This is God's word. And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, not as the scribes. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come to consider your word, I pray that you would open our hearts and minds, help us to see it, understand it, perceive it, obey it in Jesus' name, Amen. Commentators point out that this ending, two verses of Matthew chapter 7, sounds like a transition statement. And when Jesus finished these sayings, this happened several times throughout Matthew, Matthew 11, 1, when Jesus finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went from there to teach and preach in their cities. 1353, and when Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there. 19, 1, and now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went from Galilee and entered the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan. 26, 1, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, you know after two days the Passover's coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. So this sounds like a mirror, if I can use that word, transition statement. Sermon on the Mount's over, chapter 8 is about to start, but there's something more here. Jesus has authority, and Matthew says because of that authority, the people who heard this sermon were astonished. Now authority is what draws people to preaching, or repels them. And what astonishes the people that heard Jesus speak, because he spoke as though he has authority. The scribes spoke with reference to other teachers, to the Pharisees, or rabbis, or the tradition. They also spoke in reference to scripture passages. They were usually lawyers. But they never spoke as though they had authority. Jesus did. That's what's so astonishing. Jesus is claiming that he has authority that only God has. There are several places in scripture where the authority of Jesus is seen. You can see them in your Bible as I go through them, but you can also see them, they'll be on the screen. In Mark 1, verse 21 and 22, and they went to Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, not as the scribes. Verse 27, and they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even unclean spirits, and they obey him. Ahead to Matthew 9, Jesus has healed a man who was lame. He says, for which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven? Or to say, rise and walk, but so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins? He said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed, and go home. And when the crowd saw it, they were afraid, they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. Luke 12, I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do, but I warn you, whom to fear, fear him who, after he is killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, and not one of them is forgotten before God. John 5, truly, truly, I say to you, and ours coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of God, and those who hear will live, for as the Father has life in Himself, and has granted the Son also to have life in Himself, and He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Don't marvel at this, for an hour is coming, when all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. John 17, Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that He may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to whom You have given Him, and this is eternal life that they may know the true God and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. And finally, Matthew 28, Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has the authority of God, because He is God in the flesh. Think how astounding that would be to those who were there. He has the authority to cast out unclean spirits. He has the authority to execute judgment and send people to hell. He has the authority to forgive sins. He has the authority to raise the dead. He has the authority to give eternal life to all the Father has given Him, and when the disciples were caught in a storm, Jesus calmed the winds and the waves with the words, Peace be still and the disciples were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him? He has authority over demons to cast them out, which He does throughout the Gospels if you've read them many, many times. He's confronted by demons. One time He was confronted by demons, and He cast them out, and before they left, those who they were tormenting, they begged to be cast into a herd of pigs. And Jesus did, and the pigs ran over the cliff and into the sea. Jesus has authority over illnesses. Throughout His ministry, He healed many. He didn't heal everybody, but He healed many. He healed blind people. Remember the man who couldn't see, and he was told to rub mud in his eyes and wash them out and then do it again. And at first he said he saw people like trees, and then the second time he could see clearly. Jesus healed the blind. He healed the lame. He healed people with leprosy. There was a woman who had an issue of blood that had plagued her her whole life and made her unclean and unable to enter the temple and worship. And she reached out and touched the hem of His garment, and she was healed because Jesus has authority. He has all authority. In Colossians chapter 1, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things are created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Whatever authorities there are in the world, whether they're governmental, familial, any authority, in heaven and on earth, Jesus created them. So when Matthew writes, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who has authority and not as the scribes. It is because He does have authority, all of it, over everything and everyone. And that's why the crowds were astonished. Kevin DeYoung, commenting on this passage, points out that one time He was preaching, and afterwards somebody walked up to Him and said, you know, I really didn't understand much of what you said, but I can tell you're really smart. And then another time He was preaching at a prison. And afterwards one of the inmates came up to Him and said, I love your preaching, you have the juice. He said I didn't know what the juice was, but I was glad I had it. So what was his point? His point was that