All right, let us begin with prayer. Let's call upon our God to bless his holy word. Almighty King, thou who art the Lord, the King of the church, We humble ourselves before Thee and would receive Thy royal word that comes from Thy throne unto us, Thy people. We pray, Lord Jesus, that Thou would take every thought captive to the obedience of Thy holy word. that our ears would be attentive, that our hearts would be set upon Thee, that we would be wanting, hungering, and thirsting, Lord, to be fed by Thee. Feed us, we pray, our Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. John chapter 20, and we'll be looking to verses 21 through 23 this evening. And I'll pick up the context in my reading with verse 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, When the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace be unto you. And when he has so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you. As my father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. So the Lord Jesus, after he had been raised from the dead on the first day of the week, we've looked at four recorded appearances on the first day. To Mary Magdalene, secondly to the group of women, then to Peter, and then he appeared to two disciples who were walking along the road to Emmaus. And now Jesus, before we end this chapter, is about to make his fifth appearance on the day of his resurrection, on the first day of the week. And in that fifth appearance of Jesus, thus far we have seen that he enters in through locked doors for fear of reprisals, The disciples have locked the doors, they're safely behind the doors, fearing the reprisal of the Jews against them as they thought, being the disciples of Jesus, that they may suffer as well. And as he appears in the room, he greets them and tells them that basically we saw in the other gospel accounts, handle me, I'm not a spirit. He shows to them his wounds. He asks for food and he eats the food, all for the purpose of assuring them that this is not a phantom that has appeared to them, that this is the same Jesus. This is the same body. that was placed, that was crucified upon the cross, was placed in the tomb and now is raised. This is the same body, though it is glorified. It's a glorified body as we noted last time that we met for Bible study. Now we come to verse 21. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you, as my father hath sent me, even so send I you. So the Lord greeted his disciples with the same greeting, peace be unto you, twice. Two times he assures them and he wants to remind them that he's not coming to them with bitter anger. He's not coming to avenge in some way himself because they all ran in fear when he was arrested there in the Garden of Gethsemane. That was the last time that most of the disciples saw Jesus. John and Peter went to the courtyard of the high priest and they saw Jesus after the rest of the disciples had fled. in the Garden of Gethsemane, but for most of the disciples, they haven't seen him until he now appears unto them. All we know is that John was at the crucifixion. We don't know of any of the other disciples that were at the crucifixion. We don't know of any of the disciples that were at the burial. There were two followers of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. So again, First appearance, resurrected Christ now. They had been hearing that Jesus was raised, okay? Mary Magdalene has told them. The group of women have told them. Peter probably has told them himself that Jesus appeared to him. And now he is there with the other disciples. The two that were on the road to Emmaus have also, it says they went to the disciples and told the disciples, the apostles that Jesus was raised. So they've been hearing this throughout the day that Jesus has appeared. And one can imagine, again, on their part, anticipation, hope, and yet in the other gospel accounts, there was still that doubt, that lingering doubt. As we said last week, it's almost like it was too good to be true. And so that's what the Lord assures them. I'm not coming to you with vengeance. I'm not coming to you to pour out my anger upon you because you deserted me and ran off and left me there and were cowering in fear and still even behind the locked doors in a room where they were meeting. But he comes to say, in effect, I want you to have my peace. I don't want you to be confused any longer. I don't want you to be in conflict in conscience or to be wondering. I want you to have my peace. And that kind of peace is a reconciliation that the barriers of sin, unbelief, doubt, all of that is removed so that there can be the restoration of that blessed relationship with Jesus Christ. He's the one who initiates. He's the one who comes and says, peace be unto you. That is my peace be unto you. We're not the ones who initiate that. Jesus always comes to us and he's the one who says, my peace be unto you. That's the blessedness of the covenant of grace. The covenant that God has made with Jesus Christ to be our savior and to atone for all of our sins so that he can come and he does come to speak peace unto us. No matter what we're going through, he comes and he speaks peace unto us. He does so twice. Again, once was enough. But he does so twice because, again, we're forgetful creatures. We need to be reminded, as we've seen