Let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew
chapter 5. I'm sorry, turn with me to Matthew
15. Matthew 15. Recall that religious men came
to our Lord Jesus whenever His disciples had plucked the corn
on the Sabbath day. And they came to Him and they
said, They asked him a question and they said, ìIs it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath days?î And Scripture says they did this
that they might accuse him. They didnít really want to know
the answer. They only asked that they might
accuse him. And then right here in Matthew
15, in verse 2, they came again and they asked
this question, Do thy disciples transgress the
tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. Can you imagine making the issue,
making a gospel issue out of whether or not men wash their
hands before they eat? Can you imagine doing that? You'd
think that's foolish, wouldn't you? That men would make that
an issue. whether or not men wash their
hands before they eat. It's as foolish as men making
an issue out of a day. Well, look at chapter 19, Matthew
19. Pharisees also came unto Him,
tempting Him, saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put
away his wife, for every cause. There's a lot of things that
these men could have come. They're coming to Christ Jesus
who is God in human flesh. And while they have the opportunity
to speak to God in human flesh, their question is, is it lawful
for a man to put away his wife for every cause? That was the
issue to them. That's what was important to
them. Turn to Matthew 21. And look at verse 23. When he was coming to the temple, the
chief priests... These are the top brass in religion
in his day. The chief priests and the elders
of the people. They came unto him as he was
teaching and they said, By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority? To them, the issue was on whether
or not they would receive a man preaching. The issue was, where
did you go to seminary? Where did you get your degree?
That was the issue to them. That's what they made the issue
to be. Who gave you this authority? Look at Matthew 22 and verse
17. They come to him and they had
asked a bunch of questions that day. And it says, the Herodians
finally came. They said, Master, we know you're
true and you teach the way of God in truth and you care for
no man, you don't regard any man's person. Tell us therefore,
what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? They wanted to make the issue
about whether or not a man should pay taxes. You can imagine if
I stood here and preached to you and tried to make a gospel
issue out of whether or not you should pay taxes. Can you imagine
that? Look here in Matthew 22. They came and
asked some absurd question. Listen to this. They said, Verse
23, the Sadducees came, they don't believe there's even a
resurrection. They came in verse 24, Matthew 22, 24. Master, if
a man die, Moses said, if a man die having no children, his brother
shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Now,
there were with us seven brethren, and the first, when he had married
a wife deceased and having no issue, led his wife unto his
brother. And likewise, the second also,
and the third unto the seventh. And last of all, the woman died
also. Therefore, in the resurrections, whose wife shall she be of the
seven?" That didn't happen. That's just some absurd scenario
they came up with that seven brothers died and all ended up
marrying the same wife. So in heaven, whose wife will
she be? Just some absurd thing. This is what they came asking
Christ. This was the issue to them. Now here's our text, Matthew
22 verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them a question. Now here's the important issue. This is the only issue. This
is what He asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? That's the question. That's the
issue. What think ye of Christ? Our subject is the only issue. The only issue. I want to look
at two things. What think ye? And what think ye of Christ? What think ye? What do you think
of Christ? The question is not, you know,
what others think about Him. The question is not what your
spouse thinks about Him or what your mother or your father thinks
about Christ. It's not about what your sisters
or your brothers think about Christ. It's not even about what
commentary thinks about Christ that you've been reading. What
do you think about Christ? Christ always makes the Gospel
personal. What think you about Christ?
You know there is a way of telling what a man thinks about Christ?
There is a way you can tell about what a man thinks about Christ,
especially the preacher. Proverbs 23.7 says, As a man
thinketh with his heart, so is he. Christ said, where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. In Matthew 12.34, Christ said,
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Whatever
your heart is set on, that's what your treasure is. And whatever
your treasure is, out of the abundance of your heart, your
mouth will speak. That's what men will preach.
Listen, a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth
forth good things. The man that Christ has made
good in the heart, he has his heart set on Christ. Christ is
his treasure. And out of his heart, he's going
to preach the only issue. He's going to preach Christ and
Him crucified. And an evil man, An evil man,
a phony, a man that's faking. Out of the evil treasure bringeth
forth evil things. He wants to make the issue something
else. All those men that came to Christ
making the issue to be something else other than Christ, those
are evil men. Evil men. Do you notice the men
with all those vain questions, they only had one thing in common.
One thing. They had no need of Christ. That's
what they all had in common. How do you know that? What came
out of their mouth? What were they taken up with?
