Turning to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22. We begin
reading at verse 41. Matthew 22. The Pharisees were
gathered together. It reminds me of that verse in
Acts chapter 4. Herod, Pontius Pilate were gathered
together against the Lord and against His Christ. They were
gathered together against Him. They gather together to destroy
Him. And the Lord asks them, saying,
What think ye of Christ? Well, what a statement. He's
not asking what you think of Jesus of Nazareth. He's asking
what you think of Christ. Whose Son is He? Where did He
come from, this Christ of God? And they say unto Him, being
familiar with the Scriptures, as the Scriptures teach, the
Messiah was going to come from The tribe, the family of David,
son of David, tribe of Judah, they said, the son of David.
And he said unto them, how then does David in spirit call him
Lord? The Lord said unto my Lord, verse
44, sit thou on my right hand, the right hand of power privilege,
glory, till I make thine enemies thy footstool." If David then
called him Lord, how is he the son of David? Verse 46, no man
was able to answer him a word, neither Did any man from that
day forth ask him any more questions? He put them to silence. Now I'm
taking a title from verse 42. What think ye of Christ? I want you to consider this personally
in your heart. What do you really think of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Do you esteem Him highly? Above
all things. I want us to personally take
inventory and accounting of our thoughts before God about the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul encourages us
where he writes, examine yourselves Whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know you're not your own self.
How about Jesus Christ is in you, except you be a reprobate. Examine yourself. Prove yourself. What do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? What you personally think and
believe of the Lord Jesus Christ reveals the state of your heart
before God. Think about that now. I'm going to repeat that several
times. What you think and believe about
the Lord Jesus Christ reveals the state of your heart before
God, whether you're saved or lost, whether you're pardoned
or guilty before God. We find in this chapter the Lord
Jesus Christ surrounded by enemies. These were the most religious
of his day, but they did not come seeking salvation. They
only came to discredit him, his ministry, and destroy his life,
destroy his person. If you look back there at verse
15, then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle
him in his top. They thought they could trip
him up. Turn back to Matthew chapter 12. It says over here
in Matthew chapter 12 verse 14. Matthew 12 verse 14. Then the
Pharisees went out and held a council against him how they might destroy
him. To entangle him, to entrap him,
to stare him, and then to destroy him. These religious folks were
not on a mission of seeking mercy and grace to help. They were not seeking mercy. They came with a mission of seek
and destroy the Lord Jesus Christ. They came with many useless,
needless questions, and the Lord put them all to shame and silence. Beginning at verse 16, the Herodians
came. Look at verse 16. Then sent out unto him their
disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that
thou art a true teacher. Thou art true and teachest the
way of God in truth. They didn't believe that, but
they said it. Neither carest thou for any man,
for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what
thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
to Caesar? And the Lord perceived their
wickedness. They weren't sincere about seeking
mercy. Why do you tempt me, you hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And
they brought unto him a penny. And he said unto them, well,
whose image is no prescription is on it? And they said, well,
Caesar's. And he said to them, wisely render therefore unto
Caesar's the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things
that are God's. When they heard these things,
these words, they marveled and left him and went their way. These Herodians worked for Herod,
and they were interested in about money and about taxes. When the
Lord told them that all things belong to God, when they heard
these things, they marveled but they turned and walked away. Then some other people come to
seek and destroy him. In verse 23, the Sadducees, who
did not believe in the resurrection, they ask him about the resurrection,
and they come up with this ridiculous story. One woman married seven
different brothers, and then The woman died, and therefore,
verse 28, they say unto him, in the resurrection, whose wife
shall she be of the seven? For they all were married to
her. And the Lord answered and said,
you do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in
the resurrection, there's neither married nor given in marriage,
but they are glorified saints as the angels worshiping God
in heaven. But concerning the resurrection
of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you
by God, saying, I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. He's saying here that these men
who are believers are with the Lord, they've been raised up,
and they're one with the Lord. He is the God of those who have
been raised from the dead. All error, I love what he says
