If you would turn with me this
morning to the gospel of Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22. Modern day religion seems to
be consumed with everything but Christ. Politics, morality, ethical
issues, man's traditions, what man does for God, and most anything
and everything you can imagine has taken preeminence over the
preaching of the gospel of Christ's substitutionary work of redemption. Where's the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified? And this is nothing new, actually
it's been going on since the days our Lord walked upon the
earth and preached. And that's exactly what we find
here in Matthew chapter 22. Look at verse 15 with me. Then
went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him,
that being Christ, in his talk. The Pharisees and religious leaders
saw the influence that Christ had with the people by his miracles
and by his preaching, and they were determined to silence him.
They were absolutely determined to put him to death. They endeavored
to entrap him, to entangle him in his words. That word entrapment,
is an effort to trick someone into committing a crime. But
can a man trick the Almighty? How blind is a man that thinks
he can? These men took counsel together,
the scripture says, but it was for nothing. It was for nothing. Verse 16, and they sent out unto
him their disciples with the Herodians saying, master, we
know that thou are true and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither
cares thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men. And I'm telling you, knowing
the hearts and the intentions of these men, their words of
flattery here are just nauseating. nauseating me. They call him
master. They say, we know that you are
true or truthful. We know you teach and preach
the truth. We know you're a gospel preacher. We know your concern
is for the glory of God, not for the glory of man. And how
true it is, as David once wrote that our enemy's mouth is smoother
than butter and softer than oil, but their words are drawn swords
and war is in their heart. Psalm 55, 21. Now, what we have
before us in this chapter is an attempt by four groups of
people to test, to try, and to find fault in Christ so that
they might accuse Him. We have the Pharisees, we have
the Herodians, we have a group called the Sadducees, and then
the lawyers who were the so-called experts of the law in that day. And they all attempted and determined
to accuse him of error to discredit his reputation and bring to naught
his credibility. Yet can any man, I ask you again,
entangle the words of the one who was the word? I think not. To disprove the gospel, religious
folks will make frivolous inquiries. They'll attempt to sidetrack
you with unimportant questions and useless theology. Men by nature have been arguing
and debating the gospel since the time that Christ preached,
but the gospel is not debatable. I repeat that. The gospel is
not debatable. It can't be debated. Why? Because it's the truth of God.
It's to be believed, not to be debated, not to be argued. If
religion can get you to debate, and defend your gospel, then
they can keep you from preaching the gospel of Christ in Him crucified.
And that's what these men were attempting to do. That's exactly
what we see on this day when the Lord asked the most important
question that has ever been asked. Now that's the title of my message.
Now there were four questions asked this day. but only one
question had any eternal value or consequence. Let's look at
these four questions. The first question was asked
by two like-minded groups consisting of the Herodians and the Pharisees
who went together to ask this question. And here we have a
political question. This is a question that has to
do with church and state. This is a question that concerns
politics and religion. It's never a good thing. It's
never a good thing to involve politics with worship. We should
never include politics with preaching. I'm a political person, and you
may be too. I have strong convictions about
this country. I have great concern for what
goes on in this country. But the pulpit is not the place
to express them. And the pew is not the place
to hear them. Political things usually lead
to arguments and debates and hard feelings. No place for them
when we meet to worship Christ. Now, I want you to notice their
question. Look at verse 17. Tell us therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? Now, that
question today would probably be asked this way. Is it right
for me to pay my taxes. That's basically what they were
asking. Is it right for me to give tribute unto Caesar if I
belong to God? And these men absolutely thought
that by asking this question, that the Lord could give no answer
that would not give them an advantage over him. Their intentions in
asking were wicked. Look at verse 18. But Jesus perceived
their wickedness and said, why tempt me, ye hypocrites? Now, if he had said yes, they
would denounce him to the Jewish people as one who had dishonored
the privilege that Israel had as the people of God. And if
he had said no, they would have denounced him to the Roman government,
accusing him of being a rebel and a tax evader. So what did
he do? How would he escape this entrapment? They thought they had him. Look
at verse 19. Our Lord says, show me the tribute
money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he saith unto them, whose is this image and superscription? He said, what image is on that
coin? They handed him a penny. He said,
whose image is that there on that penny? And they said Caesar. Now listen, this is very important.
When they acknowledge Caesar as the image, they are acknowledging
that Caesar has authority over them. They're using the very
money that bears Caesar's image. and superscription to exchange
and do business. By doing so, they acknowledge
that they're under Caesar's rule because it's Roman money that
they're using to buy and sell. They're operating under the rule
of Caesar just as every Jew was. They were trying to entrap the
Lord into saying that they shouldn't pay their tribute to Caesar.