many, many times in the scripture, of the truth of the Lord. And the Lord doesn't come in this situation to rebuke them, but to appear to them, to assure them that he is alive. And then he recommissions them. when he says, as my father has sent me, even so send I you. So he recommissions his apostles to be his ambassadors, to send them forth with his resurrection power and authority. They may think now that Jesus was raised from the dead, the battle here upon earth is over, Jesus is raised. The battle with sin, with the enemy, it's over, it's finished. But though victory was assured by Christ's resurrection, definitely assured. The battle with Satan, the battle with Satan's followers was about to become more intense, more fierce than ever before. Now, again, Satan is unleashed and is going to show forth again his anger against his church. So again, many times I think, and we have to be careful how we portray what happens to a person when they're converted, when they come to Christ. We need to be careful that we're not communicating to people that you're not going to have any more problems. Once you become a Christian, you've got victory. Everything just falls right into line. No more struggles. No more fighting and that type of thing. When in fact, when we become Christians, when we're converted, it's at that point that we become the enemies of Satan, Satan becomes our enemy. Before being converted, we're in his kingdom. There doesn't have to be the battle with the enemy because whether we realized it or not, we're on his side because there's only two kingdoms, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan. But it's when we become Christians and we are transferred from that kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, that the real battle with the enemy truly begins. And so we need to be careful and we need to communicate to those that we may be giving our testimony to, presenting the gospel to, that we give them an accurate understanding. We're not saying that you're not gonna have any more problems. We're not saying that you're not going to suffer. In fact, you will. The Lord and Paul, you remember, the Lord says through Paul that through much tribulation we enter into the kingdom of God. And so we need to assure people so that they're not getting the impression, you know, that all you have to do is become a Christian and everything is just going to be, you know, sweet and comfortable, no further problems, that's not the case. What we are assured of is that there will be victory. We're assured that there will be victory. We don't know, again, in every struggle and every temptation and every trial, when that trial will be over, when that suffering will end. We're not given that information unless God supernaturally tells us, as he did the Apostle Paul, when Paul prayed three times that the thorn in the flesh would be removed. But in that instance, the Lord said to him, you know, he wasn't gonna heal him, but my grace is sufficient. You're going to continue to struggle with this thorn in the flesh and The same thing happens with regard to battles that we all face, whether with our own flesh, battles within our families, conflicts in relationships, work situations, standing for Christ, defending his truth, and the consequences that come from that. there's going to be struggle, but he promises to be with us. He promises never to leave us nor forsake us. And he promises us ultimate victory, that the enemy isn't going to be able to overcome us if we belong to him, because he's praying for us as he prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. He prays for us that our faith would not fail. But even in the midst of the trials that we go through and the struggles we go through, the Lord does give amazing grace for us to be able to persevere. Sometimes the very fact that we're knocked flat down, face down, and we're pummeled by the enemy, and the fact that we're able to stand back up, The fact that we're able to get back up and do again the next hour, the next day to arise and to say that was hard, that was really difficult, but the Lord stood with me. He was by my side and he raised me up again. He caused me to stand. I've fallen seven times. He's caused me to stand up every time. That's a victory. And in fact, I would say that if there is no battle that you're facing, that if there are no struggles that you're facing, I would almost say that's not a good sign. Because Paul says in Romans chapter seven, that there is that ongoing battle, not only with the flesh, but with the enemy. And there is that ongoing struggle. And so again, where there is no struggle, I wonder why isn't there a struggle? I know there's a struggle in my life. I know the battles I have to face every day, But I think that's just normal Christian living. I don't think that that's abnormal. I think that's what's true of all Christians. And it's abnormal if there are no struggles. Are we really in that situation, what would go through my mind is, I mean, not that we have to be constantly as it were in a hand-to-hand combat, I feel like we're in that moment by moment without any rest or respite. I don't think that that's also the case. I think typically God does give us in the course of the day or the week, does give us those precious times to be able to, especially when