Gooding, David: 2 - Matthew 8-10

Thank you, my brethren and sisters, once more for coming. You have no idea how rich it makes me feel to see all the preachers and Bible class leaders, and to note your readiness to help me in my study of Holy Scripture. This morning, the portion under consideration is Matthew chapter eight and nine, Though we shall allow ourselves, if we wish, permission to ca- a glance at least at chapter ten. What we are doing, as I said yesterday, is looking at the narrative portions of the Gospel of Matthew. The great collections of sermons and teaching are very well known. My object in looking at the narrative portion is to see how they fit into their context, whether or not they have any leading theme that would help us in our understanding and in our application of the Word of God in our preaching. Now, it seems to me, and if you will permit me, I will very briefly indicate the outlines of my own, uh, uh, study so far, and pray have mercy and try not to smile behind your hand as I confess to, uh, that little way that I got to, and then, uh, I will be glad if I may call on you, uh, for guidance to try and take my understanding further. But it seems to me that two themes are immediately evident running through chapters eight and nine of Matthew. And the one of them is the theme of authority. If you care to look at the summary two verses in chapter seven, verses twenty eight and twenty nine, with which Matthew concludes the tremendous chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. You look at those two verses, you will have in them, of course, Matthew's inspired comment, his general inspired comment on our Lord's teaching as given in chapter five, six, uh, seven. and 7. And it is this. And it came to pass when Jesus ended these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching. And in particular, the thing that Matthew chooses to select as the effect upon the multitudes was this, he taught them as one having authority and not as a scribe. But then it was the authority of our Lord Jesus. It is, as you see, immediately contrasted with the authority of the scribe. Because, as you know, the scribes in Israel were not particularly men who copied out the law, but men who were the expert interpreters of the law, and therefore men in whom the people invested a tremendous authority. But here the crowd, as is quite typical of crowds, isn't it? It's the, forgive the term, the ordinary people, that when the preachers, uh, uh, have said what they've got to say, they're the experts, aren't they, the preachers? But you go and listen, uh, to that dear lady there of many years experience and, uh, to, uh, the errand boys and whatnot. They have an uncanny way of being able to distinguish between preachers and preachers. So the crowds here, they were immediately struck by this element about our Lord's teaching, it's of power. Of course, we know from history the scribes were in the habit of giving, uh, their opinions as far as they could in the name of somebody else, rather than in their own name. They built up an enormous tradition, like the footnotes in many of our commentaries. You know, some commentaries have more footnotes than they have text, don't they? What ho? You'll see, and they give you the impression that if you haven't known all about these learned volumes, you'll say you're nobody, you're not even in the running. Well, anyway, the scribes witnessed the Talmud and the Mishnah, uh, uh, uh, the Gemara and the Tosefta and things like that, for everlasting, issuing their opinions in the name of former rabbis. Our Lord was marked by his direct authority. And as we begin these chapters of narrative now, uh, that term reoccurs. Look, if you will, in chapter eight verse nine. This is the centurion talking to our Lord people. I also am a man under authority. And he gives examples of the way he could use his authority to get his dis- his, uh, soldiers to do this, that, or the other. Notice the little word, I also, because the centurion had perceived in our Lord Jesus someone who could exercise supreme authority. Or look, if you will, in chapter nine, the story of the paralytic. In verse six, Matthew records our Lord as saying something which Mark and Luke also record. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority. Some English translations will here use the word power. It is the same Greek word exousia, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin. But now look at verse eight where Matthew gives us the reaction of the crowd. In Mark, the reaction of the crowd is given as, we never saw the like of that before. In Luke, they all wondered. But here in, uh, Matthew, we have repeated this matter of authority. When the multitude saw it, they were afraid and glorified God, which had given such authority, and then the startling phrase, unto men. Finally, uh, uh, let's look at, uh, verse verse one. Now we're going over the border into that collection of teaching which Matthew puts in chapter ten. Now the opening verse of chapter ten tells us how our Lord delegated authority. He called unto him his twelve disciples and gave them authority. Now, historically, you will not need me to tell you, this is an exceedingly important concept. We're so used to talking of apostles, perhaps, that we don't sit down and and scratch our heads and say, what on earth is an apostle? You will say. Now here we are meeting in the Gospels, the historic record, and we notice one of the elements in what it means to be an apostle, our Lord's delegated authority. But along with that theme of authority in these chapters, it seems to me that we have another, which is its correlative. Standing over against our Lord's authority comes the response of the people, and then in particular of his disciples, denoted by the word to follow. As we go through the many instances of this verb in these two chapters, we shall notice that at first the verb is used in its literal geographical sense. For instance, verse 8, uh, uh, chapter eight and verse one: When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed. You see, we've just been told that they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority. And their natural reaction was that when he left speaking and came down the mountain, great multitudes followed. That is, they walked down the mountain behind him and kept on walking through the streets wherever he went, uh, perhaps to hear more and to see more. Following in the sense of geographically, literally following. It is an interesting study to ask ourselves, whereabouts now in the occasions of this verb in these chapters, does the literal sense of follow begin to pass over into the metaphorical sense of following, in the moral and spiritual sense of following the Lord. For that, of course, is the kind of following that is open to us. We can no longer follow the Lord on geographically, can we? But we sense it in our hearts at once, that to acknowledge the authority of the Lord and the authority of his people is to set up the inevitable, the act. We want to, and we are expected to, in this dharma, follow that authoritative picture. Uh, so we pass down the, um, uh, the chapters. Let me immediately go, and then we can come back to it. To chapter nine and verse nine. Lying central to this part of the gospel, as you'll notice from this rough, uh, uh, compilation of the chapters. Standing right bang in the middle is Matthew's own personal signature, as it were, that he wrote the gospel, didn't he? One verse, like a signature on a painting, you know. This is Matthew telling you of his conversion. And in what terms, so to speak, did he come to Christ? In what terms shall we describe what conversion meant to Matthew? He tells us in terms of this verb, follow. For he says, as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the place of Paul, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. No one will doubt the genuineness of the conversion. It doesn't mention the verbs believe or trust. Doesn't tell us that Matthew was born again or received eternal life. Doesn't even say he repented. Though all those things doubtless were involved. From Matthew's point of view, you would see it happening, can't you? He sat at the, uh, the seat of custom. When this figure passed by, the meek and lowly Jesus, but with divine authority said, follow me. And in that moment, the chains that bound Matthew to his doubtful occupation fell off. And Matthew followed the Lord Jesus. So this term follow, as you say, it starts off being geographical, doesn't it? Well, it was with Matthew, wasn't it? He was sitting at the receipt of custom when the Lord Jesus said, follow me, he got up from the table and literally followed him down the road. But you're not going to be content with that nearly as a geographical thing, are you? You're going to say that following involves something immensely deep. Look with me then to see how frequent is the term. In chapter eight verse nine— ver- verse ten, when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed. Of course, you're thinking still of mere, the mere crowds that are walking down the road behind him and around. On the other hand, when you come to verse eighteen of chapter eight, now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. He announces a journey, the result of which is that a scribe comes to him and says, master, I will follow thee. Still geographically, I suppose, going across the sea. And our Lord begins to lay down terms for discipleship. And similarly, verse twenty one, another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me. We will become aware that even following the Lord Jesus now is not merely a simply a matter of walking down the street, coming down the mountain, uh, just running with the crowd after this new wonder. It begins to involve very serious evaluations of life. A willingness to leave what hitherto has been important, and refocusing life's duties and responsibilities. All that was involved for these two men if they would literally follow the Lord. And even if we can't literally follow him down the road, we begin to perceive, don't we, that following him in the other sense is going to involve us in similar readjustment of our sense of life's responsibilities and values and priorities. Or you may care to look at the, uh, as we pass by again, chapter nine verse nine is Matthew's conversion using the verb twice in the sense of conversion. But look back now, if you please, at eight twenty three. The journey having been announced is here begun. And when he was entered into a boat, what a charming little phrase, stating the obvious. His disciples followed him. Well, they still do, ladies and gentlemen, don't they? There isn't a better description of discipleship. Where he leads us, we must go. Whatever the storms will confront them on the journey, whatever the opposition, whatever the decisions about what they leave behind, his disciples, by definition, follow. Hmm. Mm. Curiously enough, in chapter nine verse nineteen, the thing