day, in the Sabbath day, in the Sabbath day, in the Sabbath day, in the Sabbath day, in the company of these four who have been called into this more intimate bond of identification with him, he enters into a synagogue and he is teaching. Now then, what is the response to that activity?

The Astonishing Response to Jesus' Teaching

19:52 Verse 22, And they, that is those who were present on that occasion, were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority and not as having power. Not as their scribes. In this record of the response of their activity, Mark gives us basically two things. First of all, a vivid description of their response.

20:26 They were astonished. And then he gives us the concrete reason for this response, for he taught them as having authority and not as their scribes. So let's look first of all at this vivid description of their response. And Mark chooses a word which is so typical of Mark.

20:48 If you can remember way back to our introductory messages, we said that one of the characteristics of Mark is the vigor, the intensity of his description. He often gives us little touches that the other gospel writers do not give us. Well, that's true here. He uses a very vivid word which literally means to strike a blow and came to mean to strike out of one's sentence, out of one's senses, to put it in contemporary idiom, a colloquialism.

21:18 They were blown out of their minds. And that's not stretching it. They were blown out of their minds. Here was an ordinary Sabbath.

21:31 And suddenly someone who appears as an ordinary rabbi stands and gives himself to teaching in the ordinary way as far as the scriptures being written. And then the scriptures being commented upon and expounded. Yet when he was done, they were literally blown out of their minds. They were struck out of their minds.

21:54 And what did it? It says, his teaching. His teaching. They were astonished.

22:00 They were amazed at his teaching. Now when it says his teaching, does it mean the manner in which he taught or the thing taught? Now our English word can mean both, can't it? We can say of a certain person, oh, I like his teaching.

22:16 And what you mean is, you like the way he teaches. He may use visual aids and very animated, use a lot of illustrations and it's a delight to listen to him. As a teacher you say, oh, I like his teaching. You mean, I like the way in which he teaches.

22:30 Or you could say, I like his teaching. And what you mean is, I like the things he is teaching. The substance. So the English word teaching can mean the thing taught or the act of teaching.

22:42 And the same way with the Greek word. And it's very interesting. The commentators all swing back and forth and the lexicographers, the people who help us define Greek words, they have two categories. The thing taught, the act of teaching, and some that can mean either.

22:58 And this one comes into that third category. It's listed under that heading. For you Greek students in Arnton, Gingrich, you can check this out and make sure that I've done my homework properly. So they were astounded at his teaching.

23:11 May I suggest that here it was not either or, but it was both. They were blown out of their minds not only by the substance of what he taught, but also by the manner in which he taught it. For in reality, in true teaching, the two cannot be divorced. In many ways, it is the substance that will determine the manner.

23:35 Let a man traffic in eternal truth, in those changeless verities that will last when this whole world has gone up in ashes.

23:46 Let a man teach those truths. Let his own spirit be impregnated with them. And will that affect the manner of his teaching? Will he be dull and lifeless and half asleep and take others into the land of Nod with him?

24:01 No. He will speak as a man who does indeed believe and feels the weight of the truth that he's trying to teach to others. So we cannot separate into airtight categories the thing taught and the manner of the teaching. And with our Lord, it was no doubt both the matter and the manner that caused this astonishment, this amazement that caused them to be blown out of their minds.

The Concrete Reason: Jesus Taught with Authority, Not as the Scribes

24:29 Now then, Mark gives us the concrete reason for that response. Look at it. For. And that little connective word for is a word which points to cause or to reason.

24:41 For. This is the reason why they were blown out of their minds. He taught them as having authority. Now, if you have a translation that says as one who had authority, there's no one in there.

24:56 And that gives the idea he taught like a person who did have authority and he was like them. No. It means literally he taught as possessing authority and not as their scribes. So you see, this concrete reason has a positive and a negative.

25:12 He taught as possessing authority and not as their scribes. Now, obviously, if we're to understand this, the key word is authority. Now, what is authority? Our English word is defined as the power or right to give commands, enforce obedience, take action, and make final decisions.

25:38 You come strutting into your school room next week, one of you kids, and start giving orders. The kids will say, Oh, who's authority are you doing? Who gave you the right to give commands? Who gave you the authority to do what you are doing?

25:55 And so, in this context, they were astounded, they were amazed because he taught as one rightfully possessing authority. He taught as one who possessed a right to give commands, to enforce obedience, to take action, and to do and make final decisions and final pronouncements. He spoke and taught as one possessing authority. And you know why he spoke as one possessing authority?

