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It has been popular in recent years within broad Christianity to attack the Old Testament. The first 39 books of the Bible. The Old Testament has stories and to secular people these stories are a problem.
This attack on the Old Testament has been driven by problematic teachers who are embarrassed by the Old Testament. We have heard people say that the God of the Old Testament is wrathful while the God of the New Testament is a God of love.
But this should be rejected right on the surface of it. God never changes. Who he was in eternity past is who he is now. The character of God is consistent from the beginning of the Bible to the end. One pastor from Atlanta, Georgia named Andy Stanley has said that we need to unhinge ourselves from the Old Testament.
These teachers want to focus on the New Testament while pretending like the Old Testament isn't there. Why is this? Let me tell you why. Compromised Christians, if we even want to call them Christians, value what the world thinks and they are embarrassed by the Old Testament.
I had a relative start reading the Bible a few years back and he said, I can handle the New Testament but reading people who live over 900 years old that's just too much for me to believe. When you look at the Old Testament you have stories like Noah's flood, Daniel in the lion's den, Jonah in the whale, Balaam's donkey who speaks.
These stories are just too hard for some to believe. So some compromised Christian pastors and theologians want Christians to just focus on the parts of the Bible that will make the gospel more acceptable to the secular world.
But this reasoning is flawed. If one miracle is true, then it follows that there's no problem for all the other miracles to be true. Some compromised Christian leaders might be ashamed of the Old Testament but you know who is not ashamed of the Old Testament?
Jesus. Jesus believed, I believe this, I think he believes that the earth was thousands of years old. There's a passage I could take you to. He believed there was a global flood. He believed that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
If Jesus had no problem believing these Old Testament stories, then we should believe them immediately. Two weeks ago when I looked at the reality of the afterlife, I explained that every word out of Jesus' mouth is true.
If Jesus says something is true, then we should believe it also. And we should not listen to unsteady voices who reflect the evil one. But what did the evil one say in Genesis? Did God really say that?
But rather we should always accept the Word as written from the beginning of the Bible to the end. Not only did Jesus have a high view of the Old Testament, but so did his apostles who wrote the New Testament.
All throughout the New Testament we see quotations from the Old Testament. You can't properly understand the New Testament without the background of the Old Testament. Much of the New Testament is an explanation of the Old Testament.
Some places in the first 39 books of the Bible are focused on more than others. The place in the Old Testament that is quoted more than any other is Psalm 110, a psalm written by King David. This morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, Jesus is going to quote this psalm to his earthly enemies with the goal, their goal, their goal of course was to humiliate Jesus, but what Jesus did in return is he humiliated them.
So we are going to look at this often quoted psalm. At this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 22. And we'll be looking at verses 41 through 46. And if you're using one of those red Bibles, it's on page 984.
And this sermon is titled, Royal Lineage and Beyond. And I'm going to begin by reading the text. Matthew 22 verses 41 through 46. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question saying, what do you think about the Christ?
Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. He said to them, how is it then that David in the Spirit calls him Lord saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day that anyone dared to ask him any more questions. Here's our big idea. What this text is calling you to do.
Take heed that the Messiah's identity must not be limited. Take heed that the Messiah's identity must not be limited. And we're going to see two reasons why in this text. But before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago.
We looked at verses 34 through 40. And in that passage, Jesus was once again tested by the Jewish leaders. We have seen him tested by the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees. And last week he was tested by the Pharisees again.
One of the Pharisees, a lawyer, asked him, which is the greatest commandment in the law? The Pharisees had their own system of ranking the 613 commandments in the law of Moses. They put some commands in the less important category and some in the more important.
Jesus didn't go along with the pharisaical system, so this Pharisee believed Jesus' answer to this question would put him at odds with the Jewish establishment. But as we've seen, Jesus always gives the right response when challenged.
He responded by saying that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and might. Every command has one thing in common. Love is at the center. Every command involves loving God.
And as you love God, you will fulfill the second commandment, which is loving your neighbor as yourself. To understand this is to understand what the commands are truly all about. It's not rule-keeping.
At the center of every command is loving God with all of our heart. Now this leads us to our text once again that we've already read, but now we're going to take a close look at. Verse 41, what we see is Matthew write that while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question.
Okay, let's stop right there. What happens here is interesting. What we have seen in the previous passages is Jesus being asked questions by his opponents. Three Sundays ago, we saw Jesus asked a question by the disciples of the Pharisees and the followers of Herod, known as the Herodians.
