In his sermon titled 'Preaching With Authority,' Pastor Grant Brown critiques a progressive parenting style portrayed in a movie, arguing that a lack of authority leads to disorder and immaturity. He draws a parallel to the church, emphasizing that pastors must preach with authority derived from God's Word to guide congregants toward righteousness. Pastor Brown outlines four components of authoritative preaching: content, channel, charge, and command, asserting that pastors must deliver sound doctrine, call for action, and apply Scripture to the lives of their congregants. He highlights the seriousness of disregarding authoritative preaching, suggesting that it could lead to spiritual peril. The sermon underscores the importance of preaching that is both passionate and rooted in the authority of Jesus Christ, urging congregants to listen, obey, and pray for their pastors.

I recently watched a movie that portrayed a young couple with children. The young couple had adopted a parenting style that probably can be best described as progressive. And it involved things like don't say no to the children, don't deny any of their passions, don't say no, just try to convince them by rationale that this is the right path and this is the wrong path. Just kind of make suggestions. Definitely no spankings.

It was these parents philosophy that if you did something wrong you could simply make it right by doing something good in its place. No confession, no repentance, no dealing with disobedience, no discipline, just therapeutic nonsense that produces brats and fools. And the parents had absolutely no authority in their home and their children in the movie. They were out of control and they were really headed to a lifetime of infancy. But then, grandma and grandpa showed up And they tried the progressive style for a little bit of the movie.

They quickly got sick of that kind of parenting. And so grandma and grandpa turned things around. They went old school, good school. And they weren't afraid to exercise authority. And guess what happened?

The coddling stopped. The progressive parenting went out the door. And it was rough for almost the entire movie, but by the end of the movie, the children thrived. Tough love, but real love, and the children thrive. Now, that's just a movie, but that's exactly the point that Paul is getting at here at the end of Titus chapter 2.

God has given you a book, church. You have a standard. You have a book from God, God breathed, perfect, inerrant, and sufficient for all that you need for life and godliness. God has spoken. And he has said here what not to do.

And he has said here what to do. Here is what not to do. Here is what not to believe. And here is what to do. And here is what to believe.

And the job of your pastors is to preach that unadulterated, with authority. And Sometimes when you preach this with all authority, that is going to involve some tough love. Sometimes it's going to involve discipline. A lot of times it's not going to be easy to hear because I have to say no to things you want to do. But we're not up here to be progressive.

We're up here to preach this, the Word, once and for all delivered to the saints and apply it to every corner of your life. And this church will thrive if you hear and receive that kind of preaching with authority. You'll thrive. It's your pastor's job to preach what God has said with all authority. And the question you might have at times is going to be, well, I'm not sure I liked what he said.

So why should I listen to him? Why should I listen to you, preacher? Who died and made you the authority? Thank you for asking. God did.

Jesus died and he was raised up with all authority and he says, these men have authority. And so Jesus has said to your pastors, here's my book, preach this and charge my people to obey it and to push it into every single corner of their lives. That's what Jesus has said to your pastors. And that same Almighty God, that same creator of heaven and earth, your creator, that says to you as a church, Don't disregard that message that they preach Don't disregard it Don't disregard preaching that is backed by the very authority of the one who died and rose again and then gave your pastors and preachers the authority that you must submit to That's verse 15 of Titus chapter 2. A pastor's authority, a preacher's authority, is an authority that comes from God, and it makes him have trouble to sleep at night.

It's not an easy thing to read and to know. I have been tasked and given and delegated an authority that I will give an account for. The Titus 2 says these things. And a preacher's authority is one that comes from God. It's an authority that calls members of the church out of sin and into righteousness.

It's the kind of pastors and preachers that you need, beloved. Pastors that will preach with authority. Pastors who love Christ and who love you enough to call you out of your sin and into obedience. To preach the cross, to preach repentance and faith, to preach liberty to the captives through Christ alone. Your pastors are to preach a hot gospel.