in verse 29, you do error, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the
power of God. All error and false doctrine
are born of ignorance. Ignorance of a scripture. Ignorance
of a scripture would lead to being ignorant of God and who
God really is. God, as he's revealed in scripture,
has all power in heaven and in earth. Our Lord said to this
same crowd of Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and lawyers, Search
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. They
are they which testify of me, and ye will not come to me that
ye might have life." The Jews had the Scripture, but they missed
the message of Christ and Him crucified. Many today, in our
day, they have a Bible. They even memorize at least John
3.16. But they have missed the message,
they've missed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The preaching
of the cross to them who are perishing is foolishness, but
to us it's the wisdom and power of God unto salvation. Christ,
His person and His work, who He is and what He accomplished,
and where He is now, that is the message of the gospel. Our
Lord said it is finished, it is done. The resurrection and
all of its glory is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
our resurrection. Without Him, there is no resurrection
from the dead. Turn over here to John chapter
11. Let's read this together. The
Lord Jesus Christ, He is the resurrection. He said, I am He
that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
John chapter 11. Verse 23, the Lord said unto
Mary and Martha, thy brothers will rise again. And Martha said
unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection
in the last day. This is John 11, verse 24, verse
25. And the Lord said unto her, I
am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me, shall never die. Do you believe this? Yes, I do. He is our resurrection. He was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And on this issue of marriage,
we are as believers married to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called
our husband. He's called our husband. And
to Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood,
to Him be all the honor and glory. He made us kings and priests
unto our God, and we shall be with Him and worship Him forever. And when they heard this, they
were astonished at His doctrine, but they rejected the true and
living God. And then the Pharisees come,
verse 34. The Pharisees come to attack
the Lord Jesus Christ and they send this well-educated lawyer
who knew all about the ins and outs and the dos and the don'ts
of the law of Moses. And this lawyer said, tempting
him, now think about this, he is the one who gave the law. And yet this lawyer asked him,
tempting him. He didn't ask in sincerity. to
find out a question about how God saves sinners, how is the
way of salvation revealed, tempting him saying, Master, which is
the greatest commandment in the law? And the Lord goes right
to the Word of God, Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, as the marginal reference
has there. And the Lord, quote, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all your mind, your thoughts. That's what the law of God requires,
the first and great commandment. And the second is, likened to
it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
comprehend or hang all the law and the prophets. The Pharisees,
you remember, they were the self-righteous Jews who sought salvation by
the deeds of the law, and they thought they had accomplished
salvation by the keeping of the law. But our Lord exposes them,
and He said, you or they would justify yourselves before men.
But God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. Those Pharisees
thought they honored the law of God, like Saul of Tarsus said,
I was blameless before the law. And then Saul of Tarsus again
said, he said, I was exceeding zealous of the tradition of my
father. But when God taught him the gospel,
he learned a very vital lesson, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. The law of God, the holy law
of God that thundered from Sinai Mountain, was never given to
save sinners. Do you know that? Never given
to save sinners, because it's impossible for any fallen son
of Adam to love God with all his heart, soul, and mind, and
to love his neighbor as himself. The flesh cannot meet that standard. And the standard is not going
to be lowered. The standard has to be high. And the only way
we can meet that standard is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
honored the law of God for us. He honored the law of God for
us. The good news of the Gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ
honored His own law. He's the only man who did love
God with all of his heart, soul, and mind. He's the only man who
did love others as Himself. This flesh, in this flesh, we're
not capable of that. But the good news of the Gospel
is, the Lord Jesus Christ, His faithful obedience unto death
is made unto us our righteousness before God. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works. The Lord Jesus
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a
curse for us. That's what happened at Calvary.
God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. We have honored the
law. Our Lord said in Matthew 5, 17,
He said, I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came
to honor it. The law of God has to be honored.
