And the People were Astonished

The Multitudes' Astonishment at Jesus' Teaching

0:04 Return with me, please, to the seventh chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew chapter 7.

0:23 We have finished our consecutive studies in the Sermon on the Mount, a series of studies which has carried us through the better part of three years, with the exception of the summer months and occasionally of Christmas or Easter, when we have spoken topically or textually on some subject relative to our Lord's incarnation or His crucifixion, this study has carried us through the major part of our Lord's Day morning studies for these three years. We have finished our formal study of the actual words uttered by our Lord, but I do trust and pray that we have not done studying the Sermon on the Mount,

1:06 that we are not done with reading it and re-reading and re-re-reading again and again, for we have a lifetime of activity before us, as we seek to walk in the light of its precepts and to obey its principles of truth. And so as we leave this sermon, I trust it isn't a leaving of it, but that we shall come back again and again, periodically. A dear saint of God, whom I know and whom you know and whom we mutually respect as a man of God, very frequently takes a morning to just read through the Sermon on the Mount and let it afresh blister his own soul.

1:47 And exalt the Lord before his eyes and remind him of his duty and his privileges as a Christian. We come this morning to the last two verses, which are not a formal part of the Sermon, but which are a very necessary summary at the conclusion of the Sermon, verses 28 and 29 of Matthew chapter 7. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sermons, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. As we look at these verses this morning,

2:31 we want to see that they are a very necessary part of this entire section of the Word of God. Though they are not a part of our Lord's Sermon, but rather a commentary on the effect of that Sermon, a commentary given by the Holy Spirit through Matthew, I believe there is much in it for our instruction and for our profit. And so we're going to notice, first of all, the reaction of the multitudes to this Sermon. For we read that when he ascended up into that mountain, his disciples were with him and the multitudes gathered around him and he uttered this Sermon in the presence of that entire multitude.

3:09 And so we want to look at their reaction and then something of the reason for their reaction and then last of all, some reason. relevance of this reaction and the reason for it to our own lives. All right, first of all then, what was the reaction of this great multitude? It says in verse 28, it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine.

3:39 Now the word astonished literally means struck out of their senses.

3:45 It's a strong word in the original. No, we would say dumbstruck. When he finished, they were literally struck out of their senses at his teaching. Same word used in Matthew 25 when our Lord finished dealing with the rich young ruler and then spoke of the fact that how hardly shall they that are rich enter the kingdom of heaven and it says his disciples were astonished and said, who then can be saved?

4:14 It's the same word used in Matthew 13. And verse 54, that the people were astonished, they were dumbstruck at the mighty words and deeds of the Son of God. Now, to catch the feeling of this passage, you've got to use your imagination. Put out of your head all the pictures you've ever seen of Jesus.

4:35 Put them right out of your head, because we don't know what he looked like.

4:40 And most of them either have him looking so effeminate or they have a halo around him that you'd recognize him in any crowd. Whenever I see a tall man with a beard and looks a little effeminate, he'd stand out in any crowd. If some were sitting here this morning, I'd see him just like that. Now, get all those pictures out of your mind and try to be a little fly on the side of a mountain there where our Lord was teaching and hear a man who is just a common man.

5:07 Isaiah 53 says, there's no beauty that we should desire him. And I'm convinced what that means is there was nothing in his physical appearance that would strike us as being impressive. I've been in places. Those of you who do any traveling, you'll walk through a crowded place like the Port of Authority in New York or Newark Airport, and there are some people you can't help but stop and look at them as they walk by.

5:29 They're either unusually tall, unusually handsome, some physical characteristic that immediately sets them apart, even in a milling crowd in the great metropolis. But our Lord, you wouldn't have seen him. He'd been the one you'd have brushed right by on your way to look to another. No beauty that we should desire.

5:45 No halo around his head. A carpenter. Out of Nazareth. He's sitting down.

5:51 This carpenter now, mind you. And they know enough about him to know, as we read in Matthew 13, that he had some brothers and sisters, and he was, his father's name was Joseph, and his mother Mary, and he worked in a carpenter shop. But now here, this common, ordinary peasant, out of the lowering side of Jerusalem, or of that area, Nazareth. No good thing comes out of Nazareth.

6:15 This was the other side of the tracks. Ten times over. He's sitting down. And as he opens his mouth, he begins to tell people what the kingdom of God is like.

