Matthew 22:41-46 | "Grounded in the Scriptures"

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Please take your Bibles with me this morning to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 22.

There is a psalm that in my mind is quite strange.

And it's strange because it says that God has exalted his name and his word above all things.

What does that mean?

God has exalted his name and his word above all things.

I think we find out what it means at the end of Matthew chapter 22, beginning in verse 41.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

For many, Martin Luther championed the return of the soul reliance on Scripture to the church.

Luther is one of many whom God used throughout the centuries to stand resolutely upon the truth of Scripture alone.

Often standing firm like that comes at a cost.

For Luther, it meant spending much of the next 25 years as a convict on the run, kept safe and alive only by powerful German princes.

Our text in Matthew's gospel is like Luther's stand before the antagonistic religious contingent at the assembly at Worms, Germany.

Only it is the Lord Jesus in our text before the Pharisees.

Jesus had been challenged three times in Matthew 22, each time with a particular question about the application of the law of God to life in Judaism.

Jesus now will respond with questions of his own that conclude in chapter 23 with a great condemnation.

And the Lord's stand on his name and his word will lead not to something like Luther's banishment.

Instead, it will lead to the cross.

The question before us is whether we are willing to stand on Scripture.

We go to the Scriptures to find Christ.

And it is in the Scriptures, rightly understood, that we see the Christ who leads to life.

Therefore, to refuse to listen to the word of God, the Scriptures, and what it says about the word of God, the person of Christ, is to choose judgment over life.

Now that sounds harsh.

I know people don't like preachers to be harsh, but the reality is this is the truth of Scripture.

And the question before us is, will we stand on the truth of Scripture?

Look at it with me.

Matthew 22, beginning in verse 41, Matthew records for us, now the Pharisees, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What do you think?

What do you think about the Christ, you experts of the law?

Whose son is he?

And they said to him, Well, he's 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 did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

And so ends that chapter.

In this final confrontation in Matthew chapter 22, Jesus grounds his identity in the scriptures.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

And those scriptures must inform how we see Jesus and how we see the scriptures, how we view the scriptures, and how we conform our lives and our faith to those truths.

We ought to be as grounded in the scriptures as the Lord Jesus was grounded in the scriptures.

For the living God speaks through his living word to effect life-giving faith in the word become flesh.

You'll hear that again.

This passage, Jesus tells us that we hear of him, we see him with eyes of faith, and we are led to him through the Psalms.

Through Psalm 110 and Psalm 2.

Not through another book that we read, not through emotions, not through worship, but through the word of God.

See, the Holy Spirit inspired the ancient Jewish king David to speak to us today.

Right here, this morning, through his word.

And Jesus explains all of this, Matthew explains all of this through questions.

Except this time Jesus is the questioner.

There are three questions directly stated and one that remains implied.

So four questions that lead us today, here, to trust the scriptures, and so by trusting the scriptures, to trust in Christ.

But before we get to those questions, there are two items that I need to address before we dive into these questions.

And the first is something that I really detest.

Grammar.

I detest grammar.

But let me tell you, grammar is extremely important in this passage.

I've highlighted here in yellow, every time there is a present tense verb in Matthew's Greek.

I know some of you are going to say, well, some of those verbs aren't present in English.

Well, no, they're not.

That's how our translators have chosen to translate it.

I think there's like 10 of them in five verses.

There's a huge number of present tense verbs.

Present tense means it's happening now.

Whatever the action is, it's taking place right this moment, in our presence, as it were.

So Matthew records this section as happening now, and he does that so that his readers 2,000 years ago would hear it as though it were happening in their time, and so that we are able to listen to it as though it's happening right now.

It even represents actions that took place 3,000 years ago, as though they're happening to you right now.

So in verse 42, Jesus says something.

The Pharisees think something.

The Messiah exists now.

He is now.

David calls as though he's alive and present with us.

He's calling.

He's saying something.

And we are able to hear all of this as being spoken to us now.

The Lord Jesus is speaking to us now through the scriptures.

David is speaking to us now through the Spirit.

This manner of writing is going to become vital as we move through our questions.

