If you would, turn with me to
Matthew chapter 22. Matthew 22, and for now, I'll
just read one verse. Well, I'm gonna read two
verses, 41 and 42 of Matthew 22. 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. This question asked by Christ
was to those gathered in the temple. There were these Pharisees
and a bunch of other people there as well. Another account calls
them common, and that word common meaning many, basically. I think it was Earl who told
us about a man who was to be ordained as a pastor. And someone
asked this man, who is Christ? That man having graduated from
a Bible college, as they called him, but this man was perplexed
by this question. And I believe Earl said that
the man responded with this, what do you mean? There are those
in this world who are very religious. They will attempt to tell you
who they think Christ is, but they really have no idea who
He is. A lot of them will respond with
things He has done. He was born of a virgin, died
on the cross, was raised again the third day, but they really
have no idea who He is. Some may not respond at all,
other than to say, what do you mean? That answer is no different
than the answer we hear from unbelievers in Scripture. Turn
with me now to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 verses 13 and 14. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I am? Who I, the son of man, am? And
they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias,
and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. They said he was
John the Baptist. In other words, they thought
he was come to herald that one who is to come. They thought
he was Elias or Elijah. Some said he was Jeremiah. Some
said he was a prophet. They did not say he was the prophet,
but that he was just a prophet. We can see from Matthew 16 verses
13 and 14 that most thought of Christ as just another fallen
son of Adam. They may have highly valued him
as this, but they do not value him for who he really is. It's
the same today. They think of Christ as one coming
from the dead, and by that I mean they think he has come from fallen
dead, simple man. He's just another man with special
gifts, is what they think. These Pharisees said, in Matthew
42, saying, what think you of Christ? Whose son is he? And
they answered, they say unto him, the son of David. We know
from scripture that Christ did come through the lineage of David.
Matthew even says in verse one of Matthew one, the book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. This is true that Jesus Christ
did come down through the line of David. It traces it all the
way down in the book of Matthew as well. So and so begat so and
so. Christ is showing us these Pharisees
recognized this to some extent when he said it. but Christ is
telling us he is the son of the living God. There are several
places in scripture where we read that some who were looking
for mercy from Jesus Christ, knowing who he was, or is, said
to follow him. The two blind men who came to
him, he said, in Matthew 9.27, they said, and when Jesus departed
thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, thou
son of David, have mercy on us. These men had faith in Christ
because it says they did. So they called Jesus Christ by
faith, thou son of David, have mercy on us. Then we have Lionel
Bartimaeus who cried out in Mark 10, 47. And when he heard that
it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. This man also had faith
because it tells us he did. Christ actually told us he did.
So he cried this out in faith, Jesus, thou son of David. One
more, we have the woman of Canaan whose daughter was previously
vexed with the devil. In Matthew 15 verse 22 we read,
and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto him saying, have mercy on me. Oh Lord, thou son of David,
my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. This woman, Christ
goes on to tell us, had great faith. This is that one who at
first Christ ignored her until she was forced by Christ to admit
her sinfulness and her dependency on Christ. She admitted, truth
Lord, yet the doves eat of the crumbs which fall from their
master's table. She had faith, and by faith she
called him, O Lord, thou Son of David. Christ is not saying
he is not the one spoken of as the Son of David in this passage.
He is showing them from scripture who he really is. As Walter mentioned, they understood
from the passage that Christ used, that passage from the Old
Testament, that if Christ was the Son of David, then he was
the Lord from above. They durst not ask him any more
questions after this, it says. So let's look at who Christ is.
The Messiah, the propitiation for sin, salvation. So number one, Messiah. In our
text, Christ asked them, he said unto them, how then doth David,
and this is in verses 43, Matthew 22, 43 through 45, 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? Our Lord presents this
to the Pharisees, and they from this point do not ask him any
more questions as to what it says. If our Lord says something,
it is important. That is whether it is his words
specifically or words that he had other men say and have men
write them down because they are all given by inspiration
of God. They are all words of God. But
we have this mentioned in several other places as well, Acts 22,
34, and 35. And this is that deals with this,
until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Acts 2, verses 34 and 35, we
read, for David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith
himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand
until I make thy foes thy footstool. Yes. Hebrews 1.13 says, but to
which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Hebrews 10, 12, and
13 says, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice,
four sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. And then
Hebrews 12, 2, we read, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of 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." What does this
tell us? What is Christ showing those
Pharisees who evidently understood what he was saying, although
they did not believe and bow down to what he was saying? They
certainly understood the ramification, if you will, of what he was saying
being true, especially as it related to himself. Jesus Christ
is God. He is that Messiah spoken of
in the Old Testament, that one who should come, that son of
David who is God himself manifest in the flesh. First Corinthians
15, 22 through 26, we read, for as Adam For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ
at his coming. Then come at the end when he
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. This is that one who will have
all his enemies put under his feet because he is the Lord from
heaven. But we have one other thing I
want to mention as it concerns him being God from above, Messiah. Matthew 1.20 says, But while
he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. We can see here the lineage of
David, but what else do we see here? For that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. Mary was a virgin. Joseph, the
son of David, nor any other fallen son of Adam had not touched her.
