Okay. This morning we're looking
at Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20, verse 39 through
verse 44 of Luke 20. And then also we want to turn
in our Bible to Matthew 22. And I'm taking the title from
verse 42. Matthew 22, 42. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, the Lord asked them this question. Someone had called
this question the question of all questions. What think ye
of Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ. Whose son is he? Who is this
one, Jesus of Nazareth? And they said unto him rightly,
well, the Messiah, he will be the son of David. And he said,
how then does David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, sit thou,
the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, that I
make thine enemies thy foes. So if then David call him Lord,
how is he a son? Well, that's a conundrum, is
it? Is it not? It's a mystery, is
it not? It must be revealed. What think ye of Christ? That's
the title of the message. Now in our continuing study from
Luke chapter 20, I also want to consider here Matthew 22 concerning
the surrounding and this time when all the religious crowd,
the most self-righteous, Pharisees, scribes, Herodians, the lawyers,
all these people came to gang up and beat up on the Lord Jesus
Christ with many, many silly questions. The Pharisees, first
of all, said, is it right for us as Jews to pay taxes to the
Romans? We don't really want to do that.
Is it right for us to do that? And the Lord said, well, you
show me a coin, whose picture is on it, whose image is on it?
And they said, Caesar's. He said, you render unto Caesar
what is his, and then you render unto God what belongs to him.
You give him all honor and glory, for the salvation is of the Lord.
And then the Sadducees came around him and hounded him about, This
one woman, they come up with this ridiculous example of one
woman who had married seven different brothers. And then they asked
the question of which they didn't even believe. They didn't even
believe in the resurrection. They said, well, this one woman
was married to seven different men. Now in the resurrection,
who will she be married to? And the Lord said to them, as
it's recorded there in verse 29 of Matthew 22, verse, yeah,
Matthew 22, verse 29, he said, your problem is you're ignorant.
You're ignorant. You're ignorant, he says, you
do err, you're in great error and ignorance because you do
not know the scripture, nor do you know the power of God. He
said in the resurrection, In the resurrection they are neither
married nor are they given in marriage. So what is he teaching
us there in the resurrection? Now when believers are raised
from the dead and their soul regenerated by the power and
spirit of God is united to that body that's raised up from the
dust They will retain their identity, but our earthly relationships
will be as nothing compared to our relationship with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I trust that I will know
those who I've known before. but not in a way that we know
each other now. Our relationship will be so much
greater to our blessed Savior and our union with Him that these
earthly relationship will be as nothing. Will be as nothing. What is the important thing is
to be married to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who I want to
be my husband and my head. the blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus. And then in Matthew 22 verse
34, the Pharisees regrouped after they had heard that they put
their rival group, the Sadducees, to silence. One of them being
a lawyer, Matthew 22 verse 35, they came with this question
about doing the law. Now we know the Pharisees, they
sought salvation by the deeds of the law, did they not? You
remember the testimony of Saul of Tarsus? He said, concerning
the righteousness which is in the law, he said, I was blameless.
That's what he thought. So the lawyers had a question
about the law and they addressed him as, Master, what is the great
commandment? What is the number one commandment? And the Lord said to them, out
of the book of God, Deuteronomy chapter 6. Now remember, who
wrote Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5? Who wrote? He did. And the Lord said, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all your heart, thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all your soul, with all your mind, all the energy
and vibrant of who you are. God demands everything. That's
the first and great commandment. And the second, likened to it,
the Lord said, you love your neighbor as you love yourself. Now, these Pharisees and these
lawyers were seeking salvation by the deeds of the law, and
they thought they had done so. They thought they had so honored
the law of God that they merited salvation by their works, not
his mercy. Many people today think they
can earn salvation by their doing the law. Now, I've met people who actually
think and have actually said to me that I'm doing the law,
therefore I have earned salvation by what I have done. Many people
think they can earn salvation by the deeds of the law. Many
people are trying to satisfy God-defended justice by the deeds
of the law. But now, you who are taught of
God know this. You who are taught of God know
this, the holy law of God was never given to justify the sinner. The law of God was only given
to expose our sin. You see, we have not loved God
with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul. We have
sinned to come short of that honorable goal because we are
sinners. God set that bar so high that
we cannot get there. And then the law of God condemns
us that the guilty must die. We're guilty. We haven't loved
God nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves. We are guilty before
God. Now we know the holy law of God
was never given to justify sinners, but rather to condemn us as being
guilty. That's what the law of God says.
Stop your mouth, you're guilty. You're guilty of not loving God.