That's the first thing.

Second thing.

The last item before we dive into the questions is the setting.

Look at verse 41.

It says, Now the Pharisees were gathered together.

Now, sentence structure in English is pretty standard, but it's less so in other languages.

And Matthew's Greek is one of those other languages.

Here, Matthew places the verb gathered together as the first word in his sentence.

Synagogued together, the Pharisees, they questioned.

Sorry, Jesus could question.

It's Matthew's way of emphasizing.

I want you to notice that gathering together.

Pay attention to that.

There's this group of Jewish leaders who are gathered together to confront Jesus.

Now we already know from verse 34 that they are gathered together.

Matthew said, when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

So Matthew doesn't need to tell us again that they have gathered together.

Only the word he used previously in verse 34 is not the same word that he used in verse 41, and the word in verse 34 is not at the beginning of the sentence.

So why does Matthew do this?

Why does he change this up?

This is a deliberate choice to use this particular word, and it's a deliberate choice to put it first, because he wants our minds to grasp the seriously religious leaders gathered together against Jesus.

Why?

We're gonna have to work through the questions to discover why this is so important to Matthew.

So let's look at the questions.

First, there's a question of origin.

Who is this character called the Messiah?

The Messhiach, an anointed one.

It's a seemingly innocent question.

Whose son is the Messiah?

The Jewish people held on to their genealogies dearly.

They were protected.

So knowing whose descendant you were was vitally important.

Tracing lineages was extremely important, especially in priestly lines and in kingly lines.

So it's a normal kind of question for a Jewish person.

But this question probes whether the Pharisees will submit their ideologies, their thought processes about the Messiah, whether they will submit that to Scripture.

This question here is coming in the context of biblical questions.

The Pharisees, the Sadducees, their disciples, the scribes, they're all asking Jesus, how does our Bible apply to life?

So this comes in the context of biblical questions.

Jesus is not asking if one of the many upstarts with messianic dreams in Jewish history was the Messiah.

He's not asking them that.

He's not asking, was Judas Maccabeas the Messiah?

He's saying, listen, I'm talking with biblical experts here, so tell me, what does the Bible say?

Whose son is the Messiah?

Well, it's David's son.

Not a trick question.

Jesus, you know this.

If you are any kind of teacher, you know this.

So when God spoke of the Messiah, what did he say about where he would come from among all the families on the earth?

It's an innocent question.

It's an innocuous question.

Because on the one hand, it's an opinion question.

Hey guys, what do you think?

What's your opinion?

Whose son is the Messiah?

But it's also a leading question.

Because Jesus is going to force them to take their opinion and work it out in the context of Scripture.

It's going to identify their convictions about Scripture, their interpretation of Scripture, and its place in their faith.

So on the one hand, Jesus asks a cultural question about Jewish genealogies.

It's a question that pertains to their history, to their traditions.

But on the other hand, he's questioning their trust in the Jewish Scriptures.

Let's talk about this Messiah, Jesus says.

What do you say about him?

Are you going to argue from a cultural position, from a historical position, maybe from a political position, or are you going to put your trust in the scriptures?

Now these are men who believed in the promise of the Messiah.

They hoped in the Messiah.

They prayed for the Messiah.

So they understood Jesus to be asking about the Scriptures.

So what did God say?

Who is the Messiah's father?

I'm sure that they would have thought of passages like Isaiah 9.7, where it speaks about David's government continuing on, and that there's this promise of a son to be born who would continue this government, this leadership.

They would have thought about passages like Isaiah 11:1 that talks about this shoot coming forth from the stump of Jesse that would bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1

They probably would have thought about Jeremiah 23:5, which clearly describes a future descendant of David as the anointed one.

Jeremiah 23:5

Like most church-going folks today, the Pharisees would have stood there and given verbal assent to what the scriptures proclaim.

Yes, we believe the Bible.

But when you poke and prod a little bit, you discover that some folks who are comfortable with the overarching support are uncomfortable with the Bible's details and the implications of those details.

For example, when our culture moves in a direction that is contrary to Scripture, we have a tendency as human beings to go with it, to go with the culture.

