It's a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
And to be with you today to see many familiar faces.
Those who once were my fellow congregants here in this place
for so many years and to see many new faces those who were
not here the five years ago when I moved away.
And so I'm glad to see each and every one of you here today and
I'm thankful to be able to be here.
And to be with you this morning we're going to To take our
reading, from Matthew, the 22nd chapter.
And I'll have the scripture up here on the screen and all the
verses, unless otherwise marked will be from the new King James
version here on the screen. Now, the context of this scene
is Jesus is in Jerusalem, and he's at the temple and this
occurs just three days before he goes to the Cross, during the
final week of his life on Earth, the week of the Passover and
this Particular exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees comes at
the end or towards the end of a lengthy day where Jesus answered
questions from the audience. And now after he's answered
several questions, he turns to ask a question of his own and so
we'll read together in Matthew 22 beginning in verse 41, while
the Pharisees were gathered together.
Jesus asked them saying, what do you think about the Christ,
whose son? One, is he they said to him the
son of David. He said to them, how then does
David in the spirit. Call him Lord saying the Lord
said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies
your footstool, if David then calls him Lord.
How is he? His son?
And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day
on. Did anyone dare question him
anymore? We're going to look at this
exchange and consider the question asked by the Savior.
What about the Christ? The Bible is not a history
textbook, but it does contain loads of historical information.
This information was recorded by Bible writers, not for the
purpose of teaching World Civ 101 but primarily to trace God's
working in the world. This is especially demonstrated
in the Book of Genesis. The word Genesis means Or
beginning the Hebrew title given to the first book of Moses.
Is there a sheath, which means in the beginning, or at the
first a third Genesis though it's filled with Doctrine.
Primarily Moses is riding during the Wilderness wandering to
inform and remind the recently, emancipated Israelites of their
Heritage and what brought them to where they are and where
they're going, the promised land of Canaan.
When you examine Jenna, Assist you find that there are several
themes repeated over and over in its 50 chapters.
One of those themes is that of genealogies, in fact, some have
suggested that maybe the book should be called told death,
which is the Hebrew word for genealogy or Generations because
that word begins every new section in the book in Genesis 2
and verse 4. We read these are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created in the day that the Lord God Made the earth and the
heavens Genesis 5:1. This is the book of the
genealogy of Adam Genesis 6:9. This is the genealogy of Noah
Genesis 10 1. This is the genealogy of the
sons of Noah. Genesis 11 27, this is the
genealogy of Tara Genesis 25:19. This is the genealogy of Isaac
and Genesis 37 to. These are the generations of
Jacob by recording these. Genealogies Moses is showing
Where the Israelites originated. He's recording the continuity of
human history. He's setting the historical
background of Israel's national identity and he's tracing the
passing of promises. One of the other great themes of
the Book of Genesis is the idea of Covenant fulfillment.
In Genesis 12, God called Abraham out of UR of the
Chaldeans and he promised him that he would lead him to a
great. And he would give that land to
him that he would make him a great nation.
And also that from his lineage, all the families of the Earth
would be blessed. And we know that promise is the
promise of the Messiah that promise would then pass from
Abraham to Isaac. Not as mail from Isaac, it would
pass to Jacob. Not Esau and from Jacob, it
would pass not to his firstborn Ruben or two Simian, or to Levi,
but it would pass. To Judah the fourth son of
Jacob. And then if we fast forward
Beyond The Book of Genesis and Beyond The Exodus Into the
Wilderness wanderings and Beyond into the conquest of Canaan
under Joshua and we fast-forward through the times of the judges,
we come to the Golden Age of Israel, the age of the United
Kingdom, and they're in first Chronicles chapter 2, the Bible
records, guess what? Another genealogy.
And the purpose here is in part to show that one of the
descendants of Judah to whom that abrahamic promise past is a
man named David. David was Israel's second king
chosen to replace the rebellious all during the reign of David
and Solomon. His son Israel was at its most
powerful. Its most majestic, its most
influential and not only that But because David was a
righteous man. God made him some promises.
Now there are many many passages in the Old Testament, which look
forward to the Messiah and many of them mentioned.
The fact that the Messiah would descend from David.
