Sermons

Good morning. If you can open your Bibles please to Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20. The town that I was born in is called Ballymoney. And it was nicknamed by everybody in the country, Cow Town, or Cow Town. And it's amazing in the providence of God that He would take a boy from Cow Town and bring him so close to the stockyards of Fort Worth. What a dream come true. It's also very unnerving when the first hymn in church is happy birthday.

So, I think we better go to the Lord in prayer. Let's do that now.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we are so thankful to find ourselves in this place. And we want to recognize that that is a privilege that is ours, not because we deserve it, but because You called us to Yourself. In Christ, King Jesus left the glory of heaven to come and walk on earth, to experience the afflictions of being a holy one walking amidst a sinful generation. And that ultimately, He went to the cross and suffered and paid the price that by that means alone the guilty may be saved. We thank You for the work of the Holy Spirit to seek after the lost, to remove the scales from eyes, to replace that heart of stone with a heart of flesh that beats in worship for King Jesus. And we recognize that in all these things, we are simply debtors, that we have been saved by grace alone, that all glory belongs to King Jesus. And so, we ask that as we come in these moments to the very word of God, that You would take from us the distractions of this week, the panic of this day and moment, that You would allow us the grace to be still and know that You are God, to hear the voice of heaven, to be called to see the glory of the Son and to worship Him accordingly. So Lord, we ask for that work of the Holy Spirit in these moments to allow the heart to see that which it has to this point not been affected by, that we would see more of Christ. For it's in His name we ask it. Amen.

We come this morning really to the end of Luke 20. There's a few more verses. We'll kind of look at them together with what comes next. This morning we're gonna focus in verses 41 to 44 of Luke chapter 20. We are now late Wednesday afternoon, the week that Jesus will die. Late Wednesday afternoon, He will be crucified on Friday, He will rise on Sunday. So, we are very close to the end at this point.

And He spent this day, so close to His departure, answering aggressive questions from those supposed religious leaders that want to trip Him up. Back in chapter 19, verse 47, do you remember what we read? And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people. What does it say? Were seeking to destroy him.

And in chapter 20, verse one, we read, One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up. And those who had been plotting on this particular Wednesday started to ask questions. In fact, different groups began to ask questions, groups that had nothing else to unify them except their hatred of Jesus Christ. In chapter 20, verse 19, we read again about the scribes and the chief priests. They sought to lay hands on Him, it says. And then in verse 20 of this chapter, we realize that because of the crowd, they can't do it. And it says, so they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might catch him in something he said. And they come, these spies, and they ask Him a question about paying taxes to Caesar. Oh, if we can't get Him on religious grounds, maybe we can get Him on the civil ground. We can try and cause Him to trip up.

And whenever that doesn't work, then another group, again, that would have ultimately been at odds with the Pharisees and certainly at odds with Herodians and those who were supportive of Caesar, the Sadducees in verse 27, they come up and they ask questions to Jesus about the nature of the resurrection, which is funny because they didn't even believe in a resurrection.

And then in verse 40, look at verse 40 of chapter 20. We read; they no longer dared to ask him any questions. They no longer dared to ask Him any questions, not because He didn't have questions to ask, not because their hearts softened, not because they suddenly felt a warmth towards Jesus, but because they had come to realize He was too smart for them, too biblical for them, He had too much integrity for them, that they were not able to catch Him up. Every time they asked a question, it only showed the crowd that Jesus knew more than they did. And so, they go silent, not in a spirit of humility, but in a spirit of desperation.

And yet, verse 41 begins, but they wanted to be silent, but Jesus is about to speak. And He's got something to say to them. In fact, He's got a question that will ultimately expose them and reveal Himself. A question that shows how the religious leaders, the teachers of the law, those who were the experts in religion of His day, those who ruled the temple courts, that those very individuals didn't really know what they were talking about. It's a very short section, but it's loaded with correction, and it's loaded with the revelation about the nature of who Jesus is. Rather than let the room go silent, Jesus now speaks, highlighting that He is the One who speaks with authority. He warns the enemy that they are in danger, and He wants to highlight how little they knew.

So can I ask you to stand while we read verses 41 to 44 of Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20 and reading from verse 41.

(Scripture reading) "But he said to them, how can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. David thus calls him Lord. So how is he his son?" (ESV)

Have a seat.

After a day of questioning comes a question to expose the foolishness of questioning hearts. A question that ultimately reveals that they didn't get it. That before them stood not just a smart man with good answers, but the Lord Himself, the Lord of all. And so I have a very simple outline.

