WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.919 To the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.480 Matthew twenty-two. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:22.800 Going through this gospel together, we're in Matthew twenty-two this morning. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:36.240 And our text comes from the end of this chapter, the first book of our Christian New Testament, verses 41 to 46. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.280 We'll be considering this portion this morning. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:40.640 I'm going to read that for us. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:45.679 Matthew 22, verse 41 down through verse 46. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:47.200 This is God's word. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:56.880 While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them, What do you think about the Messiah? 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:58.799 Whose son is he? 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:01.759 They replied, David's. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:10.560 He asked them, How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him Lord? 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:18.079 The Lord declared to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:22.799 If David calls him Lord, how then can he be his son? 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:31.040 No one was able to answer him at all, and from that day no one dared to question him anymore. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:33.280 Let's pray again. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:45.040 Human power is nothing that can change a heart, but the Spirit's power does that. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:52.959 We pray that Christ would be ruling in the midst of his people, even through his word, even through the text for this morning. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:59.439 We thank you that your son has indeed been exalted, and we are longing to hear from him today. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.959 So please, O Christ, speak through your word we ask. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.799 In the name of the all-glorious one and for the Father's glory. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:07.680 Amen. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.000 Jesus loves to ask questions. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:14.240 Have you noticed that in the Gospel of Matthew? 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:16.319 He's constantly asking questions. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:20.400 He loves to ask questions that touch the heart. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:24.639 What do you think about the Messiah? 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:30.400 That's a question that should grip our hearts. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.120 We need a Messiah. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.319 We should want to have an answer for that question. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:40.000 We must grasp hold of God's Messiah. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.439 We must do that. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:46.719 This text this morning says, What do you think about the Messiah? 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:50.800 Or maybe you're looking at a translation that says, What do you think about the Christ? 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:58.400 Remember that that term Christ is not really so much a last name, it's more like a title. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:03.840 That's why it says there the Christ or the Messiah. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:09.599 That actually goes all the way back to the Old Testament and it speaks of an anointed one. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:14.319 Both of those English words, Christ Messiah, speak of an anointed one. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:20.719 Throughout the Old Testament, God had various people that were anointed for different tasks. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:24.560 But there was coming a greater anointed one. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:31.599 There was coming a greater anointed prophet, a greater anointed priest, a greater anointed king. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.560 That was the anticipation and expectation. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:39.680 And Jesus asks, What do you think about the Messiah? 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.479 Friends, what do you think about God's Messiah? 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:49.039 That's not a word that we use especially often in our own day and age. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.759 You'll hear it used occasionally. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.719 Sometimes you hear someone say they have a messiah complex. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:57.039 It's a negative way of using that word. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:13.360 I ran into someone online, I saw this, I had never heard of this person, Richard Bach, but he has a book from a number of years ago, and the title of his book is Messiah's Handbook, Reminders for the Advanced Soul. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:18.319 Now you can tell by the subtitle, it's probably not going to be a book about humility. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:23.439 I didn't read the book, but I saw one quote from it where he says this. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:34.399 Being true to anyone else or anything else is the mark of a fake Messiah. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.439 Who wants a fake Messiah, right? 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.079 I don't know if he works for Disney. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:41.040 It sounds like he does. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:42.160 Maybe not. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:48.319 But that message of be true to yourself, we're constantly having that pushed on us. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:57.279 And while the word messiah is not always used, that's kind of the upshot of all of that advice is you can be your own messiah. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.279 The Bible says actually just the opposite. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:10.959 If we want to really grasp hold of God's Messiah, we have to look away from ourselves and to God's provision of a Messiah. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:26.319 If we want to address the question of who the Messiah is, if we want, and we should desperately want to grasp hold of the true Messiah, then according to our passage, we have to do two things. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:34.000 We need to read the scripture carefully and receive the Savior completely. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:39.199 Read the scripture carefully, receive the Savior completely. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:44.879 Let's look first at how we're called from this text to read the scripture carefully. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:55.519 In verse number 42, Jesus asked this question about not only what do you think about the Messiah, but then Jesus asks more specifically, whose son is he? 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:59.600 And the Pharisees answer, David's son. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:02.560 Where did they get that idea? 