March 22, 2020 - Sunday Service

Will like most of you guys I am I am about to be on lockdown and most people are scrambling to find entertainment during this. I'm not I'm no different by I've been pretty busy. But in the meantime, I've been I've been looking around trying to figure out what to watch one of my favorite shows to watch his is The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon the problem with the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is it comes on really really late at night? Usually well after I go to bed and this The Tonight Show has some has some segments that I really like to have hashtags and superlatives. They also have a really interesting thing where they re bring celebrities on and then they kick songs and they put them into Google translate and they'll take a song that you're familiar with and then they put it in Google Translate which changes into another language and then we'll put it in through Google translate again and change it into another different language and then we'll put it in Google Translate again put into another language and then they change it back to English. Then what they do is they have the celebrity read the words of the three-time translated song and it's pretty funny because the song even though it's the same words in different languages gets changed into something very very different. What are the hardest things about teaching the Bible is that we're dealing with a text that's been translated twice. It's in a different culture. It's in a different time altogether. Sometimes as we study and understand the Bible it's hard for us not to lose things in Translation, believe it or not. This was something that Jesus struggled with are at least the people who are in Jesus's time struggled with when it came to understanding who the Messiah was. Well, we're going to be getting back to the Book of Matthew this week and we're going to be in Matthew chapter 22 were going to be looking at vs41 246. If you remember it's been a couple weeks since we've been in Matthew, but if you remember Matthew is sharing with us the details of the final week of Jesus's ministry here on Earth. He's in the city of Jerusalem. He enters to a a great and triumphal entry. He goes to the temple courts and sees the temple being used and ungodly ways. He clears out the temple and begins healing and teaching in the temple. Bring the temple back to what it was originally meant to be but the religious or the religious leaders describes the Pharisees the Sanhedrin are not too thrilled with this. So they set up a series of traps for Jesus. They asked him about paying taxes to roam about the resurrection. And about which of The Commandments is the greatest and even though these questions were meant to trap Jesus. Jesus turns them around on the people that were asking asking about them and uses them to show his power and his might Well in Matthew chapter 22, Jesus is finishing up this time of questioning in Jesus turns the tables once again on the religious leaders, here's what it says in Matthew chapter 22 verses 41 246 Jesus ask them. Who do you think? What do you think about the Messiah whose son? Is he the son of David? They replied he said to then how is it that David speaking by the spirit calls him Lord for he says the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. Ethan David calls him Lord, how can he be? A son? No one could say a word in reply and from that day. No one dared to ask him any more questions only father Lord as we approach your word today as we consider what this passage means I pray that it would not be lost in translation for us so that we would not just hear your word but we would understand its meaning and its meaning would have great power and and great meaning in our lives Lord as we Ponder who is the Messiah today or give us wisdom and guidance that comes through your Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen. Well looking at this passage. Jesus has been asked the number of questions. And finally he turns the tables on the religious leaders starting in verse 41 and 42 where it says this while the Pharisees were gathered together, but this was right after Jesus had finished telling them about the greatest commandment Jesus ask them a question up till now Jesus had been being asked questions now Jesus Takes the opportunity to ask them questions. Birth. 42 says it what do you think about the Messiah whose son is he right here? Jesus has the attention of the religious leaders. He's answered their questions about taxes about the resurrection about the Commandments. And and now he wants to bring up some obvious points about the Messiah to the religious leader and ask about what they thought about him as the Messiah. I think we already know what their answer would have been to that but instead he asked what they believed about the Messiah himself. His question was whose son? Is he Jesus s a fairly simple question, but I had a much deeper answer than the Pharisees. So thought simply put Jesus is asking them. The Messiah is the son of who Wellmark 111. We we get a pretty definitive answer to this when it says this and a voice Came From Heaven. You are my son whom I love with you. I am well pleased that's about the only place in the gospel where we see the answer to this question John 3:16. This beloved verse also tells us this for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What are the Pharisees answer in verse 42? Verse 42 it says what do you think about the Messiah whose son? Is he the Pharisees reply the son of David the Pharisees understood Jesus is question 2B, which Jewish wine would the Messiah be descended from a human perspective their answer was correct, but ultimately their answer was incomplete. 