A. The subject He addressed — v. 41

We're just gonna work down the text, but the first thing I want you to see in the text this morning is the subject that Jesus addressed. The subject He addressed there in verse 41. If you look again at verse 41, but he said to them, how can they say that the Christ or the Messiah, the Anointed One, is David's son? The subject matter that Jesus is addressing in the temple courts that day is the Davidic Messiah. The One that was promised in the Old Testament, a descendant of David that would come, that would lead the people, that was sent by God, anointed by God, set apart by God to do an incredible work. The word Christ—we're so used to the phrase Christ. We talk about Jesus as Christ in the way that somebody would so often talk about me as either Andrew or Curry.

In school, I used to get called Curry all the time when you were playing soccer or any other sport. It's just what boys do in school. They call you by your last name. Curry, pass the ball. Curry, why did you miss? That sort of thing goes on. Well, Christ is not His last name. It's a title. And we need to correct our mind because whenever He is called Jesus Christ, it's a statement about the nature of His office. If we were using Hebrew, call Him Jesus Messiah. Jesus, the title means Anointed One. Anointed One, that's what it means.

And what it referred to, what that title embodied was in the Old Testament there were certain offices, certain roles, certain responsibilities or callings that were given to individuals where under the direction of God they were anointed with oil. It's a sign that they were being set apart for this particular responsibility. So, prophets in the Old Testament were anointed by God to carry out that specific responsibility. Priests under the direction of God in the Old Testament were anointed in order to carry out that particular office. Kings were anointed under the direction of God to take up that particular role of authority.

This is so Christ or Messiah. It speaks of one who was set apart, anointed for a particular special purpose. But the Old Testament also spoke, not just of a general group, even if it was a small group of individuals who would be anointed for particular roles that were needed in Jewish society. But the Old Testament spoke of the Christ, or the Messiah, or the Anointed One who would ultimately come.

He was One that was promised long ago. And He, this particular Messiah, this particular Anointed One, He was spoken of in the Old Testament as One who would have a reign that was greater and more significant than any that had ever come before. One that was stronger than one that had ever been seen in Jewish history previously. And so, the Jews of Jesus' day were rubbing their hands in anticipation, were filled with a deep longing, especially because of the Roman occupation of their land for the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One to arrive.

And the Old Testament was laden with clues, descriptions about the nature and work and origins of this great One to come. And in particular, one of the things that were highlighted in the Old Testament was that He would be a descendant of David. Sometimes He's called David's Greater Son, really based on the promises that God made to David, the Davidic covenant there in 2 Samuel chapter seven. Now that's important to know. It's important to know the background to get what Jesus is saying.

Because the Jews of His day, they thought they really were the experts on the Davidic Messiah, the Greater Son of David that would come. If there was anything they thought they were really knowledgeable about, it was every detail concerning who this One would be, what He would be like. But the irony is that standing before them was the Greater Son of David. Standing in the temple courts that day was the great Anointed One, the Greater Son of David. But actually, what Jesus then communicates is that there is much about the nature of the Greater Son of David that they hadn't actually grasped. And He does that not by revealing something that hadn't been revealed, but by going to the very book that they thought they were experts in, going to the Old Testament scriptures. And with just one verse, He exposes their ignorance.

B. The verse He quoted — vv. 42–43

So, the second thing I want you to see in the text is the verse He quoted. The verse that He quoted, look at verses 42 and 43.

It says, for David himself says in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Well, what you have in front of you is a quote, quote in the New Testament, of a verse in the Old Testament, in particular Psalm 110:1. And if that particular verse sounds familiar to you, that makes sense because it's the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament. It appears many times in the pages of the New Testament.

It's a particular Psalm that spoke of this Greater Son of David, that the nature of the Messiah, the nature of the One who would come. And it speaks in particular of His reign, His kingly reign at the beginning. And then it also speaks of His priestly work as well from verse 4 on.

And in Psalm 110, if you were to flick back there right now, you would see before verse one, before verse one, I know, is there a before verse one? Well, there is. You would see different Bible versions printed differently, but you might notice it says in your Bible, sometimes they have a subject title or a heading, but then below it, it has maybe in a different font or all capitals or whatever it is, it reads before verse one, a Psalm of, what does it say? Does it say David in your book, in your Bible?

