 |
ALONE
WITH GOD
|
|
Spiritual Answers and Reasons
for Faith |
|
|
|
| |
What Think
Ye of Christ
I
want to read from the 22nd chapter of Matthew, beginning
with the 34th verse, "But when the Pharisees had
heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were
gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer,
asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master,
which is the great commandment in the 1aw? Jesus said unto
him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second is like unto
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. 0n these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets. While the
Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say
unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said
unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is
he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word,
neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more
questions" On this occasion we find the Pharisees and
the Sadducees had been trying every way possible to entrap
Jesus in his teachings to find cause whereby they might
put him to death. Jesus had brought to silence the
Sadducees, and word reached the Pharisees that this had
happened, so they gathered together and one of them, being
a lawyer, asked Jesus the question, "Which is the
great commandment of the law?" Then Jesus asked them
a question, "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is
he?" It is this question that Jesus asked the
Pharisees that I want to consider with you for a few
minutes. "What think ye of Christ? whose son is
he?" Throughout the Bible we find many, many
questions, and they are all important, or else they would
not be in the word of God. They are worthy of our
consideration, but I believe this is one of the most
important questions we find in the Bible, because a great
deal hinges upon our answering this question correctly.
What a man is and what a man does is largely due to his
answer to this question. How he lives in this world and
where he will spend eternity hinges greatly upon how he
answers this question and of the action he takes as a
result of what he thinks of Christ. The future of your
life, dear friend, whether it be happiness or despair, is
based largely upon your answer to this question. So if
there is the least doubt in your heart or in your mind as
to who Christ is, or as to the correct Bible answer to
this question Jesus has asked, I would say the best thing
for you to do is to take your Bible and go before God in
prayer and search that Bible with an open heart and an
open mind and decide for yourself concerning Christ, that
he is the Son of the living God. Now Jesus asked his
disciples a question, as recorded in Matthew 16:13. He
said, "Whom do men t I the Son of man am?" They
answered by saying, ÒSome say that thou art John the
Baptist; some, Elias and others, Jeremias, or one of the
prophets.Ó So, friends, by the answer of the disciples we
find that public opinion was varied as to who Jesus was.
And, of course. all those who thought he was John the
Baptist had the privilege to think of him what they wanted
to. Those who, thought he was Elias had the same
privilege. Those who thought he was Jeremias had the same
privilege. Every individual has the privilege to think of
Christ want to think and answer this question the way
they, choose to answer it. Nevertheless beloved, if we
think of him wrongly or if we answer this (question
wrongly, we will have to suffer the bitter consequences of
an unbelief in Christ as the divine Son of God. There are
some people today who say that Christ was a good man, and
a virtuous man, but he was only a man, and he was not
divine. Millions of people in the world today are of this
same opinion; they think that Christ was merely a good man
he was a virtuous man, but he was not the Son of God. Of
course, everyone, I say again, has the privilege to think
of Christ what they choose, but, I also repeat, that what
we think of Christ and the action we take in regard to him
will decide where we will spend eternity after we have
departed from this world. Men and women cannot reasonably
deny that Christ was a virtuous man. But neither does
reason allow us to deny that Christ was the divine Son of
God, because Nicodemus, in his conversation with Jesus,
said, "We know that thou art a man sent of God,
because no man could do the works that you do, except God
be with him.' I'll say that no individual can be saved and
think that Christ was merely a man. Wc are going to
believe in the divinity of Christ, or we will never reach
the portals of heaven. We may think of him what we choose,
but we cannot enter heaven with what-ever choice or
whatever decision we make in regard to him. Some people
even think that Christ is no more than Santa Claus. Some
time ago I read the testimony of a minister of the gospel
that was written in the newspaper, and this minister said
that Christ was no more to him than Santa Claus. Beloved,
when we profess to be servants of the most high God and
profess to be worshipping him and make such statements as
that, it isn't possible for us to have the love of God in
our hearts and think that about Jesus. This, to me, is the
height of heathenism; and all the worship that we may
bestow upon the name of God the Father will mean nothing
and will not be accepted by him we think that Christ is no
more than Santa Claus. Other answers come to us from
people, and some tell us that he was nothing more than a
product of literature, an idealized character, a character
whom the evangelists of his day idealized and lifted him
up before the multitudes of the people; that he actually
lived in Palestine, but was merely an idealized character
by the evangelists. Then others would tell us that Christ
is product of the peculiar condition of the age in which
he lived, that he was a student of prophecy and he saw
that the opportune time had come when he could claim be
the Messiah; that he was a well-meaning man and meant to
do good and he as a good natured man, but was merely a
good natured imposter. And that in order the good that he
desired to do, he must assume the of the Messiah. I say,
beloved, it would take more for me to believe these things
concerning Christ than it does for me to believe that he
is the divine Son of God. As we read in the word of God
the great and mighty works that he performed, the
miraculous deeds that we done at his hand, we are made to
bow our knees and humble our hearts and to say, "Thou
art the Son of the living God." So, these opinions,
we see, are all wrong. The world was wrong when Christ was
on earth, and the world is still wrong in its opinions of
Christ. Eternity depends, dear ones, on what you think of
Christ. This is a very important question that we've read
as a text. "What think ye of Christ?" Our
salvation depends upon our answer to Christ as to who he
is. It's impossible for us be a Christian and not to
believe in the divine birth and not to believe in the
divinity of Christ. I want to read two verses from John,
the third chapter, verses 18 and 19, John said, "He
that believeth not is condemned already because he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness, rather than light, because
their deeds were evil." Beloved, to be saved and to
be a Christian, we must believe in the divine birth and
the divinity of the Son of God. So, I would ask you a
question just now, you who read these lines, "What do
you think of Christ?" This very moment you are
thinking about him your mind is dwelling upon this very
question. I say that you must believe the divine Son of
God in order to be a Christian; and intellectual belief is
not sufficient. You may believe your mind, but in order to
be saved, you must believe from the heart. God says,
"Repent, and be baptized.Ó And when we fail to
believe in Christ as the divine Son of God, we are denying
God's report of him. Jesus came out of the river Jordan on
the day he was baptized, and the heavens were opened; and
there he saw the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a
dove and lighting upon him and a voice from heaven said,
"'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased." If we believe not that report and accept it
not, we are denying the great God heaven and earth and
there is no possible chance for us to be saved. May God
help you today to think seriously upon this question,
"What think ye of Christ?" May God help you to
humble your heart just now and open your heart's door and
receive him into your heart and life.
|
|
|