SPEAKER_00: So most of us, I'm sure, have had the awkward experience of calling someone by the wrong name.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been talking to someone for several minutes and then suddenly you realize that you've been calling them by the wrong name or you've been mentioning their name wrong for the entire time?
SPEAKER_00: At that point, right, you you kind of had have two choices.
SPEAKER_00: Either admit it immediately, I'm sorry, I've been calling you by the wrong name, or just avoid saying their name for the rest of the discussion or the conversation.
SPEAKER_00: I think I do the latter.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we laugh about that because we know that names or someone's name matters.
SPEAKER_00: Calling someone the wrong thing means that you really don't know who they are.
SPEAKER_00: You really don't know much about them.
SPEAKER_00: In our passage this morning, something similar is happening with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: People are talking about him everywhere, but they keep getting his identity wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We have all heard, if you've been around church, you've you've heard Jesus being called Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's called that way in the Bible, he's called that way around churches.
SPEAKER_00: But but what does that word mean?
SPEAKER_00: In case you didn't know, Christ is not his last name, it's not Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is a title.
SPEAKER_00: But what does it mean to be the Christ?
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a good question because Christ is not a word that we use in our everyday vocabulary.
SPEAKER_00: We don't go around calling people the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Greek word Christ is simply the Hebrew word Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: It means the anointed one.
SPEAKER_00: The concept of a Messiah in ancient Israel speaks to an anointed king.
SPEAKER_00: When kings were set apart to lead nations, they they were anointed.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they were specifically set apart for the task of leading their people.
SPEAKER_00: Before Jesus came, Israel was waiting for the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: They had lost their land, they had lost their king, and they had been overthrown by other nations.
SPEAKER_00: And during this time, they were under the rule of the Roman government.
SPEAKER_00: So they were waiting for a Christ, a Messiah, to come and set them free.
SPEAKER_00: And this is who Peter is claiming Jesus to be.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who they have been waiting for.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Messiah who has come to set things in order for them, the one true king who would free them and who would deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: Now it doesn't mean that Peter knew exactly what that all meant, but his confession is the first human confession of who Jesus is in Luke's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the angels and the demons have already acknowledged who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Now we have an acknowledgement by a person, by a man.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Peter is often viewed as the spokesman for the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So really his confession is most likely theirs as well.
SPEAKER_00: They see that this man, Jesus, is not merely a prophet, and he's not merely just a great teacher.
SPEAKER_00: No, this man, Jesus, is something much more.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one who the scriptures pointed to.
SPEAKER_00: This is, as Peter says, the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: I titled this sermon this morning, Confessing Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because like these disciples, we must all wrestle with this question of who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus asks, who do people say that I am, or who do you say that I am, we must all make a confession of who Jesus really is.
SPEAKER_00: I have four takeaways from our passage as we consider the question before us.
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Number one is the call to confess, number two is the wrong confession, number three as is as you guessed it, the right confession, and number four is the cost of confession.
SPEAKER_00: The call to confess, the wrong confession, the right confession, and the cost of confession.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we will be looking at this morning in the passage.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at number one, the call to confess.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them, Who do the crowd say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: The question of who Jesus is had been stirring up among the people.
SPEAKER_00: You remember earlier in the chapter, Herod and others had this same question.
SPEAKER_00: And now we are starting to get some answers.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, by feeding the 5,000, which we saw last week, was displaying who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and the disciples here give a verbal confession of who he is, and later on in the chapter, we will see God the Father from heaven confess who he is.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus knows that the question was being asked about him.
SPEAKER_00: People wanted to know who he really was.
SPEAKER_00: Luke tells us that he, as he was praying alone.
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't give us the area, but in Mark's gospel we are told that this is near Caesarea Philippi, which is a city north of the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: It was also known as a very pagan city.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they worship other gods there.
SPEAKER_00: And the primary God that they worship in this city was the Greek God Pan.
SPEAKER_00: It's fitting that the true God is confessed in a city where a false God is often confessed.