You're guilty of not loving your neighbor. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law, find Romans chapter 3. By the deeds of the law, how
many people have been justified by the deeds of the law? Have
you ever met a sinner that was justified by doing the deeds
of the law? I haven't, because there are
none. Romans 3 verse 19, Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, Romans 3.19, it says to
them that are under the law, here's what the law says. Every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before
God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. You see, the law reveals what
we are and what God demands, but it doesn't provide a righteousness. But now, For by the law is the
knowledge of sin, not the removal of sin, not the redemption of
sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law. That's
what I want. I must have a righteousness.
But I want a righteousness of God that's provided for me and
freely given to me in Christ. Even the righteousness of God
which is by the faith, but now the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
Even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe there is no
difference. For all have sinned that come short of the glory
of God. Now look at verse 24. being justified freely by His
grace through, does that say through the deeds of the law,
does it? Through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
whom God set forth to be the propitiation through faith in
his blood to declare his righteousness at this time for the remission
of sin that he through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this
time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of them who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what does the
law of God say? Shut your mouth. You're guilty. The law of God says, Cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Well, you know the good
news of the gospel says what? What does it say? Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. You see the Lord Jesus Christ
as the God-man mediator, He honored the law of God for us. He was
completely obedient unto the law of God for us, as our substitute,
as our representative. He is the one who did love God
with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He is the
one who did lay his life down for his neighbor. What he did
is our righteousness before God. Do you see that? Romans 4 verse
6 says what? Blessed is the man to whom God
imputeth Righteousness without works. You're looking at a sinner.
Guilty and vile and wretched as I am, yet in God's sight,
in Christ, having a justification given to me by the Lord Jesus
Christ, I'm completely justified before God, accepted in the beloved. We have honored the law of God
in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord, in Matthew 22,
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
They're all comprehended in this. All the prophets say that salvation
is of the Lord. Now, while the Pharisees were
gathered together, verse 41, the Lord asked them. Now, here's
what I want us to consider. What think ye of Christ? What
do you really think of the Lord Jesus Christ? And they said unto
him, well, he's the son of David. You know, many think of the Lord
Jesus Christ, well, he was a good man. He worked many miracles,
healed the sick. He came doing these many mighty
miracles, feeding the hungry, doing all these things. But you
know, the chief end of his coming into this world was to do the
will of the Father and to save His people from their sin. He
came not to call the righteous, He came to call sinners unto
repentance. Sinners unto repentance. Now,
what think ye of Christ? The Lord turned the table on
them and asked them this all-important question. I want us to consider,
each of us personally, this morning, carefully consider, what do you
think? I'm not asking what your daddy
thinks. I'm not asking what your mama thinks. I'm not asking you
what grandpa thought or what your neighbors think. I'm asking
you personally in your heart before God, what do you think
of the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to personally take
inventory of our thoughts about him. What do you personally think
of him? The Apostle said in 2 Corinthians
13, examine yourselves whether you've been in the faith. Prove
your own self. Know not your own selves how
that the Lord Jesus Christ is in you, except you be a non-believer,
a reprobate. Now, one old writer years ago
said this. He said this. Now think about
this a minute. He said this, what you personally
think of the Lord Jesus Christ, how you esteem Him and reverence
Him reveals the state and standing of your heart before God. Now
think about that. What you think of the Lord Jesus
Christ right now in your heart reveals the state and standing
of your heart before God right now. Do you reverence Him? Do
you worship Him? Do you honor Him? Do you believe
Him? Do you trust Him for all of your
salvation? How can He be David's Son and
David's Lord? How can He be the Son of Man
and the Son of God? You know, He's called in Scripture,
I pointed this out to our study in the book of Luke, He's called
many times the Son of Man, but He's also called the Son of God.
He is The God-Man Mediator. There is one God and one Mediator
between God and men. Who is that? The God-Man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We learn in Holy Scripture that
the Lord Jesus Christ is both fully and totally God. Right? Fully and totally God. And when
He was manifest in the flesh as a real man, He never stopped
being God. and yet he's a real man. So we
say it this way, he's fully and totally God, really God, and
when he was manifest in the flesh, he never stopped being God, but
he took unto himself what he was not, flesh, and dwelt among
us. We must have one who can reach
into the heavens and reach down to the lowest and reconcile us
unto God, and that's what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
us. As we consider this question,
what think ye of the Lord Jesus Christ according to His human
nature? Now, I want to go to school here.