It was not Christ. The issue for them was a system
of doctrine. It was a day. It was a religious
work. It was... It was wisdom of men
trying to be more wise than somebody else with their little ignorant
scenarios. Vain questions. No Christ. Men love by nature to have religious
debate. Men love that. Men love to argue
and divide and bicker and strive over religion. Don't think it's
something just because a man stands in a pulpit. that he has
a new heart. And don't think that just because
a man is religious he has a new heart. Men that like to strive
with their fists and with weapons are no different than men, or
the man in the pulpit is no different than those men. He just has a
different kind of weapon he's wanting to strive with and beat
men with. He uses the scriptures for it.
He wants to divide. He wants to bicker. He wants
to argue. And there's only a very small
remnant that's brought by God to believe Christ so that He's
their only issue. Christ Himself is the issue. Go with me to 1 Timothy. I want
you to see what Paul told Timothy. 1 Timothy. Here is a wise older
elder preacher, an apostle. And what did he tell this young
preacher? What was his advice to this young
preacher? 1 Timothy 1.3 He said, I besought
thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went to Macedonia that
thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. No other doctrine. Neither give
heed to fables, to made-up stories, to phony stories, and endless
genealogies, because here's what they do. They minister questions. They minister questions rather
than godly edifying which is in faith. They gender questions. If a preacher is thinking about
preaching something, when he looks at a passage, he should
look at it like a lawyer looks at it. And he should look at
it and say, now, can this doctrine I'm about to teach, can it be
established without a shadow of a doubt? If men look at this,
are they going to say, that's plain as the nose on your face? Or am I just seeing it that way?
Because at the end of the day, at the end of the message and
at the end of what we've preached and everything we've showed in
Scripture, if a man's answer to everything you've showed him
is this, well, maybe, don't preach it. It's not worth preaching. It will gender questions. It
should be so clear and so obvious that a man cannot reject it. Now the man that's deluded, he's
going to see it and he's going to say, oh it's beyond a shadow
of a doubt. But he's deluded. He's deluded. If he wasn't deluded,
everybody that he preaches to would see it right away and side
with him. All God's people would. But they
see something and they say, that don't look right. I'm not sure
and certain, that's not beyond a reasonable doubt. And they
can't go with him. So he says, don't preach any
other doctrine. The one doctrine you can be certain
of that that won't happen with is Christ and Him crucified.
You can show Christ un-crucified. You can show men are totally
depraved. You can show from this Scripture, without a doubt, God
chose a number of people to salvation and gave them to Christ before
the foundation of the world, not based on any good or evil in
them. You can show that. You can show Christ came and
laid down His life for a limited number of people. You can show
particular redemption. You can show that man must be
born of the Spirit of God. Without the Spirit of God, he
can know nothing. You can show that. You can show
that it's by God working in you both to will and to do of His
good pleasure that men are preserved in this faith. You can show that.
You can show the Gospel. These other things. Look here,
down at 1 Timothy 6. Go to 1 Timothy 6 and look at
verse 3. Paul said, if any man teach otherwise,
and consent not to wholesome words, even to the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a good way to know what
to preach. What did Christ preach? What did Christ preach? If I'm
so hell-bent on a doctrine, I ought to look and see, did Christ preach
it? Was it so important that my Savior preached it? If He
didn't preach it, it probably wasn't that important. Look, that's what Christ said. When He sent them, He said, just
preach what I've commanded you to preach. Look, and to the doctrine
which is according to godliness. If a man doesn't hold to this,
what is he? He's proud, knowing nothing. but doting about questions and
strifes of words, whereof cometh envy and strife and railings
and evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt
minds, destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness,
from such withdraw thyself." Don't even listen to them. Don't
even consider them. I've seen a lot of men separate
using another gospel, but I've yet to see one do it graciously. I've yet to see one do it lovingly. I've yet to see one do it without
rebuking experienced faithful elders and making a fool of themselves. I've yet to see it. I've yet
to see it. They wonder why faithful men
don't answer them. They'll write, write, write,
want to know why don't faithful men answer them. Well, anybody
that's got any children, anybody mature enough to have babies
know you don't answer a baby whenever they're throwing a temper
tantrum. You just don't answer them. You're just silent. And
Paul said, withdraw from them. Don't give them the time of day. Why? Listen to what James said.