For example, a child will be born to take the Throne of
David. Isaiah 9, God's blessings will
be on the rod from the stem of, Jesse Isaiah. 11 a king will
come from the branch of David, Jeremiah 23 and the one to be
ruler and Israel will be born in Bethlehem.
The city of David Micah 5 and verse 2.
And so on that day during the final week of the Lord's life
here on Earth as Jesus, stood arguing with the Pharisees and
the Sadducees and the herodians. Over all manner of issues, Jesus
fielded some complicated questions.
He fielded a question about whether it was right or not to
pay taxes to Caesar, he fielded a question about a woman who had
been married seven times and they wouldn't know in the
resurrection. Who would she be married to?
He fielded a question about which commandment was the
greatest of all commandments? These were hot button issues
these These were issues which were being debated and argued
over amongst the Jews, these were complicated questions.
And so then when Jesus steps up and he asks his question, he
asked maybe what could have been the simplest question of all
from whom is the Messiah to descend whose son is he?
And it seems that they unite together this audience which had
been divided all day long to answer this silly question.
Well, He's the son of David, of course, and they were right.
They were correct. There is a reason that both
Matthew and Luke include genealogies in their gospels.
It's not just to fill space but in those genealogies rather the
Apostle and Luke both record this great lineage Matthew
records, the lineage from Abraham to David to Jesus.
Luke goes all the way back to Adam and traces.
His genealogy to Jesus showing that the Messiah is not just the
Messiah for the Jews, but he's a messiah for all the descendants
of Adam for all people, of all Nations during the lifetime of
Jesus and his time on Earth. No one.
Bird challenge. That he was descended of David.
No one ever questioned, or a challenge his davidic ancestry
before. Jerusalem was destroyed in ad
70, the records and genealogies of the Jews were meticulously
capped, at any point during Jesus, preaching career.
And he Israelite could have gone into Jerusalem and gone down to
the hall of records and looked up the information about Jesus
of Nazareth. The son.
Son of Joseph and Mary. And if that no other time in his
ministry, certainly someone would have done that during the
final week the Passover week, because just two days before
Jesus asked his question, Jesus had rode into Jerusalem on the
back of the donkey in the triumphal entry, he'd been gone
from Jerusalem for months and now he's come back for the
Passover week. And when he rides into town,
listen to what they say about him.
Matthew 21 verse 9, the multitudes who went before and
those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna to the son of
David. I should say.
So, they said that to Jesus blessed, is he?
Who comes in the name of the Lord hosanna in the highest Mark
says in Mark 11 9. And 10 of those who went before,
and those, who followed cried out saying, Hosanna blessed.
Is he who comes in the name of Lord blessed is the kingdom of
Our Father. David, that comes in the name of
the Lord hosanna in the highest. The next day, when Jesus
cleansed the temple. The Bible says that some
children cried out saying, Hosanna to The son of David.
And of course, the priests and scribes were indignant at that.
I think it's easy for us to assume then that somebody did
some checking if Jesus was being heralded as the son of David, a
quick record inspection, could have shown whether this was true
or false, yet no one challenged his ancestry.
And so I think that it can be deduced that they all believed
that he was a descendant of the great king.
But so what? So what who knows how many
hundreds or thousands of Israelites who were living at
this time? Had Royal Blood coursing through
their veins? Who knows how many of them were
The Offspring of David? Is that enough to make somebody
the Messiah? Well, of course not.
And this is the point, Jesus is about to drive home in Matthew,
22, beginning in verse 43, Jesus said how, then does David say in
the spirit Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at
my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool, if David
calls him Lord. How is he his son?
The question. Jesus, essentially asks is, how
can the Messiah be David's, son and David's Lord at the same
time? That's the question, how can the
Messiah be David's, son, and David's Lord.
At the same time, Jesus quotes here from the 110th Psalm, which
is a highly Messianic. Psalm David wrote The Psalm in
the first person. And it begins by saying the Lord
said to my Lord, now the first word there in the Old Testament
in 100, in psalm, for Lord, is the sacred.
Name of God. That's the name that God gave to
Moses at the burning bush. You tell them I am sent you.
That's the name of the Lord but the second Lord, the Lord said
to, my Lord is the word Adonai and that's a word that means
ruler or Master. It's the most common title given
to God, as in Daniel 523 when God has called the Lord, the
ruler of Heaven. So David is riding in the spirit
which means by inspiration and he wrote that the Lord God said
to David's Lord the mighty ruler sit at my right hand until I
make your enemies your footstool.
