I don't know why, but every time
I have the honor of standing before God's people and preaching
His Gospel, I get really, really, really nervous. I don't know
if that's what Paul experienced when he said, I was before you
with much fear and trembling, but anyway, it's a good thing
to have that fearful heart when we represent God before anybody,
whether it's from a pulpit or a one-on-one, we know who we
represent. Jesus Christ is the true and
living God, and we better be right when we speak. Our dear
brother and pastor friend, David Edmondson, recently preached
a message and he declared Jesus Christ to be the glorified God-man. We heard that from the mouth
of Brother Larry Brown when he gave the Sunday School lesson
this morning. And he is, he's the glorified God-man. Say it
fast, God-man. Thank you, Larry. And our pastor
declared that Jesus Christ is on his sovereign throne of power
right now. He's not waiting to be a king.
He is King of kings and Lord of lords right now. He is on
His sovereign throne of power right now. So brethren, this
is the heart of the gospel. This lordship of Jesus Christ
and declaring Him to be the true and living God is the heart of
the gospel. And Jesus Christ is the one who
loved His sheep and laid down His life for them. And those
who have experienced the miracle of the new birth, those who have
been made willing to come to Christ in the day of His sovereign
power, those same people gladly bow down to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ and give Him all the glory for paying the price in full
for all of our sins. Brethren, we're bought with a
price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Would you turn
with me, please, to Matthew chapter 22. Jesus Christ is the theme
of God's Holy Bible all the way through. And all the writers
of the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures were
inspired by God Himself to write the Scriptures concerning God's
Holy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And every anointed preacher of
God sent out to preach His Gospel preaches this same message. The
message of the Lordship of Jesus Christ who became a man and suffered
and bled and died for the sins of His chosen people. And brethren,
I am thankful to our Lord that He is pleased to reveal that
to His chosen people at His own appointed time. Now, if you would,
Did I ask you to turn to Matthew 22 yet? Yes. If you would, look
at verses 41 through 46 of Matthew 22. We read these passages of
Scripture. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of
David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. Now what think ye of Christ,
is very important to give some thought to. Our Lord did not
say what do you think of total depravity. He didn't say what
think you of unconditional election or what think you of limited
atonement or irresistible grace or perseverance of the saints.
Now, We profit by thinking on those things and we should give
some thought to them. But the question is, what think
ye of Christ? Now, you can have a mental ascent
to the truths of the gospel and not have Christ. But you can't
have Christ without the truths of the gospel. Every enlightened
sinner will have Christ revealed to him or her under the preaching
of this glorious gospel of God's sovereign, amazing grace. Our
Lord was speaking to some religious Jews who knew that the Messiah
was coming. They knew he was a descendant
of David. But, you know, you can have an
understanding of the man, Christ Jesus, and still not know that
He's Lord. And they didn't know that. Blind
Bartimaeus did, and he called Jesus, Son of David. He was blind,
and our Lord was passing by that way, and he started crying out
when he heard that Jesus was near. Jesus, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. Jesus, Thou Son of David, have
mercy. And the Lord stopped. And they told him, the Lord has
stopped. And the Lord asked him, what
will you have me do? And he said, Lord. He said, Lord,
that I might receive my sight. So he confessed him as Lord.
He not only knew that Jesus was the son of David, or a descendant
of the tribe of Judah, but he also knew that Jesus Christ was
Lord. And like I said earlier, this
is the heart of the gospel. And our Lord followed this question,
thinking of Christ with this question, whose son is he? Whose son is he? And they said
the son of David. He said, well, how come David
called him Lord? He was referring to Psalm 110
verse 1, I think it was, a passage of Old Testament scripture, and
when he told them what David had done of calling him Lord
in the scriptures, they could not answer that question. They
could not answer the truth. They didn't know him. And from
that day forth, they didn't ask him any more questions. And I
want you to turn over to John chapter 1. And let's consider
this subject. What think ye of Christ? John
chapter 1. I was dealing with a religious
man years ago. He came to me. He wanted me to
preach his friend's funeral. And he said he wasn't acquainted
with any pastor. And I thought, well, maybe there
wasn't any other grace church in the area. And he came to me
because he knew I was a grace preacher. But no, he didn't know
the Gospel. He didn't know Christ. And he was sincere. He was sincere
to the point where he wept when he prayed. But he told me this
during one of our religious conversations. He said, I believe Jesus is the
light that God created that we read about back in the first
part of Genesis. I said, oh no, Jim, Jesus Christ
is the one who said, let there be light. And I never could convince
him of that. And he had formed a view of Christ
by his own unenlightened understanding. He didn't know Jesus Christ.
