About turning initially, we're
working on a statement found in Matthew chapter 22. If you'd
return to that portion of the Scripture, we're going to take
our reading from a couple of the other gospel accounts. We were engaged this morning with that question that is found
in verse 42 of Matthew 22, in which the Lord
Jesus, having neatly disposed of the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Herodians with their little devised plan
of asking a loaded question, And in all three instances, it
backfired on them. They intended to make the Lord
Jesus look ridiculous in the eyes of the people, and it had
the very opposite effect. So our Lord puts to them a question. He said to the Pharisees, What
think you of Christ? Whose son is he? They quickly answer, the son
of David. And our Lord cites to them the
statement found in verse 44 that comes out of Psalm 110. The Lord
God David, literal David said, the Lord God Jehovah said to
my Lord the Lord Jesus, sit you on my right hand till I make
your enemies your footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he David's son?" So this Christ, this Messiah,
must be both God as well as man. We took our scripture reading
this morning from Psalm 21. I urge you to read that if you
haven't. Now tonight I want you to turn
with me to Mark chapter 12. Just read a few verses out of
Mark 12 and then out of the Gospel of Luke. Most of the same events that
are covered in Matthew 22 are brought before us again in Mark
chapter 12, though there are some exceptions. There are some
things found here that's not found in Matthew and vice versa.
But in verse 35 of Mark chapter 12, Jesus answered and said, while
he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is
the Son of David? For David himself said, By the
Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, here it is again from Psalm 110, The
Lord said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, till I make
your enemies your footstool. David therefore himself calls
him Lord, and how is he then David's son? And the common people
heard him gladly, but he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware
of the scribes which love to go in long clothing, and love
greetings. Now that clothing, mind you,
is religious clothing. It ain't just any kind of clothes.
It's got religious, what's the word for it, phylacteries. Thank you, Craig, I couldn't
get it to come to my mind. But it's all sorts of scripture
verses You know, today it's necklaces and crosses and all this Tommy
Rotten, no telling what else. Angels and doves and a thousand
and one other things. Anything somebody can devise
to make a buck out of, they're going to sell it to you if you're
dumb enough to buy it. And this is the clothing to which
our Lord refers. It announces their coming. You
know, it's like a preacher with a huge cross around his neck,
you know, look at me. Believers say look at Christ.
Don't look at me. Our Lord said unto them in his
doctrine, beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing. They love salutations, that is,
greetings with their fond of certain words like Reverend and
Doctor and this and that and the other in the marketplaces,
and they love the chief seats in the synagogues and the uppermost
rooms at feasts. They want people to think they
are somebody when the gospel tells us we are nobodies and
Christ is everything. If you ever figure that out,
you can just sort through everything around you. Here is a revealing statement,
verse 40, which devour widows' houses, and for a pretense to
cover it up, make long prayers. These shall receive greater damnation. Beginning at verse 39, the twentieth
chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Then certain of the scribes answering
said, Master, you have well said. After that they dared not ask
him any questions at all. And he said unto them, How say
they tribes and the Pharisees, how do they say that Christ is
David's son? And David himself said in the
book of Psalms, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit you on my right
hand till I make your enemies your footstool. David therefore
calls him Lord. How is he then David's son? And then in the audience of all
the people he said to his disciples, Beware of the scribes, which
desire to walk in long robes, love greetings in the markets
and the highest seats in the synagogue, and the chief room
at feast, which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long
prayers. The same shall receive greater
damnation. All right, let's work on that
statement then, what think ye of Christ, one more time. May
we pray. Lord, we are once more surprised
by what we read in our Bibles. How revealing, indeed, is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever he went, whatever he
did, and whatever he said revealed the hearts of those who were
before Him. And we must confess that it is
still the same in our day. The Lord Jesus, in the precious
gospel that is all of grace, reveals the motives of our heart,
shows us what we are in ourselves, and what we are made in Him by
His grace. What a wonder, what a wonder
indeed. Lord, we come to this same subject
a second time this day. Oh, we pray that you'd help us
not to be disinterested. Give us a keen and earnest desire
to understand what's written in our Bibles. That this whole
book is written to reveal Christ to our souls, and it is designed
and purposed from all eternity. to direct and guide your people
that were chosen and given to Christ in old eternity, to guide
their steps into the way of truth, the way of Christ, and the way
of salvation, so that every opportunity afforded us is another instance
and opportunity of confirming what we think about our souls,
that we are indeed in Christ and that we belong to him, and
he is our dear Lord and Savior and King. But Lord, many before
us have been mistaken on such a critical matter, and it is
certainly within the realm of good possibility that I could
be mistaken too. The heart is deceitful above
all things. Who can know it? Lord, take the words from your Word
this night and either confirm our profession of knowing and
loving Christ, or else bring us to the realization that we
do not really trust Him nor love Him at all, and do for our poor
souls what no man in all the world can do. Save us, we pray
for Christ's sake. Amen. Now, before we take this
other direction, I want to reiterate one thing from this morning,
and that has to do with How do we determine what we really
think of Christ? How do we determine this? Of
course, it must be determined in this book from beginning to
end. But one of the most revealing
things in all the world that can cause me to know whether
my interest in Christ is a saving one is to ask this simple question,
not just what do we think of Christ, what do I think of myself? That's a dead giveaway. If we join a host of people in
our Bibles who depreciate themselves down to nothing who condemn their
own selves and justify God in their own condemnation, then
that's an awfully good indication that their hope is not in themselves,
not in their works, not in their religious deeds, but in Christ
alone, Christ alone. So when we talk about the subject
of what do we think of Christ, we must give some regard to what
we think of his person. This is the central issue that
is before us in these three gospel accounts of this encounter between
the scribes and the Sadducees and the Rhodians and the Pharisees,
is that They thought the Messiah, for certain now, was the Son
of David, and that's wonderfully true. But they refused to own
that he's first and foremost the Son of God, the Son of God. I say this as simply and as bluntly
as words can say it to any man or woman, boy or girl of whatever
age. If Jesus Christ is not God to
me, he is no Savior to me. Only God can save, and only a
Christ who is God as well as man can be our Christ, our Messiah. Anything less than that is simply
a profession. And it ain't worth two cents,
and the quicker we get rid of it and stomp it in the ground,
the better off we'll be. We live in a world where everything
is looked at in its outward impression. You know, just if you look religious,
and if you attend church, and if you give a little money now
and then, people will speak well of you. And that's all it takes
to pass. That's not the case with God.
