Let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew
chapter 8. Tonight, instead of beginning
with my text, I want to begin with some other scripture and
lead up to my text. My text is in Matthew, so we'll
just stay right here in the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 8.
In the New Testament, the first sinner that we find drawn to
the Lord Jesus for mercy is right here, Matthew 8 verse 2. Behold,
there came a leper. This man had a desperate need.
He was a leper. He was a leper. Now you know
all of these physical healings and these physical ailments show
us an example of our sin. And they show us an example of
Christ's grace and power and ability to heal his people from
our sins. Now here came a leper, desperate
need, and he worshipped him. bowed down, he came humbled,
he came broken, contrite, saying, Lord, first word out of his mouth,
exalted Christ. And he said, if thou will, not
I will, but if thou will, thou canst make me clean. True faith
is believing Christ is able. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately,
His leprosy was cleansed. Now, another man came to Christ
down in verse 5. It says, when Jesus was entered
into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion. Now, this was
a man in authority. He was a Roman soldier. He wasn't
a Jew. He didn't have the word of God.
He didn't have the oracles of God, the privileges of God as
the Jews had. But he had obviously heard about
Christ. Because faith comes by hearing and he came to Christ
believing. He came to him believing by God's
grace. Now this man was in authority.
Centurion means he was a captain, he was a ruler over the soldiers,
over a hundred soldiers. But look, he doesn't come commanding.
He doesn't come commanding like a man in authority. Listen to
how he comes. He came beseeching him. saying, Lord... He exalted Christ too. He said,
Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously
tormented. He confessed total inability,
complete total inability to do anything whatsoever for this
servant. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy. that thou shouldest come under
my roof. But speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.
This man took his place in the dust. He took his place right
in the dust. I'm not worthy for you to come
to my house. And he exalted Christ saying
if you just speak the word, you're able. You're able to make him
whole. And when Jesus heard it, He marveled
and said to them that followed, verse 10, He said, Verily I say
unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,
not among the religious, not among those that had the oracles
of God, not among those that appeared so outwardly righteous
and holy, no, not among them. Here's a man with great faith.
Then in Matthew 12, Some religious men came. Matthew 12. These were
men of Israel. These were men who had the law. These were men who had been brought
up under the law. These were men who claimed they
were looking for the Messiah to come. Matthew 12 verse 1.
At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn. And it says, and his disciples
were hungry. And he began to pluck the ears
of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it...
Now this is what free will works religion. Legal religion always
results in watching others. Watching. Watching. Looking. Trying to watch others. And this
is what they were doing. They were watching. And they
saw it. And they said unto him, Mark
puts this as a question. He said to ask Him why. Here's
their question. Why do thy disciples do that
which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day? Total different
way of coming to the Lord, isn't it? Completely different from
what we saw in those first two cases. These men weren't concerned
about Christ. They weren't concerned about
coming with a desperate need. They were concerned about a day
of rest rather than the rest whom the day pictured. They were
concerned about the law rather than this one standing here who
is the end of the law for righteousness. He's the very reason the law
was given. They were concerned about sacrifice rather than obeying
the voice of the Lord and believing on Christ. They were concerned
about a form of religion. rather than heart worship of
the Redeemer. Again, look at verse 10. It says,
Behold, there was a man which had his hand withered, and they
asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? Were they asking this question
for knowledge that they might accuse him? The question was
not about a need for mercy. The question was not about seeking
the truth. It was not about their unworthiness.
It was to accuse, accuse. You can mark this down. This
is so, I've seen it, and I know it's so. A self-righteous religious
man will sit under the sound of the gospel only so long and
he will do what the Pharisees did the whole time Christ walked
this earth. They will try to find a reason. They will try to entangle the
preacher in his words. The people find some fault in
the preacher or the people to excuse themselves before men
for not following Christ and for not not worshipping him with
his people. That's what they were doing.
That's exactly what they were doing. Now look here, Matthew
15. Turn to Matthew 15. We've got
more religious men coming. They come with more questions.
Matthew 15, verse 2. Here's the question. These are
Pharisees. Why do thy disciples transgress
the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. You see how they exalt their
religion over Christ and His religion? Why do your disciples
transgress the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their
hands when they eat bread. Their concern is about conforming
to church traditions. Their concern is about the commandments
of men. That's what their heart set on.
