I want to begin reading in verse
forty-one and finish that chapter. Matthew chapter twenty-two and
verse forty-one. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What thank ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? And they said unto him, The son
of David. And he said unto them, How then
doth David in spirit, by the Spirit, in the Holy Spirit, call
him Lord, saying? The Lord said unto my Lord, Set
thou on my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy put to death. If David then called him Lord,
how is he then David's son? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither does any man from that day forth ask him
any question." Now, if you'll read the context of my text here,
you'll see that this question the Lord Jesus asked in verse
forty-three, or I'm sorry, in verse forty-two, what faith give
Christ? Whose son is he? This came out
of several questions that then asked the Lord Jesus. The Herodians
had came in the earlier part of this chapter. The Herodians,
as far as we know, were people who supported Herod. They supported
the Roman government. They were Jewish people. And they asked the Lord Jesus
about taxing. They said, we want to ask you
a question about taxes. Should we pay taxes to Caesar?
But they were tempting him, wanting for him to say something against
Caesar that they might have to accuse him. So should we pay
taxes to Caesar? Should we give money to Caesar?
And the Lord Jesus said, bring me a coin and let me look at
it. And they brought him a coin and
he said, who's this subscription on here? Whose picture of this
they've stamped on here? And they said, Caesar's. And
he said, give to Caesar the things of Caesar. and give to God the
things of God. And then some Sadducees came
to it. Sadducees don't believe in angels. Sadducees don't believe in the
Holy Spirit. Sadducees didn't believe we had
a spirit. Sadducees believed that we were
just flesh. We lived, and when we died, we
were annihilated. We had no hereafter. We had no
soul. They said if man had a soul,
then they'd believe in the resurrection. But man didn't have a soul. He
ceased to be at death. And they proposed a question
to the Lord Jesus concerning the resurrection. They said there
was a man who lived among us, a lady, and she had a husband.
The husband died. And her brother, his brother,
married her. He died and his brother married. Seven brothers were married to
this lady. In the resurrection, whose wife
will she be? And the Lord Jesus said, you
do error, because you don't know the power of God, you don't believe
God has the power to raise a body from the dead, and you don't
know the scriptures. In the resurrection, he said,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Marriage is for
this life. There'll be no marriage in heaven.
Marriage is a temporal relationship. The Lord Jesus said there, there'll
be as the angels of God. But he said concerning the resurrection,
he said you Pharisees don't believe in the spirit that the soul lives
on after death. He said let me ask you this concerning
the Lord speaking to Moses there to burning bush. He said, the
Lord spoke to Moses and said, I am the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am their God. But they had been dead for several
hundred years, and the Lord spoke of them as still living. I am
the God of Abraham. God is not the God of the dead.
He's the God of the living. Abraham is still alive. Isaac
is still alive. Every man is still alive, either
in a place of torment or in a place of glory. But we exist when we
leave this because we have souls. And the Lord Jesus said, therefore,
you fellows say, if a man had a soul, if a man had a spirit,
then you could believe in the resurrection. Well, I'm telling
you Abraham's alive. Jacob is alive. Isaac is alive. And then, of course, he goes
on here in the last portion of this verse before we get to our
text. And the Pharisees come and put
a question to him. In verse 35, a lawyer, a scribe,
put a question to him. These scribes were brilliant
men. They were learned in the law. And no one knew any more about
the law and its teachings supposedly than a scribe, a lawyer. And
he came to take the Lord Jesus in his word. He thought within
himself, I'm going to prove that this Jesus of Nazareth isn't
an unlearned man. And he proposed a question to
him. He said, which is the great commandment in the law? What do you think the chief commandment
is? And the Lord Jesus divided them up into two parts. The first
heading was this, thou shalt love the Lord your God with all
your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second table, he said,
is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. In the parallel
passage to this, this lawyer said, Master, you've answered
well. I've come here to trick you. But I've heard you give
a good answer. For to love God with all your
heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as
yourself is better than all the animal sacrifices that you can
offer. That's it, he said. To love God and to love your
neighbor. And the Lord Jesus said, now
you fellows have asked me all these questions. I want to ask
you a question. I've got a question for you.
I took time to answer yours to your satisfaction. I want to
ask you a question. What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? I want to give you three questions
this morning in looking at this. First one, who or what is Christ? Before we can think properly
of Him, we must know who or what Christ is. Secondly, whose Son
is He? And thirdly, what thank you of
Christ. Christ means simply anointed. The Jews had three offices in
their state, the Jewish state, that they had to anoint anyone
who filled these offices. They had to be anointed with
oil. They had the prophet's office.
