Have a message tonight for us
from Matthew chapter 22. If you'd like to turn there. As I was studying. Determining where to go to the
Lord. Gave me this passage of scripture. And. We're going to
be in the gospels all the most of the gospels tonight. That's
pretty much where we're going to be. I believe that's exactly all we're going
to be staying at and turning to, but. Throughout the Gospels,
the Lord Jesus Christ asked many questions. Some are rhetorical
questions, some are legitimately. He always knows the answer, though,
to the question, doesn't he? He never asked a question that
he did not already know the answer to. I love that about our Lord. The Lord asked questions to the
Pharisees out of judgment, out of condemnation, to shut them
up. And he asked questions to the disciples out of mercy and
out of grace to reveal himself to them. And most of the time,
the Lord had to tell them the parable that he was speaking.
Lord, you're speaking in parables. We don't understand what you're
saying. And he had to reveal to them exactly what he was saying.
And so this particular account we're looking at in Matthew 22
is a question to the Pharisees, a question for the Pharisees.
I've titled this message, What, Who, How, and Why. And we find
three of those right here in this text. But this is merciful
questions that the Lord is asking that we get to answer because
of the gospel. That's the only way we can answer
these four questions. Otherwise, we're of all men most
miserable. We're of all men most miserable.
So look in Matthew chapter 22. And our hope is that we'll see
the gospel in these questions tonight. Look at verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto
him, the son of David. He saith unto them, how then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then 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." The Lord shut him up, didn't he? The Lord
shut him up. Now, the first question he asks
is, what think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? This
would be the utmost important question that we should ask ourself.
What do we think of Christ? Now, I understand that that's
a question that he follows with the next question, but this is
a question that has a question mark on it. That's a complete
question that he asks, what think ye of Christ? And then he says,
whose son is he? So the first question is what,
what think ye of Christ? There's no one that can come
to a logical explanation or a conclusion of who Jesus Christ is. There's
no one that can come up with hypothesis or a theory that can
cause them to believe. Men look for physical results
whenever they see these kinds of questions. They look for a
physical explanation or a physical response. They put together everything
that they've learned in order to compute, if you will, input-output
to figure out who Christ is. What think ye of Christ? And
men cannot come up with the answer because it is spiritually discerned.
I quoted this exact verse to someone one time, and they finished
the quote. I said to them, talking about
our gospel, I said, well, Christ asked the Pharisees, what think
ye of Christ? And they immediately said, yeah, whose son is he?
Well, we know he's God's son. And I said, You say that, but
you've missed the entire point of the first question that I
was asking. See, everything in the Bible is spiritually discerned.
Everything in the Bible is spiritually discerned. It could just be a
storytime book. They've made many storybooks
out of it, haven't they, with different pictures and different
things. If it's not spiritually discerned,
we have no hope, because if it's something we have to conclude
ourself or come to the knowledge of based upon our learning, we're
of all men most miserable. We can't learn God, the things
of God. He's above us. Christ must be
revealed. Do you remember whenever the
Pharisees, many of the times the Pharisees would become angry
at the Lord, and we're gonna see that later on, even in this
hour, Lord willing, They were so angry at him, they wanted
to kill him. They wanted to push him over a cliff. It was on a cliff
side at the scene. They wanted to drive him over
the cliff. And the scripture says he passed
through them and they could not see him. Do you find that amazing?
He just passed right through them. Here they are, they're
driving to kill him. And he just passes right through
them. They can't even see him. They can't even see who he is.
God was there. That's who I'm talking about,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they couldn't see him, they
couldn't hear him, and they wanted to kill him. It's all spiritually
discerned, isn't it? It's all revelation that he chooses
to give. Thanks be to God that he chose
to give his revelation to his people. If he hadn't, we would
be, we would have no hope. If it was up to us to learn it,
if it was up to us to attain the knowledge of it, we would
have no hope. But he has mercy and he has grace for his people. The people that say they can
see. People that say they can see are the people that cannot
see. Do you remember the Lord told us, he said, they that are
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I come not
to call the righteous, but center to repentance. Turn with me to
John chapter nine. You remember the account that
I'm turning to. The ones that say they can see, they can't
see. Men will say, well, I used to be a sinner. I used to be
bad, but now I've cleaned up my life. I'm doing better. I
don't do this anymore. I don't do that anymore. But what did the Lord say to that?