We'll go back to elementary school. According to His human nature,
He is the Son of Man or the Son of David according to the flesh. Now, preacher, can you make good
on that? Yes, I can. Turn to Romans chapter
1. according to his human nature. Now his human nature had a beginning
there in Bethlehem when he was conceived of the Holy Spirit
in the womb of the Virgin. But in Romans chapter 1, we see that he is, verse 1, Romans
1, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle. separated
unto the gospel of God, which he had promised to afford by
his prophets in the Holy Scripture, concerning his Son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David." You see, if you
follow the genealogy that is given in the Scripture, it goes
all the way back, his humanity, the humanity of the Lord goes
all the way back to David and Jesse, David's father. concerning
the gospel of God, promised by God, concerning His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according
to flesh, and declared to be the Son of God according, the
Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. So we learn there that the Lord
Jesus Christ was a real man, made according to the seed of
David, but he's declared to be the son of God. Now, turn to
John chapter 1. You find John chapter 1. See, he had to be both. Had to be both fully, totally
man and fully, totally God to be our mediator. In John chapter 1, verse 1, in
the beginning was the word, And the Word, notice it's capital,
was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
without Him was not anything made that was made. Now, look
down at verse 14. John chapter 1 verse 14, And
the Word was made flesh. There's the eternal Word of God.
The eternal God made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth." There's the eternality of his person
made flesh and dwelt among us. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He was a real man, but he never
stopped being God. According to a divine nature
is the eternal. He is the eternal Son of God. Who is God? Our Lord said this, except you
believe that I am. Is it important that we believe
that He is the divine Son of God? That He is God? Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's God. How important is that? Our Lord said this, except you
believe that I am. you'll die in your sins. Our
Lord said this, I and my Father, we are one. He said to Philip,
when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father
are one. We put these two natures together
and we have one glorious God, our Savior, who is the Messiah,
who is the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only Savior
of sinners. He's the only Christ. We don't
look for another. Neither is there salvation in
any other but the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a successful Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
died for the sins of His people, didn't make an attempt to put
away sin. He put their sin away by the
sacrifice of Himself. And He is a conquering Christ.
He came forth conquering and to conquer. Conquered. Death is conquered. Hell is conquered. Satan, he's conquered. He is
the conquering Christ. He's given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you look at Matthew,
back to Matthew, and if you look at Matthew chapter 16, Our Lord asked this question
in Matthew 16, 13, when he came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? And they said, well, some folks
say you're John the Baptist. John had been killed for the
gospel. Some thought he was John raised from the dead. Some that
you were Elijah the prophet or Jeremiah the prophet. But he
said unto them, Whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered, verse
16, Matthew 16, Thou art the Christ. the Son of the Living
God, and the Lord said, You are a blessed man, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee but my Father,
which is in heaven." What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? He had to be both man and God
and one person to put away our sin. God purchased us with His
own blood. Man alone cannot satisfy, God
alone cannot suffer, but the God-man mediator did both. He
bare our sin in His own body on the tree. Christ once suffered
for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us
unto God. Now, what do you think about
such a Savior as this? Oh man! He's all my salvation. He is my representative. He's
my substitute. He's my Lord and He's my God.
Hallelujah! What a Savior we have. Those
who reject His deity have no hope of salvation. You see, it's
who He is that gives power to what He did. We can say with
Mary, you remember what she said? My soul doth magnify the Lord,
my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. We can say with the
Apostle Thomas and this Thomas. Remember what Thomas said when
he saw the Lord risen from the dead? He said, My Lord and my
God. He is the Lord our righteous,
He is the Lord our sacrifice. What do you think of this Christ?
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is our God and who is our Savior. Secondly, what about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Talking about his first coming,
his intercession for us and his priestly work. What do we say
about his first coming? Why did he come? Why did he come
here? Well, let's see if we can find
out in the word. Let's turn over here to Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter 4. Why did
He come? Couldn't He just stay in heaven and complete the work
of salvation? No, He had to be a man. He had
to be a man and He had to suffer and die in our room and in our
stead. We call that He's our substitute. That's why He came. Now what do you think of His
coming? Was it successful? Was it necessary? Galatians chapter
4, look at verse 4. When the fullness of time, the
fullness of THE time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, He was a real man, made of a
woman, conceived in the womb of that virgin by the Holy Spirit,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying,
Abba, Father." Look right across the page, Galatians 3 verse 13,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. The Lord Jesus Christ indeed
redeemed His people from their sin. Taking His humanity to Himself
was absolutely necessary for our salvation. There is no other
way to put away sin, is there? Do you think it was a needless
thing, His incarnation? Do you think His incarnation
was an unnecessary thing to those who were perishing Christ and
Him crucified is nonsense and needless, but to those who know
themselves to be sinners. Turn over here to the book of
1 Corinthians chapter 1. To those who know themselves
to be sinners, Christ is the wisdom of God and Christ crucified
is the power of God. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
1 verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is
the power of God. Christ crucified is absolutely
necessary to put away our sin. Look down at verse 22, 1 Corinthians
1, 22. For the Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness,
unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God, Christ the wisdom of God. The only way God can be
just and justify the sinner is for Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to take our sin to Himself and to put our sin away by the sacrifice
of Himself. We can find that in Scripture
in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For it made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." Now, what do you think of his coming? Of his
dying? Of his representation for his
people? I say, thank God that he came
to bear our sin, our shame, and our guilt, and his own body on
the tree, and to satisfy the holy law of God for his people. That's our hope, is it not? Now,
what do you think of His victory? What do you think of His redeeming
work upon the cross? The Lord said in the text here,
look back to the text again. Matthew 22 verse 44, The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool. Now, what does that say about
His redeeming work? It means his redeeming work was
finished, complete, and accepted of the Father. When he by himself
purged our sin, he sat down. Where did he sit down? the right
hand of God. Why did he sit down at the right
hand of God? Because he finished the redeeming work of his covenant
people. He put away all their sin, the
sin of God's elect, and because he made a complete justification
for them, on the third day, what happened? Delivered for our offenses
and raised again because he did what? He justified us. He not only came forth from the
tomb, but 40 days later, He ascended to heaven, sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. That's what's being said there.
Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
So, what do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? He's a victorious
Christ. He's a successful Christ. He
is the one who finished the work the Father gave Him to do. He
left nothing undone. Completed all of salvation. He
said on Calvary's tree, it is not started, finished. He finished. Salvation for His
people. Now, what do you think of that
Christ? He's everything to me. He's all my righteousness. He's
all my salvation. He is all my hope. We have no
failed Redeemer. Saving faith never entertained
low thoughts and wrong thoughts of His person nor His priestly
work. He's a successful Christ. Don't
you want to be on the winning team? He's the winner! He's given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is King of Kings and He is
Lord of Lords. Put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Honored the law of God for us.
Satisfied the justice of God for us. Highly exalted the law
of God for us. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law, I came to honor the law of God for us. He brought
in everlasting righteousness and everlasting salvation that
He'd freely give to His people. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now, I want you to personally
consider this morning, what do you think of the Christ of God? What do you think of the Christ
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you think of Him? How you view and see him reveals,
as I said earlier, the state of your heart before God. To
many, the Lord Jesus Christ is nothing. To the atheist and to
the unbeliever, he's nothing, just a name to swear by. To the self-righteous and religionists,
the Lord Jesus Christ is just rules and regulations. To the hypocrite, the Lord Jesus
Christ is convenient at religious times. Christmas and Easter,
everybody gets religious. Ah, but to the believer, we can
say with the Apostle Paul, Christ is all and in all. What do you think of Christ?
Can you say with David, God had made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and assured this is all my salvation and
all my hope. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
of my salvation And he's all of my hope. The believer can say with the
Apostle John, Behold the Lamb of God. He is my Lamb. He's my
sacrifice. He's the Lamb of God that takes
away our sin. The believer can say with Peter,
He is precious to me. The believer can say with the
wise man Solomon that he's altogether lovely. What do you say? What think ye of Christ? What do you think of the Christ
of God? Talking about the sovereign Christ that said he will have
mercy on whom he will. Talking about the Christ of God
that has all power in heaven and earth to have mercy upon
whom he will. The almighty Christ of God. I'm
not talking about the false Christ. I'm talking about the true and
living God, the Christ of God. Do you rest the total weight
of your salvation upon Him? Can you say with David, He only
is my rock and my salvation, in Him I cannot be moved. He
is my light and He is my salvation. I prayer, my prayer for all of
us that God would be pleased to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
unto us right now. that He would command the light
to shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said,
those who are not with me, there's no neutral ground here. Well,
I'm just going to remain neutral. There is no neutral ground. Our
Lord said, those who are not with me, They're against me. I want to be one with Him. One
with Him. I want to close the message by
reading this Scripture. If you look over at John chapter
6. John chapter 6. What think ye
of Christ? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ preached
a real powerful sermon that's given here in John chapter 6.
when he talked about the effectual work of the Redeemer. He said
in verse 65, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come to
me, except it were given to him of my father, verse 66. From
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. They said, we don't want anything
to do with the Christ of God. They quit and turned tail and
walked away. Then said the Lord unto his twelve,
Will you also go away? Simon Peter answered him, Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the word of eternal
life. There's nowhere else to go. Where
are you going to go and find salvation? There is no salvation
in any other. Verse 69, And we believe, and
we are sure, thou art that Christ. the Son of the living God, that
Christ. He's our hope. He's our Savior. He is God our Savior.