that seems to go in reverse. You see, eighteen tells us that while he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hands upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed him. Extraordinary statement. By itself, you wouldn't make much of it, would you? Well, I, uh, Jairus had to show the world the way to his hou- house, so to say. Well, what a spectacle to find the son of God following somebody else. Uh, and as we shall see, it falls to us sometimes to lead the Savior to things in our lives and home that are not as they should be, and not as they would be, as we would be, would have them be. And the Lord will let wait for us to lead him to those situations. But then, finally, for the moment, look at nine twenty seven. And as Jesus passed by from them, two blind men followed him. And they cried out, saying, have mercy on us, thou son of David. How difficult he made it for those men to follow him, didn't he? Can you picture them in your mind's eye, two blind men, and he was going along the street, and they cried out, Lord, have mercy on us, and he appeared not to take any notice and kept on walking. And here were these chaps all blind and shuffling down the street and feeling their way and bumping into how many lampposts and people en route, and now where have he gone now? Why did our Lord do that, to make following such a difficult thing for those blind? Well, a lot of those detailed questions you'll answer for me, I'm sure, i- i- i- in the course of our time. But now just let me observe one more general thing. Here on this sheet that you have, very rough, uh, table of contents. You should understand, my brethren, I wouldn't go to the stake for it. This is not an analysis for which I would readily go to the stake. All of us ought to be prepared to go to the s- to the stake for the authority and inspiration of Holy Scripture, and I hope God will give us the courage to do so. I don't think I'd go to the stake that this is the only possible analysis of this part of Matthew, of course not. This is merely a working device to help us get a bird's eye view of the content, rearrange it how you please. Now, you will notice at the head of each, uh, uh, those columns, this matter of authority is raised. First of all, in column one there, one seven: twenty-eight to eight: four, he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribe. And when the leper came to be cleansed and was cleansed, our Lord sent the leper to the priest to offer what Moses. You see, Moses was the authority on the matter, the inspired authority. The priests, when it came to leprosy, were the authorities in the land on leprosy. On its diagnosis, they, with them rested the final decision as to, um, when it was, if ever, cleansed. And here is our Lord. When he cleansed the leper, it doesn't say, oh, bother the priests, you needn't go and see them again. Acknowledging the authority of the priests and sending the leper too. Pass over, if you will, to the second copy. Where Matthew, uh, records the announcement of the journey, which is to fill the next paragraph. And when our Lord announced the journey, there came a scribe. Yes, as we have said before, one of the great authorities on the interpretation of the law. When he said master, as we'll see, he was acknowledging a superior authority, wasn't he? It still is matter of authority. Pass to, uh, column three. And Matthew points out that when the paralytic was brought in, there were, verse three, certain of the scribes there. When our Lord pronounced forgiveness upon the Pharisees, they, of course, as the expert interpreters, the expert theologians, said he was speaking blasphemy. So in column one we began with the priests. They were authorities in certain areas of religious, of Israel's religious experience. We have our Lord, uh, in that context. Now in this column three, our Lord in the context not of the priests, but of the theologians. It's they, you notice, who charge our Lord with blessing. And on that occasion to demonstrate his authority to forgive to the theologian, he then uses his power to cure the paralytic and set him walking. Ahead of column four, there comes a different authority. As is John the Baptist. It's chapter nine and verse fourteen: Then come to him the disciples of John. For John was not a preacher merely, he was a movement, and John made disciples and continued to make disciples even after the advent of our Lord, did he not? Perhaps properly, and not in the way that some preachers make disciples and shouldn't. But, uh, we'll see, um, they came to John, his disciples, they regarded his teaching as authoritative. So that when the Lord Jesus came along, and they noticed how the disciples of the Lord Jesus behaved, and they began to scratch their theological heads and say, hello, hello, hello. Uh... Why is this different? And the Lord Jesus seems to allow his disciples a much, uh, less strict discipline. Why do we fast and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, and yet, um, Jesus doesn't make his disciples fast? Come, come, come, come, come, come. Is this all as it should be? Our Lord then compared with the teaching of John the Baptist once more to authorities. And looking over the divide into the chapter of teaching that follows, chapter ten, there's this question of apostolic authority. How an important a topic that is, we see not only from the Gospels, but eventually in the writings of those inspired apostles. When necessary, Paul will stand to his full dignity and say, I, Paul. So