Two Sundays ago, Jesus was asked a question by the Sadducees. Last Sunday, Jesus was asked a question by not the disciples of the Pharisees, but the Pharisees themselves. Now we see a reverse. Jesus is the one who asks the question.
What we see in verse 41 is that this question came right after Jesus was asked the question by the Pharisees concerning which law in the law of Moses is the greatest. Over the last three weeks, we have seen Jesus silence the three groups that asked him a question, and now he desires to ask a question himself.
And this question is specifically to the Pharisees. More than anyone, the Pharisees thought they had an in with God, since they were the ones who supposedly kept the law. With that in mind, it is correct to say that Jesus was harder on the Pharisees than anyone else.
We are going to see that in the next chapter, where Jesus goes scorched earth on the Pharisees in chapter 23, where he delivers the seven woes. But before he lays into them, he asked them a question that is going to put them even more in their place, that is going to make them look even more foolish.
This is the question he asked them in the first half of verse 42. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? Now we know who Jesus is. Jesus is the Christ. In Matthew 16, 18, Peter proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.
And Jesus tells him, this didn't come from you, this came from your father in heaven. Now Christ means anointed one. In the Old Testament, Hebrew, the Old Testament was written, 98 of it was written in Hebrew.
The word Christ is translated into English as Messiah. In the Greek, it is translated into English as Christ. Jesus asked them two questions here. He asked them, what do you think about the Christ? And whose son is he?
You will notice that Jesus does not say, whose son do you think that I am? He knows they don't believe that he is the Christ. So he talks about the Christ, the Messiah, in the third person. He wanted to see what they believed about the Messiah, who is written about frequently in the Old Testament.
It's everywhere in the Old Testament, all these references to the Messiah. So this is how the Pharisees answer him in the second half of verse 42. They say that he is the son of David. The son of David was a common title given to the Messiah.
This title comes from the promise the Lord made to David about an everlasting covenant, where one would sit on his throne forever. 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 and 13, that is. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Now what this is saying is that Solomon would reign after David, and Solomon would build the temple in Jerusalem. But this text is not just talking about Solomon. It's also pointing ahead to the future Messiah.
Because only one is able to sit on the throne forever. It's the Messiah. You might wonder, is Jesus sitting on this throne right now? And I believe the answer is no. He is sitting at the Father's right hand in heaven right now, but Jesus is not now sitting on the Davidic throne.
This starts at his return when he reigns over the earth for 1 ,000 years. So these promises about the Messiah coming from the royal line of David and his future reign on David's throne led the Jews to call the Christ the son of David.
So when Jesus asks this question, whose son is the Messiah? The Jews answer, like any good Jew would, they answer the son of David at the end of verse 42. But let's see how Jesus responds in verse 43 and the first half of verse 44.
He said to them, how is it then that David in the spirit calls him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. What we see is that Jesus is not satisfied with their answer. But the problem is not with the title, the son of David.
As I just explained, the Jews called the Messiah the son of David and the Bible and Jesus agree that the title, the son of David, is an appropriate one. In Matthew 1 .1, the author, Matthew, whose writing is inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote at the very beginning of the gospel, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.
In Matthew 9 .27, two blind men approach Jesus, crying out to him to be healed. And what they say to him is, have mercy on us, son of David. Jesus' response in verse 43 and the first half of verse 44 is not diminishing the title, the son of David.
But what is he doing? What Jesus is doing is highlighting something about the son of David. Son of David is an earthly title. But to stop there would be wrong. When you read the Bible, what you see is that Jesus is not just human.
We've seen this many times as we've gone through Matthew. He's also God. One of those places that maybe best captures that Jesus is not just human is Matthew 17 in the event known as the Transfiguration.
We read in verse 2 that he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Then verse 5 says that a bright cloud overshadowed Peter, James, and John, and they heard a voice from heaven that said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.
What Jesus quotes to the Pharisees is Psalm 110. What I mentioned in the introduction is that this psalm, more than any other in the Old Testament, is quoted in the New Testament. What Jesus says in verse 43 is that David wrote this psalm in the Spirit.
What this shows is that Psalm 110 is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And not just Psalm 110, every word from Genesis to Revelation is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 3 .16 says all scripture is breathed out by God.
This glorious psalm, Psalm 110, comes from the mouth of God. Jesus quotes it here, and if you want to see this psalm dissected, you find that in the book of Hebrews, where the author of Hebrews explains Melchizedek and how Melchizedek prefigured Jesus, the high priestly role.
But let me say this clearly. You cannot understand the New Testament without understanding the Old Testament. So all of these unsteady teachers who are embarrassed of the Old Testament, don't listen to them.