6:29 He begins to tell them that he is the final word of authority on what Moses meant when he said, thou shalt not kill, and thou shalt not commit adultery. And he rises to a climax where he says in the day of judgment, you're going to give an account to me. Now get the picture. Here's a humble, calm, and orgy carpenter from the wrong side of the tracks.

6:52 Talking. Like this. Well, I think you'd be astonished too, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you be astonished?

6:59 And they were astonished. Utterly strutted their senses. And what caused the astonishment? Not a halo around his head.

7:06 Not that he was floating six feet above the ground and performing some kind of a miracle while he spoke. No indication of miracles here. Not at this point. No indication that there was anything unusual about himself, except this.

7:20 It says they were astonished at his doctrine. Or better translated, they were astonished at his teaching. It was the matter and the manner of what he communicated. Not in this case his miracles.

7:36 In other places it says they were astonished at his miracles. Not his words, but his utterances, his words. It said of Moses that he was a man mighty in word and deed. And now the greater than Moses is here.

7:49 And right after this sermon is concluded, he goes down from the mountain. And we see some of his mighty deeds. But at this point, the multitudes were astonished at his utterances. Now, so much for the reaction of the multitudes.

The Reason for Their Astonishment: Authority vs. Scribes

8:05 One of utter astonishment struck out of their senses. Now, what was the reason for this reaction? Well, the Spirit of God tells us. It's right here.

8:14 For. Whenever you find a for, you ask why for. All right? They were astonished at his doctrine for.

8:21 Why for? He taught them. As one having authority and not as the scribes. Now, there's a principle here.

8:30 You and I are generally astonished whenever we confront something that is out of the normal sphere of our experience.

8:41 You take those fellows that prime our missiles and those rockets that send our spacemen up into orbit. They're not astonished at those great big edifices against which. The rocket stands before it takes off. And then they put in that liquid oxygen.

9:01 They call it locks. I forgot how many hundred degrees below Fahrenheit. Below zero. And all that steam billowing in these men going around in these white suits and gloved hands and the rest.

9:14 That gets commonplace to them. But if we could somehow take a fellow right out of the heart of the Baleen Valley in New Guinea. Who perhaps had never even seen one of the MAF airplanes. And transport him right down to Cape Kennedy.

9:27 And put him ten feet away from one of those rockets. He'd be astounded.

9:32 Astounded. He'd see all this billowy smoke and steam and vapor in these men in white suits. And then that thing would start to go up. He'd be utterly thumb struck.

9:42 Why? Because it was completely out of his sphere of reference. A totally new experience. That's what usually causes astonishment.

9:52 When you see or hear something that is outside the sphere of your experience. And that's why. That's why they were astounded. They were astonished at his teaching.

10:03 For what they heard and how they heard it from Christ. Was entirely different from all that they had experienced under their former religious teachers. Who were the scribes and the Pharisees. And that's the meaning of our text.

10:21 They were astonished for he taught them as one having authority. And not as their scribes. So it was the great contrast between his teaching and that to which they were normally accustomed. Now if we're to understand that.

Characteristics of Scribes' Teaching: Parroting, Minors, Hypocrisy

10:38 We've got to know something about how the scribes taught. Now this means you've got to think. You want to understand the Bible? You've got to think.

10:46 So think with me will you?

10:49 What were the scribes like in their teaching? Well there were three things that marked the teaching of the scribes. First thing is they were always parroting their predecessors. The scribes were always quoting some human authority about the law.

11:07 The scribes and Pharisees according to our Lord in Matthew 23 sat in Moses seat. In other words they were the official interpreters of the law. God had given a law through Moses. Ten Commandments, the moral law and then many applications of that to the Jewish nation.

11:26 And then many things about the ceremonial law. And these scribes became great interpreters of that law. And if you want to know what does this commandment mean here, number 13 under B. What will it mean in my situation?

11:40 Well they had great long lists of the authorities of the great scribes who would tell you exactly what you would do in any given situation. So when the scribes taught they would stand up and start quoting. And they would quote this authority and that authority and the other authority giving you a great picture of apparent learning. A great picture of apparent authority, human authority.

12:06 But Jesus said something about them that is very interesting. And I want you to look at these two things. In Matthew 23 we are trying to understand now what was the teaching of the scribes like. And the first thing about it was this.

12:23 They were always parroting their predecessors. Matthew 23 look at verse 16. Matthew 23. 16 Woe unto you, blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple of the Lord, shall never be saved.

12:36 It is nothing. 17 But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Keep that in mind. Look at verse 18.