he's speaking not merely as a preacher, nor as an evangelist, but an apostle appointed by the Lord, of such authority that to receive an apostle is to receive the Lord Jesus, to reject an apostle is to reject the Lord Jesus. Having said that, oh, allow me two more seconds, and I, I promise you I'm going to give you all the opportunity to speak that you ever wished for, within my limits this morning. But now you notice, uh, two small matters. At the end of each of these columns. Would you notice two things? First, the recurrence of the emphasis upon demons. Column one, Our Lord cast out the demons from those who were demons of his. Column two, When they landed on the other side of the lake, at the furthermost point of the journey, they were met by two demons, two demoniacs so fierce that nobody could pass by. To the two, that road had become impassable. No further progress along that road because of the power of the demons in these two demoniacs. Look at the end of column four. There was a man possessed with a demon that was dumb, and when our Lord cast him out, the Pharisees, in their anger and envy, said that our Lord cast out demons by the prince of demons. And if again we may look over the border into chapter ten, In that, uh, fi- in the final paragraph of chapter ten, our Lord reminds the, uh, apostles, if they have called the master of the house the Elzebub, you mustn't expect to be called by any more flattering titles. The Elzebub was a prince of demons. It doesn't take many seconds to perceive, does it? That in this, these chapters that talk to us about our Lord's authority, you will meet what is ultimately, so to speak, the highest authority on the other side. A clash of authority between our Lord, not only the demons, but the prince of the demons. The sad and sorry thing is, when our Lord Jesus exhibited his authority, it wasn't the thieves and the adulterers, it was the religious leaders, that in their animosity and pride, ascribed our Lord's authority to the devil himself. Now that raises, of course, a fun- a fundamentally important point, doesn't it? The nature and quality of authority. Lots of men have had authority in this world, haven't they? Old Alexander the Great died when he was thirty three. He was such a masterful authority that his brilliant Brilliant generals, generals... who themselves became emperors of various parts of the ancient world after Alexander's death. It was said of them, or at least of one of them, he could never pass a statue of Alexander the Great, even after that man's death, without shuddering. Such was the power of authority. Hitler had great authority, didn't he? Yes, and of course, in some senses, the devil has got a great authority too, hasn't he? And the scribes and the Pharisees have great authority. And even if you'll tell nobody I did it, in the history of assemblies, they have risen up men with great authority. Oh. Question to ask is, of course, we need to ask it, don't we? What is the basis and the nature of the authority? Who is going to submit his life to the authority of another without first asking what is the basis of the authority and what is the nature of that authority. To some of your Jewish contemporaries, as you know, my brothers and sisters, it seems that you have committed yourself to the authority of an imposter and a blasphemer. How would you defend yourself against that? As you see from the bottom of column, of two of the columns, one of Matthew's, uh, selections, two of them, is to quote, first of all, presumably on his own inspired authority at the end of column one, a passage from the prophet Isaiah that Matthew obviously thinks to be appropriate, summing up these acts of supreme authority in our Lord's ministry. And again, the end of column three, to the Pharisees who criticized him. Our Lord justified himself and denounced them by quoting another Old Testament passage. These things alert us, do they not? To this fundamental question of the basis and nature of authority. I hear that I speak to no, to in another sense, authorities than I. You've been preaching for decades, my brothers, my sisters. And you have surely been exhorting people by the thousand miles to heed the word of invitation, that gracious invitation that stands central to Matthew's gospel. Come unto me, take my yoke upon you. That, of course, is a kingly word, isn't it? As we'll see from passages like one Kings chapter twelve, where all Israel gathered to the newly installed Rehoboam, and they said, your father made our yoke very heavy. Now, if you will make our yoke lighter, we will serve you. And the young gentleman, being like some gentlemen, young, young gentlemen are, took advice and in the end decided, instead of making the yoke lighter, to make it heavier ten times and split the nation from stem to stem. What things you can do by making yokes too tight, I mean too, I mean too heavy. Up against that, our Lord uses the royal metaphor, come unto me, take my yoke upon you. How, my brethren, do you persuade people to take what is, after all, a yoke of government? Oh, beating about the board. How do you go about persuading people willingly to accept that yoke? And in light of the commission that ends the ba- Matt- Methodist gospel, go and make disciples and teach them to do everything I can ask. How do you go about disposing the hearts of your congregations in faith? To become disciples in the first place. And then follow the Lord Jesus. And bow to his authority. And fulfill his command. I have a kind of an