Okay, we're coming back now to
Luke chapter 22. We spent, I guess, I don't know
how many messages we have brought from Luke chapter 22, 71 verses,
but today from verse 63 down through verse 71. And I pointed out in the reading
earlier, there are two vital questions that are asked here.
Did you notice that in verse 67, this council of religious
self-righteous Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus Christ, art thou,
art thou the Christ? And then the second question
they ask, art thou then, When he said, you'll see the Son of
Man sitting on the right hand of God. Art thou then, are you
saying that you are the Son of God? And the Lord said, you're
right, I am, I am. Now, these violent and vicious
enemies of our blessed Savior asked the Lord probably the most
two important questions that we should ask ourselves. Do you
believe that Jesus is the Christ of God? Do you believe that he
is the Christ of God? Secondly, do you believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ is God the Son? Do you believe that? I do. I believe he is the Christ
of God. I believe that he is the very
Son of God who came to accomplish our salvation. So that'll be
the title and subject. of the message this morning.
Art thou the Christ? Art thou the Son of God? Now
every believer can answer both these questions without hesitation,
without wavering, because God has granted and given unto us
saving faith. Saving faith does believe. We
believe and we are sure thou art the Christ of God. Is Jesus
of Nazareth the very Christ of God, the anointed one in all
his office as prophet? priest and king, every believer
can say without hesitation, without reservation, without any hedging,
without any compromise, the Lord is the Christ of God. Jesus of Nazareth is the very
Christ of God. We can absolutely say without
wavering, without compromise, without hesitation, not being
ashamed, yes, he's my Christ. He's my Christ to represent me
before God. Secondly, is Jesus of Nazareth
the very true and only begotten well-beloved Son of God? And
every believer can answer in a most absolute and positive
way, yes, He is God, our Savior. We can chime in with the Apostle
Paul. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The word was made flesh and we
dwelt and he dwelt among us. Now remember from our previous
studies that the Lord Jesus Christ had been arrested in the garden.
It was late at night. And when they came to arrest
him with that small army, the Lord and his apostles, the Lord,
Peter tried to defend the Lord and the Lord said, put up your
sword. The Lord willingly submitted unto them and they arrested him. It says there in verse 63, and
the men held the Lord Jesus and mocked him. Remember it says
back in 50 verse 54, then took they him and led him and brought
him into the high priest house. And Peter followed at a distance,
at far off. So all this brutal treatment
that the Lord received that is recorded here in verse 63, verse
64, and verse 65, it happened in the house of the man who was
supposed to be representing God to the people, the high priest.
The high priest participated and gave sanction to the treatment
of God's Son and the Christ of God. Now, it says down in verse
66, as soon as it was day. Evidently this brutal treatment
of the Lord of glory went on all night long. Where it says
they mocked him in verse 63, It says that they smote him.
If you read Matthew 26 and Mark 14, you'll find also that they
spit in his face, that they mocked him in his office as the prophet
of God. And when they had blindfolded
him, they struck him on the face and asked him saying, prophesy
who it is that smote thee. And many other things. Too many
things that can even be written down for us here. We'd be all
morning reading everything that they said concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're a devil. You're a wine-bibber.
You're a gluttonous man. All these different things that
they had conjured up in their mind to speak evil against the
Lord's Christ. That's what they were doing.
And this went on all night long. And the Lord endured these things,
a man of sorrow acquainted with grief. Now, verse 66, the next
morning, as soon as the day, you remember the rooster started
crowing because the sun was coming up? As soon as it was day, the
elders of the people, the chief priests and the scribes, they
came together against the Lord and against his Christ, and they
led him into their council room. This was a complete Sanhedrin. I believe someone said that there
was, I think, 70 men on this council. So here's the Lord Jesus
Christ. You can imagine what he looks
like. He's been beaten. He's been mocked. He's been spit
on. He's bruised. He's bleeding. And he's standing
before these religious men, and they say to him, Art thou the
Christ? Tell us. And he said, If I tell
you, you will not believe. And if I also ask you, you will
not answer me, nor let me go. Verse 69, Hereafter shall the
Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God. And they
said, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, You're
right. You say that because I am. I
am the Son of God. when they brought him before
this full council to further accuse him and condemn him to
death. And that's what they were after.
