Let's look tonight to the Gospel
of Matthew, the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 22. Beginning with verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They say unto him, the son of
David. He saith unto them, how then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. John Newton, we know as the author
of the hymn Amazing Grace, But he also wrote a hymn entitled,
What Think Ye of Christ? What Think Ye of Christ? The
words of the first verse are these. What think ye of Christ
is the test to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot
be right in the rest unless you think rightly of him. As Jesus
appears in your view, as he is beloved or not, so God is disposed
to you, and mercy or wrath are your lot. What think ye of Christ? Is the test. What we see here, the Lord Jesus
Christ asks these Pharisees, what think ye of Christ? When we see the word ye, the
pronouns that began with the letter Y, we recognize that this
is a plural word. The pronouns thee, thou, thine
are singular pronouns. The Lord Jesus did not ask this
question of one Pharisee, but he asked this question of several. What think ye of Christ? When he spoke to the Pharisee
Nicodemus, recorded in John chapter 3, he said, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, singular, Nicodemus, ruler of the Jews, a religious
man, what think Ye of Christ, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, singular, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. So I want us tonight to think
about this question. What think ye of Christ? That's a very, very important
question, isn't it? If I could come to each one of
you now and take you by the hand, I would ask you this question,
what think ye of Christ? Where would we go to find an
answer? Where would we go to find an
answer to who he is? I think we would go to the Bible,
don't you? we would go to the Word of God.
And that's what I want us to do tonight. We're going to look
at, I think, three, maybe four places in the scripture. With that thought in mind, what
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Well, they could
answer, he's the son of David. But they could not answer when
he asked, then how did David call him Lord? If he's David's
son, how did David then call him Lord? They couldn't answer
that. And then the scripture says they
didn't ask him any more questions. I want you to go with me, first
of all, to 1 Timothy, chapter three. 1 Timothy, chapter three. What
think ye of Christ? In verse 15, the apostle writing
to Timothy said, but if I tarry long, that in order that you
may know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of
God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground
of the truth. Now the truth, that is stated
about Christ in the next verse, Paul says that the church is
the pillar and ground of the truth. And the truth which is
stated in the next verse is the pillar and ground. It's the ground of the church.
If you read in verse 16, and without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Now this truth, God manifest
in the flesh, this truth is the ground of the church, It's the
ground of every child of God, and it is the ground of every
truth in the word of God. God was manifest in the flesh. I said that this is the foundation
or the ground of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
he told Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. And what
was that rock? It was Peter's confession, wasn't
it? Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. This truth is the pillar and
ground of the truth. God was manifest in the flesh. That's the foundation of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is his house, which is
his body, as the scripture says. And the foundation of every true
child of God. If you are a child of God here
tonight, the foundation is Christ. Your foundation is Christ. Paul said, other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And the foundation of every truth. I am the way, the truth and the
life. Every truth is built upon this
foundation. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
All these other things that are stated here in this verse, we
continue reading, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, Received up into glory all of these things are true
of him as well, but the foundation The foundation stone is simply
God was manifest in the flesh the incarnate God That's what
we mean by the incarnation isn't it that the word the eternal
word? Who is spirit? that he became
flesh. He was made flesh. He became
the God-man. And that is the foundation of
the church. It's a rock upon which the church
is built. Now, the second verse of John
Newton's hymn, What Think Ye of Christ, goes like this. Now
listen carefully to these words. The scripture says God was manifest
in the flesh. Some take him a creature to be,
a man or angel at most. Sure, these have not feelings
like me, nor know themselves wretched and lost. So guilty,
so helpless am I, I durst not confide in his blood, nor on
his protection rely, unless I were sure that he is God. How could you trust in Christ
for your salvation, to take away your sins, if you do not believe
that he's more than just a man, that he is God? As the scripture
here says, God was manifest in the flesh. Now I know that many
of the newer translations do not state this truth. For instance,
the NIV, it reads like this. Beyond all question, the mystery
from which true godliness springs is great, he He was manifest
in the flesh. Now, what does that mean? What
does that say? He was manifest in the flesh. Every one of us here in this
building are manifest in the flesh. That's the only way we
could be manifested. What does that say? He was manifest. Who was manifest in the flesh? God was. God was manifest in
the flesh. It's the eternal God. Now, I
judge every translation. When someone asks me about a
translation of the scriptures, and you know there's many of
them today, this is the verse I go to, 1 Timothy chapter 3
and verse 16. And if it doesn't read, God was
manifest in the flesh, then I know this about that translation.