But Jesus Christ is God Almighty who is our sovereign creator.
And here in John chapter 1, we read these verses, verses 1 through
3, where the Word of God says, In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the false
religious people have added the little word a, to that first
word, which was a God, and that's wrong. In the original it says
this, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And so He's
the Creator, and He's the one who said, let there be light.
And He's the one that said, this Let this be, let this be, let
this be. He created all things by the
word of His mouth. And He gets the glory as our
sovereign Creator who did speak everything into existence. And
when we look around us and see this, we should just be amazed
at the power of the God-man, the power of Jesus Christ our
Lord, who spoke everything into existence. Now people will show
an interest In Jesus they can manipulate, that they can control. They have no problem with Jesus
Christ being virgin born. They have no problem with Him
being a Jesus that created things. They have no problem with Jesus
hanging on a cross. They have no problem with the
Jesus who rose from the dead. They have no problem with the
Jesus who went to heaven. But they will not bow down to
a Jesus Christ who's in control of everything. Folks, listen,
this virus that's going around, this epidemic that we're witnessing,
it's a real virus. It's a real epidemic. But it
didn't just happen. It happened because Jesus Christ
purposed it. That's why it happened. And He's
getting His people under the preaching of the Gospel through
this. And those who know Him, they know that He has purposed
this for His glory and for the good of His people. The Word
of God says in Romans 8, 28, And we know, I wonder, do we
know this? And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. He didn't say some things, He
said all things. And so Jesus Christ is the object
of all worship. Now I have several points that
I want to bring out in this morning's message on this subject of what
think ye of Christ. I'd like to share with you this
thought. What think ye of the life Christ
lived before time began? What think ye of the life Christ
lived while he was here on this earth? What think ye of the life
Christ gave? What think ye of the life Christ
gives? I said that. What think ye of the Christ who
now lives and what think ye of the Christ who gives life? And then I'd like to close with
a few thoughts on the believer's walk in this life. So first of
all, what think ye of the life Christ lived before time began?
And we've already touched on this in John 1. Jesus Christ was with God from
the beginning. But go over to John 6, if you
will. What think ye of the Christ who
lived while He was here on this earth? Christ lived before time
began. He has always been the eternal
Son of God. He has always been with the Father.
We heard that in Sunday school this morning. But what about
the life that He lived here on this earth? What do you think
of that? Well, our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to
do His Father's will. And He did it perfectly. He came
to this life to establish a perfect righteousness for His people,
and He did that. Brother Larry mentioned in his
Sunday school lesson, there was a voice that came from heaven
that said, this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. He always did
that which pleased the Father. Always. Always. Or we couldn't
have any hope. We must have a perfect righteousness. We must be as perfect as God
Himself to enter into God's glory There's no denying that. God
will not accept anything but that which is perfect. And Jesus
Christ is perfect. While He lived on this earth
as a man, He was perfect. He walked perfect before God.
So here in John chapter 6, starting at verse 37, we read, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Then he says this, God's will. Everybody has a will. Every human
being that comes into this world has a will. But our will is bound
by our nature. And in our unregenerate state,
we have a rebellious will. That will is against God. But
God's will is done by Him and Him alone. And He makes us willing,
like I said earlier, in a day of His power to come to Him.
So we have a God who works all things after the counsel of His
own will. And that God is Jesus Christ. And He came to do His
Father's will. And in John 6, we read that. Now turn over, if you will, to
Romans. read a passage from Romans 5,
but I want to read the closing passages of Romans chapter 4. This third point is, What think
ye of the life Christ gave? He must give us life. We're dead
in trespasses and sins. And Abraham, we read in chapter
4, that he was fully persuaded of what God would do, you see,
and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was
able also to perform. And therefore, it was imputed
to Him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for His
sake alone that it was imputed to Him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. Now all power in heaven and earth
has been given to Christ, and He gives eternal life. And we
believe that God gave us eternal life. We believe that when we
were dead in trespasses and sins, and I say we, I'm talking about
God's enlightened children. We believe that when we were
dead in trespasses and sins, God brought us under the preaching
of His gospel, and at His appointed time of love for us, He, God
Himself, sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, which is
the new heart. This is the life that God Himself
gives, and only God can do that. So, here in Romans chapter 5, we read in verse 6, For when
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for Gene
Harmon. Well, that's my name, ungodly.
Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die." And we know this to be true. We know that many
have laid down their life for others. I would lay down my life
for my wife. I would lay down my life for
my children. I say that believing that, meaning that. I've never
had to face that decision whether I would die or they would, but
I believe I would. I believe I would lay down my life for
my family. But this was given as an illustration
to show what we were when God gave us life. Look at verse 8.
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. So God
has given us life. This is the life that He gives
us, only God can give us. And He gives this life for a
reason, for us to give Him all the glory. We were dead in trespasses
and sins and we didn't even know it. I've had people tell me,
well, I'm just as alive as you are, maybe physically, but not
spiritually. And so that old nature, the will
is in bondage to that. But when God gives us life, we
have a new nature. We were made partakers of the
new nature, and our new will is in bondage to the new nature. And this is confusing to some,
but not to God's people because we know that there's a war going
on here. That the old nature wars against
the new nature, wants to take over. And I've said this before,
it'll rear its ugly head in a moment's notice. So here in Romans 5 we
have the life Christ gives. But go over to Revelation 8. 17, if you will,
please. Revelation, I mean not Revelation,
John 17. Back to John 17. Let me show you something on
this life that Christ gives. What think ye of the life Christ
gives? Does He give eternal life to
people who exercise their own will? Or does He give life to
those His Father gave Him to those who are dead in trespasses
and sins. Does He give life to those who
are without Christ, those who had no hope? Does He give life
to those who are running from Him, hating Him? Did you know
the Bible says that the unregenerate, those in the flesh are enmity
against God, not subject unto the law of God, neither indeed
can be. And our Lord Himself said, ye
will not come to me that ye might have life. And so, there's a
reason why God gives some life and passes by others. And the
reason is this. Jesus Christ satisfied the holy
justice of God for a particular people. He didn't lay down His
life for the world. He laid down His life for those
who were given to Him by God the Father in the eternal covenant
of grace before this world ever began, before time began. Here
in John 17, look at verse 9. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine. So He
doesn't even pray for those whom the Father did not give Him.
In the first few verses of this chapter, verses 1 through 4, We read, These words spake Jesus,
and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power, authority
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the works which
Thou gavest Me to do. And so, our Lord Jesus is telling
us here in His Word that He has power over all flesh. Do you
all believe that? I believe that. I have a lot
of Weaknesses in the flesh. A lot of things I don't understand.
But I believe God. And we read that in Romans chapter
4, that we believe God. Abraham believed God and was
imputed to Him for righteousness. We believe God. God helped my
unbelief. I know that's in me. I know I
have weaknesses in the flesh, but I believe God. I believe
Him, what His Word says. I believe this is God's Word.
And our Lord tells us here in John 17 that He has a people
that the Father gave Him. And I don't know how many times,
at least five times, He refers to a people that God the Father
gave Him. If you want to doubt that, that's
between you and God, but I don't doubt it. I believe that I'm
one of those that He gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world. And our Lord Jesus has power
over all flesh and He gives, does not offer. We do not preach. that there's an offer for sinners,
we might make that offer, but God doesn't. We declare that
salvation is of the Lord. We encourage people to come to
Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Teaching the sovereignty of God and salvation does not limit
the power of God in the salvation of his elect. It is the power of God on the
salvation. And I heard David say this a couple of weeks ago.
I've heard Don Fortner say this. I've heard Henry Mahan say this.
