That is so. That is so. Okay,
you find in your Bible again Matthew 22, and the title of
the message this evening is taken from verse 42. Verse 42. What think ye of Christ? What do you, you, you personally,
I want you to consider this as a question personally directed
to your heart by God Almighty, not from me, but from God, His
Word to your heart. What do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? What do you think of Him? Now,
you remember from our previous reading here in Matthew 22 how
the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ began to attack him, how
they sought to discredit his person. how they sought to disgrace
His ministry. They sought to embarrass Him
and to run Him out of town, to put an end to Him. They even
went out and held counsel, the Word of God says, how they might
destroy Him. They had malice in their heart.
They had wickedness in their heart. At first, they tried to
turn the common people against Him. But it says over Mark 12,
they heard Him gladly. And here in the text it says
that they marveled at His doctrine and were astonished in their
heart. The people in the temple saw
something in the Lord Jesus Christ, His teaching, His doctrine, and
were astounded. Then these malicious religious
people, they sought also to embarrass the Lord Jesus Christ before
the common people by asking Him many unnecessary questions. The Pharisees and the Herodians
asked Him about paying taxes unto Caesar, unto the Roman government. The Sadducees came asking Him
a question about the resurrection. of the dead, and then the scribes
or the lawyer ask him about the law, the law of God, the law
of Moses, which is the greatest commandment Master, tell us which
is the first and the greatest commandment. Well, he answered
all those questions sufficiently. He answered those questions according
to the Word of God, and that's good advice for us, to answer
those people who would question us, and give them thus saith
the Lord, as a friend of mine used to say, give them chapter
and verse. Chapter and verse. When the Lord Jesus Christ had
powerfully answered all his critics, A critic is someone who habitually
finds fault, and that's what they did. When he had answered,
powerfully answered, all his critics and silenced the attack
of his enemies, notice what it says in verse 46 of Matthew 22,
no man was able to answer him a word. He silenced their opposition. No man was able to do battle
with the Son of God. He's the Lord. He's the Sovereign. No one could go toe-to-toe with
Him. He put them all on the run. Neither
dared anyone to question Him further." We see something of
the majesty of His Word, the majesty of His person. Now the Lord of glory has an
all-important and vital heart-searching question for them. But not only
for them, but for all of us. All of us. What think ye of Christ? Look at verse 41 again. While
the Pharisees were gathered together against the Lord, the Lord Jesus
asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?
And they said unto him, The son of David, the son of David. Now,
as I said earlier, I want you to personally consider and seriously
think upon these words that the Lord speaks here. What do you
think of Him? What do you think of Him? What
do you really believe about the Lord Jesus Christ? What is He
to you? Is He just a mere word, a name,
a historical person? What is He to you? Who do you
think or who do you believe that He is? What do you think that
he accomplished in his death? Is he everything to you? Or is
he nothing to you? Now, it is sad but true. Many people, many of our friends,
maybe even some of our family, Maybe even some of our neighbors.
Maybe some of those folks that you work with. It is sad but
true, many people entertain low, small, ungodly and incorrect
thoughts and beliefs about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's
sad but true. Many people don't have right
thoughts, high thoughts about Him. To some, To some, the Lord
Jesus Christ is nothing at all. To some, He's just nothing at
all. He's just a mere curse word. You hear men out on the job all
the time. I worked public works for 25
years, and you hear men out on the job use that name in a vain
way, and it just sickens your heart. To some, he's nothing
but a mere curse word. Many of the Jews in that day
called him vile things. You remember what they called
the Lord of Glory? They said, behold, he's a gluttonous
man. He's just a pig. He's a gluttonous
man. Others said of him, well, he's
a winebibber. He's just a drunk. That's low,
isn't it? They even said of him, And here's
our hope. But they said this not in a way
enduring. They said this in a way of criticizing
him. Well, he's gone home to be the
friend of publicans and sinners. Thank God he is. Some even said
of him that he was an ally to Satan. Here's what they said. He hath Beelzebub. And by the
print of devils, that's Beelzebub so-called, he casteth out devils. That is, he does battle with
demon spirits by the spirit of the devil himself. That's what
they really thought of him. They thought he was a gluttonous
man, a demon-possessed man. He was nothing to them. He was
nothing to those Pharisees but just agitation. He was nothing
to those Pharisees but just opposition. He was nothing to those Sadducees
at all. Nothing at all. I'm reminded
of the words of Jeremiah, and I believe this is the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking through God's prophet, the weeping prophet.