You remember all along they were planning how to end his ministry,
how to put him to death. Many times they sought to do
so, to stone him. You remember in Luke chapter
four, when he declared unto them the sovereignty of God and salvation,
that he'll have mercy on whom he will have mercy. You remember
they sought to throw him off the cliff. and he simply passed
through their hands. It says in Matthew chapter 12,
when the Lord healed that man who had the withered hand, when
the Lord said, stretch forth your hand, and he did. And his hand was restored and
made whole. And it says in the next verse,
the Pharisees went out and held a council how they might destroy
him. Many times he passed through
their hands, but now it was the Lord's hour, the time that God
had appointed from all eternity, that the Lord Jesus Christ would
lay down his life, as we read in John 10, I lay down my life
for the sheep. And they could not arrest the
Lord without God's determinate decree, as Peter said, Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. And all this happened, we know, to fulfill Scripture in
Psalm 2. It's recorded that the kings
of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord's Christ. And in Acts chapter 4, we have
the full explanation of that. That Herod and Pontius Pilate,
the Jews and the Gentiles were gathered together for to do whatsoever
God's hand, God's counsel determined before to be done. So we can
always say the death and atonement and the blood sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ did not happen by accident. This was the time,
the hour, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel for
knowledge of God in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under that law. This is God's appointed hour.
This is the hour of our salvation. This is when our sin was put
away by the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the time when He justified us by His blood. This is the time
in which He put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
It's a special time. It's a special hour. Always has
been. Now, what can we learn? from
these verses that are given to us by the inspiration of God,
as all scripture is. The things I see here, number
one, is this, and we can't dismiss this. We see on full display
the wickedness of humanity doing its worst against God's best,
the Son of God. When they had the Son of God
in their midst, rather than worship Him or bow to Him, they spit
in His face, mocked Him, beat Him, ridiculed Him, made fun
of Him, and we see our own wicked, sinful nature acting out unrestrained. You say, well, I'd never do that.
You would too. You'd be right there with that
crowd, yelling away with him, crucify him. We have no king
but Caesar. Apart from God restraining grace,
you'd be right there. You'd be right there taking part
of that. We see and we learn from the scriptures that there
is none righteous, no not one. Does that include you? Yes, it
does. The carnal mind is yet enmity
against God, always has been, always will. Ever since Adam's
sin, ever since Adam's fall, the natural man received not
the things of God, the gospel of God is pure foolishness unto
the natural man. They mocked his message. They
mocked his message. They mocked his person. You imagine
spitting in the face of God? That's you. That's me. That's
how vile we are, wretched. You imagine taking your hand
and smacking the Son of God, got himself in the face, putting
a blindfold on him and say, you are a great prophet, tell us
who hit you. How wicked, how wicked we are. You know, you
really don't believe, you know, it's one thing to give assent,
mental assent to the doctrine of depravity, total depravity,
but it's quite another matter to say, I am totally depraved. This flesh is nothing but rotten
and stinking flesh in the sight of God Almighty. You'll never
seek mercy until God teaches you that lesson. They mocked
him in his person. They mocked him as a prophet
of God. And we do the same thing. Now,
here's the lesson for us. If you're a lover and a believer
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, right now. If you're a lover of his person,
who he is, God Almighty, manifest in the flesh. If you're a lover
and believer of the gospel and seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
as he's altogether lovely. If you're a lover of his office,
as the Christ of God, prophet, priest, and king. And I'll tell
you what that is in just a minute. If you are a lover of him, a
believer of the gospel, and have submitted unto his lordship,
it's only because of his sovereign will and his sovereign purpose
given to you. You didn't figure this out. The
gospel comes by revelation, the revelation of God. Left to ourselves,
we never would have believed the gospel. Left to ourselves,
we never would have loved and believed the truth as it is revealed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We would never submit to his
sovereign will. We would continue to reject the
counsel of God against our own selves. and say, we have no king
but Caesar. We will not have him to reign
over us. Now, we see clearly how wicked
humanity is. Over here in chapter 23, it says
that Pilate delivered the Lord Jesus to their will. What will
the will of men do unrestrained? They'll nail the Son of God to
a cruel tree and laugh about it and mock Him. That's how wicked
we are. The second thing I see is this.