They shouldn't pay their taxes to him. And Christ's answer is
so conclusive to their question. Look at verse 21. He says, Friends,
we live in this world, but we're not of this world. God's people don't rock the boat
in this world. God's people are not troublemakers
and protesters. God's people don't bring any
dishonor to their God. The scripture says, if it be
possible, live peaceably with all men. God's people are going
to pay their bills. They're going to pay their taxes.
And God's people are going to give to the furtherance of the
gospel. They render unto Caesar what
is his, and unto God what is his. And I'm telling you, they
won't fuss, they won't argue, and they won't debate or question
either. They'll just quietly do it. Now
verse 22, look at this. When they had heard these words,
they marveled. And they left him and went their
way. Let me ask you a question. Do you marvel at the words of
the Son of God? If you ever truly hear Him, you
will. I can assure you of that. Okay, then we come to the second
question. Here we have a doctrinal question. It has to do with the future
state of things. It has to do with the resurrection. It has to do with eternity. We're better off to leave these
things alone. Verse 23, The same day came to
him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection. and
asked him, saying, Master, 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, left his wife unto his brother. brother,
and likewise the second also, and the third, and to the seventh.
And last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her."
Now I'm telling you, that is a ridiculous question. Whose
wife will this woman be when they all get to heaven? What
good will it do me or you to speculate or entertain what eternity
is going to be like? Huh? I must first concern myself. You must first concern yourself
with how a sinner like you and I will ever appease the wrath
and the judgment of God. That's the issue. That's the
thing of utter importance. If the soul that sinneth shall
surely die, how then am I going to escape the wrath of God which
is to come? Don't you think we ought to be trying to figure
that out? Trying to find the answer to that? How am I gonna
be reconciled to God? How am I going to appease His
holy justice? How am I gonna be justified in
His sight? I better concern myself with
those things. People who think about heaven
in a carnal, fleshly way have no idea at all what heaven or
glory is gonna be like. Absolutely no idea. Men and women
try to imagine that eternity is going to be anything like
things in time are, like things here on earth are, have yet to
understand the things of the Spirit of God. These men didn't
even believe in the afterlife. If there's life after death,
if there's a resurrection, here's what they're saying. What a mess
it's going to be. But notice what our Lord tells
them in verse 29. They were just trying to disprove the resurrection
with confusion, strife, and disorder. In verse 29, Jesus answered and
said unto them, ye do error, not knowing the scriptures nor
the power of God. Now, listen to me. This is the
source right here. This is the source of all error.
Our Lord told them, you're ignorant. You do err not knowing the scripture. That's what being ignorant is.
It's being untaught, unlearned, unknowledgeable, uneducated. And that's the problem with so
many today in religion. They don't know the scriptures. They don't know the word of God.
They don't know the God of the word. They don't know the power
of God. Isn't that what our Lord said
there in verse 29? You don't know the power, you
don't know the scriptures and you don't know the power of God. Men and women by nature are also
greatly concerned with future things. What if this happens? What if that happens? What about
the atomic bomb? What about global warming? What
about asteroids hitting the earth and wiping us all out? What if this happens? What if
that happens? God says, you're ignorant. You don't know the
scriptures. Have you not read in this blessed book that your
God is in the heavens and He does whatsoever He pleases? Have
you not seen in this book that whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in heaven and in earth and in the seas and in
all deep places? Are you ignorant of the Scriptures?
Has God's Word not declared that all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing? And God does according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay His hand or question Him and say,
What doest thou? Are you ignorant of the Scriptures?
Do you not know the power of God? Everything happens according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. And we cannot think of eternity.
I'm telling you, we cannot think of eternity in a carnal, fleshly
way. Why? Why the child of God in
eternity will have no sin. It will be a whole new and different
existence. Heaven and eternity a whole new
thing. Why? Because I won't have any sin.
Everything that I do think right now is so messed up by my sin. I've never had a pure thought.
I've never prayed a pure prayer. I've never had a good intention. Oh, what men call good, yes,
but not what God calls good. But then, no sin. We don't have any idea what it's
gonna be like. We can't even fathom or imagine. I can't imagine
what your mama's experiencing right now. I've tried. I've tried. I want you to notice
how the Lord brings to light here the reality of this life
which is to come. Look at how Christ puts this
matter of eternity, eternal life, into perspective. He uses the
same words that God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.