Who's wise? Who's a wise man and endued with
knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conduct
his works with meekness of wisdom. The Gospel humbles. God, when
He's working in the heart, teaching somebody, He humbles. He makes
you meek. He doesn't lift you up in pride. He brings you down. And listen,
but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory
not, lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual and devilish. Christ said, you
got that from your father the devil. For where envying and strife
is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that
is from above, Now consider Christ. He is our wisdom. He was pure,
peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and
good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. And the fruit
of righteousness which Christ sowed, He sowed in peace. And
He made peace. And that is what He works in
His people. Look at 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2. What think you
of Christ? Look at 2 Timothy 2.15. Paul said, Study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. Now that's what you hold
on to. You hold on to the word of truth.
You rightly divide the word of truth. Here a little, there a
little, God's preacher knows you can't just force-feed somebody. You can't make somebody just
believe something because you believe it. Here little, there
little, long-suffering, patience, waiting on the Lord. Just teach
the Gospel. He said, hold on to that sound
doctrine from the Scriptures. But he said, Sean, Sean, avoid
with everything that's in you profane and vain babblings. for they will increase under
more ungodliness." That's right. How do you know they're vain?
How do you know something's a vain babbling? When man's motive,
and you can tell this, you've got spiritual discernment. You
that know the Lord, you can tell this. You can tell it's a vain
motive when a man's motive is to prove his doctrine. Oh, he
may say he is preaching Christ and he wants to show you Christ.
But when his ultimate motive is to just make you say, well,
yeah, your doctrine is true. I see it. I see what you are
saying. Your doctrine is true. That's a wrong motive. That's
a wrong motive. I preached lately to you on imputation. I am not trying to just make
you believe what I believe concerning imputation. I want you to see
that God says it, but I want you to believe it because it's
such comfort to the heart. There's nothing like it to comfort
the heart of a believer because as God says it is, that's how
it is. Regardless of how we see it,
how God says it is, is how it is. And that's great comfort. That's what I want you to see.
I want you to see how much Christ suffered for His people and how
just God is and how truly free He's made His people. I don't
want you to just believe a point. God saved me from preaching to
you to make you just try to come over to my side and believe a
doctrine. If you do that, the next person that comes along
that can persuade you better will bring you right back onto
their side to believe a doctrine. I want God to teach you. I want
Him to teach you this in truth. Now listen, look at verse 17,
2 Timothy 2, 17. And here's what the word of that
kind of stuff would do. You know, you think about this
too. When men do that, when men have
a pet doctrine, that's all they see in Scripture and that's all
they preach from. Preterists are men who believe
Christ has already come back. That's all they preach. That's
all they look for in Scripture. That's all they see in Scripture.
And that's all they preach from Scripture. The Campbellites believe
that you're regenerated by baptism. They call themselves the Church
of Christ. All they preach is baptismal
regeneration. If you're not baptized, you haven't
been regenerated. That's how you are regenerated,
according to them. The Pentecostalism, they believe
that you can still have these apostolic gifts and speak in
tongues. And that's all they see in Scripture
and all they want to preach. But you know what God's people
see, and all they see in Scripture, and all they want to preach?
The only issue, Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. But here's what that Word will
do. Verse 17, ìTheir word will eat as doth a canker, of whom
is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred,
saying that the resurrection is past already, and they overthrow
the faith of some.î Can you imagine being a man who overthrows men's
faith? This is what will happen if you
start preaching a false doctrine. You have men who God is just
bringing, or maybe they are just hearing, or you have somebody
who is having trouble because of something, they are listening
with critical ears, and they hear you preach something that
is so kooky and off the wall that they just say, I am not
even going to be with them anymore. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that He is. He's not going to lose His people. Let everyone
that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in
a great house there's not only vessels of gold and silver, there's
also vessels of wood and earth, some to honor, some to dishonor.
Now listen, he's talking about these false preachers. And if
a man will purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto
honor, sanctified, meet for the master's use, prepared unto every
good work. And he's speaking particularly
to preachers. He's saying, don't associate
with fellows like that. Purge yourself from them. Urge
yourself from them. Flee youthful lusts. Follow the
righteousness and faith and charity and peace with them that call
on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid, knowing they do gender strife, and a servant of the
Lord must not strive. but be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach patience, in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves. If God perventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who had taken captive by him
at his will." Very, very few people believe Christ. What think
ye of Christ? Job said, I have esteemed the
words of His mouth more than my necessary food. I need Christ,
I need to hear Him, I need to follow Him, I need to be taught
Him more than I need bread on my table. Christ asked His twelve apostles,
He said, will you go away? Remember what they answered? They said, to whom shall we go,
Lord? We can't go away. We can't go to another doctrine.
