The Authority Of Christ

I. Christ?s authority was demonstrated In His teaching (verse 22)

A. By His manner of teaching

1. Taught with authority not from tradition

a. Matthew 15:9 "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

b. Other teachers relied on esteemed men. They taught their traditions as authoritative. They placed their opinions above the Word of God.

c. Mark 7:9 "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."

d. Mark 7:13 "Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."

e. ?Ye have heard that it hath been said... But I say unto you,?

2. Taught substance not shadow

a. Other teachers taught form, ritual, and ceremony

b. Hebrews 10:1 "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect."

c. John 8:56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad."

d. John 8:12 "Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

e. Charles Colson and several other Christian leaders once met with President Borja of Ecuador to discuss Prison Fellowship International’s ministry in Ecuadorian penitentiaries. They had no sooner been seated in luxurious leather chairs when the President interrupted the conversation with the story of his own imprisonment years before being elected to the presidency. He had been involved in the struggle for democracy in Ecuador. The military cracked down, and he was arrested. Without trial, they threw him into a cold dungeon with no light and no window. For three days, he endured the solitary fear and darkness that can drive a person mad. Just when the situation seemed unbearable, the huge steel door opened, and someone crept into the darkness. Borja heard the person working on something in the opposite corner. Then the figure crept out, closed the door, and disappeared. Minutes later the room suddenly blazed with light. Someone, perhaps taking his life into his hands, had connected electricity to the broken light fixture. "From that moment," explained President Borja, "my imprisonment had meaning because at least I could see."

f. Isaiah 9:2 "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

3. Taught genuine possession not empty profession

a. Other teachers professed to know and to follow God.

b. Titus 1:16 "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."

c. Matthew 23:27-28 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."

d. In contrast to the Pharisee?s example consider Christ?s example - John 8:29 "And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him."

e. Luke 6:46 "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

f. John 15:4-5 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. [5] I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."

g. G. Campbell Morgan (in Giant Steps. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 6.) ? The Church of God apart from the Person of Christ is a useless structure. However ornate it may be in its organization, however perfect in all its arrangements, however rich and increased with goods, if the Church is not revealing the Person, lifting Him to the height where all men can see Him, then the Church becomes an impertinence and a sham, a blasphemy and a fraud, and the sooner the world is rid of it, the better

B. Because His teaching was from the Father

1. John 12:50 "... whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."

2. John 14:10 "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works."