Dr. Terry E. Zebulske, Pastor
Grace Community Church
June 16, 2013
ONE LAST QUESTION
Luke 20:39-44
…For most of us, life presents many questions and few answers. When I was a boy, my father bought a set of
Encyclopedia Britannia and told us that it contained all the answers to the questions that we might have…
…Wouldn’t it be nice if God presented such clarity to the many questions in life that we have? Just look it up in
a book and discover God’s explanation for everything. Job in his suffering might have found this to be helpful...
…Jesus is days from the cross, and desired people to know His identity…so He reached back into the Psalms,
Psalm 110, and asked how it was possible that David’s son (the coming Messiah) could also be his Lord? The answer
to this riddle is the golden key that opens the entire universe. It is the great question.
THREE OBSERVATIONS OF JESUS’ LAST QUESTION TO HIS ENEMIES DIRECTING
ALL (EVEN US) TO SEE HIS DIVINITY.
…If you miss this, you lose everything! If you embrace it, you gain everything! It is the key!
I.
Jesus Always Answered Every Question, And Often In Amazing Ways. (39-40)
A.
In Jesus’ day people were always asking Him questions. The Gospels read like a question and
answer session. This is not unexpected, for Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived.
…Luke 20 marks the end of those questions…note some of the questions people asked Him:
1.
When Jesus forgave a man of his sins(5:21) people asked how He could forgive sin.
2.
He ate with sinners, and they asked how He could do such a thing…(5:30)
3.
They asked Jesus how a person could have eternal life. (10:25)
4.
Who is my neighbor (10:29), and do we pay taxes to Caesar? (20:22)
B.
In each case, Jesus gave an answer that proved His total mastery of theology and His knowledge of the mind of God. Jesus had an answer for every question, and with every answer He
explained deep truths about God and man, about sin and salvation, about forgiveness and eternal
life. “Ask Jesus if you must pay taxes, and His one-sentence response governs the whole
relationship between church and state.” (Ryken)
…Even Satan is totally rebuffed by Jesus as he offered Him the crown without the cross. (4:1f)
…Every enemy is silenced. Their silence in itself brings glory to God. (Rom 3:19)
…If we are wise, we too will shut our mouths and offer God the silence of a submissive heart.
…Lloyd-Jones, “Defines a Christian as one whose mouth is shut…”
…This was the great lesson that Job learned…(Job 42:3,6) “I spoke what I did not…”
II.
Jesus Asked The World’s Greatest Riddle.(vv.41-44) The Riddle Of All Riddles.
…The skeptics and scholars may have been done asking Him questions, but Jesus had 1 last one for them.
A.
This riddle begins with something they already knew, that King David’s future son would be the
One promised from the beginning. He would be the Messiah, the Christ. (2 Samuel 7:12, 16)
1.
This criterion Jesus clearly met. (Luke 1: 27, 32) “The throne of His father David…”
2.
Jesus is a “son of David.” Paul tells it, “descended from David according to the flesh”
B.
This great riddle was tucked away in Psalm 110. David wrote this and tells of a dialogue between
two Lords. So, who are these 2 Lords? “The LORD and my lord…” This is a conversation
between God the Father and God the Son.
…David, even as king, gives homage to his future coming Son by calling Him “Lord.”
…Who is this coming mighty king who will receive the kingdom? How can He be son and Lord?
III.
Jesus’ Riddle Is Solved. Jesus Desires Us To Know Who He Really Is!
A.
Jesus was not denying that He was the son of David, but He was more than that, Jesus was and
is the very Son of God. The Christ was David’s Lord because He was David’s God. (Rev.22:16)
…The riddle is solved only if Jesus is God as well as man. (The virgin birth…the incarnation)
…Jesus had proved His identity through miracles, but now proves it from the Scriptures.
B.
This answer unlocks the mystery at the heart of the universe, teaching us the single most
important thing that anyone can ever know. It reveals the incarnation, the Trinity…
C.
This made a deep impression upon His disciples as Psalm 110 is the most often quoted by them.
…What an amazing question Jesus asked, and its answer unlocks all other mysteries in the
universe. Jesus is the answer. All other answers to our questions will come, as long as we
start with Jesus. (Romans 1:3-4)
LESSONS FOR OUR LIVES:
1.
You may know many things about life, nature, and people, however if you do not know that
Jesus is both God and man, and that He is your only hope to live forever, you don’t know the
most important thing there is to know. Hell will be filled with many “smart people.”
2.
Jesus yearns for all to know His identity…He is both God and man. He had to be in order
to provide our salvation. He died as one of us(as our substitute) but more, being God His death
provided an atoning sacrifice of infinite value. His death can save even you!
3.
Silence is the mark of a Christian. We have shut our mouths realizing that God is on the
throne, and His ways are far above our and whatever He does is good. (Whether we can see the
good or not) The critic, the skeptic keeps wagging his tongue saying what God should or should
not do. But one day, all mouths will be stopped. Silence. This silence will bring glory to God.
4.
Marvel at the wonder of our Lord Jesus. There is no one like Him. He is worthy of all
your worship, and all your praise. It’s all about Jesus, all about Him!!!