imagination that Matthew, in telling us some of these stories, you know, has got a twinkle in his eye. Not absolutely convinced that he is simply recording history. There came a leper and our Lord healed him. I think Matthew's got his norfy at least gone out. Could be he's advertising the Lord Jesus, couldn't he? And the nature of his authority, in order to persuade us to accept you. Though faithfully giving us to see what for us as disciples, accepting his authority will involve. But now these, uh, these sessions are described as conversational Bible. Forgive me all that long speed. Uh, now I'll tell you what I would like to tell you. As I say, you don't need to take any notice whatsoever of this analysis. This is merely a practical device of giving us a bird's eye view of the contents of this part of the gospel. It is the fact, of course, that in column one, after certain examples of our Lord's healing ministry, you get an Old Testament quotation summing it up. And then in column two, you have a journey, the journey announced, then the journey begins, and the journey gets to the other side before our Lord returns. And with the return, other things come to be discussed. I would like to know in turn, my brethren and my sisters, simply what you normally say about these stories when you preach on them, and I am persuaded I got you caught this morning, you preached on them no end of time, surely. What do you say, and what ought I to say, if I would be faithful to Matthew's entity, and I try to preach these stories in their context? Would anybody like to offer some observations on the story of the leper? What do you normally say about it? I suppose the people listen to the Bible. Yes. And the, the letters of the souls of cleansing for Mm-hmm. Yes, surely it is. Clean. Cleanse us. Yes. From our sin. Yes. So the leopard being segregated, having said this, if I'm cleanest, I cover this life. Mm-hmm. But I'm not clean. Mm-hmm. Yes. That's lovely. Yes, the leopard being a picture of sin, and sin causing distance and estrangement, and our Lord cleansing. Yes? Alesso is very much aware of his need, and preaching in a general sense, one has to underline spiritual need. Mm. Awaken people to the danger of need. Alesso is very, very much aware of his spiritual condition. Mm. Yes, Mr. McKinney. Uh, the actual means our Lord used to heal him is interesting, isn't it? I think it was George Salter observed many years ago that our Lord never touched a paralytic. George said, I think it was George, um, that if you saw a paralytic, you, the immediate thing you do is stretch out your hand and say, let me give you a lifting helping hand, my, my man. Our Lord never did that. He just spoke the word, and they got up. We, I think, even if we could heal a leper, wouldn't we heal him first and then touch him? You, you, what did you say, sir? I said, I guess we would. You would. Do you think our Lord was right in touching a leper, the Lord forbade it? What about the authority of Moses on these things? Was our Lord taking no notice of the authority of Moses in touching this leper? Then he is demonstration of greater authority, that the leprosy cannot remain in the presence of this greater authority. Wow, sir. What a gospel message, you see. Isn't that a gospel message to start with? Yes, you see, the law could diagnose you as unclean. It couldn't clean you. When, if you should happen to get cleansed, you cleanse the priest, well, he could observe in his wisdom all you've been cleansed. He couldn't clean you in the, in the basic sense. When you were clean, he could tell you what sacrifices to offer. He cleansed. Oh, what a marvelous authority is his priest. That's a gospel message that would warm your heart, isn't it? Who reaches an authority that is so much bigger than Moses. He can only, not only tell you falsitively you are unclean, he can actually cleanse you. Or you'll say in this modern world, ah la la la, what a world it's becoming. They tell me that you're even more advanced with AIDS in the States than we are. It's going to be a worldwide, uh, epidemic, isn't it, the plague in the East. What a dirty old world it is, but we're all tinged with, with, with uncleanliness. And to have somebody come and expose it all, we naturally cringe. Over the wonder of the gospel. Or someone who, being all sinless and, uh, and clean, can touch us, and instead of con- contracting leprosy himself, can banish the unclean. Of course, if anything disposed you to accept his authority, I think it would be along that line, wouldn't it? Ah. Only. In touching the leper, I'm asking the same question over again, but the other way around, this is the opposite side of the thing. Um, was our Lord letting down the standard of Moses and saying that, well, Moses was perhaps a little bit too strict on these things, and now we understand the psychology of these matters, um, we shouldn't be quite so strict. With his compassion for the leper. Well, I, uh... The priest diagnosed the case. Yeah. Of the lepro. Yeah. In the Old Testament. Mm-hmm. And he was a witness... situation here. He said, go and show the priest. Mm-hmm. After he Yeah. healed that. Yeah. The priest became a witness. Indeed. Oh, sure. That seems, uh, to me to be a very important matter. Our Lord is upholding the authority of that priest. And of the law that was behind him. He's not saying, oh, we've come to a more gracious age, and God is more loving than he used to be, and anyway, these things don't quite matter so much now. No, no, no. Not