12:44 18 Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing. But whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon the altar, he is guilty. Now you see what they did? They made all kinds of minute little distinctions.

12:55 And if someone took an oath and in their mind they were saying, well I'm swearing by the temple. But they meant, well I'm just swearing by the gold of the temple. Or just swearing. Just by the temple generally.

13:07 They would say, well that oath is not binding in one case, but it is in the other. And if you swear by the altar or the gift, well then it's binding. If you just swear by the altar, then it's not binding. All these kind of picky little distinctions that these authorities set up.

13:23 Now in so doing, what had they done? Well you turn to Mark chapter 7 and you'll see what they did. By setting up all these man-made distinctions and man-made regulations. 18.

13:37 Thinking of course they were interpreting the law, Jesus said they did just the opposite of that. Notice in Mark 7, verses 7 and 8. 19. How be it in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men?

13:52 For laying side the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, verse 9, and he said unto them, full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 20. And then he gives another illustration. 21.

14:10 Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, whoso curses father and mother, let him die the death. But now they came along and said, well if you had some money you should give to your mother and dad. If you just set over that money, this is Corban, that's dedicated to God. Then you go out and spend it as you want, but because you said it was dedicated to God, therefore you weren't guilty by holding it back from your mother and father.

14:31 All kinds of ridiculous things. That's what he's talking about. 22. The scribes, in quoting these authorities, supposedly interpreting the law, had utterly cancelled out the law so that Jesus said ye may void the word of God by your traditions.

14:52 That's the first thing that was true of the teaching of the scribes. They were parroting their predecessors and nullifying the law of God. Second thing, they always majored in the minors. You hear people say, that guy, he's always majoring in the minors.

15:04 Well that's the scribes, always majoring in the minors. Look at chapter 23. You don't need to read a big book on the history of the scribes, just read the Bible, it's all right there. Matthew chapter 23.

15:19 Look what he says about these scribes. That's the subject, verse 2, the scribes and Pharisees he's talking about. Now notice how they majored in the minors. Look at verses 23 and 24.

15:30 23. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. Matthew 23, 23. Ye paid tithe of mint and anise and cumin, spices.

15:44 They were so earnest to give God a tenth of everything, right down to their spices. Take a little pinch of anise, that would be dedicated to God. But he says, you have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment or justice, mercy and faith. These ought you have done and not to have left the other undone.

16:05 You see what they were doing? Majoring in the minors. So careful to keep that precept that said, give unto God a tenth of all you have, and they'd make sure they did. But what is the sum of the commandments?

16:17 To love God with the whole heart and the neighbor as ourselves. And he says, you've omitted all of that, running around with these meticulous little details, majoring in the minors. That's what they were used to. When you came to listen to a scribe, you got details as to how to pair your fingernails and your foot nails.

16:23 And, uh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

16:27 I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

16:33 I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

16:37 How to pair your fingernails, and your foot nails, and uh, how to comb your hair and everything else. I'm speaking now, figuratively. But religiously, that's what they told you to do, how to pair your religious nails. And how to crimp your religious hair.

16:47 And how to mince along your religious feet. All these little minor details. But they missed the major truth of the word of God. So that's the second thing about the teaching of the scribes.

17:01 They parroted their predecessors and majored in the minors. And the third thing about them is found in the scripture. So, now we've就是說 the sun. In verse 3 of Matthew 23,

17:10 All things whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and they do not. Look at verses 25 to 28. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, ye make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within are full of extortion and excess. Verse 27, Ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness, even so outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

17:54 You see the third thing about their teaching? They parodied their predecessors, majored on the minors, and for the most part, their teaching was couched in a wicked life. He said, You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You say, but you won't do.

18:14 Now that's all the average Jew knew about. Remember, there'd been no prophet until John the Baptist came for 400 years. No prophet. And all he knew of an religious teacher was someone who parroted all the details of the great doctors of the law, who was all the time majoring on picky little things, and men whose lives had no ring of reality.

18:37 There was a crack in the barrel. When they said something, you knew. You had that suspicion. They're saying, but they don't do.

18:46 Therefore, their teaching was tedious, binding burdens that they would not bear. It was flat. It was lifeless, hollow. And what did it do?

18:55 All it did was produce hypocrites. Jesus said, When you've got somebody hooked on your teaching, in verse 14, he says, You make them twofold more the child of hell than yourself. Think of it. You make them twofold more the children of hell than yourselves.

