In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of turning to the Word of God and examining the teachings and preaching of Jesus. He encourages the audience to consider the purpose and passion behind Jesus' preaching and to reflect on their own response to his message. The preacher also highlights the urgency of accepting Jesus and warns that without taking the step towards him, one will perish. He concludes by mentioning the significance of the first question asked in the Bible and shares a personal story to illustrate the impact of encountering Jesus.

I'd like to talk with you concerning God's heaven. God's heaven. And then on Tuesday evening, we're going to talk on God's heaven. God's heaven. God will have the joy of your company. On tonight, and Tuesday, and of course the other evening. Tonight I'd like to read, if I may, those lovely verses in the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 22, if we may please, and we will just read together from verse 41. The 41st verse of the 22nd chapter of Matthew. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What saith he of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, the son of David. He sayeth unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy crystal. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither doth any man from that neighborhood ask him any more questions. What saith he of Christ? How serious is your sin? You remember, he killed Abahel away on the hillside. Abner, how serious is your sin? Abner! How stupid is your delay? You remember, he ran to the city of Hebron. And the city of Hebron was a city of refuge. All he needed to do, listen all you young people, would you notice this please? Watch me, please watch me. All he needed to do to get out from the place he was in. Are you watching? That's all he needed to do. He stood at the threshold of the city. One step would have taken him into the city of refuge. And no one could have heard him. Abner, how stupid is your delay? Why don't you understand that? I'll tell you what you need to do. You do? Your son? Bah, bah, bah, there we are. We've never done that. That's what I'd love to say. How stupid, Abner. But I'd say something else then. This is the most solemn thing of it all. Abner, how sudden was thy death. All he needed to do was to take one step. Just one step. And he refused to take it. Do you remember Joachim? She smote him under the fifth rib and he died. Young man, let me talk to you alone. If you don't take the step and come to Jesus Christ, you'll perish. You'll die in his hands. Oh, take the step. One step more. Give me faith for one step. We've time for one other question. Thank you. Most of you have gathered all to see what is my text this evening. I believe it to be the most important question ever asked of man. Now, all of us will agree that questions of the Word of God are important. Who would cast lightly aside the first question of the Bible? I don't wear out that. Who would deal lightly with a question that occurs later on in the Old Testament? What doest thou hear? When I come to the New Testament, it also is filled with questions. And I believe of all the questions of the Bible, the most important that you and I will ever be able to face are the words that Jesus used. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? I want to ask that question in four very simple ways. I want to ask, first of all, what do you think of his person? What do you think of his person? What think ye of Christ? I want to ask not only what do you think of his person, what do you think of his preaching? As I look down my history books, I am not unmindful that there are many men who have stood and held in court something that they have believed to be true, but here is one fact I suggest to you, head and shoulders above all others. What do you think of his preaching? I want to ask not only what do you think of his person, and what do you think of his preaching, I want to ask what do you think of his power? This despised Nazarene. This carpenter's son. This, if he was not what he professed to be, this illegitimate son of a peasant. What do you think of his power? How do you explain it, if he is what he claims to be? What do you think of his person? What do you think of his preaching? What do you think of his power? Oh sir, I must ask this. What do you think of his passion? What do you think when on Calvary's cross he died for our sins? This is not Passion Week, but there is a sense in which every week is Passion Week for those that love the Lord. What do you think of his passion? But of course there is one other thing I must ask before I come to a close. What do you think of his purpose? What was the purpose of this person's preaching? This person's power? This person's passion? What do you think of this person? What think ye? Of God. Of course, there is a sense in which we need to turn to the Word of God, and see what men in the Word of God have recorded in Christ's name. But I'm not going to take very long in doing this. I would first of all ask, if I were to hear this evening, I would ask his friends what they think of him. I would ask his foes what they think of him. I would climb Jacob's Ladder and swing through those hurried gates and walk through those streets and holes, and I would order in front of God, and I would pray, Thy Prince, Thy Foe! But how about thy father? What does he think? Is he praying? Those men that walked with him for three and a half years, those men who listened to what he said, who saw what he did, those who came and hung up on the cross, you heads of Jesus, what think ye of Christ? If I was to bring Peter here, he'd be in not a moment's doubt to tell me. For he would stand here tonight and tell me, in words that men and women could understand, this Jesus who you crucified, God made both Lord and Christ. If I were to bring him to this service tonight, Thomas, and say, Thomas, what think ye of Christ? No filled with doubt, no filled with question. Thomas, what think ye of Christ? And he'd look at you and me and he'd say, Don't you remember what I did? I'd bow before him and say, My Lord and my God. If I were to ask his foes what they think of Christ, I would know where to start. I would remember that the very man that sat in judgment over him said, I find no fault in him. I remember the very person that sold him for thirty pieces of silver. The poet has said, Thirty pieces of silver burn on a trainer's brain. Thirty pieces of silver? Who is the hellish man? A kid that betrayed the government? He cries for the bated breath, and tossing it down before them, he runs to a man that's dead. And I would say, Judas, what do you think of Christ? And Judas would say, I've betrayed innocence. I'm not going to ask. The countless multitude of other friends, I'm not going to ask the plenty of other enemies. You know them. Pilate, the Pharisees, the centurion, you know what they said. I want just tonight to bow before the God of heaven, because I want to tell you this. If his friends had spoken well of him, and his foes had spoken well of him, and everyone else had spoken well of him, but the Father didn't speak well of him, I would have nothing to offer you. But I want to say, if his friends had spoken of him, and his foes had spoken ill of him, but his Father had spoken well of him, I'd have a salvation to offer you. So let me bow quickly for a moment and say, O God, Thou Creator of heaven and earth, Thou to whom we live and move and have our very being, Thou who dwelleth in life unapproachable, tell us, what think ye of Christ? Down from the excellent glory come the words that we enjoyed this morning in our worship. This is my beloved Son, in whom I find all my delight. Oh, what a Savior! What do you think of Christ? Who do you side with? What they did right. But if we would start by asking his friends, and his foes, and his Father, I now want to ask you, I want to ask you, what do you think of his person? What do you think of his person? You will remember the tremendous words in the seventh chapter of John, is it verse 15? When hearing the Lord Jesus speaking to the multitudes, there were those who said, how is it that this man, this man that hath no letters, hath such understanding and knowledge, never having learned? It is that expression, never having learned. You see, young man, young woman, you don't want to get high school, college. I want to remind you that your problem is not really what you're going to do for Jesus. Actually, your problem is, what are you going to do without him? Because you are facing this. If Jesus is not the Son of God, if Jesus is not the Savior of the world, how will you account for him? You can't account for him by his learning. He never went to school. You can't account for him by his handling. They were what we would call but heavens. You can't account for him by the support of his disciples. Most of them were but fishermen. And yet, here is a man who has transformed the history of the world. Here is a man who has claimed more followers than Julius Caesar ever had. Here is a man who has gone forth wherever he went to bring blessings and countless multitudes. How do you account for him? Come on, how do you account for him? What do you think of his person? What do you think of his lonely birth? What do you think of his lovely life? What do you think of his lonely death? What do you think of his lofty exaltation? What think ye of Christ? His lonely birth? That God should be with us? Marvel enough! Marvel enough! And I am not unmindful that in the Old Testament, God appears. I see him as he stands before Joshua and says, I see him as he stands in the midst of a burning fire which hath wracked the chaff of the Pentecost.