We might have no problem saying that a Christian should take up his cross and follow Jesus, but when it becomes painful to believe what Jesus says about marriage or sexuality or life, we begin to falter a little bit.

And before we know it, we find ourselves uncomfortable with the Bible's details.

And besides that, sometimes it feels like all we do is get mired in minutiae.

Why not just stick with the bigger picture?

I mean, for why do we have to listen to a preacher talk about present tense verbs and the placement of words in a sentence?

Does it matter?

Yes, it matters.

See, Jesus begins to probe at this perspective a bit with his second question.

Okay.

You say that you agree with what the Bible has to say about the Messiah.

Now, are you willing to follow Scripture wherever that belief leads?

So Jesus' second question is a question about observation.

You have a theology of the Messiah.

Are you going to submit that theology to Scripture and follow it wherever it goes?

So this peels back the layers of implication.

You say that the Messiah is David's son.

Really?

Well, great, wonderful.

Now do you realize where that belief is going to take you?

If you say that the Messiah is David's son, are you also willing to believe that the Messiah is David's God?

Are you willing to assert that David worships his son?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus.

What?

You asked us how the Messiah fits into the genealogical plan of God.

And now you're asking us if we if we are willing to believe that that David's son is his God.

You see, that's precisely what's happening here.

Maybe I can explain what the Pharisees might perceive by using a modern example.

Let's assume that something is true.

I can talk about food since we're gonna eat lunch soon, right?

Let's talk about food.

Let's assume that chicken sandwiches are tasty.

Now, maybe some of you won't agree with that, but play along with me, right?

Let's assume that chicken sandwiches are are delicious and they're they're a good thing to eat.

Okay.

Now let's let's assume then that that that's that's like believe saying, yeah, we we believe that there's a messiah.

Okay?

So we're gonna start there at ground level.

Yes, we believe there's a messiah.

Yes, chicken sandwiches are tasty.

Now, the parallel to the Messiah is David's son is Chick-fil-A sandwiches are the best sandwiches.

I know some of you are gonna say that's anathema, that's okay.

You'll find out one day that you're wrong.

Right?

Chicken sandwiches are tasty and and Chick-fil-A sandwiches are the best.

Now, if chicken sandwiches are delicious and Chick-fil-A has the best chicken sandwiches, then that must mean that Chick-fil-A's chicken recipe is divinely given.

And some of you are gonna say, Amen, right?

I haven't heard that yet.

And then there are gonna be those of you on the broad road to destruction that say, they're not even open on Sunday.

How can it be divinely given?

That's how the Pharisees might have perceived this second question.

Oh, they were all on board for a Messiah.

They were all on board for a Messiah who was a descendant of David.

But you want us to believe that David's son is his God?

Huh?

Now, some might have been curious as to where Jesus was headed with that question.

But others were probably ready to hurl stones at him.

But we have to move beyond the surface level and ask, what is Jesus doing here?

He's testing the extent of the Pharisees' submission to Scripture.

That's what he's doing.

You see, they had a theology of the Messiah displayed by their belief that the Scriptures said he would be a son of David.

But would they then submit that theology to all of the scriptures and what they all say about the Messiah?

Are we willing to submit our theology to what the scriptures say all over?

Marriage and sexuality and life are the low-hanging fruit here.

But all around us, we see churches and denominations across the world refusing to submit their theology to what the scriptures say about these concepts.

Brothers and sisters, we're not much different than the Pharisees.

We do this.

Our tendency is to ignore portions of Scripture or to reinterpret them based off of what the culture's saying, based on if they're offensive or not, or whether or not it's improbable that they actually happened.

If we say that we believe God's word, then we must be willing to submit to all of it, not only on a grand scale, but in its details.

Why else would Paul say in Galatians chapter 3?

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

I'm making an argument on whether a single word is singular or plural.

Offspring versus offsprings.

There are three important details to notice in the second question.

One, Jesus quotes the Greek translation of Psalm 110, beginning in verse 44.

And Psalm 110 only identifies the Psalm's author in that tiny print in your Bible, what we call the superscription.