But He answered and said unto them, Why do you also transgress
the commandment of God by your tradition. Look down at verse
7. You hypocrites, well did Isaiah
prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with
their mouth, and they honour me with their lips. Outwardly
they look like they want to worship God, but their heart Their heart
is far from me, but in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men. When Christ told them this, Peter
came to them later. He went on and told them it's
not that which goes in the mouth that defiles a man. It's not
touch not, taste not, handle not. You and I come into this
world defiled. We come into this world sinners.
And it's not those things that make us sinners. He said it's
what comes out of the heart. the heart of sin. We're conceived
in sin. We've got a heart of sin, a nature
of sin. That's what defiles the man.
And they were offended at this. They weren't bowed down by this.
They were offended at this. And as soon as he leaves there,
these ones that reacted in anger, as soon as he leaves there, he
shows us a contrast, a stark contrast from those self-righteous
folks. And he does it because God the
Father drew to him a Gentile woman. Now watch this contrast
between her and those self-righteous folks. Look at verse 22. Behold,
a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto
him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My
daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. How different
she came. She came confessing her need. She came confessing her inability.
She came begging mercy. Now look, but he answered and
said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. What do you think the Pharisees
would have said if they had heard that? What do you think they
would have said? I'll tell you what they would
have said. We know what they would have said. Some of them said,
we'd be the children of Abraham. What do you mean we're lost?
We never have been in bondage to anybody. That's exactly what
David said. But this one right here, she
really is a spiritually lost sheep. A spiritually lost sheep
of spiritual history. And listen to what she answered.
Then came she and worshipped him. She came and bowed down
lower, saying, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. But he answered
and he said, it's not me to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. The Pharisees at this point surely
would have turned and said some choice words and been on their
way. But look how she answers. And she said, truth Lord, truth
Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's
table. She takes her place as a dog,
but she takes her place as a dog under the table of Christ her
master. Then Jesus answered and he said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. and her daughter was made
whole from that very hour. Now look at Matthew 19. Matthew
19. Here's another question brought
by these fine whitewashed religious formalists. Matthew 19.3 The
Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto
him, Is it lawful for a man to put his wife away for every cause? Here's wisdom. Here's wisdom
standing before them. And this is what they're concerned
about. No thought about Christ, no thought about their sinfulness,
no thought about mercy, grace. Only questions about law, about
man's doing, about form. That's all they've got their
minds on. You realize when Paul speaks
throughout Romans about those who mind the things of the flesh,
he's talking about those who do what these men were doing.
They have their mind on the law. They have their mind on coming
to God by their works. They have their mind on their
form, their traditions, the commandments of men. They mind the things
of the flesh. These men thought we were circumcised
into the covenant when we were eight days old. And they have
no idea that circumcision pictured the spiritual circumcision of
the heart by which God's true Israel are brought into the everlasting
covenant of grace. They had no idea. They thought
we're the natural sons of Abraham. That makes us the sons of God.
They had no idea that God's people were an elect people and that
most of the sons of Abraham were not the sons of God. Read Romans
9. It's so clear that the children
of Abraham are those that believe on Christ. They're children of
promise, chosen, elect, called of God, redeemed by Christ. These men thought they were keeping
the law. They had no idea that the law
reaches to the heart, that if you just think about adultery,
you've committed adultery. You look on a woman and you've
committed adultery. They had no idea. They had broken
the whole law of God, just like you and just like me. Look here
now. Then in Matthew 20, two desperate,
needy sinners come to the Lord. Verse 30, Behold, two blind men
Two blind men sitting by the wayside. When they heard, faith
comes by hearing, they heard. They heard about Christ. And
they believed that He could do for them what they could not
do for themselves. And they cried. When He passed
by, they cried out saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son
of David. You see what these people are
interested in? They are interested in mercy. In mercy. Look. And the multitude rebuked
them because they should hold their peace. When God's given
you a heart and He's given you a heart from Christ, nobody is
going to be able to keep that child from Christ. Nobody. Nobody. And they cried the more, saying,
Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood
still. Christ stood still at the call
of mercy. He stood still. And He called
them and said, What will you that I should do unto you? They
said unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. And so Jesus
had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately their
eyes received sight and they followed Him. Alright, Matthew
21. Here come more of these pious,
righteous, self-righteous, religious folk. These are the teachers.