Yes, because it should. Because that's not an add-on. That's not something that has been written by, you know, your English editor years later. That's something that's in the inspired text. The inspired text says, a Psalm of David. In other words, who wrote this? David, that's not up for debate. If you read commentaries, you'll find debate. Commentators love to debate everything, including what the text says in the black and white. But this is not up for debate.

This is a Psalm of David because it is a Psalm of David. David wrote this. That's what Jesus is saying here. When He says in Luke 20:42, for David himself says, Jesus is saying, the Bible's accurate. That subscription, that little phrase that comes before, that's inspired. That what we are about to think about are the words of David himself. That's what we're to understand. And people of Jesus' day in the temple courts, no matter how much we want to debate these things today, they all understood that. Nobody was debating, did David write Psalm 110? Everybody got that. Everybody understood that.

And yet in this Psalm, David speaks about the qualities that will mark the Greater Son. So, this Psalm reveals, in fact, verse one of this Psalm reveals that there was One, the Messiah, who was spoken of with divine approval. The Psalm speaks of One who has divine approval. Look again in Luke 20 at verse 41. As the Psalm is initially quoted, it says, how can they say that Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.

Now, again, remember we're in the New Testament, but we're quoting from the Old Testament, originally given in Hebrew. And Josh had us read earlier, and he had us read from a translation of the scriptures that translate sometimes what you find in the Old Testament, the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the title is Yahweh. Yahweh. And what Psalm 110 says, is the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D said to the capital L, lowercase o, lowercase r, lowercase d, or Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.

In other words, the two terms are not interchangeable. Now, we've got to be careful what that also means. It doesn't mean one term is lesser than the other, absolutely not. It just means they're referring to different things, or different entities, or different persons.

That in Psalm 110:1, there is Yahweh, a title exclusively used for the God above all, and there is another called Lord, or you could translate it, Master, that would actually be a great translation. Master, if we're going to translate capital L-O-R-D as Yahweh, we should really translate L-O-R-D, lowercase, as Master, if we're going to truly understand where these things are coming up. It's not a lesser title; it's one that speaks to something.

That He is the One with authority. And so, David, again remember it's written by David, is speaking of two different individuals that are both, two different persons I should say, that are both in a higher position than he is. And we have God, the divine, and this other individual, He receives from Yahweh the full approval and indeed the shared dignity, which if He was just a human would be blasphemous. He is to sit at His right hand. In other words, come and sit beside Me in a place of shared honor. In a way that speaks of Our togetherness, in a way that speaks of Your dignity, the shared dignity that They possessed. So here is a Psalm that makes clear that the Messiah would come with divine approval, but also this Psalm was one that spoke of supreme authority, that the Messiah would have supreme authority.

The individual is not simply pictured as standing beside the divine. What is He pictured as doing? Well, it's sitting, not on a standard wooden seat, not in a pew or anything else, on a throne. You get that idea reinforced by the footstool that is mentioned after. This is a position of reigning. And that's to be understood as a position of authority.

In other words, He's not just One who is honored by proximity, He's One who's sharing a position or a role of authority, a supreme authority, given the nature of the very throne He sits in. And notice this authority, it's not one simply in Jerusalem. As people who are anticipating King Jesus, the King of the Jews to come and reign in the New Jerusalem, we can sometimes miss this. But Psalm 110:1, it's not picturing Him sitting in Jerusalem. Where is He pictured? Well, He's on a heavenly throne. He's on a higher throne. He's in a far more supreme position than any throne you would find in a capital city of this world. Here is One sitting on the throne of heaven, the King on high.

So, this Psalm is one that spoke of One. It was one that spoke of divine approval, it was one that spoke of supreme authority, and it is one that spoke of conquered enemies. Look at verse 43. Again, it's the end of that Psalm, that verse. It says, until He'll sit on that throne, until I make your enemies your footstool.

Now again, who's Jesus talking to? His enemies. Remember all those people who were out to get Him? Jesus is not a pushover, okay? Sometimes people think of Jesus as always pulling back. He is not a pushover. He is strong. And He knows what's coming. He knows these very same men are plotting His death. His crucifixion's coming two days later.

But this is not a weak pulling back Jesus. He quotes here a verse that speaks in particular of what these people will have come to them unless they repent. That His enemies, and they very literally are enemies standing in front of Him who have been questioning Him, that they will be made, it says, in verse 43, His footstool. It's a picture of it being brought into submission, into a lower position, being trampled under His authority.

