A Question of All Questions

Introduction

I want to begin this morning by asking you all a question. But not just any question. I want to ask us all a question that has eternal weight riding on the answer.

How you answer this question reveals your heart, your motivations, and your mindset. It quite literally reveals the most important things about you and your soul.

The question is “what do you think about the Christ?” This of course is one part of what Jesus asks the Pharisees gathered together in our passage this morning. Yet, just this first question holds an eternal weight.

You see, your standing before the Lord is the most important thing about you. It determines the trajectory of your life, your goals and ambitions. Therefore, how you answer this question is the key to knowing your position before God Himself.

What we think about the Christ makes up the very essence of who we are. Why? Because the Christ is Jesus! And Jesus is God! What you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ reveals your standing before Him.

That being said, let us make no mistake this morning. There are only two camps that exist when answering this question. Either you believe that the Christ is the Lord Jesus, or you don’t.

Which in turn means, either you’re a child of God, or a child of wrath. The title of my sermon is “A Question of All Questions”. By the grace of God we will see in our text why what Jesus asks the Pharisee’s is the question of all questions.

We’ll observe together how the Lord stumps the Pharisee’s, leaves them speechless, and points them (and us!) to look up and behold Him, Christ the Lord, as the truly divine Messiah, descended in the incarnation through the line of David, as the ransom for His people.

A Final Question

Initially in the word we see a final question from Jesus, directed toward the Pharisees. This final question is a part of what makes up the “question of all questions” from Jesus later on.

Its important to keep in mind here that where we’re at in the text is all within the same timeframe as Matthew 22:15-40. This is all one long discord between the Pharisees and Sadducees and Jesus. From paying taxes to the resurrection to the greatest commandment, they’ve all been grilling Him, trying to make Him slip just once.

Now, it’s Jesus turn to ask a question. As I stated earlier it is one of eternal significance. He asks them what they think about the Christ, namely, whose son He is or to which line does he descend from?

According to Dr. R.C. Sproul, Christ is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word Messiah. The Pharisees would’ve known right away what Jesus was asking them: “from what line will the long awaited Messiah descend from and belong too?”

Jesus is painting a much bigger picture here than the physical line from which He descended from, but I must ask you again: what do you think about the Christ? How would you describe Him, biblically?

Beloved, if we can’t answer this question, we must seriously seek the Lord to reveal the truth to us. The Christ is the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lord Jesus IS THE CHRIST.

If you don’t know that today, repent and believe in Him! Pastor Ryan preaches about it all the time because its true: we live in the Bible belt, where just about everyone is a Christian.

How many of us so called Christians think biblically about the Christ? Are we absolutely wrecked by Him? Have you been floored with how sinful you are and how amazing Christ Jesus is?

Are you in awe of the beauty and worth and majesty and power of the Christ? Does this drive you to your knees in repentance and worship? To know the Christ is to be broken over your sin. To know the Christ is to love Him for who He is according to the Bible.

As the youth pastor here, the last thing I ever want to happen is for these students to come to youth group on Wednesday night, come to Sunday School, come to our events, and think thats what it means to be a Christian.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are included in the Christian walk. But what I deeply desire is to see these students KNOW the Christ and be known by Him.

I desperately desire that for this church. For us all to be a born again people that think biblically about the Christ and live accordingly.

An Inadequate Answer

Not a people that provide inadequate answers about who the Christ is, like we see here. The Pharisees respond to Jesus’ question by saying the Christ is “the son of David”.

They were correct, but thats only a partial answer. “The Christ is my pal”, the man upstairs, my best friend. Sure, there can be truth in all those statements. But they’re not the full picture.

When it comes to the Christ Jesus, either we believe in and fully embrace Him as a WHOLE, or not at all. Its never one foot in, one foot out.

This was a softball question for the Pharisees. They knew this like the back of their hand. They would’ve known Old Testament Scripture such as Jeremiah 23:5 well ““Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

It was well known and understood by the Pharisees that the Messiah would come from the line of David.

Notice for a moment how eerily similar their answer is to Matthew 21:9 “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!””

The massive crowds we’re shouting this same answer during Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem a few days back here.

And remember, their praise for Christ during the triumphal entry, just like their answer here, was misunderstood and inadequate.

Why? Their answer is correct though, right? What’s the big deal? The big deal is revealed in Jesus’ question of all questions.

A Deafening Reply

Jesus asks a final question in his conversation here with the Pharisees, they provide an inadequate response, which leads us to a deafening reply from Jesus.

Jesus goes on to say Matthew 22:43–44 “He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?”

I’ve done this a time or two with the youth students. In Bible studies I often try to ask questions to get them to think deeply about the truths of the word that we’re studying.

If they ask me a question, I’ll do my best to point it back to the group first to get their input. This is all to help them think through what we’re studying in the word and not just listen to someone give them the answers all the time.