Now, these are the leaders. Matthew 21, 23. Surely they're
going to come with a better question. Surely they're going to come
with something better than these their followers came with. Look
here, verse 23. When he was coming to the temple,
the chief priests and the elders of the people, this is where
the problem starts. It starts in the pulpit. This
is where the problems are. And Christ dealt more harshly
with those that were the teachers and the leaders than he did anybody
else. And they came unto him as he was teaching. And they
should have just sat down and listened. That would have been
the best thing for them. To sit down and listen. But they
got to interrupt. And here's what they asked. By
what authority doest thou these things and who gave thee this
authority? They want to know what seminary
have you been to? We've sat under Dr. Gamaliel. Who did you sit under? And what
elder gave you the authority to do the things that you're
doing? To cast out men out of the temple and to teach in the
temple. This is our house. We rule this
house, they thought. Look here now, Matthew 22. Here's
another question. They come with more questions.
Matthew 22, 17. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? minding the things of the flesh,
minding earthy things. Their heart and minds are set
on earthy things. They even, not only did they
trust in earthy things, not only did they mind the things of the
flesh, they thought the Messiah was coming to just deliver them
from Roman bondage and establish his kingdom on earth. Everything
they looked for is earthy. The carnal mind minds the things
of the flesh. Now subject to the law of God,
the word of God, the gospel of God. the law of God, not subject
to any word that comes from God's mouth. And they asked some absurd
questions, some absurd scenarios. In Matthew 22, 28, they had asked
this question about seven brothers. This never would happen. Seven
brothers. And the first one marries a woman
and he dies. And the second brother marries
her because Moses said this is what to do. And then the next
one, when he dies, the next one marries her. All the way through
seven brothers. And then they ask this question.
Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife should be of the seven?
That's just goofy. It's just absurd. And this is
what they got their mindset on. This is you and me by nature,
brethren. This is us by nature. You know,
who was Cain's wife? Oh boy, we ought to find that
out. That's important. That has a lot to do with salvation.
You know, just things that are not the issue at all. All right,
now here's our text. Matthew 22, 41. While the Pharisees
were gathered together, Jesus asked them. Now, He's fixing
to ask them a question. Saying, what think ye of Christ? Now, there's the question. That's
the question you and me should be asking ourselves. That's the
question. That's the issue. What think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Did they take
some time? No, quickly, they said, the son
of David. That's a good intellectual answer.
That's what the scripture says. You see, that's partly true.
And this is the thing with vain religion is, it's not so much
what they say. What they say is usually true.
It's what they leave out. That's the problem. And this
was what they left down. This was everything. Listen now.
And he said unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Christ
Lord, saying, and he quotes the scripture, The Lord said unto
my Lord. That's what David wrote. The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make
thine enemies thy footstool. And so Christ says, If David
then call him Lord, how is he his son? There's only one way
they can answer that. The only way they can answer
that is to confess that the man standing in front of them is
God. That Christ is God. That He's the God of David. He's
the God that they got to do business with. That's the only way they
can answer that question. And look here now, verse 46.
And no man was able to answer Him a word, neither does any
man from that day forth ask Him any more questions. That ended
the question. Our subject is what think ye
of Christ? We'll divide that question into
just two parts. Here's the first part. What think
ye? What think ye? What are your
thoughts in your heart of Christ? What do you think of Christ?
This is not what you think in your head. Salvation is not intellectualism. It's not knowledge. It's not
knowledge. It is knowledge of the truth.
But it's not in just knowledge. Salvation is in the heart. A
new creation. That's what Paul said. It's not
circumcision or uncircumcision. It's not what you do or you don't
do. It's what God's done in creating you anew. That's what matters.
As a man thinketh with his heart, so is he. That's what Proverbs
23, 7 says. Matthew 6.21 says Christ said
where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also.