Well, let's look here in John chapter nine, verse 39. Now, I would remind us of the
situation that's happened here. This was a young man, well, it
says a man, he was of age because his parents say that he was of
age, but he was blind from birth and the Pharisees come to trick
the Lord, as they tried to do so many times, of course, they
failed every time. And they said, who hath sinned,
this man or his parents, that he's blind? See, men want to
believe that what they do earns them some favor with God. And
they believed that they weren't blind because they hadn't sinned
like this man would have had to, or his mom and dad would
have had to. That's the only conclusion we
can come to here. They said, who sinned? And what
did the Lord tell them? He said that the Lord may get the glory
for the situation. That's what he did all the time,
didn't he? That the Lord's glory would be revealed, that he would
be glorified. And so the Lord opens up his
eyes and the man goes out and we see that the Pharisees come
to him and they're in awe that he was made to see. They were
in full unbelief of it. And they called for his parents.
And when they did, they said, give God the glory. give God
the glory. Now, as I'm reminded, we're talking
about God had just healed this man. The Lord had just opened
up his eyes. And yet they call the parents
up and they say, I asked him, is this your son? Was he blind
from birth? How did he come to see? And they say, well, he's
of age, ask him. And they say, okay, give God
the glory. Is this Jesus the one that healed you? We know
he's a sinner. We know he's a sinner. Give God
the glory. What were they saying? They were saying that unless
he agreed with them, he's wrong. They're telling this young man
that unless you say that Jesus is a sinner like we believe,
because he's exposing our righteousness, because he's exposing that we're
no good, unless you agree with us, then you're wrong. And so
the young man said, if he's a sinner or not, I know not. This one
thing I know, whereas I was blind, but now I see. And he said, how
can these things be? So this is a marvelous thing.
How do you not know who this is? And by his hand that it's
God, the one that calls me to see, it has to be God. How do
you not see that? Well, that's what we're hearing,
isn't it? What think ye of Christ? See, the Pharisees hated Christ
because he exposed their blindness, their nakedness. And that's where
we're at here in John chapter nine and verse 39. Jesus said,
for judgment, I am coming to this world that they which see
not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard of these words and said unto him, are we blind
also? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you should have
no sin. But now you say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Now, the next chapter is a continuation
of the Lord speaking to these men. And you've heard me quote
this many times, but it's the verse that talks about the Lord's
sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me. He said, you're not of my sheep, you're of your father,
the devil. That's what he goes on to tell them. And so they
become angry and they try to kill him. That's what they, they
would have took him, what they said that, what they meant by
that. They would have killed him if they could have, but it
wasn't his time, was it? And the Lord passed by them and
they couldn't see him. It's a revelation of what he
does. And when a man hears this, that
they are powerless, that they are blind, that they are dead
and trespassing in sin. When a woman hears this, it's
the same. There's two responses. There's two responses primarily.
The first one is what these Pharisees ask. Are we blind? Are you calling
me a liar? That's the question. That's what
they're saying. I have my righteousness. Are you calling me a liar? I
was studying this and I thought, boy, a gospel preacher is the
only one that can get up in a pulpit and look at a bunch of people
and say, you're a bunch of liars. And everybody says, amen, amen,
truth Lord. I'm a liar. I need the truth.
It's not true. You go to any other church and
do that and you probably either get beat up or shot. I mean,
at least in the South where I was from. People don't like that,
being called a liar. And yet that's what the Lord's
saying. That's what these Pharisees were saying. Are you calling
me a liar? Are you saying we're blind? Have
you seen us? Look at how good we are. And
he says, it's because you say you see, your sin remains. But
this man was blind and he needed to see. And that's why I've come
into the world, is to open the blinded eyes of my people, to
not leave them to their self utterly thinking that they're
good enough. And that's what he did. That's why when we say,
what think ye of Christ? We think that he is God, don't
we? We don't think that he is just
baby Jesus, meek and mild. We believe he is God in every
way that that means. He was sovereign as a man and
100% man and 100% God. He is sovereign. We believe that
Christ is God. That's what we think of as the
Lord's people of who God is. The Lord's asking these Pharisees
here, and you can turn back to our text if you would, Matthew
chapter 22. He's asking these Pharisees this
question, what think ye of Christ? Now, the only way that we say
truth, Lord, to whatever he says, is to declare ourself as false.
