Christ's oral ministry uniquely demonstrated his divine authority and dignity, as seen in his confrontations with the scribes and Pharisees and his teachings on judgment and resurrection. He asserted his equality with God, drawing parallels to figures like Solomon and Jonah to highlight his superior wisdom and commission. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus, as the Son of Man, possesses the authority to execute judgment and grant eternal life, underscoring the absolute necessity of believing in him for salvation. Ultimately, his claims reveal him as God over all, whose divine verdict determines the eternal destiny of every individual.
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I invite you to turn to two passages of Scripture tonight, the first of which is in Matthew chapter twelve and verse thirty-eight. And then we want to read from John's Gospel chapter five. We're continuing where we broke last week discussing the subject of the uniqueness of the oral ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. The oral ministry that is recorded for us in the gospel accounts, they display what we sang tonight in the second hymn, in the final stanza, Beautiful Savior, Lord of the Nations, Son of God and Son of Man.
And how true this is. Now in the thirty-eighth verse, we read of Matthew twelve. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee, but he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, but there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here. Now from the fifth of John. John chapter five, and we want to begin our reading at verse twenty. In a great chapter like John five, it was very difficult for me to just determine which little section here I would like to read, because this is a very important section declaring because of who Christ is.
and the people to whom our Lord ministered recognized who he was, though they didn't want to admit it. And the healing of the impotent man by the pool of Bethesda was a proof of it. So in verse twenty we read, For the Father loveth the Son and showeth all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as a father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily I send to you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but he's passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I stand to you the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that here shall live. For as a father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is a son of man.
Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, In which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. And they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear I judge and my judgment is just. Because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father which has sent me. Now may the Lord bless the reading of his words. That has been our joy to examine last Wednesday night the uniqueness of Christ's oral ministry.
And one of the outstanding features we examined was the uniqueness of his assurance. He spoke without making a long introduction. He spoke matter-of-factly. And when men heard him, they knew that he was verily speaking to them the truth because coupled with the assurance that he possessed was the consistency of his life, the life that he lived before him. There were no lurking suspicions. He was free of them all, and he was clear in his conduct and in his ministry. And then we noted the uniqueness of his authority.
And the authority of our Lord demands the subjection of his hearers to his lordship. His very invitation becomes a command when he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. To refuse to come is to refuse the lordship of Jesus Christ. And our blessed Lord, with great authority, laid claim to the fact that he was deities, that he was God, and he possessed. the very attributes of God. Now tonight we want to notice three things.
We want to notice, first of all, the uniqueness of his dignity. His dignity manifests itself in the conversation he conducted with the Jewish people who opposed him. There was always a dignified tranquility about our Lord. He was unruffled at all times. And in the midst of it, he answers their criticisms. He declared his eternal relationship with a father. This is very important. Everything that you and I know and experience has a beginning and an end. But our Lord declares his authority, one with a father.
They charged in John chapter five in verse eighteen. that he made himself equal with God. And he did. They were right in their charge. And the reason he made himself equal with God is because he was and is equal with God. And you see the answer in John five in verses twenty two and twenty three, prove it. For he says in verse twenty two, for the Father judgeth no man. for that's committed all judgment unto the Son. There are two things that our Lord takes up in John chapter five, where the Jews had to admit that they understood that he declared himself to be equal with God.
Our Lord Jesus dealt with two things that every man worries about, the fact of the resurrection and the fact of coming judgment. He said, God has given to me the ability to raise the dead. And he says, God, because I am the Son of Man, has committed all judgment unto me. I'm the Son of Man. My brother-in-law, whose memorial service I conducted, died a lost man. I went to see him before he died.
He said, I have no time for the things of the Lord. No matter how much I tried to talk to him, he just cut me off. I have no time for the things of the Lord. He said, when I die, I'm going to be cremated and my ashes are going to be scattered over the ocean. And they were. When I stood to conduct his memorial service, there was no casket. There was nothing and the place was empty except for about two hundred and fifty people. And I'll tell you the text I used. I used the text in the nineties Psalm. We spend our years as a tale that he's told.
And I used a man's name a lot. And I pointed out the fact that life is like a book. It has a beginning. And it has an end. Every book has a beginning. And every book has an end. And then every book has chapters. There's a chapter on infancy. There's a chapter on childhood. There's a chapter on youth. There's a chapter on middle age. And there's a chapter on old age. And you can go down the list. And then there are all kinds of books. You see, some books are comical.
Mark Twain's book, Innocence Abroad, is worth reading. If you've never read Mark Twain, some of Mark Twain's works. In fact, John Wiesinger gave me a copy of Mark Twain and he's interviewed with a Christian scientist. He's delving into Christian science in the way in which it's very comical reading. And he gets right to the point. But his book on innocence abroad, the dealing with his travels throughout Europe, is very, very interesting. But you see, there are some books that are tragedies. You see what my brother-in-law didn't want to do.