2nd Samuel verse 7 verses 15 and 16 we read this about the reign of David but my love will never be taken away from him that big David as I took it away from Saw whom I removed from before you your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me your throne will be established forever. David was a human man, who's lived a human life, but God promises from the very beginning of David's Reign that his kingdom would endure forever and his throne would be established forever the idea. They're even at the very beginning of David dream was there was something about David that went beyond just being a man. In the Book of Ezekiel written many years after the death of Jesus. God has this to say through his Prophet Ezekiel. My servant David will be king over them and they will Ohio have one Shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land. I gave to their servant Jacob the land where your ancestors lived they and their children and their children's children will live there forever and David my servant will be there Prince forever. This Promise about the davidic Covenant about the reign of David the Messiah and the Jewish religious leaders saw these passages as Messianic passages It was very clear that we were talking about more than just a man. They will live forever. David would be there Prince forever while there were many passages in the Old Testament that clearly stated that the coming Messiah would be a descendant of David. It was just as clear from the Old Testament that the Messiah would be far more than just a human King the Pharisees choose to focus on the Earthly portions of the Messiah and they overlooked the clear teaching that the Messiah was for more than just a Man 1 versus 43 245. We see Jesus teaches that the Messiah was greater than David. You know what? The Hebrew word is for God. It's the Hebrew word. Yahweh Jews. Even a Jesus time held this word in such high regard that not only would they not say the word allowed but when they wrote the name of God, they would leave out the letters or simply use a different word altogether often Jews would substitute the Hebrew word Adonai, which is often translated Lord for Yahweh to honor the sacred name of God. I don't know if you've ever noticed this button in your Bible in the English Bible, you'll sometimes see Lord spelled with all capital letters. This is actually the translators of the Bible showing us where Jews have substituted Adonai for Yahweh. When you see that you can know that the Jews are actually talking about God. What was may not be obvious at our first reading since we are reading a translation of a translation but this is what was happening in the passage that Jesus point out to the Pharisees. Let's look at this worse again because Jesus says it says the Batman verse 43 he said to them, how is it that David speaking by the spirit calls him Lord for he says the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies at your feet clearly put what this passage is. Rita's saying is the Lord Yaweh said to my Lord or David Lord Adonai sit at my right hand in other words David addresses the Messiah not as his offspring, but as his Lord and God Well, this may be tricky for us to translate. It shouldn't have been tricky for the religious leaders. They grew up in this language. They understood what they were reading. It was very clear from this passage that David saw the Messiah not as his offspring but as his God Jesus makes a couple of important points about the Messiah from this one pass. Number one. We're told by Jesus that David is speaking by the spirit while the Pharisees already saw someone 10 as a Messianic song. Jesus goes out of his way to point out that David was writing by the spirit. In other words. We weren't just David's words. These were the words of God speaking through David. We see this exact same language used in Revelation 1:10 where it talks about John being in the spirit as he writes down the words of the Book of Revelation. The other another point that Jesus makes is that David is making the same point that many other passages in the Old Testament make in confirming the messiah's deity for the Jews to sit at the right hand of God was to be considered equal to God in both Rank and Authority which brings up an important question. Where is Jesus Christ today? What the Bible gives us a very definitive answer to this question first in 1st Peter 3:22. We read this who that being. Jesus has gone into heaven. And is that the right eggs at God's right hand with angels authorities and powers in submission to him Hebrews 12:2 says this looking to Jesus the founder and Perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated. At the right hand of the Throne of God. David is making the point here that not only is the Messiah a descendant of David. He is the equal in rank and authority to God and at this moment is in the very presence of God the third point that David makes from this passage is while their original answer was not technically wrong. It was far from right? They had an unnecessarily small view of the Messiah and was part of the reason that they could not recognize Jesus even when he was standing right in front. Do you have a minute? Of course you do you sitting here listening to this. You got all the time in the world. So let's play a game. We're going to do obviously can't see them because you're going to I'm going to give you a clue to the object and then you're going to guess what the object is. Alright, you ready? I got my first object. Here's your clue. It's white. I'll give you five seconds. Are you have an object? All right. I'm going to tell you what the object is. Let's see if you got it. Right. I have a autographed Chase Utley baseball. If you said an autograph Chase Utley baseball you got that one. Correct? Good job. All right, let's go to item. Number two. I'm going to give you another another clue. Let's see if you get to see if you get that one right then. My next object is it's light. Light as in not heavy. I got to give you a couple seconds. Are you ready? I have a hand-drawn picture, but my son Ezekiel of a truck. It's not very heavy. But it's he did a really nice job. He's quite an artist. So did you get that one? Right? What did you get the Hand drawn picture by Ezekiel. That's the correct answer to that. So we got Chase Utley baseball hand drawn picture by Ezekiel. I'm sure most of you are 242 right now. So let's let's go number 3. Here's a clue it's used.