SPEAKER_00: But as he was praying, as Jesus was praying, he poses this question to the disciples, Who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Now it's not that he didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows all things, but he wanted the disciples to answer the question.
SPEAKER_00: In a moment, he will ask the disciples who they think he is directly, but for now he wants to know, what do others think of me?
SPEAKER_00: What are others saying about me?
SPEAKER_00: What do people say about me and who do they say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: What do others confess about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It's a question that everyone must answer.
SPEAKER_00: No one is exempt from answering this question.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some might delay it, some may try to never think about it, they'll avoid it, but sooner or later, everyone will have to answer for who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: See, many people think that this question is not for them.
SPEAKER_00: Many people think that this question is only for those Christians, only for those who follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The business of knowing who Jesus is, the business of discovering who Jesus is and to know about him only belongs to Christians and those who go to the church.
SPEAKER_00: Many people think that if they avoid the things of God and just live their lives as if he doesn't exist, or if he does exist, he's not for me, then they will avoid having to answer the question all together.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that no one will be able to avoid the question.
SPEAKER_00: One day, everyone will have to give an account for who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone will have to give an account for what they believed about him.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone must confess whether he is Lord or they are Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, here's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: People make this confession every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not with their lips, but with their lives.
SPEAKER_00: With their lives, they are confessing that they are Lord over themselves, and consequently, they are confessing that Jesus is not Lord at all.
SPEAKER_00: Today, the answer to who Jesus is is often answered wrongly.
SPEAKER_00: And that's partly because we're answering the wrong question.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of trying to find out who Jesus is, what most people in this world are trying to do is find out who they are.
SPEAKER_00: Who are we?
SPEAKER_00: Instead of who is Jesus, we are consumed with who am I?
SPEAKER_00: We aren't seeking him, we aren't seeking who he is, we're seeking ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We're trying to find ourselves, we're trying to figure out who we really are.
SPEAKER_00: We're trying to figure out our meaning and our purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Are we good people?
SPEAKER_00: Are we bad people?
SPEAKER_00: Martin Luther once said, we're all legalists at heart.
SPEAKER_00: And that basically means that we're always trying to do right and do wrong based on our own perception of what is right and what is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And we're always trying to justify right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we're always telling ourselves that we're not that bad, or even if I am that bad, I have an excuse for doing bad.
SPEAKER_00: I have a reason for doing the things that I do that are bad.
SPEAKER_00: It is because I grew up in this family, or it's because I was born in a certain area, or it's because this is all I've seen, or we're always trying to make excuses for why we do the things that we we know that we probably shouldn't do.
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says in Romans chapter 2, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: It says, For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
SPEAKER_00: For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
SPEAKER_00: For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
SPEAKER_00: They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So what this passage is saying is that those Gentiles, which everyone who is not a Jew, which is most of us in this room, I don't know everybody personally, but if you are, I apologize.
SPEAKER_00: But most of us in this room who are not Jews are Gentiles, and and we didn't grow up in the Jewish law.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't, we we weren't, we don't have a family history of of knowing the Jewish law in the old covenant, but even though we don't have the law, there is a law of nature that is that is bearing witness to all of this, and it is it is it is written on the hearts of men.
SPEAKER_00: The law, what's right and what's wrong, is written on everyone's heart.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, all of mankind knows what God expects of them.
SPEAKER_00: You say, how can you say that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, do you do you rarely have to teach a child that it's wrong to steal.
SPEAKER_00: You rarely have to teach someone that it's wrong to kill.
SPEAKER_00: You rarely have to have, you know, a lot of classes saying how how wrong it is to cheat on your wife or cheat on your husband.
SPEAKER_00: You you ever people know that.
SPEAKER_00: People know it's wrong to do those things.
SPEAKER_00: How do they know that?
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to go to church to know that.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to open a Bible to know that.
SPEAKER_00: How do people know that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, as the text says here, it is written on people's hearts.
SPEAKER_00: God has put it on people's hearts to know what is right and what is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: So if we know what God requires, what will be the basis of our justification before him?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, how can we be made right before him?