Man, this was something that the ancient world was full of. In ancient Egypt, Pharaohs like Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun, there are pictures. In fact, his shoes had pictures of his enemies of the traditional nations that rivaled, that fought with Egypt, he had them painted on the bottom of his shoes or his sandals. So that as he walked around, he was walking on the faces of his enemies. Syrians, the Hittites, the Persians, you can find multiple stone carvings of victorious kings and rulers, and they are seen with their enemy kings. The enemy kings are on the ground, and their foot is on their neck.

They are trampled under their authority. The Roman emperors took up the same picture because it was rooted in the ancient world. And there's monumental statues of these great emperors and their feet are planted on the neck of the captured barbarian soldier. In fact, in the third century, so we're talking after this time, this idea goes on for a while. The Persians captured Emperor Valerian.

And what the Persians did with the Roman emperor was they used him, the king of Persia, used him as a literal footstool whenever he wanted to mount his horse. He was brought out, he was made to get down on all fours, and he was used as a stepping stool onto the horse.

The most famous literal example of this is actually in the Bible, it's Joshua chapter 24, or sorry, Joshua 10:24. After defeating five Amorite kings, Joshua commanded the army leaders, it says, quote, come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.

A physical act to remove fear from the Jewish soldiers because what's being declared in this picture is total victory. And so, the point here being made in this Psalm, in part, is that those men who threatened to catch Jesus, He's now threatening them. God is gonna make you Christ's footstool. You're gonna be under Him, trampled underfoot. So, this is a Davidic Psalm, one that spoke of divine approval, one that spoke of supreme authority, one that spoke of conquered enemies, all about this great Christ who would come. And at one level, every Jew in the temple knew that.

None of what I have told you would have been surprising to them. But there was something in the black and white they missed. Something they'd never noticed before. Have you ever noticed sometimes whenever you listen to preaching? In fact, the best preaching doesn't say something creative. What the best preaching does is it draws your attention to something in the black and white that you have never studied or thought carefully about. There's a word that's there that's always been there. You've probably read it a million times. You never thought about it.

And how that shapes and changes the sentence, and therefore, what is being stated. Well, here we come to the Prince of Preachers, the true King. And He does just that. He highlights something that they had all missed.

C. The point He makes — v. 44

So, here's what I want you to note. The point that He makes. Jesus is quoting a Psalm that's laden with description but look at verse 44 and see the point that He draws their attention to. David thus calls him Lord or Master. So how is he, his son? Jesus asks a question that is really a rhetorical question, it's making a point.

And the point that it is making is this great Messiah, this great Christ, this great Anointed One, promised in the Old Testament, was One who preexisted His coming. And also, One who is preeminent above all. He is preexistent in His preeminence. It's always been the same. So let me break that down and explain what we mean by that. He preexisted, David. In other words, this One, spoken of, wasn't a greater son to be born in the future.

What's being communicated here in this Psalm, Jesus is saying, is that He already has been and forever was. Remember, this is a Psalm of David, according to Scripture. It was penned by David. And yet David, who speaks 1,200 years before Jesus is born in Bethlehem, he speaks not of One who is going to reign, not of One who is going to be approved, but of One who is already reigning and already approved by Yahweh. The Jews were looking for One who would come and reign, but David is actually singing about One who was already reigning, who preexisted, who was already and had always been already on that higher throne. So, He's communicating about this great Messiah that He preexisted, David. And secondly, He had greater power than David. Greater power. David spoke of the Messiah as my Lord or my Master. Now this is a bit they'd never thought about before. It's in the black and white, but they'd never thought about it before.

And in fact, so compelling was Jesus' theological argument. After this point going forward, the Jews, and there's lots of documented evidence to show that they agreed that this was a messianic Psalm, all up to this point, but so convincing is Jesus' argument here that that stops being spoken about in Jewish writing going forward.

Because Jesus is making a massive point that this Messiah, the Messiah, must be divine. Must be divine. Because He has an authority altogether superior. David in Scripture is clear; this is no ordinary man. This is not the best of men. This Messiah comes with a pre-existing divine authority. He is Lord overall. Never in a patriarchal society would a father refer to his son or any descendant as his lord. You don't do that. They didn't have a category for that. They didn't even think. Kings didn't think of their successors as their lord. They were the lords.

But David is singing. And he's singing not of my great son, what will He one day be? He's singing of One who is my Lord. My Master, the One whose authority is over me. So, He preexisted, David. He had greater power than David. And thirdly, He had greater power than David even back then. In other words, again, David's not saying one day He will have great power that is far more surpassing anything that I have ever achieved.

