Today for our Bible study, please
turn in your Bible to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 22. Now, we'll begin reading here
at verse 41 of Matthew 22. I would encourage you to get
your Bible this morning and let's read these verses together. While
the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they say
unto him, the son of David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? And the Lord, he is quoting
from Psalm 110, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David
then call him Lord, how is he his son? And then we read in
Verse 46 of Matthew 22, And no man was able to answer him a
word, neither doth any man from that day forth ask him any more
questions. Now all through life we are faced
with important and difficult questions. But we read here in
verse 42, the question of questions. What think ye of Christ? This is a question of all questions. This is a question in our life
that we must face. We must consider and we must
answer personally before God, what do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Now often in religious circles,
men spend their time and energy debating many questions and never
consider the only question. Paul gave the advice to young
Timothy to avoid foolish They just gender strife. Now here's
the question this morning. Here's the question in scripture.
What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now if you will
read this chapter, Matthew 22, the Herodians came and asked
the Lord Jesus some questions about church and state, religion
and politics. How are they to mix? The Sadducees
came asking a question about the resurrection and the details
of the future state. The Pharisees came asking the
question about the law, which is a great first and great commandment. Then the Lord asked them this
all vital question. And here's the big question we
need to consider. The Jews knew that the Messiah
was to come from the house of David, but they didn't know that
the Messiah would be both God and man. in one blessed person. How can he be David's son and
David's Lord? They said, well, he's to be the
son of David. And our Lord said, well, how?
Then does David, by the Spirit of God, writing the Scripture,
inspired by the Spirit of God, call him Lord, saying, The Lord
said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool." How can it be David's son, his offspring,
and yet David's God and Savior? Now, every believer understands
something of what's being said here, how it can be David's son
and David's Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ as God
was David's Lord and Savior. The Lord Jesus as God incarnate
was David's son, David's offspring. The Scriptures teach both the
deity of Christ, God incarnate, and also the humanity. He is
the Son of God and He is the Son of Man. Now it concerns each
of us to seriously ask ourselves, what think ye of Christ? What
is the Lord Jesus Christ to you? Do you think of him at all? Is
he in any of your thoughts? Do you have high thoughts of
him? Do you have low thoughts of him? Do you have no thoughts
of him? Do you have contrary thoughts
against him? What do you think of Christ?
To the atheist, God is not in all his thoughts. The fool has
said in his heart there is no God. To the legalist, God is
just rules and regulations and a hard taskmaster. To the hypocrite,
he brings out his religion only to impress men at religious times. To many others, the Lord Jesus
Christ may mean something, a fire escape, an insurance policy,
a buddy, a co-pilot, a friend, but not everything. To the believer,
my friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is not something He's everything. Paul said, Christ is all and
in all. Solomon said, He is altogether
lovely. Peter said, To you who believe,
He is precious. You see, to the believer, Christ
alone is all His salvation. Salvation in what? Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, the life. The believer trusts Christ
alone. Christ alone is all His righteousness. The Lord in the gospel doesn't
ask us to produce a righteousness, but rather to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the believer's righteousness. He's called in
Scripture the Lord our righteousness. Christ alone is all our salvation,
all our righteousness. Christ alone is all of our redemption. He delivered us from sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Christ alone is the believer's
only hope, we say with Paul, I know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day." Friend, what do you think of Christ?
His person, His work, His grace, His salvation, His sacrifice,
His glory? Let each of us ponder this question
personally. Can we say with David, he is
my Lord, exalted, reigning, and subduing our enemies under his
feet? Does Jesus Christ stand high
or low with you? Has he been exalted and enthroned
in your heart? Who do you think he really is
in his person? Nicodemus said, well, he's a
teacher come from God. The Pharisees said, well, he's
a winebibber, a gluttonous man, a devil. He's going to be the
friend of sinners. Oh, but Thomas said, My Lord
and my God. The Word of Scripture declares
that Jesus of Nazareth is God Almighty, and yet Almighty God
took in union to Himself our humanity. He remained what He
was and became what He was not. He remained what He was, God,
in the beginning God, and became what He was not, flesh, and dwelt
among us. The Word became flesh and dwell
among us. He is the believer's near kinsman
to redeem us from sin. He is the believer's everlasting
Lord. God hath made that same Jesus
Lord and Christ." What do you think of this person? Who is
he? What do you think of his work? His high priestly work. What do you think of His sacrifice?