Do we see that? In declaring yourself as false
is the only way that you can declare him as truth. It can't
be both. We can't be true and him be true. Either he's true or we're true.
It's that simple. What did the scripture say? Let
God be true in all men liars. Now that doesn't mean we let
God do anything. That's not what he's saying.
He's saying, put out of your mind that you're truthful. You're
a liar. Let God be true. Look to Christ
is what he's telling us. asks a very personal question. He says, what do you think of
Christ individually? I can't stress the importance
of that. We can talk as a congregation, we can talk with others, but
when it comes down to it, the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ is personal, isn't it? It's a personal salvation that
the Lord brings and shows you. Now, men say that they want to
have a personal relationship with God, and they use terms
like, let Jesus come into your heart, different things like
that. The Lord's not trying to have a personal relationship
with anyone. Did you know that? He's not trying to do anything.
He reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to his people. And what does
he reveal? You have a personal relationship
with God. In the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you are seen as perfectly righteous. That's a personal
relationship, isn't it? You are seen, as we read in 1
John 3, I wanted to read that because it says, we are the sons
of God right now. That's a personal relationship,
isn't it? It's not like the world says
where it's the walk that you do and the things that you do. No, it's looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the seated King of glory who successfully redeemed
his people. What do you think of Christ?
What think ye of Christ? Our confession is he reigns,
he is, he's God. Isn't that our confession? And the next question he asks
is whose son is he? All religion that associates
themselves with Christianity. Now, they call Christianity Catholicism
and Christianity Presbyterianism, and the list is endless. And
they say it's the biggest religion in the world. And if you're gonna
associate it to Christianity, I guess that probably would be
true. But every man that you ask in religion that has some
knowledge of the scripture has been taught how to answer that
question. Whose son is he? If you go and
talk to someone, typically in religion, they're not going to
look at you and say that Christ is not the son of God. They will
say that Christ is the son of God. That's what they'll say.
But what hasn't been revealed to that individual is his deity
in him being the Son of God. See, he had the Lord's blood
in him. He had the seed of David, yes,
from the woman, but he had God's blood. He was 100% man and 100%
God. What does that mean? He was immutable. He was sinless. It was impossible
for him to sin. Did you know that? God cannot
sin. God cannot lie. Jesus Christ
could not sin and he could not lie. Why? He had the nature of
his father. He had the blood of his father
in his veins. The Lord Jesus Christ could not
fail. It was not an option. If the
Lord Jesus Christ could have failed, then he would have been
trying to do something and he would not have been God. But
the Lord that we talk about, the Lord that we're preaching
is the Lord that sat down after he successfully accomplished
everything as the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion teaches
the right answers, but God looks on the heart, doesn't he? God
doesn't look and see your effort and how you've tried to make
your heart better or how I've tried to make my heart look more
presentable to him. Now he looks down deep in the
heart, doesn't he? He sees that we're deceitful of all things
and desperately wicked. And what does he do with that?
He takes out the heart of stone. He takes out that heart that's
a rock that's contrary to him. And he gives us the heart of
flesh, one that looks unto him. He gives us the heart of Christ,
gives us the faith of the Lord. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
16. I mentioned to us earlier that
The Lord asked questions to the Pharisees sometimes, and it was
in condemnation, but he asked some questions to the disciples,
and it was in mercy when he would do this. He asked the Pharisees,
whose son is he? Whose son is Christ? And now
we see here in Matthew 16, that he's with his disciples in verse
13. He says, when Jesus came to the
coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who
do men say that I, the son of man am? And they said, some say
that thou art John the Baptist, some say Elias, another Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. Now here's the question, brethren.
We can go around asking, we can say, who do people say that the
Lord is? But that's not gonna bring us
salvation, is it? Only the Lord can do that by
revelation. And he does it by this right here. He saith unto
him, but whom say ye that I am? Whom say ye that I am? Simon
Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ. the son of the
living God. Jesus answered and said unto
him, blessed are thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.
