Sermon Tone Analysis

During Jesus’ long Monday at the temple during His last few days before Calvary, He was questioned by the religious leaders to try to discredit His claim as the Son of God.

They failed in their attempts, as Jesus silenced them, and now it was Jesus’ turn to ask a question.

The question that Jesus directed towards the Pharisees is “The Most Important Question Ever Asked!”

“What do you think about the Christ?

Whose Son is He? [Mt.

22:42]

Text; Mark 12:35-40

1.

What do you think about the Christ?

35

Christ- Gk. χριστός, lit. the ‘Anointed One’).

The word is the Gk.

translation of the Heb.

‘*Messiah’.

Christos and Messiah are the Greek and the Hebrew for the same word, and both mean the Anointed One.

The reason for the use of the title is that in ancient times a man was made king by being anointed with oil.

Christos and Messiah then both mean “God’s Anointed King”, the great one who is to come from God to save his people.

Jesus asked a specific question about the Messiah: “Whose Son is He?” Think about the Messiah.

What is His origin?

Who gave birth to Him? What do the scriptures say?

Jesus was asking three things.

a.

Where does your deliverance come from?

The Messiah is to deliver man from all the evil and enslavements of the world.

Where will such a Person come from?

b.

Where does your Lord come from—the Person you are to follow?

The Messiah is to be the Lord who is to rule and reign and govern all lives, executing perfect justice and care.

c.

Where does your peace come from—the Person who is to bring about the perfect world and all that is good and beneficial?

Where does the Person come from who is to bring the Kingdom of God to earth?

Their answer;

“Son of David”- the Jewish people viewed the messiah as nothing more than a man.

The messiah would be a son (descendant) of David and, like him, defeat Israel’s enemies and usher in the glorious kingdom.

The genealogies of Jesus offer irrefutable proof that He was a descendant of David.

Both His earthly father, Joseph (Matt.

1:1–17), and His mother, Mary (Luke 3:23–38), were direct descendants of David, thus Jesus was also.

The temple had the records and no doubt were verified by the Sanhedrin.

Matter of fact, no one ever challenged Christs’ Davidic linage!

2. David calls Him LORD; 36-37

The religious leaders were half right in saying the Christ is “The Son of David” but they were not willing to confess that the Christ is “The Son of God.”

Jesus quotes a psalm of David that the Jews considered a Messianic psalm

The Messiah is both David’s Son and David’s Lord at the same time.

Jesus was saying that David himself didn’t think the Messiah would be just a descendant; instead, David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, realized that the Messiah would be God in flesh.

The God-Man, fully human, fully divine!

They had misread the scriptures concerning the Messiah as being not only the Son of David but also being the LORD God!

Why is this so important that Jesus be the God-Man?

Because if Jesus was just a man, we are still in our sin.

Another way of demonstrating Christ’s deity is to ask the question, “If God became a man, what would we expect Him to be like?”

First, if God became a man, we would expect Him to be sinless, because God is absolutely holy (Isa.

6:3).

So is Jesus.

Even His bitter enemies could make no reply to His challenge, “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46).

He is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Heb.

7:26).

Second, if God became a man, we would expect His words to be the greatest words ever spoken, because God is omniscient, perfectly wise, and has infinite command of the truth and the ability to perfectly express it.

Jesus’ words demonstrated all that.

The officers sent to arrest Him reported back to their superiors, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (John 7:46; cf.

Matt.

7:28–29).

Third, if God became a man, we would expect Him to display supernatural power, because God is all-powerful.

Jesus controlled nature, walked on water, healed the sick, raised the dead, dominated the kingdom of Satan and the demons, supernaturally avoided those who tried to kill Him, and performed miracles too numerous to be counted (John 21:25).

Fourth, if God became a man, we would expect Him to exert a profound influence over humanity.

Jesus did.

He changed the world like no one else in history.

Fifth, if God became a man, we would expect Him to manifest God’s love, grace, kindness, compassion, justice, judgment, and wrath.

Jesus did.

Look at the Cross!

Jesus Christ was in every way the exact representation of God’s nature (Heb.

1:3).

(John Macarthur, Luke 18–24, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2014], 155–58)

Ordinary common people gladly heard Him! Do you hear Him talking to you today?

3. A Day of Reckoning; 38-40

Jesus warns the people not to be like the religious leaders playing a game of religion at the expense of their own soul and to the detriment of others.

Privilege creates responsibility.

These religious leaders had been given the Law of God to guide them into a relationship with the Lord and that they would guide God’s people Israel.

Yet they had not taken advantage of that privilege.

Their judgment will be more severe than those who have never heard the Word!

They knew Jesus was the Son of David, their Messiah, the Anointed King of God and they refused to repent and believe!

Close;

Most people today are like the scribes and the Pharisees.

They believe the Bible stories about Jesus.

They love the image of that baby in a manger.

They enjoy reading about Him feeding multitudes, healing the sick, preaching sermons, raising the dead and walking on water.

They even like the story of the cross and the resurrection.

What a powerful testimony of a good man and His desire to help others.

But just like the scribes and Pharisees most people in our culture cannot grasp the truth that Jesus Christ is more than a baby in a manger, or a man who got Himself crucified on a cross.

They cannot seem to grasp the truth that He is God in human flesh!

They cannot get their minds around the truth that He is the only way to God; that He is the only hope of salvation.

Let me ask you the most important question you will ever be asked,

What do you think about the Christ?

Whose Son is He?