26:28 Because he did possess authority. He simply spoke in a manner consistent with his own identity and position. And that's the heart of what is here, if I properly understand it. Let's seek to amplify that a bit.

26:45 He spoke in the uniqueness of his person as the God-man. And as the God-man, he possessed authority, infallible, supreme authority. For never forget, whatever he voluntarily relinquished in becoming man, in coming to take to himself a true humanity, he did not, he could not relinquish anything that pertains to himself as God. He is still God.

27:20 The exercise of certain prerogatives, yes, he voluntarily relinquished. The full outshining of all the majesty and glory of his inherent dignity is God. That was voluntarily veiled. But don't ever think that Jesus Christ in the flesh is something less than God.

27:43 The Word became flesh and all that he ever was is the Word he continued to be even though he is in flesh.

27:53 No wonder he spoke with authority. This was God speaking. The same God who spoke in thunder and fire amidst trumpets and smoke upon Sinai until people trembled for fear. It is this God veiled in that humanity but it is God nonetheless and he speaks in the uniqueness of that authority that is his as God.

28:24 But then he spoke in the dignity of his position as the anointed Messiah. For you see there is not only an authority which he has because he is God there is an authority which is given to him in his position as Messiah. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me. He has anointed me to preach and with that anointing he is marked out to be that greater prophet than Moses.

28:52 The Lord God shall raise up a prophet like unto me Deuteronomy 318 to him shall you hearken in all things and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not listen to that prophet shall be cut off from among the people. This is why in a parallel passage at the end of the Sermon on the Mount it is said in the linguistic structure is almost identical they were amazed for he spoke his one having authority and not as their scribes and what did he say again and again throughout that Sermon on the Mount I say unto you I say unto you I say unto you he that hears my words he says and keeps them and obeys them is the one who is building upon a sure foundation whoever hears my words and does not do them what is he doing he is asserting his dignity as God anointed Messiah and in particular his place as God's final prophet to the church God's ultimate and final word so that what he speaks he speaks as binding upon all of his people for all the ages all authority has been given unto me go therefore make disciples teaching them to observe whatever I have commanded you our Lord had no question about his identity as Messiah no wonder he spoke

30:21 as having authority he had authority not only the authority residing in the uniqueness of his person as the God man but that authority residing in the dignity of his position as the Messiah but then further in the manner of his teaching he possessed authority see the contrast is with the scribes and you know what the scribes did they were notorious and you'll see it throughout the gospel records always getting upset not when someone violated the scriptures but when anyone violated what their own traditions so on an ordinary Sabbath this is what the people had to listen to they'd come on an ordinary Sabbath and the scroll would be handed to one of these rabbis one of these scribes and they would read and sit down and then they would start droning on rabbi so and so says this upon the text and rabbi so and so says this upon the text and rabbi so and so says this upon the text and rabbi so and so this upon the text until the air was thick and heavy and putrid with all of the quoting of the opinions of the ancients ye have heard that it was said unto you and whereas our lord again and again said what I said he did it he did he dared to say in that synagogue of

31:50 Nazareth I'm not going to quote what the rabbis say about this passage this day it is for whom the prophet speaks he always was saying I say or the scripture says you notice that all the way through the scriptures all the way through the gospel records it is written it is written you do err not knowing the scriptures it is written it is written so Jesus was always coming with this twin authoritative message I say the scripture says the scripture says I say the rabbis were always saying rabbi so and so says and our tradition asserts well there couldn't be much authority could they now they spoke in an authoritative manner on certain occasions they dared to come up to the disciples and say how come you break our traditions but you see no matter how authoritatively a man may traffic in other men's opinions that will never possess that , that mystic but wonderful authority inherent in the pure word of God coming home to the mind and consciences of men there is a self authenticating power in the pure word of God when it comes to the mind and consciences of men that had been so

33:16 obscured by the teaching of these scribes that when the Lord Jesus came on that Sabbath day and dared to say it is written and cut through all the rabbinic traditions and all the interpretations of the fathers and as the very author of scripture for remember he was it was the spirit of Christ in them that moved them to write as they did the very author of scripture told his own mind in his own word he spoke as possessing authority not only in the uniqueness of his person in the dignity of his position but in the manner of his teaching and then finally in the substance of his teaching he possessed authority you see the authority of his teaching is to be found in stark contrast again with the scribes what was the substance of their teaching always concerned with minutia straining gnats Jesus said while they swallow camels oh yes they're concerned about tithing mint and anise and cumin and they're concerned to find a little regulation over here in the mosaic economy that will touch on some external issue but all of those sections that speak that the essence of the law even in the old testament was to love God with all the heart to show mercy and kindness Jesus said you've left undone the weightier

34:46 matters of the law love and justice and mercy well you see there can be no real authority in a ministry that traffics in trifling inconsequential little man-made details our Lord was dealing with the heart of man with the relation of that heart to God our Lord was dealing with heaven and hell and sin and grace and repentance and faith and they were always trafficking in these piddling little matters of no consequence Matthew Poole commenting on the parallel passage in Matthew 7 writes our Lord did not teach as the scribes from whom they had the discourses about traditions and rites and ceremonies cold and dull discourses of little or no tendency to their eternal salvation our Lord taught them as possessing authority can you imagine what it must have been like on that particular Sabbath day having come perhaps for years into that synagogue in your hometown of Capernaum and out of a sense of loyalty to the word of God and to the institution of the public reading of that word you came but you went home day after day Sabbath after Sabbath and

Instruction: The Authority of Christ's Word and Spirit in Preaching

36:15 your mouth spiritually dry as sawdust and on that day one stood and began to speak as possessing authority Luke tells us they wondered they marveled at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth here Mark tells us they were blown out of their minds for he taught them as having authority well that's the first activity he was teaching the response to it they were amazed the reason for the response he taught them as possessing authority not as the scribes now what does all of this say to us is there a word that leaps over the centuries from the city of Capernaum from a synagogue on a Jewish Sabbath day does it come to us here in Montville on this the Lord's day here in northern New Jersey well let me point you in the direction of two or three things that this passage says to us first of all it contains a vital word of instruction it the vital word of instruction is this there can be no real authority in teaching and preaching unless that teaching and preaching is comprised of the word of Christ delivered

37:43 in the power of the spirit of Christ there can be no real authority in teaching and preaching unless that teaching and preaching is comprised of the word of Christ delivered in the power of the Spirit of Christ. There on that Sabbath day in Capernaum, it was Christ's word. Not Rabbi so and so, not the tradition of the fathers, but I say, the scripture says, it is written, and that was the final statement, but it was, it is written. And I say, by one who could say, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Now follow closely what I'm about to say, I don't want to be misunderstood. In the very real sense, true teaching and preaching is nothing more or less than Christ standing again in the midst of his people, proclaiming his own word.

38:48 Now he doesn't stand physically, we are not a one-to-one representation of him, but by his word and spirit, he stands and ministers to us. The only way anyone ever gets saved is if they hear the voice of Christ. Did you know that? That's what the scripture tells us.

39:08 How shall they call on him whom they have not heard? How shall they call on him whom they have not heard?

39:19 How shall they hear without a preacher? Paul could write to the Ephesians and say, Jesus Christ came and preached. He preached peace to you. Jesus Christ never went to Ephesus in the flesh, but he went there in the Spirit and in his word.

39:34 When his servants came and proclaimed his word in the power of the Spirit. This is why, dear people, we refuse to jump on the bandwagon that despises preaching. And this whole movement in our day, away from a one-man, one-way ministry, they don't understand the very elementary biblical perspective. It's on preaching.

39:58 Would anyone despise the privilege that day of sitting in a synagogue in Capernaum and hearing the Lord Jesus expound his own word? Well, that's what he does in the midst of his church. That's the glory. That's the preciousness.

40:16 That's the awesomeness of a biblical view of preaching and teaching.

40:23 It's also a word of instruction to us, that if we would have our hearts refreshed by the pure word of life, we must jealously guard the simplicity of solid biblical exposition in teaching and preaching. And we must constantly honor the Holy Spirit and not grieve him. For it is not the word apart from the Spirit and the Spirit apart from the word, but it is the word and the Spirit. And we will know constantly the presence, the presence of Christ in our public gatherings insofar as we maintain that proper biblical perspective.

41:06 Let a man impregnated with the word of Christ speak in dependence upon an ungrieved spirit of Christ to a congregation who sit in waiting expectancy upon Christ and there Christ himself comes and feeds us with his own word.

41:30 I'd love to have been there that day in Capernaum, wouldn't you?

41:38 May I be so bold as to say you're there every time he comes by his spirit and ministers his word to our hearts. You don't need to look back nostalgically. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst. Not only the object of our love and worship and devotion, but we sing, do we not?

