THE QUESTION OF THE AGES
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Please turn to this morning as we consider the question of the ages.
Over the course of the last several weeks we have been looking at the events that happened on one very long day in the life of Jesus Christ. These events probably occured on Wednesday of the final week of Jesus’ public ministry. On this particular day, Jesus and His followers journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem, from the village of Bethany where they were staying in preparation of the Passover celebration. While in the Temple Jesus began to preach the gospel to the crowds who were there, but was interrupted by the religious establishment of Israel and challenged regarding His authority.
In answer to the challenge Jesus told three parables, all of which condemned the religious establishment for their lack of faith. These three parables were followed-up by three encounters in which the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to trap Jesus in His teaching. They were looking for evidence with which to condemn Him to death.
After Jesus had silenced His opponents with His stunning answers, and before they could come up with other attempts to entrap Him, Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisees and asked them a question. And this question was what my dad would have referred to as “The 64 dollar question:” “What do you think about the Christ?” The answer to this question either demonstrates that a person has not yet become a member of the flock of Christ, or that the person is part of the flock of Christ. We dare not consider this question to be trivial in nature.
Answers to questions are based on a person’s knowledge of the subject. While knowledge can be powerful, incomplete knowledge can be damning. As we consider this encounter this morning we will look at how a little knowledge can be dangerous, how pad answers do not provide a full understanding, and how an incomplete understanding leads to danger.
Let’s read our passage together.
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE CAN BE DANGEROUS
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE CAN BE DANGEROUS
I am a person who is conversant in many subjects. I have enough knowledge of various subjects which gives me the ability to carry on a conversation.Of course, my greatest asset in carrying on a conversation is that I ask a lot of questions, and let others do most of the talking! I have known people who seem to consider themselves to be experts in every area of conversation, whether they are or not. They take a strong stand on a topic in which they are convinced they know the correct answer, even when they are wrong.
Several years ago I was having a conversation with one such man. And the topic was 70’s Rock. Now, I was never into Rock & Roll that much, but my older brother was. And since I adored my brother I picked up some knowledge along the way. My friend, on this occasion, insisted that the song, Carry On My Wayward Son, was performed by the rock group named Boston. But since Boston was my brother’s favorite group, with Kansas being a close second, I knew that the song was performed by Kansas and not Boston. But my friend would not believe me, so I picked up the phone and called the expert, my brother Darryl, who confirmed that I was right and my friend was wrong! My friend still didn’t believe me.
Partial knowledge can burn a house down
When Jesus asked the Pharisees His question about whose son is the Christ, these men thought they had the right answer. But it was only partially correct. Yes, it is very clear from Scripture that the Christ is the son of David. Matthew takes careful pains to emphasis that very fact. But this was only part of the answer. ,
When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”
The author of emphasizes this truth over and over again: , , ,
A Ethan the Ezrahite.
I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
For I have said, “Lovingkindness will be built up forever; In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”
“I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant,
I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.
The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord,
A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?
O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.
You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them.
The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.
You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted.
For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted.
For our shield belongs to the Lord, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
“I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.
“The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
“But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.
“My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted.
“I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers.
“He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
“I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
“My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
“So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.
“If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,
If they violate My statutes And do not keep My commandments,
Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes.
“But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.
“My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.
“Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David.
“His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me.
“It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.” Selah.
But You have cast off and rejected, You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.
You have spurned the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown in the dust.
You have broken down all his walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
All who pass along the way plunder him; He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
You also turn back the edge of his sword And have not made him stand in battle.
You have made his splendor to cease And cast his throne to the ground.
You have shortened the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah.
How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire?
Remember what my span of life is; For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!
What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.
Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord, Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants; How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,
With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed.
Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.
“I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant,
I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.
“I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.
“My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted.
“I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
“My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
“So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.
So, obviously the Pharisees were correct about the fact that the Christ was to be the son of David. As such they looked for a military or political leader who would deliver the nation from Roman oppression. But there is so much more to the story which the Pharisees just either ignored or did not understand. Take for instance
“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
The Christ was not merely to be the son of David, He was to be the Son of God
Isaiah points to this as well.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Let’s consider how
PAD ANSWERS DO NOT PROVIDE A FULL UNDERSTANDING
PAD ANSWERS DO NOT PROVIDE A FULL UNDERSTANDING
I am a master when it comes to giving a pad answer. When I was a student at the Moody Bible Institute, even though I wasn’t a Bible major, many students in the missions and Bible departments wanted to study with me because I was able to quickly memorize the pad answers that the professors were looking for in their exams. Even the fellow who is now the President of M.B.I. would join in and study with me.
The problem with pad answers is that they don’t encourage you to think things through on your own. And that is one of my great deficiencies. I’m capable of having all sorts of trivial knowledge, but I have a hard time connecting the dots. Note this:
Being content with pad answers leads to complacency in our personal study.