Jesus and the New Testament writers had an incredibly high view of the Old Testament. All of scripture is equally true and valuable from beginning to end. Now the Old Testament has a lot to say about the Messiah.
And Psalm 110 is one of those places. In Psalm 110, King David said in the Spirit, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my hand until I make your enemies your footstool. David quotes this to show what the Pharisees got wrong about the Messiah.
He tells them what they got wrong in verse 45. If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? Once again, Jesus is not going after the title, the son of David. He approves of the title, but rather he is going after the insufficiency of their view of the Messiah.
Not only do the Pharisees not believe Jesus is the Messiah, they don't believe the infinite status the Bible gives concerning the Messiah. When we use the word infinite, it can only describe one, and that is the Messiah.
Their view of the Messiah is that he was a powerful man who would come, reign, and drive out their enemies. What Jesus is pointing out is that the Pharisees, the ones who claim to be experts in the Old Testament, didn't pay close enough attention to what verse 1 of Psalm 110 says.
Verse 1 says that the Messiah is David's Lord. Very important. The Messiah is David's Lord. What this means is that the Messiah is higher than David, the great king of Israel. And not just a little bit higher, infinitely higher.
The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and the difference between the two words translated Lord in English is important to understand. In your Bibles, in Psalm 110, the first Lord mentioned here is in all caps, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.
Every time in the Old Testament when you see the word Lord in all caps, this signifies the name of God, Yahweh. But this is not the only word designated for God in the Old Testament. The other word is Adonai.
For example, in Psalm 82, King David writes, O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Both words are used there, Yahweh and Adonai. Psalm 110 reads, Lord God said to my Lord God, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.
So the scripture is clear. The Messiah is not just man, he is God. But the Pharisees failed to understand the greatness of the Messiah. They thought there was one who was God, but they rejected the Trinity.
The one standing before them is equal with the Father. And throughout Jesus' ministry, they had such trouble with this. When Jesus would say things that only belonged to God, they would get furious. In fact, they would pick up stones to stone him.
To truly understand who the Messiah is, you must not merely say that he is the son of David, as the Pharisees did. And in our day, how often it happens that the Messiah, the Christ, is not given the honor that he is due.
It's hard to find someone who doesn't have a positive view of Jesus. But the problem is most of the world hates the true Jesus. Anyone who says that Jesus is not God despises the true Jesus, hates the true Jesus.
They are okay even calling him Christ and making the title however they want it, whatever they want it to mean. But to not give Jesus worship as God is blasphemous. So take heed that the Messiah's identity must not be limited.
And the first reason why is that he is not only the Messiah, he is fully divine. The second reason why we are to take heed that the Messiah's identity must not be limited is this. He is not only the king, he is the king who conquers his enemies.
We'll see this at the end of verse 44. The second half of verse 44 highlights something significant about this long-awaited Messiah. By quoting Psalm 110, Jesus doesn't just point out that the Messiah is more than a king, but God.
He also tells us something unique about this king from many other kings. Normally in human history, kings take the throne once their father died. We just, it's fitting that I actually wrote this before Queen Elizabeth died.
And Prince Charles is no longer Prince Charles. He's the king in England. They usually just, you know, their their father, or in this case, mother dies and then they take the throne. But Jesus is different.
He is going to interrupt world history and take his throne by force. This is the true Jesus. He's not merely some moral teacher from the past that humans can learn from. No, he is going to take his throne by force.
At the end of verse 44, we see Jesus quote from Psalm 110, verse 1, that Yahweh is going to put all of God's enemies under the feet of the Messiah. In ancient times when an enemy was defeated, he was brought before the king.
And as a man was brought before him, the king would place his foot on the neck of his enemy as if the neck was a footstool. And this is what Joshua did when he defeated five Amorite kings in Joshua 10, 24.
That passage reads that when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.
Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. Okay, so this was when we see this show up in the Bible, that's what it's talking about. This is an ancient custom. You win and as an act of humiliation for your enemies, they would put their legs on their necks.
What this prophecy predicted in this psalm is that the Messiah will be victorious over his enemies in the future. Earlier, Barb mentioned that God never fails to keep a promise. He's going to keep his promise.
The Messiah will be victorious over his enemies. And this should give us great hope. In our world right now, it may feel like Satan is winning. The Bible says that Satan is the ruler of this world. 1 John 5, 19 says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
It's so interesting going through life because the Bible is playing out right before our eyes. What the Bible tells us is that as history moves toward its end, things are not going to get better. They're going to get worse.