No, he's saying there and then. He has supreme authority. David is honoring his Lord, his Master here. He's not saying there will be One who will one day be born who will do great things. He's saying He is already doing great things. He is already reigning above all. He is already full of supreme authority.

Jesus is communicating that what made Jesus great, what makes Christ great, what makes the Messiah great is not that He will be a descendant of David. That is true, but that's secondary. What makes Him so great is He will reign with full authority and everybody, not will reign, He does reign with full authority, and everybody is under it. Everybody must obey.

He is in control of every detail of this existence. There is no higher throne. David is speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the fact that the One who would one day be born in Bethlehem, his Greater Son, currently exists. He is pre-existing Bethlehem. And He has preeminence above all other entities.

Conclusion

Now why does that matter? Just as we close, why does that matter? Because sometimes when we talk about the preexistence of Christ, the preexistence, preeminence, that's a mouthful, isn't it? What on earth has that got to do with you? It sounds grand. I know it's meant to be impressive, but why does that matter to us this morning? Why does His preexistent preeminence matter? Well, it matters because it reminds us that Christ was active in the Old Testament, doesn't it?

Sometimes as Christians, we, even we, fall into the trap of thinking His ministry began in Bethlehem. No. The statement of King David about the present reality and work of Christ in his day and age reminds us of the activeness of Christ throughout the Old Testament. His story always has been. His work has always been taking place. His rule is one from eternity past. What was He doing in the Old Testament? Well, we could go off on a whole Sunday just about that, couldn't we? Maybe when we get to Emmaus Road, we'll do just that. I don't know.

But He is reigning through the Old Testament over His people. He is caring for them. He is the One fighting their enemies. He is the One that is judging evil. He is guiding them through the wilderness. He is communing with His people. He is interceding for them. He is seeing the great need that they have of a lasting sacrifice and real heart change. He is active all the way through, doing an incredible work that we can only vain to understand and imagine. Helping and guiding Israel as the one true Lord.

Secondly, I think there's implication in that. It reminds us of the activeness of the ascended Christ today. Just like we can sometimes think of Jesus' ministry beginning in Bethlehem, we can also think of it ending outside Jerusalem whenever He ascended on high. And we can imagine Him with His feet up, not on the footstool of His enemies, but having a rest. And that would be a gross error.

There's no rest for the King who holds the universe together. And just like we have had a glimpse through the words of David that all the way through the Old Testament and His pre-existence, Christ was active and working and reigning, so too today as He has ascended on high, He has ascended to a throne and He is active and He is working and He is busy, He is working for His people. John 6:62.

John 6:62 says, then, what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? There's correlation here.

Just as He reigned and worked then, He reigns and works today. He fights for His people today. He cares for His people today. He reigns over His people today. He continues to intercede for His people today. Friends, our God, our Christ is working, is busy for the sake of His people. That this realization of the preexistence, preeminence of Christ, it also reminds us that the One who came left, and don't miss this, left glory to come.

He left glory to come. And I think that makes the act all the more incredible. Again, when He was born in Bethlehem, that wasn't His start. He preexisted in the most honored of positions, in the place of greatest dignity. John 17:5, Jesus says, and now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

He didn't come to get some attention. He didn't come to show what He was capable of. He came from the highest of heights, from the place of honor, from the place where He was worshiped day and night, from the place of supreme authority, He came. He wasn't created to serve. He came to serve. He voluntarily came to serve by leaving heaven's glory to willfully come down and walk in an earth where Scripture says He was scorned and rejected. Why?

Mark 10:45 says, because He wanted to save the lost. And we know His work on earth was incredible, but that condescension, that coming down to see it, is that not astounding?

Thirdly, this idea of the pre-existent, pre-eminence of Christ. It reminds us, as a natural follow-through, that His coming was the greatest act of love there could ever be. The greatest act of love there could ever be. The Father did not send a created helper. He sent the Eternal Son, that the One who sat beside Him, the One that shared His honor, the One that reigned with the Father, He was the One sent. There was nothing more precious to the Father than the relationship He had with what Scripture describes as His beloved Son. And that was eternally true. That didn't just begin because Jesus did a good job as He walked around this planet. That eternally was for all of time. They loved and enjoyed one another.

I remember, Sarah was pregnant with Isla. When it's your first pregnancy, you're particularly nervous and scared. And when Sarah was pregnant with Isla, there was a stage where we thought we had lost the pregnancy. In fact, we went through a two-week window where, with different medical advice, we really grieved.