Notice that the Messiah is not just called Lord but also he
sits at God's right hand and he tramples his enemies underfoot.
This is the same song that's quoted by the Hebrew writer.
When it says, the Lord has sworn and will not relent you are a
priest forever. According to the order of
Melchizedek, this is about Jesus.
And so if David calls him Lord how is he?
His son. And no one was able to answer
him a word. You see, friends, the Jews were
like, many people of today many people.
Hold some truth about Jesus, but their view of him is
insufficient in one way or another.
The Jews were right in that, they knew the Messiah would
descend from David, but they missed all the Old Testament
passages. That taught that the Messiah
would be more than just a man. They failed to see the Messiah
would also be the Son of God. And so what I want to do for the
remainder of our time, this morning is to look at some
common views about Jesus today. Some common ways that people see
Jesus today, and we're going to ask the question if that is
accurate according to the scripture, or if there's
something inadequate about that view and the First view may be a
bit surprising to you, but the first few that I want to talk
about this morning is the Islamic view of Jesus.
A did you know that Muslims believe that Jesus was one of
25? Prophets sent by Allah into the
world to reveal Heavens, message to Mankind in the Quran.
The fifth chapter and the 46 verse it says, an in their
footsteps, we sent Jesus, the son of Mary, Mary confirming the
law that had come before him, we sent him.
The gospel therein was guidance and light and the confirmation
of the law that had come before him a guidance.
And an admonition to those who fear Allah, the Quran Praises
Jesus. As one of the finest profits to
ever walk the earth, he was one who held forth.
Truth to a reprobate people who had rejected his message.
Jesus along with me. Muhammad According to Islamic
belief will stand together with Allah and judge the world.
Now, there's some people today who lost the Muslim belief
concerning Jesus. They're impressed that Muslims
have such a high view of him as a prophet.
And even believe that certain types of religious Fellowship
can be extended by Christian people to Muslims because of
their common beliefs were friends.
This is wrong. Let me give you just one reason
why it's wrong. Jesus was, of course, a prophet
sent by God to reveal truth. That's correct.
They have one truth about Jesus, but we know that he was so much
more than that. He was God's son, Muslims, deny
the deity of Christ. They also deny that he was
crucified and that he died a substitutionary sacrifice for
sin. My friends to deny this is to
now the gospel because Paul wrote In First Corinthians 15
and verse 34. I delivered to you first of all,
that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins.
According to the scriptures, the Islamic view fall short, because
they deny the Cornerstone of the Gospel.
But number two, let me talk about another view with you few
minutes, and that's the liberal view.
Now, we use the word liberal in a broad sense.
Since today. But historically, what's known
as theological liberalism or Protestant, liberalism was a
movement that began in the 19th century and it was rooted in the
philosophies of men like Immanuel Kant and the religious
teachings of this man Friedrich schleiermacher and basically
this movement which is still very common.
Today is a movement which tries to meld religious Christian
convictions with scientific. Facts or what they claim are
scientific facts. And so this type of liberalism
was known for its denial of the supernatural.
It's denial of Miracles or the inspiration of the Bible and it
promoted a more relativistic or pluralistic or non doctrinal
approach to Christianity in the liberal view.
Jesus was a great moral teacher. He was a great moral teacher.
He had a view of ethics that have never been seen in the
world before his time. He shine forth to the darkness
of pharisaic Judaism to shed. New light on themes, Like Loving
ones neighbor and doing good unto others.
He was an incredibly inspiring man.
Is that true about Jesus? Yes, of course, was Jesus a
great moral teacher. Absolutely.
But, of course, he was so much more than that.
One of the greatest testimonials concerning, the authority of
Christ. Was the fact that he worked
miracles and Acts chapter 2, as the Apostle Peter is preaching
on Pentecost. He says, in verse 22, men of
Israel. Hear these words, Jesus of
Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by Miracles, wonders, and
signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you
yourselves. Also know, you know what I love
about this passage just a few minutes ago, when Peter, and the
other Apostles started to preach the crowd blurted out an
accusation against them. Remember what it was the
accusation was these men are drunk.
