This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day three of our look through Matthew chapter 28, the
last chapter of the book of Matthew. And I want you to notice with me as we
begin this look today the contrast at the end of this chapter, the contrast
between a cover-up of a message and someone who's telling us to get the message
out. First, look at the religious leaders.

They attempt a cover-up, a cover-up of the truth. Verses 11 to 15, "While the
women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to
the chief priests everything that had happened. And when the chief priests had
met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of
money, telling them, 'You're to say his disciples came during the night and they
stole him away while we were asleep.

If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of
trouble. ' So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. " And
this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

So they're attempting this cover-up. They're attempting to cover-up the
resurrection. They're attempting to cover-up God.

That is not a good place to be. You just can't, you can't win on that one. These
guards who were paid to be the best guards in the world, the Roman guard, they
were the guard who would never fall asleep.

They were the guard who, if they fall asleep, they would be threatened with a
death penalty based on that. That's why the leaders say, "We'll take care of it
with the governor if it gets to him. " Because they knew what they were asking
them to do.

These guards lie based on some money that they've been given. They're trying to
cover it up. Now Jesus is taking the entirely opposite, opposite direction.

Beginning in verse 16, here's what he says, "Then the eleven disciples went to
Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. And when they saw him,
they worshiped him, but some doubted. And then Jesus came to them and said, 'All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything that I've commanded you. And surely I am with you, always, to the
very end of the age. '" So Jesus, while they're saying, "Cover it up," Jesus is
saying, "Get it out.

Get out the truth. " And I just want to say to you, it is a lot better to live
on the get out the truth side of life than the trying to cover up the truth side
of life. Always live on the get out the truth side of life.

That's where the joy is. That's where the life is. That's where the light is.

One side is darkness. One side is light. One side is anxiety.

The other side is joy. And Jesus, as he tells them what to do here, get the
truth out. Just before he leaves them, in these last verses of the book of
Matthew, Jesus speaks to these disciples about three essential ingredients to a
life that's truly worth living.

Now notice, it says here that they all worshiped him but some doubted. There's
an assurance in that. In your life, if you worship Jesus but sometimes you
doubt, well guess what?

It happened with the first disciples too. That didn't mean they couldn't be
disciples. That didn't mean they couldn't keep following him.

In fact, for them, it didn't mean they wouldn't follow him, many of them, to
their death. Those that doubted him, eventually some of them followed him all
the way to becoming martyrs. That's how much faith they had at the end.

So if you doubt, sometimes don't worry about it. Just get back to a place of
worship. Get back to a place of talking to him.

Talk to him about your doubts. They worshiped, some doubted, and Jesus said to
all of them, "Here's what I want you to do. " And he talked to them about three
things, three ingredients to this life that's worth living.

He talked to them about authentic authority, about genuine growth, and about
absolute assurance. I need those. You need those three things in your life every
day.

We're going to look at them these next three days together. First, authentic
authority. You got to have authentic authority in your life.

Now I grew up in a time, maybe you did too, when one of the great bumper
stickers was question authority. And you should question authority. Until you
come to grips with who the authorities are in your life, who's running your
life, who's telling you what to do, you're never going to begin to enjoy life.

If you have no authority, then you're just going to live in confusion. You don't
know what to do because we need some direction in life. If you have the wrong
authority, you're going to live in fear.

Some people have the wrong authority of some relationship in their life now.
Some brother, sister, or husband, wife, some child, or the wrong authority from
some relationship in your life previously, a parent who may have already died,
but they're still telling you what to do somehow, and you're living in fear
because of that. Could be your boss, could be your job, could be money, could be
some desire that you have.

The wrong authority, that's going to cause you to live in fear. But the right
authority, that causes you to live in a place of peace, love, to be able to make
the right decisions in life. Who's in charge here?

You got to ask that question of your soul every day of your life. Who's in
charge here? If an alien came and said, "Take me to your leader," who would you
take it to?

Jesus says here, "All authority has been given to me. " The true leader, the one
who has all the authority, the Lord of lords, is Jesus. The only way to really
live with a genuine joy in life is to recognize the genuine truth of life, and
that is that Jesus is the authority that we need.

Jesus says, "I have the authority, and based on that authority, I'm asking you
to do these things. " What Jesus authorizes us to do, he has the authority to
do, and so he can give you the power to do it. Why is that important?

Well, when you know that God has authorized you to do something, you don't worry
about failure because God doesn't sponsor failures. It may not work out like you
wanted it to, but to call it a failure when you've done it by God's power, by
God's authority, is to totally miss the reality of what God is doing. If God is
going to do it, then God is the one that you know, by his authority, is going to
do it in the way that he intends.

If God says, "We're going to do something," it's going to happen. It's
inevitable. "I'll give you my power.

I've authorized you to do it. " Ordinary people empowered by God will see the
results not of ordinary people, but the results that can come only from God.
That's what the power of God does in our lives.

The one who has all authority is the one who's giving us these directions for
life. You have the opportunity today to live life in the authority of Jesus. All
authority has been given to me.

Based on that, he's going to tell us tomorrow some things that you and I need to
do. The question is, what authority are you living on? Are you trying to live
just on your own authority?

You won't listen to anybody else. You won't learn from anybody else. That's a
good thing to say, "Jesus, I want to change my heart and mind.

I want to live based on your authority. " Or is there some wrong authority in
your life, which happens to so many of us? Some relationship, some habit, some
financial need that's in your life, and that's really what's running your life.

In this moment, if God's Spirit's helping you to recognize that, this is an
incredibly important moment of life, a moment of change. When you recognize,
"That's not the authority I want to live by. That's not the authority that's
going to last.

That's not the authority that'll lead me to do the things that are important in
life. " You want the right authority, the authority of Christ, the authority
that expresses his love towards us, and out of that love, enables us, empowers
us to be and to do all that he's called you to be and do, what he made you to
do. When you live life under the authority of the one who created you, then you
live out what you were created to do.

When you live life under anyone else's authority, anything else's authority,
then they're going to call you to do what they want you to do, but they didn't
make you. They don't know you. They don't understand you.

That's why you live life under his authority. So Jesus says we pray today. We
pray that you help us to recognize you as the Lord of Lords, recognize your
authority in our lives.

We're not living life for ourselves. We're not living life for someone else. We
don't want to live life for something else.

We want to live life for you. And when we live life under your authority, we
know that we also have your authority, the authority to be and to do what you
called us to be and do. And that's what we want to do today.

Today we can only do this one day at a time. So Jesus, help us to live the no
fear under your authority life today. We pray this in your name, amen.

Tomorrow we're going to look together at the one thing Jesus asks us to do.