Remember Jeremiah's words from Lamentation 112, and I believe
this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Is it nothing to you,
all ye that pass by? 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." Is
it nothing to you? Is He nothing to you at all? Nothing? To many, that's true. Sad, but true. He's nothing.
Nothing. To some, to others, the Lord
Jesus Christ is something, but not everything. Not everything
is salvation. Some would even say, as they
did here, well, you're a teacher. Master means teacher. Some would
even say of him, well, you know, he was a good man. He was a good
man. Even the Muslim in our day would
consider him to be a prophet, like unto Mohammed, a prophet. Some would say, and think something
of him, but not everything in salvation." The Lord Jesus to
Christ is something, but not everything in salvation. You
remember what Nicodemus said of him? He said, we know your
teacher comes from God. For no man can do these miracles
that you do, except God be with him." Now, Nicodemus recognized
that he is teaching and that he is the teacher sent from God,
but what Nicodemus did not know, that he is God the teacher. That he is God among his people.
that He is the One who came to seek and to save God's people,
God's elect, by His obedient life and by His sacrificial death. But thank God to every believer
born again by the Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, and taught of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ is not something, He's everything. He's it. He's all. And in all. He's our very being. He's our very life. He is all
of our salvation. Paul, by inspiration, penned
these words in Colossians 3. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
And then he said, Christ is all and in all. When Christ, our
life, shall appear. He's our life. He's our being. I want you to listen to this.
Listen to some of these blessed testimonies of believers recorded
in the Word of God and see if you can find agreement in your
heart and identify with them in your heart and find harmony
with them and be of the same mind relating as their testimony
declares who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Can you identify with Job? Job of old who said, I know,
I know, as Paul said, I know whom I have believed. Job said,
I know that my Redeemer lives. He is the living God. I know
my Redeemer lives and that He shall stand at the last day upon
this earth. Job's hope was in the living
God, the sovereign God. I can identify with him. I can
find harmony and agreement with brother Job rejoicing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. How about Abraham? Abraham is
called a friend of God. What was the testimony of Abraham?
Abraham said many things, but I've chosen this. In Genesis
22 verse 8, when Isaac and Abraham, Isaac being the son of Abraham,
went to worship God, He knew, being taught by his father, taught
how to approach God who is holy. He said, my father, we have the
fire, the knife, the wood for the burnt offering. Where's the
lamb? Where's the sacrifice? We've
got to have a shedding of blood to approach God. Remember what
he said? God will provide Himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. And you know the lamb He provided
is God Himself? God Himself? No wonder He's called
Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord
will see to it. Oh, how He's provided a sacrifice
for sin. Can you identify with Brother
Abraham? Oh yes, the believer can. How about Brother David,
king of Israel? We could choose many words of
David throughout the Psalms. He speaks by inspiration. He
speaks of Christ. David said in 2 Samuel 23, these
were his dying words as he lay dying on his bed of death. He said, although my house be
not so with God, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, certain, this is all my salvation
and all my desire." David's hope was in that covenant mercy found
in Christ Jesus. It's of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to God's mercy He saved us. Can you identify with Brother
David? How about Brother Simeon? That old man in the temple waiting
for the consolation of Israel, waiting for the comfort that
God was going to send His chosen people. And He said this, and
this was His testimony, these were His dying words, "'Lord,
now let Thy servant depart in peace according to Your Word.'"
You remember they brought in that eight-day-old babe? Mary
presented, and old Simeon took the babe up in his arms as they
brought him in to circumcise him according to the law, and
he looked at that baby eight days old and said, Lord, let
me die. I'm looking at salvation. Salvation
is in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I
can identify with Him. Oh, Brother Simeon. How about,
not going to leave out the women, how about Sister Mary? How about
Mary? What did she say? What was her
testimony? I can identify with her too, because her hope is
Christ. She said this, recorded in Luke
1, verse 46, My spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior." Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's God my Savior, my
Redeemer. Oh, I tell you who needs a Savior?