It says that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. We know the Holy Ghost is God,
one of those manifestations of God, the three in one. God Almighty fathered the Son
by His Spirit, meaning Christ is the Son of God. That once
spoken of by David saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou
here at my right hand until I make thy enemies thy foes. So as I
hope we see, but not just see, I hope we believe Jesus Christ
when he tells us as he is the Son of God. Many people can see
what it's saying, but they cannot believe it to be so or bow down
to it. It's hard for us to understand
this. that people can understand and know something in God's word
to be true, yet not believe it, not bow down to it. But it can
and does happen. Not just with them out there.
We have this flesh and it will deceive us. If the spirit of
God is not directing us into his truth, we will not believe
God and bow down to his word. We in fact cannot and will not
know anything apart from God opening our eyes. That is opening
our spiritual understanding. Of course, to be able to have
our spiritual understanding, we must be spiritual. But we
are not spiritual by nature. Christ tells us in John 3, John
3 says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. I'm not going into the
details of this, where we read, where it says, that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, is the same way we become
spiritual. We must be conceived of the Holy
Ghost. We see an account on the road
to Emmaus with these two men walking with Christ, one who
was named Cleophas, but they were telling Christ of all those
things that happened of Christ's crucifixion. But their eyes were
holding, it says, This word holden means to use strength. By the
power of God, these men's eyes were holden so that they could
not see Christ for who he was. But if he is pleased, there will
come that time when he will open your eyes so that you will see
Christ. Luke 24, 31, it says, and this
is that account of the road to Emmaus, and it says, and their
eyes were opened and they knew him. and he vanished out of their
sight. This is the Lord of glory, and
he has all power. He came to do what he was sent
to do, and he did. What was that that he came to
do? To be the propitiation for sin.
So number two, the propitiation of sin. First John 4.10, we read,
herein is love, not that we love God, for our sins. This word propitiation
means atonement or an expiator. Expiator means to make amends
or to put an end to. And then the word for atonement
means to exchange, restoration to divine favor. So he is the
propitiation for us, making atonement for us, exchanging sin for righteousness,
restoring us to favor with God. Romans 5.11 says, and not only
so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. That great transaction done by
God himself in the person of the Son of God. Him being the
propitiation for our sins through that covenant made of the three
in one. The Spirit of God conceiving
Jesus Christ in the Son in the womb, Jesus Christ the Son of
God making amends to God the Father, put an end to our sin. He done an exchange, restoring
us to divine favor with God. What was it He exchanged? He
exchanged His righteousness for our sin. He was made sin for
us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
This he has done from before the foundation of the world because
he is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the
scripture says. What do we read in 1 Peter 1.20? We read, who
barely was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you. He was manifestly
set forth in time as that lamb slain from before the foundation
of the Him being God come in the flesh, he accomplished that
for which he was ordained to do. He was faithful to carry
out that great transaction. We, by his faith given to us,
then believe and bow down to him, the author and finisher
of faith. That faith being given us, I
mean the very faith of Jesus Christ. That faith which he was
fully submissive to of the Father to fulfill everything that was
required. He believed the Father that he
would be raised from the dead. He was. So what does that make
him? This Jesus Christ, this son of
David? It makes him our salvation. So number three, salvation. We
read in scripture where there was one who saw Jesus Christ
as a baby. We see little babies and we have
the thought, what an innocent little thing. Well, here is an
account where this very thing is true. So turn with me to Luke
chapter two, if you would. Luke chapter two. verses 25 and 32. Luke 2, 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just in
the bat, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. which thou hast prepared before
the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel. Here is one little baby that
was innocent. Here is one baby that did not
need from anyone else. He was in fact the salvation
of his people. We read it in scripture for he
shall save his people from their sin. This little baby did not
stay a baby. At Mr. Green, of those who like
their Christmas plays, he did not even stay a little baby while
he was on this earth. He grew in knowledge and stature,
the scripture says. When he grew up, he began to
say things like in John 4, where we read John 4.2, ye worship
ye know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. This man being a Jew, because
he is the son of David, tells this woman at the well, ye worship
ye know not what. This is true for most professed
Christians today. They have no idea who Christ
is. Is this because we are better
than them? Is this because I am better than them? No, not at
all. Because Christ tells me this
as well when I read scripture. By nature, I know not what I
worship. Does that mean I will preach
in a way that might give those a pass that do not bow to this
name which is above every name? No, this is God and we can only
preach peace where there is peace. There is only peace in one place.