19:12 Verse 14, Verse 15, I'm sorry. You compass land and sea. Picture it now. They've never been exposed to teaching that had the warmth of heavenly fire, the contagion of a holy life, and on that sea comes a humble carpenter with none of the long garments that mark him as an official religious teacher.

19:36 You know that this man has not been to the official schools, and all of a sudden he sits on a mountainside, and he begins to talk, not about tithing, mint, and anise, and coming, but he begins to talk about poverty of spirit. He begins to talk about adultery being lodged in the thought life. He begins to talk about beans in our own eye while we pluck at little motes in others. And suddenly these people are absolutely astonished and dumbfounded and struck right out of their senses because his teaching and his life were in absolute contrast to the teaching and lives of the scribes.

Ingredients of Jesus' Authority: Personal Claims

20:15 The scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes parenting their predecessors, majoring in the minors, couching their teaching in a wicked life. Their teaching lacked authority. But now by contrast it says of our Lord, for he taught them as one having authority.

20:35 What is authority in teaching? Preaching? I worked on a definition. I don't have one yet.

20:44 What is authority in teaching and preaching? When you say of a certain man, he speaks, he speaks with authority. What do you mean? Well, I don't know all that that means, but I think there are at least two or three things involved.

20:56 First of all, when someone speaks with authority, he speaks in such a way that you're convinced he knows what he's talking about. Secondly, he speaks in such a way that you're convinced of the truth that he's communicating. He speaks knowingly, he speaks convincingly, and in the spiritual realm, when a man preaches or teaches with authority, he teaches, as a man upon whom you sense the Holy Ghost is resting, so that his words have an authority, a weight, a power that is not human, but divine. Now our Lord spoke with authority.

21:34 What ingredients made up that authority?

21:38 When it says they were astonished at that authority, what were the ingredients? May I suggest four things that I'm convinced made up the authority of our Lord's teaching, which was in direct contrast to the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, first of all, there was the authority of his personal claims. You see, all the scribes would come saying, Dr. So-and-so said, Dr. So-and-so says,

22:05 and Dr. So-and-so says, and on the scene there comes a man who says, I say. I say it. I say it.

22:14 Have you noticed some of the claims Christ made about himself in the Sermon on the Mount? Let's look at several of them very quickly. In Matthew chapter 5, this is what gave his teaching authority, his personal claims. Matthew 5, verse 11.

22:32 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my Father's sake. No. For whose sake? For my sake.

22:46 If there were no other verse in the Bible to show that Jehovah's Witness is a non-Christian cult, this would do it. For they're bearing all their reproach, whatever they bear, for the sake of Jehovah God, the unrevealed God, comparatively speaking of the Old Testament. Jesus said, My people bear reproach for my name's sake. Now what a claim that was.

23:09 He said, The only people in the world who are blessed, who are happy, who are favored of God, are those who are so identified with me that they bear something of my reproach. What a claim. That he stood as the head of a body of people who are the people of God. Later on he claims, in verse 17, a hint of his incarnation.

23:38 He didn't say, Think not that I was born, or think not that I am here, but he said, Think not that I come. Better translated, the Greek is, I came. Don't think that I came to destroy the law. He wasn't born.

23:52 He came. Came from where? From the Father's presence. Here's someone who claims that he came to earth.

23:59 Wasn't born. Born of a natural birth, as far as a natural conception. Born a natural birth, but not a natural conception. His life did not begin at his conception.

24:10 He came. The Lord of glory came among us. Notice his claim in this same verse. Think not that I came to destroy the law.

24:19 The prophets I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. He says, I am the final expression of all the Old Testament revelation. Everything that the prophets and the law pointed to, I am its fulfillment. What a claim.

24:34 He is the object of all the fingers that point to the coming one. He says, I am he. He claimed that he's the one who kept the whole law sinlessly perfect. Not only do I come to fulfill it as the final expression of its promises and its types, but I came to fulfill it by my own peerless, spotless, sinless life.

24:59 He claims that he's the one who has a right to speak with final authority concerning the meaning of the law. Now you can't, you and I can't appreciate this. They looked at that law with a holy awe. That came from God through Moses upon Mount Sinai.

25:14 Those ten commandments, they were put right at the center of their worship within the veil, in the ark of the covenant. Those two tables were laid up. And now someone comes along, just a carpenter from the wrong side of the tracks, and he says, everything you think about the law is wrong. I say unto you, and I'm the final authority.

25:34 You see why they were astonished? Carpenter from the wrong side of the tracks says, I have a right to tell you what that law means. He claimed to be the final interpreter of the law. And then he closes his claims with that terrible claim that he's going to be the judge of the world.