With Him, it's all in this one question, what think you of Christ? What think you of Christ? What
do we think of Him in His person? What do we think of Him in His
offices as our great mediator, our prophet, our priest, and
our king? What do we think of Christ in
His dual nature, that He's both God and man, and yet in just
one person? What do we think of Christ when
it comes to His purpose, which was to seek and to save that
which was lost? Has He been doing that as long
as this world has stood? Yes, and He's doing it right
now. and he's doing it through the
preaching of the gospel. By the foolishness of preaching,
God is ordained to save them that believe. What think ye of
Christ in regard to his character, his attributes, if you please,
both human as well as divine? What think you of Christ in his
relationships to his people? He's their head, He's their husband,
He's their Lord, He's their King. He's all sorts and kinds of relationships
with those that He loves. What do we think of Christ when
it comes to the subject of salvation? His salvation is complete, it
is altogether full, it is precisely what we need, and it brings everything
to us as a gift. What do I think of Christ when
it comes to His titles and to His name? Finally, the one that
we're going to look at tonight has to do with what do I think
of Christ regarding His worth? How much is He worth? How much is He worth to me? Is he worth any trouble? Is he worth the cost of a friendship
now and then? How much is he worth? Isaiah charges us with not seeing
any beauty in Christ. That's because we're blind and
cannot see. But in grace, God opens our eyes. Christ becomes altogether lovely. Not only his worth and his beauty,
but his glory. The glory of God shines in the
face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6. But the word I want to
work on tonight is the word precious. If you'll turn to 1 Peter chapter
2, we'll spend a few minutes here
on this subject of the preciousness of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7. And here is a very unassuming
looking statement, but when one considers it, it begins to grow. unto you therefore which believe,
he, Christ, is precious." Now, he's not precious to everybody,
but he's precious to believers, and I'm told that that word preciousness
is actually the word for preciousness itself. the essence, the fullness,
the completeness of all that precious is. Christ is, and the
whole statement itself tells us that every man does not share
this sense of Christ's worth, of his glory, of his preciousness. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient
to the gospel of Christ, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. But unto those which
be disobedient, verse 8 says, and a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient whereunto also they were appointed." This is no surprise
to the Lord Jesus. This is no surprise to Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whereunto they were appointed.
Appointed. If the unbelief of sinners does
not surprise God, neither does it surprise Him that to believers
Christ is precious. He not only ordains that preciousness
in their souls, He bestows it upon them by His grace. If I read this literally, I'd
leave out the is, and it would simply say, he precious. You see how the sense of the
essence and substance of preciousness is in that word? It's not just
that he is precious, but he is preciousness itself. He's all
that preciousness is, Christ is. All right, so let's look
at some things here in regard to the Lord Jesus in His preciousness. First of all, in regard to His
person, His names. His proper name is Lord Jesus
Christ. He's Lord of lords and King of
kings. His name Jesus, Matthew 121,
you've heard it a million times, is His human name, the name of
His human nature. And in regard to His office,
His function, He is the Christ, the Messiah, the sent one of
God. His names are also many and varied
in our Bibles, but none greater than this one. He is called,
Jeremiah 23, verse 6, Jehovah Sid Canoe, the Lord our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. No wonder He's precious. He's
righteousness itself, and He's all my righteousness, but He's
also our Redeemer. Oh, what a Redeemer He is. All
for whom He died, He redeemed. He redeemed them fully, entirely,
completely, and altogether and eternally. His work cannot fail. It cannot be repeated. There's
nothing, absolutely nothing left to do. Salvation's work is done. He's called in our Bibles the
Everlasting Father. He's called our husband, our
brother, and our friend. Looking at Him and His preciousness
in His work, He is our substitute. He is our sacrifice. He is our
Savior. He is my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification, and my redemption coming to his offices. He is
our prophet, our priest, and our king. Let's look at a scripture
or two in that regard, just to substantiate this for us in the
scriptures themselves, if you don't mind. John's Gospel chapter 7, when it comes to his being the
prophet, the one of whom Moses spoke, that exceeded all other
prophets, the prophet of all prophets. Here's what his enemies
said about him in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John.