And always remember that God and Christ are eternal. In verse
32, God says, I am the God of Abraham, Christ quoting God. He said, I am the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And then Christ
added, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Now you think about that for a minute. God is not the God
of the dead. but of the living. When Moses
first heard those words, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had been
dead and buried for years. Matter of fact, Jacob had been
buried for over 200 years when God spoke to Moses out of the
burning bush. Yet God speaks of them as still
being his people and himself being their God. Why? Because
God is eternal and so are his people. When they leave this
life of time, they go into eternity. God does not say I was their
God. He says I am their God. Now listen,
may God enable us right now, right now, to settle in our own
mind that those who are dead in Christ, those that have left
this realm of time and have gone out to meet God in eternity with
Christ as their substitute, are now completely alive. They have
left time into eternity. Clarice Coleman is more alive
right now than any of us are. She's alive without sin. She's
truly experiencing life more fully than what it was originally
intended to be. She's no more crippled and hindered
by the leprosy of sin. She has now seen Christ, and
she's seen that she's just like Him. God has perfectly conformed
her to His image. When He shall appear, we shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And I'm telling
you, she would tell you right now, I could just hear her. She'd
tell you right now, don't weep for me. Don't you weep for me,
but you weep for yourselves. You see, you and I are the ones
who are still plagued by sin. You and I are the ones that are
still left in this world who by grace must endure till the
end in order to be saved. Don't weep for me, weep for yourself. We know very little about what
awaits us in glory. Clarice left this life on October
the 5th, 2017. And the very next day, I had
a new granddaughter come into this world, October the 6th.
Do you know who I weep for? Sure not for Clarice. Now hear
me on this. In eternity, we will not be caught
up with fleshly, carnal things such as marriage and relationships.
We'll concern ourselves only with the worship of Christ, our
Savior, that lamb slain before the foundation of the world who
died to put away our sin. Our clearest view of eternity's
glory, I suppose, is best seen when we consider all the things
that heaven isn't. What do I mean by that? Well,
in heaven there's no more hunger, no more thirst, no more sickness,
no more pain, no more disease. Here's one I like, no more old
age, no more death. Why? Because all those things
are caused by sin. And in heaven and in glory, no
sin. I'll have no sin. No birth, no
marriage is all gone. Just sinless eternity with Christ. Are you ready for that life?
Huh? How would I know if I'm ready?
You might ask. Well, is the service of God pleasant
to you right now in this life? Do you right now love the One
who gave Himself for you? Is it a joy to worship Christ
right now? Can we be honest with one another?
Is it? Are you pleased to serve Him and Him alone right now?
That's a tell-tale sign. Friends, God is the God of the
living, and all who are in Christ will live forevermore. Now look
at verse 33. And when the multitude heard
this, they were astonished at his doctrine. Are you astonished
at his doctrine? Are you? If you ever truly hear
it, you will be. Then we come to the third question,
verse 34. But when the Pharisees had heard
that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered
together. And then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him
a question, tempting him and saying, Master, what is the great
commandment in the law? Now here we have a noble question. What is the great commandment
in the law? Which is the most important one? If I can only do one, which one
would it be? If there's only one thing that
I could do to please God, what would that one thing be? Now
I'm telling you, this was a principled question. This was a very ethical
question. This question was politically
correct. This question is impressive to
many. This question shows great concern
for the obedience to God. Which is the greatest commandment?
This question shows a great desire for human morality. Religion
asks these kind of questions. Religion's concerned with such
things, but I'm telling you, they don't mean much. I'm telling
you that they don't. Apart from Christ, we cannot
be what God requires. Has God shown you that? Apart
from Christ, we cannot do what God demands. Apart from Christ,
we're going to die in our sin. And all I can say to that is
we better not be apart from Christ. The Pharisees believed that Moses
had given them 613 laws, 365 commandments, one for each and
every day of the year. And then they believed there
was an additional 249 prohibitions. In other words, 365 things to
keep. 248 things to resist and avoid, 365
things to do, 248 things not to do. Boy, they made a great
effort to know these things. That was their life. They were
consumed with it, the do's and don'ts of the law. They had great
disputes and arguments and debates over the importance of each commandment.
Well, this one's more important than that one, and that one's
more important. You can't do any of them. If
you offend in one point of the law, you're guilty of the whole
thing. And the law was never given for us to keep. The law
was given to be our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ to show
us that we don't have the ability to keep the law. And the problem's
not with the law of God, the problem's with you and I. Some
thought the ceremonial ordinances were more important than others,
thought that the moral commands of the law took precedence. And
I don't think that they at all, I'm telling you, I don't think
they at all suspected the answer that they got from the Lord.
They were dead set on doing something in order to be saved. Are you? Are you? In verse 37, Christ
said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is likened to
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. It's our nature to want to do. You know it, and I know it. By
divine revelation, we see, the child of God sees, that it's
already done. Big difference between do and
done, more than just two letters. Men think, oh, I've got to do.
And the child of God says, it's already done. It's finished.