I know it is not rather a translation from the Textus Receptus. It's
a translation from what they call a critical text, which was
put together in 1851 or something like that. No, the
Bible, the scriptures, the King James Translation, It's made
from a text that has served the English speaking world for over
400 years now. I read just yesterday, a foreign
dignitary was visiting Queen Victoria. And you know, Britain
was at its height during her reign and This man asked her,
what, what is the secret? What is the secret for the greatness
of your nation? And she picked up a Bible just
like this one. And she said, here it is. This
is the secret for the greatness of my nation. That is the word
of God. the King James translation of
the scripture. What think ye of Christ? As I
said, to answer that question, we go to the word of God. And
when we come here to first Timothy chapter three, we think we know
that he is God manifest in the flesh. I want you to turn with
me to another passage in Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14 beginning with
verse 9, the apostle wrote, for to this end Christ both died
and rose and revived that he might be the Lord both of the
dead and the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy
brother? For we, now notice this, we,
you, me, We shall all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. Now notice this next verse for
it is written. Now we're going to look in just
a moment at where it's written or it is written. Notice what
Paul said. We shall all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ for it is written. As I live, saith
the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God, so that every one of us shall give account
of himself. To who? To God. We'll all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, and we shall all, as it is written,
we shall all give an account to God. We're standing before
Christ. You see that, don't you? We're
standing before Christ. We give an account to God. Why is that so? Because He's
God. That's why. Now look back at
this passage in Isaiah chapter 43, where this is written. In Isaiah chapter 43, Paul is
quoting from this verse, verse 23. Well, I hope I've got the
right verse here. Chapter 45, okay, thank you,
thank you. 45 in verse 23, I have sworn By myself, the word has gone
out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Now, what
is said about the one speaking here in Isaiah 43? Well, in verse 18, The one who
is speaking is the Creator. The Creator. Isn't that what
John tells us in John chapter 1? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and without
Him was not anything made that was made. Who's speaking here
in this verse, verse 18? For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens. You know there's three heavens.
You realize that, don't you? There's a heaven that the birds
fly in. There's a heaven where the stars
are fixed. And there's a heaven, the third
heaven, where God has his throne. Remember, Paul said he was caught
up to the third heaven. And what I noticed this past
week, when Solomon dedicated the temple Glorious, glorious
temple that they had built there in Jerusalem. He confesses that
the heaven of heavens could not contain him, much less a house
that man could build. God, not only is a creator of
all things, but he's everywhere present. He's omnipresent. He cannot be contained in a house. He lives in a heart, a heart
of a believer. God, the Holy Spirit, takes up
residence in the heart of every child of God. We're sealed with
the Holy Spirit, but man cannot build Him who has created everything,
a house and contain Him. You see, that's what the heathen,
the pagans, do with their idols. They cut down a tree, and they
use some of it to cook their food with, some of the wood to
cook their food with, and they have some left over, so they
decide they're going to make them a god. And they hire somebody
that's good at carving wood, and they carve something out,
decorate it with jewels, and then they put it in its place. That's the way the scripture
explains it, right? They put it in its place. And
it's always gonna stay there unless someone takes it. It has
legs, maybe, that are carved into it, but it cannot walk.
It has hands, but it cannot move. It has eyes, but it cannot see.
No, God, God is a spirit. And God created all things, as
the scripture here says. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed
it to be inhabited. Now notice this, I am the Lord,
and there is none else. There is no other God, false
gods, Yes, verse 21 of this chapter, look unto me and be you saved
all the ends of the earth for I am God and there's none else. Notice that all the ends of the
earth. Look unto me. No one is excluded
unless they exclude themselves. Look unto me and be saved. Be saved. How? By looking to Christ, by trusting
in Him. We know that look is by faith,
isn't it? By faith we look to Him. But
the point is that Paul in Romans chapter 14, what think ye of
Christ? He said we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. And then he quotes this passage
from Isaiah, which declares that God is speaking here. and we
will all appear before Him who is God. What think ye of Christ? He's the God-man. And He said
that all judgment has been committed unto Him. The Father, this is
in John chapter five and verse 22, the Father judgeth no man. See on that throne, A great white
throne, who's going to be seated there? Christ is. We must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, who is God. For the
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son. How could he be an impartial
judge if he were not God? You can't pull the wool over
his eyes. No one can. He knows you inside and out.