It's not cold. It's not timid facts that just fill minds, but little else. No, your pastors are to preach a gospel that melts hearts of stone. A doctrine of personal crucifixion and resurrection, a doctrine that moves men and women to action. We are to preach a doctrine that demands a response from you every single Lord's Day.

With the authority of God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth behind what we say. That's what your pastor this morning and every Lord's day morning is supposed to do. So here at the outset, pray for me, beloved, pray for Pastor Matthew and hold us to that. Hold us to Titus 2 verse 15 and Sunday morning after Sunday morning when you hear preaching and it comes from the Lord if it's from this book and you can't say amen because of pride in your heart well then the quote Vodibacham you need to just say ouch you can't say amen say ouch and then repent but don't whatever you go whatever you do don't disregard this the word preached to you Don't disregard these things because if you do, if you disregard these things preached to you, you might go to hell because you're disregarding God. It's serious business.

It's damnable business disregarding the things of God. And so this morning that's our topic, preaching with authority. The kind of preaching that you need, that I need. A pastor's preaching that's one with authority it has four components authoritative preaching has four components first the content this book this doctrine the content of preaching it must come from here sola and toda scriptura Scripture and all of Scripture. The message must come from this book if it is to have authority, first the content.

Second, the channel. The channel, the means by which this message is to be conveyed in God's household. The preacher must speak, the preacher must preach with all authority. Third, not just the content, not just the channel, but this preaching must contain a charge, a call to action, an application. You must do something with this.

Real preaching demands that you must take this and do something with it, it answers the question, so what? So what? If there is no call to action, if there is no charge, if there is no passionate application, then there is no preaching. It's just been teaching. And as Mark Lloyd-Jones says, if you don't know the difference between preaching and teaching, then sadly you've never heard real preaching before.

There must be a charge. There must be a passionate call in applying the doctrine that is spoken. The content, the channel, the charge. And lastly, preaching with authority, the kind of preaching that you and I need, church, is held up by and spurred on by the command the command of Jesus Christ himself the one with all authority to preach this word so the content the channel the charge and the command this is what preaching with authority consists of This is what you and I need as a church if we are to see glory, to see the glory of Christ now and to live in that glory forever. So what we need.

So number one, number one, authoritative preaching involves number one the content. These things, authoritative preaching begins with sound doctrine. Authoritative preaching begins with sound doctrine. And That's exactly what Paul has been saying in Titus chapter 2. How does Paul begin Titus chapter 2?

Look at verse 1 of Titus 2. So in your Bibles, look at verse 1. Verse 1 reads like this, but as for you, Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Speak the things fitting for sound doctrine. Now look at the very end of the chapter.

Look at chapter 2 verse 15. These things speak. Speak the things fitting for sound doctrine. These things speak. And what are those things?

Verses 2 through 14. Here in between those, these things speak, here is what to believe. And here is how to live in light of those beliefs. Authoritative preaching begins with sound doctrine. And it ends with sound doctrine.

And verses 1 through 15 bookends, in summary, what that sound doctrine is. Verses 2 through 10, what is that sound doctrine? What's the content of our message? Verses 2 through 10, Here is how you are to live as men, women, boys, and girls. Let's tie this to verses two through 10.

Men, women, boys, girls, freed men, slaves. Older men, what are you to be? You're to be dignified. You're to be men of gravitas. Older women, reverent in your behavior.

Teaching the younger women what is good in the household. Younger women, what are you to be? You to be faithful workers at home, working hard, submitting to your husbands, loving your children well. Young men, you to be sensible, you to be sober-minded. Faithful laborers, What are you to be?

What are you to be in the workplace? Are you to work as unto the Lord? Why? Why is that the action? Because of verses 11 through 14.

Why do you behave that way? Because of verses 11 through 14. Redemption. The grace of God appeared, Jesus Christ, and He gave Himself for you to redeem you from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for his own possessions, zealous for good deeds. That's Titus chapter 2 in just one nutshell.