25:57 He says, many are going to say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, and I will say unto them, depart from me. He said, this humble carpenter from the wrong side of the tracks is the judge of the world, and you're going to see me again some day. You sit with me now on a mountain. One day you'll prostrate yourself before me on the throne of judgment.

26:18 Now do you see why his teaching had authority? Because interwoven with all of that teaching were his own personal claims to be nothing less than God incarnate, judge of the world, the final and absolute interpreter of the truth of God. Not only was there authority because of his personal claims, there was authority because of his penetrating concepts. Get the contrast now.

Ingredients of Jesus' Authority: Penetrating Concepts

26:44 Every scribe that stood started saying about Dr. So-and-so said, this one stands and says, I say. There's the contrast. When the scribe stood up, he was ready to tell you how to pair your fingernails religiously and how to crimp your hair religiously and how to mince your toes.

27:00 And this one stands up and he sweeps away all the veneer of external. And the first word he says is, the only blessed people in the world are those who see that they are nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You see what he did?

27:21 The scribes would give the impression that the only one who could enter the kingdom of heaven is the one who would somehow come under the terrible crushing weight of all the detailed paraphernalia of their religious system. And Jesus got through that whole business. And says the only one who's a member of the kingdom of heaven is the one whose heart has been laid bare and he sees himself a hopeless, helpless, hell-deserving sinner. And he falls before God acknowledging, I'm undone.

27:51 You see his penetrating concepts? Tremendous contrast. That's why he spoke with authority. Not only because of his personal claims, but those penetrating concepts.

28:04 They were all the time involved with the externals and in the beatitudes of God. Jesus went right to the heart of the matter and talked about poverty of spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, purity of heart. They had heard nothing like this. They had limited God's law to external actions.

28:23 He came along and said, Listen, you've heard that it was said, As long as you don't chase your neighbor's wife, you're all right. But I say unto you, Chase her with your eyes and you're guilty of adultery. You've heard that it was said, Thou shalt not kill him if you don't go and hand your neighbor's head to him. All is well.

28:41 But he said, When you turn to your neighbor and under your breath, you say, You fool. You have those words which are an expression of an attitude of anger. He says, You're in danger of hell fire. They hadn't heard anything like this.

28:56 They had learned to look at a Gentile and when they passed by, they thought it was part of virtue to say to that man, You dog. Jesus said, To treat any man like that is to be in danger of hell fire. They hadn't heard anything like this, you see. This penetrated.

29:11 This penetrated into an area where the scribes never went. He touched sin as an attitude of heart and of mind and a disposition of the will and the soul, not just the actions of the hands and the feet and the other members of the body. When he came to that section, we talked about the mote and the beam. They hadn't heard anything like this.

29:33 When he came to that section where he talked about hearing and doing his words, penetrating concepts the like of which they'd never heard. And I can't help but pause for a moment and say this. When did the Holy Ghost ever anoint a dissertation on tithing spices? Never.

29:54 And when did the Holy Ghost ever anoint a dissertation? That was an attempt to set up some kind of a meticulous, tedious little rule and regulation for God's people. Never. You can stand and condemn the famous five or anything else you want to until you're blue in the face.

30:15 But, beloved, the Holy Ghost doesn't come. When we're touching it, we're touching externals. But it's the penetrating concepts of our Lord that gave authority to his ministry. Then thirdly, not only his personal claims, his penetrating concepts, but another thing that gave authority was his powerful simplicity.

Ingredients of Jesus' Authority: Powerful Simplicity

30:33 You see, when you got done listening to a scribe, you went away feeling you had to hold your head up to keep all that learning in. You know, Dr. So-and-so said this and Dr. So-my, you just had a head full.

30:43 You were impressed with how much they knew, but you weren't impressed with the rottenness of your own heart and with the holiness of God. When Jesus got done, there was such a simplicity that even though your heart may not have understood the spiritual content of his words, you could grasp the verbal concepts in his word. There's a difference now. No man can perceive the spiritual concepts of truth until the Holy Ghost opens his inner eyes.

31:18 But at least you can get hold of the verbal content. And when Jesus talked with such beautiful simplicity, he said, you got a sin that's as dear to you as your right eye, don't you? Well, everybody's got a right eye. Everybody's pretty careful about that right eye.

31:35 He said, stick your hand and pluck it out. He knew what they were talking about. He says, you like your right hand, don't you? There's a sin as dear as that right hand.