What do you think of His righteousness? What do you think of the Lord
Jesus when He said, I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill
it? He came to the earth with a definite
purpose. He said, I came to seek and to
save that which is law. He came with a definite purpose,
a definite mission to accomplish all of God's providence, all
of God's will, all of God's decree. Our Lord said, I came to give
my life a ransom for many." It said of him, he came to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. The God-man that was born at
Bethlehem to die at Calvary came by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. His death, his coming was not
an accident, rather it's a fulfillment of the divine purpose of God.
He in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son made of a
woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law." Never let your mind be taken up with low thoughts or
wrong thoughts of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what He came
to accomplish. Now listen to me carefully. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to make an atonement for sin. He did
not die to make salvation a possibility for all men if they would meet
certain conditions. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
die for his people. He said he put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. He said, I'm the good shepherd,
I lay down my life for my sheep. He obtained for his people everlasting
salvation. and eternal redemption. He came
as the sacrifice, the surety, the mediator of the covenant
to secure and to accomplish the salvation of God's covenant people. So salvation is not a possibility,
not for God's covenant chief. Salvation is absolute certainty
for those for whom he stood as surety, as substitute, as sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
put away sin. And he came to effect and to
bring in everlasting righteousness. How did he do that? By his obedience. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. His person, God Almighty. His person, the God-man mediator. There's just one mediator between
God and men, that is the man Christ Jesus, His person and
His work. Christ, my friend, is not a failure.
He said it is finished. He brought in everlasting and
obtained everlasting salvation for His covenant people. What
do you think of Christ? I know everyone has their opinion.
What do you think of Christ? I know this, God leaving us to
ourselves, our thoughts of Him are always wrong. Our Lord said, my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. What do you
think of Christ? Are you trusting Him or are you
trusting yourself? We read in Scripture there is
a way that seems right unto men, the end of that way is death.
He that trusts us in his own heart is a fool, Proverbs 28,
Jeremiah 17, 9, The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked. Are you trusting your own heart,
or are you trusting Christ? Our depraved, wicked heart will
tell us to look to ourselves to provide salvation, when the
gospel tells us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone, who
is salvation. We read in Isaiah, our God said,
look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, I am God, there is
no other, the just God, the only just God and Savior, look unto
me and be ye saved. What think ye of Christ? Are
you trusting your own heart, your own way, your own thinking,
your own righteousness, or are you trusting Christ? What think
ye of Christ? Are you trusting your own merits,
your own work, your own feelings? We read in Jeremiah 17 5, cursed
is the man that trusteth in man. You trusting your tradition,
your ceremony, your church, your feelings? Oh, the old reformer
Martin Luther said, feelings come and feelings go and feelings
are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God.
Not else is worth believing. What think ye of Christ? That's
the question today, my friend. from the word of God from the
lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you rest the total weight
of your salvation upon him? Do you trust him, depend upon
him, his person, his sacrifice, his righteousness, his worth?
Do you deliberately and definitely receive him by faith as your
only hope of salvation? I pray God will give all of us
right thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know this, all unbelief
is born of high thoughts of self and low thoughts of God, and
wrong thoughts of Him will condemn. What do you think of Christ?
Is He your God, your Savior, your righteousness, all of your
salvation? I pray the Lord will give you
grace to consider this very vital, important, Question of questions. What do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? If you would like to order a
copy of this message and listen to it again or share it with
a friend, you can call me at 631-9053, 631-9053, or you can
write to me and request a copy of What Think You of Christ?
You can write to me at Zebulon Baptist Church, 6088 Zebulon
Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky.