And that's a good thing because
there is a time for questions. On the other hand, there is a
time to refrain from asking questions. Certain types of questions would
be better left unasked. God's word clearly teaches this
simple principle about asking certain types of questions and
why. It'll be for our good and the
good of all God's people if we learn this simple principle.
You see here in 2 Timothy 2 verse 23, it says, but foolish and
unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. Now
that clearly says there's certain kinds of questions that if you
ask them, it's gonna make trouble amongst the brethren. It's going
to gender strife, going to cause us to get at each other. And it says they're foolish and
unlearned. Now, turn a page or two further
to Titus 3, and God's word clearly declares what these, there's
two categories of these foolish and unlearned questions. And
this one verse clarifies the whole matter of what they are.
Have you got Titus 3 verse 9? Avoid foolish questions. There
it is again. That's pretty clear. But the
first category of these questions is about genealogies. The second
category of questions is contentions and strivings about the law.
If you ask either one of those types of questions, what will
happen is it says they're unprofitable. That means there's nothing to
be gained in it. There's no point in it. If you
invest time and energy in it, it won't bring you any return.
And the second thing is, it's vain. If you're asking these
kind of foolish questions, it means it's all about you. So
now look, well, we'll turn there in a minute, but you see the
two categories. Let me go a little deeper into
that. Questions about the law lead
to strife and contention and trouble for me and for everybody
else. If I'm asking them, it's going
to lead to trouble. And if you're the hearer of them, it's going
to lead to contention there. And here's all we need to know.
God's word tells us all we need to know about the law. And here's
what we need to know about the law. Number one, is this perfect?
God's law is perfect. The second thing we need to know
about the law is you and I can't keep it. God's word teaches that,
doesn't it? You and I can't keep it. Period. The next thing it teaches us
is that the Lord Jesus Christ did keep it. Now that's pretty
simple, isn't it? And the last thing it teaches
us about the law is that if we're in the Lord Jesus Christ, he
kept it for us. And that's all we need to know
about the law. All the other questions about it are foolish
and unlearned. They're vain and unprofitable.
They won't do us any good. And the reality is, If we're
in Christ, we kept the law. And if we're not in Christ, no
amount of questioning is going to change the problems that we
have. The Lord Jesus Christ, he kept
the law for us if we're in him. Now that's one category of these
foolish and unlearned questions. The second category has to do
with genealogy. Now genealogy is the questioning
and the tracing of generations. And that means where did our
parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, you know,
it's looking at all of that stuff about ourselves. And questions
about genealogies come in two varieties also. Turn to 1 Timothy
chapter one. To question my own genealogy,
that is where did I come from, That's one of the most foolish
things we can waste time on when God's word clearly answers the
question where I came from. And to spend time on this is
nothing but pride, looking for someone we can point to and do
this, go see that's my, I came from him, I'm somebody. And it's
gotta count for something. And the truth is, It doesn't
count. Look what it counts for in 1st
Timothy 1 verse 4. Neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying,
which is in faith. It doesn't edify us or the scriptures
or knowledge of God in any way to question genealogies. My uncle
Bob. That's for whom I'm named. He,
in World War II, was in Europe, in the war, and met and married
an English lady. And after the war, they came
to the States, and boy, she got into, she wanted to know who
the Coffey's were. And she got to tracing them back,
and you know what? She found out there was an Earl
of something or other that we were related to. And she told
everybody she met. She was now a descendant of Earl
so and so. Let me tell you what I know about
that Earl. Now, first thing is I know he's
dead. The second thing is I know that
I don't own any land in England that came from him, and I'm certainly
not a noble in any way. Nobody calls me sir something
or other. So you see where that tracing
genealogy led her and me. Then one of my brothers decided
he wanted to look at genealogy on the other side of the family.
And do you know who I'm related to? Well, my dad's name was A.R. Coffey, that's all. And I found
out, my brother found out that my grandfather, great-grandfather,
my dad's grandfather was a man named A.R. Umbel. Y'all wanna
know who he is? He's the guy that started Humboldt
Oil, which was standard oil. Boy, now that's, I mean, that
was one of the biggest, wealthiest corporations in the world at
one point. You know what I know about him?
First of all, he's dead. Secondly, he lost all the money
somehow. I didn't get a dime of it. The other thing I know
is who in the world would name their child Archilas Rudolphus? It's no wonder they called him
A.R. And I know that my grandparents
named my dad A.R. hoping to get some of that money,
and it didn't work out. We didn't get a dime of it. So
you see what a waste of time all this business about genealogies
is. It's a complete waste of time.
Don't go there. God's word settles the matter.