If you go to hell, it's your fault. But if you go to heaven,
it's God's fault. And that's so true. And you ask me, where
does the responsibility of man and God's absolute sovereignty
meet? I don't know. I don't know how
to explain that. But I know both truths are taught
throughout the Holy Word of God. It's your responsibility. God
commands all men everywhere to repent. But God is the one who
grants repentance unto life. I know this to be true. And so
we read here in John 17 that the Lord gives eternal life to
as many as God the Father gave Him. And this is life eternal,
that we see Christ and that we see him equal with God the Father,
that we see him through the eye of God-given faith as a glorified
God-man. Jesus Christ is equal with God
the Father in essence, in power, and in spirit, and God is of
one mind who can turn him. Jesus Christ gives eternal life
To as many as God the Father gave him, he has that right because
he paid the price in full for all of our sins. And this is
God's promise to him, was promised to him before the foundation
of the world. Salvation is conditional. Not on our part. It's an unconditional
election. But conditional upon what Jesus
Christ Himself would do for His people. And He did it. He tells
us right here that He finished the work that God gave Him to
do. And that finished work is ours. We've entered into a finished
work by faith. We enter into that work that
Jesus Christ performed. He walked on this earth in perfect
obedience to the will of God the Father. And He did that for
His people. Actually, We were in Him when
He walked on this earth. When He obeyed God, we obeyed
God. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. And when He died, we died in
Him. God cannot punish sin twice. He's already punished us in our
Savior. And so we bow before Him, giving
Him all the praise and all the glory for this unspeakable gift,
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now turn back, or over,
if you will, to Hebrews chapter 12. Let me share some closing
thoughts to this message. The life of a believer. The life that God's enlightened
children live. We read in the book of Galatians
that The life I now live, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. We must have faith. We must have faith. Without faith
you cannot please God. But it was the faith of God's
Son when He was obedient to God the Father. When He was obedient
to God the Father, that obedience was for us. We were obedient
in Christ. So when He walked, He walked
perfectly. That perfection is ours. It's
ours. It's mine. Now I know, and you
do too, that we have weaknesses of the flesh. I know that. But
the trials we go through, and sometimes when we go through
them, I do. I'm not sure about everybody
that loves the Lord, but I do. I have sometimes a thought, how
can I possibly be a child of God and allow myself to be so
disobedient? And that just is a result of
taking my eye off of Christ and looking at self. If we want assurance
of faith, We must never look to self. Never, never, never
look to self. That's what modern religionists
do. They say, look what I have done for Jesus. Or, look what
our church is doing for Jesus. They don't say, look what Christ
has done for us. Because they have placed their
salvation in an act that they have performed. It doesn't matter
if it's Seventh-day Adventism, Pentecostalism,
Hinduism, Judaism, Arminianism, or any other ism for that matter.
They're all self-righteous religionists, believing that they've gained
favor with God by an act they have performed. Brethren, that's
not true. We can't please God in our natural
state. The Word of God tells us that.
I quoted that just a moment ago. And without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. But we read in the Old Testament, if our hearts and our minds are
stayed on Jehovah, we find perfect peace. Here in Hebrews chapter
12, verse 2, It says, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, in the Old
Testament we read, if our hearts and our minds are stayed on Jehovah,
we'll find perfect peace. Well, the Bible doesn't contradict
itself. When the Word of God tells us,
looking unto Jesus, which is not a one-time gaze, we keep
looking unto Jesus, keep looking unto Jesus, so that we'll have
the assurance that what He did is enough. It is enough that
Jesus died and that He died for me. And we read over in the book
of Jude, unto Him. that is able to keep you from
falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory,
dominion, and power, both right now and forever. So, think on
those things that are lovely. Think on the life that Jesus
Christ lived before time began. Think on the life that Jesus
Christ lived while He walked on this earth. Think on the life
that Jesus Christ gave for His sheep. Think on the life that
Jesus Christ lives right now. He lives with all power and heaven
and earth given to Him. Think on that life. that we have. We have eternal life. And if
we could lose it, it wouldn't be eternal. But this life we
have is in Christ Jesus, and he tells his sheep, because I
live, ye shall live also. We have nothing to fear. We don't
have to fear this epidemic. I don't care if you wear a mask
or if you don't wear a mask. If God has purposed this virus
as the instrument he's going to take us out of this life,
it's going to happen. I don't care how careful you
are. Now, I'm not saying that we should be flippy about this. I believe we should protect ourselves,
but I don't believe we should fear anything. We have nothing
to fear. Why would we fear if we believe
that God is in control of everything and that God is Jesus Christ
our Lord who promises never to leave us nor to forsake us? Brethren,
I don't know how to encourage you any other way than to keep
looking unto Jesus. He has given us faith and we
grow. in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we grow in that knowledge,
we grow in faith. Just a grain of a mustard seed,
the smallest of all seeds, is enough to save you. But we want
to mature in Christ. We want to be strong like Abraham. Believing God, giving Him all
the glory, and walking through this life with a testimony for
the glory of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. He's
sovereign. He's on His throne. He's working
all things after the counsel of His own will. And it's God
who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
And whatever pleases God pleases Me. And whatever pleases Me is
praise to God if it's pleasing to the Lord Jesus. If we, in
our walk before this world, if we show a sign of Fear and weakness
is because we've taken our eye off of Christ and are looking
to self. Don't do that. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, despite the shame, and has sat
down at the right hand of God. He is God's strong right arm,
and he promises to keep us from falling and to present us faultless
before the presence of His glory. Isn't that wonderful? To know
that one day we're going to stand before Him without one sin to
hinder our worship and our praise to God. I look forward to that
day. I look forward to the day when
I'll be delivered from this body of death and I'll be in the presence
of my King and see Him in all of His glory. Keep that before
you and may God bless you. Amen.