we're with him. when we're in his presence, that we feel that him coming to us and saying, peace unto you. And the burden that we're under is lifted, even if it's temporary, that you feel that and you know that peace, you know that the Lord is with you. But again, that struggle is not unusual. So if you're going through that and you're saying, why am I going through this? I just want you to understand that's normal for a Christian. That's normal for all of us. It was normal for Paul as he lays out throughout his epistles those letters. But we have one who has been raised from the dead who gives us victory. We don't face any of those trials by ourself and he has promised that he would not give us more than we can bear. that he will be with us. Verse 22, John 20, 22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. What's the significance of Jesus breathing on his apostles? And it's obviously, that's something outward, never ever mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, you know, that the Lord breathes on anyone in this particular way. In fact, this word in the Greek that is used for breathe is only used here, but it's an outward symbolic action. I think that reminds us of what God did when he created Adam in Genesis 2.7. He breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul, a living being. And just as there was no life in man until God breathed the breath of life into him, so likewise, There is no ministerial life in Christ ministers until Jesus breathes upon them the blessing of his Holy Spirit. What is most important in the life of a minister is not his academic knowledge. That's not to downplay at all, the importance of a minister being firmly grounded in God's truth and his ability to be able to defend it and to teach it and to promote it, to understand it, to interpret it from the original languages. Or what is most important is not that he's a nice guy, Those are not what are most important about a minister, but what is most important is the work of God's Holy Spirit in blessing, in teaching and in sanctifying Christ ministers. That's what's most important. And that is also a work in progress. It's not that as ministers that we have all that we're going to have the moment we're ordained. That would be nice that we started off that way in one sense, but like in the Christian life, when one becomes a Christian, there's a lot of growth. that is going to take place throughout that Christian's life. So likewise, for a minister, when he is ordained, he's not a completed work at the moment of ordination. He's going to be growing. He's going to be learning. He's gonna make mistakes. He's going to promote things that he has to repent of, that he once believed and taught from the pulpit. And so again, what is most important though, is the work of the Holy Spirit within the life of that minister. And it begins with a willingness, I believe, to submit unto Christ. It begins with, on the part of the minister, it begins with, not only wanting to know the will of God, but wanting to do the will of God. In other words, and it's not only true of the minister, but it's true of all of us, we cannot expect for God to show us his will in things that right now we may not understand and know if we're not willing to do his will in the areas which he has already shown us and we know. We can only expect God to give us more knowledge and understanding about himself and his will as we are willing to do his will. Many people wanna know the will of God. Many ministers wanna know the will of God, but how the Lord works by his spirit in our lives is to raise up within us that holy desire to do his will, to go beyond simply knowing his will, but to do it and to commit ourselves to doing his will above all else to do the will of God. And notice here that Jesus didn't simply breathe on Peter, that was who was there, but he breathed on all of his apostles. There's no distinction here made between Peter and the other apostles as to the office or the gifts that the Lord is bestowing upon them at this time when he recommissions them. When he first commissioned them during his ministry, during the ministry of Christ, he gave to all of them the same gifts. There's no distinction in offices. Likewise here, no distinction in offices. One doesn't hold a higher office than the other. Same office, same breathing upon them, the Holy Spirit, to receive the Holy Spirit in the exercise of their ministry. And when he says he breathed upon them and then Jesus says, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Jesus was not bestowing upon the apostles for the first time, the Holy Spirit when this happened, when he said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. They had received the Holy Spirit when they were first converted. and believed because as Paul says in Romans 8 and 9, that no one can belong to Christ unless he has the Holy Spirit. If one does belong to Christ, if one is a Christian, he has the Holy Spirit. And so they had the Holy Spirit already. They performed miraculous signs and wonders. They had the Holy Spirit. They didn't do that by their own power. They did that by the power of the Holy Spirit. So when he says, receive ye the Holy Ghost, what is he giving to them that they didn't have already? What is he bestowing upon them what they did not already