The Lord of glory patiently willingly submitted to the cruel hatred
of men. Now he could have put this bunch,
as he did when they came to arrest him, when they came forth and
said, when the Lord said to them, when they came forth and the
Lord said, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. You remember they all fell backward.
as it says in John 18. But here we see the Lord Jesus
Christ willingly submitting unto the will of God. Remember He
said, Father, not My will, but Thy will be done. We read in
John chapter 10 where the Lord said, No man takes my life from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. The Lord of glory, our Savior,
How righteousness, our salvation, willingly submitted to the cruel
hatred of men, willingly submitted to the sovereign will of God
to accomplish our salvation. That's our hope. That's our hope. The Lord Jesus Christ as a lamb
of God, as a sacrifice of God, was led as a sheep to the slaughter. You remember what it says in
Isaiah 53. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. He submitted willingly to the
cruel hatred of men, but more importantly, he became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, willingly submitting
himself unto death to accomplish our salvation. to accomplish
redemption for us. Now, I want to consider here
these two questions as it's found there in verse 67 and again in
verse 70. Art thou the Christ? Tell us.
Tell us. Now remember what we read back
in John 10. Don't turn, let me just read it to you. The Jews
came round about him and said to him, How long dost thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And the Lord said, I told you,
I've told you before, and you believe not. The works that I
do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe
not because you are not my sheep. as I said unto you." Now the
Lord of Glory had told them plainly that He is the Christ and all
the works that the Father gave Him to do, to finish and to complete,
every type and picture, every promise of the Old Testament
is fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and in
His substitutionary death. Art thou the Christ? That was
the question they put to Him that day. The question could
have truthfully, the question could have been answered fully
and truthfully with a answer of yes or no. They could have
said yes or he could have said no in that sense. But the Lord
in His infinite wisdom says, you shall see the Son of Man,
look at verse 69, you shall see the Son of Man sit on the right
hand of the power of God, sitting on the throne of God. So what's
He saying? He is saying, yes, I am the Christ,
because one day when I accomplish salvation, that I will sit down
where I came from before, from the throne of glory." Now, if
you will find a book of Hebrews, turn over to the book of Hebrews.
And we see here, in these last days, Hebrews 1-1. Hebrews 1-1. God, who in sunbreak
times in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, He hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person, upholding all things by the word
of his power, when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high. He was delivered for
our offenses, and raised again for our justification, and when
He ascended to glory, what happened? He sat down on the right hand
of the throne of God, declaring that He is the Son of God, declaring
that He is the promised Messiah, Son of God, to accomplish our
salvation. Now, in the book of Hebrews,
find chapter 4. seeing then that we have a great
high priest, Hebrews 4 verse 14, seeing then that we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, who is he? The Son of God. Let us hold fast
our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of need. Is he
the Christ? Absolutely. Did he accomplish
our salvation? Absolutely. How do we know that?
That grave is empty. Look over in Hebrews chapter
8 verse 1. He came forth from the tomb the third day. We're
going to study in Luke 23 and verse 24. He's raised up the
third day because he accomplished salvation and put away our sin. Now, Hebrews 8 verse 1, Now the
things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such
a high priest who is set on the right hand of the majesty in
the heavens. Now, you can't get any higher
than sitting on the throne of God as God. And that's where the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Is he the Christ of God? Tell
us. Yes, he is. How do we know that?
was He seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, how
do we know that? How do I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is on, literally, the God-man mediator in His bodily
presence as a real man is seated on the throne of God? How do we know that? How can
I be assured that that is so? We just read it. I believe what
God says in His Word. Now, He is the anointed of God
in all of His office. He is a prophet to reveal God. Remember, God said to Moses,
He promised that God would send a prophet to reveal the things
of God to His people. The Lord Jesus cried, He is that
prophet. He's the prophet I need. He's
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babe. He is the prophet I need to teach me the gospel. Secondly, he's not only the anointed
prophet, he's the anointed priest. I gotta have a high priest. The
Lord Jesus Christ is that high priest sent of God. He is that
high priest who didn't bring the typical animal sacrifice.
He brought his own blood. Not we are redeemed, not with
the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood. He obtained
eternal redemption for us as our great high priest. We need
a prophet, we need a priest, and we need a king. In all of
his offices, prophet, priest, and king, as the Christ of God,
as the Messiah of God, as the anointed of God, he is our king. What does a king do? Well, he
rules and he reigns. The Lord Jesus Christ is King
of kings and Lord of lords. Now, over in John chapter six,
you can turn there if you would like, if not, I'll just read
it to you. When many walked away from the Lord and the Lord said
in verse 67, John six, he said, will you also go away? Simon
Peter answered him, said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. We believe and we are sure Thou
art that Christ, the Son of the living God. We believe and we
are sure You're the Christ of God. In Matthew 16, don't turn
there, but let me just read this to you. In Matthew 16, when the
Lord asked Peter, but Peter, whom do you say that I am? Peter
answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. Thou art that Christ. Peter preached
at Pentecost, this same Jesus whom you had crucified, God had
made him both Lord and Christ. Now, what do you think of Christ? What do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? What do you personally in your
heart before God think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember that
rock and roll song back in the 60s? Jesus is just all right
with me. Jesus is just okay, you know.