He was speaking to these Pharisees in Matthew 12.34 and he said
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And he said
a good man made good by grace, made good in the good one, the
only good one. Christ Jesus, a good man out
of the good treasure of the heart, the heart made new by grace.
He brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil
treasure bringeth forth evil things. This is what think you
in your heart. Now, have you ever truly, really
and truly asked yourself, what do I think in my heart of Christ? This is the issue. This is the
issue. What do I think of Christ in
my heart? The question is not what others
think. It's what do you think of Christ. It's not what your
spouse thinks or what your children think or what your mother or
your father think. It's what you think. It's not what you
read in a commentary. It's not what you memorized from
a confession of faith or in a catechism. What do you think in your heart
of Christ? Did you notice that the religious
men with all their vain questions all had one thing in common?
They all had one thing in common. They had no need of Christ. They
didn't come with a need. They had no need of Christ. Not
in their own thoughts. Not in their own heart. They
didn't see themselves as having a need of Christ. They had their
system of doctrine. They had those fleshly things
they were minding. They had their form, and their
ceremony, and their tradition, and their commandments of men.
They had their religious deeds. They knew everything there was
to know. What did they have a need of Jesus for? But everything
they loved... You just think about this. Everything
they loved was a bad copy of a bad copy of a bad copy. That's what a tradition of men
is. That's what they were rejoicing in and what they put confidence
in. They were more concerned with man-made doctrines, with
man-made church traditions, with keeping up appearances and being
seen of men. That's what they were concerned
about. Christ forbid us to forswear ourselves. He said, don't swear
yours. Let your yes be yes and your
nay, nay. And a man's going to have the
audacity. He said, you can't make one hair
white or one hair black. He said, your life's a vapor. You don't even know if you'll
be here tomorrow. And a man's going to have the audacity to
sign a church covenant to say, this is what I will do. Hear
me well, that's works religion. That's works religion. If it's
works, it's not grace. If it's grace, it is not works.
That's works religion. Pure and simple. Pure and simple. Christ said unto them, You are
they which justify yourselves before men. That's what that
is. You justify yourselves before
men. But God knoweth your heart. That's where the issue is. God
knows your heart. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. And God's got to
make us take sides with God. God's got to make us hate what
God hates. Make us have a horrible taste
for what God says is a stench in His nostrils. That's what
we got to have some spiritual senses given to us to be able
to discern these things. Men who treat their family like
hell at home, they'll put on their Sunday face and they love
to talk religion and they love to debate religion and they love
to speak of these things that are so, so precious and just
kick them around like they're playing volleyball with it. Like
kids on a playground. There's a very small remnant
in every age. Just read the book. There's a
very small remnant that God brings to be confronted with the issue. Christ himself. Christ himself. Most people are too busy with
the smokescreen of vain questions. They're too busy with church
order, religious history, and religious ceremonies. That's
what they got their mindset on. So it was with those religious
men that faced Christ. Their questions were not concerning
Christ. They were striving about vain,
foolish questions. Paul said, such a man is proud
knowing nothing. That's hard. That's hard. But that's true. And we need
to find this out now. Because we're going to meet God.
It'd be better to find it out now than to meet God and find
out, I don't know a thing. knowing nothing, but doting about
questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy and strife
and railings and evil surmisings. That's what those things bring
about. Perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is
godliness. Do you suppose that gain is godliness? that the more you increase and
the more you grow and the more you become better and better
and better, that's godliness? Let me tell you what godliness
is. I was speaking with somebody about this today. When Christ
turns the light on in your heart, when God gives light in your
heart, at first, it's like a dim light. My parents had this light
in their den and you could turn it and it would go from light,
very dim to brighter, you know. When He turns that light on,
you see. You see. And you see your sin. But you
see the big objects in the room, because it's still kind of dim. You see the chairs are turned
over, and you see the couch is turned over, and the TV's crashed,
and you see the big objects. I'm talking about your sin, your
big sins. And as you grow in grace, and
God turns the light on a little more, Then you begin to make
out how truly wrecked the room is. You begin to see that your
sin is not just in those big acts you did. Your sin is in
your thoughts. Then you start seeing the cobwebs.
And you start seeing the dust that's on everything in the room.
