Answering Life's Greatest Question, Part 1

Father, we thank you for today and the opportunity you give us once again to study the glorious, glorious scriptures. And we pray that as we studied them this morning you'd open our eyes that we might be able to behold out of thy law the glories and wonders of our Savior, that we might learn to follow you in obedience. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Turn with me in your Bible if you would to Luke chapter 9.

Luke chapter 9 as we embark on a story and a study that will change your life forever concerning the identity of the man, the centrality of his mission, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and looking at answering life's most important question. The answer to this question will change your life forever if you get it right. If you get it wrong, it will change your life forever. So no matter what the answer is, your life will be changed either for the better or for the worst. And once you answer it correctly, the implications go way beyond anything you can ever begin to imagine.

So what we're going to do this week and in the subsequent weeks to come, you will see your eyes open to many glorious truths that otherwise you might have missed in your studies of the Gospels to understand the full implication of the salvation of Jesus Christ our Lord in the lives of his people. Let me read to you our narrative for this morning, Luke chapter 9 verses 18 down through verse number 22.

And it says, And it came about that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he questioned them, saying, Who do the multitudes say that I am? And they answered and said, John the Baptist. And others say, Elijah. And others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again. And he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered and said, The Christ of God. But he warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

Our Lord asks a question and then he gives some instruction. The question centers around the identity of the man, Christ himself. And the instruction centers around the centrality of his mission. Both are absolutely essential to understanding the saving work of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we're going to help you understand this morning why it is people can't believe the obvious. We're going to help you understand and ask and answer the question, Why is it my husband or my wife can't believe what I believe?

Why is it my children can't come to an understanding of this glorious truth? How is it they miss it in spite of overwhelming evidence? We're going to answer that for you this morning so you can rest your mind and understand why it is those closest to you are so far from Christ. And it all centers around a question. Christ begins with asking a question, dealing with what is the popular opinion of who I am. And then he asks what is the personal opinion? What is your personal opinion? Because when push comes to shove, it makes no difference what the world says because when you stand before Christ, your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your husband or your wife will not be with you.

You will be all alone when you stand before Christ. And so you must be able to answer this question correctly to know who is Jesus Christ our Lord. This is where the gospel begins. If you miss this question and it's obvious answer, then you can't ask the second question, What must I do to be saved?

It all hinges on the identity of the Messiah. And so we ask the question, How is it that people miss who he is? I mean you can go to any library and read hundreds, literally thousands of books and periodicals and magazines and watch videos about who is this man Jesus Christ, but none of them come up with the right answer. How do they miss it? How can they miss that which is so clearly obvious? Well, it's because they don't study the four Gospels. Because the four Gospels give you the clear answer to the identity of the Messiah.

In fact, John writes in his gospel, John chapter 20 verse number 30, many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The answer to the question, Who is Jesus? is obvious. If you read the Gospels and if you accept the Gospels as the authority on life. If you reject the Gospels, you'll come up with the wrong answer.

If you accept the Gospels, you will come up with the right answer. And it all hinges on the identity of the Messiah. The Gospels are written to tell us who is Jesus Christ. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all focus in on Christ. And if you go back and you were to review just Luke's gospel, you begin with Zacharias and his testimony and the testimony of Gabriel when he came to Mary and Mary's song, all in Luke chapter 1. When you come to Luke chapter 2, you understand the testimony of the angels when they came to the shepherds there in the shepherd fields of Bethlehem, telling them that for you this day in the city of David, there's been born a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

And when you look at their testimony and then the shepherds testimony, and then read about Simeon and his testimony about this being the Lord's Christ, and then Anna's testimony in chapter 2, and then come to the testimony of Christ at the end of chapter 2, Christ himself, when he says to his mother, I must be about my father's business.

The first two chapters give you so much information about the identity of Jesus Christ our Lord. In fact, when our Lord says to his mother, I must be about my father's business, it introduces to us a whole topic about Jesus Christ and his relationship with his Father in heaven. In the Gospels, Christ calls his God in heaven, his Father, 151 times. 151 times Christ calls his Father in heaven, Father. 39 books in the Old Testament, there are only two times that the Lord God Jehovah is referred to as Father, and it only is in reference to God being the Father of a nation, but of no one in a personal setting.

15 times in those 39 books, God is referred to as the Father indirectly. But 151 times, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who calls God his Father, and what makes that so unique is that the Jews don't look at a relationship with God as a personal one, and the reason being is because there was never a Jew in the history of Judaism who referred to the Lord God Jehovah as his own personal Father until Jesus did, and that is so unique to understanding the identity of Christ.

Why? Well, if you go over to John chapter 5, you have the answer. Remember there at the pools of Bethesda, there in Jerusalem, there was a man who was paralyzed for 38 years, and Christ heals that man, and there's this great discussion as to how it is this man was healed on the Sabbath, and who it was who healed him, and when we go to Jerusalem, we tell you that at the pools of Bethesda, everything about Christ turned at that place. We sit on the location there in Jerusalem and tell you that the tide turned against Christ at the pools of Bethesda.

Why? Because it was here that they accused him of blasphemy. It's here they began to set the plan of motion to kill him. Why? Because this is what Jesus said in verse number 17, but he answered them, my father is working until now, and I myself am working. So he calls his God in heaven his father, and then he says this, and then it says this verse 18, for this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal to God.

