OCTOBER 11 / OCTOBER 18, 2015
CHRIST AVOIDS THE ENEMY SNARES
INTRODUCTION:
1. Our Lord’s parable of the wicked husbandmen had hit home with the Jewish leaders. “They knew that he spoken the parable against them.” (Verse 12)
2. They responding by sending first one and then another with questions for Him, loaded questions, designed to ensnare Him. (Verses 13ff)
3. The ease with which He in His superior wisdom avoided the traps and confounded the conspirators was no doubt frustrating and humiliating to His enemies.
4. In today’s lesson we will hear from the final representative of the ruling body to question Him, even one of the scribes. This man, however, had been quite impressed with how Christ answered the former questions, and therefore reflects a very different attitude than his associates.
I. A SCRIBE WAS NEXT SENT BY THE JEWISH LEADERS TO QUESTION CHRIST, THEIR MOTIVE STILL BEING THE SAME AS BEFORE. (VERSES 28-34) Matthew tells us that after the Sadducees were put to silence, the council decided to make one more attempt to stymie the Lord, and therefore they chose this scribe to represent them. This particular scribe was probably not a good choice, since he seems to have been undergoing a change of heart and attitude toward Christ. As he listened to Jesus’ answer to the other questions he was persuaded that He answered well.
A. THIS SCRIBE, IT APPEARS, WAS MORE HONEST THAN MANY OF HIS ASSOCIATES, NOT ALLOWING PREJUDICE TO CLOUD HIS DISCERNMENT. (VERSE 28)
1. He came armed with a question designed to put Jesus to the test. He, being a scribe and having perhaps spent much time copying the Law, had most likely pondered this question himself.
2. Having heard how well He had answered the Sadducees and the Herodians, he no doubt longed to hear our Lord’s answer to this question.
3. He will later voice his agreement with the answer which Jesus gave, “Master, thou hast said the truth.” (Vs. 32)
B. JESUS’ CLEAR AND FORTHRIGHT ANSWER INDICATES THAT HE HAD REGARD FOR THE QUESTION, AND THE ONE WHO ASKED IT. (VERSES 29-31)
1. Jesus did not rebuke the scribe, nor did He answer with a confounding question as He did on those occasions when He knew the ill-intentions of those behind the inquiry.
2. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 and declared it to be the first and greatest Commandment of all.
a) Surely it is the chief duty of man to love his God with all of his being.
b) For the true Israel, the Israel of God, the Church, we can say He is the Lord our God. Jehovah is our God. We owe Him all of our love, and all of our being.
c) This is the first and great Commandment.
d) How far short do we fall? Who can hope to be justified by keeping the Commandments? Only in Christ is this first and great Commandment kept, and all of the other Commandments as well.
3. Jesus answered the question with the true answer that none could dispute. Then He gave, as a bonus, the second greatest Commandment. (Verse 31)
a) Neither of these can be kept separate from the other. (I John 4:20)
b) These two Commandments sum up the two tables of the Decalogue.
c) No Commandment is kept if these are not kept, because every other duty hangs on these two Commandments. (Matt. 22:40)
C. THE SCRIBE’S RESPONSE REVEALED A DEGREE OF SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT WHICH CHRIST ACKNOWLEDGED. (VERSES 32-34)
1. He was not put to silence like those who preceded him. Quite the contrary, he expressed his hearty agreement. (Verses 32, 33)
2. Not only did he agree with Jesus’ answer, but he acknowledged Him as a true teacher. “MASTER, thou hast said the truth.”
3. One must wonder what the other scribes and Pharisees were thinking as they heard him speaking with Christ in this way.
4. The other scribes and Pharisees may have felt betrayed, but Jesus was favorably impressed with him. (Verse 34)
a) Jesus saw a man who had true discernment, and one who was willing to confess the truth, even knowing that he would likely be condemned by his associates.
b) Jesus recognized a spiritual work which indicated that he was a true seeker of the Kingdom of God, and we can hope that he did press into it.