Are you got it? I got it right here. I'm looking right at it home and it's my coffee mug, and if you look inside she sadly can't see but if you were to look inside, I'm showing at the dentist right now. If you look inside the coffee mug, I don't even clean the saying disgusting, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, I can't tell you how many consecutive cups of coffee I've had since the last time. I wash a small the picture for my son is he Keel and Pastor George has really really use coffee mug. You get all three of them right? Well chances are you probably didn't at why was that exercise so hard? Well, let's be honest my Clues kind of spunk right? You just didn't have enough information to really give an accurate guess.

This is what was happening with the Pharisees and the people of Jesus's time. They were waiting for a messiah. But while the wall the Bible had given them plenty of information plenty of ways to recognize the power and the might of the Messiah. It's like they were trying to figure out the Messiah by only using one thing. The Bible gives us a lot of information about who the Messiah was where he would come from what he would do. How he would treat the people that he came in contact with. In other words in Jesus's point to the Pharisees were you've been given enough information to recognize me you just aren't looking hard enough. So what lessons is Jesus trying to teach as he says he would this question to the Pharisees. Number one, I think he's encouraging encourage them and us to keep your view of God big earlier in the day. Jesus died for their small view of the power of God, and he is with the hearing is the Pharisees that are having the exact same issue. Tell story I want to share with you a little boy who lived far out in the country in the late 1800s had reached the age of 12 and he had never in all his life seen a circus you can imagine his excitement when one day a poster went up at a school announcing that on the next Saturday a traveling circus was coming to a nearby town here and home with the Glad news and a question. Dad. Can I go over the family was poor the father sense how important it was for the young boy. If you do your Saturday chores ahead of time. He said I'll see to it that you had the money to go come Saturday morning. The chores were done and the little boy stood at The Breakfast Table dressed in his Sunday Best his father reached down into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill the most money the little boy had possessed at one time in all his life. The father caution tape to be careful and then he sent him on his way to the town. The boy was so excited his feet hardly seem to touch the ground all the way as he near the outskirts of the village. He noticed people lining the streets. He worked his way through the crown until he could see what was happening and lo and behold it was the approaching spectacle of the circus parade. The parade was the grandest thing the boy that ever seen caged animal snarled as they pass bands beat their Rhythm and sounded shining horns midgets performed acrobat white flag with red ribbon swirled overhead. Finally after everything had passed very was standing was a traditional circus clown. With floppy shoes baggy pants and a brightly painted face. That's what brought up the rear as a clown passed by the little boy reached into his pocket and took out the dollar bill. He handed the money to the clown and the boy turned around and went home. What happened the boys thought he had seen the circus. When he'd really only just seen the parade. John 10:10 says this the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy. I have come that you may have life and have it to the fool. What the Pharisees in an attempt to explain an all-powerful God we sometimes can limit who he is. God desires to make our lives so much more than what we would choose for ourselves. What that little boy? Sometimes we live our life of faith and we think that that's all there is. But God has life abundant for us. Sometimes our view of God is too small Jesus over and over again with the religious leaders here and Matthew are trying to get them to have a larger view of an all-powerful God. The first lesson that Jesus desires for us to learn is that our God is big. And we need to follow that big. What what what else is Jesus trying to teach In this passage? Well, the second thing would be to know your Bible Jesus. It's clearly disappointed disappointed that the religious leaders of the Jews had such a poor grasp on the word of God on several occasions. He's been able to collapse the entire theology with a verse or two. Hopefully as followers of Jesus our knowledge of who God is and what he has done for us is more than just what your pastor tells you it is. 2nd Timothy 2:15 says this do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handle the word of Truth.