You can narrow down 613 do's and don'ts to two and you can't
even do those. We can't love the Lord our God
with all our heart and mind and soul, our being and our neighbor
as much as we love ourselves. It's an impossible task. We love
ourselves. And what the Lord is teaching
us here is this, love is the secret to real obedience to God. When spiritual life is given
to a sinner, we feel towards God as a child feels toward a
loving father. We'd like to do His will. I'm
telling you, I loved my father and it just killed me to think
that I'd disappoint him. I disappointed him a lot, but
it always hurt me bad when I knew that I had. He who loves his
neighbor, he's not going to do his neighbor harm. He's going
to promote his neighbor's comfort. He's going to lighten his neighbor's
sorrow. If he loves him, men and women
miss Christ. They miss salvation because they
have these preconceived ideas that the Lord Jesus was such
a one as they are. Ignorance of the scriptures will
cause men and women to have a low opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And ignorance of the scripture will cause a man or a woman to
have too high an opinion of themselves. So, three questions have been
asked. Now we come to the most important
question that was ever asked. Verse 41. While the Pharisees
were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think
ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? That's
the most important question that has ever been asked to a mortal
man or woman. What do you think of this man,
Christ Jesus? What do you think of His office,
of His life, of His death on the cross? What did He accomplish
there on the cross? Do you think about those things?
What do you think of Christ? Do you think His errand of mercy
was necessary? Do you have a need for such a
one as Christ? What do you think? He came to
save sinners from their sin. Do you have any sin which you
need to be saved from? He didn't come to save those
who had no need. He came to save those who have
great need. Do you have great need? If so,
what do you think of Christ? He didn't come to help those
who were well. He said those that are whole have no need of
a physician. Christ came not to call the righteous,
those who thought they were righteous, in their own eyes, but He came
to call sinners to repentance. Which are you? Are you whole
in your own eyes? Are you righteous? Or are you
sick? Are you sick? What think ye of
the Great Physician? What think ye of Christ? What
do you think of His resurrection? What do you think of His ascension?
What do you think of His intercession at the right hand of God? Have
you tasted that He's gracious? What do you think of God the
Son? The question is not, what do
you think of the five points of Calvinism? The question is,
what do you think of Christ? Not, what do you think of the
doctrines of grace? The question is not, what do
you think of baptism? Christ is the only issue, not
the ordinances of God. What do you think of Him? What do you think about baptism?
What do you think about the Lord's table is no consequence to your
immortal soul? What do you think of Christ is?
Oh, it's the most important question that you could ever ponder in
your mind. This one and only issue concerns
the person of Christ. He says, whose son is he? God
says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Is
God's son your savior? Is God's son your master? His
sonship and his lordship is the issue. He's both Lord and God. That's what Thomas said. My Lord
and my God. He's both Lord and Savior. He's
both Lord and Christ. He's both just and justifier. Do you see and know who Sonny
is? He said God was his father. He
made himself equal with God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Why? Because he was God. What
do you think of him? I'm being as serious and sincere
as I can be. This is a matter of life and
death. What do you think of Jesus Christ?
I know what my dear sister thought of him. She told me every time
I'd step down from here. I could see the love of Christ
in her. She just loved to hear the gospel. She worked her life around Christ,
not Christ around her life. What do you think of God, son?
Most important question that's ever been asked. Answer this
question wrong and you'll perish in your sin. Mr. Spurgeon once
said that he never knew a man who thought little of Christ,
who did not think little of sin. That's so true, isn't it? If
God ever shows you who and what you are, and shows you the only
way that you can be reconciled to God, and that being in Christ
and Christ alone, I'm telling you, He'll mean something to
you. Mr. Spurgeon went on to say, never
has a man went astray in his thoughts about Christ that was
also wrong in his thoughts about self. If you see yourself as
a needy sinner, God will reveal Christ to you to be a sufficient
Savior. Because He's the one who revealed
to you what you are. And He won't leave you there.
He'll shut you up to Christ. So the most important question
to ever ask must be, what do you think of Christ? Do you see
who He is? He is the very God whom we've
sinned against. Do you see that He's altogether
lovely? He's God's beloved Son. Is He
yours? Christ is all in all. Is He all
to you? Like David confessed with his
dying breath, he said, he's all my salvation. He's all my desire. Is he all yours? What think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? Don't err. Don't be ignorant of the scriptures.
Study to show yourself approved unto God. Love him with all your
heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Love one another
as you love yourself. This is the question of all questions
though. This is the most important question
you'll ever answer. This is the question that will
silence every other question. What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? Look at verse
43 and I'll finish. 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. He said, if David then called
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. May this most important question
shut you up to the truth, dear sinner. You see, your destiny
in eternity depends upon your answer to this most important
question. What do you think of Christ? Oh, that God may enable you to
answer it correctly. May God show you that Christ
is all in all. Amen.