possess? Well, Jesus here likely blessed his apostles when he says, receive you the Holy Ghost, with the Spirit's grace to know, to understand, and to both preach and write by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. his word, his will, his revealed will. You see, they were deficient in knowledge. They were deficient in their understanding up to this particular time. And Jesus was giving to them the spirit of knowledge to understand and also to remember all that Jesus had taught, to bring to their mind so that they would record exactly what the Lord wanted them to record in Holy Scripture. And the parallel passage to what we're just reading in John 20, as it's found in Luke 24, Verses 44 through 45. So this is occurring in Luke 24 at the same time that as to what we're reading in John 20. But it says in Luke 24, it doesn't mention that Jesus said, receive ye the Holy Ghost, but it gives us an understanding of what Jesus meant when he said that. Verse 45, Luke 24, 45, then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto them, thus it is written and thus it behoove Christ, to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. So when we compare Luke 24 with John chapter 20, we, I believe, are able to see that the receiving of the Holy Spirit was, again, the grace, the ability to be able to both preach exactly what the Lord would have them to proclaim in their authoritative preaching, as well as to write and record what the Lord would have them to write and preserve for us in generations yet to come. Now, I submit to you, that there is a true sense of that we do believe in oral tradition. We usually say, well, that's, at least we may, if we're not really understanding correctly, we may say, well, the Roman Catholics believe in oral tradition, not Protestants, but that's not true. We believe in oral tradition. We believe that when the apostles preached, they didn't include every single thing that they preached or every Bible study that they conducted in scripture. We have certainly examples of some of those sermons, but everything they said, everything they taught is not necessarily included in the New Testament. And yet Paul says that we are to preserve and that we are to follow tradition by word as well as that which is written in 2 Thessalonians 2.15. 2 Thessalonians 2.15 says, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. So whether by word of mouth or by what we have written, receive, follow the tradition. So the word that is spoken is oral. That's oral tradition. So we believe in oral tradition, but The question is, contrary to the Church of Rome, Church of Rome believes that that oral tradition can be identified hundreds of years later. There's no certainty, there's no confidence that whatever someone says many years after the death of the apostles, that that's what the apostles said. We know how often By word of mouth, communication can be, add a word, take a word, the sense of it can be changed and altered as it goes from one mouth to the next. That's very common. We believe in oral tradition while the apostles were living, but after the apostles are dead, We don't have that oral tradition any longer to be able to be verified and confirmed by the apostles themselves. All we have is the written tradition, scripture. That's all we have that's left. And therefore, though what the apostles taught by the authority of Jesus Christ, what they proclaimed was authoritative while they were living. and those who heard it were obligated and bound to keep it. Once they have passed, once they have died, we have no confirmation in God's word that oral tradition would continue. What we have is that thou which is infallible that has been left to us is God's word, God's, the scripture. That's the tradition, the written tradition now, the apostles that we have. That's what we can trust in. So we don't deny oral tradition, we simply qualify it in a proper manner. We simply deny that it can be infallibly known after the passing of the apostles. And we do have the infallible written tradition of scripture presently. In fact, Peter says that the scripture is a more sure word of prophecy than even the vision that the Lord Jesus gave to them on the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah appeared with the Lord Jesus in that situation. Peter says that scripture is a more sure word of prophecy than even that. Why? Because again, As we noted, when something is passed merely by word of mouth, by word of mouth to fallible creatures, it's possible for that to become corrupted. But what we have in scripture is not corruptible, it's incorruptible. And so it's a more sure word of prophecy. because the Lord has promised to preserve it. Not one jot or tittle will pass away from God's law till all be fulfilled, Jesus said in Matthew 5, 18. Verse 23. So after Jesus says in verse 22, receive ye the Holy Ghost, speaking of the knowledge, the understanding that they would receive as apostles, to teach, to proclaim, to record God's word. Then he says in verse 23, whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Once again, This is in the plural, ye, not in the singular. This is bestowed upon all of the apostles. The authority, as it says, whosoever sends you remit, they're remitted. This is given by the Lord to all the apostles. And I would add, I