the people did not marvel at Jesus' intelligence, although certainly He is. They weren't stunned by His creativity, but obviously He is. They were astonished because He spoke with authority. DeYoung goes on to say that too many preachers in our day are more interested and entertaining than pointing to the authority of the Scripture in our lives. Now when a preacher does that, he's drawing attention to himself. Not to the text and certainly not to Jesus. And ministers can do this in certain ways. I remember talking to a friend, this is even before I became a minister, I was a campus minister, and we were talking about how ministers should dress. Sounds trivial. And he said they should dress in such a way as to not draw attention to themselves. Some, if you see them on television maybe, or you've been to their churches, they wear flashy suits, all different colors. You can't help but notice them. One friend, I had a minister for a while who wore cargo shorts and flip flops while he was preaching, he was in California. Go figure. And he's been replaced by a preacher who wears red high top tennis shoes. You see they're drawing attention to themselves, they're saying look at me. And that's not the role, shouldn't be, the goal of a preacher. The preacher is to draw attention to the text, to Jesus. One famous minister who wrote the book, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, never preached a sermon from a scripture text. Never. I remember reading a biography of Charles Spurgeon, the famous Baptist preacher from the 1800s. And he was at a preaching conference. And he didn't tell this story, this was a biography written well after he passed away. And at this preaching conference there was another famous preacher, I don't recall his name, who he gave a sermon one night and everybody was wowed. And after the sermon people were coming up to him and others and saying, wow what a wonderful preacher, what a terrific speaker. The next night it was Spurgeon's turn and he preached a sermon. And after he was done the comments were decidedly different. Although he is a wonderful preacher, although he is a terrific speaker, what they said was, what a wonderful savior we have. You see that is the goal, or should be the goal of any preacher or Bible teacher, is to shine the light on Jesus the King. One of the quotes in your service folder that was emailed to you is from Tim Keller's aptly named book, Christ the King, in which he writes, the gospel is not about choosing to follow advice, it's about being called to follow a king. Well now there is a problem. See in our day and age we are not familiar with kings, or queens for that matter. Sure the British Commonwealth has a king, King Charles III, but he has no ruling authority. British royalty are a subject of great interest, especially to the tabloids. They follow them, their lives, what they are doing, where they are going, the skirmishes, the infighting they are having. But Great Britain has a parliament and a prime minister, the same as Canada. The US has a different system, but they elect their presidents and their senators and representatives, their governors, and they can choose someone else if they aren't pleased with the person who is holding the office. So it's not part of our culture, part of our nature, part of how we think, to think in terms of a king. But make no mistake, Jesus has the authority of a king, because he is king of all that exist king, because he is king of the universe king, because he is king of nature, because he is king of all people and all circumstances, no matter how small or trivial they may seem, no matter how large or inconvenient or painful they may be. If there is a circumstance in your life, it's there because of the king. And if you are a believer, all the circumstances in your life, all of the inconveniences, all of the positives, all of the victories, all of the defeats, everything in your life is pointed at drawing you closer and closer to the king, to Christ, and making you fit for heaven. Jesus is ruling as the king. Now in this sermon alone, not this sermon, but the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asserts his authority. How many times during the sermon did Jesus say, you have heard it said? Probably from the scribes. Then he says, but I say to you, he has authority. He has authority over your life as he commands you to be a witness for the gospel, his salt and light. That means that all of us should be thinking about what we're doing and who we are and how we relate to others with regard to the gospel. I have a request. Many of you see that every week we post something on Facebook about the upcoming service. For instance, I saw that 19 of us saw it this week, but only three of us liked it. If you see it, like it. Why? Because other people who are on Facebook tend to see the things you like. And that might draw their attention to it. God might use that to bring somebody to worship and possibly into the kingdom. It's a simple thing. But he has authority over your life. He has authority of how you obey his commands and what that standard of righteousness is. These are all just from the Sermon on the Mount. He has authority over your anger, whether you should be angry or not, and how you should or shouldn't retaliate. He has authority over your sexual desires. Now this is especially unpopular in our culture. As king, he claims authority over your thoughts, over your intimacy. He tells us that we are to have those desires fulfilled in a marriage between a man and a woman, and everything else is sinful. Now again, less and less of our popular culture agrees with that. Here in Canada, in the United States, or in the world for that matter, you know that over 30% of children in Canada in 2020 were born out of wedlock. 