[0:00] going into the gospel of Matthew. We're in the 22nd chapter, and we'll be finishing up Matthew 22 this morning. As we turn to Matthew chapter 22, our verses will be verses 34 through 46.
[0:12] I will remind you, and I'll continue to remind you, I know some of you have already seen it, something that we've started doing. Some of you were already doing this, and that's fine. You don't have to utilize what we put out there. But just if you weren't and you would like to do it, we encourage you to do it.
[0:25] We have our table talk questions up here on the front. We put the table talk up here on the table. What those are, if you're not familiar with them, they're just five questions that pertain to the message that you can take throughout the week, sitting at home.
[0:38] You can get as deep with them as you want to. You can use them to talk to your kids about the message. You can use them to encourage and challenge one another. You can go as deep theologically as you want to in that. The reason behind that is we believe that the greatest discipleship takes place in the home.
[0:55] The church is a place where we come to be equipped to do the work of the ministry, and the ministry is a disciple. And we want to equip you to do that, and that's part of my responsibilities as a pastor.
[1:05] So for the last few weeks, we started this. This is something we're doing. It's not unique to me. I didn't come up with it, but I did get permission from those who did to utilize it. So I thought it was a great idea. And so we put them out there.
[1:16] It's just five questions that pertain to the message, and you can take them one question a day for five days, or you want to go through all five of them. So it's really just an overflow of my study to what we get to, because there's no way I could give you everything that pertains to every passage.
[1:32] But there is a way that you, as a disciple and as a learner and one who is discipling in your own home, can take your families through that. So we're in Matthew 22, starting at verse 34, reading down to verse 46.
[1:44] I'm going to ask if you are physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God found in the Gospel of Matthew in the 22nd chapter. We'll be starting in verse 34.
[1:57] But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
[2:10] And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it.
[2:20] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question. What do you think about the Christ?
[2:33] Whose son is he? They said to him, The son of David. And he said to them, Then how does David in the spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.
[2:45] If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son? No one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question.
[2:58] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity of gathering together. We are so thankful. We thank you for the opportunity of worshiping together in song. We thank you for the time we have of fellowship.
[3:09] Lord, we rejoice in the privileged time to be in your word. Thank you that we can read it and hear it. And Lord, may you give us minds and hearts to understand it and lives to apply it for your glory.
[3:19] We ask it on Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. We are in the Passion Week of Christ. And in the Passion Week of Christ, we're in that time of examination.
[3:31] As we have seen that when Christ came in, he came in intentionally. He made himself known. Prior to this, the three and a half years of public ministry have been ministries where he would do a supernatural work, a miraculous healing.
[3:46] And he would often tell the individual, don't tell anyone, but just go do this. Don't tell anyone. Now, we know word kept getting out. So much so that Jesus couldn't even go out in public without a crowd being around him.
[3:57] Some refer to that as the messianic secret, that Jesus never thought that he was the Messiah, but rather people puffed it up after his death. And that's absolutely not true. Jesus understood there was a fullness of time because the Bible says, in the fullness of time, God brought forth his son.
[4:14] That at the right time. We really get this when we open up the Gospel of John because in the Gospel of John, there's this recurrent theme that his hour had not yet come. His hour had not yet come.
[4:25] They sought to kill him, but they could not lay any hands on him for his hour had not yet come. For his hour had not yet come. And then when you get to John 13 and Jesus is gathering his disciples together for the Last Supper, and it says that Satan had overcome Judas Iscariot, and it says that Jesus, knowing that his hour was at hand, said to Judas, do what you do quickly.
[4:48] He gave Satan permission to do it because Jesus knew it was time. Because God operates on a divine timetable. And everything God does, he does right on time.
[5:00] And it is amazing and even astounding when we open up the Bible and we see the reality that Jesus was crucified on the Passover. He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
[5:13] And what God had told them so many years before when he was telling a group of Egyptian slaves, Israelites who were born into slavery, that they needed to kill a lamb on a certain day, and they needed to put the blood of the lamb over the doorposts.
[5:27] It was so much more than taking them out of Egypt. It was so much more than parting the Red Sea. It was so much more than the Exodus event because as those who were with us when we went through the book of Exodus on Sunday night and Wednesday nights, we cannot fully understand the Exodus event until we really understand the cross and we understand salvation because it's pointing to something other.