They had the priest's office, and they had the king's office. When Elijah was ready to be caught
up to heaven, God told him to go anoint Elijah, Elijah, Elijah,
to be prophet in his stead. And Elijah was anointed prophet
over Israel. When God chose the first high
priest, Aaron, the brother of Moses. He told Moses to take
a cruse of oil and pour it upon Aaron's head to anoint him as
priest. And Moses did that, and anointed
him and sanctified him as priest. And when God had chosen David,
he sent Samuel to anoint him with oil, to anoint him to be
king over Israel. In all of these offices, in prophet,
priest, and king, these people stood between God and man. They served God by ministering
to man. In the prophet's office, when
God had called Elijah, when He called Elijah and He anointed
them king, they were God's mouthpiece. If you heard from God, you'd
hear from God through His prophets. God never spoke to individuals. He spoke to individuals through
His prophets. Hebrews chapter 1 tells us that.
That God in sundry times and different manners spake in time
past to the fathers by the prophets. That's why He anointed these
prophets, set them aside, that they may minister to the people.
they would be his mouthpiece. And these high priests, when
God anointed the high priest, he was God's servant. He served
God in that office. If you were to offer to God a
sacrifice, you brought that sacrifice to the high priest, and the high
priest in turn offered that sacrifice to God. If you had sinned, You
didn't go offer a sacrifice for your sin. God wouldn't accept
it. It's your hand. You had to take
the sacrifice to the priest. He would prepare the sacrifice
and offer it to God. God would accept it of His hand
and forgive you. It was God's anointed prophet.
It was God's anointed priest. And when God anointed David and
all His other kings, The nation submitted themselves to these
kings who had been anointed. When they heard that Samuel had
anointed David and God finally installed him in the office as
a king, Israel finally submitted themselves to David. They owned
him as their king. He led them to their battles
and their victories. He provided for them. He was
God's servant to the people. and king, the anointed of God. And, brothers and sisters, Jesus
Christ of Nazareth is the Christ. Jesus is the anointed of God. He is prophet. Moses said thousands
of years before Jesus came, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you like unto me, and him shall you hear in all things."
God has spoken to us, and God is speaking to us now by His
Son, this prophet. And when He came down from heaven,
He came to reveal to us the mind of God. He was God's servant
to tell us God's will for us. The Lord Jesus came, and here's
what He said. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. Go learn what that means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am come. Where did he come from? He came
from the Father, with the Father's message. And he said, I'm not
come to call the righteous to repentance. I'm not come to teach
you of human merit. I'm not come to teach you of
human wisdom and power. The Father has sent me. My doctrine
is not mine. I'm God's And as God's prophet,
I'm sent to teach you the doctrine of God. And what is it? Your
need of mercy. Your need of mercy. I will have
mercy. Go learn what that means. God's
prophet. Brothers and sisters, mercy is
what we need. Mercy is what we must have. And
if you and I ever learn that, we'll learn that that's a lesson
from God. It's God who has taught us that.
And how does He teach us that? Through no other but the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is God's prophet. And I'll
say this much, if a man ever hears, in a way of grace, If
a man ever hears from God in a way of mercy, saving mercy,
it'll be through Christ. Because God does not speak in
mercy and love and grace, except He speaks by this prophet. He's God's prophet, isn't He?
He's the Christ. He's the anointed of God. And
not only is He God's anointed prophet, but He's God's anointed
high priest. Here's what David said all the
way back over in Psalms 110. Nephi was speaking to the Lord
Jesus, and he said, I swear and will not repent that you are
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Why does he say
that? Why does he speak to Jesus of
Nazareth and say, I have anointed you my priest? But you're going
to be priests forever. Why did he say forever? Well,
there's two reasons for him saying that. They had other priests. The Jews had priests under the
Levitical priesthood. But they didn't continue forever.