undercutting the priest. Oh, he did indeed. Until he, until Calvary. Oh, surely. Seems to me we still need to do the same. We do not make void the law of God, says Paul. There is a lot of hot air, of course not here in America, but there's a lot of hot air goes out over Britain daily, and particularly on Sundays in many a sermon. Neither do I condemn me. They quote John chapter eight and the woman, and you know, you can't allow for a little bit of adultery now and again. I mean, our Lord wouldn't be too hard on it. You haven't been here very long, have you? No, no, no, sir. I see. It's like that here too, is it? Oh, well. He went to the cross for it. Yes, sir. That's gospel, isn't it? The infinite compassion, the superior authority, and yet upholding. If he didn't uphold the laws of cleanliness, don't go to heaven, gentlemen. Because if Christ has lowered the laws of cleanliness, heaven will turn itself into a slum earth has become, won't it? Well, move on now, that was very, very helpful. Move on and tell me about this parable. What do you normally say about that, ladies and gentlemen, when you preach your classes, Bible classes, gospel meetings and things? The centurion, I mean, and his... So. So. Obvious two authorities are here, aren't they, whatever. I'll resurrect one of your sermons. I'm sure you've got it tucked away somewhere. Thinking of that centurion, my eyes just filled with tears. Mm. So few people in the world recognize the Lord. Yes, Lord. How beautiful his faith. Mm-hmm. And his faith was in In what? what? Of course, wasn't he? In that sense, he didn't say, oh Lord, um, uh, I believe you to forgive my sins. It was a faith founded in our Lord's authority. He saw our Lord's authority as a veritable gospel message, yes? See, it's very important to read, brothers and sisters. Sometimes we can preach our Lord's authority and it become a very forbidding thing. People shrink back in their seats and say, oh, excuse me, oh, ah, la, I'm a Christian, I've got to submit to that rule. I don't mind the forgiveness of sins bit, but after that, I'm, I'm in. Whereas if we were Matthews, we should start off by preaching authority as a venerable gospel message. It was absolute life to this, uh, centurion servant, wasn't it? Is there a sense in which, uh, an individual needs authority? What is that? Sometimes they hear that young people are trying to get over the traces, uh, really need authority, they want authority. That is when, uh, with us, uh, uh, in Britain, it's a phenomenon to be observed that you had in the last decade young people who left ordinary assemblies, churches for freedom because the, those assemblies or churches were too authoritarian, is it? And they formed house churches, and before you knew where they were, they had the most rigid, strict pyramid authority that you've ever meet in your day's march. Each body under a shepherd who told them exactly what to do, who to marry, where to go, what job to have, what country to live in. The most extreme form of authority. And of course, a lot of people like that kind of authority. It relieves them of responsibility. I used to find in Spain, and young Catholics would come and talk to me about this and that and the other, and sometimes I would point them, you'll see, to Romans fourteen, that there are certain matters which God leaves to our own conscience before the Lord. I thought they'd like that and say, what ho, this is marvelous compared with Rome. No, no, they didn't like that at all. You fancy having to make up your own mind? And bear responsibility for it at the judgment seat of Christ? No, no, no, as my much preferable to go to the priest and get his opinion if he's wrong. He has to take the rub for it. That's the sense in which Shakespeare meant, didn't he, when he said conscience doth make cowards of us all. If it, if it's left to our own conscience to decide, then we don't like it all. Yes, sir, I agree with you. Anything else to be said about this centurion? What aspect of the gospel is it, Mr. McKinney, he, he, he grabbed the letter, uh, he, he preaches about the uncleanness of sin. And I'll also fear your authority to cleanse. I will. The centurion, is this the uncleanness of sin? It's helplessness. It's, pardon? The helplessness. The helplessness of sin. And we forget the first Yes. Yes. And how would you preach our Lord's authority in that context? The one who's able to Yes. He forgave him, and then he caused him to walk. Oh yes, that's chapter nine again. Yes, a similar, but yes, that's right. An authority that not only tells you what to do, but can give you the power to do it. That's also different from Moses, you know. Moses was good in the end, uh, we all agree. He told you what to do, he couldn't give you any strength to do it with, that's the only trouble. Told you, huh? The centurion was also an outsider, he was a gentile. Yes. And uh, yet he, he was brought into the favor of, into the favor of the blessing of God. Yes, surely. Notice this authority reducing the distance, the leper at a distance, the centurion as a gentile at the distance. And our Lord's going to remark upon it, about who shall see, of course, they, they shall come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves cast out. The gentiles discovering the gospel of the authority of the Messiah, by the Jew rejecting it. Well, we mustn't stop too long about these then. We've had two examples of authority, able to cleanse, I will be thou cleansed, but upholding the law, but superior to it. And if