[5:47] It's pointing to someone other, and that someone is Jesus Christ, that on that day, he being the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
[5:58] The one that John the Baptist pointed to and said, behold the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Friend, he didn't come to get rid of your sins with an S. He came to get rid of your sin with no S, singular.
[6:10] He didn't come to get rid of the bad things you do. He came to get rid of the bad person we are, right? He came to deal with our sin issue, not our sins issue. So many of us want to do away with the bad things we do, and Jesus says, I'm not here to change what you do.
[6:23] I'm here to change who you are. And he came to get rid of the sin issue, and that's a core issue. And that's why John the Baptist said, behold the lamb. That lamb was going to be slain on Passover.
[6:35] A week prior to Passover, Jesus enters Jerusalem, no longer telling people to be quiet, but rather riding on the coat of a donkey, having people wave palm branches and saying, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[6:46] Hosanna, we call that Palm Sunday. And he did it to make a public display in a public place so that everyone would know, so that he could go through a week of examination. Because one thing we have understood, according to scripture, is the lamb must be perfect and spotless and blameless.
[7:01] And the only way you could do that is by looking at it. Because not everything that appears to be right is right. And he is perfect. And one of the things that takes place in that examination is this questioning.
[7:13] And we're here at the end of that questioning. This questioning of the religious leaders, both Pharisees and Sadducees. They even brought in the Herodians. They're not religious leaders. They're political leaders. But this questioning that takes place in the 22nd chapter of Matthew, we have just read, and we've seen that at the end of this chapter, the questioning stops.
[7:29] Because, as our title this morning says, he's given a final answer to man's question. Jesus is the final answer to man's question. And he ends it, much like the Pharisaic debates would take place of that day, by posing a question to them.
[7:45] They have questioned him, and he has responded to each of their questions, and now he will pose a question to them, and they can give no response. Because he is the final answer.
[7:56] And we see from our text this morning, this great teaching, and we would really have to dive to the depths of it to even touch the tip of the iceberg. I will tell you there is a parallel passage to this found in Mark.
[8:09] There is not one found in Luke, which seems to be a little bit strange to us because you know that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the synoptics. They share a lot of things in common. All the way through the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Mark and Luke both are coinciding, and they have parallel passages.
[8:24] When we get to this, Mark has one, Luke does not. But Mark's passage is a little bit more detailed. It is in Mark 12, which should be astounding to us as well because Mark is one of brevity.
[8:36] Mark's favorite word, when you read the Gospel of Mark, you should know that Mark's favorite word is immediately or straight away or right away or quickly. And things in Mark happen fast. I know I am getting a little preachy-teachy, but it is okay.
[8:48] When you read the Gospel of Mark, notice he is always saying, and immediately he did this, and immediately he did this, and immediately he did this, and immediately he did this. Pay attention though next time you are in Mark because when he gets to that last week, it is like immediately, immediately, immediately, slow down.
[9:00] Now let's stop and look. Why? Because he did a lot of things in three and a half years, but friend, listen, he did the one thing. He could have done all those things for three and a half years and died and went to the grave and been a normal man, but he came for that time, this time.
[9:17] And we are in this time. So we slow down, and we pause, and we stand amazed at his perfection. And we wonder at the reality that he is spotless and blameless.
[9:31] And we see the examinations and the perfect answers. Who can reconcile Caesar and Judaism? Jesus. Who can reconcile these laws that say you have to be married and married and married and married and then you die and you live again?
[9:44] Jesus. Who can reconcile all of these things of being prepared and coming to the wedding feast? All this is Jesus, right? He is the final answer. And we see this perfection and at the end of looking at him for a week, or in our case weeks, and beholding his perfection, we see him being tried, found guilty, and gladly bearing our sins on the cross.
[10:13] See, that wasn't just a good man that bore our sins. That's a perfect man who bore our sins. My sins and your sins. And we see just three great teachings from this final answer to man's questions because man is full of questions.
[10:33] We are. God has made us inquisitive. I ask your forgiveness from the very beginning. My watch battery has died two weeks ago and I have not replaced it. I ask your forgiveness because I will not know how long I go over.
[10:47] Not because I will go over, but I will try my best to go as quickly as I can. But I also know that when I preach fast, sometimes people miss things. So I try to pause a little bit and take a breath every now and then.