We can't go to anybody else. You have the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure You
are that Christ, the Son of the living God. Who can we go to?
Who can we go to? Now listen to me carefully. When
you meet Christ, you never grow beyond Christ. Christ is all. Christ is all to you. And that's what you think of
Christ. Christ is all. When God saved you, that's what
Christ is all. Now secondly, what think you
of Christ Himself? This is life eternal, that they
may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
seen. Who is Christ? Why is knowing
Christ, why is Him being the only issue so important? Paul
said, I have espoused you to one husband, that I might present
you as a chaste virgin. to Christ, but I'm fearful, lest
by any means. And I'll tell you, the longer
you're in the faith, the more you'll see. The devil uses any
means. Sometimes you scratch your head
and say, I can't believe this. But he uses any means to beguile
you, to trick you. How did it start with Eve? With
a question. A good friend comes to you and
he says, have you ever considered And that's where it starts. And
it's like taking a poisonous cancer and putting it in somebody's
mind. And it starts eating away. And
they start looking at it, and looking at it, and looking at
it. And next thing you know, they're convinced of it. And
faith will rather say, drop it. That's not the issue. But they
can't drop it. and they're beguiled away from
the singleness of Christ alone. Paul said, I'm fearful that if
another man comes preaching to another Jesus that I've not preached
and you receive another spirit which you've not received or
another gospel which you've not accepted that you might well
bear with him. That's every pastor's fear. To see men go after something
that's not the issue. Our message is this, who Christ
is. How could you get tired of preaching
that? He's God come down from above. God came down in human
flesh. How could you exhaust that subject? He's man. God, man. As much God as if He was no man,
as much man as if He was no God. One person, God eternal so that
everything He did has eternal efficacy. And man who can bear
our sin and lay down His life for His people. So that when
He obtains eternal redemption, it's just that eternal redemption. How can you grow weary of that?
How can you grow weary of preaching why He came? Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sin. Jesus Christ who has a particular
people that God gave Him before the foundation of the world,
who came down in love and took flesh and dwelt among us in this
cesspool of sin, so that He might redeem us from ourselves and
from the curse of the law, from this world, and bring us to God
perfect and pure and holy and righteous in Him. How could you
grow weary of preaching? Why can't you? to show how God can be just and
how God can by no means clear His guilty people and yet at
the same time show His people mercy. How a man can be just
with God and yet God be just. How can you grow weary of preaching
that? It's the greatest thing that ever, there's ever been
in this earth. It's the reason it was made.
It was the very reason it was created. How could you grow weary
of preaching what he accomplished? This man, after he offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. How
could you grow weary preaching that? When He had by Himself obtained
eternal redemption, He sat down. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down. When He had by Himself declared
God the righteousness of God, He sat down. How could we ever? Where is He now? He raised Him
from the dead and set Him in His own right hand in heavenly
places, above all principality and all power and all might and
all dominion and every name that's named, not only in this world
but also in the world to come. And He's put all things under
His feet. He gave Him to be head over all
things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him,
so that He might fill all in all. And every one of you sitting
right here that have life, He quickens you. That's how you
know He's alive. That's how you know He's seated
at God's right hand. That's how you know this is the
day of salvation and that He accomplished the work God sent
Him to do. You believe Him. And you wouldn't do it if He
hadn't have quickened you and given you life by His power from
on high. What's He doing right now? He
gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the saints, till
we all come to the knowledge of the Son of God, to the measure,
the fullness of the stature of Christ. That is, till His body
is complete and there's not one left out of His body. And He
sent forth His preacher that we henceforth be no more children.
throwing temper tantrums over our little fake doctrine. Tossed
to and fro by the cunning craftiness of men who deceptively, deceitfully
use the Scriptures to try to prove what they want to prove.
so that we won't be deceived by that business, so that we'll
continue looking to Christ only and not be turned aside. But speaking the truth in love,
that we may grow up into Christ, be mature in Christ, look only
to Christ, point others only to Christ, know that Christ is
the only issue, so that we might grow and know this is so. That's
why he sends his pastors. That's what he's doing now. And
as he sends pastors after his own heart, it's from him that
the whole body is fitly joined together and he works effectually
in the measure of every part through the gospel and he brings
that body together in love and makes it grow. That's what he's
doing right now. Why would I get tired of preaching
that? Do you see what I'm saying? This is the only issue and there's
plenty that we can preach. We haven't even scratched the
surface. When you've preached 50 years on this, you haven't
scratched the surface. How do you think faithful men
could go... I've only preached 10 years.