believe it's also given to all those who are their apostolic successors. Now by that I do not mean that there is apostolic succession by way of one bishop bestowing that who's located in Rome and bestowing that particular office and those particular gifts to the next bishop and the next bishop. By apostolic succession, I understand that in a protestant sense, to be apostolic teaching faithfulness to what the apostles taught. That those ministers are apostolic successors when they teach what the apostles taught. Jesus said to his apostles, teaching them, meaning the the nations, teaching them all that I have taught you, all that I've commanded you, teaching them all that I've commanded you. So when we teach what the apostles taught, there is in that, I think, right and biblical sense an apostolic succession. And because there is in that sense an apostolic succession, to those who embrace and teach the doctrine, the worship, the government that the apostles taught, there is also then this same authority that is given to the apostles to remit sins and to retain sins that is likewise given to the successors of the apostles. So what is this power to remit, which means to forgive, to remit sins and to retain sins? Was the Lord giving to the apostles the absolute authority and power to forgive sins? Was the Lord saying, by way of receiving the Holy Spirit, that this was now their authority. And this is, again, the position of the Church of Rome, that priests have the authority to actually forgive sins or to retain sins. That is the official position of the Church of Rome. Just a brief quote, and this can be found in many, many other places, but in A New Catechism of the Catholic Faith, it has the imprimatur of the archbishop. On page 61, it says, in the Catholic Church, you can be sure your sins are forgiven because Christ gave the power to forgive sin to his priests. So priest says, your sins are forgiven. He has the power to forgive your sins, according to the church of Rome. Is that what Jesus is teaching here? When he says to the apostles, whosoever sins you remit, they're remitted. Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. I believe that what the Lord Jesus is saying is not that, The apostles are given the power to forgive or to retain sins. I don't believe that's what he is teaching at all. The Jews themselves admitted that God alone can forgive sins in Mark 2 7. Jesus never, in that situation, doesn't correct them. No, God alone, God is not the only one who can forgive sins. That is a factual, true statement. God alone forgives sins. But what is given to the apostles is the declarative authority on behalf of Christ. to declare that one's sins are forgiven through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or to disbelieve the gospel of Jesus Christ, they have ministers, the apostles and their apostolic successors in the ministry have the authority to say, because you disbelieve, your sins are retained. declare on behalf of Christ your sins are retained because you will not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Back in the Old Testament, and this might be perhaps a helpful illustration of what we're talking about here, when it sounds as though that they're actually receiving the power to forgive sin or to retain sin, but that the Lord means by that, that they have the authority to declare this. on behalf of Christ, not to actually do it themselves to forgive sin. You go back to the Old Testament, the high priest there, when one was a leper and one was cleansed, of his leprosy, the leprosy had disappeared. There were various steps that the high priest was supposed to take. But the end process, the end of the process is that the high priest would look for all of the signs and indications, whether there was still any leprosy that manifested itself. And when he saw that there was no leprosy, he declared the person to be cleansed. Now, did the priest cleanse the leper? No he didn't cleanse the leper but he did declare the leper to be cleansed and so likewise spiritually we as ministers do not cleanse people from their sins but we do declare those who trust in Jesus Christ alone are cleansed from their sins and we do so authoritatively. We don't do so in our own you know, authority. We don't have the authority to do that. We do that based upon the authority of Jesus Christ. In order to be able to forgive sin, and not simply declare the forgiveness of sin, but in order to forgive sin, one would need to be omniscient. How can one forgive someone where you cannot know one's heart, truly one's heart, what's inside one's heart? Where there may be all kinds of things going on. Outwardly, they may be saying one thing, but inwardly, they may not mean it. That person's sins, because they said so outwardly, those sins are just automatically forgiven. They'll never have to, even though, say they were putting on a show, say they were doing it for the wrong reasons to satisfy somebody else who wanted them to do that. See, again, forgiveness of sin implies omniscience. And one who is not omniscient cannot forgive sin because one who is not omniscient cannot look into the heart of a person to see whether or not truly. When we forgive one another, we do so not because we can see their heart, only God can do that. We forgive one another based upon what we observe, what we see. But God forgives, truly forgives, only he can truly forgive so that there's no guilt. Guilt is removed entirely. No condemnation because he knows again and sees our faith, our repentance, our love. That he can see and we can't. It's interesting that many times in scripture, back again to the Old Testament, God gives to his prophets his word in such a way that it sounds as though the prophets are doing the act themselves, when in fact they are simply authoritatively declaring what God will do. Let me illustrate that for you. If you turn with me to Jeremiah chapter one, Jeremiah one, and we'll begin reading at verse seven, seven through 10. But the Lord said unto me, so the Lord says unto Jeremiah, say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Now notice verse 10. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. Now, did Jeremiah actually root out, pull down nations, root out nations, pull down nations? Did he do that himself? Did he actually destroy nations? Did he throw them down, build up, plant? Did he do those things or was he to declare those things? and God was the one who did them. So likewise, when Jesus says, whosoever sins you remit, very similar, the Lord is saying, he's the one we know who forgives sins, but he gives to his apostles and to his ministers the authority to declare that, just like with Jeremiah. He did not destroy nations. He did not uproot nations. He did not build up nations, but that's what he was to declare. Though it sounds like he was to be the very one who did those things, but he wasn't. He was simply to declare them. The same, and I won't look at the second one, but Ezekiel 43.3 is very similar to that. And so I submit to you, the apostles would have understood what Jesus was saying. He was not saying that you have the power to forgive sin. They would have understood it in a similar light as did Jeremiah and what God said to Jeremiah when he said that you would destroy nations, that you would build up nations. Jeremiah didn't understand that, I believe, to mean that he would himself do those things. God would do those things, but he would declare it. And I believe the apostles understood the same thing. They didn't have the power to forgive sin. They were to declare it. Never in the New Testament do we ever find the apostles forgiving the sin of anyone. Just won't find where they say, I forgive you your sins. but never happens. In fact, to the contrary, in Acts, and one can go to many different passages, but Acts 10.43, Peter speaking to Cornelius says to him, that is, to God, give all the prophets witness that through his name, through the name of Christ, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Whoever believes in Jesus shall receive forgiveness of sins. Jesus will forgive sins. Acts 13, verses 38 through 39. Here is the apostle Paul is preaching And he says, be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, speaking of Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe are justified from all things. See, he's declaring forgiveness. He's not saying, I forgive you. He's declaring it, which is what Jesus was telling the apostles they would do when he says that whosoever sins you remit, they're remitted, forgiven. They are to declare that, not that they had the power to do so. By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. And so there is There is an authority to preach the gospel and the forgiveness of sin in the name of Christ that does particularly belong to those who are lawfully ordained, who are the lawful successors of the apostles, the true apostolic successors. They do have that authority, I believe, committed unto them from Jesus Christ. That's not to say that a Christian cannot, in a whatever situation, say to an unbeliever that if they believe the gospel that they will be forgiven, they'll be saved, or that a parent... It's not to say that a parent can't do that as well with their own children. Certainly they can. can say to their children, if you believe the promise made unto you, you will be forgiven, you'll be saved. So any Christian can say that, but what I believe Jesus is communicating to the apostles is an official authority. that is given to the apostles and to their successors. To have, again, that official authority from Jesus Christ to declare that as we do when we preach. That is an authority that belongs to those who are lawful ministers. That is not an authority that belongs just to anybody. Not anybody has the authority to simply come up to the pulpit and begin preaching, man or woman alike. It doesn't matter. That's an authority that is given by way of a lawful ordination that's passed on and given to that individual by way of examination of qualifications. by way of inward testimony, by way of outward testimony, and by way of the official act of ordination. So again, man or woman alike, but particularly just to say today because I think it's becoming increasingly in more and more sadly more evangelical churches, but even reformed churches that women are believed to have that ministerial authority to be able to preach as well, the authority of Christ, when in fact Paul says in 1 Timothy 2 verses 11 and 12 that he does not grant that women have the authority to teach in the church to teach men, but they are to hear, they are to listen. in