[10:59] I don't think that the animal kingdom walks around wondering why things take place. I don't think I have some great dogs at home. I don't think my dogs think anything. Honestly, I just don't. Okay?
[11:10] Some of you have seen my dogs. I love my dogs. I don't think they're thinking animals. They are responsive animals, right? They respond to things. That's why I tell people that when you come to my house, I have about a 90-pound dog who thinks he's a lap dog.
[11:26] And I tell them, don't touch him. Not because he's going to bite you just because if you ever touch him, he's going to respond to that touch and then he won't leave you alone the rest of the time. He's going to lean up against you and lay on you and all this other stuff.
[11:37] Leave him alone because eventually he'll get annoyed and go on. The animal kingdom is responsive. Mankind is inquisitive. We think. We have questions. God is part of the image of God that we bear.
[11:51] We were created in his image. But Jesus is that final answer to all of man's questions. And we see here in our text that now that he has silenced the Sadducees with the account of the woman who had the seven brothers as husbands and evidently she had the kiss of death and they all died and then in the resurrection whose husband will she be?
[12:13] And Jesus answers it perfectly and he says that you know there's a resurrection because of what God says about himself not what we think about others, right? God refers to himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and he is not the God of the living but I mean not the God of the dead but of the living and therefore if God after they died declared that he was still their God then therefore we know that they are still alive and we've seen all the hope and the promises of the resurrection that are there and the Sadducees are silenced because that was their biggest argument, right?
[12:42] That was their arguing points and Jesus has silenced their doubts and silenced their questions and the Pharisees love the fact that the Sadducees have been silenced because they didn't like one another and they kind of contradicted each other and the Pharisees are sitting there going oh great now the Sadducees have nothing no more to stand on they have no other lady to stand on we tried this thing with the taxes and we had the Herodians with us but now we're going to go in our wheelhouse, right?
[13:04] The Pharisees' wheelhouse is the law it is the legal matters of the Old Testament and it is the keeping they were adherents to it I mean they took ten commandments and made 634 laws out of them, right? And they could tell you how much you could carry how far you could go they could tell you that it was okay to carry a coffee cup as long as you didn't take more steps than was mandated on a Sabbath and once you took another step then you're breaking the law you just have to sit down wherever you're at until the sun goes down then you can keep going on but they knew all these things they were really just in the wheelhouse was the law and then they get together and say well let's ask him one more question right?
[13:35] We've asked him all these political questions we've asked him all these theoretical questions let's ask him a theological question and it says and so a scribe or a lawyer and we're not here to bash anybody in the legal profession because the lawyer that you have before you in scripture is not someone that would be in the legal profession like we're thinking today it is literally a scribe or someone who would keep the law and adhere to the law he is referred to as a lawyer because he would be one when there was a dispute in matters of the law and you wanted to go to someone and talk about not whether you broke the law of the land but did you break the law of God because I mean let's just be honest in Jewish culture there was no separation of church and state because the church did not exist first of all and God was their king and since you lived in a theocratic union that is God as king then the law of God overruled the law of the land so when you needed to understand if I broke the law of God you would go to this scribe or this lawyer and he would clearly define for you whether you had broke that law therefore you would know what offering to give as a result of you breaking that law you know that because it says in the Old Testament that if someone breaks the law unintentionally and all of a sudden he becomes aware of it then he has this offering to give well who would you ask if you didn't know you did it that would be a lawyer or a scribe the scribes have this very peculiar thing and by the way let's just go ahead and sell this here we must be thankful for the scribes before you put them down even the fact that he answers ask a question of our savior here rejoice in the scribes because the scribes were the ones whose job it was to sit down and hand translate or hand copy the scripture their whole reason for existence in society was to make sure that copies of the scripture stayed true they are the ones who would sit down now I know you say you're writing backwards pastor no I'm not because they went from right to left instead of left to right in the Greek and the Hebrew and Aramaic right so they would line for line boom boom boom boom they would take this and they would write and it had to be perfect so much so that if their pen created a smudge mark
[15:35] I don't care if they were in the 54th chapter of the book of Isaiah if they made a smudge in chapter 54 they would destroy the whole scroll and every time they got to the name of God they would change quills it was their tradition that we get that you can't even say the name of God we don't really know what Y-H-W-H we call it Yahweh we don't know how to pronounce it because they wouldn't write it they had reverence for the name of God and if it wasn't for scribal tradition we would have never had the Greek Septuagint if we never had the Septuagint we would have never had the Latin translation if we never had the Latin translation we would have never had our English translation if we never had our English translation friend we wouldn't know what God said I don't have time to take you through biblical translations but we rejoice in the scribes all that to say this man's whole reason for existence was to sit down and study the Old Testament and to write it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again so he says