Acts 4.12 says, neither is there salvation in any other for there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. I can lessen the offense of the
gospel by preaching a perverted gospel, but it will not save
anyone. The only thing I can do is preach
the salvation of sinners, that salvation being Jesus Christ,
if he is in fact your salvation. He says he shall save his people
from their sin, but this is already in the past because he said it
is finished. Yes. So I will proclaim his word,
for there is nothing else to proclaim. Anything else is sounding
brass and tinkling cymbal. Romans 1 16 says, for I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. To believe Jesus Christ is to
believe his gospel. The gospel is the record God
gave of his son, the son of David, the son of God. When God sends
us his gospel, we then believe his gospel, meaning we believe
Jesus Christ is who he says he is, and he did what he said he
did. Romans 10.10 we read, for with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
Confession is made unto salvation. Not only will you believe it,
but you will confess it before men. How do we confess it? The first thing we do is to be
baptized. What a humiliating thing to do,
to have someone else take me and put me under the water. Just
to be clear though, this is a confession, not a cleansing. The waters of
baptism does not do anything to cleanse you from sin. It is
a confession that Jesus Christ being your salvation, having
propitiated my sin, has cleansed me. But when we really truly
believe, when we really truly receive the love of the truth,
we will want to be baptized. But let me mention something
else. If you hear the gospel and you believe Jesus Christ,
and you bow down to Jesus Christ in love to him, God says we are
sealed by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1.13 says, in whom
ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. By the Spirit
of God, the things which we hear which are from the very scripture
that He has breathed out are sealed to our heart. That new
heart given by Him, but we are sealed. Christ, when He was here,
promised to send the Comforter. This Comforter would be sent
to guide us into all truth. His truth teaches us that Jesus
Christ was obedient unto death. He had faith in that covenant
made with the father and he carried out that covenant made with the
father in perfect obedience. That obedience that I will never,
never match. His obedience manifested him
as our salvation. Hebrews 5, 8, and 9 says, though
he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. and being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. If you obey him, what does that
mean? If you believe him, bow to him
as your own. He is everything in salvation,
and I can look to no other for it. I cannot look to myself,
and I cannot look to another. He not only is the start of my
salvation, He is the fulfillment of my salvation. 1 Peter 1, 8
and 9 says, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye
see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your soul. So now we know what Christ was
telling these Pharisees. from Psalms 110, one, a Psalm
of David says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Christ
in telling them this passage, then pointing out to them that
David called him Lord. If he called him Lord, then how
was he his son? He is telling these Pharisees
that he is that Lord spoken of in Scripture. that one spoken
of having his enemies to be made his footstool. They did not ask
him any more questions after this. It could be that they thought
if Jesus is that one spoken of here, then he is the God of heaven. So we have seen Jesus Christ
is the Messiah, the anointed one, or Christ, our prophet,
priest, and king. We read in Habakkuk 3.13, it
says, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people,
even the salvation with Thine anointed. Thou woundest the head
out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation
unto the neck. See you later. Jesus Christ is
the propitiation for our sin. 1 John 4, 10 says, herein is
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Jesus Christ is the
salvation of his people. Acts 4.12 says, neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. But let's now go to
when our Lord spoke to his disciples, where we returned to before,
Matthew 16, verses 13 through 15. We read this. he asked his disciples, saying,
whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they said, some
say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias,
or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? Has God brought this question
to your mind? He has mine many times. He will
continue to bring this question to your mind if you're one of Your answer will not decide the
answer. It will not decide what Christ
will do for you. But it will be the manifestation
of what you have been revealed. Does your answer match that of
scripture? Matthew 16, 16 says, and Simon
Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God. Jesus Christ is God. because
he is the son of God, that son of David from whom God would
bring forth through his providence him being born a Jew, not because
David said so or planned this out, but because God Almighty
had purchased it from the foundation of the world. If you know this,
it's not of yourself. It is because God the Father
has revealed this unto you. We read in verse 17 of Matthew
16. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. Flesh, that is fallen sinful
flesh and blood, hath not revealed this unto you. No kind of flesh. Not your flesh, not your parents'
flesh, not the preacher's flesh, Not any other fall of man's flesh
and blood rebuilds this to a man. We are not rebuilt these things
by flesh and blood, and nor do we begin by the flesh and blood. We are not born of God by the
flesh and blood, John 1, 12, and 13 says, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. What does the scripture tell
us in John 6, 45? It says, it is written in the prophets, and
they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. If you
are able to confess that Jesus is the Christ, We're not just
talking about saying it. This is who you think of that,
and it's your thoughts, and you're consumed with this, that Jesus
is the Christ. You are convinced in your mind
by faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. If
you are able to confess this, to have this thought, then God
taught it to you, else you would have not thought it. What you
think about Jesus Christ is what you think about God, because
Jesus Christ is God. Christ the Son, the Messiah,
the propitiation for our sin, Christ our salvation, that one
who has all his enemies under his feet is God himself. What think ye of Christ? Amen. Dear old God, thank you
for allowing us to proclaim your son, your Lord. May it be to
your honor and glory. We're mere clay pots, dear Lord. Be with all those that are out
there, dear Lord, that are yours, even those that are in other
places, dear Lord. May you send the message of your
son to all your people. All these things we ask in Christ's
name. Amen.