31:44 Cut it off! They knew what he meant. They had to repent of sin or burn. Now they may not want to repent.

31:52 The Holy Spirit may not have so moved upon them that they were willing to repent, but one thing they knew, if they ever entered the kingdom, they had to come to that place where they were willing to start plucking out right eyes and cutting off right hands. There was a power in his simplicity. He said to his own, when he tried to deliver them from the threat and carking care about temporal things, he didn't give them a big lecture and talk about, it will sublimate your anxieties, hogwash. And you young men going into the ministry, don't you confuse your people with psychological jargon.

32:25 Don't confuse them and go away having them impressed with your learning. Jesus said, you know what you people need to do? Go on out there on the hill and start looking at the birds. Well, anybody can do that.

32:37 He said, see those birds? Yes. He said, your father takes care of them. He said, go on out on the next hillside and look at some of those wild lilies.

32:47 See your father taking care? Yes. He'll take care of you. Isn't there power in that simplicity?

32:54 Power in simplicity. And God have mercy on you young men going into the ministry. If you want to have a reputation for being a man of erudition and learning, you'll have it. But you won't have hungry souls that will hear the voice of God and be a minister.

33:10 Study, pray, plead and labor to cultivate the authority of simplicity. Simplicity. And there was power in our Lord's simplicity. Talked about light, talked about salt.

Ingredients of Jesus' Authority: Peerless Character

33:26 Look at birds, look at flowers. And then, there's a fourth thing that gave authority. He gave authority to his ministry, his peerless character. What do we mean by the word peerless?

33:37 The word peerless means above or beyond equal. And that which gave authority to our Lord's ministry was not only his personal claims, his penetrating concepts, his powerful simplicity, but his peerless character. As he stood before these multitudes, the fact that there were ten or ten thousand didn't affect what he'd say. He had one desire to please his father.

33:56 He said in the Gospel of John, I don't know how many of you have heard the word peerless before you. In the Gospel of John, I don't speak my words, but I speak the words of him that sent me. He had no desire but to do the will of his father. He came not to be served but to be a servant.

34:14 He didn't look on those multitudes as a stepping stone to success and to popularity. He said, I came not to be ministered unto, but I came to minister and to give. He had no desire but the will of his father, no longing but the good of his hearing. He had no desire but the will of his father, no longing but the good of his hearing.

34:40 His motives were right. Then he could look at those people and say, I am keeping the law of God perfectly. And none could turn around and point a finger and tell him where he had digressed from the standard of God. Oh, the weight in the words of a man who speaks with no motive but the glory of God and the good of his hearers and who speaks from a holy light.

35:09 Beloved, I am not ruling out the other. God has made us so we need to follow truth logically, clearly. I try to do that. I know I fail sometimes but at least I try.

35:22 I go down swinging. But the power of a pulpit ministry, whether it is in that class or sitting at the table with your children or whether it is behind the sacred desk or out in the bush in the mission field, this is it. The power of a peerless character. He spoke with no motive but the glory of his hearers and he spoke from a life that rang with authority because it was a holy life.

35:52 Ah, you say, but that's our Lord and he wasn't sinful. Yes, in that sense the parallel breaks down but as we are going to see a little bit later in conclusion there is a direct application to us but so unlike the scribes for whenever the scribes stood to talk usually there was someone in the congregation that could nudge someone else and say, hey, listen, that's the same guy that I saw pull that business deal and that's the same guy I know hasn't paid a bill down at Abies for six months. Don't listen to him. See, they said but they did not.

Relevance: Astonishment is Not Conversion

36:28 Beloved, there is power in a peerless character and this was the power of our Lord's mess. So unlike the scribes he spake as one having authority. Now in conclusion, having looked at the reaction of the multitudes, the reason for that reaction, the great contrast, what is the relevance of all this to us today? What does the, what do these two verses say to us?

36:55 When the multitudes heard they were astonished, what does this say to us? Does this have any message to you and to me today? I believe it does and one is a word of warning and the other is a word of instruction. It says the multitudes were astonished but it doesn't say they were converted.

37:17 Astonished but unconverted. When he talked about the character and the characteristics of a true Christian as being inward, mourning, hungering for righteousness, purity of heart, they were astonished because it was so contrary to what the scribes taught them. But that description apparently did not drive many of them, if any of them, to the place where they said, oh God, I'll give you no rest until by your spirit you work in me a holy mourning for sin, poverty of spirit, hungering for righteousness,

38:01 purity of heart. Oh, what a word of warning, beloved. Astonished but not converted. Only a stock or a stone could listen to these words of Christ and not be somehow astonished at their greatness, at their penetration, at their power.