These men are intoxicated, that's what explains what's
going on here. And of course, the Apostle said,
we're not drunk. Unk, this is what was spoken of
by the prophet. Joel, the prophets, look forward
to this time. But when we get to this part
right here in verse 22, and Peter says, God testified that
he was with Jesus by signs and wonders and miracles as you
yourselves, also know. Nobody said a word.
Because everybody knew it was
true. Nobody could deny it, no one
could deny the Miracles worked by God in Jesus Christ.
As you yourselves also know, you know that it is true.
Peter says to deny the Supernatural is to deny the
Divine authority of Jesus. The greatest of the miraculous
Atta stations of Jesus was the resurrection.
Others worked miracles before Jesus, and others, worked
miracles after, but the resurrection makes all the
difference. If Jesus arose, and is alive.
He must be the Son of God. If not why pay any attention to
him. And so, back in First
Corinthians 15, when Paul is writing about the gospel, he
says, we know that these things are true.
We know that Christ died for our Sins according to the
scriptures, we know that he was buried and we know that he rose
again the third day because all these people saw him, you ever
wonder why Paul names all these names in 1st Corinthians 15?
This is me reading a little between the lines.
But it seems to me that Paul is saying, if you don't believe it,
go talk to this person. You don't believe what I'm
writing. I'll give you a reference.
Here's somebody, you can go talk to about these people solve
Jesus. After he had risen from the dead
and that witness makes all the difference.
So this view fall short. And now we go to our third View
and maybe these first two views haven't been too common and
people you've encountered today, that's okay, because I know
you've heard this third View and I'm going to call it the
denominational View. A common Mantra in the
denominational world today is to say, Jesus is my personal
savior. You ever heard somebody say that
certainly you have certainly you've heard maybe a TV or radio
preacher who will look into the camera or speak into the
microphone and say something like have you accepted Jesus as
your personal Savior and then that question is usually
followed by some unbiblical jargon about Inviting Jesus into
your heart and reciting a sinner's prayer such as not
found in the New Testament and never is given as an
Invitational plea in the Bible. Now, the phrase itself might
have some Merit Jesus is my personal savior died, identifies
the name of Jesus and ascribe to him, the title of Savior, and
that's good. And even the idea of a personal
savior, might not be wrong. In the fact that each individual
must decide whether or not to follow, oh, oh, Jesus, and faith
and obedience. But there are at least two
problems with this view, which I think makes them makes it
insufficient. First of all, it promotes the
notion of Lone Wolf Christianity.
You see, Jesus is not merely a personal savior, he's a
corporate savior. He's a corporate savior.
Paul wrote that the husband is the head of the wife as also
Christ is head of the church and savior of the body.
Savior of the body Ephesians 5:23.
Jesus purchased the church with his blood and he is the savior
of the body. Not really the same as a
personal savior, but the second reason why this view is
insufficient, is that while it acknowledges that Jesus is a
savior, it ignores the fact that Jesus is also Lord.
See, this is the nature of so much.
Modern religion, folks today, want to call Jesus Savior, but
they don't want to follow him as Lord.
They want Redemption without repentance they want,
forgiveness without faithfulness.
They want heaven without the hard work.
And so when Peter, preached much different than telling people to
accept Jesus as their personal savior, he told them to repent
and to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins. You want to know what to be.
So what to do to be saved. That's an answer that you ought
to hear. And if you hear something
different than that, you're hearing something different than
what the apostles preached and what the Bible teaches.
The denominational view is insufficient and fall short.
One more, one more, I want to discuss with you before we
close. You've been so patient with me
this far. Hang in there for a few more
minutes while we talk about what I'm going to call the cultic
view, the cultic view. Now a few hundred years ago,
there were a couple of religious bodies which emerged in America
and they proposed a lot of very bizarre beliefs and so because
of their outrageous beliefs. People label them as a cult.
For example, some deny that Sunday is the Christian day of
worship. Some deny that God is eternal.
Some deny that Jesus is God. They claim that Jesus was a
created being. And that before the universe was
created God created Jesus. And then through Jesus, he made
the rest of creation. It's important to note that
those who believe this about Jesus that he was a created
being will. Still call Jesus, the son of
God. But they mean something very
different by that. So if you ever have a chance to
speak with the Jehovah's Witness, you'll discover that
they use. A lot of the same words you use,
but they're playing by different dictionary.