We are followers of Jesus Christ. We need to be able to rightly handle and understand God's word if our knowledge of the Bible is simply limited to what someone else tells us. There's something wrong with that. For the people for the Jews of Jesus's time and even the religious leaders their knowledge of God wasn't based on the word of God. It was based on tradition. It was based on a whole lot of things other than God's word Jesus desire for them was to know their Bible to know the truth of the word of God and for that to drive who they were. The final thing that Jesus desired must have learned from this passage is that the offer is still there back in Matthew chapter 19 jesus takes his disciples aside and ask them openly who they think he is and gives them the opportunity to believe and be saved we looked at this passage a number of weeks ago. Jesus reaches out after all the ministry and all the healing and all the things they've been through and I said, what about you? Who do you say that I am If you're feeling up here in Jerusalem only a day or so before he would go to the Cross even now after all the religious leaders have done and said after all the traps and the tricks and the trying to turn the Romans and the Jews against Jesus hear. Jesus is still getting them an opportunity to be seen. What was the point of Jesus's question. He wanted them to see the true Messiah not the Messiah was a descendant of a certain human line, but that the Messiah was the son of God who came to seek and to save those who are lost. Even now even in these final moments. Jesus is reaching out to people who most likely are not going to listen, but even when they don't listen Jesus does not stop reaching out. This is exactly what we read in 2nd Peter 3:9 when it says the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness instead. He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. The same is true today. God is not slow even in this crazy world that we're living in now God is not slow with us. He's patient. He wishes for not one person to miss the gift of everlasting life that comes only through the Messiah but that each and every person would have the opportunity to repent and be saved. Enclosing two very simple question. Have you recognized and accepted the Messiah the people of Jesus time at least the vast majority of them stood face-to-face with the Messiah.

animist here today, we can stand face-to-face in the knowledge of the Messiah and miss it. We can know the name of Jesus. We can know the things that Jesus have done but still not be saved the Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin according to the Book of Romans is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his son. If anyone confesses with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead they would be saved. The promise of the Gospel is simple.

but its impact on her life is not there's anyone here that's listening today who's never accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. I pray that they would do so the amazing thing about the gospel as you don't have to be in a church to get saved. You don't have to be around anyone else. You can sit on your couch or wherever you're listening to this and you can call on the name of Jesus Christ and be saved the Messiah is here. And salvation is for all who call on the name of Jesus Christ. It's closing for thank you for the opportunity to gather together around your word Lord. I pray that we would not miss the truth that is right in front of us that the Messiah has come. He has covered our sins through his death and resurrection and offered us eternal life. So that we can be children of God. There's anyone here is not accepted that truth for themselves. I pray that they would today pray that they would not miss the Messiah who is standing right in front of them. Are we thank you for this day. We thank you for being with us. Even as we go through strange and difficult times though. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We fear no evil for you are with us your rod and your staff. They Comfort us. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending your son that no matter what happens in this world where the promise of Life Everlasting? It's all these things in Jesus Christ name.