It says, of David.

It's the only place that that psalm identifies the author.

And Jesus' argument rests in the small print that many overlook.

Because he acknowledges that the superscription is inspired.

David wrote it through the Spirit.

That's one thing that we need to notice.

Second thing we need to notice about this question is that as we read Psalm 110, we find it is in David's voice.

David's penning this off this song, and he's writing it.

And so as we listen to it, it's not surprising to hear it in the present tense.

So imagine David standing here reading his song or singing his song, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

Well, that's not surprising to hear that in the present tense.

We get that.

And since Jesus quotes the psalm, Matthew records what Jesus quoted.

However, in verse 43 and verse 44, Jesus places David's voice in the present tense as though David were speaking the psalm to the Pharisees that day.

He's saying, David speaks to you today.

The Lord said to my Lord.

He places it in the present tense to us, saying, David says to you today.

The Lord said to my Lord.

How can it be always in the present tense?

Because it's through the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit inspires the Scriptures, even in its details.

Because God's Spirit inspires them, the Scriptures are living and active at every moment.

Third thing we need to recognize about this question is that the Psalm reveals an inner Trinitarian dialogue.

We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all right here.

There's this inner Trinitarian discussion, this conversation.

Remember last time how we showed that the Greek word Kyrios, which means Lord, came to be used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the name of God.

So that the name that we we would remember as Jehovah or Yahweh, if you're going off of the actual letters, that became translated in the Greek language that Matthew's using as Kyrios.

So when we found last time Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, he's saying, You're supposed to love me.

I am that Lord.

In Psalm 110, David says, Yahweh said to my Lord, sit.

Sit.

Ancient Near Eastern Egyptian records show us that it was typical pattern for a king's son, that is the son that would be chosen to rule after the king.

It was typical pattern for the king's son to be at the king's right hand.

That was his position.

This is the king's son who is going to reign.

A standing son represented a future ruler who would one day take his father's place seated on the throne.

A sitting son at the right hand of the father demonstrated that they shared royal power.

The son at the right hand reigned with the father as a co-regent.

So sitting indicates that the person shares the position and the power.

David says, Yahweh says to my master, my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

So David identified the Messiah as his Lord.

And even more, David said that his Messiah, Lord, holds a divine position.

He is the co-regent in the divine throne room with Yahweh himself.

He is the divine king.

And so this is an observation question.

Observe what the scriptures say.

Don't look for what you want to see, Pharisees.

Look for what David said.

Actually, says.

Plural.

Jesus is merely pointing out the observation of the text of Psalm 110.

Now remember, these are religious experts.

These are experts in the scriptures.

But here's the rub.

The Pharisees acknowledge, yes, that the Messiah is the Son of David.

Will they submit their messianic theology to the details of Psalm 110?

Will they acknowledge that the Messiah is the Son of David, is David's God and the eternal king?

This leads us to Jesus' third question.

The question of obstensibility.

What is obstensibility?

It's when one thing appears to be something, but possesses a different character.

So the Messiah appears to be the son of David.

He is.

How can a son have the capacity to be Lord over his father?

This is the point that will get Jesus nailed to a cross in just a few days.

See, the Pharisees argued that the Messiah is the son of David.

That's true, he is David's genealogical descendant.

But if you submit that theology to Scripture, the details begin to reveal that the Messiah, though David's son, is David's God, for the Messiah is the Son of God, according to Psalm 110, who sits at the Father's right hand.

And now these present tense verbs start to make more sense.

God revealed himself to Israel as the always existing one.

He's the I am.

When Moses asked for his name, he said, Go and tell them that I am sent you.

So if the Messiah is God's son, who has all of the characteristics and the position and the power of the Godhead, he is then the one who is Moses' Messiah in 1500 BC.

He is the one who is David's Messiah in 1000 BC.

He is the divine king who will rule over all of his enemies.

To be David's Lord, sitting at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly throne room meant that the Son of David is the Son of God, and no matter what time period you're standing in or sitting in, he is Lord.

To be the Son of God is to always be and to always exist at all times.