I didn’t realize I had got this from the Lord Jesus, but praise the Lord. Its effective!

He quotes David in Psalm 110:1, thus affirming the inspiration of the Holy Spirit upon David’s ministry in writing many portions of Scripture.

Notice what Jesus is doing; he’s taking their answer (which he was sure to foreknow before they replied) and follow’s it up with another question. All to make a point.

Jesus is referencing Psalm 110:1, affirming it as inspired Scripture, and asking how is it exactly that David, who the Christ (Messiah) is to come from, can call this Messiah Lord if David is his elder in family lineage?

In other words, “Sure Pharisees, thats correct, but explain then why David wrote such a thing in this Messianic Bible verse?”

If the Messiah is David’s Son, why is David calling Him Lord here? We this described further in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:30–36 “Being therefore a prophet (David), and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”” (Parenthesis and bold mine).

We see a clear description here of what was a common understanding of Psalm 110:1. This is a messianic Bible verse and Jesus is calling into question the Pharisees understanding of it.

Let us take note that when it says in Acts 2 that “God has made” Jesus “both Lord and Christ”, it does not mean that the Father created Jesus but that the Father has now publicly displayed His eternal plan and Christ’s position that has always been from eternity past.

Of course this would cause the Pharisees and many in the crowd some issues. Why? Because remember, just like in the triumphal entry, they had a distorted view of the Messiah.

Leon Morris says that a widespread idea during this time was that the Messiah was the Son of David in that he would “be someone in David’s mold” (Morris Commentary on Matthew, 566).

There was this expectation that the Messiah would be a man akin to David in his conquests and political kingship.

Therefore, what Jesus is doing here in the text is bringing the Pharisees eyes upward to the divine nature of the Messiah. The Messiah, the Christ, was not a king like David, He was and is the GREATER DAVID.

Jesus is pointing them to Himself as the God-man: truly God and truly man. So you see, it is through Christ’s incarnation that He is from the line of David, yet it is by Him being God, second Person of the Trinity, that David wrote these inspired words in Psalm 110.

Therefore, how Psalm 110:1 can also read is, as Sproul puts it, “Yahweh said to David’s Adonai”. That is, the Father said to David’s Lord (Jesus, the Christ) sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

The Father invites the Son to sit at His right hand, to be the King of kings and Lord of lords, to be the Christ, the Messiah. This was not a place of subordination, but of cosmic rule and role (Sproul).

If we then zoom out here, we see a beautifully powerful picture and example of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit inspired David to write the true words of Psalm 110:1.

This is where we see the Father communicate with the Son. Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

For Christians reading this today, this should not give us pause. Rather, it should stir up worship, joy, and excitement.

Let us Praise God the Holy Spirit for His work of conviction and inspiration of the Bible, praise God the Father for His mighty works and plan, praise God the Son for His incarnation and His accomplishment of salvation for His people!

The result of all this in verse 46 is that the Pharisees and the crowds are stumped. There is not a question you can ask the Lord that will have Him on the ropes or in a corner. You can never outsmart the infinite sovereign God of the universe.

So go ahead, bring all your questions. Bring your doubts and your fears to Him. Ask and seek in humility and with a genuine heart.

But don’t put the Lord to the test, or else you’ll end up like the Pharisees: unable to answer Him a word. You will be humbled by Him every time. He is right and you are wrong.

If you come across something in the Bible that seems inaccurate or in error, its you who’s in the wrong, never the word of God. We can trust our perfect God 100% of the time!

When observing the Pharisees response in verse 46 it seems to beg the question, have you ever been stumped before by a question or conversation? I do all the time. From my wife, my best friend, even my 2 year old daughter.

And you know how I initially react almost every time? I pout, I get upset, I start thinking how unfair that conversation was. Because often my pride can get in the way.

I can’t help but think thats how the Pharisees left here. Upset, angry, disappointed. We actually know to some degree this is true, because we know the end of the story.

They plan to kill Jesus for His ministry and His bold claims. Bold claims such as the one He makes here in this text, pointing the Pharisees to the fact that He Himself, Jesus, is the Son of David, the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, God in the flesh.

He makes such claims all throughout the gospel accounts. Matthew 16:13-17, 21:1-11 (fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9), John 1:29–34, and of course John 4:25–26 “The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.””

In just these few examples and so many others, Jesus was pointing people to Himself. Jesus is pointing you to Himself today! All creation testifies to the existence of our God. Repent and trust in Him today!

Conclusion

Jesus’ question of all questions is meant to silence the Pharisees by pointing them upward to Himself. These Bible verses this morning are meant quiet us in humility before the Lord, point us to the incarnate Christ, and behold the Him for who He truly is.

Christ lived the life we could not, died for your sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. Behold the glory, the power, the wonder of our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ! The one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God forever.

That we may not only think rightly and biblically about the Christ, but also be known by Him through His finished work on the cross.

PRAY.