30%. In the United States, it's 40%. All the Scandinavian countries except Finland are over 50%. Finland is 46%. Again, Iceland is 69%. Mexico, Chile, and Costa Rica are over 70%. And Colombia is 84%. These statistics are appalling because people, children born out of wedlock, are just faced with disastrous consequences culturally. Not every single one, but the statistics are not good. On the positive side, South Korea, Japan, and Turkey are all 3% or less. Israel is 8%. This trend leads to all kinds of cultural disasters, but it's obvious that most people do not regard these commands as coming from their king. But he has authority over how we conduct our relationships with other people, including our enemies. Love your enemies, we're told. He has authority over our money. How we should get it, how we should spend it, how we should give it. We cannot serve money and Christ the King. If money is your king, then Christ cannot be. The most important treasure that we have according to Jesus is to lay up treasures in heaven where it can't be destroyed or it can't be taken away from you. He tells us how we should pray and what we should pray. Before the Lord's Prayer, he says, pray then like this. That doesn't mean that the Lord's Prayer is the only prayer that we pray, but what he's saying is this is a standard. Pray these things. Pray then like this. He tells us not to be anxious. Now remember, he's speaking to a first century people, most of whom would be considered poor, most of whom what they were going to eat, how they were going to clothe themselves, where they were going to shelter. All of these things were constantly on their minds from day to day. And he tells them don't be anxious. Now they would look at us, if they could, look into the future, and they would be amazed at our wealth. Even the average among us would seem like royalty to them. With the things that we own, the places we live, the clothes we wear, the food we eat. And yet, we worry. Why are we anxious? Why? Jesus says it won't add an hour to our lives. Do you realize that worry and anxiousness is in defiance of your king? Jesus tells us how to judge others, but first judge ourselves. He commands us to trust God with everything, believing that he's good and will give us the good things that we need. He commands us to treat our neighbors as ourselves, treating them however we would want to be treated, which is the golden rule. This is all from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is asserting his authority over us, over everything. That's why they were astonished. That's why they were amazed. Jesus tells us to build our house on the rock, which is Jesus and his word. Now, you have to consider, these are the words of the Son of God, or they're not. If they're not, you can take them or leave them. If they are, then they're the words of the Supreme King of all that exists. So if you ignore or disobey these words, you do so at your own peril. One commentator points out that many people are amazed at Jesus. Many people are astonished at Jesus. Many people read what he did and what he said, and they are rightly amazed. But still, many people hearing the words of Jesus don't believe. They don't recognize how far they fall short of the commands. Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Even though all of these things are true, that Jesus has all authority, and all of us are sinful and deserve eternity apart from God, most people still don't believe. Quoting Kevin to Young again, he put it this way, why? Why don't people believe? Do they have intellectual objections? Sure, some people do. Do arguments for the validity of Christianity, apologetics, serve a purpose? Sure. Do some people have bad experiences with the church? Yes. But for the vast majority of people, the reason they don't believe in Jesus is they don't want a king. They don't want a Lord of their life. They want to be their own king. They want to be their own Lord. They want to decide for themselves how they live, what they do with their time, what they do with their treasure, who they're intimate with. Now some people, if Jesus can fit into their schedule, well, okay. But they're in charge. They want to pick and choose, which commands to follow. One of them is worshipping Jesus on the Sabbath. We want to pick and choose. If there's something else more important that day, more important in our minds, you see, we're deciding we are our own Lord, we are our own king. If there's something more important that day, I'm not talking about if you're sick or traveling. They want to pick and choose the commands to follow. It's as if Moses came down from the mountain with the ten suggestions. So maybe you're thinking that you will take the words of Jesus as advice, even good advice. Maybe you will take them under advisement. Here's the thing. It doesn't work that way. Jesus has all the authority in heaven and on earth. And this is what he offers. Forgiveness from your sin. He offers his righteousness before God to your account in place of your sinfulness. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He offers eternity in heaven, which is an ever-expanding world of love and joy. 1 Corinthians 2.9, what no eye has seen, what no heart nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man imagined. That is what God has prepared for those who love him. If you don't want Jesus as your Lord and as your King, you can't have him at all. Maybe you're here and you've never really given your life to Christ. That's possible. It's possible for people to go to church all their lives, to be close to church people, to talk about Jesus, to sing about Jesus, to read their Bibles, but never really believe because you wanted to hold on and be your own Lord. Or maybe you're here and you're someone who at one time wanted to obey Christ, but your love has grown cold. That happens. In either case, I'm inviting you to believe the Gospel. I'm not inviting you to believe in me. I'm a sinner in need of grace just like you. But the Scriptures say we're ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. This life is fleeting. None of us know how long we will live. Don't think, I have time for that later. Know this. Whether you believe in this life or not, you will bow your knee to the one who has all authority, Jesus the King. As Philippians 2 says, therefore God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father, let's pray. Lord, I pray for us, I pray that we would be people who bow to You as our King, that we would do it willingly, that we would desire to obey You, and perfectly though it will be, we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.