SPEAKER_00: As legalists, we will point to the things that we did or didn't do.
SPEAKER_00: Or again, if we did bad things, we will say, well, not as bad as that guy.
SPEAKER_00: People will say, God, I know I'm not perfect, but I stayed with my wife even though I wanted to trade her in.
SPEAKER_00: I may have wanted to a few times, but I never did it.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I stayed with her, and God, since you know everything, you know how hard that was for me to do.
SPEAKER_00: You know how difficult she can be.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think, I think I should get extra credit for this one.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did I keep thou shalt not commit adultery, but I also kept thou shalt not kill.
SPEAKER_00: Kept two commandments in one marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Surely, Lord, you're going to look kindly on me for that.
SPEAKER_00: See, mankind will always use the excuse that we're not as bad as we could be.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: See, many will stand before God making a defense for what they did or didn't do with themselves when that's not the question.
SPEAKER_00: The question is not what did you do with yourself?
SPEAKER_00: The question is, what did you do with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Because you can pile up all of your good works and deeds and bring them before God, and they're not going to be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Your good works and your good heart will fall short of what you need, of the righteousness that you need to appease a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: That canyon is too deep.
SPEAKER_00: The ocean is too wide.
SPEAKER_00: Your good deeds can never fill the gap that is between you and a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: The only one that is able to fill that gap is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The only one that we can stand before God the Father, the only name in which we can stand before God the Father is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we have to be clothed in his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And there are too many people who think they can get by with their own apparel.
SPEAKER_00: Day by day, people everywhere assume that they won't have to be confronted with this question.
SPEAKER_00: But it simply can't be avoided.
SPEAKER_00: Christ asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: That's a question that every soul will have to answer.
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to our next point: the wrong confession.
SPEAKER_00: Look again at verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: And they answered, John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: But others say Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Another say that one of the prophets of old had risen.
SPEAKER_00: Let me stop there.
SPEAKER_00: So, like today, many people misunderstood who Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: People were saying that he was John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: Others were saying he was Elijah, one of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the people were going around and they were talking about him.
SPEAKER_00: Buzz was all around.
SPEAKER_00: The miraculous powers that he was displaying meant that Jesus had to be somebody.
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't be just any man.
SPEAKER_00: The authority in which he preached in meant that he wasn't just any teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they they believed him to be something more, but they still got it wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes were still blinded to the truth.
SPEAKER_00: They had yet to see and to understand who it was who was with them.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they believed in what they heard and what they saw because they couldn't deny the miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they spoke highly of him, but they also spoke wrongly of him.
SPEAKER_00: And when you look at who they thought he was, you will see that many people today think the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take a little closer look at these men.
SPEAKER_00: They believed him to be.
SPEAKER_00: Two great men, yes, but not the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: First, John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we've seen John the Baptist before, as he we've been walking through Luke's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: A couple of weeks back, we read about him being beheaded at the request of King Herod.
SPEAKER_00: And some believe that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Again, John the Baptist was the voice of the one crying in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: He was the one who was preparing the way for the Messiah to come.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the people of Israel look forward to a day when a Christ would come and make things right, a day when their Messiah would come and set things in order.
SPEAKER_00: And their scriptures told them that before that day comes, someone else would come to prepare that way.
SPEAKER_00: And that's who John the Baptist was.
SPEAKER_00: As he was in the wilderness, many would come to him, hear him preach, and hear his message, and he was preaching repentance and baptism, telling people of the coming kingdom and the kingdom that was at hand.
SPEAKER_00: And still others believe he was Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Now Elijah, he was a revered prophet to the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: You can read about him in 1st and 2 Kings.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't so much that Elijah was greater than any of the other Old Testament figures, but Elijah held a special mystique among the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: Second Kings chapter 2, we read that Elijah was taken up to heaven by chariots of fire.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Elijah never died, he never tasted death.
SPEAKER_00: How pleased God must have been with Elijah for God to take him up.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah to the Jews was an exemplary figure.