Now we see right there immediately that salvation is of the Lord
by revelation. He does it himself. He said,
flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. My father has revealed
this to you. The only way that you can see
that Jesus Christ is God is if he reveals it unto you. It's
the only way. The only way I would ever have
seen that Jesus Christ is God is if He reveals it. Aren't you
glad He reveals it? He reveals it to His people.
He don't leave it a mystery hidden in the darkness, but He chose
to call His people and to show them that He is God, the sovereign
King of glory. Who do you say that I am? I love
that He draws the same confession out of His people over and over
and over. He literally comes to where we
are. The gospel meets the sinner right where he or she is. It
doesn't take a detour. It doesn't go and causes them
to take one step or one move, not one muscle. It comes exactly
to where they are and meets them there. And salvation comes to
that sinner in dead and trespasses it in sin. What does the Lord
ask? Who do you think that I am? Who
do you believe that I am? He demands an answer to the question. And what is the answer? Thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. You are the one that
put away the sin of your people. You are the one that successfully
redeemed. You are God. That's what he calls
us to confess over and over and over to the glory of God the
Father. It doesn't really matter what
others say. Who do you say I am? That's what the Lord said to
him. Who do men say that I am? Well, they say you're John the
Baptist, you're Isaiah, you're Jeremiah, one of the prophets.
He said, well, who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Because that's what matters.
The only thing that matters, who do you say that the Lord
Jesus Christ is? Is he your savior? Is he your
friend? Can you call him your friend?
If you can, it's because he called you his friend. If you can, it's
because he prayed for you, and he's a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. If you can call him friend, it's because he loved
you, and you're his brother, according to what the scripture
says. We're heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ,
all by his will, all by his purpose. In him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Do you know it's impossible to
believe that unless the Lord reveals that to you? The fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He's the embodiment of God. That's
who Jesus Christ is. Men try to obligate God, don't
they? By their actions, by their thoughts, by their deeds, by
their words, different things that they do. Did you know the
only thing that's ever obligated the Lord is his own word? Whenever
he gave his word to redeem his people, he was obligated to do
so. Did you know that? Because he
cannot lie. What does that mean to you and
I? If he cannot lie and he obligated himself to put away our sin,
what does that mean to you? That means you don't have any
sin in the sight of God or he failed. But what did he say?
He can't lie. What did he say? It? is finished. That's what he said. What does
that mean to you and I? It is finished. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God. The Lord Jesus Christ successfully
redeemed his people. The Lord Jesus Christ is seated
and reigneth. What thank you of Christ? He's
God. Whose son is he? God's son. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the embodiment of God, the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ, the embodiment
of God, the Godhead, I should have said. The Lord's the only one that
honored his father in word and in thought and in deed. I've
said that several times since we've been here, but I, I can't
honor the Lord in one word and one thought or in one deed, but
the Lord Jesus Christ did. And he did it for his people. Now look at verse 15 with me,
Matthew 16, verse 15. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? Jesus answered and said to him,
blessed art, let's skip verse 16, I'm sorry. Simon Peter answered
and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus
answered and said to him, blessed art thou. Now, men talk about
blessings. Men talk about doing things for
the Lord and receiving blessings as the result of what we do.
Do you know what the blessing is? The blessing is the Lord
Jesus Christ. The blessing is salvation. The
blessing is knowing that your sin has been put away. The blessing
is knowing that it is finished. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Why? For flesh and blood has
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. Now, I want you to understand, and I hope I understand this
as well tonight. In religion, men would say, because
the Lord said, Upon this rock I'll build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. People would say,
boy, we need to have the faith of Peter, don't we? We need the
Lord to use us like Peter. I would remind us that just a
few short chapters away, Peter denied even affiliation with
Jesus Christ. But Peter's faith did not fail
because the Lord prayed for Peter. So what does he mean? What does
he mean upon this rock? Upon the confession that Jesus
Christ is Lord. Upon the confession by the faith
of Christ that he's given to Peter. Upon that rock, the Lord
Jesus Christ, I will build my church. That's what he's talking
about. It's not Peter. Sure, Peter was given the keys
to the kingdom. He's the one that preached and the Lord calls
men to hear, but it was all by grace because we know Peter would
have ultimately left the Lord, could he had, but the Lord's
faith could not fail, could it? Now back to Matthew 22. First question was what think
ye of Christ? The second one is whose son is he? Matthew 22, verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They said unto him, the son of
David. See, they had the right answer. They had the right answer,
but it wasn't exactly the right answer, was it? They knew what
to say, but they didn't have it in their heart to say it.