This is sound doctrine. How to behave as children of God because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished in his gospel. He's redeemed you. So live like that. Verses 2 through 14 are these things that Paul is talking about here in verses 1 and verse 15.

Sound doctrine. You want to know the content of a faithful authoritative sermon preaching that's authoritative? Sound doctrine summed up by verses 2 through 14 of Titus 2. These things, this word, sound doctrine, is the message of the preacher. These things, this Bible, is the rock upon which the preacher is to stand and it's this rock that is also to be proclaimed.

If it doesn't come from here, it's not preaching with authority. Because this message, this content, this doctrine, this book is the authority. John Calvin nailed it. You know, Martin Luther nailed it in 95, then John Calvin nailed this when he wrote, when we enter the pulpit it's not so that we may bring our own dreams and fantasies with us. No, as soon as men depart even in the smallest degree from God's Word, they cannot preach anything except falsehoods, vanities, errors, and deceits.

A rule is prescribed to all God's servants that they bring not their own inventions, but simply deliver what they received from God." End quote. So when your pastor stands up here with this book in his hands and this book in front of him listen, heed his words. When your pastor stands up here and says, Thus saith the Lord, Listen! Because He is heralding the message of the King of Kings. He is speaking as one set apart by God to proclaim these things, sound doctrine.

Doctrine that demands to come out of your fingertips. Authoritative preaching begins and it ends with biblical content. Authoritative preaching begins and ends with this book that God breathed. These words that God spoke through the apostles, through the prophets, the very words of God. This is the authority that preaching must have, the authority of God, because these are the words of God.

So beloved hearing me, God speaks today. I mean, I have friends, I have heard so many times, so many people in my life say silly things like, if only God would speak to me. If only I could hear just one time from God. If only he spoke. Church hear me.

He does. He does speak. You don't have to just wish he would speak one time. Every morning you read this book, He speaks. He also speaks in general revelation.

He speaks right here in special revelation directly to you every time you read your Bibles. And every time your pastor proclaims what this book says, he speaks. He speaks through your pastor because your pastor is saying God's Word after him. And so He speaks, so your pastor must speak. He speaks in His Word, and so your pastor must speak.

And that brings us to the second component of authoritative preaching, the channel. Paul says, these things speak. This sound doctrine speak it, preach it. If you follow Paul's argument in verse 15, it's a very easy argument to follow. It's speak with authority.

Verse 15, if you look there, it's very simple. These things, this doctrine, what comes from the Bible, these things speak sound doctrine with all authority. Speak with all authority. Exhort with sound doctrine in all authority, reprove with sound doctrine with all the authority, every single one of these things comes with all the authority attached to it. And so the channel by which you are taught sound doctrine and called to live out that sound doctrine With all authority is preaching from God's Word with authority So church if you are to have authoritative preaching you are to have pastors who speak from this pulpit with authority Comes with the descript them if it comes with the name if you're to have authoritative preaching you have to have the first word authoritative preaching And this is the same thing that Paul has told Timothy in his pastoral epistle in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 He tells Timothy preach the word Preach the word be ready in season and out of season Reprove rebuke exhort with great patience and instruction preach the word now isn't it interesting that this is God's design that this is the channel by which his people know him that he has given us a book to be preached I mean why not give us a move to put up there and just push play why not why give us a book instead of a motion picture Ever wondered about that?

Why a book? Why words? Well, I wondered. Nobody's nodding or anything, but I wondered. So I'm going to give you two reasons why I think he did it.

Why is that? Why did God give us a book? Why did God speak and give us his word instead of a movie? I'll give you two reasons, though there are undoubtedly more reasons than this. Reason number one.

God chose words to be preached, to be spoken. That's the channel, God chose words and not a picture because God speaks words. And when he speaks words, reality happens. You don't have to go very far in the Bible to see this, Genesis chapter one. And God what?