He knows every thought we've ever had, every word we've ever
uttered. He knows all about us. And that's
who we will stand before as a judgment. Now, if we read this verse, go
back to Romans chapter 14 and verse 10. For why judges thy brother, or
why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, if I read this verse, if I go
to the NIV translation of the scripture, and that's the one
I'm referring to tonight over and over, NIV, We knew a man years ago, he referred
to the NIV as the not inspired version. NIV, not inspired version. But if I were to go to the NIV
and read this verse, this is what I would read, for we will
all stand before God's judgment seat. Not Christ's judgment seat,
but God's judgment seat. Again, when I read that, I realize
that that translation is taken from what they call the critical
text, not the received text, but the critical text. And by
critical, we mean two men, Westcott and Hart, put together using
five manuscripts, I believe it was, and they went through those
five manuscripts and put them together and decided which was
the scripture and which wasn't. The critical. And they left out,
as we will see in just a minute, they left out verses of the Bible. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? He's the son of God. He's God
manifest in the flesh. He's Christ before whom we must
all appear. All right, let's look at a verse
in the Old Testament, in Micah, chapter five. Over the years, I've had books
and I've given books away and I've loaned books And I can't
remember. Sometimes I look for a book,
and I don't remember if I've given it away or loaned it to
someone. Makes no difference, really.
But I had a book one time that spoke about the translation of
the King James Version. I think it was 54 men. And they were divided into four.
I believe it was six groups. And they were very not only learned
men, very learned men in the Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic
languages, but they were godly men. They were godly men. And how painstaking the translation
was. And every group would translate
one particular section, then they'd pass that off to another
group and they would go over their work. What I'm saying is we have a
good translation of this scripture right here. The King James Version. A good translation. I wouldn't
change it for anything. Now I've got some other translations
and sometimes I read them. But I'm sticking with this one. King James Translation. And think
of the many thousands of souls that have been saved, that God's
used this word, this written word here, in calling His people. And I caution you. You know there's
a saying, follow the money. You've heard that haven't you?
Follow the money. And I believe, sad to say, that's
true also in these Bible translations. because you have a revised standard
and then after a few years you have a new revised standard or
an American standard and then you have a new American. I mean,
every one of these newer translations, they come out and then a few
years later, there's a new. Whatever it was, there's a new
one. And they all have copyrights. They do. They all have copyrights. Follow the money. Follow the
money. You say, well, isn't the King
James translation, isn't it copyrighted? It is. It is. But it is a copyright that was
issued in England. Anyone can print this Bible.
Any printer who so desires. And people will say, well, that
translation 1611 has been revised. No, it hasn't. Not the text.
Not the text. There's been four revisions.
They're called revisions. Number one, I think was a few
years later, they revised because the printers had made some mistakes
in printing the scripture. And then a few years later, they
revised it again because, again, the printers, some words were
misspelled. Not in the translation, but as
it was printed. And when you think about typesetting,
when I went to Mexico as a missionary, we used to put out a newsletter.