He didn't want to be raised to face God in judgment. He thought, I'll fix it, but God can't find me. That was his activity. But you see, the problem is, he's wrong. He's wrong. God knows where every atom is. I said, our Lord with dignity, He answered those. who recognized that he was God but didn't want to accept him.
Our Lord, by his teaching and by his works, he drew attention to himself. But always in a manner that was consistent with a testimony that he was meek and lowly in heart. He was not seeking his own glory. He was seeking the glory of him who sent him. But now tonight, in a special way, we want to consider the uniqueness of the greatness of Christ, his greatness. In Matthew chapter twelve, our Lord, on two occasions, he says he was greater than different people. He said he was greater than Solomon, and he was greater than Jonah.
As greater than Solomon, the Lord had said in the Sermon on the Mount, consider the lilies of the fields. How they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So he said, the queen of the south is going to rise in judgment against this generation and condemn it. She beheld Solomon's glory. Of course he says a half has not been told. But those who heard the mighty utterances of the Lord, he could say to them, There's a glory in your midst. That's a glory that far outshines the glory of Solomon.
Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. As to his commission, Jonah was given a commission by God. He didn't want to keep it, but he did. He sure kept his commission. I'm grinning because I'm thinking of what I heard a preacher say a few months ago about Jonah and the great statement in Jonah two nine that salvation is of the Lord. And I really grinned when the man said it. But nevertheless, Jonah kept his commission, but the Lord says a greater than Jonah is here, one with a greater commission.
He says, the Father has sent me into the world. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Far greater commission than Jonah. Jonah was merely sent to Nineveh. You see, many times in Scripture, a name or a title of a person becomes a formula that expresses their character and their influence. Think of the husband of that beautiful woman in the Old Testament, Abigail. Her husband's name is Nabal, a fool. Can you imagine any mother giving her son a name like that?
And yet he lived up to acknowledge that that's exactly the way proper name for him. And his wife even admitted it. Nabal, as his name is, so is he. But you see, any particular name of God that you find in Scripture is designed to convey his glory, the fullness of his divine perfection, and the greatness of his power. Now, in the same way that God is revealed in Scripture, the Lord Jesus is revealed. His name is revealed. conveys the greatness of His power. Now, the teachings of our Lord, it speaks of His name.
And when we think of the greatness of our Lord's name, first it is impressed upon His acts and the teachings that He ministers. The name of the Lord. For the more, the name of the Lord is impressed upon the life and the followers of the Lord. Those who followed the Lord, his name was impressed upon them. Remember, the Christians were called in Antioch first by that name, Christians. His name was impressed upon him. It is in his name that we gather together for worship and prayer, where two or three are gathered together in my name, he said, there am I in the midst.
How important to realize it is to his name we are gathered together. unto him. Furthermore, when we pray, we present our petitions in his name, in the name of our Lord. And it is in his name that we preach the gospel. Acts four, verse twelve, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. See, it's the name of the Lord. and the name of the Lord when God reveals himself throughout the Old Testament as the El Shadiah, the El Yon, the Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Shema, and other names, they display the character and the power and the glory of our Blessed Lord.
And in the oral ministry of our Lord, as he speaks in his name and he presents his glory in his works and in his teaching they become indelibly stamped not only upon him but upon those who follow him but that brings us to the uniqueness of Christ's judicial authority our word makes pronouncements in John chapter five And he does it with a power that compels his hearers.
He states his authority that has been given unto him because of who he is. Because he is a son of man. And by the way, that expression, son of man, speaks of the heavenly personage that's spoken of in Daniel chapter seven in verse thirteen. that heavenly personage who is able to approach the ancient of days and receive from him a kingdom and power and glory, a kingdom that shall never pass away. So when our Lord speaks of himself as a son of man, he is saying, I am that heavenly personage that was seen in the vision in Daniel chapter seven.
And that also lends him to the vision of Daniel chapter two. the stone that was cut out of the mountains without hands that filled the whole earth. However, when our Lord speaks in John five of his authority because he is a son of man, that he has power to raise the dead and that all judgment is committed unto him. You see, he executes judgment because he is a son of man. John chapter five and verse twenty seven. And we read that. And God hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of Man.
Now with majestic ease and yet irresistible authority born of a consciousness of his very Godhead, he says to those who disagreed with him, Except you believe that I am. You'll die in your sins. John eight, verse twenty four. Here the Lord, as he reveals himself as a judge. And at the same time that he reveals himself as a judge, he lays claim to the title of Jehovah. That name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.