SPEAKER_00: He was a model servant of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And like John the Baptist, Elijah was also seen as someone who was going to come and prepare the way for the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: In their day, they believed that Elijah would return and make way for the Messiah, which added to the mystique of the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, here he was that he didn't even die, and he's going to come back again.
SPEAKER_00: You can read about that in Malachi 4, 5.
SPEAKER_00: So here we are with these two men who people are saying Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: Some said he was John the Baptist, others said he was Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Two great men, yes, but again, two men who are not the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And as we we will see, and in the the modern landscape of our world, much hasn't changed from their day to ours.
SPEAKER_00: Like John the Baptist, Jesus is seen as someone who just points to something else.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who points to something greater.
SPEAKER_00: Like Elijah, Jesus is seen as a model figure, someone to look at look to as an ultimate example to how to live our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Someone whose example we should follow.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus is okay with a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00: There's not too many people who have a negative view of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Even unbelievers and atheists don't have that bad of a view of him.
SPEAKER_00: They're not really bothered by a form of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Even among the lost, his approval ratings are pretty high.
SPEAKER_00: Gandhi once famously quoted, I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what would make a Hindu like Gandhi say such a thing?
SPEAKER_00: Never mind that it might be true that some Christians aren't like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What would make him say that he likes Christ?
SPEAKER_00: It's because he didn't know the true Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's because he had an idea of Christ and he liked that idea.
SPEAKER_00: Many people like the idea of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They like the idea of who Jesus can be.
SPEAKER_00: They like that he was someone who taught others a better way.
SPEAKER_00: They liked how he showed others how to live and treat one another, that he was someone who lived what he taught.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's all who Jesus is, that's the wrong confession of him.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not only those outside of the church making these wrong confessions.
SPEAKER_00: Many churchgoers do as well.
SPEAKER_00: There are many people who are going to church Sunday after Sunday, filling the pews, who don't know the truth about who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: There are many people who know about Jesus and they know the story of the cross and they know the story of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: They know about Easter and Christmas, but they still get the answer wrong to who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Again, let's consider that the people believed that the return of John the Baptist and Elijah meant something.
SPEAKER_00: It signified something.
SPEAKER_00: It signified the end to their troubles.
SPEAKER_00: Because if this man, if these men, either John the Baptist or Elijah, have come to prepare the way, then that means the Messiah who's going to fix everything is just around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: And he will come and he will free us from all of our problems.
SPEAKER_00: He will come and he will make things right again.
SPEAKER_00: He will come and he will give us back our land and he will give us back our king, and he will give us back our kingdom, and he will free us from Rome and from all of the oppression.
SPEAKER_00: When the Messiah comes, he will give us a better life.
SPEAKER_00: Which is what people think about coming to Jesus for today.
SPEAKER_00: They like the idea that he can do some good things for them.
SPEAKER_00: There are so many people who seek Jesus for who they want him to be rather than for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Some people want him to be their personal genie, someone who will give you anything you wish for, someone who will be there to give you everything that you ask, someone who's always just waiting for you to draw up enough faith so that he can give you what you want.
SPEAKER_00: Others consider him Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Fixit.
SPEAKER_00: He's someone who can fix everything that is wrong in my life, whether it's marriage problems or financial problems or family problems or career problems, maybe an addiction, maybe an anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: They hear that Jesus is the one who fixes things.
SPEAKER_00: Something, he's a social justice warrior.
SPEAKER_00: That his whole purpose is to overturn all of the injustices that we see in our world.
SPEAKER_00: Others like him to be the political Jesus wrapped up in the American flag, using his name to argue for your favorite policy.
SPEAKER_00: And still, there are those who like the sentimental Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When their feelings are down or they need a friend, he's someone who's always there.
SPEAKER_00: He's someone you can always talk to.
SPEAKER_00: He's someone you can come and cry to, especially when you have emotionally driven worship music on in the background.
SPEAKER_00: And let's not forget about the ticket to heaven, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one people use as a commodity to get them into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: As they're living their best life, Jesus is there on the side as that golden ticket into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a little truth about Jesus in all of these.