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:07.279 Do they get that from extra-rabbinic tradition? 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:09.759 No, they get that from the Old Testament itself. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:11.519 It's actually there in the Old Testament. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.279 Here's a few passages, Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.720 Look, the days are coming. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:21.759 This is the Lord's declaration, when I will raise up a righteous branch for David. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:26.399 He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:31.040 In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:32.639 This is the name he will be called. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.360 The Lord is our righteousness. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.399 Isaiah 11, 1 and 2. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:52.720 A shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots will bear fruit, the spirit of the Lord will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:09.040 All of these various prophetic expectations about a coming Messiah, a coming son of David, they're built on the backbone of God's promise to David, which Banu read from earlier today. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:17.040 So I won't read that entire passage again, but you may want to mark it down and just look at it again later on this afternoon or this week. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:24.319 2 Samuel chapter 7, where God promises to raise up a son to sit on David's throne. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:30.639 And then the prophets look back on that promise to David and they reflect on that and expand on that. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.040 So the Pharisees got something right. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:37.600 Mark it down in your calendars. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.720 The Pharisees are not always wrong. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:47.920 When Jesus asked whose son the Messiah is, and they answered David, they were a hundred percent correct. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:53.519 But in order to know that, you have to know your Bible. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.879 You have to read scripture carefully. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:08.480 Hear ye, hear ye, a future Messiah is coming, and he will be a son of David. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:14.800 It's not given with repeated directness like that. 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:19.759 Think about that passage I read in Jeremiah, the first one that I read there. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:26.079 It says that God will raise up a righteous branch for David. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.040 You've got to read scripture carefully. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:33.600 When we think about raising up a branch, what does that mean? 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.240 Is it like putting up a Christmas tree? 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:37.120 You know? 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.240 Well, it says it's a righteous branch. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:46.159 We don't really usually think of trees as righteous or unrighteous. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.759 So there's a clue there. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.320 And we have to use our imaginations. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:55.840 I don't mean by that, just make up something and whatever you think it might mean, fill it in. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:06.799 But God's given us a capacity to make comparisons, to take concrete things like a tree and learn an abstract lesson from something concrete. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:16.159 In scripture, often trees and vines in the Old Testament are compared to people, to families, to kingdoms. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:19.679 We don't speak a lot like that today. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:26.320 I don't see James and Betty's newborn and say, oh, that's quite a branch you guys have there. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:27.679 Well done. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:35.759 But we do have the concept of a family tree that we still have today, right? 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:48.799 So there's a clue there that when God speaks about raising up a righteous branch, he's talking about a person, not some uh arboretum in David's palace courtyard. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:56.879 And then you have to know, or reading scripture carefully, Jeremiah prophesied long after David was dead. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:08.080 So he couldn't have been talking about a royal advisor in David's court or even David's own immediate son, Solomon, because this is years and years later. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:16.480 And there's another clue there in Jeremiah: God will raise up a righteous branch. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:24.240 That's the same exact term that God spoke through the prophet Nathan to David back in 2 Samuel 7. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.759 God will raise up a king after you. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:29.279 And you don't have to know Hebrew. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:35.840 Most of our translations, they use the same phrase in 2 Samuel 7 that Jeremiah does in Jeremiah chapter 23. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.559 And there's a common theme on top of that in the Old Testament of an unrighteous king and the need for a righteous king. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:47.440 So that passage in Jeremiah about God raising up a righteous branch. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:11:01.039 We have verbal clues, we have conceptual metaphors, we have running theological themes that all contribute to helping us understand Jeremiah's prophesying about a coming Messiah who will be a son of David. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:06.159 And you say, Micah, that's a lot to put together for one passage. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:07.200 It is. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.159 So we have to read scripture carefully. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:14.159 We want to read it thoughtfully and completely. 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:29.679 And yes, with all of our minds. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.720 We don't need to brag about how little we know scripture. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:35.919 There's nothing to brag about. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.000 We want to, wherever we're at, we're at different places in our lives. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:51.360 We don't all have the same amount of Bible knowledge or ability to read and think about and grasp things, but wherever we're at, let's just take that next step to long to read scripture carefully. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:58.080 We'll find part of Christ if we don't read scripture carefully. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:06.240 When we read scripture carefully, we'll see the glories of Christ expand and grow and these connections. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.200 And we don't want to limit ourselves to the New Testament. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.960 That's where Christ is most fully displayed in gospels like Matthew. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:21.360 But the whole Old Testament builds towards who he is and helps to create an expectation for what he's going to do and accomplish. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:28.720 Joshua 1.8, this book of instruction must not depart from your mouth. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.360 You're to meditate on it day and night. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.039 Jeremiah 15, 16, your words were found and I ate them. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.799 Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:40.559 Read scripture carefully. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.039 We put a lot of scripture in our services. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.360 There's a call to worship, sometimes a confession of sin, an assurance. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:52.480 We have a scripture reading that's separate from the text for the sermon. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:53.600 We read both of those things. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.759 We explain, we think about it. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:57.600 And we're not looking to rush through that. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:01.759 We want to linger over God's word because it's good and deep and profound. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:04.879 Read scripture carefully. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:20.639 Here in Matthew 22, after the Pharisees correctly answer that the coming Messiah is David's son, Jesus asks a follow-up question in verse 43. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:29.679 How is it then, he says, that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him Lord? 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.799 And then in verse 44, Jesus quotes from Psalm 110. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:42.480 With most of your Bibles, you can see it's a quote because they either put it in bold or they set it off as a different paragraph. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.879 So you can see that Jesus is actually quoting from the Old Testament. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.080 So Jesus himself was a careful reader of scripture. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:56.960 He wanted the Pharisees to look and think even more definitively about who this was and what he's going to accomplish. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:02.960 And then in verse 46, it says no one was able to answer Jesus. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:08.240 Why does that seem kind of strange to you? 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.759 So David called the Messiah Lord. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.039 Don't we call the Messiah Lord? 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.039 Shouldn't we call the Messiah Lord? 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:18.559 What's so unusual about that? 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:22.559 Why would that be so perplexing for the people? 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:27.840 Well, that brings us to our next major heading for this morning. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:35.519 If we're going to grasp the Messiah, we want to read scripture carefully, and we need to receive the Savior completely. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:42.000 The Pharisees had a partially correct understanding of Messiah. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.159 They did correctly grasp that he was going to be David's son. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:53.600 They got the first part of the question, but then the second part, they weren't willing to respond. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.799 So let's dig into this question for a moment. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:00.480 Why did David call the Messiah Lord? 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:05.200 That does not sound provocative to us, but we have to understand that culture. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:12.639 In the world of the Bible and Jewish culture, there's a definite family pecking order. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.120 Dad's at the top. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:19.840 And then when dad has a son, dad's still at the top. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:24.399 And then when the son grows up and becomes a man, dad's still at the top. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:32.480 You understand? 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:41.440 I have some family friends in South Carolina, and the dad owned a cabinet shop. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.039 Beautiful wood cabinets he designs for homes. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:54.960 And some years ago, his two sons had been working for him, and he turned the business over to one of his sons, but he still works for the business. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:57.519 He wanted to give his son more responsibility. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:02.639 And he's getting a little older and wanted to, you know, still work but have less responsibility. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.600 Most of you hear that and you think, that's really nice. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:18.159 If I had a time machine and I brought a Jewish person from the world of the Bible to today, and I was trying to explain that situation to them. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:23.600 Well, the dad had a cabinetry shop, his son's worked for them, but now the son is the boss and the dad works for the son. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:28.720 If I tried to explain that to them, they'd be mystified, offended. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.120 Dad works for the son? 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.399 What kind of a messed up world do you live in? 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.240 Dad is working for the son? 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:37.600 Oh, oh, oh. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.360 I want to go back. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:43.039 And some of you might come from cultures more like that. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.279 Dad's always the boss. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:52.559 Even if he's at an age where he's only able to push the broom around the shop two times a day, he doesn't report to anyone. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:54.559 He's still the boss. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:01.840 Now, do you understand a little more the conundrum Jesus is proposing? 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:07.680 When you call someone Lord, you're calling them the boss. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:16.559 So how could David call one of his descendants the boss, his son or a future son? 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:21.119 That's almost like abandoning his position as the patriarch. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:27.759 If the Messiah is a son of David, how could David ever call him Lord? 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:31.279 Turn back to Psalm 110. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:32.480 I want you to see this. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.400 So hopefully you have your Bibles. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:35.839 Hold your finger here in Matthew. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.599 We'll definitely be back in Matthew. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:43.920 Go to Psalm 110, because this Psalm is key to Jesus' whole argument here. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:52.400 In fact, this Psalm, Psalm 110, is actually quoted more than any other passage in the Psalms in the New Testament. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:55.359 It's quoted a number of different times in different places. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:08.799 It's ascribed to David, and notice in Psalm 110 and verse number one, there's a declaration of the Lord to my Lord. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.400 So we have Lord speaking to Lord. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:22.960 Notice that in your Bibles, the first Lord is in all capital letters, and the second Lord is not in all capital letters. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:28.799 That's a clue from the translators that here it's two different Hebrew words. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.319 The first one in all capital letters is Yahweh. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.519 That's a name exclusively for the one true God. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:42.480 The second word that's not all capital letters, it has an L but then a lowercase O R D. 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:45.039 That's the Hebrew word Adonai. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:51.200 It can be used for the one true God, but it can also be used for human authority figures. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:19:00.319 For example, in the book of Ruth, Ruth calls Boaz at one point Adonai because he owns the field that she's gleaning in. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.559 If you want to hear more about Ruth, come back tonight. 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:03.680 We'll hear more about Ruth. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:04.960 Exciting. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.759 So we have Yahweh speaking to Adonai. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:12.000 Who is this Adonai then? 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:14.799 Is it a human Adonai? 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:16.319 Is it someone else? 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:24.079 Whoever he is, you see in verse one, David says he is my Lord, my Adonai. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:29.359 So Yahweh is speaking to this Lord, David's Lord. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:36.319 And as the psalm moves forward, we see that David's Lord is a messianic figure. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.480 He's a conquering king. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:44.559 But verse six says he will crush leaders over the entire world. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:50.240 That's an incredibly expansive reign, more than what David himself had. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.559 He's also, he's not only a king, he's a priest. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.799 In verse 4, you see that. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:04.720 How could Yahweh, the one true God, how could he declare anyone to be both a king and a priest? 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:08.640 That didn't happen in the Old Testament in merely human categories. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:13.200 Priests and kings were two separate offices with different people. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:23.359 So David is writing about God, Yahweh's words and declaration to a future Messiah. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:32.799 And the Pharisees had read Psalm 110, but they hadn't grasped the true significance of all that was going on in Psalm 110. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.599 And Jesus is trying to bring that out and expose that. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:39.839 They hadn't received the Savior as he was intended to be completely. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:44.319 They saw him as David's son, but this other aspect they were missing. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:49.279 So turn back to Matthew 22, that's just a very brief look at Psalm 110. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.119 It's a glorious Psalm. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:21:00.000 As you're turning back to Matthew 22, just bear in mind Psalm 110 is a song. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:01.839 That's what the Psalms are. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:05.039 It's a glorious portrait of the Messiah. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:14.160 One of the ways that we drive home great theology about the fullness of Messiah and his work is through singing. 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:20.480 We want to sing songs like this psalm that are just rich with the truth of Jesus Christ. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.680 We teach one another through songs. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:28.079 There is. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:40.640 Some of the psalms are more simple and shorter, but we should also crave songs that are robust and give a fuller vision of the person and work of Jesus Christ. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:46.880 If we just constantly sing I love you, Lord, and I'm not criticizing I love you, Lord, it's a nice song. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:48.079 Happy to sing it. 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:49.759 It's a beautiful song. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:57.759 But if nine out of 10 of our songs are just I love you, Lord songs, we're missing an opportunity to teach. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.559 I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:03.200 Great. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:05.200 What does it tell us about the Lord? 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.480 It says He's the King. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:07.359 That's wonderful. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:08.480 That's true. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:15.440 Well, the Pharisees also thought of Christ as a king, but they were missing the fullness of all that he was as king. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:20.160 Think about another song we sing, Jesus Messiah, and how that begins. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:24.720 He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become his righteousness. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:27.759 He humbled himself and carried the cross. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:31.680 Jesus Messiah, and goes on to say, Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:37.279 You hear that's expanding our vision of what the Messiah accomplishes and who he is. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:39.200 He's Emmanuel, he's God with us. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:51.279 Or another song that we sing, Ferris Lord Jesus, it says in those, in that song, beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God, and Son of Man. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:56.880 So he's the Lord, he's king, but he's king not just of us, he's king of all nations. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:59.279 And he's not just a son of God, he's a son of man. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:00.720 He's both of those things together. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:08.480 So we're expanding our our understanding of who Christ is, and we got more fuel to praise him and to worship him. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.720 Okay, theological advertisement for songs over. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:14.640 Back in Matthew 22. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:24.000 So we've seen in one in Psalm 110, David does indeed call this future Messiah his Lord. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:27.440 And that's the conundrum that Jesus poses. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:39.359 How could David, great king and patriarch that he was, how could he ever speak of one of his descendants as his authority, as his boss, as his lord? 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:42.960 And they don't answer him. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.000 How would you answer that question? 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:51.200 Wow, David was pretty progressive for his time. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:53.200 No, that's not the answer. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:59.839 If you go away from this passage thinking, isn't it great that we live in a world where it's okay sometimes for the sun to be the boss? 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:01.759 No, that's not the point here. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:14.799 The point is that David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recognized that his future descendant was more than just merely a man. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:19.279 He was more than just a son, a human descendant. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:22.319 He was a Lord from heaven, a Lord of glory. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.079 He was God Himself come down to humanity. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:36.480 A merely human son couldn't be the true Messiah we need, because a merely human son can't be the Savior. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:43.680 We're, as humanity, we're we're plagued with sinfulness, each and every one of us. 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:47.039 So we need a true human as our Messiah, yes. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.759 But we need someone who's more than that. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.799 We need the eternal God to rescue us. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:25:01.200 And Psalm 10 gives us this majestic insight into the counsel of the divine Father and the Divine Son to bring about eternal salvation. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:05.440 Christ has come to live a perfect life. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:07.839 Only the Lord from heaven could do that. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.720 Christ, the Messiah, came to offer an infinite sacrifice. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:19.519 Only the infinite God of gods could lend an infinite quality to the sacrifice for sins. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:33.759 And I suspect that one of the reasons that Jesus quoted Psalm 110 is that they might be poked and prodded and induced to consider Psalm 110 again. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:44.240 And as I pointed out from Psalm 110, it speaks of the Messiah not only as king who's going to crush the enemies, but as a priest. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:52.559 And as the messianic priest, Christ brings forgiveness from sin. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:55.359 That's the true and great deliverance that we need. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:06.559 The Pharisees had a part of the picture, but they were viewing Messiah through the lens of, like David, an earthly kingdom with earthly political priorities and get the Romans off of our back. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:18.240 And they missed their fundamental need, their greatest need, not just for human deliverance from another empire, but forgiveness for the bondage of sin in their own hearts. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:25.519 The Messiah is indeed David's son, but he is not merely David's son. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:34.720 That's why when Christ is baptized, the Father's voice from heaven rings out, This is my beloved son. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:50.240 At the transfiguration, when the curtain is pulled back and they see the glory of Christ resplendent and revealed, the voice from heaven again cries out and identifies, This is my beloved son. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:54.400 Not only David's son, but the son of God. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:00.960 Philip Brooks says that we find in Jesus Christ something astonishing and beautiful. 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:10.160 We find both the condescension of divinity and the exaltation of humanity all in one person. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.319 That's how glorious he is. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:20.000 And sadly for the Pharisees, their problem was not primarily an intellectual problem, but a moral problem. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:23.519 They didn't want to receive the Savior. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:29.119 It wasn't merely that they didn't understand all these things from the Old Testament. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:36.559 When he's presented right before them, as Matthew has been presenting him already in this, they had that opportunity to hear him teach, to see his miracles. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:47.039 They had an opportunity right there to see the Messiah, to understand and know he is the Lord from heaven, and they didn't grab hold of it. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:28:04.880 We're going to see in the next chapter in Matthew 23 that Jesus is testing them here, and he's going to go on in Matthew 23 to speak very harsh words about the Pharisees, very confrontational words, and he doesn't accuse them of having an IQ problem. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:08.079 He accuses them of having a heart problem. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:12.559 What about us? 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:20.240 When we think about the Messiah, do we have only a partial view of Messiah? 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:28.960 Do we want a kind of Messiah that that fulfills certain needs we think we have, or are we ready to embrace all that he is as true Son of God and man? 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:42.880 Sadly, both Pastor Doug and I have books in our libraries of people that, in some sense, have read scripture carefully, but for some of those people, they haven't actually received the Savior. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:55.759 They can offer profound insight into the Jewish culture and background of the Bible and Hebrew and Greek, but they haven't actually embraced Christ as the true God from heaven who is their Messiah. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:59.359 And that's the important invitation for all of us today. 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:02.240 What will you do with him? 