the priest had been an honest man, he ought to have rejoiced with all his heart, didn't he? He ought to have said, well, uh, yes, he's not come here to underra- undercut my authority, and uh, but I must admit he has a greater authority than I have. Not all the priests came to that decision, did they? I've known priests of another sort in Spain, that when the young people were going to the dances and getting drunk and all sorts of other things, they didn't bother their heads, and when they got converted and start- started to live clean lives, then they got sorely upset. Curious. What would you say, like to say about, and what do you normally say about those, uh, verses fourteen to seventeen, Where even when the sun was set. And what about the quotation from Isaiah that concludes the series? I said I don't always preach on those messages. I see. Well, allow me to say a very simple thing. This is not profound at all, but I speak now to my brothers, and I have no right because most of them are older than I. Doubtless you've learned the art, but having preached your beautiful sermon in the gospel hall or whatever, when you come out to lunch, gentlemen, don't sit down necessarily as the great authority now to be waited on. Oh, what a delightful touch. Peter took him out to lunch. I don't know what his wife said to him. Bring the preacher home to lunch. Mm-hmm. You know, when the mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever and the household was all upside down, there was tension in the air and fever around. I am delighted to say our Lord didn't sit there discussing the millennium. Went into the bedroom and took her by the hand, didn't he? He touched her. The authority to bring calm to the servant that has become weak and overanxious and restless and feel, perhaps a result of too much work. What a delightful touch it is. Mm. His authority in the home. And then he cast out the demons and healed the sick. The quotation that Matthew gives us from Isaiah, I shall not need to prove to you, of course, uh, that it doesn't refer to the atonement. We cannot claim healing through the atonement. What we can claim through the atonement is redemption of the body. That's a very different thing. But here was an example of our Lord's ministry. He himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases, came alongside us in our weakness and put his shoulder under our burden as authority. What a magnificent, authoritative Authoritative. Lord. The lesson will not be le- lost upon elders and any leaders. How do we show our authority? There's a, is an authority that attached to elders, for instance, is me, isn't there? And I speak with easy irresponsibility because I've never been an elder, and I'm not now. And our blessed Lord, the supreme authority, was marked by this in his ministry, that he came and put his shoulder under the weight, carried the weakness and infirmity. All any gospel message is authority, rightly preached. But now it is half past ten, and there's a certain authority sitting on my left half, uh, so I'm not going to look in his direction for the next five minutes, and then I shall be bright. If that first paragraph has been dealing, giving you examples of our Lord's authority and its graciousness, what you may call the gospel of authority, the thing you preach to the unconverted man, the unclean man, the powerless man, or the gospel that you would preach to the Christian servant who's become a thief, or to the multitude sick and demon possessed. If that is emphasized what I call the easy side, not in the wrong sense, my yoke is easy in that sense. What are these other three, three great paragraphs dealing, these three great movements? What side of things do they represent? I would make a suggestion that between them they put the other sides of the story. Authority and the following of discipleship has many aspects, doesn't it? There came a point when after these miracles, though the crowds were immense and enthusiastic, our Lord gave commandment to depart to the other side. What did he do that for? Leaving the enthusiastic crowd. Why he suddenly announced this journey across the sea to the other side? Well, one result, if it wasn't the purpose, it was a result. As he walked to the quayside and to the boat, and people saw he was going, two men at least, plus another twelve, seeing he was going, decided to follow. Therefore, true discipleship doesn't merely receive from the Lord's hand the gift of cleansing, the gift of power, the gift of peace. When that has happened, the next stage will be our Lord starting the journey of life on, and thereby inviting us to follow. That's what the disciple is. He's a learner, and to learn about the Lord, you must follow the Lord. And if you would follow the Lord on the journey of life across life's sea, then there are lessons to be learned before you leave. Two would-be disciples come, one foot over the gunnel of the boat, and one still on the land, not quite sure whether commit themselves a to know, just let's get this straight, they said to the Lord, now they follow you, but, uh, you know, on certain conditions now, before we let go completely, um. Lessons as we leave. Lessons in midstream, weren't they? The great storm. Lessons on the other shore. I think to myself that's probably the journey, the path of discipleship. And our Lord's technique, if I may use it tonight, do you see, was deliberately to leave. There appears to be a certain voluntourliness now, doesn't there? Will people want to follow, or