Said. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. This world that you and I live in, it was spoken into existence. You and I were spoken into existence by the author God Almighty.

And this God Almighty has written every single one of your days in his book. This is the God who speaks words. That's reason number one why he gave us words. Gave us words because God speaks words. Reason number two, God gave us his word, not a picture as the channel by which he reveals himself.

God does this because he is the Word. He is the Word. In the beginning was the Word, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. You don't need images to know God. That's why the second commandment is something we need to keep in mind.

No graven images. No, no. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. God didn't make a movie. God doesn't use a picture to reveal Himself.

No, God has spoken directly through the prophets and the apostles in this, the holy scriptures, he has spoken. And so, preachers are to speak what God has already spoken. And if we preach what God has already spoken, when God speaks, life happens. And so when your preachers speak, under the authority of this, the Word of God, we expect, we ask, And we know that God will bring a reality of light in darkness. Just as he did in Genesis chapter 1 God will do a work God will bring about reality when preaching the Word of God with authority.

That's why Paul says preach the Word and speak with authority. That's why Paul says in 1st Timothy 4, until I come give public attention to the reading of scripture give attention to the public reading of scripture and exhortation and to reproof because we are people of this book this should saturate our worship service which is why we do what we do in our worship guide. You ring that worship guide out, a little bit of Grant and Matthew come out, and it's just Scripture. That's what you want. We are people of this Book.

You are a people of the book. We are, think about this, you are part of the same people who have been reading the same book from the same prophets all the way back to Moses and really before them. We are his people and his possession which means we love his book. This book that spans from creation to the promise of consummation. This is the Word of God that has been delivered from generation to generation once and for all delivered to the Saints.

This is the word of God's covenant people. Think about that. This is the word of God's covenant people from old to new. One savior, one word, one church, one people from Adam to the end of time is book. Covenant keeping Almighty God has spoken to his people And so pastors are to proclaim what the covenant-keeping Almighty God has said to them.

And so as MacArthur says, MacArthur writes, a preacher then is to speak as one who commands. A preacher is one who simply says God's word after him and applies it to your life. A faithful preacher is one who commands. Why? Because God commands.

That's component number three. Preaching with authority is a call to obedience Authoritative preaching is Speaking a charge to God's people to obey Authoritative preaching is calling God's people out of their sin and into holiness, repentance, and faith. Now this is exactly what Paul has already said in verse fourteen. Look again at verse fourteen of Titus 2. Look again in there in your Bibles.

Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed. What's that? Calling out of sin. He's called you out of sin. And, verse 14, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession Zealous for good deeds.

What's that? That's a charge to pursue righteousness To pursue holiness so a call out of sin and a call to holiness. That's verse 14. But it's not just verse 14. Look up at verse 12.

Look at verse 12 there. The grace of God has appeared, verse 12, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. So that's a call out of sin. And what? To live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

That's a charge to obey. So here in verse 15, Paul's not making up something new. He's already done it. He's showing you how to do it. Call people out of sin and call them into righteousness.

Paul is repeating himself in verse 15, which means it's really important. Sound doctrine must be believed within and it must come out. Your fingertips are going to do something And these are the things that are to be preached. These things that are preached dramatically impact what comes out of your fingertips. And so preaching that is done faithfully with authority is to contain exhortation and reproof.

Exhortation and reproof. That word exhort in verse 15, that word exhort is often translated, urge, implore, to plead with. It carries with it the intensity, an intense desire for the hearer to do something in light of what's just been proclaimed. An intense desire for the hearer to do something in light of what's just been proclaimed. And that word reprove there in verse 15 comes right after exhort, exhort and reprove.

That word reprove can mean convict, expose, show a man his fault. To reprove someone is to tell the truth about their sin. To call sin out for what it is. It's an abomination. It's rebellion against God.

To reprove is to love someone enough to tell them that they can't hold on to that sin any longer. They can't hold on to that idol any more. They can't coddle what they once held dear any longer. To reprove is to say that habit, that taste, that practice, that way of life it has to be repented of To approve is to tell them good because if you don't if you don't repent of that habit or Practice it will end in misery death and an eternity in hell you need to get this church. The job of your pastor is not simply to teach you the facts.

Some of you might like that. I just wish you'd be a little less intense. I wish you'd just, you know, give me the facts. That's all I need. Give me a lecture.

Now, facts are good. Facts are great. In fact, facts are what give way to behavior. It's the indicatives, the truths about God and His Word that are the fuel for the imperatives. How you are to live.

Facts are essential. I'm not saying facts don't matter. But if facts just stay up here, if all the facts do is stay right here and they never get digested and make their way into your heart, then all that knowledge has done is puffed you up, and all the facts have done is further condemned you to hell all that's happened I don't want I don't want my job by the grace of God is to plead with you intensely push this doctor into every single corner of your life. Push it until you can push no more. Apply this text to every bit of who you are, what you do, what you believe.

My job is to do this for men, older men, older women, younger men, younger women. My job is to do this for children, for you children. Children listen to me. I try almost every Lord's Day and I really do every Lord's Day plead with you specifically children. I plead with you to believe these things.

Children, these truths about God are massive. Children, listen to me. Children, my children, listen to me. These things will do something to you. They will do something inside of you.

If you hear these words and you humble yourself, young ones, these things, if you hear them and you humble yourself and you hear them and receive them, they will soften you and you will know the Lord God, and you will be happy, and you will live rightly, and great will be your reward. But if you will not humble yourselves, children, if you sit in that chair week after week, and you decide, children, I'm not going to listen to anything he says. He's got nothing to say to me. That pastor up there just talks over my head. I'm not talking over your head right now.

If I have anything to say to anyone, children, it's to you. If I have anything to say up here, it is to you little ones. And if these sermons do not soften you, these sermons will harden you. And you will be like Cain one day." The Bible says he sought repentance and he couldn't find it, though he sought it with tears. I don't want you to be hardened.

So children, hear me. Each Lord's Day, every Sunday, do you know what you're doing? You are ascending the mountain of the Lord. To hear His Word preached to you right here, in this room, through this book, you are hearing the very oracles of God. He speaks to you, children, every Lord's day, through your pastor.

He will reprove you. God will show you this is the path of the wicked. Don't walk down that path. It leads to destruction. God will speak to you words of reproof, and He will speak to you words of exhortation.

Hear this word of exhortation from me. It comes from God. There is another path, the path of the righteous, and it's a path that runs by streams of living water, and it yields fruit, and it's satisfying in all the days of your life, it will yield joy despite the hardships. That is the path for you. Water that it will satisfy.

Authoritative preaching is for you, children. It's for your entire household. And the job of your pastor is to say, thus saith the Lord, and to urge you to do something about what God just said. God says this, so do something with it. And so that's why I get emotional.

That's why I get worked up up here sometimes. Sometimes. That's why I get passionate, because God says life is on the line. And children, you really, really, really, really, really matter to me. The old folks do too, but you really matter to me.

More than I can say. And I love this book, and I love you, So that's why I wave my hands around. And I get all excited because this book demands that I do. And you need it. You need it.

Martin Lloyd Jones, the brilliant 20th century Welsh minister. This is what he called preaching. Logic on fire. Theology on fire. Martin Lloyd-Jones would say that with Paul, that biblical preaching is preaching with authority.

It is teaching theology with a passion and an intensity that comes first from the pastor being so moved by what he preaches to himself in the study that it becomes absolutely imperative to him as he steps into this pulpit that his people must be moved too. And the Scottish minister, John Murray, a contemporary of Martinoid Jones, he wrote the same and I quote if there is no passion, well there is no preaching. And R.C. Sproul said the same quote dispassionate preaching is a lie. Authoritative preaching is theology on fire.

So what must you then hear on the Lord's Day as your pastors preach God's Word with all authority. What must you hear? You must hear them reprove you. Your pastors must reprove you. Your pastors with authority, you need to hear them preach to you the truth about your sin.

You need to hear them preach to you about the need for confession and your repentance, the need for you to put to death the sin that is in you. You need reproof. You need it. If you leave here there's been no reproof. I've been cheated.

I've been cheated. And you must hear them exhort with authority. Not just these are the things you need to repent of. These are the things you ought not to do. You cannot do anymore as a child of God.

That's reproof. That's good. But you also need exhortation. These are the things to believe. These are the things to do.

Obey these things. John MacArthur, again, he said it perfectly. The preacher is not up in the pulpit giving opinions. He's not giving insights or ideas that come from his own mind, his own intuition. The faithful preacher is not simply sharing insights.

He is not offering some kind of optional counsel. There may be elements of that in what he does, but primarily his responsibility is to get this, bind people to the authority of that which reflects sound doctrine. Did you hear that? Preaching with authority is for a pastor to bind his people to this book. To give God's people the charge from God's Word to call sinners to repentance and faith, and to call you as children to be holy as God your Father is holy.

Paul has already said as much, hasn't he, in Titus chapter 1? Do you remember the pastoral qualifications? Titus chapter 1? Let's go there and look. Titus chapter 1, look in verse 9 for just a minute.

Paul's already said all of this in chapter 1. Starting in verse 9, a pastor must hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to what? Exhort in sound doctrine and to Refute, or we could translate that, reprove those who contradict. There's exhortation and reproof right there. Why?

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. For this reason, reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith. Church, that's the kind of pastor that you need.

This is what I must be if I'm to be your pastor. This is what Pastor Matthew must be if he's to be your pastor. This is what anyone who God calls among us to be our pastor is to be. So pray for us. Pray that God would make us like the preachers of old.

I'm not talking about the reformers, those are great preachers. I'm talking about the first preachers. Preachers like Moses who in Deuteronomy chapter 4 read the law of God. He read the law of God. He explained the law of God and then he applied the law of God as he told the Israelites, this is what God has said and you must obey it.

Now I'm just following the pattern that has been there since the beginning. The word is read, You give the sense of the word and then you apply the word Moses did it in Deuteronomy chapter 4 Pray that God would make us like Moses Pray that God would make us like preachers like Elijah the prophet Hey children, do you remember the the story of Elijah the prophet when he's on Mount Carmel with all the prophets of Baal, do you remember that? 450 prophets of Baal. And there stood Elijah, one man who stood with Almighty God. And as John Knox so triumphantly put it, There was 450 prophets of Baal and one man, but the one man with God was always in the majority.

Always. Do you remember what the prophet Elijah cried out as he was up there about to show all of them who the one true God was. Do you remember what he called the people that were watching too? 1 Kings 18, verse 21. Elijah came near to all the people and he said, How long will you be between two opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him. What did that preacher do? That preacher brought his listeners to a crisis. You must do something with what I'm saying.

You cannot sit on the fence any longer. You must respond to what you have heard. That is what pastors Must do. That is why pastors must take this word and confront you with it. This will not leave you unchanged.

It will either soften you to repentance or harden you to hellfire, but it will not leave you unchanged. If you think you can sit in these chairs every Lord's Day and sit on the fence and say, we'll see, you're not seeing, you're getting hardened. Not leaving you neutral. The cross will either be foolishness to you or it will be the very power of God unto salvation. But today you must choose.

These things will not leave you unchanged. This word, this word is living and active. Well that's why pastors must take this word and confront you with it. So authoritative preaching brings people to a crisis like Elijah did. That's why I say things like, today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day. I say that because the Bible says it. Because you must be confronted with a crisis. That's authoritative preaching. So pray that your pastors would be like Moses and Elijah.