The Lord hadn't revealed himself. Genealogy, you're speaking in
genealogies. I'm trying to get this out. You
can look in the beginning of Matthew, you can look and see
the genealogy of Christ, how that he came from David, sure. So they had the right answer.
They had the right word to say. But yet they, Christ was not revealed
to them, that he was God. Do we see the difference? See,
men believe and the Jews truly believe that when Christ was
going to come to the earth, they're still looking for the Lord Jesus
Christ to come over in Jerusalem. They're going to a wailing wall
and they're praying that the Lord would send the Messiah. He's
already sent it. Why didn't they see him? Well,
the Lord didn't reveal it, number one. But number two is they were
looking for a physical kingdom. They were not looking for a spiritual
kingdom. And the Lord said, my kingdom's not of this earth.
I didn't come to set up like David did and rule over the inhabitants of the earth,
but he came to save his people from their sin. They were more
concerned with the physical than they were the spiritual, weren't
they? That says a lot about us as well, because aren't we concerned
with the physical more often, seems like, than the spiritual?
It seems day to day, we'll get caught up in the hustle and bustle
of the world, and then the Lord will allow us to fall flat on
our face and we'll say, Lord, save me. I forgot to turn to
you again. Lord, save me again. And what
does the Lord do? Does the Lord ever say anything negative to
you whenever you do that? Does he ever, he's never, never
gets angry at his people. Do you know why? Their sin's
put away. He comes to you and embraces you with open arms.
Just as the prodigal, the robes on your back, the rings on your
finger, kill the fatted calf. The Lord turns us back to him
again and we see Christ and rejoice all over again, don't we? And
it's daily, it's daily. They said unto him, the son of
David, in verse 43, he saith unto them, how then does David
in spirit call him Lord, saying, Lord saith unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
David then called him Lord. How is he his son? If David then
called him Lord, how is he his son? How is the next question? How is he his son? Understand
that it is by revelation, only by revelation. Rejoice, and I
know you do too, in the fact that the Lord chose to reveal
himself. The Lord could have passed by Pennsylvania. He could
have. The Lord could pass by only.
He's not obligated to stop here, understand something. It's by
his sovereign right and his sovereign choice if he passes by and has
mercy upon a few dead dog sinners. What is our hope? He delights
in mercy. That's our hope, isn't it? If
it's not for that, we have no hope. So how can Christ be David's
son? How can Christ be David's son?
And what he was saying to them is what he needed to say to shut
them up. And that's exactly what happened.
Look at the next verse. No man was able to answer him a word.
No man's able to answer God anything. Whenever men stand before the
Lord and they're pleading their case before him, I've done this
and I've done that. Depart from me, I never knew
you. I never knew you. See, he shuts up all men. Job
was shut up. All the men of scripture that
would reply against the Lord, did the Lord not shut them up?
Is that your hope? Is that the Lord would shut you up to Christ?
Yes, that's my hope. Lord, stop me from talking, calls
me to hear of you, calls me to see you. These men couldn't answer
anything. Couldn't answer him anything.
They weren't given a confession. They weren't given a confession
that Christ is all. See, that's the difference. When
the Lord gives you the ability to answer the question, whose
son is he? He gives you the ability to confess
Christ is all to the glory of God the Father. These men were
not given that. They couldn't confess that. It
wasn't in their heart to do so. The Lord shut them up, didn't
he? These men could not believe because
you must be made and I must be made to believe. You remember
the account of Nicodemus term with me to John Chapter 3. Lord
had a conversation with a man named Nicodemus over things that
he didn't understand. With the same I just. I rejoice
in the authority that our Lord speaks with throughout Scripture.
He could see through the men that were. False. He could see
through the ones that were against him. And he had compassion upon
people. He had genuine compassion upon
his people. I just love that. He speaks with
every word that he spoke was truth and nobody could rebuttal
him. And in John chapter three in verse
one, it says, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is
born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again.
The wind blow us where it listeth. Now here is the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whether it cometh, whether it goeth. So
it is everyone that is born of the spirit. I want to stop reading
right there for just a moment. And I want you to know, I want
you to see that as Nicodemus approaches the Lord, he says
unto him, we know that you're from God because no man can do
these things that you're doing, except the Lord said unto him.