[16:37] I've got a question he comes to him and we see first the reassurance of the law this scribe or this lawyer comes to Christ and he wants to pose a question he's trying to catch him in a question for sure I mean they're examining him and they want to see him if he really is who he claims to be and he says which is the great commandment in the law which one's the great one now think about it this man whose life was comprised of writing the law over and over and over again and teaching others to do the same thing and being so meticulous as to make sure each and every line was accurately written this man whose profession it was to tell you whether or not you had broke the law of God now ask a question of the Savior which is the great one now as soon as we read that question we as believers on this side of the cross should stand up and pay attention and the reason we should stand up and pay attention
[17:44] I love when God defines his law I love when God defines his word I love it when the Bible tells us but God says this is what it means I just like I'm a simple man right I'm not too intelligent I think God has called me and he's equipping me and that's fine and I mean I have to wrestle over passages but when I come to a portion of scripture in which the giver of the law is going to define the law for me I rejoice because he who spoke it which is Jesus because by the way he is referred to in the New Testament as the law giver because man I just don't have time to take you through all this theology right no man has seen the father but one that is Jesus Christ none has ever heard from him but John defines Jesus in the beginning was the what was that John said I can't remember in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we refer to him as Emmanuel and Emmanuel is Jesus and Jesus is the word and the last time
[18:48] I checked you don't hear a thing without a word that is Jesus is the very giver of the law he spoke it I think at the burning bush there's a manifestation of God and I think on Mount Sinai there's a manifestation of God but I think when Moses heard God speaking it was Jesus speaking to him because he is the word right so all from the beginning Jesus is the law giver and now all of a sudden the law giver has been asked what does the law mean and I have to stand up and go oh I can't wait for this answer because I don't care what everybody else thinks that it means I just want to know what does he think that it means and this scribe this lawyer asked the question which is the great one now when he's referring to the law he's not referring to the ten commandments he's referring to the first five books of the Bible known as the Pentateuch the writings of Moses commonly referred to as the law Genesis to Deuteronomy and when Jesus gives an answer he quotes Deuteronomy chapter 6 and he comes to him and says oh I can tell you Jesus gives this great answer and Jesus says the great one is this you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind when Mark quotes it he also puts the fourth one in there and all your might you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind he says and the second one is like unto it you shall love your neighbor as yourself now here's the reassurance of the law the reassurance of the law is this friend listen to me the law is not so much about your occupation it is not occupational the law is relational that is it's not so much of what you do but it's how much you love see we can get caught up in the Old Testament
[20:34] I mean we can we can read the Old Testament and we study the Old Testament and we should because there's some great pictures there and great types there and some great teachings there and I've said it before and I don't say it I kind of say it jokingly but I don't mean it jokingly because I mean it honestly I wouldn't get past about the fifth chapter of the book of Leviticus without being stoned because if I was focused on what I did I would have already been stoned because the book of Leviticus is all about being holy be holy as I am holy and here we see the law and all of its requirements and all of its mandates and the consequences from it and we can get so sidetracked and I get people man I just don't like the Old Testament and the reason they don't like the Old Testament is because when they look at the Old Testament they see everything they should be doing and Jesus says it's not really what you should be doing it's who you should be loving and this is reassuring because these matters of doing are there to show us that we are not perfect but we have a perfect God who loves us and we have a perfect God who pursues us in spite of us and the nation of Israel is put forth as an example to that
[21:38] I mean how many times did they fail him we are going through the book of Judges and yet God cared for them and he redeemed them and he rescues them and he loves them and all he asks is love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind because friend I promise you the reassurance is this the love of God with all of our being that's essentially what it means we are to love him with all of our being when we love him with all of our being it will change what we be doing I know that's really bad English but that's the honest you know that's the best way I can say it when we love him with all that we are it inevitably will change all that we do because there are things you just can't do if you love God when you get married I tell husbands and wives there's some things you can't do if you love your wife there's some things you can't do if you love your husband and I tell them it's okay to be jealous for one another I say jealousy is a sin no the Bible says that our God is a jealous God there is such thing as a good jealousy you need to be jealous for your mates that is you don't want anything taking their attention you don't want anything pulling them away you don't want anything you ought to be you ought to guard that because that's just some things you can't do any longer because of a love relationship it's not about your occupation or what you're doing it's not about your habits it's about the love that you profess and a demonstration of that love is always matched with a display of a life and it says here that the law has called us to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves and he says upon these two commandments hang all of the law now look at this