He's more than just okay to a believer. He is everything. Everything. You see, to the believer, He's
all our salvation. He is our prophet, priest, and
king. He is all in salvation. He is all in providence. Christ is all and in all. Is He that to you? Is He some
of your salvation or all of it? Is He some of your righteousness
or all of it? To the believer, it's a no-brainer.
To the believer, it's a no-doubter. Yes, he is my Christ. We can say with David, the Lord
is my light and my salvation. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He is the Christ of God. That's
the revelation of the gospel. The glory of God shines in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second question they ask
him, aren't thou then the Son of God? And he said to them, you say
that because I I am. Now over in Mark 14, don't turn,
let me just read this to you. Again the high priest asked him
and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
And the Lord Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of
Man sitting on the right hand of power, coming in the clouds
of heaven. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is God Almighty, manifest in the flesh. He is the eternal
Son of God. Now, if you wanna find Romans
1, you can turn there if you want to. If not, I'll just read
it to you. Romans 1, verse 1, where we see
that Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, Romans 1, 1, you with
me? called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his
prophet in the Holy Scripture, concerning his son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, notice he's made the God-man, The seed of David according to
the flesh, that's according to the word of God, and he declared
to be the son of God with power. Now he's not made the son of
God, he declared to be what he is. He became what he was not,
flesh, but he always remained what he is, God Almighty. Declared to be the son of God
with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead. His resurrection declares that
he is God. that he accomplished all that
God sent him to do. Our Lord said, he that has seen
me has seen the Father, as we read in John chapter 10. And
the religious folks, they didn't like that. They picked up stones
to stone him again when he declared that he is the Messiah, that
he is the Christ of God. That's a natural man's response
to the deity and lordship of Christ. He must give us grace
and faith to bow and submit unto Him. Now, again, do you believe
that Jesus of Nazareth is the very God of very gods? Do you believe that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Son of God? That He is God Almighty? Then you believe the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's what the gospel declares.
He is God over all. We read and studied in Romans
9, remember? "...who are the fathers of whom,
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all God blessed
forever." Now, do you trust Him as God our Savior? Do you look
to Him for all salvation? Now, you might be thinking, is
it really that important? How important is it that we believe
that Jesus is the Christ, God our Savior, in human flesh, the
only begotten Son of God? Is it really that important?
Can I just believe He's a prophet like Mohammed? Is it really necessary that I
believe that He is God, the Christ, the Son of God? Is it really
that necessary? Let's see what God says about
that. Turn over here to John chapter 8. John chapter 8 verse 20. John chapter 8 verse
20. These words spake Jesus in the
treasury as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands
on him for his hour was not yet come. They could not touch him
until his hour was come, until he submitted. unto them by the
will of God. Then said Jesus again unto them,
this is John 8, 21, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall
die in your sin, whether I go you cannot come. Then said the
Jews, will he kill himself, because he saith, whether I go you cannot
come. And the Lord said unto them, you are from beneath, I
am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this world.
Look at verse 24 carefully. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am,
you shall die in your sins." Wow! Lord give me faith to trust
thee as all of my salvation. Now, two scriptures, I'll quote
them to you and then we'll will be through. In 1st John 5-1 it
says this, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, he's
born of God. If you believe that Jesus of
Nazareth is the very Christ of God, the anointed, the Messiah,
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That means God has given you,
regenerated you, given you life in Christ. The second question
is this, or the second scripture, rather, is this, in 1 John 4,
verse 4 and 5, that whosoever is born of God overcometh the
world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe
that He's the Christ of God? Is He your Christ? Is He your
Savior? Do you believe He is God our
Savior? Yes, saving faith does believe
that. May the Lord bless us to hear
and receive the word of the Lord. May God give us faith to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ for all of our salvation. Our Lord, it's
recorded in his word, he that believeth on the Son hath life,
eternal life, salvation, forgiveness of sin. He that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. The wrath of
God abides upon him. Well, two vital questions. I
pray the Lord will bless that to your heart.