They grew old and they died. And then they had to anoint another
priest. And he would grow old and he
would die. They didn't continue forever
because they were mere men. But when God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth to be priest, He said, You're priest forever. And we're told that when the Lord
Jesus raised from the dead, that He never will die again. He'll never die. He said, I was
dead, but now I'm alive, and behold, he said, I'm alive forevermore. Death does not have dominion
over me anymore. And the scripture gives this
as a reason for his being able to save to the uttermost them
that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth. He ever liveth. There's no need to have another
priest anointed. Because this priest will never
die. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. But there's another reason
that he said, you're a priest forever. Not only because he
don't have the infirmities now that those priests had and that
they grew old and died. But think of the sacrifices that
they offered. All that they had to offer was
goats. and heifers, and sheep, and the
blood of animals. And these things could never
take away sin. Oh, but when this priest, when
God's anointed priest, when Jesus of Nazareth, he offered a sacrifice,
he offered something that had never been offered before. He
offered himself without spot to God. And when he offered himself,
he offered his holy self, he offered his holy blood, he offered
his holy body, his holy flesh. And brothers and sisters, this
did something that the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes
of a heifer could never do. It put away sin. It atoned for
sin. There was no need. to have another
priest. Why would we want to have another
priest when this priest had did for us? Well, all those priests
together and all the sacrifices together could not do. Jesus
had atoned for sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He is indeed the
priest, forever God's anointed Not only is he God's anointed
prophet, not only is he God's anointed priest, but he's God's
anointed king. He's God's king. David said in
Psalms chapter two, God's speaking of this very thing, and he said,
I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I have set my Christ
upon my holy hill of Zion. You know what the holy hill of
Zion is. You know what that is. That's
heaven. But not only heaven, that's a
special place in heaven. The holy hill is that high and
holy and happy place reserved for none other than Jesus at
Nazareth. And where is that? At God's right
hand. That's that holy hill. And that's
where He sent Him this morning. Peter tells us that God raised
him from the dead, and he is in heaven and is set down at
the right hand of God, and angels and principalities and powers
are subject to him. Everything in heaven, because
all power in heaven is given to him, and everything in this
earth is subject to Nobody's subject to me. Nothing is subject
to me. But everything and everybody
is subject to Jesus of Nazareth. How do we know that? Because
God says, He's my King. He's my King. And He must reign. There's one reigning this morning,
brothers and sisters, over this universe. Everything that takes
place is subject to him. It will not happen except by
his permission. This one man, one man, is over
everything. He's over this universe. Look
here, Daniel. If you'll just hold your passage
very Matthew chapter 22, and look in Daniel chapter 7. I think of all the passages in
Daniel. This has to be one of my favorites
because it's speaking of this very thing. Here's a vision that
Daniel saw concerning this King, the Son of Man, he calls Him,
Jesus. And he says here in Daniel chapter
7, And verse 13, here's what he says about it, "'I saw in
the night visions, and behold, one like to the Son of Man. And
he came with the clouds of heaven, and he came to the Ancient of
Days, and they brought him near before him.'" And look at this,
"'And there was given him dominion and glory.' And there was given
him a kingdom that all people and all nations and languages
should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed. Jesus Christ, Glenn, is king. He's not a king, he's the king. God has anointed him. God says,
this is my Christ. He's my Christ. Not only was Jesus of Nazareth
anointed, not only was He anointed in all of these offices, but
He was anointed by a mere man. Nor was He anointed with the
oil of olives, but He was anointed of God, and
He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. Listen
to how Paul says it in Acts chapter 10. Or listen to how Peter says
it, rather. He says, now God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. And he went about
doing good. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. Why did God anoint him like this? With the Holy Ghost and with
power. Brothers and sisters, let me
ask you this question this morning. What kind of a prophet will it
take to open our blinded eyes and teach us? Could a mere prophet
do it? He has to be a man full of the
Holy Ghost and power to fulfill these offices of prophet and
priest and king. When God sent him into the world,
this is what he said. He said, I am sending you to
open the eyes of the blind and to bring out the prisoners from
their prison and them which sat in darkness out of their prison
house. That's why God sent him. to open
the blinded eyes. And who is blind but those who
are blind spiritually? It's not physical sight we need. It's our understanding that needs
light. We need to know ourselves. We
need to know God. We need to know what sin is.
We need to know the way sin is forgiven. We need to know the
way God can make us righteous and justify us. How are we going
to learn these things in our hearts, saving them? I tell you,
whoever teaches us must be a mighty prophet indeed. And God sent
us a prophet, and God poured the Holy Spirit out on him without
measure. Jesus Christ is able to teach
us. And no sooner had he come to
this world, and here's what he said, I will bring the blind
by a way that they know not. The blind. You've got to be a
good guy to lead the blind and keep them from stumbling and
falling off of this narrow cliff. I will lead them in paths that
they know not. I will make darkness lie before
them and crooked places straight. These will I do, and I'll never
forsake them." And you remember when the Lord Jesus had came,
and one of the first things was said about Him as He went out
into the countries and through the cities preaching, preaching
His gospel. The Scripture says this very
thing of Him, they that sat in darkness saw a great light. Who is that light? He is the
light. He's the light that He gives
us. We need light. And He is the light that He gives.