That is a theological detail expressed with verb tensus.

In the same way, it is an eternal word when the Spirit of God speaks.

He may speak through David, but when the Spirit speaks through David, that word is living and active because it has a divine source.

So two things are happening here at the same time.

First, Jesus declares that the details of inspired scripture reveal the identity of the promised Messiah.

He's not just the Son of David, he's the Son of God.

And because God's word is always living and active, David would speak to his people through the Holy Spirit 3,000 years ago and speak to the Pharisees 2,000 years ago, and speak to us today because it is a living word.

And it is living not just in the grand scheme of things, but in its very details.

Second, David, by saying that David speaks in the present tense to us today through the Holy Spirit, Jesus identifies the details of Psalm 110 as inspired.

He's saying to those Pharisees, you know, you know when you look and you hear David speak to you, you know that it's living in an active.

He's speaking to you today through the Spirit.

David knew God's promised Messiah would be his physical descendant.

But in the same way, he knew that his descendant would somehow be his Messiah, his Lord, his God.

So these present tense verbs are inspired.

They are God breathed.

That means Jesus can point to Scripture to say, before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus' argument about the Messiah, his identity, and the inspiration of Scripture is grounded in verb tenses.

And the question directed at the Pharisees is, are you going to submit your messianic theology to Scripture's verb tenses?

That's quite a detail.

Jesus asked the Pharisees, and so by asking the Pharisees, he asks us, will you submit your view of logic and your view of reality to the inspired Word of God?

It doesn't make sense from a finite human perspective that David's son is the eternal son of the living God.

What?

How?

But Jesus says that's what the scriptures say.

And he shows that the Psalms reveal that very truth.

Are we willing to submit our theology to Scripture's details?

If we say that we believe God's word, are we willing to let that take us wherever it leads and to abide by it, stand on it, even if it goes against the grain of culture?

You see, the Pharisees were resistant to the divinity of the Messiah.

If they accepted that the Messiah was divine, then they had to accept Jesus' declaration that he is the Son of God.

But if the Messiah is only David's son, then what are you going to do with Psalm 110?

Rip it out of your Bible?

You're going to have to.

But we can't stop there because there's a fourth question that's implied.

Not by Jesus, but by Matthew.

And I hope you're still with me because I think this is the most exciting part of all of this.

This fourth implied question is a question of orthodoxy.

Are you convinced and convicted by Jesus' identity?

Notice that this section ends with the declaration that no one could ask Jesus any more questions.

What do you do with a guy that just keeps pointing back to his Bible?

Really?

What kind of fun is that?

What do you do with a guy that points to verb tenses in a psalm?

What do you do with a guy that rests his entire being on the scriptures being true?

Even in their very details.

No one even dared to ask him a question, it says.

Well, how do you keep asking God questions when you don't believe his word that he's given you?

I should be more explicit.

How can you dare to ask questions of Jesus when he points to Scripture for all of his answers and you refuse to believe the scriptures that he points to, and you refuse to believe that he is the Son of God and your Messiah?

What do you do?

Not much you can do.

That's why Jesus continues in chapter 23 to condemn the Pharisees over and over and over and over again.

This reveals the response of the seriously religious people when confronted with the details of Scripture.

They were not willing for the Messiah to be the Son of God, and they were not even willing for Jesus to be the Son of David.

Now, we've gone into some deep details.

And I will forgive you if you choose not to ever come back again, but that's on between you and God.

But we've gone into those deep details because Jesus goes into those deep details.

Jesus' use of scripture shows us that even the details are inspired.

And no, it was entirely divine providence that we read that section in Galatians 3 this morning.

That was not plan.

Jesus shows us that the Spirit of God inspired human writers to point to Jesus and to reveal the details of his person and his mission.

And so it's a call for us to trust the details and submit to them ourselves.

But now let's step back a bit.

We've seen what Jesus is doing.

But what is Matthew doing?

What is Matthew doing in concluding this section of interrogation, really, with this passage?

I think Matthew makes it very clear.

He makes it clear in two ways.

First, with his book, and second with another psalm.