42:06 Blessed Jesus, at thy word we are gathered all to hear thee.

42:15 Isn't that what we sing in hymn number 220, I believe it is?

Warning: Amazement is Not Enough for Salvation

42:20 We are gathered all to hear thee. Well, there's that vital word of instruction, but secondly, there's a sober word of warning in this passage we've expounded this morning. Notice, the crowd was amazed. They were blown out of their, their minds.

42:39 Then when he who spoke with authority manifested that authority in exercising dominion over a demon, the amazement increased and when they went out of the synagogue that day, we read in verse 28, the report of him went out straightway into the whole region round about. Here were people to use current terminology that were turned on to preaching. They had never heard anything like this before. Blown out of their minds.

43:09 Here's a man preaching with authority. A breath of fresh air had swept into that stifling atmosphere of rabbinic tradition and they had heard the pristine word of God and they were amazed, enthused, ran around and said, people, oh, we never heard it on this wise before. You must come next Sabbath. Perhaps this teacher will stand among us again and open the scriptures.

43:37 But remember, we know from the subsequent history of Capernaum that the vast majority never came to faith and repentance. And thou, Capernaum, Jesus says in Matthew 11, shalt thou be exalted to heaven? No, thou shalt be cast down unto hell. If the mighty works that were done in you had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have remained to this day.

44:06 It says they repented not. What? What a word of warning. Hear me this morning.

44:12 It's perfectly possible for you to be made inescapably conscious of the word coming to you with divine authority, even to the point of being amazed and enthusiastic enough to want to get others to come and partake of that blessing and perish under the judgment of God.

44:39 What a warning. What a warning. Again, old Matthew Henry, speaking to this very issue, gives this warning to us as we sit here this morning. It is not enough to admire good preaching.

44:58 It is possible to admire it and yet remain in ignorance and unbelief to be astonished and yet not sanctified. Now you see, some will come to a service, like this, and they'll go out and mock. They'll say that that's all just a show. And they'll try to sit and critically analyze from a rhetorical or a theatrical standpoint, from a merely humanistic standpoint, what the preacher did and what he said and all the rest.

45:30 And they go out utterly unconvinced that there is anything of God in the whole business. There are people like that. But then there are others. They cannot escape the fact that something more is going on.

45:43 Then can be described in terms of what's coming from the preacher's head through his mouth to their head and into their understanding. They're very conscious. Maybe I'm speaking to someone. This is a description of you.

45:56 Very conscious. Very conscious that this word in Mark's gospel that you heard read in your hearing has come this morning with authority to your heart. You have felt something of the weightiness of divine testimony. The word of God has come to your consciousness.

46:14 And in spite of yourself, you cannot deny that that's so. You may leave in that sense amazed. The word has come with authority. Perhaps your experience up till now has simply been one where you've attended churches where people traffic in nice little platitudes and chuck you under the chin and give you, as it were, a little religious ditty to make you feel nice.

46:39 And there's been nothing, nothing to cause amazement. But oh, my friend, hear me. It's not enough to be amazed. Not enough to feel the word coming with authority.

46:53 The whole intention of that word is to bring you to come to grips with what Jesus was preaching throughout Galilee in that whole area at that time as recorded in Mark 1, 14 and following. Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe.

47:15 Believe in the gospel. My friend, the whole end of this is that you might face your obligations to God. Obligations that you've not fulfilled. You stand under His wrath and His judgment.

47:27 And yet that very Christ has come from heaven to take the place of sinners. To live the life you've not lived. To die the death you should die. And He died under the anatomy of God.

47:40 And God raised Him from the dead and now seated in His right hand. And this same Jesus offers forgiveness and pardon to all who will turn from their sin and their course of self-will and embrace Him as their sovereign and their Savior. It's not enough that you sit under good preaching. It's not enough that you even feel the impress of the word of God.

48:06 It's not enough that you are even enthusiastic about the word. If it does not lead you to faith and repentance you've not heard it. If you are a dear child of God it's not enough for you to leave on a Lord's day and say, well, thank God God answered our prayers and those who ministered to us ministered with authority and liberty and the blessing of the Holy Ghost. My friend, the end for which that's true is that you might be more holy.

48:37 And when you come to the end of the Lord's day what sin can you point to and say you shall lie in the grave of Christ because of what Christ said to me today? What duty stands before you to which you're committing yourself without reservation?