I don't say this out of a desire to be a preacher of doom and gloom. I say this because it's the truth. About a year or two ago, I wrote a pastor's page in the local paper and someone wrote me and what they wrote is this.
My pastor preaches encouraging messages and when I read your article, all I see is doom and gloom. The little he told me about his church in quotations, I could tell that he is sadly led by a false shepherd.
There are many bad things coming to this. Spoken, it must be spoken clearly. Even though it will never be popular to a godless world. What the Bible tells us is that there will be a final world government with a final one world ruler and things are going to get dark.
This one world ruler will be possessed by Satan and Satan is already great at work among the leaders of this world. At the very end, what the Bible teaches is that God's people will be severely persecuted.
We're persecuted all throughout history, but at the very end, it's going to get even worse. And it looks like Satan is winning right now and it's going to look like Satan is going to be victorious at the very end.
He will have control over this world during the time that immediately precedes Christ's return. His control now and in the immediate future will increase in places as more and more areas are given over to their sin.
Romans chapter 1 talks about this. All forms, all perversions, all forms of immorality. And what does God do? He gives them up. I wrote about this in my pastor's page for this past month. There are places on this planet where Christians should largely be retreating from because there is no turning back.
These will be dark places until Christ returns. I think many of these places are major cities where they are a cesspool for immorality and debauchery and people who embrace immorality flock to these places.
Sinners love being surrounded by other sinners. Some Christian leaders tell other Christians that we need to be clever in the way we reach cities for Christ. We need to use new methods since preaching the clear gospel unapologetically didn't work.
But what they fail to understand is that strategic strategies don't change the human heart. Human wisdom will not break through the hardness of the human heart. When Jesus went to places that heard the gospel, did Jesus go back a later time and change his message?
He didn't do that. You know what he did? This is what this is what he did. Matthew chapter 11 verses 20 through 22. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done.
Okay, so he had already been there. They had already heard the message. They had already seen all the amazing things he did and this is what he did. Because they did not repent, this is what he said. Woe to you, Chorazin.
Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it'll be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
Jesus would be so unpopular today. Do you notice how Jesus didn't continue to preach the gospel? He told them you've chosen your lot and then he pronounced that judgment will come upon them. Now if God has given up on places that have heard the gospel and yet they continue to harden their heart, what does this mean?
There are places that are not full of debauchery. There are places that are still open to the gospel. Right now people are leaving places of darkness and going to places where there is more light. The places they flock to are places where there's still blessing, where there's still light, where there are more Christians, and there are still many people there who are open to receiving Christ.
I believe Polk County is becoming a safe place, what I call a safe place. Our population here is increasing. People see that it is an attractive place to live and it's not just the scenery. Polk County is not a perfect place, but there is light here.
In most places here, you can talk openly about Jesus and biblical morality without it being considered taboo or a call for it to be outlawed. We had a parade a while back with options for women in St. Croix Falls.
I think we had one bad comment the whole time. If we did that in a different place, we would have really needed security. I mean, it would have been a different story. And I'm amazed at the doors the Lord has opened to me and others since I started here.
God has opened up doors for the truth to go out in this area. And when I moved here, I asked people in this church what the most popular paper in the area was. In fact, so Tony is here today and I remember he told me he's like, I write an article in the Osceola paper and so I came back and I asked, what paper should I write in?
And the people in the church said, the leader paper, because the leader paper covers Polk and Burnett Counties. And I called the editor up and I said, what if I wrote a monthly pastor's page? And he said, sure.
So since 2017, every month I write a pastor's page in the local paper. I'm able to write biblical truth without compromise and they let me do it. Isn't that amazing? I don't think that some at the paper like what I write, but they let me do it.
In the cities, that wouldn't happen. The history of America, right? It's, we might not agree with you, but we're going to defend your right to voice your opinion. Those days are gone in most places. It's the evil way only and they reject truth.
And let me tell you another story that we should give praise to God for. Earlier on in my time here, I got a phone call from a radio station in Shell Lake. I think he was calling Baptist churches, just in northwestern Wisconsin.
And the guy who called me, I'm now friends with, but he worked at a radio station and he still works there and he said, would you be interested in giving a one-minute encouragement that will go on the radio?
And what they said was, okay, no fighting the brimstone. So you had to be really strategic in how you said it. You don't want to leave anything out. But we decided to do it and not just me, but there was other pastors too he had on there.
But then COVID happened. And during that time churches were not meeting and one pastor asked this gentleman at the radio if his sermons could go on the radio. And he's thinking, no way are they going to allow this.