Did the Lord divulge this man's intellect to what he was speaking? Did he say anything to him about
what he just said? No. He said, Nicodemus, you must
be born again. He got straight to the point,
didn't he? He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born
again. Men want to debate, don't they?
Most men will debate. They'll try to figure out one
way to mesh the gospel with whatever they believe in order to make
it work. But the Lord, when he speaks, he speaks with authority
and he gets right to the point. He said, you must be born again.
He knew exactly what to say to Nicodemus to make Nicodemus'
brain do a back flip. And that's what it did. How can
this be? How could a man enter to his
mother's womb a second time and be born? How can a man be born
when he is old? Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now Nicodemus,
he don't understand what the Lord is saying to him because
it comes through and by revelation, the same revelation that is required
in order for you and I to see Christ. He has to come to us
and show us the same revealed himself. And this is what our
hope is, is that he does that for his people. Now, if you look in verse nine,
He says, Nicodemus answered and said to him, how can these things
be? Well, that's a question, isn't
it? We're on how, how can the Lord, how can Christ be David's
son? Well, this is another how right
here. How can these things be? I love the Lord's answer. Jesus answered and said to him,
art thou a master of Israel? And knowest not these things.
The Lord insults his position, doesn't he? The Lord insults
his power. That's what he does. First of
all, he takes his thought process, his intellect, and he strips
it down to nothing. And he says, you must be born again. And Nicodemus
says, I don't understand a bit of that. And he says, how can
you not understand this? You're a master in Israel. So
he tells him, and Nicodemus has to be standing there. And the
only way that you and I will appreciate being insulted is
by the Lord. I mean, that's just true because
we say truth, Lord. He shows us that we're a sinner
and he shows us that he's the Savior. He shows us that we're
the liar and he shows us that he's the truth. And that's what
he does in Nicodemus here. Verse 11 says, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, we speak that we do know. He says, I'm only
telling you what I know, and that's all that you can say is
what you know. And we can only testify that which we have seen
and you receive not our witness. If I told you earthly things
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? No man hath descended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is
in heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so the son of man must be lifted up. Whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent forth his Son, sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already because he hath not already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. I love the fact that the first
thing the Lord does is he tells Nicodemus that it's by the spirit
alone that you are born. And that stops Nicodemus. Then
he says, how can you not know these things being a master?
You're saying you're a wise man. How can you not know this? And
then he says, Nicodemus, it's not just for the Jew either.
I'm going to let you know that as well. It's for the world,
every nation, every tongue, every kindred. That's what the word
world means right there. Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. And the hope that we have is
it's not by creed or color. It's not by language or intellect.
Thank God that he saves sinners right where they are based upon
his sovereign grace alone. That's what he's telling Nicodemus.
That's what he's telling Nicodemus. The Lord's clear that these things
are impossible. He told his disciples, didn't
he? He told the people around, he said, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into heaven. What does that mean? I heard religion people talking
about the eye of the needle being a door over in the Middle East.
No, it literally means a camel going through the eye of a needle.
It's impossible. That's why they said, who then can be saved? And that's what Nicodemus's conclusion
had to be. Nicodemus doesn't reply to this.
I love that he doesn't reply to this because it shows that
he was stopped and he was shut up And then the Lord, he's mentioned
later on, the Lord revealed himself to him, saved him. I find that
so glorious. He does the same for all of his
people, doesn't he? Who then can be saved? With men, it is
impossible, but with God, it is impossible. It is possible.
All things are possible with God. We cannot know who Christ is
and say we're born again. We cannot be born again unless
we know who Christ is and it's revealed at the same time we're
born again. See, faith and repentance are the simultaneous effect. We're born and we see at the
same time, don't we? The Lord does all of this at
the same time. He gets all the glory. And so we rejoice. We're not in of ourself. We rejoice
in what he has done in revealing himself You know, the last place I want
to see is the why. We've seen what? What think ye
of Christ? We've seen whose son is he? And
how can he be David's son? How can Christ be David's son?