I've only been your pastor 10 years. And there's so much I
want to preach on Christ. I just get up on Monday sometimes
so excited because there's so much more I'm ready to preach.
I want to preach on Christ. I see things I haven't got to
yet and I'm ready to get to them. I want to show you. I'm excited.
And how is it that a man could be preaching 50, 55 years and
he's still just as excited to open this book and deal with
this only issue? The mercies of God are new every
day. And He shows you Christ, and it's that multifaceted diamond. And when you look at a diamond,
you turn it, and there's another face, and you turn it, and there's
another face, and you turn it, and there's another face. And
you know, ladies, when your husband gave you that diamond, you just
couldn't quit looking at it, could you? Your husband gave
it to you. You couldn't quit looking at
it. And God's preacher can't quit looking at it. His people
can't quit looking at it. We just want to see this diamond
shine. Don't come before me with some
fake cubic zirconia. I don't want to see that. It
don't shine like this diamond. Bring me this diamond. That's
what I want to see. I want to see the diamond. Don't
come to me with no fool's gold. That's not what I'm interested
in. The only reason men do that is to exalt themselves. And I
don't want to see a man exalted. I want to see Christ exalted.
What shall He yet do? There's something else we have
to preach. What's He going to do? Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. And He bore them. And unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. He's coming again. He's not coming
with sin. Last time we saw Him, He was
bearing our sin. And we watched Him on the cross
bear our sin and go into the grave. We didn't see Him. We
didn't see Him. come forth and we have the report
He came forth and He ate and then He ascended. But we're going
to see Him come again and He won't be bearing any sin then.
He's coming back. He's going to come the second
time in the majesty and the pomp that men thought He was coming
the first time. That's right. And all eyes are going to see
Him. All eyes are going to see Him. It doesn't matter where
you live. It doesn't matter what side of
the world you're on. Every eye is going to see Him.
Because God's able. Because God's able. That's all
I need to know. Christ is all and He's in all
to His true people. He's the whole counsel of God.
He's the subject of our Scripture. He's the bishop of our souls.
He's the author and finisher of our faith. He's the bread
of life. He's the captain of our salvation. He's the foundation.
He's the cornerstone. He's the prince of life. He's
the door, the rock, the shepherd. He's the S-U-N of righteousness,
the light of the world, the light of men, the way, the truth, the
life. Everything made was made for Him and glorifies Him. He
is Christianity. He is salvation. What do you
think of Christ? He's the only issue. Believers
want to know more of Him. They want to see Him. They want
to see His glory. I want to see how He put away
my sin. I want to hear His glories preached. I want to hear His
character preached. I want to hear His accomplishments preached.
I want to hear His works that He's doing now preached and His
works that He shall do preached. I want to hear Him preached.
He's the one that made me bow and believe Him. He's the one
that gives me a new heart. He's the one that keeps me looking
to Him. He's the one that turns me from my flesh and turns me
from my way and turns me back to Him. He's the one that's going
to keep me preserved looking only to Him. He's the one that's
going to raise me in the final day to be with Him. And I'm not
going to be with some phony doctrine all my life. The rest of my days
in eternity I'm going to be with Christ. And that's who I want
to hear now. Don't you? He's the only issue. When men come with something
else, what did God say do? Shut up. Shut up. Turn away from
them. Because that's not good. We hear
Christ and Him crucified. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. Father, we thank You that You
keep Your people. We're thankful that You have
this Word that's so plain to us We don't have to question
it. We don't have to wonder if it's
yay or nay. We know for certainty this is
so. Thank you for Christ. Keep us
looking only to Him. Keep Him the only issue in the
hearts of all your preachers, in the hearts of your people.
Lord, make us glorify Him with our mouth, singing His praises,
with our scripture reading, with our prayer, with our preaching,
with our lives, with everything we do. Make us be constantly
thinking on Him, looking to Him, and be thankful for what He has
accomplished for us. Lord, turn Your people, make
them look to Christ. We thank You for this mercy and
this grace we have in Him. Amen.