Sinners. I tell you who needs grace? Those
who are guilty. I tell you those who need redemption
are those who are ruined in the fall. How about Brother Peter? I could
go on and on all night, couldn't I, on this? How about Brother
Peter? Our Lord asked the disciples
that day, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, well, you know,
we hear that the people in the town, they're saying that maybe
you're Jeremiah or one of the other Old Testament prophets,
maybe even John the Baptist who had been beheaded, maybe he's
John, come back from the dead. But our Lord turned and said
to the group and specifically to Peter, whom do you say that
I am? Remember Matthew 16? Peter said,
here's what he said, Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Old Thomas. Some people call
him Doubting Thomas. I always think of, when I think
of Thomas, I think of myself. My name's Thomas. Thomas. After
the resurrection, The disciples met together and the Lord appeared
unto them. And you know who was absent?
Thomas. Thomas wasn't there. I don't
know what he's doing. But he wasn't there. And the disciples
told him about it. And next time they came together,
Thomas was sure that he was among them. And the Lord came among
them. And you remember what Thomas
said? He said, My Lord and my God. worshiping Him. I can identify with that, Thomas,
Brother Thomas. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
my Lord and He is my God. He is my King. He is King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. How about Brother John, John
the Baptist? The prophet of God, remember
his testimony, behold the Lamb of God, behold the Lamb of God,
behold the sacrifice that God provides, the spotless Lamb of
God, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away sin. He doesn't attempt
to take it away. He takes it away by bearing our
sin in His own body on the tree. The sin of God's elect, wherever
they are and whatever age they lived in, in all the world, He
bears the sin of God's elect and effectively, efficiently,
eternally puts away their sin. I can identify with Him as well. How about all the redeemed in
glory? Unto Him they sing the song of worship and praise. You
remember from Revelation 1? Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood, to Him be all the honor, glory,
blessing both now and forever. Amen. Is that your testimony? Is that your hope? Can you identify
with these testimonies found in the Word of God? I hope you
can, and if not, I hope the Lord God Almighty will make you a
lover of Him. Now, I want you to consider for
a moment these brief questions. Do you think so highly of Him
that you dare to tell others about Him? I'm thinking of the
wild man of the tombs, the wild man, he's known as a Gadarene.
The wild man of Gadarene, the wild man among the tombs that
no one could heal, no one could help him. He'd break the chains. The townspeople would come and
try to bind him up, but he just broke the fetters. He was a wild,
uncontrollable man until he met the Master. And then we see him
clothed, sitting in his right mind at the feet of the Master,
wanting to hear a word from Him. The wild man of the tombs of
Gadarene that was healed, our Lord told him to go home to your
friends and tell them how great things the Lord had done for
you. And the Word of God said He began to publish how great
things Jesus had done for him. He dared to tell others about
Christ. Do you think so highly of Him
that you dare to tell others about Him? Do you so love the
Lord Jesus Christ that your service to Him is of great joy, not of
burden? The early believers thought so.
The early church thought so. Matter of fact, when they were
beaten, arrested and beaten and commanded not to preach another
word about the Lord Jesus Christ, they went everywhere. publicly
and privately, from house to house, in all the temple, preaching
Christ, the Word of God. And then it says of them, they
departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. It's a delight
to serve the One in whom we love, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you
so sold out and committed to Him? As the Apostle Paul said,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded He's able to keep
that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Are you
so sold out to Christ and committed unto Him His gospel, that ye
are determined to continue in the faith, remain steadfast and
faithful unto Him unto the end, and by His grace being kept by
the power of God to die in faith, believing Him. To you who by faith look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, He is altogether lovely, To you who trust Him
alone for all your salvation, He is most precious. To you who need forgiveness from
sin, all your sin, the Lord Jesus Christ alone is all our cleansing
before God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. To you who need to be justified
and made righteous before God, the Lord Jesus Christ is all
our righteousness. He is called the Lord our righteousness. That's our name. Jeremiah says,
she shall be called, the Lord thy righteousness. He is called
that. But you know what? We're married
to Him. What's true of Him is true of
us. When a woman marries a man, she
takes his name. And we're married to Christ,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are known by, and
they are called His, they are called righteous before God. We wear His name. To you who
need to be justified and made righteous before God, Christ
is all our righteousness before Him. He is made to us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. To you who need
to be raised from the grave of spiritual death and made new
creatures in Christ, Christ is all in the new birth. It's all
by His power. The Father had given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given to Him. The new birth, in the new birth
being made new creatures in Christ, Christ is all. It's all by His
power. It's all by His will, of His
own will begat He us with the Word of Truth. It's all by His
grace, His sovereign purpose. Not of Him that willeth, nor
of Him that runneth, but it's God that shows mercy. And it's
all of His power. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power. To you who need an ever-present,
ever-living mediator and high priest, intercessor and advocate
before God's throne, the Lord Jesus Christ ever lives to intercede
for us. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
the intercession for us. seeing that we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
who is tempted and tried and tested in all points like as
we are, yet without sin, He said, therefore, let us come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. One old preacher of the past
said this, If our thoughts of Jesus Christ are wrong, our state
and standing before God is wrong. If our present state be wrong,
our future state will be wrong unless The Lord is pleased to
intervene, unless the Lord is pleased to teach us right, to
make us new creatures in Christ Jesus. I'll perish in my sin,
thinking wrong and godly thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless
He, by His grace, stops me on my rush to hell and condemnation. By His sovereign purpose, by
His sovereign grace. I said all that. That's my introduction.