all submission to what is given. The qualifications for ministers in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are all applied to men. The apostles were all men. And so again, it has nothing to do with a woman's giftedness or abilities. Women may be extremely gifted, Women may have, in many respect, more ability in certain areas than men in ministry. But that's not the basis upon which the Lord has said that women are not to teach and exercise authority over men. It's based upon, again, Christ's institution. He's the one. He's the king. He's the one who determines that. And he's not given in his institution that calling to women. He's given it to men, just as just as in the home. He's not given that calling to women to be the head of the home. He's given that calling to men to be the head of the home. It's not that, again, women are not as gifted as men. That's not the issue. It's not that women are not as intelligent as men. That's not the issue. The issue is God's appointment, God's institution. And are we going to obey him? Are we going to try to come up with reasons why that was Paul's cultural view with regard to this when he goes back to creation and establishes that on the basis of the fact that Adam was created first and then Eve. So the authority of Christ is unique to lawful ministers, and I'm drawing to a close here. It is not an authority that is to be flaunted in pride. It's not an authority that is to be usurped in taking upon oneself what belongs to Jesus alone in determining the doctrine, the worship, the government of the church. That belongs to the king. and ministers are not the king. Ministers are ministers, they're servants. That's what a minister is, is a servant. And so again, our obligation and duty is to be faithful to the king, not to add to, not to take away, but to be faithful. And that's the only way in which our authority is lawful and legitimate. Paul says, that with the authority God had given to him, he can only, he can't use it against the truth, but only for the truth. He says that he cannot use it for the destruction of God's people, but only for the ratification. That's how authority is to be used. But when ministerial power and authority that Jesus has granted to his ministers is properly used, within the church, it should be received. It should be received by the congregation, by the church, it should be received as Christ himself speaking unto them. When it is properly used, Jesus is speaking unto us through his minister. And it should be received, that authority should be received because Jesus is speaking to his people through his minister. It should be received with joy. It should be received with reverence. It should be received with thanksgiving. In Hebrews 13, 17, the apostle Paul says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. He's not talking about civil rulers here. He goes on to say, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. Because we have the authority of Christ given to us, we've got to give an account for how we use that authority. It's an awesome responsibility. I mean, a huge, huge burden. A fearful, duty to stand behind this pulpit and to say, in effect, this is what Jesus says. This is what you are to do. This is how you're to live. This is how you're to please the Lord. This is what Jesus says. So that's, again, it's nothing to be taken lightly, either by ministers nor by the congregation. It's to be taken very, very seriously. And at the same time, when it's done rightly, it's to be received with joy and reverence. As Paul says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. That they may exercise that authority with joy Because our hearts, and I close on this thought, because our hearts as shepherds are and ought to be so connected to the sheep, your struggles are my struggles. Your burdens, which I know of, obviously I can't know what burdens you have that you've not shared with me, but your burdens become my burden. as a shepherd. Your victories become my victory. Your obedience becomes, even when it's hard, even when it's difficult, your faithfulness to Jesus Christ becomes my joy. I rejoice in that. and you make my leadership within the church easy. Whereas again, when the sheep rebel, when the sheep go their own way, when the sheep wanna do their own thing, as with any parent who knows, who has children, when the children go astray, when the sheep go astray, it's a heavy, heavy burden. and we grieve and we sorrow. And so Paul is saying here, make our joy a delight by your submission, by your obedience and walking in faithfulness to Christ and serving those who are faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. Okay, we'll stop there. Let's stand in prayer. Heavenly Father, again we thank Thee and praise Thee for Thy truth. Thy word is truth, and we pray sanctify us through it. We thank Thee for giving to us Even the instruction we have received this evening, for this is not the instruction of mere men. This is the instruction that comes from our King, Jesus Christ, unto us. And we do gladly receive it and pray that we would walk in faithfulness and obedience to it. Lord, we do commit our lives to thee. Take, Lord, every thought captive, every desire captive, every word captive, and every action captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.