Jesus of Nazareth. Those poor ignorant apostles,
they knew little or nothing of what the Lord was doing in this
world. Yet finally it was said of them that the Lord Jesus opened
their understanding. That's a good prophet anyway.
That's why he had to be anointed. It was said again, he opened
to them the scripture. He opened their eyes and they
knew him. He's an opener. He opens things. And that's the prophet we need.
That's the prophet God has sent us. What kind of a priest would
it take, brothers and sisters, to mediate between us and God?
It's going to have to take one full of the Holy Ghost and full
of power. He can't be a mere man. What
kind of a man is it going to take to take our sins, as many
as they are, and as black as they are, and as heavy as they
are, and atone for those sins before God? To satisfy for those
sins, what kind of a man would it take? He's going to have to
be anointed. anointed. When Moses was anointed
Aaron to be the high priest, he must have understood something,
that God was going to anoint Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost. Because Moses took this huge
cruise of oil, and he started pouring it on Aaron's head, and
he wouldn't quit pouring. He just kept pouring it, and
kept pouring it, and kept pouring it. And it ran all down over
his head, and down his beard, and all the way down on his feet.
He was soaked in oil. And I sometimes wonder if Aaron
wasn't thinking, Brother, what are you doing to me? Why are
you soaking me with this oil? But Moses knew, didn't he? He knew, Aaron, you're a beautiful
symbol. of Jesus of Nazareth, and God
is going to pour out upon him the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
and power, and he's going to be our high priest. What kind
of a king does it take to rule this rebellious world, and to
rule devils, and to rule flesh? What kind of king does it take
to rule in justice and do judgment and never sin in his rule? You
deal with sinful men and they'll pull you right in with them.
Before long you'll be there with them sinning because you have
to deal with sinful people, not this king. He rules in the midst
of his enemies and they never corrupt his rule. God's anointed
king. Look here in one more place with
me. Look in Isaiah chapter 42. This is speaking of this very,
very Christ. And here He's called the Servant,
the Servant of God. And look what He says. Here's
why He's anointed of God with the Holy Ghost and with power. Here's the reason for it. Look
in Isaiah chapter 42 and look in verse 1. Behold my servant,
my Christ, my anointed, my servant whom I uphold, my
elect, in whom my soul delights. Look at this, I have put my spirit
upon him. And he shall bring judgment,
he shall bring victory to the Gentiles. He shall not nor lift
up his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A
bruised reed shall he not break, he's so tender, and smoking flat
shall he not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
And look at this, he shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till
he hath set judgment in the earth. and the islands shall wait for
his gospel, his law. Why was it necessary for him
to be anointed of the Holy Ghost and power, lest he would fail? He's accomplished God's purpose.
In all of his offices, brothers and sisters, he shall not fail. Has he failed you in his office
as a prophet? Has he not taught you? Has he
not satisfied in your stead before God? Every time you go to the
Father, don't you find him there pleading and maintaining your
cause? Has not he reigned over you, even when you didn't know
him? He has never failed as Christ. Neither can he, because he's
God's Christ, God's anointed. Back to our text, and our second
question is this. Whose son is he? That's what
the Lord Jesus asked. What they give Christ, whose
son is he? And they gave him, that answer
here was the truth. They said he's the son of David.
And he is that, after the flash. But I tell you, there's much
more to Christ than just the son of David. Look back over
here in Matthew chapter 16. Here's how Christ was revealed
to Peter. Not just the son of David, but
look at this. This is where the Lord Jesus
Christ asked Peter and his apostles, whom do men say that I am? In
verse 14, Peter said, some of them say that you're John the
Baptist or Elias. Others, Jeremiah, are one of
the prophets. But he said, Peter, whom do you
say that I am? In verse 16, Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ. Whose son is he? The son of the
living God. Who is Christ, our priest? Who
is Christ, our prophet? Who is Christ, our king? Christ,
our prophet, brothers and sisters, is no mere man. He's the Son
of God. Christ our priest is no mere
man, He's the Son of God. And Christ our King is the Son
of God. Isn't it very telling then concerning
God's love and care for His people? That when He sent them a prophet
to teach them, a priest to be a mediator between them and Himself,
a king to reign over them and subdue them and save them, that
he loved them so much and cared for them to the point that he
refused to send a mighty angel or a chariot, but he sent them
his only begotten Son." Do you see the love of God in that?