We've seen that he's God. What we've seen, how can a man
be born when he is old and enter into his mother's womb a second
time? God is the one that regenerates. Last place I want us to turn
is Matthew 27. Matthew 27 is the why. Why is why did all this
happen? Why was God born? Why was the
Lord Jesus Christ? Forsaken. Look with me at verse
45. Matthew 2745. Now from the 6
hour there was darkness over all the land and to the 9th hour
and about the 9th hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying
Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God,
why? Why has thou forsaken me? I've
probably elaborated on this before, and for the sake of time, I'll
be brief, but this is all our hope in this one question. Every
bit of our eternal destiny hangs on this question. Why has thou
forsaken me? The Lord was forsaken of his
father because he was bearing the sin of his people. The one
that we were talking about that chose to shut up the Pharisees,
the same one that chose to reveal himself to his disciples, that
revealed himself into Nicodemus, it's the same Lord It's hanging
on this cross, bearing their sin, the ones that he reveals
himself to. This is why the Lord was forsaken. No other reason. He was forsaken
of his father. The scripture says he was smitten,
afflicted. He was Well, I can't remember
the verse. It's in Psalm Isaiah 53. Stricken, smitten of God and
afflicted. That's it. Stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted. He was forsaken for you and I
as his people because he was bearing the sin of his people
and he put it away successfully. Successfully. So we've seen. What, who, how and
why? And I would remind us in seeing
all of this, I would remind us these three questions, it's also
asked of our Lord. Do you believe what you've heard
here tonight? Do you believe everything that
I've just told you about the who, the what, the why and the
how? If you believe that, why do we fret? That's what I wanna
end on tonight. Why are we so bothered? The Lord
asks three questions and we're not gonna turn there, we don't
have the time to turn there, but I'll tell you that when we see
the Lord, we see our need, we see that we're blind. I'm reminded
of blind Bartimaeus whenever he cried out. Why did he cry
out? He knew that Christ Jesus was the only one that could help
him in his situation. Christ Jesus was the only one
that could cause him to see. He had a need. You and I have
a need. The Lord Jesus Christ himself.
What did he cry? Have mercy upon me, Jesus, thou
son of David. Have mercy upon me. And they
said, be quiet. He doesn't have time for you.
But that's exactly why the Lord Jesus Christ was standing there
as blind Bartimaeus or passing by. And he knew he couldn't get
to the Lord based on anything he could do. He couldn't see
which way to go. There was a throng of people. There's no way that
he could press through the crowd. So all he could do is all he
could do. What did he do? Cry. He cried
out, what do you do? And what do I do? Over and over
again. It seems like the Lord may turn the lights off sometimes
and we can't see his face. What do we do? Lord, I need my
sight. It's not that I just want to
see again. I want to see you. I want to see your face. And
if I can see your face, everything will be okay. And what happened? He called for Bartimaeus and
Bartimaeus dropped his robe representing his righteousness that he would
have had. He comes naked before the Lord.
And he says, what? The Lord asks him a question.
What? What would you have me do for you? What would you have
the Lord do for you tonight? Lord, my sight. Lord, I have
to have my sight. You have to be my focus. I need
to see you again. If I see you, everything will
be okay. And he told him, what did he tell him? You received
your sight. Thy faith has made thee whole.
Go your way. And then it says, and he followed
Jesus in the way. What was his way? It was a new
way, wasn't it? Christ is the way. That's what he did. He followed
Christ in the way. Lord's given us sight. I want
to remind us that. The Lord has given us sight. It was a ship that the disciples
were on with the Lord. The ship was over, the scripture
says the ship was covered with waves, but Christ was asleep. I find it amazing that the Lord
being God slept. He hungered, he thirsted. Think
about the humility that he would have had in condescending to
become a man. The Lord Jesus Christ was asleep
on the boat. The boat seemed like it was gonna
sink. It was covered with waves. You ever feel like the Lord's
asleep? And I mean that reverently as I possibly can. We feel like
he's just not there sometimes, don't we? He's always there and
he's never sleeping. He's never on a journey. He's
ever present in the time of trouble. He said, I'll never leave you.
He doesn't sleep. He doesn't require rest. He never
sleeps. While he was a man, he did. The
Lord will cause us to sweat out the dross of unbelief and not
allow us to see him for brief moments at a time. That's what
he's doing. We're just sweating out the dross, the unbelief.