And the more God turns that light on, the more He increases before
you. And instead of you becoming proud
and thinking, oh, I've come so far and I've got so much light
and I'm so much better off, you see what you are more and you
decrease and decrease and decrease. Now, your brethren might be looking
at you and say, There's a believer. I see he's a believer. He's contrite. He's broken. I see him. He wants
to honor God. He's faithful to the gospel. All these things. But you don't
see it. You see your sin. And it's God's
way of growing you in grace and knowledge of Him to make you
see, I need Him more and more and more and more. Because I'm
worse and worse and worse and worse. John said, He must increase. I must decrease. That's growth
in grace. You read Paul sometime and you
watch as the years went by, Paul started out saying, I'm a sinner.
And then he said, I'm the worst sinner. And then he says, I'm
the least of the least. And then he says, I'm the chief.
That's growth in grace. That's growth in grace. It don't
even resemble what men call growth in grace, what carnal men call
growth in grace. Oh, but what a contrast! What a contrast! Did you see those sinners who
came begging mercy? They came there and they all
had a desperate need for Christ. They came confessing their leprosy.
They came confessing their blindness. They came confessing their being
vexed and tormented. They came confessing their total,
thorough inability to do one thing themselves. That's the
only reason to come to Christ. Mercy means I can't do it. I
need grace, I can't do it. Do what? Anything. Anything. What think you of Christ? Do
you think that you really, really have this desperate need? So
desperate that Christ is the only one that can save you. The
only one. Do you really see Christ is able
so that you're thoroughly convinced? I'm sold to Him lock, stock and
barrel. All my eggs are in one basket.
I trust. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. When
a man's starving, He'll come to the food. And when a man's
thirsty, give him water and he's going to drink it every time.
Are you hungry and thirsty for Christ our righteousness? That's the issue. For Christ
our righteousness. I have esteemed the words of
His mouth, the words of His mouth, more than my necessary food. That means I'd rather miss a
meal at my dinner table than miss a word from Christ through
this gospel. Why? Because I'm hungry. I need
Him. Jesus said to His twelve, all
that host of men went away. He said, will you go also? And
Peter said, Lord, to whom? to whom they could have went
anywhere and heard a message preached. They could have went
anywhere and heard the word God used and heard men speak of the
scriptures and speak of covenants and grace and mercy and all those
things. But Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. You have the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God." Christ said, it's the Spirit that quickeneth
the flesh, profits nothing. And He said, and that Spirit
speaking there is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit. It's a little S in
your Bible, but it's a capital S. It's the Holy Spirit quickeneth
the flesh, profiteth nothing. And He said, the words I speak,
they are Spirit and they are life. That's why, brethren, we
have to hear the Gospel, because this is the man. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Not
just to bring you to faith and give you faith in the first hour
through the preaching of the Gospel, but to save you until
the day He brings you into final glory through the preaching of
the Gospel. Because this is humbling. This
makes you have to listen and hear. And it makes it so that
when Christ blesses the Word to our hearts, the only one getting
the glory is Christ Himself. Because that's what He said.
He's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
things which are wise and mighty and proud and strong. He's chosen
weak things that no flesh shall glory in His presence. but that
they show glory only in the Lord. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice. and they follow Me. I know them
and they follow Me. Christ's sheep hear Christ exalted
in the Gospel. And when they hear Christ exalted
in the Gospel, and man abased in the Gospel, they hear the
glory of the triune God set forth in the face of Christ Jesus.