We were sure that a miscarriage had taken place. And so we went to visit a couple who we were very close to in the church. And they were so kind to us. They had lost their boy. Sudden death while he was a baby in the crib. Awful. And they were so kind to spend time with us and console us.

And Jonathan, the gentleman, he said that he was trying to explain to me how he was able to process things or fight to process things. He said that what helped him the most was there was another couple in the church. And you can read about both of these stories in Safe in the Arms of God by John MacArthur. They're both recorded in that book.

But there was another couple in the church that lost their 14-year-old son. And he said it helped because they had fought to trust the Lord, to have found comfort in His sovereignty, to know that He must have known what He was doing, and yet that couple at one level had more to grieve than Jonathan.

Because they had 14 years of precious memories. 14 years of relationship getting deeper and deeper and deeper. And while Jonathan and his wife had lost, in a way that's hard to process, one that was so precious to them, without demeaning that reality, Jonathan was saying, and I saw that they had lost even more, because they had more. They had the opportunity to have more relationship, and so the pain was all the more stark when it was cut.

Friends, Christ and our Father for all of eternity, have loved one another in a way that we can never grasp. Talk about 14 years of memories, an eternity of memories, of connection, of relationship. That's why the Bible, I think, talks about God is love. What were They doing before the world? They were enjoying the relationship They had with one another. A relationship that was marked by love.

And it was out of that, an overflow from that, that God so loved the world and sent His one and only, His beloved Son. Now, whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ came down to bring the chosen into relationship with the triune God that we could enjoy something of the nature of a relationship They had soaked in for all eternity and found so much pleasure in. Christ didn't come out of a longing for you. He came out of His love for the Father and the Father's love for Him. It was an overflow of Their bond, a bond for all eternity that spilled into a plan to create and to save a people unto Themselves.

Lastly, as we think about why this matters, preexistent preeminence of Christ, it reminds us that He has always been deserving of our worship and obedience. We don't worship Him simply because of the cross. We do worship Him for the cross, but we don't worship Him simply because of the cross. He's always deserved your worship, and He's always deserved your obedience. This is no newcomer deity. He shares the glory with the Father and Holy Spirit. He shares power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and He always has. We don't worship Him because of something He has done. We worship Him because He always has been worthy of worship. We don't obey Him because we owe Him. We obey Him because He always has been the One who is Master, the One who is Lord.

Christ is eternally, not just now, not just because of His earthly ministry, He is eternally and has always been important. He is always the focus of the people of God. He was David's focus; He is our focus today. That's not new. He is the One we must obey.

Everybody in this room, whatever you think of Jesus today, it is far too small. That's the point Jesus was making in the temple that day. Even our best conception of Christ is far too small. He is greater than you have yet to imagine. And so, because He is, how do you respond? Now remember, this is all provoked. It's a contrast that, remember, but was our first word. It's a contrast of statement because of the hostility that was presented in the temple that day.

Some do that today with Jesus too. They'll have Him presented in church and they will stand there and weigh Him up as if they are lord. They'll try and find faults with the Christ of Scripture in order that they can have things their way. And they will become His footstool. Or when you come to Christ and see Him presented in Scripture and recognize that He is greater and bigger and more majestic, more divine, more significant, eternally has been, always will be, than anything you have ever understood to this point, what is the right response? Will you bow the knee to the One who is Lord, to the One who is Master? To the One who is King. And He is Master. He is King.

Do you remember in the book of Esther? Esther has to go and talk to the king, and she's the wife. Sarah would never allow this system in our house. Esther was worried about going into the presence of the king without his invitation because it ultimately could end in death.

He had authority. He had power. And so, she walked full of nervous trepidation about what may take place because she was going before one who had authority over her earthly life at his fingertips. In a far greater way, Christ always has reigned on that throne on high. He has authority over your physical existence, but He has authority over your eternal destiny as well. What a fool to rush with arrogance into the court of the King and to wag your finger at Him. And yet, He calls all to come to Him.

You can come to Him through repentance and faith, faith in the means that He has worked and the act that He has done, that by His wounds you may be saved.

Let me pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we thank You for the significance of Christ that we still haven't grasped and that we will be worshiping Him for all of eternity. We ask, Lord, that even through our study today, You would give us just a little bit more insight, that even now as we sing, we would sing with all the more gusto to the One who deserves praise from the very depths of our hearts. For it's in His name we ask it, amen. (End)

‍