I said all that to say these two things. Now, this message
has two points. This text of Scripture, found
here in Matthew 22, reveals unto us two very vital, important
facts about God our Savior. It reveals unto us the person
of Christ and the work of Christ. Now, I'll give these to you just
briefly. Five minutes, I'll be done. Maybe ten. Five or ten
minutes. You'll give me that, won't you?
Okay. His person and His work. That is, His deity, His person,
His deity, and His humanity. His lordship and His sonship. You see what it says in the text
there? Verse 42 of Matthew 22, they say unto him, what he said
to them, what think ye of Christ, whose son is he? They said to
him, the son of David. How saith he saith unto them,
how then does David, by God the Spirit, in the Spirit, call him
Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou with my right
hand, till I make thine enemies my foes. So if then David call
him Lord, how is he a son? What do you really think of the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, I grew up in false religion,
and I grew up having wrong thoughts, ungodly thoughts about the Lord
Jesus Christ. I didn't have right thoughts
of Him until God was pleased to teach me so. How can the Lord
Jesus Christ be David's son, and at the same time be David's
God, Lord, Savior, and Redeemer? Well, let me give you this, and
maybe I can help you, I hope, understand these things. According
to the flesh, in his humanity, he is the son of David. According
to the flesh, when you follow out his genealogy, he is a direct
descendant of King David. Mary and even Joseph were both
in the lineage and house of Jesse, David, and Judah. Matthew 1.1
declares, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham. Turn over just one scripture
I'll have you look at here. Romans chapter 1, verse 1, Romans
1.1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God. the gospel of God which
he had promised to for by his prophets in the holy scriptures
as we just read in Psalm 110 concerning his son Jesus Christ
the gospel of God is all about Jesus Christ concerning Jesus
Christ verse 3 Romans 1 our Lord which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh He was a real man and declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
manifested by the resurrection from the dead. God put His stamp
and approval upon all that He said and all that He did and
that God raised Him from the dead because He justified us
by His blood. So He is a real man. But secondly, He's not only the
Son of Man, but He is the Son of God. He is God the Son. We read in John chapter 1, In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God, and the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, who is full of grace." He's full of grace and
truth. He is both totally and eternally
and fully God over all, blessed forever. And at the same time,
He's God incarnate. manifest in the flesh. He's a
real man, born of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. Who is Jesus Christ? He is eternally
and totally and fully God. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is fully and totally man, married and one blessed person. One blessed person. It's who
He is that gives power and validity and truth to all He said and
all that He did. God bought us with His own blood. You see that? Oh, that's His
person. He's altogether lovely. Let me
give you these two scriptures. For what the law could not do,
Romans 8, 3, in that it was weak to the flesh, God sending His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and by a sacrifice for
sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Notice God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh. He had no sin. As the spotless
Lamb of God, He did no sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. Sins only found on Christ, on
Calvary's tree, as God Almighty in His sovereign decree laid
sin on Him. He bare our sin in His own body
on the tree. God made Him sin for us, guilty
for us. That's what happened at Calvary.