[23:19] Jesus broadens the horizon the question was posed to him about which is the great commandment in the law singular first five books of the Bible Jesus says upon these two love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and as we say in Mark with all your might and love your neighbor as yourself he says upon these two commandments hang all of the law and what does Jesus say and the prophets and what does he do there now Jesus encompasses all of the Old Testament from Genesis to the book of Malachi because the prophets you say well wait a minute what about the historical books well when a teaching scribe in that day said the law and prophets he was including the historical books that would be your first and second Samuel first and second king first and second chronicles the book of Job which sometimes goes back and forth between a prophecy or a historical book the book of Esther and then the book of Psalms and the Psalter there and then you have all the songs and Psalms all those praise and it encompasses all that Jesus says all of the Old Testament hangs on two commandments love God with all of your being and love your neighbor as yourself that's reassuring and the reason that's reassuring is it's possible because see now while perfection is an impossibility and we'll see the possibility in just a moment what God has called us to do is absolutely possible but not on your own not in your natural inclinations because I'll just let's be honest does any of you naturally love your neighbor as much as you love yourself
[24:53] I mean naturally I didn't say spiritually I didn't say after this whole the rebirth I mean naturally not naturally all you have to do is watch the youngest of kids put a good toy one single toy in the presence of two kids every now and then you get a passive kid that just kind of lets it happen but they ain't real happy that it's happening but it's always invariably it happens one of them's going to take it away from the other because I want what's mine you know the beauty of kids is the beauty of kids is they show us who we really are before we learn how to cover it up they show us what we really are on the inside before we know how to pretty it up and make ourselves presentable and this last night it was the greatest scene I ever saw last night our granddaughter's first birthday party my father-in-law blessed his heart he ain't even here today for me to get on to him got her a little four-wheeler he said oh got a little pink four-wheeler no got her a camo four-wheeler okay makes deer calls duck calls all this good so a little bitty one right and Mellie wouldn't leave it alone so I like a good pops that I am decided to hide it from her so she'd get to the other gifts so I took it over here and I hid it what I didn't know was there was about four little boys behind me okay these church members so I ain't gonna call their names out but one of my sons said dad check it out so I turned around and one of them boys had seen where I hid that four-wheeler and he had it over his head and he was taking it to the bounce house because that's where all the other boys were and they said look what we found we're gonna drive over these little humps in the bounce house right it was great
[26:31] I said whoa whoa boys I'm gonna get in trouble if Mellie sees y'all playing with that because she doesn't know where it's at so I had to be the bad guy again take it away they were cool with it but you know there was no thought that oh I better take that back to her and all it was like hey I'm gonna take that and go play with that because that looks fun to be honest that's who we all are on the inside that's who we all are because we love us this is another bad English we love a lot of us but the reassurance of the law is what God has called us to do is to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors ourself number two we see the restrictions of the law now we don't see it here as much as we see it in the parallel passage in the book of Mark Mark chapter 12 you can turn there if you want to I'm not gonna take your time and ask you to turn there if you do the table talk questions I do ask you to turn there but Mark chapter 12 the scribe same scribe asks the same question Jesus gives the same answer and then the scribe in Mark we have the scribe's answer we don't have it in Matthew but the scribe says you've said well teacher you have spoken well the scribe agrees with him and says you've you've answered right and the scribe makes this great statement the scribe says you have answered correctly to love the Lord our God with all of our being and our neighbor as ourself is the greatest commandment he makes that statement the scribe gives a intelligent answer and then we keep reading on and it says and when Jesus seeing that he had answered well and when Jesus seeing that he had spoken correctly now let's just stop right there