48:58 God have mercy on us. We come to the end of the Lord's day simply reveling in the fact we had a good Lord's day. God was present.

49:10 The whole end of the word coming to us is to make us more holy. Make us more like Jesus. Make us more determined to follow God. To follow Him and to please Him.

Call to Prayer: For Authoritative Preaching in Our Generation

49:22 Well, finally this passage not only contains a word of instruction a word of warning but I could not escape what to me was its clarion call to prayer. You say, Pastor, a clarion call to prayer? I don't see the word prayer in there. I see teaching and I see authority and astonishment.

49:47 Well, this is how it has come to me as a clarion call to prayer. Think of the situation in Israel at that time. If I may use current terminology there was a Bible on every corner. You didn't have the printing press so it was in the synagogues that you had the scrolls rolled up.

50:06 But here the word of God it was concentrated in that part of the world. There in Palestine the scriptures were found. They had had the great legacy of the fathers and all of the fathers of the rich heritage that God had graciously given to the Jews. And yet here they were sunk in religious emptiness and tradition.

50:33 The greatest indictment upon Israel at this time is the fact that she produced and tolerated the leadership of the scribes and Pharisees. One of the most accurate commentaries of the state of the visible church at any time is the kind of leaders it produces and tolerates. One of the greatest judgments upon American Christianity is that it produces and tolerates and supports the Robert Schullers and the Oral Roberts and the others in our day who profess to be proclaiming the Bible.

51:11 Now think of the situation then. What was the desperate need? The desperate need was for someone to come to a synagogue and let the word of God out of the prison into which men's traditions had placed it and turn loose the pure unadulterated word of God upon the consciences of men.

51:31 And what's the most desperate need of our nation? Precisely that. Not evangelical leaders who are constantly turning as it were to the world and getting a feel on the latest fad and then trying to adapt the Bible to the mindset of the present cultural fad. But men who are determined to let this book speak its own message.

51:57 Let it say what it says about God and man and morality and sex and the family and men's roles and women's roles and children's roles. Let it say what it says about all of this world being God's world and all truth being His truth.

52:19 I say the text is a clarion call to prayer. For did not Jesus say when He saw these very people when He saw the multitude as sheep without shepherds they had their scribes and Pharisees to lead them but they were not true shepherds. He said pray the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth labors into His harvest. And then it's interesting right after that it says and He gave authority to them.

52:52 And He took aside these special representatives and He conferred His own authority upon them and though we do not claim apostolic authority we do believe that the Lord Jesus continues to equip men and call them and send them forth to speak His word. Oh that we may cry to God that our generation will have that which it most desperately needs men who will let this book out of the cage in which men have sought to put it the cage of tradition and sociological interpretation and the latest cultural fads and let this word speak its message to our generation and speak it in the power and the authority of Christ. They go into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue and He was teaching and they were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as possessing authority and not as a man. As they are scribes let us pray.

Pastoral Prayer

54:14 Our Father how we praise You for our dear Lord Jesus Christ.

54:21 We thank You for His glory as our Redeemer who was willing to take our sins and liabilities upon Himself. But we also thank You for this wonderful picture Mark has given to us of the Lord Jesus as the great Teacher and Preacher. And oh as we have drawn near and sought with the eye disciplined by Scripture to behold Him in that synagogue in Capernaum our hearts leap up within us at the sight of our Lord continually asserting I say and it is written we thank You for the wonderful truth that He continues to minister to us by His Word and His Spirit and we pray oh God that You would give to us as a people an increasingly biblical and intelligent grasp on the great privilege that is ours to have the Lord Jesus in our midst Lord's day by Lord's day opening His Word to us in the power of His Spirit oh that we may never grieve that Spirit by turning away from the written Word by seeking to box it up with our own prejudices and our own preconceived notions may we not grieve Him by taking as it were

55:49 the Word out of His hands by which He works may we while holding to the Word not grieve the Spirit by moral deviation by lack of love and other carnal outcroppings oh may we cherish the Word and ever seek to walk in the presence and power of an ungrieved Spirit we pray for those who are in need of the Spirit those who sit amongst us today who perhaps have known something of the Word coming with authority but they have not yielded to that Word oh Lord draw them we pray give them no rest nor peace until they know the rest and peace of submission to and loving trust in your own dear Son seal then your Word to our hearts and continue with us on this your day we pray these things through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us even our Lord Jesus Christ Amen