So let's talk about the first one, his book.

Look back at Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, that's okay.

I'll show it to you here.

The very first sentence of the book of Matthew says, this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus, Messiah, the son of David.

That sounds familiar.

Matthew starts everything out by saying, This is the son of David, the Messiah.

Jesus is David's son.

Now, look at chapter 1, verse 21.

The angel appeared to Joseph, talking about Mary, and said, She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Savior, for he will save his people from their sins.

All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emanuel, which means God with us.

And those two truths now meld together at the end of chapter 22.

Matthew uses genealogy to show that Jesus is the Son of David.

He uses angelic messages and the prophets in chapter 1 and the Psalms in chapter 22 to show us that he is the Son of God.

Here at the end of chapter 22, Jesus as the Son of David and the Son of God come together to save his people from their sin through the details of Psalm 110.

But there is one more detail that expresses what Matthew's doing.

Hearing that Jesus is the hoped-for Messiah who is God's Son and the co-reigning King of all requires a decision.

You cannot leave here this morning without making a decision about Jesus.

You've now heard that Jesus is the Son of David, who is the Messiah, and you've heard that he is God to come to save his people from their sin.

You must make a decision about what you will do with Jesus.

That's why this is a question, an implied question of orthodoxy.

It's about the correct belief and trust in this eternal King.

Jesus asked if we, in the present tense, will submit to Scripture.

And Matthew does the same.

Do you remember that little detail in verse 41?

How the Pharisees were gathered together?

Remember how Matthew puts that action in a position of emphasis?

They're gathered together against Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Messiah.

Well, just as Jesus quoted from Psalm 110, Matthew quotes the Greek translation of Psalm 2.

Psalm 2, 2 in our Bibles says, the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his Messiah, his anointed one.

After the part there about the kings of the earth, the Greek translation that Matthew refers to says, and I quote, and the rulers synagogued together against the Lord and against his Messiah.

You remember how Matthew used two different words to refer to the gathering together of the Pharisees?

The second one, placed at the head of the sentence, is the same word used in Psalm two.

Here are the rulers of the people synagoguing together against Yahweh and against his anointed.

Matthew sets us up to hear God's Messiah interpret scripture for us.

And he paints the picture as the ruler of God, rulers of God's people setting themselves against Yahweh and against his Messiah, his son.

It's simply amazing.

But hear the entire psalm that Matthew points to.

He just references just that little portion, the rulers gathering together, synagoguing together against the Lord and against his anointed.

He just references that.

Why do the nations rage and the people?

Plot in vain.

The kings of the earth have set themselves, the rulers, synagogue together against Yahweh and against his Messiah, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

He holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, For me, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

I will tell of the decree.

Yahweh said to me, You are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

That sounded an awful lot like Psalm 110.

Enemies being put under your feet.

Now therefore, here's the decision, folks.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise.

Be warned, you Pharisees of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled.

But blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Now do you hear Matthew's implied question of orthodoxy?

Here's Jesus.

He speaks to you.

David has spoken to you this morning.

His spirit has spoken the words, the living words, will you respond to God's word and to the word made flesh?

Will you trust in God's Son or will you place yourself in the path of his wrath?

You see, the living God speaks through his living word.

And he does that to effect life-giving faith only in the word become flesh.

So if you refuse to listen to the word of God written and given for you, living and active, that is pointing to the word of God, the person of Christ, you're choosing judgment over life.

But my friends, hear that last verse of Psalm two.

Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

What hope?

What hope and joy is found if we hear the words of God and look to Jesus and trust in Him.

Will you do that today?

Lord Jesus, work in our hearts to enable us to see you.

Lord, do not let us keep going in the ways that are natural to us, that want to reject faith and want to reject trust for things that we can see and feel.

Lord, open your word to us.

May it pierce deeply into us.

Because it is living and active and powerful and sharper than even a two-edged sword.

May it pierce us so that we might be convicted of our sin, of our need for a Messiah, and to trust in that living word, the word made flesh.

We look to you, for you, in you, is all of our hope.

In Jesus' name we pray.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, Son of David, and the Son of God.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.