And by the way, Lance and Robin have a newsletter, a new newsletter
back on the bulletin board. I encourage you to read it. But
we had to get these newsletters printed on type where they set
the type. Every letter, I think they were
made of lead, and you put them together. I mean, it was a job. I didn't do it. They did it for
us. We paid them. But inevitably,
there would be mistakes in the spelling or a line out of place
here or there. And so you can see why when the
translation was printed, yes, it had to be revised. There were
some words that were misprinted. But the text, the text was the
same. It wasn't changed, wasn't revised. And then later, The English language
was standardized. There was a time when people
wrote as they thought it sounded. Someone said William Tyndale,
who was used of God in translating the scripture, thanked the Lord
for him, suffered death, killed because he was translating the
scripture. He's the one that said to that bishop that It was his desire that every
plow boy in England would have the scriptures to read in his
own language. The scriptures they had there
were in Latin. Nobody understood it, not even
the priest. They didn't understand what they
were reading. But William Tyndall, he wrote
his own name different, several different times. He spelled it
differently. But eventually, so there's four so-called revisions. And then the New King James Version
is the fifth revision. But here's the thing, the text,
the texts have never changed. The same text that had been used. Supposedly, they found some manuscripts
outside a monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in the garbage,
and one man picked him up and carried him off, and that's part
of the manuscripts that those men used to put together the
critical text. And there's other things I could
say about that, but I'm not. But here, let's go to Micah chapter
five. The point I'm making is, what
think ye of Christ? most important question. And where do we go to get the
answer? We go to the Word of God. Micah
chapter 5 and verse 2. But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. Now notice this, who's going
forth have been from of old, from everlasting. We know the Lord Jesus Christ,
he was born in Bethlehem of Ephrathah. And who is he? He's David's son,
but he's also David's Lord. As David's son, he came out of
Bethlehem, but at the same time, notice his goings forth have
been of old from everlasting. Now, if I were to read this in
the NIV, it would say, whose origins are from of old, from
ancient times. Origins. You have an origin,
don't you? You began at one particular point
in time. Christ didn't. He's eternal. He's eternal God. Couldn't help
but think of the origins of the species. You know, that work. No, it's not. His origins have
been from of old, from ancient times. He had no origin. He is the eternal son of God. Before time began, he lived,
he existed. To answer this question, what
think you of Christ? We turn to the scriptures. We
turn to the word of God. The Bible, which God gave by
inspiration, there's no question about that. All scripture is
given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable. Now, Peter,
in his epistle, said, holy men of old, they wrote as they were
moved. And that word moved there, it's
the same word that is Translated in the book of Acts, remember
when Paul was on that ship being carried to Rome and they got
into some kind of a hurricane or something and the wind drove
that ship. They lost all control, the captain
did. That's the same word that is
used by Peter speaking about holy men of old. wrote as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now I want to ask this question
one final time, I thank you of Christ, but this time I want
to ask this question of a new convert, a man who had just been
saved by the grace of God. Look with me in Acts chapter
8. We know that Philip was involved
in an awakening, a revival movement, and God, the Holy Spirit, sent
him out into the desert. And he came alongside the chariot
of this eunuch, a very high person in his country. He was the exchequer. He was the Secretary of the Treasury
for the Queen of Ethiopia. He had charge of all her treasure,
and he'd come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning
home, and he had got a copy, I guess, in Jerusalem of the
scroll that Isaiah wrote. And he was reading it, and Philip
came alongside his chariot, and he asked Philip this question. He was reading at this place,
verse 32. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? For his
life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch, he asked Philip,
I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself
or some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And as they went on their way,
he preached unto him, Jesus. He's the Lamb of God that is
presented in that 53rd, as we see it, 53rd chapter of Isaiah. They went on their way, they
came into a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here's
water. Why can't I be baptized? What
doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered, here it is,
what think ye of Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Now, if we were using the NIV,
that verse is not there. Verse 37 is not there in the
NIV. They've just taken it out. And
some of these translations, let me say this, bringing this to
a close, some of these newer translations They mark certain
things in the verse, and then you make the decision. They'll
tell you, maybe down in the footnotes or in the margin, that some manuscripts
say this and some manuscripts say that. Now you make the decision. In other words, you said in judgment
on the word of God. You decide. You decide if that
should be in the scripture or if it shouldn't. You make that
decision. No. The scripture speaks about
those, that man who trembles at God's word. Thank the Lord
we've got a good translation. And you know, well, I'm not going
to say that, but these so-called newer, I'd be
careful. I encourage you. I'd be careful
with these so-called children's Bibles and things like that that
look like a funny book. No, this is a word of God. This
is God's word. We should reverence it like we
reverence Him. And be thankful that we have
such a translation as we have, that it's proven over time by
God's blessing. Well, we're going to sing a hymn
before we're dismissed. Kevin, if you will.