This man asked his bosses who are not believers, they needed money. Lots of businesses needed money during COVID. And out of desperation, they're like, okay, we'll let you air sermons on the radio. And this Christian who works at the radio, he tells his bosses, these are Baptist preachers.
They preach about sin, judgment, hell, everything the world doesn't like. And they're like, that's okay. We'll let it happen. Amazing. So there are pastors from Hudson to Hayward that have sermons airing on secular radio every Sunday.
And I say this to show the great work that God is doing in our area. Even though there are problems, of course there are. It's a fallen world. There's places of light here in our midst. You can be listening to Michael Jackson and then all of a sudden a sermon comes on the radio.
And one pastor told me, he's like, you can say more on this radio station than on Christian radio stations. Isn't that sad? In this evil world, be grateful for the place you live. And it's fitting that Tony is here.
Tony is the pastor at New Life. And New Life is an excellent church in Dresser. And they're a great ally in our area. And really standing strong and fighting the good fight. They're a rare church that has not folded to the pressure of society.
And I'm so grateful for them. And as we talk about our area, it's so fitting that they are here today. We're in this fight together. So be grateful for the place that you live in this crazy world we live in.
And this is why it is so important for Christians to be involved in the public square. Christians need to be outspoken. And we need to be in the community promoting righteousness and standing against evil.
As the world gets worse, our community doesn't need to. Okay, let me say that again. As our world gets worse, our community doesn't need to. Our community can be a place that people flock to, where they want to live.
We don't know when the world is going to reach its darkest point. It could be delayed as Christians fight back, but this dark period will come. But here's the great news from our text. In our text, we see this grand prophecy from Psalm 110.
In the second half of verse 44, Jesus tells us the good news that will happen in world history as he quotes from Psalm 110. All of God's enemies will be placed under the foot of the Messiah. They will be his footstool.
Satan's rule over this world is only for a time. The days of his rule are numbered. That's the hope here. God will win in human history. And the Messiah, who is not just the Messiah, but God in the flesh, will reign from Jerusalem over the whole world.
That's what the Bible promises. A day is coming when all the places on planet earth will be light as the King, the one who rules in righteousness, reigns on the earth. And this can seem far away, can it not right now?
But the God who never lies promises this. It's promised right here. This ancient prophecy from Psalm 110 that Jesus quotes, he will put his enemies under his foot. This is the future. And what an encouragement it is to know that evil only prevails for a time.
Their days are numbered. The Messiah will reign and he will reign forever. So take heed that Jesus' identity must not be limited. In this text, we've seen two reasons why. He is not only the Christ, he's also fully divine.
And the second reason why is this. He is not only the King, he is the King who conquers his enemies. He is the King who conquers his enemies. He takes the throne by force. He interrupts world history to destroy his enemies, no matter how strong they think they are.
Once again, we've seen in this text, Jesus silences opposition. He repeatedly was asked questions and he always gave the right response that put the opposition in their place. This is what verse 46 says that closes our text.
And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. At this point, it's clear. It's clear who the one who is legitimate, right? Is it the pharisees?
Is it the Jewish leadership? Are they the ones who are legitimate? No. Jesus has shown he is the one who has the true authority. He is the one that the Jewish people should be following. He is the one who the whole world needs to be following.
He is the son of David. Yes, but much more than that. He is the God-man who is the coming King who conquers. And everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, that he is God, that he is the world's only savior.
These are the ones who will be victorious in the end. And everyone else who opposes him will be those who are conquered. Philippians chapter 2 really says this well. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Everyone's going to do it. The question is, will it be in shame? Or will it be joyfully as you conquer with him? To belong to him is to forever be secure under the King's care.
What a wonderful place to be. Now next Sunday, we will begin to look at this long rebuke that Jesus gives to the Jewish establishment. As Jesus is talking here, he is almost to the point of his crucifixion, his trial and crucifixion.
And he's going down, going after the very people who are going to crucify him. And we're going to see that next Sunday as he rebukes the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, and what we're going to see is that this has very much relevance to our day.
There is religion all around us that Jesus rejects. And we're going to see how he rejects the Pharisee religion and how he rejects the false religion of our day. But let's pray at this time. Oh Father, I have nothing to offer other than what your word says.
And so my prayer, Lord, is that you would use this word that has gone out to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent out. That it would plant in people's souls and that you would use it for their good and for your glory.
In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. A reminder, Wednesday, we have our Bible study that just started up last Wednesday. We're going through Proverbs. It will be one...