Do you see how God must care for His people? James or John
said, in this is manifested, in this we see the love of God,
that He gave us His only begotten Son to be the perpetuation for
our sins. The King of Tyre. When David
had died, he was the King of Tyre. I forgot his name, it skips
my mind. But he was a godly man, and he loved David. And he was
a little bit apprehensive of when David died, what kind of
king God was going to raise up. And Solomon wrote the king of
Tyre a letter and said, God has installed me to be king over
Israel, and I'm going to build him a house. And where all the
children of God can come and worship the Lord and see His
glory in this house. And the king of Tyre sent a letter
back. And he said, I perceive the great
love of God for His people because He's made you king over them. Such a wise king. to do good
for his people, how God must love his people. Brothers and
sisters, how do we see God's love for us? That he sent us
such a one as he has, from heaven, his only begotten son, to teach
us, to satisfy for our sins, and
to reign over us. Who is this Christ? Who is it? Yes, he's the son of David, but,
oh, he's more than that. He's the eternal son of the living
God. The last question, then, is this.
We have seen who or what Christ is. He's the anointed of God.
God anointed him to be a prophet, the priest, and the king. Who
is this Christ? He's the son of the living God.
Now, this question we must answer, and you must answer it, brothers
and sisters, for yourself. I must answer it for myself.
And I trust that you will get along with yourself. In your
own heart, find out what your opinion is of this Christ. What do you think of Christ? What think you of Christ? There's three places in the Gospels,
and only three that I know of, in which Jesus was revealed as
the Christ. Only three places. Matthew through
John, only three places he was made known as Christ. In every
one of these places, when he was made known as the Christ,
it had a dramatic effect upon those that found this out. One is the passage here in Matthew
that I just read to you, where he said, Peter, who am I? And he said, you're the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And he said, flesh and blood
is not revealed as to you, but my Father. What a dramatic effect
that had upon Peter and these other apostles. And I'll give
you an example of it. You remember when the Lord Jesus
was preaching there in John 6, and He finished preaching, and
everybody went away, but those apostles. Everybody left Him. And he looked at Peter and said,
Peter, will you go away? And what was Peter's reply? Lord,
to whom shall we go? Peter had left his occupation.
He had left his dad. He had, for the most part, left
his wife and his children, if he had any. He said himself,
Lord, we've left all to follow you. Why did he do that? Why did he know about Jesus that
very few knew about? Here's what he said when he said,
where can we go? You have the words of the life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ. You are the Christ. And I tell
you, when you know Him, when the Father reveals you to Him
as your prophet, to teach you, to guide you out of your darkness
into His light. And when you see that He's God's
high priest on your behalf, that He is there in God's presence
ever living to save you and make you acceptable to God, and when
you see that He's your King reigning and ruling over you in everything,
when God makes you to know that, I tell you, brothers and sisters,
we'll forsake everything for Him. That's the effect that it
has upon a man. It'll change you thoroughly.
You may have this sin that you used to take pleasure in, but
I tell you, you'll forsake it when you find out he's Christ. There's another place that he
revealed himself as Christ in John chapter 4. Remember the
Samaritan woman? The Lord Jesus told her to go
get your husband and bring him here. She said, I have no husband. He said, you've had five. The
one you're with now is not yours. And she said, we've heard that
the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. And when he's
come, he'll tell us all things. And you know what the Lord Jesus
said? I that speak unto you am He." He revealed Himself to her
as the Christ. And what a dramatic effect it
had upon her. She left her expensive water
bucket there, and she ran back to tell the tale. I found the
Christ, and He's found me. Come see a man who told me all
things that ever I did. We know Him to be Christ, the
Son of God. And don't we feel our absolute
need of Him? What do you think of Christ the
Father? Can anybody else teach you but
Him? I mean, are you so in the dark
that you go to Him like David did and say, Lord, teach me?
Lord, teach me. Lord, teach me your ways. Lord,
teach me your statutes. Lord, lead me in a plain path.