Not sometimes, not every half dozen messages, I mean every
time, from the beginning to the end, it's all Christ. When they
hear His voice, They camp out at His feet. Isn't that what
you've done? It's certainly not me. It's certainly
not me. Mary and Martha. The Lord went
to their house and the scripture says of Mary, Martha's sister,
she sat at Jesus' feet and heard His words. Can't you just picture
it? She's sitting there just soaking
up everything Christ said. And while she's doing that, it
says Martha was cumbered about much serving. That's the problem
in the religion of our day. That's the problem with 99.99%
of it. They're preaching to men about
serving. And they're cumbered about. They got their mind on
that. That's the problem. That's the
problem. And she came to him and she said,
Lord, does thou not care that my sister has left me to serve
alone? So she said, you bid her therefore
that she help me. When the message is all about
serving and the message is all about you and all about what
you need to be doing and all that, divorced from declaring
you to be nothing but grass and declaring that Christ is the
righteousness of His people and declaring Christ in Him alone
and giving Him all the glory, the message and the service and
the methods and everything that's involved becomes about me. That's
what it becomes about, me. You're not treating me like you
ought to treat me. It's a selfish thing. Every bit
of it. And Christ said, Jesus answered
and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled
about many things. You got your mind set on many
things that you're troubled about. But one thing is needful. Just one thing. And Mary hath
chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. Christ
said, I'm the vine and you're the branches. He that abideth
in me, he that abideth in me and I in him, The same shall
bring forth much fruit. Philippians 1 tells us fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. He gets all the
glory. He gets all the glory. But you
have to abide in Him and Him in you. He said for without me
you can do nothing. Nothing. And it's like it was
in the day in Galatia with the Judaizers. Men aren't saying
don't believe on Christ. No, no. Oh no. Men are saying,
once we get you to believe on Christ, we've shaved off the
rough edges of the gospel, we've made it so it's not offensive,
we've taken the offense out of the cross, we've got you to give
your heart to Jesus. Now then, now you need to go
to the law and serve God under the law. You need to, you need
to do, you need to do, you need to do. And Paul said, we didn't allow
that message for a minute, that the gospel might continue with
you. That the gospel might continue
with you. That's strong language, you know
that? Christ said, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. You put a little poison in bread
and it ceases to be bread and it's just poison. You can eat
it if you want to. You can say, well, there's a
lot of truth in it. There's a lot of bread in it. Yeah, but it's
going to kill you. It's poison. That's what Paul
said. Strong language. Let them be
accursed. Strong language. Strong language. When God reveals
His desperate need, and He makes you see that you're in sin, that
you need Him, and He brings you to the feet of Christ, you camp
there, you don't leave there. You don't move on to better things.
You don't move on to more practical things. Christ is, He's the need. He's the need. I like that story
Brother Fortner told about him going to see Brother Mahan. And
he walked in there, you know, and he's a young preacher and
he's going to straighten out this old preacher who's been preaching
for 30 some odd years. He goes in there asking him all
these questions, you know, all these questions. Questioning,
questioning, questioning. And Brother Mahan turned him
over to Colossians 3.11. He said, pushed his Bible across
the desk and he said, read that verse for me. And Don took the
verse and he said, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian. They said, no, no,
no, no, no. Just read those three words that's
underlined right there. Christ is all. Christ is all. Have you come to that place where
Christ is all? Then the issue, then the question
will be, what think ye of Christ? If I hear His voice and I hear
Him glorified, I don't even know about anything else. That's all
I need to know. Because it's so rare, it's so rare that you
hear His voice without anything mixed with it. The Lord said
there's coming a day, and we're in that day, that it's going
to be so subtle and so deceptive that if it was possible it would
deceive the very elect. That's not Armenian free will
works religion. That's obvious. It's this thing
where they claim to be preaching sovereign grace and then England
works with it. And he said, and it's going to
be so rare. The gospel is going to be so rare. And this message
will be so widely spread. This message of works will be
so, this subtle message will be so widely spread that when
they hear the truth, they're going to speak evil of it. They're
going to hear the truth and say, that's an odd message. Why? Because it's not what I've been
hearing. It's not what everybody else is saying. Yeah. Alright, here's the second thing. What thank ye of Christ. Now let's talk about Christ.