38:19 But unless these words have convinced you of your need of being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, of experiencing what Jesus meant when he said, except a man be born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Beloved, you've heard in vain. It matters not how astonished you've been. If what you've heard in the Sermon on the Mount hasn't cut you to pieces until you've gone down before God saying, oh God, I can't live that kind of a life.

38:49 I can't be that kind of a person. You must do something. Unless that's been your response, you may have been astonished, but it's not sufficient. This sermon should convince us of our need of the new birth.

39:09 It should drive us to despair, and then it should cause us to press into the narrow gate and plead with God for mercy through his beloved Son. In Acts 13.41 we read, Behold, ye despisers, wonder and perish. It's possible to wonder, to be amazed, and still to perish.

39:34 I trust the warning will not fall upon you. And if we know of your pious tears, which you may be able to bear, in the end, the time will be short. And we will be happy, and we will be filled with hope, and we will be satisfied, and we will be at peace. We will be able to be transformed into a living Christ, and we will be able to be transformed into

Relevance: Cultivating Authoritative Voice in Ministry and Life

40:18 a And so there's a sober word of warning. And then last of all, there's a helpful word of instruction. Oh, the desperate need of an authoritative voice holding forth God's truth in our hour.

40:35 We've got pulpits and pews and houses filled with people who can parrot what Dr. So-and-so says. I get so tired of this. Somebody gets into an area of controversy and they say, but Dr. So-and-so says.

40:49 Well, who cares? Dr. Schmocker. Don't you ever go out and say, but my pastor says.

40:55 What I say isn't worth a plug nickel or the energy to carve it out of wood. It isn't worth it.

41:04 To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them. Isaiah 8.20.

41:13 There's a need for an authoritative voice. No more scribes. God knows we've got enough scribes. People have gone through Bible school and seminary and been exposed to everyone from Dr. Augustine down through Dr. Luther.

41:27 And I believe they have. They have much to teach us. I love these men. They've taught me.

41:30 They've helped me.

41:34 You young men preparing for the ministry, listen. The world doesn't want to hear what Dr. So-and-so wants.

41:40 They want to hear someone who when he stands to speak has the ring of most authority. That's what they want. That's what your children need, parents. When you open your mouth and tell them about Christ and His truth, there's a ring of authority.

42:06 When you teach that class, when you witness to that neighbor, a ring of authority. Where will it come? It'll come the same way it came with our Lord. Now the first thing you can't have.

42:16 You can't make any personal claims. But thank God you can brag on His claims. And you can say, what I have to say is not mine, but He who came from the presence of the Father lived and died and rose and is ascended and is sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And you can set forth His claims.

42:35 But then those last three things that were involved in our Lord's authority must be involved in some degree in yours. If you're to speak with authority, you must speak those penetrating concepts of God's truth. Don't you ever be guilty of teaching your children that Christianity is you don't do this and you don't do this and you don't go there and you nod your head to ten facts in the Bible and all is well. God have mercy.

43:01 God have mercy. Your child should grow up in a home and in a church knowing whatever this Christianity business is. It has to do with the heart. It has to do with God.

43:10 And it has to do with my heart relationship to Him.

43:16 Oh yes, it has something to do with where you go and don't go and what you say and don't say. But that's all out here on the outside. The core of the matter is I must know God. God must know me.

43:27 I must love God. He must love me. I must obey Him. You can go in the average fundamental church and stay there for twenty years and never learn that.

43:41 It's true, beloved.

43:47 God help us that we'll not clutter up the way to glory with all the things that we have to do. All these minutiae of detail, like the scribes did. We've got to get back to the penetrating basic concepts of the truth of God.

44:03 We've got to cultivate the power of simplicity.

44:08 The power of simplicity.

44:12 And we've got to speak from pure lines. You want to see a beautiful example of this in a man? We could say, well, I can excuse myself because the Lord was different. In that sense, you may be right.

44:25 But listen to a man. Listen to his words.

44:30 He said, And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,

44:40 the power of simplicity. See? Declaring unto you the testimony of God. He didn't say, I didn't come with my own opinions.

44:50 I came declaring the penetrating concepts of the truth of God. And I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He stuck right to the basic issue. See?