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:11.759 He's been exalted to God's right hand, Matthew tells us, and he's reigning until he puts all enemies under his feet. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:15.920 The last enemy to be destroyed is death itself. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.200 Are you afraid of death? 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:26.160 There should be a healthy kind of recognition that we're temporal people. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:33.440 We can be as healthy as we want, but we're not going to live to be 150 or 200 years old. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:34.720 We're going to die. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:37.440 And then what's going to happen? 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:46.720 Fear of death is in some ways a good thing, but Christ gives us hope. 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:06.559 When we fast forward to the end of the story in the Gospel of Matthew, we see him risen and we see him speaking to his disciples. 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:19.279 We look into the book of Acts, we find Peter, when he preaches, he also quotes this same idea of Christ being resurrected, conquering death, being exalted to God's right hand. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:22.880 And Peter says, Christ himself is pouring out the Holy Spirit. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:28.559 He's pouring out the Spirit who brings conviction and transformation and heart change. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:34.559 Even again, some of those things that Bana talked about last week that we desperately need a heart change to be able to recognize the Messiah. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:36.720 Christ as the ruler is pouring that out. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:37.759 He has poured that out. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:39.200 He will pour that out. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:53.680 And what that means also, when we grasp hold of God's true Messiah, He's not merely the Messiah for our own lives, although we must submit to Him as Lord, we must embrace and enjoy God. 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:59.119 He's the one that's right now reigning over all nations. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:24.240 And so when we pray for people like the Kunis, we're not just praying for them and their strength, we're praying that the risen Christ would be at work through their word and testimony and work that people might see and hear, ah, true son of David, true son of God, true, true, perfect human man, true Lord from heaven. 00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:26.720 That's what we want and desire. 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.079 That's what Christ is at. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:37.599 That's what our heart should be excited about, the expansion of the gospel, not just from this church, but into our community, to Jerusalem, to Judea, to the very ends of the earth. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.680 Read Scripture carefully. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:45.680 Receive the Savior completely. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:48.720 That's how we grab hold of God's true Messiah. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:55.279 In conclusion today, I want us to think for a moment about the example of Mary. 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:04.079 So here's the earthly mother of Jesus, who also had the wisdom to know to call her son Lord. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:15.759 Here's a woman not educated in the way some of the Pharisees would have been educated, not of great significance in the world's eyes. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:25.519 She and Joseph stayed in a lowly place, not well off to have the most luxurious accommodations for that birth. 00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:35.359 But she was someone who clearly read scripture carefully, perhaps had just heard it and remembered it and meditated on it day and night. 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:41.599 If you look at her prayer, you don't have to turn there, but Luke chapter 1 offers us her prayer. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:47.200 And her prayer is full of language from the Old Testament, resonance there. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:51.440 She speaks of God fulfilling his word and his promise to Abraham. 00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:59.920 So she's someone who's who's reading scripture carefully, and she's in a position to receive the Messiah who happens to be her very son. 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:06.799 And she says this my soul magnifies the Lord. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:13.519 My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:23.200 There's a robust recognition that her true Son is yet the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:25.119 He is God the Savior. 00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:30.240 And may we, like Mary, read scripture carefully and receive the Savior completely. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:31.680 Let's pray. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:36.960 Lord, we have this longing to know the Son. 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:51.759 We have this desire and awaken in us not just an occasional thought, but the regular reality of how much we need a Messiah, not ourselves as Messiah, but your Messiah. 00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:56.960 We praise you that Christ has come to fulfill all the scripture. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:01.759 He has come to meet every true, real need that we have. 00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:05.440 So we we long to believe him more. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:14.800 We long to share his fame with others, even amidst opposition, even against enemies that would mock the cross of Christ. 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:21.840 Yet we persevere through the testimony of who he is, through his work in our lives. 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:33.039 Oh Lord, give us a hunger to love Scripture, to know it intimately, to want to consider it carefully, slowly, to read it thoughtfully. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:35:00.400 Lord, please keep us from the temptation to receive a half savior, to receive a savior who merely is in our minds affirming our identity or our culture or our whatever we could fill in the blank, but that we in turn would radically change our lives, that we would receive all of Christ for all that he is, ready to submit to him in every way, acknowledging that his yoke is easy, his burden is light. 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:02.639 He is a tender and gentle Savior. 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:08.559 He doesn't break a bruised reed or quench a smoking flax, but he does send out judgment to victory. 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:16.000 So we're praying even now that you'd be sending out judgment and victory into places in the world like Indonesia, places in the world like Central Asia. 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:22.480 Oh Lord, we're longing to see this reign of Christ expand, that others might see and embrace your Messiah. 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:27.199 So please accomplish this purpose, we pray, for your own glory's sake. 00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:28.079 Amen.