What do you think of Christ? Now what you think of the doctrine
of total depravity of election, you could teach a monkey the
five points of Calvinism. And that's what men do. Men learn
the system of doctrine. They know the key words to listen
to. And they look at a confession of faith and they listen and
they check off the words. Okay, there's the truth. Man
can do that and not have a clue who God is in his heart. Not
have life, not have truth. Have you learned Christ? That's
in Ephesians 4. He said, you've not so learned
Christ. Have you learned Christ? Here's
what, have you learned Christ? In truth. In truth. True doctrine
gets all its light from Christ and true doctrine glorifies Christ. Every bit of it. Not a single
word in this book. Colossians 1 says it pleased
God. that in His Son all fullness
dwell, because it pleased God to give Him all the preeminence. He'll have Christ to have all
the preeminence. Brethren, He must have all the
preeminence in all things. In all things. That's right. So, it declares you and me to
be worthless, helpless, powerless as withering grass. And it declares,
Thy God reigneth. And that God is Christ. Christ
the shepherd, Christ the bishop of yourself, Christ the king
of glory. That's who the message is all
concerning. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. There's a qualification. There's
another Jesus that men preach. There's another gospel. There's
another spirit. But this qualifies it. We're
not talking about the gospel men are preaching. We're talking
about the Jesus men are preaching. We're talking about the Jesus
God sent. The one He sent. That's what we're talking about
here. Look at 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2. I'm jealous over you with a godly
jealousy. God is jealous. You know that?
That's what he said in the scripture. I'm jealous, God. And Paul said
here, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have
espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. As a chaste virgin to Christ.
Men, let me ask you a question. What would you do if you knew
that your wife was secretly, secretly looking at another man. Just looking at another man. That'd be offensive to you, wouldn't
it? Here's what he's talking about here. He says God is jealous
when you're just looking at another Christ, another Jesus. Look here. He said, I fear, verse 3, less
by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity, the singularity,
the single focus that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another
spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have
not accepted, you might well bear with him." You see, there's
another that's not the true. And he's saying here, God, when
He sets the heart of His child on the simplicity of Christ,
He means for your eye to be singularly set on Christ your husband, and
not be looking off at other vain Jesus. Because that's adultery. Spiritual adultery. That's why
Paul said to the Christians, I was determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well then Paul,
why did you spend almost two letters dealing with all these
intricate things? Because this is the truth with
every practical thing that's in this book. The purpose of
it is Paul had to stop from preaching Christ and crucify because they
had come to such a point that if he didn't get this straightened
out, nobody in the whole congregation was focusing on Christ. They
were all looking at one another, looking at, listen to these vain,
these vain messages and focusing on their flesh. And he had to
stop and wake them up and say, look now, put all that garbage
away. It's done. Put it away. and focus
your mind and affection on spiritual things on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the issue. There's what
all these things are for. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
in human flesh. God in human flesh. Only God
in human flesh could lay down His life and obtain eternal redemption
for us. Only God could make the work
eternal. And only as a man could He lay down His life. This is
the God-man. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world of His elect unto Himself. God was in Christ. Why did He
come? His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from our sins. His name is Jesus,
for He shall save His people from our sins. He didn't come
to save all men and women without exception. He came to save those
God the Father gave Him before the foundation of the world.
And He came to save us because we couldn't save ourselves. He
came to save us from our sins. And He came to declare that God
is just. to uphold the law, magnify the
law, honor the law. Men call us antinomian, against
the law. I'm so for the law, I refuse
to tell a sinner that you can keep the law, because to tell
you that, you got to bring the law down to your level, so you
can somehow pretend to keep it. I love the law so much, I'm telling
you the only one who could keep it is God's own Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why He sent Him. To declare
God's just. To lay down His life with the
sin of His people on Him. To make sure that the penalty,
the execution, the death sentence was carried out on every single
person that God will save. So that God's just to save them.
And also to declare that God's the justifier. He's the one that
saved them. He's the one that saved them.
That's what He did. Now what did He accomplish? Look
at Hebrews 10, 12. You know I can't get through
a message without this. Hebrews 10, verse 12. And look here at Hebrews 10 verse
12. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expect until
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. It don't get better than perfected
forever. Scripture says you're complete in Him. Scripture says
as He is, so are we in this world. complete, justified. God said,
I remember their sin no more. That means the law's got nothing
else to say to us. He came that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. And that's what He's done.