They have a different understanding of what those
words mean. And so when they say Jesus is
the son of God, they mean something different than you
mean when you You say that can Jesus be called The Son of God
if he, if one believes that he is not actually God, that's the
question here. Can Jesus be called The Son of
God? If you don't believe that he is
God, let me say very quickly that there are many passages in
the Bible which teach that the Messiah would be God on Earth.
Let me look at a few with you and Isaiah chapter 9 and verse
6. The prophet says this or unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government will
be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called
wonderful, counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting father, Prince
of Peace. So in Prophecy, as Isaiah is
given a vision of things to come.
He declares that a child will be born.
Born, the Messiah will come into the world and one of his name's
one of his titles will be that he is mighty God.
And so when Matthew writes this in Matthew chapter 1, beginning
in verse 21, we have to understand what Isaiah said
before. It Matthew wrote a concerning
Mary, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus
for. He will save his people from
their sins. Now, all this took place to
fulfill what was spoken by the Lord, through the prophet.
behold the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and
they shall call his name Emmanuel which is translated
what God With Us. God With Us one more, one more
passage. Now, look at this one here.
This is second. Peter 1 verse 1.
Peter is beginning to write his second letter and he says, Simon
Peter a bomb servant Apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have
obtained like Precious Faith with us by the righteousness of
our God and savior. Jesus Christ.
Now Peter when he writes this says that Jesus is God and
savior. If you ever have an opportunity
to study with someone who's a Jehovah's Witness, one thing,
you'll need to discuss is the translation of the Bible.
They use, they use something called The New World
Translation. And the New World Translation is
very good at avoiding passages, like second, Peter 1 verse 1.
So, look at what they've done here.
Thanks. I'm Peter slave and Apostle of
Jesus Christ to those who acquire Faith as precious as
ours to the righteousness of our God.
And the savior, Jesus Christ. Now that might not seem like a
major change, but just adding that, the sort of makes it seem
like there's God. And then, there's the Savior
Jesus Christ. And these two are not the same
people, is that kind of what it, that's how you would read, it,
wouldn't you? But there's a problem with that.
And the problem is that this, the isn't in the Greek Bible.
How do I know that? Because there's the Greek right
there. So, we have in diaper soon,
etouffee. Oh, hey, Mom.
That's this right here. The righteousness of our God,
the righteousness of our God. Then, look here and Savior,
Jesus Christ. there's no, the There's no thought this right
here. They just threw it in.
It's not there and that's something you'll have to deal
with if you ever happen to have an opportunity to study with
someone who's a Jehovah's Witness, the Bible affirms, that
Jesus is God and savior. The fact that he was begotten of
the father speaks of his Incarnation when he was born
into a human body. And so this View That says Jesus
is the son of God but denies that he is God falls short.
What do you think about the Christ?
This morning? Was he a great prophet?
And a long series of prophets? Was he an extraordinary moral
and ethical teacher? Was he a personal savior?
Was he begotten? Son of God.
Was he the son of David? Yes, he was all these and more.
The Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies, your footstool, in the beginning was the word and the
Word was with God. And the Word was God, and the
word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his
glory, he is the image of the invisible God.
He is the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person and upholding All Things by the word of his power.
When he had by himself purged, our sins sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. He is the first and the last and
in him, we have Redemption through his blood, the
Forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his glory, he
is the Christ, the son of the Living, God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, the lord of Glory. That's what the Bible says.
About Jesus. What about you today?
What do you believe about Jesus? Are you ready today to look to
Jesus as the author and finisher of your faith?
We already wet read what Peter said to those who were pricked
in their hearts and interested in knowing what they needed to
do to be saved. They had declared their faith in
Christ. And so, Peter turned to them and
said, repent. And let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus, perhaps you're here today, and
you've not done, that Jesus himself said, while he was still
on the earth, he who believes and is baptized will be saved.
Saved in Mark 16 and verse 16. If you're ready to come to
Christ and obey the gospel. Today, we are here for you.
We're here to help you in any way that we can.
We can baptize you into Christ today.
We want to do anything. We can to help you to come to
the Lord. So if you're ready to do that,
we asked you to come forward while we stand.
And while we say, We thank you for listening to our podcast,
put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional
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