He was a king, and there he was upon his face, begging Christ,
the Son of God, be my prophet. Can anybody else teach you, brothers
and sisters? How do you feel about him being
your high priest? Can you live without him? Can
you go to God without it? How do you feel in your heart
of hearts when you go to God in prayer? Does that where your
mind goes? Does your heart go there to your
high priest on the Father's right hand? Is that what encourages
you to pray? And when you sin, that's what
encourages you to confess because you've got a mediator. One that's
paid for your sins. One that's pleading your cause.
An advocate for the Father. Nobody else can do you any good.
Oh, you'd count it abomination to invoke the name of a saint
before God's throne. You would never in a million
years say, Mary, the mother of God, pray for us sinners. You'd
count that a high blasphemy. You have one mediator, one high
priest, and you use him daily, don't you? And you know you can't
go to God without him. What do you think of Jesus as
King? What does He mean to you as King?
We got an ice storm, didn't we? Everything is just shut down.
I love it sometimes when the Lord says, He says to the snow,
be thou on the earth. And all of us go either off in
the ditch and tear our car up, or we run into the house and
lock ourselves in. He just stops us, doesn't He?
How do you feel about that? When the Lord, the King of Glory
says to the snow, be on the earth, and shut them up in their houses,
how do you feel about that? You love it, don't you? Because
who said it? The King. The King. Aren't you
grateful that there's one ruling over your pride? Over your ambitions
and your wishes? Don't you just love it when He
brings you under subjection to Himself? And He sits upon the
throne of your heart and He rules? Don't you love Him in His office
as a King? What think you of Christ? Oh,
we love His rule. We love His rule. Lord, conquer
us. Don't we pray that? Lord, subdue
me. Subdue my iniquities, my sin.
Don't let me have my way. Rule over me. There's one more place, and I
want to read it to you, in Mark chapter 14. We'll close and read
in this. Here's another place that the
Lord Jesus revealed Himself as Christ. And I tell you, he'd
had a devastating effect upon these men. In Mark chapter 14,
in verse 61, the Lord Jesus had just left the garden, and they
brought him here to the high priest's house. His enemies,
they would question him before they took him to Pilate. He wouldn't
answer a word. In verse 61, they asked him all
these questions. But he held his peace. He answered
them nothing. Again the high priest asked him
and said unto him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am, I am. And you shall see me, the Son
of Man, sitting on the right hand of power and coming in clouds
and great, the clouds of heaven. What effect did this have upon
these men? The high priest tore his clothes
and said, What need we any further witnesses? We have heard the
blasphemy. What thank ye? They all condemned
him to be guilty of death, and some began to spit on him and
to cover his face, and to buffet him and say unto him, And the
servants did strike him with the palm of their hand. What
was their opinion of Christ? They hated Him. They hated Him. You ain't going to teach us nothing,
they said. You ain't going to be our prophet. We know everything.
Don't you realize who we are? We're the princess of the people.
We're scribes. We're lawyers. We know it all
already. You say, God sent you to teach
us? We ain't going to listen to you.
We ain't going to hear you. It don't matter what you're going
to say. You're not our prophet. We hate you. You're not our priest. We don't need a mediator. We've
never sinned. We have no sin. We don't need
a sacrifice. We don't need a mediator. We're
good enough to go into God's presence. You're not our Christ. And we ain't going to have you
to reign as king over us. We're our own Lord. We'll make
our own decision. We'll think what we want to think.
We'll believe what we want to believe. We'll do what we want
to do. Our destiny is in our hands. We're the master of our
fate. And you've got nothing to do
with it. And we're going to kill you and get rid of you. That's
what some people think of Christ, isn't it? You will submit to
His reign? Well, you can't be saved then.
But we'll go further than that. You despise the Son of God because
He's Christ. When we say He's Christ, we submit
to Him as King. When we say He's Christ, we submit
to His sacrifice. When we say He's Christ, we submit
to His teaching. He's the prophet. All but this said, we will have
you as Christ. We will have you as Christ. And they will have Him, won't
they? What faith do you have in Christ,
whose Son is He? I love Him in all of His offices,
don't you? All of His offices. We love Him in His offices. We
love Him in His person. He's the Son of God. and all
what love he must have for us to be so willing to fulfill these
offers. It's difficult to teach somebody,
especially people as dumb as we are, how he must love us to
teach us, how he must love us to die for us, how he must love
us to live and reign and keep us under subjection like he does. Let's pray.