SPEAKER_00: He is someone who answers prayers, he is someone who Who can help marriages and break addictions?
SPEAKER_00: He is someone concerned about justice.
SPEAKER_00: He is a trusted friend who you can come to in your time of need.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, he is the only way to get to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But confessing those things only confesses what he does.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't confess who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the question again.
SPEAKER_00: The question wasn't, what do people say that I do?
SPEAKER_00: It was who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: There's too many people confessing what he does without confessing who he is.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look to the right question.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And Peter answered, The Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: While others answered wrongly, Peter, he answers right.
SPEAKER_00: His eyes were beginning to open.
SPEAKER_00: He may have not seen everything quite clearly yet, but he was starting to see something.
SPEAKER_00: That this man who was before him was not just a prophet, and he wasn't just a good teacher, but this man was the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: That this is the one who all of the scriptures, all of the Bible pointed to.
SPEAKER_00: What all that meant at the moment, he might not have known, but what he was sure of was that this is the one.
SPEAKER_00: He's from God.
SPEAKER_00: There's no need to wait, there's no need to look for another because this is the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one who has come to save and deliver his people.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just teaching us good things, he's not just paving the way for someone else.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just showing me a good example.
SPEAKER_00: This is the appointed one of God.
SPEAKER_00: After many wrong confessions, Peter and the disciples make the right one.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to confess Christ rightly?
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to confess who Jesus really is?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it means to confess what the Bible says about him.
SPEAKER_00: And here are a few things, I'm gonna go a little quick, but here are a few things that Scripture tells us about Jesus and who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, he is God.
SPEAKER_00: John 1.1.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Son of God, Romans 1.4, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He is one with the Father, John 10.30.
SPEAKER_00: I and the Father are one.
SPEAKER_00: He is our Savior, Matthew 1.21.
SPEAKER_00: She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_00: He is our mediator, 1 Timothy 2.5.
SPEAKER_00: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is our propitiation.
SPEAKER_00: That means that he is the one who can appease God for us.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 2.2.
SPEAKER_00: He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: He is our righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 5.21.
SPEAKER_00: For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's one more.
SPEAKER_00: He is the only way to God.
SPEAKER_00: John 14 6.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: I keep going, but I'll stop there.
SPEAKER_00: On and on.
SPEAKER_00: We can keep going about the wonderful truths that the scriptures tell us about who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: His personhood, his work, his mission, all things that are distorted today in today's view of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look, if Jesus is anything else, then you don't need Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus is merely a good teacher who taught you some good things, if he's merely a virtuous man who sets great examples, if he's just a personal friend who you can talk to in your time of need, then you can go anywhere for that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to come to Jesus for that.
SPEAKER_00: You can go to other religions and find that.
SPEAKER_00: What distinguishes Christianity from all other religions is not simply what he did, but who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Because who he is makes what he did important.
SPEAKER_00: Many people have laid down their lives for others.
SPEAKER_00: Many people have taught good things.
SPEAKER_00: Many people have set great examples, but none of those people were God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, our God, humbled himself to die for those whom he loved.
SPEAKER_00: No other God emptied himself and put on human flesh, not only to live with us, but to live for us.
SPEAKER_00: Our God didn't just come to be near to us, he came to be one of us.
SPEAKER_00: He came to live our life and die our death.
SPEAKER_00: Look, reject that, and you reject everything about Him.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't come to cure our social ills.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't come to bring you your best life.
SPEAKER_00: He came to live your best life for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because your best life would have sent you to hell.
SPEAKER_00: Your best life would fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Only his best is acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave his best.
SPEAKER_00: He gave his best for those who would trust and believe in him.
SPEAKER_00: Your own works, your own abilities are not enough.
SPEAKER_00: Unless you submit your desires and your passions and your entire life to his will, then you will not know the answer to who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing once you find out who he truly is, you will see that he's so much more than you ever thought him to be.