You're not going to lower the standard. The Lord Jesus Christ
came and met that law and satisfied it in every way, every jot, every
tittle. Now, while the Pharisees were
gathered together, the Lord asked them, saying, What think ye of
Christ? Whose son is he? And they said,
The son of David. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ turned
the table on these who had so many questions, and he asked
them this one all-important, vital question of all questions. What think ye of Christ? That's everything. What do you
think of the Lord Jesus Christ? How can He be David's Son and
David the Lord and David's Savior? How can He be the Son of God,
excuse me, how can He be the Son of David and the Son of God
at the same time? They, being ignorant of the message
of Scripture, were put to shame, and as it says there in verse
46, no man was able to answer Him a word. They did not have
a clue. Those who have questions all
the time, those who have questions all
the time, as one old preacher said and gave this good advice,
to you who would have questions, The advice is this, sit still,
listen to the Word of God, listen to the Gospel as it is being
preached, and in due time, the Lord will answer all your questions. Did you ever learn anything about
talking? I never did. We learn by listening. Listening. That's why the Scripture
said, be swift to hear, slow to speak. Slow to speak. So sit
still and listen to the Word of God, and all your questions
in due time the Lord will answer all your questions. And God the
Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ and reveal them unto
you. Now let's look at this question
for a moment. What do you personally think
of the Lord Jesus Christ? We see in these verses that our
Lord is totally and fully God and fully and totally man. How can He be David's son and
yet the Lord? because He is the God-Man Mediator. There never has been nor ever
will be anyone like this special Man. So much totally and fully
God, as if He were not Man. And so much fully and totally
Man, as if He were not God. The God-Man, the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. According to His human nature,
He is the Son of Man, the Son of David. Turn over here to Romans
chapter 1. He is the son of David. You can
run his genealogy right back to the house of Jesse, the family
of Jesse, tribe of Judah, and the family of David. Romans chapter
1, verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel of God which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the Holy Scripture concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord." Now watch it. "...was made of a seed
of David," according to the flesh, "...made of a seed of David,
and declared to be the Son of God." He's not made the Son of
God. He's declared to be the Son of
God, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead, delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. The body of our Lord Jesus Christ
had a beginning. It was created by the power of
God in the womb of a virgin, Mary. When the angel came and
said, you're going to have a son, a special child, the Son of the
Most High, she said, how can this be? I don't know a man.
And the angel said, God's going to overshadow you, and that holy
thing that will be conceived in you shall be called the Son
of God. According to His divine nature,
He is the eternal Son of God, or God the Son. He is the Son
of Man, and He is the Son of God. Those who deny His deity,
those who deny that Jesus Christ is God, have no hope of salvation. Now you think of that statement.
Those who deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is
truly God, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Those
who deny His deity have no hope of salvation. Our Lord said this,
I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sin, for
if you believe not that I am, you'll die in your sin." John
8, 24. When Moses stood before that burning bush, and it was
burning and burning but not consumed, and the voice out of that burning
bush said, I am that I am. He always has been because He
is the eternal God. Our Lord said in John 10, I and
my Father, we are one. Philip said to him after the
Lord said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes
to the Father but by me. And then Philip turned around
and said, show us the Father. And he said, have you been so
long time with me that you haven't known? When you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. I and the Father, we are one.
Now, He is truly and totally a real man, tempted and tested
in all points like as we are, yet without sin, and yet He is
God Almighty. When He was manifested in the
flesh, He never stopped being God. Put the two together, He
is our glorious God and Savior, who is the Messiah, the Christ
of God, the anointed one, Son of God. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem us that were under the law. Unto us a child is born. But the Son is given, and His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God,
the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting King. The Lord Jesus Christ is
God our Savior. He is the only Christ of God. Neither is there salvation in
any other. He is the successful Christ of
God. He knows nothing of failure and
defeat. He is the conquering Christ of
God. He went forth conquering and
the conqueror. When the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is revealed and made known to us, we see Him in all of His
beauty and glory as God our Savior, as God our salvation. That's how we see Him. That's
how we view Him. He had to be both man and God
and one person to put away our sin. Man alone could not satisfy. God alone cannot suffer. But
the God-man mediator did both. He suffered and satisfied because
of who He is. Now, what do you think about
the Lord Jesus Christ? What you believe is determined
by who you believe. I know whom I have believed and
persuaded that He is able. He is able. Those who reject
His person and His work, those who reject His glorious person
as God, who reject His redeeming successful work, have no hope
of salvation. You see, it's who He is that
gives power and weight to what He did. Who is this one hanging
on Calvary's tree? He's none other than God Almighty. God bought us with His own blood. Yes, it was real blood. Yes,
it was the blood of a man, but a man without sin because of
who He is. We can say with Mary, when she
later said, my soul doth rejoice in God my Savior. What do you
think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Secondly, what do you think about
His coming, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His first
coming? Do you think that His coming and taking humanity to
Himself was absolutely necessary to our salvation, or could there
be some other way? Or do you think it was a needless
thing? Do you think Christ crucified was a needless thing, an unnecessary
thing? To those who are perishing, Christ
crucified is nonsense and useless, but to those who were saved by
the power of Christ, the grace of Christ. He is the wisdom of
God and the power of God. And we say with the Apostle Paul,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believes this gospel. Now turn over here to Hebrews
chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. Here's what
we see about His person and His work. Hebrews chapter 1, look
at verse 1. God who in sundry times and divers
manners, faking time passed unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath
pointed e'er of all things, by whom also He made the world,
who being the brightness of His glory, the expressed image of
His person, upholding all things by the word of His power. When
He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high." We see there who He is and what He accomplished. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. What do you think of His victory?