II. JESUS COUNTERS WITH A QUESTION OF HIS OWN WHICH THEY WOULD DO WELL TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER. (VERSES 35-37)
A. THE INITIAL QUESTION WAS ONE WHICH THEY COULD READILY ANSWER. “HOW SAY THE SCRIBES THAT CHRIST IS DAVID’S SON?” (VERSE 35)
1. His question was directed primarily to the scribes Pharisees and Sadducees whose questions He had just answered.
a) The scribes and Pharisees, we would think, had to agree with His answer to the Sadducees’ question about the resurrection.
b) The one scribe (lawyer) who represented the Pharisees was clearly in agreement with His answer to their question about the first and greatest Commandment.
c) But now He has a question for all of them. This would be the question of the day.
2. The first part of this two-part question is simply an acknowledgment of what they all believed – that the Messiah would be “the son of David.”
a) None of the rulers would have disagreed that the Christ was to be of the seed of David.
b) They as a whole refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ. Nevertheless some did believe, even from among the rulers, and many from among common people. When sick folks would cry out to Him, saying, “Jesus, thou Son of David…” they meant more than at first it might have appeared.
B. THE FOLLOW-UP QUESTION (SECOND PART) WAS NOT SO READILY ANSWERED BY THE LEARNED LEADERS. (VERSES 36, 37)
1. The very Psalm which our Lord here references as proof that David called his son Lord is the same Psalm that Peter pressed upon the Jews in His first public sermon addressed to them on the Day of Pentecost. (Verse 35; Acts 2:34; Psa. 110:1)
2. Our Lord probably had a double object in mind when He put this question to the Jews.
a) For one thing, He intended to show them their ignorance of the Scriptures, which they so proudly supposed they understood.
b) For another thing, He desired to teach them higher and more exalted views of the true nature of Messiah. They held a low, carnal view of Messiah. They expected a prophet and king greater than Moses and David, but not one who would be at the same time very God.
3. Let us ask ourselves this question as it is in Matthew’s Gospel: “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?” If we answer that He is “the son of David,” as they did, we are half right. He is indeed the son of David, but He is also the son of God, thus, David called Him “Lord.” In order to be the true Messiah and Savior, He has to be both.
III. JESUS WARNS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST THE ABOMINABLE HYPOCRISIES OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. (VERSES 38-40)
A. THIS WAS A BOLD AND REMARKABLE WARNING AGAINST HYPOCRISY FOR WHAT IT IS.
1. This was a public denunciation of men who “sat in Moses’ seat,” and were recognized teachers of the Jewish people.
2. He describes them as being proud, haughty, conceited, self-seeking hypocrites.
3. No sin seems to be regarded by Christ as more sinful than hypocrisy. To draw such scorching condemnation from lips that were so full of mercy and compassion for sinners, the wearing of a mere cloak of religion has to be a great abomination.
4. Let us remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
B. THIS WAS A SERIOUS AND CHILLING WARNING AGAINST HYPOCRISY FOR THE GREATER CONDEMNATION IT SHALL RECEIVE. “THE SAME SHALL RECEIVE GREATER DAMNATION.”
1. First, see in these awful words the reality of eternal punishment for sinners.
a) All unbelievers are condemned. (John 3:18, 19)
b) All who are impenitent shall perish. (Luke 13:3)
2. Second, notice that some shall receive greater condemnation than others.
3. Third, consider who shall receive the greater condemnation. “THESE shall receive the greater damnation.”
IV. HAVING CONDEMNED THE HYPOCRISY OF THE SCRIBES, JESUS HERE OBSERVES AND COMMENDS THE SINCERE DEVOTION OF A POOR WIDOW. (VERSES 41-44)
A. NOTICE, HE OBSERVES WHAT MEN AND WOMEN DO, BOTH GREAT AND SMALL.
B. HE EVALUATES THE GIFTS BASED ON ONE’S ABILITY.
C. HE COUNTS LITTLE AS BEING MUCH, IF GIVEN SACRIFICIALLY.
D. IN HIS SIGHT LITTLE IS MORE, WHEN THE LITTLE IS OUR ALL.
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