You know why you're at it? Pray that your pastors would be like John the Baptist. That preacher, John the Baptist, a herald of the king. Remember what he preached? No easy believism, no cheap grace.

He preached the necessity of conversion he preached the necessity of turning away from sin He preached the necessity of how one must deny oneself and follow Christ. Do you remember the way that the New Testament describes John the Baptist as he comes on the scene? One of the first descriptors of John the Baptist, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Crying out. That's theology on fire.

That's why I cry out. I want to be like that. That's passion. He called out the sin of the Pharisees. Remember that?

I mean, you talk about, you know, seeker sensitivity. John the Baptist ain't got a lick of it. He looked at them Pharisees. What did he call them? He didn't use the word sinners.

Could have. He went, you brood of vipers. If I were to call you a brood of vipers, would you get upset with me? That's what God, that's the language that God ordains. Call sin what it is.

Call sin what it is. That's exhortation and reproof. You know, John the Baptist didn't just preach the positives, right? No, he actually preached the darkness of judgment so that the brightness of salvation would burn all the brighter. Flee from the wrath to come, he would say.

And in the next sentence, he preached Christ. I testify to the light. Judgment's coming. But I testify to the light that's greater than the darkness. So these men of old, they preached Christ and so your pastors must preach Christ.

And is not Christ the ultimate preacher? Is he not the best preacher? He is. He was the one that said literally to creation, let there be, I do this, and it did it. He exhorted in the beginning.

In the beginning was the word, right? And the word created all things, let there be light. And he is the definition of exhortation in the habit. And that's really the fourth and final characteristic of authority and preaching. The God man Jesus is the manifestation of preaching with authority because he is the authority.

That's our final consideration. Not just consideration, our final command. We must speak these things with all the forefathers. Let no one disregard you. Do you remember Mark's gospel?

You remember it? Jesus shows up on the scene, And he begins to proclaim the good news and what do people start saying to him? Who is this? Who is this? I mean here is one who speaks with authority and not like the scribes.

And what happens to those scribes and Pharisees well they get upset and so they come up to Jesus later on in Mark's Gospel and what do they ask Jesus by what authority are you doing these things By whose authority do you say these things? And what's the answer? God. God did. God the Father gave the Son that authority.

And Jesus the Son is one with the Father. It's God's authority and Jesus is God. Jesus is the authority. Jesus is the authority. And so when your pastors come up here into this pulpit and they preach with that, with what authority do they come?

By whose authority do your pastors and preachers, with what authority do they speak and preach these things according to Titus 2? Whose authority do your pastors have in their exhortation and in their reproof? They have the very authority of Jesus Christ. They come into this pulpit with the great shepherd's authority which he has delegated to them as undershepherds. We speak with the authority of Christ as your pastors.

Why? Because Jesus said so. Matthew 28, verses 18-20. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age.

Paul says in Titus 2 verse 15 that that authority of Jesus Christ is being exercised through your pastors even right now. So when they preach these passages, when they preach this book in the pulpit, the authority of God is behind it. So Pastor Grant, don't be glib. Don't be foolish. Don't deviate from this Word.

Preach these things with all authority. And so that's what your pastors do. We preach, we make disciples, we baptize, we teach God's people to observe all that He's commanded. And you, listen to this, you are to listen. You are to not disregard what is said.

Why? Because the one with all authority speaks with authority through your pastors preaching sound doctrine. So do not disregard what is said. Paul writes, these things speak and exhort and approve with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for this verse and its instruction for me, for Pastor Matthew, and our people. I ask that you would make me a more faithful preacher and raise up faithful pastors and preachers in this body and make us all the more a people of this book. We'll do this for the glory of your name and our everlasting good. We pray this in the name of the one who has all authority in heaven and earth, the one whom we preach crucified, risen, and reigning.

The name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.