45:04 And I was with you in weakness and fear and trembling. And my speech and preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom. When you went away, you weren't impressed with how eloquent I was, Paul says. You weren't impressed with my learning.

45:18 And he said, I deliberately chose that course of action.

45:23 But he said this, My preaching was in demonstration of the spirit of the power.

45:29 Oh, what to God that I could say that every time I preach. Every time I teach my boy, my girl. Good to God you could say. This same man could say in 1 Thessalonians 1, Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance, for ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

45:55 He says later on in the second chapter, how wholly, justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves in your sight.

46:03 If you want to speak with authority to your children, you better start living differently before them.

46:12 That's right. You just don't sit down and open the Bible, and because you've got a black book in front of you and open your mouth, say, well, regardless of what's preceded me to this time, when I open the black book and open my mouth, my children better listen to me. They won't.

46:27 Unless they've seen the pages of that book are born in your life.

46:36 And frankly, they're not obligated to this.

46:40 Or they'll turn out to be the child of hell that you are.

46:48 See how relevant this matter of authority is to our responsibility as parents, as pastors, teachers, witnesses of history. That person you work with. You want your witness to be with authority? Oh, not with cleverness, but with authority.

47:05 You let him see something in your life. When the boss does you wrong, and they know he did you wrong, and they watch how you're going to react. And they see you react contrary to what they know they would do, something's happening. You know what's happening?

47:17 Your life is acting like a sharp arrow. It's going ahead of the shaft of your witness, and that arrow's penetrating. And then they watch you when it comes time to choose vacation time, and they know you had your heart set on a certain week, and they came in, and they knew they did wrong, and they ran roughshod over you and took that week, and they watched your reaction. You took it patiently.

47:36 What happened? The arrow of your holy life is penetrating a little deeper. And then they watch that reaction when so-and-so, whom you know is not quite as competent as you, but because of politicking and behind-the-scenes pulling of strings, you're jumped, and they get a promotion ahead of you, and they know how they would react, and how you would react if you were an average human being. But what happens?

47:56 Ah, they see you react different, and what happens? The arrow! Goes a little bit more, until when God opens the opportunity and you open your mouth.

48:05 That heart's already been pierced by the arrow of a holy life,

48:11 and they're ready to listen, and you speak with authority. See? That's what happens with our children. That's what happens in the pulpit, dear ones.

48:25 Though a pastor may have standards for his life in certain areas that people may think a bit extreme,

48:34 let him turn from those standards, and he'll lose his authority.

48:52 Young men, the price to pay, for authority in this desk, is a life that rings true seven days a week. And if it doesn't, your people will smell the rotting carcass of your hip. I can't make a whole sermon out of that last application, but it's so relevant to our own lives. When Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching.

49:26 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Oh, may God give us a fresh view of our lovely Savior, a fresh awe as we behold and listen to his words. And then may we learn that lesson for ourselves, that we too may echo his truth with Holy Ghost authority for his glory. And for the good of men, and for those of you who perhaps have been astonished at his words, but you haven't been savingly converted by those words, may you this day determine to seek grace and mercy from Christ, and not rest until you know that you found him.

Prayer for Authority and Conversion

50:07 Let us pray.

50:20 Our Lord, we earnestly pray that you would help us to be something more than astounded and amazed at the words of Christ. Oh, may those words seize hold of us, and bring us captive to his lovely person. And Lord, from the depths of our hearts, we cry to you that as a body of your people, those of us who know you, we may know what it is to speak with authority in a world filled with such power, such confusion, doesn't know which end is up on anything. The church filled with quoters and parators of men.

51:01 Lord, make us men and women who know you, who've seen you, who've heard you, and who can speak the things we've seen and heard. Oh God, I plead especially for the young men and women here this morning who've set their sights for ministry, a lifetime of ministry in the truth of God. Oh Lord, may they be willing by your grace to pay the continual price of having a ministry of authority. Oh Lord, for us as parents, God help us.

51:31 Lord, we feel we've forfeited again and again the right to speak to our own children because of the inconsistency of our lives. Oh, may our repentance be as open and marked as our failure, and then give us, we pray, authority with our children. And then, our Father, we plead for those who are concerned about work associates and companions, but who've been cutting corners on their own lives and who wonder why their witness is blunt and powerless, pierce their hearts this morning. Make us, we plead, those who are able by your grace to speak with authority.

52:09 And then, Lord, bring sinners broken and submissive to the feet of Jesus. Seal your word to our hearts. And now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit abide upon each one through Jesus Christ our Lord.