SPEAKER_00: You saw him as love because you thought he wanted you to have a great life.
SPEAKER_00: Wait until you see his love in the light of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: People will say they think much of Jesus because they believe he can meet their needs or make them happy and make them successful.
SPEAKER_00: When the truth is that's thinking too little of him.
SPEAKER_00: A Jesus that can make your life a little bit better than it is now is not that great.
SPEAKER_00: That was the misconception people have, misconception people had in Jesus' day.
SPEAKER_00: They thought that Jesus was going to come and he was going to overthrow Rome, that he was going to come and he was going to defeat their enemies.
SPEAKER_00: But look, there have been many, if you know history, there have been many great men throughout history who have come and won and conquered and who've led revolutions.
SPEAKER_00: There have been many who have led charges to conquer kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: But there's only one who has led a charge to conquer hell, death, and the grave.
SPEAKER_00: Which Christ are you confessing?
SPEAKER_00: Are you confessing the right one or the wrong one?
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, the cost of confession, verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: And he strictly charged them, or and he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed on the third day, and on the third day be raised.
SPEAKER_00: So after Peter confesses rightly who Jesus is, that Jesus is the Son of the Christ of God, Jesus charges him and the rest of the disciples not to tell anyone.
SPEAKER_00: That might sound strange.
SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't he want this word to get out?
SPEAKER_00: But remember, they're still figuring this out.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are barely coming to this conclusion that he is Christ, that he's the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: They're still trying to learn some things.
SPEAKER_00: Soon they'll be able to teach others, but not quite yet.
SPEAKER_00: So he commands them not to tell everyone.
SPEAKER_00: They're not ready for this.
SPEAKER_00: Although he does reveal to them what kind of Christ he is.
SPEAKER_00: He has not come as the conquering Messiah, but as the suffering Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: As he says, he will suffer many things, be rejected, and killed by the chief priests and the scribes.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first time in Luke's gospel that Jesus is predicting his death and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: This must have been a shock to the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Because they were hearing this for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, here they are, finally confessing that this is the Messiah, that this is the one who had been sent from God, but he has not come to save them from their human oppressors.
SPEAKER_00: But there's better news.
SPEAKER_00: He has come to save them from their spiritual ones.
SPEAKER_00: He has not come to conquer by the way of the sword.
SPEAKER_00: He's come to conquer by the way of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But here's where it really hits home for the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus was going to suffer, and he was going to be rejected, and if he was only going to be, and if he was going to be killed, would they be willing to follow him all the way through?
SPEAKER_00: See, it's one thing to follow Jesus through the healings and the miracles, which is what they've already been doing.
SPEAKER_00: They've been following Jesus around, healing the sick and casting out demons.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to follow him through that.
SPEAKER_00: It's quite another thing to follow him when he's going to be rejected and when he's going to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to follow him when the crowd is pressing in and cheering on his name.
SPEAKER_00: But what about when the crowd turns on him and calls for his blood?
SPEAKER_00: Soon enough, their confession is going to be tested.
SPEAKER_00: See, it's easy to confess Jesus when things are safe.
SPEAKER_00: But what about when things get dangerous?
SPEAKER_00: What about when it gets costly to confess him as Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And here's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Every Christian throughout their Christian life will face similar tests.
SPEAKER_00: There will be moments when confessing Jesus as your Lord will be costly.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's easy to confess him on Sundays when you're in church and when you're around brothers or sisters and the Bibles are open and everyone's singing.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to confess Jesus then.
SPEAKER_00: But what about Mondays when the storms of life hit?
SPEAKER_00: What about when temptations come and draw our hearts away from him?
SPEAKER_00: What about when trials make us question his love for us?
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to follow Christ then?
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to follow Christ wherever that might lead us?
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to suffer with him in order that we might glory with him?
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8, 17.
SPEAKER_00: And if children and heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.
SPEAKER_00: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are not willing to follow Jesus to suffering will not be fit to follow him into glory.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus wanted to prepare his disciples for what to expect if they're going to continue to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: It's good, Peter, that you're saying this.