I am that I am. That name that he revealed to Joshua by the wall of Jericho. I am. I am Jehovah. Our Lord claims that title for himself. Now, this is all inspiring, beloved. When we think of the disclosure of the fact that the destiny of men rests on his judicial verdict. He says, God has committed all judgment unto me. Do you know Christ? It's not a matter of knowing the preacher.
It's not a matter of being religious. It is a matter of a personal knowledge and relationship of Christ. Our Lord is going to meet out the punishment and the rewards on the judgment day. Now, the opinions of the Lord in matters relating to the law. Our Lord wasn't afraid to tackle matters in the law. He combines in himself the authority of both a legislator and a judge. I want you to turn to Matthew five and verse twenty two. Matthew five and verse twenty two.
He says, In this verse, you have to look back at verse twenty one to get the connection. You have heard that it has been said by them of old time. In other words, those who tried to teach the law to Israel, thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, here is legislator and judge. He lays claim to both titles. He says, but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say unto his brother Rekah shall be in danger of the counsel, but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire.
You talk about strong language. This beloved is the meek and the lowly Jesus. This is the one who claims Because he is equal with the Father. Now, our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, he goes a step further than that. He makes known the fact that he knows the destiny of human life. He says, I know the destiny of human life. And with authority, he speaks of the two roads. He says, there's a broad road that leads to destruction. And there is a narrow entrance and a narrow way that leads into life.
A straight gate and a narrow way. He says, I know the destiny of men. There are few on the narrow road. There are many on the broad roads. Are you speaking of authority? And our Lord claims that he knows the destiny. Furthermore, as a judge whose verdict is absolute, He is the revealer of the future. Look again at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew seven. Matthew chapter seven, verse twenty one. You talk about the revealer of the future. He says what men are going to do in the future.
Verse twenty one, he says, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, here is the future, that day of judgment, that day of reckoning, that day that man by nature would like to avoid. Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out demons, and in thy name have done many wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The sad part about it, it will be too late in that day. We're dealing with absolutes when we consider the uniqueness of Christ's oral ministry. With a calmness and a collectiveness that no one else can manifest, our Lord, as the one who knows of the destiny of men. He knows what men are going to say in the future, and he knows what they're going to do. Beloved, when you read to the Gospel by Matthew, never were the sins of men laid bare and denounced with more terrible exposure than in the supreme authority that our Lord disclosed when he spoke of the scribes and the Pharisees.
The twenty-third chapter of Matthew, eight times over, our Lord says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. And for your enjoyment, I'm going to throw something up for you to lay hold of. When you begin the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord begins with eight blessings. In Matthew twenty-three you have eight woes and they correspond right down the line. In the beginning of the blessings we have heaven open. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Heaven is open. The first woe in Matthew twenty-three is closed. And you can correspondingly go down the blessed and look at the woes. You speak of the uniqueness of Christ's judicial authority. Oh, my friends, let me conclude by making six quick statements. Number one, only one whose authority was superior to all merely delegated authority and conscious. of the possession of the supreme and divine power could do what he did and make the statements that he did.
Beloved, when we listen to the New Testament, when we listen to the language of the Savior, his person, his approach, his work, we behold his glory. He is indeed God over all. Blessed forevermore. Number two, our Lord related the course and the events of human affairs. We noted that in Matthew seven. Third, our Lord determines the destiny of individuals, eternal destiny. By knowing him, by a relationship with him, When I looked at Jim Redling today and we had a time of fellowship, I'll tell you this.
He brought up the names of various ones in our meeting. He asked about Mr. Hill, for instance. He remembered having dinner with us one night, a birthday dinner, where we were all together. And he remembered it. And he asked about various ones. But that calmness that he had and knowing the Lord, I'm going to see him soon. I tell you, our Lord determines a destiny, friends. Oh, if you were to die tonight, do you have that kind of assurance? The third thing is this.
Oh, the fourth. He laid bare the very scenes of the final judgment. When you read the sermon on the mount, you have the scenes of the final judgment. Many shall say unto me in that day, fifth, our Lord vindicated his competency, an incommunicable right to exercise judgment upon all men. He says, I'm the son of man. And the Father committed all judgment unto me. That's why I love those verses in Revelation, one. He says, fear not. I'm the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore.
And I am the keys of hell and of death. My best friend has the keys of the future. Ah, what comfort. What joy. Furthermore. Number six. This one is indeed the Son of God. We sang tonight beautiful Savior. Lord of the nations, son of God, and son of man. The doctor told Jim Redling, if he makes a wrong decision, he's going to remember it. I said, forget it. I said, the Bible says, behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.
Beloved for the child of God, there's glory, there's honor, there's blessings. And you and I can lay hold of that blessed one who has all authority in heaven and in earth. He's Lord of the nations. He's Lord of heaven and earth. Our blessed Lord Jesus. Now let's pray. And now we pray to our God and Father that I will take the word.