You ever heard of Somebody used the example of a precarious or
dangerous situation. They're like, well, we're sweating
it out. And that's what I mean by that is that he's just letting you, he's
asleep. As far as you and I are concerned,
we're perfectly safe in this ship. God is on the boat. The
Lord Jesus Christ himself is on the boat. And the disciples
thought we're going to die. Lord, do you not care that we perish?
Lord, do you not care that we perish? Think about that question.
Lord, they're talking to God. And they said, do you not care
that we're going to perish? What is the Lord saying to them? O
ye of little faith, O ye of little faith, wherefore did thou doubt?
Aren't you thankful for that rhetorical question? He says,
it's because you have little faith, that's why you're doubting.
That's what he's saying to him. And he's reminding them that
it's his faith that causes them to believe. And as soon as he
spoke, what happened? Everything stopped. Peace, be
still. the winds and the waves obey
his voice. And there is not a wind that blows in your life that
is not ordered by the hand of God. There's not a wave that
comes into your little boat that has not been ordered of the Lord.
It's all by him. And all he has to do is say,
peace, be still, and everything stops. That's what we pray for,
isn't it? That's why we come here. Lord,
I got to see your face again, number one. What will you have
me do? My sight. And then he tells them, Why did you doubt? Because I don't have, I have
little faith. Lord, increase my faith. Cause
me to see you. Last thing he does is he asked
the disciples how one time. The disciples, I love that the
disciples are so much like us. I'm glad he let us see that.
If he didn't show us their infirmities, their weaknesses, boy, we would
feel pretty bad about ourselves. I know we feel we're chief of
sinners. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But it makes
you feel a little better to know that Peter denied the Lord. It's
like, okay, well, he was just a man too. So we don't put these
men up on a pedestal, do we? We don't look to their faith.
It's the faith of Christ. We see that clearly. And the disciples
many times would say things that were wrong. The Lord looks at
the disciples as they're walking. And he says, beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees. Now they had just got off a ship.
And they were walking and the disciples forgot to buy bread.
And the Lord said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
And they were like, he's saying that because we forgot to buy
bread. That's what they were thinking. You can read it. That's
exactly what they were thinking. It's in Matthew 16. They were
thanking to themselves, I've messed up. Oh no. The Lord was
really telling them, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
That's what the lesson was. And what did he say? Do you not
yet understand Neither remember the five loaves." How many baskets,
how many baskets were taken up? We're so prone to wonder, aren't
we? Have you so soon forgotten of the grace that the Lord give
us for yesterday? Yes, I need to be reminded. Lord,
remind me of your grace again. Look back over, the baskets that
he's allowed you to glean throughout your entire life and where you're
sitting right now. Look at the 12 baskets that he's
given you over two fish and five loaves. That's what he's done
for you. You didn't produce the fish and the loaves. That represents
the gospel of the Lord by his spirit. And five is the bread
of life by grace. That's Christ. So he gives you
Christ and then 12 baskets full for the remainder of your life.
Fresh manna every single day. The Lord will never leave you.
He will never forsake you because he has revealed himself to you.
That's what it is. That's what he's asking the disciples
here. How off do we forget to buy bread
without money and without price? Isn't that what he said? Come
and buy. Buy without money, without price.
Lord, I forgot to buy bread again. Lord, give me your bread. Give
me your bread that you paid for. Give me Christ. Tells us that
two sparrows are sold for a farthing. and not one sparrow falls to
the ground unnoticed. You're worth many sparrows. What does that mean? You're worth
more. You're worth the blood of Christ. That's what that means. Can you
imagine that? That's what it costs to redeem
his people is his blood. We're worth the life of Christ
in his eyes. I don't understand that. but
that is our only hope. Do you think he's gonna leave
us and forsake us even though it's dark and dreary and we're
on the sea of this life? No, he's going to say, peace
be sealed by revealing himself through his gospel at his time. Everything in time and everything
in eternity has been provided by the Lord Jesus Christ for
his people. The Lord said, you being evil
know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more
shall your heavenly father Give His Spirit unto them who ask
for it. What a gift the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Holy
Spirit is for His people. Remember what, who, how, and
why the Lord Jesus Christ, how He is amazing, how He accomplished
salvation, what He had to become to do it. Remember who He is,
that He's God. Remember why He did it to put
away our sin.