Verse 46, the officers answered, Never man spoke like this man. And that is the understatement
of all time. Never a man, a son of Adam, never
a man wearing human flesh, ever spoke like the Lord Jesus. But
of course, he's not the son of Adam, born of the seed of the woman. But his words, his preaching,
his teaching are without comparison. Nobody can match him. I mean,
those Pharisees thought man We can get this group to ask this
question, and this one to ask this one, and another one to
ask that one. We can set him up. They did not know with whom they
were dealing. Never man spoke like this man. He spoke and it was done. He
declared the end from the beginning. How about his work as priest?
Just flip over to Hebrews 10, just a second. You compare any
other priest in all the world, in all time, before, now, and
after, and see if there is another priest like him. The book of
Hebrews, from one end to the other, is a contrast between
Old Testament things, Old Testament priesthood, Old Testament priests
and Old Testament sacrifices compared with Christ. Moses is said to be God's servant
in God's house, and Christ is said to be a son over his own
house. Now there's a contrast for you
between Moses and Christ. All right, right here in Hebrews
chapter 10, looking at just 2 or 3 verses, 10, 12, and 14. By the rich will, the will of
God which Christ came to do, we are sanctified, made holy
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. If He's not the Son of Man, He
can have no body, but a body was prepared Him and through
the offering of his body once for all. Verse 12, But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. Verse 14, This one alone says
it all. For by one offering Christ has
perfected forever them that are declared holy, sanctified. You can't repeat that. It never
goes out of date. It never ceases to be effective. Once done, and done absolutely
forever. All right, let's turn to one
scripture in regard to Christ in his kingship. which was the
celebration that we read about in Psalm 21 when David wrote
of our Lord Jesus Christ as God's King. What statements they are
indeed. Revelation chapter 19 and verses
11 through 15. I'm in the wrong chapter. Did
I say 19? Okay, I can't even listen to my own Goodness, goodness,
goodness. Yes, here it is. Chapter 19,
11 through 16. I saw heaven opened. He that sat upon him was called
faithful and true. and in righteousness he does
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed We don't recognize
him yet. This will certainly help. And
he was clothed with a vesture with clothing dipped in blood,
and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean. And out of his mouth goes a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall
rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of
the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his vesture
and on his thigh," here's the fourth name in just this short
verse, is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Surely, after that
sixteenth verse, we don't have any problem knowing who this
is that is being described. So when Peter said, under divine
inspiration, unto you therefore which believe, Christ is precious. What do you think of Christ? Surely we think He's precious. Here are two or three more questions
before we go in regard to this statement in 1 Peter 2.7. I'll remind you one more time. Christ is not precious to everybody. He's precious to believers. The reason we are believers is
because God has revealed to us the preciousness of His the preciousness
of his blood, of his work, of his sacrifice, of his death, burial, resurrection,
and ascension. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious. Here are some more questions
to determine the answer to that question that we started with
in Matthew 22, what think ye of Christ? And here the statement
unto you therefore which believe Christ is precious." This will
help, maybe, sort this out in case we're still in doubt. First question is this, am I sick of sin? not in somebody else but in me. Do I truly wish that I could
be done with this business of sinning? If that really be the case, the
Lord Jesus may indeed be the good physician to my soul. Second question, is my sin a
burden to me? If so, he says to me, come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. Now, he's not talking about rest
from our job. or from doing hard physical work. He's talking about the same thing
that Bunyan put on Pilgrim's back. That's the weight of his
sin. Is my sin a burden to me? If it is, then it is likely true
that the Lord Jesus is my great deliverer. The third question
is, Does the law accuse and condemn me, or do I count myself to have
reached whatever you call it that I am able to keep God's
law myself? If the law accuses and condemns
me, which is what it is designed to do, then the Lord is indeed
my righteousness. And I delight in that. I don't
mind telling you that. He's all my hope, all my plea,
all my righteousness. Do lust and the corruption of
sin still rise up within me and against me? then Christ is my
sanctifier and my sanctification. Does this world, sin and Satan,
threaten me with destruction? Then He is my Savior, my only
hope, and my salvation. Unto you, therefore, which believe
Christ is precious. Or to give again our original
question, what think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? Is He the Son of God and the
Son of Man? And how about His worth? Just What kind of value can we put
on him? There's not enough gold or silver
or precious stones or whatever else is considered to be worth anything. There's not
enough of all of it put together. in this whole world to compare
to him. He's precious. He's preciousness
itself. God help us to discover if he
is indeed precious to each of us.