SPEAKER_00: It's good that you're confessing who I am.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you what that means.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that life is going to get any easier for you.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that all your hopes and dreams are going to be given to you.
SPEAKER_00: But it is going to mean that you're going to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to be rejected by people?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to be made fun of and turned away?
SPEAKER_00: This confession marks a turning point in his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: From here on out, as we're going to read in Luke's gospel, the opposition is going to become more fierce.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus knows that.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to prepare his disciples for that.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to prepare us if we are his disciples for that as well.
SPEAKER_00: Because look, Jesus knows our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: He knows our insufficiencies.
SPEAKER_00: He knows our insecurities.
SPEAKER_00: And he knows how difficult the road ahead might be.
SPEAKER_00: And he has no intention of leaving us to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: John 16 32.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
SPEAKER_00: I have set these things that you to you, that in me you may have peace.
SPEAKER_00: In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is assuring his disciples that he has over and us, that he has overcome the world on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8.11 says that the power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: That power to give life in the spirit now lives in us.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew's account of this exchange, Jesus says something that's not recorded here in Luke, and we must mention it.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 16, 18, Jesus says, after Peter confesses him as Lord, Jesus turns to Peter and says, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: After Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, he tells them, This was revealed to you by God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, neither Peter nor any of the other disciples confessed this on their own.
SPEAKER_00: Their sinful hearts didn't all of a sudden lead them to this conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: This revelation of who Jesus is didn't come from them, it came from God.
SPEAKER_00: And if God led them to confess the true Christ, then he will keep them confessing the true Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you today have truly confessed Jesus as Lord, that confession stands on something that is stronger than you.
SPEAKER_00: It stands on the strength and the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: God will supply the grace that you need to confess, and he also will supply the grace that you need to keep on confessing, even through the storms, even through the trials, even through the sufferings, and of the free call of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That grace is being offered to everyone that is even in this room.
SPEAKER_00: You may say, I don't have what it takes.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have what it takes to call upon the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have what it takes to serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: To tell you the truth, I'm not even really interested in serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: No one is.
SPEAKER_00: No one was.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't before God opened my eyes and opened my heart to the love of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're all in the same boat.
SPEAKER_00: We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: No one is greater at anything other than probably being a greater sinner than one another.
SPEAKER_00: That's the bad news.
SPEAKER_00: But the good news is that Jesus is in the business of saving sinners.
SPEAKER_00: This question of who Jesus is will have to be answered by everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Again, no one will be able to avoid the question.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone will have to answer for who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And again, people are answering that with their life every day.
SPEAKER_00: People are saying that Jesus is not Lord over my life because I'm going to live my own life and I'm going to live the life that I want to live.
SPEAKER_00: And nobody's going to tell me what to do.
SPEAKER_00: I control my own life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that means you're your own Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you're your own savior.
SPEAKER_00: But if you want to make Jesus your Lord, and if you want to make Jesus your Savior, all you have to do is believe.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is trust.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is confess who you are and who He is.
SPEAKER_00: You're a sinner, He's a Savior.
SPEAKER_00: You're fallen.
SPEAKER_00: He is able to save you from your sins.
SPEAKER_00: And then you can answer that question correctly.
SPEAKER_00: Because no mistake, make no mistake about it, and here's the truth of it all.
SPEAKER_00: One day everybody's going to answer that correctly.
SPEAKER_00: If we refuse to answer that correctly now, Scripture says that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess him as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Better to answer that question rightly today than to be forced to answer it on the day of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the good news of the gospel that we have the opportunity to answer that question rightly today.
SPEAKER_00: Will he be the Jesus of your own imagination?
SPEAKER_00: Will he be the Jesus of your own making?
SPEAKER_00: Will he be the Jesus created in your own heart?
SPEAKER_00: Or will he be the true Jesus, the one who is revealed by the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one who has come to live and die in your place?
SPEAKER_00: May we know him for who he truly is, and may we, like Peter, confess you are the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.