[28:02] Jesus acknowledges that his thinking is right that the mental knowledge of the scribe is right he knows it there's a better way of saying it what he knows is accurate he says then Jesus looked at him and said pay attention to this you are not far from the kingdom of God you are not far from the kingdom of God when Jesus knew that he knew the truth could speak the truth and was thinking correctly Jesus said you are not far from the kingdom of God here we see the restrictions of the law because Jesus did not say you are in the kingdom of God Jesus didn't say well my brother I am glad that you know the truth Jesus didn't welcome him in because he had right thinking and right speaking because the restriction of the law is this that just because you know it it doesn't mean you are in it the law can never lead one to the kingdom of God he can lead him to the threshold of the kingdom it can lead him to be not far from the kingdom but it could never take him into the kingdom by the works of the law no flesh is justified no not one knowledge of the law does not justify an individual or save an individual which leads us to this reality just because we know the truth it does not mean we are where we should be mental knowledge is not an assurance of eternal security just because
[29:57] I can give you the right answer just because I can tell you doctrinal concepts and precepts and just because I can tell you the things that are accurate just because I know that Jesus is the Christ just because I can profess that you say well wait a minute pastor the Bible says that with the mouth profession is made and with the heart don't forget about the heart right so you can say a lot of things with your mouth that come from your mind that don't ever come from your heart so I'll give you an example how many of you have taken a test in a class you had to take somewhere and you knew the right answer so you gave the right answers because you put them in your head the night before or if you're in my state of existence about five minutes before you crammed and the reason I wanted to put things in my head right before I walked into the class is because I knew that it was going to my head and things don't last too long in my head whatever comes next is going to take place you only have so much room in my brain and I understand that so I didn't want to make it heart knowledge I wanted to make it head knowledge and I would make it head knowledge as long as I had to have it so that I could take the test to get the right answers but I never put it in my heart but then there were some subjects that I loved
[31:00] I mean I liked them I didn't even have to study for those because they were in my heart we understand it theoretically but I wonder if we understand it spiritually there are a lot of people who have a lot of head knowledge they make the right statements but the reality is they're not far from the kingdom of God they're not far there was a theory many a couple hundred years ago I can't even remember the name of it it's kind of refuted even today that all that is required with salvation is to know the facts that as long as you know then you're redeemed as long as you know the truth the Bible says the truth will set you free Paul says in his writings that the law which are the facts of what God has called you to do serve as a tutor or a steward to lead us to
[32:03] Christ now I did a little study recently on that word in my own private study and the word tutor we think a tutor like someone we're going to send somebody to and they'll teach them something no when Paul used it it was actually a slave of a household listen to this it was like the slave that households of his day held that would usher their kids to school didn't teach them anything right it was just the person that was entrusted with the responsibility of hey my kids need to go to school we call it a bus driver today that's what we call it right so the better word would be a bus driver but like hey you need to go to school to learn something so the tutor or the steward would take the kids and would make sure that they got to the school house in time so that they could sit before the school master so that the school master could tell them the things they needed to know and Paul says all the law can do is take you to the master and when the law takes you to the master the law ain't teaching you anything the law is just making sure you get there because see the reality is when and I'm about to get excited and start preaching the reality is is when I open up the Old Testament
[33:03] I don't see what I need to be doing when I open up the Old Testament I see all that I can't do and I'm reminded that I can't do this and I can't do that and I can't do this because the wages of sin is death and every time I open up the pages of the Old Testament all I see written all over my life is sin sin sin sin sin sin you know if you've ever coveted or if you've ever done this if you've ever looked over here if you've ever thought over there and if you've ever if you've broke one of the least of these and you're guilty of all of these and all the law can do is show me and lead me and guide me and bring me to a place where I have to fall down at the master and when I get to the master then the master can say now let me tell you what you need to know because see the the law I can know the law I can understand the law I can recite the law I can even tell you the law calls me to love God with all of my being I can tell you the law tells me I need to love my neighbor as myself but even though it tells me that I'm much like Paul in Romans chapter 7 have to beat my chest and say though I know the truth that which I find within me not that I hear him saying to me but that which I find within me cannot do it I mean I just maybe I'm the only one in the house today that has this problem and if
[34:19] I am I'll preach to myself maybe you guys have all got it figured out and if you do glory hallelujah but the problem is I'm not so sure you read in the same Bible I am because when I get there what I find is I know what I should be doing but the problem is that within me though I want to do it I can't do it that sounds biblical right sounds like Romans chapter 7 and there's this battle going on inside of me and then Paul concludes Romans chapter 7 but praise be to God through Jesus Christ my Lord I am free from this responsibility because see the restriction of the law is even though you know it the reality is is you can't do it but the purpose is to bring you to the feet of the master so that when you get at the feet of the master you've finally been brought to school and the Savior the master can look at you says I was pleased to bear your sins and then you stand up and you say how great that heart and if you don't maybe you need to stay at the feet of the master a little longer because while you may know the truth you can't live it apart from him which leads us to the third thing we'll be through the realization of man's misunderstanding the reassurance of the laws is not so much about what you do it's about how you love the restriction of the laws even though you don't know that no even though you know that you can't do that on your own you need someone to empower you look it's not about changing your words it's about changing who you are Jesus says you must be born again you must be born again it's what he told Nicodemus in
[36:04] John chapter 3 you must that's a necessity be born again he didn't say you must get your deeds right you must change the way you behave he says you must be born again and now we see this realization that man just can't even comprehend the thinking of man cannot comprehend the things of God that's just a reality the greater are my ways and your ways higher are my thoughts and your thoughts as far as the heavens are above the earth are my thoughts and your thoughts that's what God says right man's thinking cannot comprehend the things of God and then Jesus is done he's answered the question he said I got a question for you now he poses this question to the Pharisees the Pharisees again the religious leaders the people who should know right and he asked this question he says whose son is the Messiah or the Christ and they give a right answer they say it's David's son absolutely David's son because it's a Davidic promise right he's going to sit up on the throne of David he's of the lineage of David and all this stuff he says it's the son of David he says okay well if he's the son of David then why does David in the spirit where there is rock which means the Holy Spirit not just in his spirit right and he was he said when he was in the Holy Spirit because you remember David is about the only he is the only one I have found in the Old Testament that was filled with the spirit or covered with the spirit not you're not filled with the spirit in the New Testament he was covered and anointed with the Holy Spirit from that day forward he's the only one who never lost that anointing right so he says that how does David in the spirit say the
[37:23] Lord said to my Lord so if he is the son of David then why does David call him his Lord he quotes Psalm 110 Psalm 110's messianic psalm you need to know that historically a lot of people have said David didn't write that psalm well the greatest argument we have for that is Jesus said David wrote it and that's all that matters right I don't care what every other scholar may say Jesus said David wrote it and it's referred to as a psalm of David in the book of Hebrews because that messianic psalm is amazing because it is also here he says the Lord said to my Lord you know sit at my right hand to make enemies your footstool and then he says and you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek that should put a little asterisk there it's gonna be an answer to one of your questions on the table talk you really get to get into the details I'm not going to here it's a great psalm it's a great psalm and they can't reconcile it they can't answer how can he be a descendant of David but be the Lord of David and I'm not going to answer it for you either we know the answer the biblical answer to that but the reality is this listen the reasoning of man cannot understand the simplest things of God and we have this realization that man falls woefully short on his own all these teachers and scribes and people who thought they knew a lot that were asking all these questions it takes one question from the Savior to silence them one because the ways of man will never understand the works of God without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit we know not what God says this is why
[39:15] Jesus says having ears they will hear but not understand and having eyes they will see but not see because they don't have the spirit what we need is an anointing of the spirit's revelation I'm closing in this Jesus says that one of the gifts that he gave when he left was the Holy Spirit John 15 and in John 15 he says that the spirit will come he goes over into John 16 as well so that we may know that the spirit would come to bring to mind the teachings of God that is we need Holy Spirit empowered revelation man has a lot of questions the final answer is Jesus we get that but we won't come to that on our own reckoning and our own thinking because the ways of God are so much greater than the ways of man let's pray well we thank you so much for this day God I thank you for allowing us to have the opportunity to be in your word Lord now we come to a time of invitation Lord I pray that you would speak to each and every heart and mind through the power and presence of the spirit
[40:23] Lord maybe all we've ever had was a head knowledge God I pray that you would cause us to be born again or maybe you're calling some to make a commitment maybe it's to join the church maybe it's to follow you completely but we just want to give you the freedom to do it now Lord we ask that you would move in your lives of your people and be glorified through all things we ask it in Jesus name amen so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so so I asked so I asked so I asked so I so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I asked so I
[41:31] Thank you.
[42:01] Thank you.
[42:31] Thank you.
[43:01] Thank you.
[43:31] Thank you.
[44:01] Thank you.
[44:31] Thank you.
[45:01] Thank you.