You're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. He's taken you out of the realm
of flesh, put you in the realm of the Spirit, so that now we're
righteousness. I love that scripture says, if
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the
spirit is life because of righteousness. There is something profound about
that brethren. It is even better than being
alive. The spirit is life. And it is even stronger than
being made righteous. Righteousness. So the law has
nothing to say. You're made fit to enter the
kingdom of God in spirit already. And if He dwells in you, He's
going to do the same for your mortal body, He said. We're not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear, not to go back
minding the things of the flesh, but to mind the things of the
spirit, to have your affection set on Christ, on things above
where your life really is, so that you can say, Abba, Father,
and call out to Him and enter into His presence. And where
is He now? That's where He is. That's where
He's seated. I was going to read Ephesians
1. I've got to hurry. But He said He raised Him, and
He raised Him and set Him at His own right hand, Ephesians
1.20, in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion. And every name that's named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And
it put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him. And here's why He raised Him. That He might fill all in all.
And the very next verse says, And you hath He quickened who
were dead in trespasses and in sin. That's what he's doing now. Ephesians 4.11 says he gave some
apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. We
saw that those first offices are gone. He's given pastors,
teachers, evangelists now. And he's going to keep doing
it. He's doing it, verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the
knowledge of the Son of God into a perfect manner to the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine,
carried about by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love,
the gospel. Through the gospels I do in this
work. He reproves to the gospel, rebukes, he brings down, he brings
up, he encourages, he comforts, he does it through this work.
Look, that we may grow up into Him in all things, which is the
head, even Christ, from whom this whole body is joined together. and compacted by that which every
joint supplies according to the effectual working in the measure
of every part. That's by Christ's effectual
working in the measure of every part. It's Christ doing the work,
brethren. Christ is working in His people.
He's adding to the church such as should be saved. He's giving
a new heart through the Spirit. He's teaching the Gospel to us
using His ministers, but He is speaking the Word through His
ministers. He's rebuking, reproving, growing, edifying, doing all
the work so that He's really working among His people as real
as He did when He walked this earth. Do you believe that? I
believe. I'm persuaded that's so. I've
seen it. I know it. It's the only reason
I'm here today. I know it's so. And He's doing
it. He's doing it. That's why I don't
try to take the edge off the gospel. That's why I just declare
the truth to you because that's how He's going to do the work.
Christ is all. The whole counsel of God is Christ. He's the subject of all 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
salvation, the foundation, the cornerstone, the door, the mediator,
the prince of life, the rock, the shepherd, the son of righteousness,
the light of the world, the light of men, the way, the truth, the
life. Everything that was made was
made for him and glorifies him. Christ is Christianity. Christ
is salvation. And when we get to glory, Christ
is our exceeding great reward. Christ is heaven. Christ is all. That's what I'm trying to say
to you. He's all. Now, what do you think of Christ? What do you think of Christ?
Amen. Let's stand together, brethren,
and before we have a closing hymn, we'll go to the Lord in
prayer. God our Father, you're dealing
with ignorant, dumb, strange sheep. We were all lost. We were all
scattered our own way. It's only by your grace you drew
us and brought us and assembled us taught us, made us new, showed
us what great things you've done for us so freely. And Lord, we
pray that you'll do that for your lost sheep, that you'll
do it through the gospel as you've promised, that you exalt Christ,
glorify and honor your Son, and bring yourself the glory in the
process. And Father, we pray that you'll
continue to edify us, instruct us, grow us, make us to see Christ
as all. Lord, thank you. It's a rare,
special, special treasure when you've given a man a heart to
believe. You've given him a body of people
to meet with that are true brethren. not phony, not fake, not walking
in a vain form, but have been saved by your power. Lord, thank
you for that. It's just beyond words. We trust, Lord, that you hear
the groanings of our heart when we try to express how truly thankful
we are for this. And Lord, keep us. We ask it. We know you've promised
it. We ask you to do it. to that
day when you bring us home to be with you in your presence
forever. We pray you bless the word as
it goes forth into the parts of the world. and that you, we
know it won't return void. You'll accomplish your purpose
by it. We thank you, Lord. Forgive us, Father, of our sins.
Forgive us for our looking away and our mind and things of the
flesh. Lord, put down our flesh and
give us strength in the inner man. We ask it, Lord, for Christ's
sake, for his honor. We pray you'll be with us Sunday.
Bring us together in the baptism of our brother Kevin. We thank
you for him, for what you've done for him. In Christ's name
we ask these things. Amen.