Seeing Properly Series

• We value our vision. Seeing is important.

• Many have had to experience, either for a temporary period, or in an advancing stage, life without good vision.

• Part of that is getting old, I am learning. Just another inconvenience of living to be older.

• A pastor went to a new church only to find that the three deacons were the oldest people he had ever met.

• He decided to check their mental capacity.

• He asked the first one, “What is one plus one?”

• Without pausing, the first one answered, “274”.

• He scratched his head and asked the second one, “What is one plus one?”

• The second deacon answered, “Tuesday.”

• Frustrated, he asked the third one, “do you know what one plus one is?”

• The third deacon smiled and said, “Two”.

• The preacher said, “I am so glad you got that right. You would think these other two could figure out what one plus one is.”

• The third deacon said, “Yeah, all they had to do was subtract 274 from Tuesday.”

• Now, whereas as we get older, our eyes start to fail us, spiritually, the more mature we get, the better we can see.

• Jesus was concerned with the vision of the people he taught.

• He wanted the people to see truth plainly.

Mar 12:35-37 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.' 37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?" And the great throng heard him gladly.

I. (Savior) Jesus is concerned with how we view Him.

• Jesus had just almost complimented a scribe on how close he was to the kingdom of God.

• Lest the compliment, or actually admonition, confuse the people watching, Jesus says what the problems of the scribes were.

• The scribes collectively were emphatic about what they expected from the Messiah, the Christ.

• They said the greatest recognized characteristic would be that He would be of the lineage of David.

• They had taken all other prophesies about the Messiah and had “spiritualized” them.

• People would ask, “…what about ‘healing in His wings’?”

• They would answer, “Oh, that is just a reference of Him fixing our nation’s problems by restoring the throne in Israel.”

• Jesus said that the thing that stopped the scribes from righteousness was their view of the Messiah, and thus their view of Him.

• Jesus used passages with which they were very familiar to show the weakness in their belief system.

• They said that the Messiah would be marked mostly by His heritage, being from the line of David the great king.

• Jesus took a psalm written by David that confounded the scribes to illustrate His point.

• Look with me to Psalm 110:

• Psa 110: A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." 2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

• Obviously a Messianic Psalm.

• The question one must ask is, who is saying to whom, “Sit at my right hand?”

• Obviously, God is talking to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, in this prophetic passage where Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand.

• The scribes recognized that this was a Messianic Psalm, but had difficulty with the wording.

• David said, the Lord (God) said to my Lord (Messiah).

• They agreed with this, but here was the problem.

• If Jesus’ greatest qualification was being a descendant of David, why did David not say, “my son”?

• He called the Messiah “my Lord”, the same word used to address God.

• In Hebrew, he said, “Jehovah said to my Adonai.”

• He was not speaking of someone who’s primary qualification was being from the lineage of the great King Jesus.