The God-man mediator dies, that death being delivered by the
determinate decree of God. Listen to this scripture, 1 Timothy
3, 16, "...without controversy, greatness, and mystery of godliness,
God was manifest in the flesh." Who is this one who dies on Calvary's
tree? He's God. He's God forever. You say, hey, how can God die? He can't. He can't. But the God-man
mediator did. I can't explain that. I know
it's so. I know it's so. God was manifested
in the flesh, justified or vindicated by God the Holy Spirit, seen
of angels, they declared who He is, God Almighty, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
the glory. God has highly exalted Him. God
has given Him above a name above every name, that at His name
every knee should bow, every tongue should confess that He's
Lord. To the glory of God the Father. He's not Lord by something
we do. This religious world has got
that all bowed up. They say, make Jesus your Lord. You can't do that. God in eternity
decreed Him to be Lord. We bow to His Lordship. We don't
make Him Lord by something we do. He's Lord by God's eternal
decree. He's Lord by who He is. He's God forever, blessed forever. That's His person. What do you
think of Christ? What do you think of Him? Secondly,
His work. What do you think of His work?
His priestly work. Well, it says here, The Lord
said to my Lord, God the Father says unto the Son, sit at my
right hand till I make your enemies bow." Bow at your feet. Here we see the victorious Lord
Jesus Christ. His victory. His victorious defeat
over all enemies. I love this scripture in Revelation
6 verse 2 where it says, He has gone forth conquering, conquering,
and to conquer. The Lord Jesus Christ never entered
into a battle, never has entered into a battle with the option
of being defeated. Every battle that He fought valiantly,
accomplishing God's purpose, He's the absolute victor. He
wins over all opposition. None can stand in opposition
to Him. None can stand and fight against
this One. He has gone forth conquering
to conquer. In 1 Corinthians 15, we read, "...thanks being
to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Now, nobody likes to lose. I don't like to lose at anything.
If I'm playing checkers or chess or football or baseball, whatever
I'm playing, I don't want to lose. And I tell you what, believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ are not losers. Believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ are winners. The winner is because of Him.
He has fought all our battles and He has come out on top. And believers are complete in
Him. His victory is mine. He lived
for me. He died for me. He arose for
me. He ascended for me. He is seated and thrown for me.
And we are seated in Him. Let us never entertain thoughts.
of the Lord Jesus Christ dying in vain. His death, His sacrifice
for sin is not defeat, it's victory. It's victory over all sin. Listen
to these scriptures. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down at the right hand of the throne of majesty
on high. Does that sound like a defeat?
No, that sounds like victory, because it is. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. So complete
and full and powerful is the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ that God said their sin and their iniquity will I remember
no more. You see, the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not an attemptment, it's an atonement. A complete
covering, a complete putting away of a sin of God's people. Do you really think of the redeeming
work? What do you really think of the
redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He the all-mighty,
victorious Lord and conquering King to you? Or is He just a,
as my dear pastor used to say, a defeated, frustrated Reformer?
There's no middle ground. He's either an absolute, complete
phony, or He is the absolute, complete, eternal God who is
victorious over all things. This book says He's God over
all, and the victorious King. Now wonder if the Lord said,
sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
True faith rests upon the victorious Christ who accomplished all God's
purpose in saving His people. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. Our Lord said, He prayed, Father,
I've glorified Thee on the earth. I've finished the work You gave
Me to do. And at Calvary's tree, He said,
It is done. It's complete. It's finished.
And I like that scripture over in Isaiah 42 where it talks about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold My servant, My elect,
in whom My soul delighteth. He shall bring salvation to sinners,
and then it says, He cannot fail. He knows a lot about agony, but
He knows nothing of the agony of defeat. The agony He suffered
is the agony of victory, as He puts away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ
stand complete. complete in Him. In Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand
complete. Believers in Him are accepted
in the Beloved. None for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ lived and died can be eternally lost. The record of
Scripture is clear on this. In John chapter 6, he says, "...all
that the Father hath given to me, they will come to me. And
those that come to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that
all that the Father hath given to me I'll lose nothing, not
one sheep." Raise them up again the last day. I like that scripture
over in Hebrews 2 where the Lord talks about His children. He
says, Behold, I and the children were all here, presented before
God, holy, unblameable, faultless in His sight. I do pray the Lord
will give us right thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ. High thoughts
of Him. Scriptural thoughts of Christ.
And give us faith to trust the Christ of God. Now, not the phony
one. Not the phony one now. Not the
counterfeit Christ. The Christ of God. The Christ
that's revealed in this book. That God will give us faith to
trust the Lord Jesus Christ. To trust Him. And a heart to
love Him. And a heart to worship Him. Above
all. Now, what do you think of Christ? What do you think of Him? Is
He nothing to you? Is He something to you? Or is
He everything to you? If He's not, I pray that God
would make it so this evening in your heart.