You wanna know about your genealogy and mine? We're all the sons
and daughters of Adam. And as such, we're fallen, depraved,
and sin sick. We're born helpless, hopeless
by nature, period. To question that truth is at
best foolish, and at worst, it's totally self-destructive. Our
inheritance is a nature of sin. Period. It's all a genealogy
we need to know about ourselves. But the second type of question
about genealogy is much, much more dangerous and important.
And that's the question, the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Luke 22. Despite the fact that Jesus Christ
clearly declares who he is and who his father is. In his earthly
ministry, people continually questioned his genealogy. And to this day, nothing's changed. Look here at Luke 22, verse 66. They brought our Lord out of
the soldier's hall where they'd beaten him. And as soon as it was day, the
elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes
came together. Everybody, everybody had these
questions. And they led him into the council
saying, art thou the Christ? Tell us. And he said to them,
if I tell you, you won't believe. And if I also ask you what you
think, he said, you won't answer me and you won't let me go. Hereafter
shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God.
And they all said to him, look what they asked, Art thou the
Son of God? You see the question? That question
is genealogy. And he said to them, Will you
say that I am? He said, I am, I am. And look what they responded.
And they said, what need any further witness? We ourselves
have heard it with our own mouth. And you know what they did? They
took him up a hill and crucified him. That was their reaction
to his declaration of his genealogy. He said, yes, I am the son of
God. And they killed him. And to this day, the whole matter
of unbelief centers on questioning or on men trying to deny by questions
this simple truth, Jesus Christ He is the Son of God, period. Now, turn back to Micah. If you
start at the end of the Old Testament and work backwards through a
few of the minor prophets, it's page 1158 if you have the Bible. A lot of us do. Micah chapter
7. And before we start asking any
of these foolish and unlearned questions, Let's answer a couple
of questions that God asks in his word. And the first one here
in Micah 7, look at verse 18 says, this is a great question. Who is a God like unto thee? Who's a God like our God? Don't
we watch current events today and wonder what must their God
be like? that commands them to walk in
a place and start killing people with machine guns. Who's a God
like that God? And our Lord in his word here
says, who's a God like unto thee? And look at the answer. God never
asks a question he doesn't give the answer to. Who's a God like
this? You know what this God does?
God of this Bible, he pardons iniquity. Who's a God like that? Pardons
iniquity and passes by transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He loves his children. He doesn't. He doesn't dress
him up and put him in front of terrorists and let him get shot
up. He loves his heritage and look at this. He retaineth not
his anger forever. I don't know why I remembered
this recently, but this thing of retaining anger. When I was
10 years old, I had a school friend named Casey Becker and
I was over at Casey's house and we were playing as kids do and
we kind of got in a little fuss. It was just kids do that, right? But his big brother came in the
room and saw this and walked over and turned me around and
went wham and hit me in the eye and I hit the floor and my eye
swelled up like Quasimodo or something. I mean, it was big
and black. And you know what? The other
day I thought of that and I thought, I'm still mad at Casey Becker's
brother. It's been 60 years and I don't even remember his name,
but I'm still angry at him. Who's a god like unto this God?
Did you see what that said there? It said he retains and not his
anger. And look at me here. Do you know
what we did? We got his son in a room. And you think they didn't hit
him? You think we didn't? We hit him in the face again
and again. And you know what? God's not
angry at us about that. No. He's forgotten. It never
happened. Who's a God like this? And it
says because he delights in mercy. We need that. It says he will
turn again. No matter how often we turn from
him, he turns us back around and he says he'll turn again. And he'll have compassion upon
us. And he'll subdue our iniquities. And says, thou will cast all
their sins into the depths of the sea. That means they're gone.
God does not. It's not like we never sinned. We never did. We never did in
his sight. Thou will perform the truth of
Jacob and the mercy of Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. Who's a God like this God? There's
no God like this. Turn back to Exodus 15, and this
same question, who's a God like our God, is asked once again
here in Exodus with a little different wording. In Exodus
15, verse 11, it says, who's like unto thee, O Lord? Among
the gods, little g, who's like thee? This God is glorious in
his holiness. He's perfect. Like this fearful
in praises, he inspires his people to stand in awe of him and to
praise his name. I mean, we're pretty stingy with
our praise, aren't we? Somebody's got to do something
pretty important for us to go, good job. He inspires praise. And then
it says, he does wonders. The greatest wonder, he saved
his people from their sin. He died in their place. Who's
a god like unto this? All the gods, little g, they're
pretenders. They pretend, they claim to be
what they're not. Question the small gods, small
little g gods, but not this God. This God, he is God. He does
not have to pretend because he is who he says he is. He's able
to do all he promises. If we ever see this God, all
the questions are answered with regard to him, and our mouths
will be stopped. Find Romans 3 with me. All the questions about the law
are answered if we see Christ. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, the questions will stop, the foolish questions,
and all the world may become guilty before God. What I need
to know about the law is I can't keep it, Christ did, it's perfect,
and if he kept it, I kept it. That's all we need to know. Now
turn back to Exodus 3. And let's look at another question
from God's word to his people. Y'all remember that, uh, Moses
was out keeping sheep on the backside of the desert and he
saw something that got his attention and he went up the mountain and
he, he encountered a burning bush and a voice said, take off
your shoes. You're on holy ground. And Moses
approached and he fell on his face before this God who manifested
himself in a burning bush. Who's a God like that that can
do that? Manifest himself like a burning
bush and make us know he's God and cause us to, he's fearful
and praises. Moses went down on his knees.