So often Christians are content with being spoon-fed by their teachers and preachers. Rather than giving diligent effort to understanding the Bible, they let their teachers do the work for them. The result is that the teacher grows tremendously as a result of the personal study in preparation to present the Word. But the student either grows slowly or doesn’t grow at all.
For generations the Pharisees and their predecessors had clung to the pad answer that the Christ was the son of David so strongly that they missed the fact that there was more to the answer. Look at verses 43-45 for a moment.
Notice first of all that Jesus affirmed that the Psalms were a part of the inspired Word of God when He said: “David in the Spirit.”
Jesus presents to them an antinomy. An antimony is when there are two truths which to our human mind seem to be incompatible, or contradictory. One of the most well known antimony's in Scripture is the tension between the complete sovereignty of God in salvation, and the complete responsibility of man for rejecting Jesus as Savior. In our present passage, Jesus showed two seeminly contradictory truths.
Truth no. 1 is that the Christ was to be the son of David
In our present passage, truth no. 1 is that the Christ was to be the son of David.
Truth no. 2 is that the Christ was to be superior to David
In that culture the famous ancestor was always considered to be the greater. David was considered to be the greatest king in the history of Israel. And it was inconceivable that his descendent would be greater than he. Jesus quoted to prove His point.
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
It is interesting to note that is the most frequently quoted OT passage in the NT. That is because various apostles took up the baton and used this Psalm of David to prove that the Messiah was divine. A concept which is foreign to Jewish thought.
Notice the two divine references in this verse.
The first is LORD (all capital letters)
It is the English translation of the covenant name for God in the OT — Yahweh or Jehovah. It emphasizes His self-existence and eternal nature. This is the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush in the famous I AM THAT I AM passage. It is the name by which Jesus referred to Himself over and over again in the famous “I AM” statements recorded in John’s Gospel account.
The second divine reference is Lord
This is the English translation of the Hebrew Adonāy, which means lord, master, controller, sovereign.
To paraphrase this passage we could say: “Yahweh, the Covenant God of Israel, said to David’s Master ...” In other words, David was saying that the Messiah or Christ, who would be his own descendent, would be greater than he.
Jesus clarified the point He was making in verse 45: “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”
From the point of Christology, Jesus was stating that David considered that Messiah would be divine.
The Pharisees had no answer for Jesus’ logic on this point. I don’t think that they had ever really considered it. And I don’t believe that they were willing to consider it even though it had been explained by Jesus of Nazareth so well. It was probably a simple matter of
Don’t Confuse Me with the Facts!
They had made up their minds about Jesus long before hand, and they were not going to let anything persuade them otherwise.
Let’s consider now how
AN INCOMPLETE UNDERSTANDING CAN LEAD TO DANGER
AN INCOMPLETE UNDERSTANDING CAN LEAD TO DANGER
Partial knowledge can burn a house down
Shortly after our oldest son, Tim, was born, I left my position as Minister of Music at a church in Waterbury, CT and our small family moved to Michigan. I eventually ended up working at a retail ceiling fan and lighting store in Utica. I learned a lot about installing ceiling fans and light fixtures at that store because I had to teach it to the customers. The thing is that installing them in the store was under ideal conditions. The owners had put up a structure made from 2x4’s and 2x6’s which had the metal electrical boxes attached to the sturdy frames.
One lady offered to pay me $35 if I would come over to her place and install a ceiling fan for her. Needing the extra cash I agreed to do so. But I found out very quickly that putting up a fan in a home is a whole lot different than doing it in the store. The wires were different colors than I was used to. The electrical box in the ceiling was made of plastic and not metal, and it was not anchored into any sort of support. And I did not know how to anchor it. I informed her of my dilemma, but she wanted me to do the best I could. So I finished the job. The fan did not shake, and she was happy. Then as I left I prayed for days that this fan would not catch the house on fire!
An incomplete knowledge of a given subject can lead to a dangerous situation. And in the case of the Pharisees that dangerous situation was eternal damnation.
What do you think about the Christ is the question of the ages. And how you answer that question is very telling indeed. There are many today, including Jews, Muslims, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses who would agree that Jesus was a great teacher and a great prophet. They may even consider Him to be a Messiah of some sort. But they do not believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. And the commitment to their partial knowledge will send them to hell if they do not change their beliefs before it is too late.
“We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.”
He is the way, and the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him. He came unto His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to as many as did receive, He gave them the right to become children of God — to those who believe in His name.
If you have never believed in His name, I implore you to seriously consider what you think about the Christ.
One group of songwriters wrote this in collaboration:
His name is Master, Savior, Lion of Judah, Blessed Prince of Peace;
Shepherd, Fortress, Rock of Salvation — Lamb of God is He.
Son of David, King of the Ages, Eternal Life; Holy Lord of Glory — His name is life.
Let’s pray
Closing Song: No. 117
No.
His Name is Life