What do you think of His redeeming blood? I say successful. His atonement
and his work, his priestly work, whereby he went about satisfying
the law of God, is successful in every aspect of everything
he did, everything he said, all that he accomplished in his mediatorial
work as our great high priest before God. The great high priest
that came before God once a year had to have the blood before
He entered into that Holy of Holies. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
He did not bring the blood of bulls and goats, He brought His
own blood, having obtained for us eternal redemption." What
do you think of His blood? His blood atonement. It's all
our pardon before God. The only reason we have the pardon
of sin is because the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood, gave His
life to put away our sin. What do you think of His atonement?
It's all my forgiveness before God, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. Do you have any hope of pardon
apart from Christ's redeeming blood? Absolutely not. His blood cleanses us from all
our sin. Thank God. Thank God for the
blood. Saving faith, the faith of God's
elect, never entertains low thoughts and wrong thoughts of his person
and his priestly work. When He finished our redemption,
put away our sin, He sat down, as we read a moment ago, on the
throne of glory. Why did He sit down? His work
was done, complete, satisfying unto God. True faith, the faith
of God's elect, looks to the victorious Christ who conquered
all our enemies. Sin, Satan, death, hell, and
the grave. He's conquered all our enemies.
We're more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Thanks be
to God who's given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. What do you think of Him? How
you view and see Him, as I said earlier, reveals the state of
your heart before God. To many, the Lord Jesus Christ
is just nothing. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? God said, Behold and see, if
there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
To many, the Lord Jesus Christ is just nothing. Maybe a curse
word to swear by. To the atheist, to the unbeliever,
He's nothing. To the self-righteous religionist,
Christ may be something, but just rules and regulations. To
the hypocrite, to Lord Jesus, Christ is only a convenience
in certain times of the year. Ah, but to the believer, like
the Apostle Paul, we can say Christ is all and in all. In Him dwells all the fullness
of God's head bodily, and in the Lord Jesus Christ we stand
complete. Complete in Him. The believer
can say with Job, I know my Redeemer liveth. The believer can say
with Simeon in the temple, mine eyes, Lord let me die, mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. The believer can say with David,
the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want. The believer can say with Thomas,
the apostle, He is my Lord and my God. The believer can say
with John the Baptist, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away
our sin. The believer can say with Peter,
To you who believe, He is precious. Altogether, lovely, the believer
can say with the Apostle Paul, I count all things lost, dung
and ruined, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. And we could
go on and on and on with that list, couldn't we? The believer
esteems Him highly, bows to Him, loves Him, submits to Him, owns
Him. What say you? What do you think
of Christ, the Christ of God, Christ in Him crucified, the
sovereign Christ, the sufficient Christ, the almighty Christ?
Do you rest the total weight of your salvation upon Him? Yes, I do. He's all of it. May God be pleased to reveal
the Lord Jesus Christ to our heart, that He might command
the light of the gospel to shine in our heart, that we might see
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. May
He give us right thoughts, high thoughts, good thoughts, scriptural
thoughts of Him, and then grace to trust Him, bow to Him, submit
to Him at all times. Now I want to close by having
you turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Our Lord fed
a multitude one day, thousands and thousands of people. John
chapter 6, Luke verse 65, And He preached
unto them the gospel of Christ. Therefore said I unto you, John
6, 65, that no man can come to me except it were given unto
him of my father." There he preached the sovereignty of God, electing
love, electing grace. From that time, many of his disciples
went back. Just like those Pharisees and
Sadducees and Herodians. They walked away. They walked
no more with him. Then the Lord said unto the twelve,
also go away?" Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Look at verse 69. We believe
and we are sure Thou art that Christ. That Christ, the Son
of the Living God. We believe and we're sure He's
it. In salvation, He's everything.
He's not something. He's everything. He's my wisdom,
my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption with glory only
in Him.