He took his shoes off. He got down on his face before
this God. And then this God said to him, Moses, you go tell Pharaoh
to turn my people loose, let my people go. And what happened
here in Exodus three, verse 11, cause Moses to ask a question.
And this question is for all of us. And Moses said unto God,
who am I? Who am I? Who am I? That's a good question for us
to answer. Who am I? Who am I? David said, Who am I, O God? Thou shouldest have mercy on
me. Jeremiah said, O Lord God, I
cannot speak. I don't have any more questions.
Who am I to ask you a question? Mephibosheth brought from the
land of no bread, fell on his face before David and said, what
is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as
I am? It's a good question for us.
Who am I? Well, turn to Galatians 3 with me. How does God's word answer the
question, who am I? What does God's word tell me I am?
Galatians 6. I know what all of us by nature answer or think about that question,
who am I? You know what that is? We all
think we're somebody, don't we? What's all this strutting about
with kids and young people anymore? I love sports, but I just almost
can't watch when somebody does something good because they start
doing all this crazy stuff, strutting about, I'm somebody, look at
me now. It doesn't matter that the guy just fumbled, you know,
the play before or he just, you know, fell on his face and missed
the tackle and the guy scored it. That doesn't matter. I made,
you know, I sacked the quarterback and go crazy. I know what we think about ourselves
by nature. We think we're somebody. What
does God's word say we are? In Genesis six, verse three says,
for if a man think himself to be something, When he's nothing,
he's deceiving himself. I'll tell you what we are, nothing.
We're less than nothing. That's what we are. We're a pile
of dust that God scraped together and breathed life into. That's
what we are, a pile of dirt. That's what we are. We think
we're somebody when we're nothing. Turn to Matthew 22. The apostle Paul, he got it right
eventually. He started out saying, I'm an
apostle. And then he said, well, I'm less than the least of all
the saints. And finally he got to the right place. He said,
oh, wretched man that I am. I'm just a pile of dirt. I'm
not somebody, I'm nobody. That God's made somebody in his
kingdom. And our Lord was constantly questioned
during his earthly ministry. And finally, he asked a question of those who questioned him.
And it put a stop to all their foolish and unlearned questions
about his genealogy. Look at Matthew 22, verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? He asked them, who do you think
I am? And they said to him, the son
of David. Now he got it partly right. He
was a descendant of David. If you trace his genealogy back
all the way, all the way back, he was the son of David. But
that's all they thought he was. They didn't understand he was
the son of David and the son of God. And he went on and said,
he saith to them in verse 43, how then did David in spirit
call him Lord saying the Lord said unto my Lord, sit down on
my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David
didn't call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able
to answer him a word. And look at this. Neither does
any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions. God shows
us who He is, who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and who we are. He
does a whole lot of that for us. Doesn't stop it, unfortunately,
but it will. It'll cause us to quit asking
foolish and unlearned questions. Now turn back a little bit to
Matthew 1. Jesus Christ is the only miraculous Son of God. He
is God. In Matthew 1, verse 18, we read,
now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his
mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child. of the Holy Ghost. In verse 21,
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all
this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. God's question to us is, what
think ye of Christ? He says who he is right here,
didn't I just read it? He's the son of God. And he asks
us, what think ye of Christ? And we need to clarify this a
little bit. Think here, that word does not
mean, Sean, what's your opinion? And Adam, what's your opinion?
What think ye of Christ doesn't mean, will you give your opinion,
you give yours, and let's ask one of the ladies to be fair
and, you know, Politically correct. No, that's not what it means.