will they be content to stay? The lessons taught have been long since preached upon, about the creature comforts you may lose if you decide to follow. And the fact that there are no prior authorities. There's no question of let me first do this or the other, or anybody having a prior claim. There is no prior claim. Prior, that is, to the claim of the Lord Jesus. And then, as we cross life's journey, in midstream was the lesson of our Lord's authority over wind and wave. Why do we have to learn that? Well, because, I mean, you want peace of heart in the storms of life, we have to learn it, don't we? Who is this Jesus? Is he Lord? Does his authority extend to the physical powers of the universe? If they don't, we're in a very poor way, ladies and gentlemen. You know, some people thinking that if they don't follow the Lord and if they don't acknowledge his authority, they, um, they achieve more freedom. A lot of nonsense. You take the man who's without God, the woman without God. If there's no God, where are they? They are my little boat on the ocean of time, ultimately at the mercy of wind and waves and cosmic rays, atoms, microbes, viruses, mindless forces. And if there's no God, it is these mindless forces that ultimately control people. And to be in the middle of life on a journey, we do journey rather a lot every year, don't we? I don't know how many thousand miles you, you do a day going round on planet Earth once in a day. And how many more millions do you travel on your little boat called Earth through space, round the sun every year? What seasoned travelers you are. And again, the old sun is going through the sky itself, so we're following the sun. We're doing kind of a course through, through space, aren't we? Uh-oh. Do you know, it's a flimsy old boat, isn't it? And there's a very deep sea underneath it. Well, about it as well, actually. Beneath your head as you go out the door. Beneath your head. Because which way around are you? Are you up or are you down? How deep is the space beneath your head? What in the end determines life? Oh, you think with sorrow, don't you? Here's a young mother of thirty five, She's now d- diagnosed as having terminal cancer. What will the secularists say to her now? Have to victim, prisoner of the mindless physical forces of the universe. I don't call that freedom, to be told that some mindless little virus has got into me and is in process of destroying me, and when it has eventually destroyed me, it won't have the brains to know it's destroyed me. Call that freedom? Oh, what a thing it is to discover of him who has authority over the physical elements of the universe. And if he allows the boat to go down, he still remains sovereign and in control, yes? But at the further end of the journey, when they landed, the path, the road became impossible because of demonic opposition. This thing also seems to me a parable on the, on the path of discipleship. If you start following the Lord, sooner or later his satanic majesty will try to make the road impossible. You, the missionaries, have seen it on the field, doubtless many times, young converts being assailed by all sorts of powers, till it becomes impossible for them. And mature believers can sometimes find themselves suddenly up against a tremendous opposition that ultimately is satanic in its own. And our Lord is represented as having authority not merely over the physical elements in the universe, but over the spirit powers in the universe. Otherwise, our journey to glory would become impossible. The solemn, absolutely heart-stopping thing is this. That when he had turned out the demons, the local people came around. They asked our Lord to depart. And he departed. I thought he was God incarnate. I thought he was the ultimate authority in the whole universe. Well, he is, yeah. The nature of his authority is such that if his creatures ultimately say go, he will go. For he's not a tyrant. That is indescribably soft. It is indescribably majestic. Well, that leaves two lots more soil that we might have, the president himself will tell us. We mustn't proceed. What is your will tomorrow, to continue this or to move on to the next stage? Move on to the next stage? I think so. Good. I will speak with everyone, so we cover the entire gospel. Right, you heard? Shall we do that? I should be interested one of these days, over a coffee break here or a dinner party there, to hear what you make of the other columns in this part. Shall we pray? Father, we do bless thee for the coming into our world of thine authoritative son. All power given to him in heaven and in earth. We praise thee for the gospel that this is to our hearts. Lord, now we ask of thy grace, that having long since begun to follow thee, we may nonetheless follow thee more nearly as the days go by. Prepare us, we do beseech thee, for the lessons that still await us on life's journey, that we may follow undaunted by thy grace to the end. So appear to us, blessed Lord Jesus, in all the grace and the delight and the gospel of thy authority, that we in turn may preach thee and thy authority to the world around. Remember our younger brethren and sisters, we do beseech. With a thousand and one voices was calling them hither and thither, all grant us the grace, so to expound thy word and so to present thy lordship, they may be drawn to follow thee, blessed Lord Jesus Christ, in pathways of unqualified obedience. We thank thee for this time of fellowship together, and ask thy parting blessing and thy peace. Amen.