What thinking of Christ here. Listen, the question is not,
is he the son of God? That's a fact. That's a fact. Everybody's going to find out
one day he is the son of God. The question is better or more
clearly seen by us as being this since Jesus Christ is the son
of God, since he is. Do you believe and embrace that
truth? God's people do not reply with
questions about genealogy or law-keeping. That's all been
settled. Rather, God's people rejoice
in the knowledge that Jesus Christ, He is the Son of God. And they
are so glad He is. They rejoice in that truth. God's
people aren't left to wonder. God's people aren't left to try
to figure this out. No, God's people have been given
the answer by revelation. God sends his spirit for what
purpose? To give us life, to wake us up,
to cause us to see the answer, which is, what think ye of Christ? God's people are taught, I think
he's the son of God. I know he's the son of God. And
not only that, I'm glad he's the son of God. We don't come
here to question, but rather to rejoice. We think, we know
Jesus Christ is the son of God. He's the only true son of God.
I think, I know, it's been shown to me. I'm so glad he is God. He's my savior. He's my sacrifice. He's my righteousness. He's my
living head. This book just keeps informing
us, just keeps reassuring us, just keeps telling us and showing
us again and again, answers the question we don't have to ask.
He's my righteousness. He's my living head. He's altogether
lovely. He's my guardian. He's my husband.
He's my creator. He's my substitute. He's my king,
my mediator. I'm so glad he's my Messiah,
my prophet. priest, brother, shepherd, sovereign,
teacher, resurrection. He's my inheritance. The Earl
didn't leave me a thing. But Christ has left me all. I'm
glad he's my surety, my wisdom, my sanctification, my goodness,
my blood offering. I'm glad he's my representative.
I'm so glad, so grateful, so happy in this. Why? Oh, did I mention? He's my joy.
He's my gladness. See how this all fits together.
And the more I can just sort of hush and be still and not
ask foolish questions, just listen to God's word preached by faithful
men sent by God, the more convinced I'll be, the more content, the
happier I'll be. I'll have peace. You know why? Did I mention he is my peace? He's the peace of God's people.
We don't have to fuss and fight over foolish questions. One more
scripture and I'll close. 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. Peace is not found in
the asking of questions. And let me clarify this. Your
pastor doesn't mind you asking a question. Nobody does. Some of these fellows that have
been around here a long time, they know some stuff. They do. I mean, Cecil sat here a long,
long time. His dad, he knew some stuff.
Boy, he indulged me some questions. He didn't get after me and embarrass
me over the foolish questions I asked. And it's okay to ask
questions. It's not about genealogy and
the law. Those are all settled here, okay?
There's some things hard to understand in this book, aren't there? I'll
show you that. Look here. You know, peace is
not found by asking questions. Peace is found in answering God's
questions. Who am I? Who is he? What think
ye of Christ? And there are things in the word
that are hard to understand. Thank God we're not required
to understand them. to believe in Him. You don't
have to be able to give an explanation and understanding of things that
are hard to understand. But questioning or wrestling
with what we don't understand, it's unprofitable, it's contentious,
and it creates strife. And everyone who worships God
with a sincere heart and a childlike spirit of belief will in time
have all the questions answered. It'll either be answered today
or tomorrow or in eternity. In the meantime, it is ours to
believe and wait, wait on the Lord. Now look at this scripture
in 2 Peter 3, verse 15. The account and account that
the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Now let's not skim
past that. The suffering of the Lord Jesus
Christ at Calvary, that is salvation. He put away our sin there. He
gave to us his perfect life up to that point. And it says, that
message, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according
to wisdom given unto him, he's written it unto you. That's what
men called of God do preach. That's the message. Verse 16,
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,
now look at this phrase, in which there are some things hard to
understand. We see there are things that are hard to understand,
that's okay. We don't have to understand,
only believe what the word says. And then look, some things hard
to understand, which they that are unlearned and unstable, they
wrestle with them, they make questions, they fuss and carry
on, and it's unprofitable in gender strife. It says they wrestle
with them as they do also the other scriptures unto their own
destruction. Now in case anybody misunderstands
what that's saying, it's folks who give themselves over completely
to asking foolish and unlearned questions questioning our genealogy,
that of the Lord Jesus Christ, and fussing about the law. You
know what they are? They're lost. They're headed
for destruction. But now, listen, once in a while
we get caught up in this stuff. We can do this. We can. It's
unfortunate, but believers fuss and sometimes get this way. And
look what it says, and this is a huge difference between our
attitude towards one another and how the Lord Jesus Christ
regards us. Do you see here, it says in verse
17, ye therefore beloved, seeing you know these things before,
beware lest you also being led away with the error of the wicked
fall from your own steadfastness. Now, what that says clearly is
that those who make their whole life about questioning these
things are lost. And it's saying, listen, We get
caught up in some of this stuff for a little bit and we get to
going off this way, saying the Lord, he doesn't go well the
heck with you. No, he pulls us back in. He won't
let it be to our absolute destruction. He's merciful to the end. So
verse 18 says, but rather than giving ourselves to these questions,
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. I hope that's a blessing to you.