You see that? No Jew would ever call God his father, because that would make him equal with God, until Jesus came. And when Jesus came, he called his father in heaven father, because he was equal with God. If you go over to John chapter 10, same thing happens. John chapter 10, it says this, in verse number 30, I and the father are one. The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the father. For which of them are you stoning me? The Jews answered him, for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you being a man, make yourself out to be God.

You see the Jews knew that the moment Jesus called the Lord God Jehovah his father, he made himself equal with God. That's why every time the phrase son of God is used, it uses the Greek word weos. He is the weos of God, because the word weos in Greek for son means equal in nature, equal in essence. In Greek teaching, never is the word weos used to define the origin of something. That's another word, that's brifos, or that's technon, but it's never weos. And so when Peter makes a confession, which we will see in a moment, in this vicinity in Luke 9, Luke doesn't record it, but Matthew does.

Thou art the Christ, the weos of the living God. You are one who is equal in nature, equal in essence with God, because that's exactly who Jesus is. Jesus is God in the flesh. And when you go through the testimony of scripture, the evidence is overwhelming. And so you go to chapter 3, in Luke's gospel in chapter 3, you have the testimony of John the Baptist. You have the testimony of the Spirit of God that would descend upon him, a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 11. You have the testimony of the voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

In chapter 4, you have the testimony of Satan, that Jesus is the Son of God. He says, since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. You also have the testimony of the demons in Luke chapter 4, that he is the Holy One of God, the Holy One of Israel. In Luke chapter 5, you have the testimony of Peter who says, depart from me, I am a sinful man, for you are the Lord. You have the testimony in chapter 7 of a sinning woman who would bow before him and receive the forgiveness of sins from her Lord God, the creator of the universe.

In Luke chapter 8, you have another demon who speaks out, calling Christ the Son of God. Every chapter in the gospel of Luke speaks of the identity of the Messiah. Everything is leading up to this point in Luke chapter 9. Everything comes to a high point in Caesarea Philippi at this point in Luke chapter 9, as to the identity of the Messiah. And here, the apostles make the clear affirmation that thou art the Lord's Christ. Thou art the Messiah of God. Thou art the Son of the living God. Now this is important.

Why? Well, for this reason. It's all about the identity of the Messiah. Who is he? And the question has been leading up to this all through Luke's gospel. We showed you that earlier in Luke. We talked about Herod's question. Who is this man? We saw it earlier because that was the resounding theme all throughout Galilee. All these men were sent out to heal and to raise the dead and to preach the gospel. And Herod gives us a commentary on Galilee's response. Who is this man? Same question the apostles asked in Luke chapter 8.

Who is this man that even the winds and the waves obey him? Same question asked by the Pharisees earlier in Luke. Who is this man who can forgive sins? Because only God can do that. That is the question. It's answering life's most important question. Who is this man? Now you need to understand that in our context in Luke chapter 9, this situation where Christ asks the questions, who do people say that I am, follows the feeding of the 5,000. But chronologically it does not follow the feeding of the 5,000 in the life of Christ.

There are many other things that took place before this happens. Why? Well, how do we know that? And why does Luke skip from the feeding of the 5,000 and miss the details of John's gospel which talks about he being the bread of life in that long dissertation in John chapter 6? And then why is it Luke misses the whole situation with Jesus walking on the water? And then the healing of the Syrophoenician's daughter? And then the healing of the man deaf and mute? And then the feeding of the 4,000? And then the opening of a blind man's eyes?

Why does Luke skip over all that information that Matthew records and Mark records and go right to this question? It's simply because it flows in the thought of what Luke wants to get across to you and me. Who is the identity of this one Jesus, the Christ? How do people perceive him? Who is he? And Luke is forcing us to answer that question. Luke is forcing us to come to a conclusion. Luke is forcing his readers to come to the realization that this is the only question in life that matters. And so he goes directly to the scene in Caesarea Philippi.

The question has been circulated all throughout his ministry. And we will see in a moment that it's even circulated in the very last week of his life. Who is this Son of Man? Because that's the only question. And I hope that you understand that question and you can answer that question correctly. Because once you answer it correctly, the implications are far reaching. And we will show you that this week and in the weeks to come as to how you answer this question and how it affects your life personally from the time you give your life to Christ until the time you go home to be with him.

That's important. And so Luke wants us to understand what's happening. You see, you have to ask, does the Old Testament teach that Jesus is God in the flesh? And yes it does. The Old Testament teaches that Jesus the Messiah is God in the flesh. We go to Isaiah chapter 9 verse number 6 and we know that the Son that's given is called El Gabor, the mighty God. He's also called the everlasting Father, correct? That is the originator of eternity. The Son that's given, Isaiah 9 verse 6 is a prophecy about the coming Messiah.

Every Jew will testify to that. Is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the originator of eternity. And the only one who can originate eternity is an eternal being. He is the El Gabor, the mighty God. So the Old Testament does teach that the Messiah is God. We know that. We also know it from Isaiah chapter 44 verse number 6. Isaiah 44 verse number 6 says, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Yahweh of hosts. In that one verse you have two Yahwehs. You can't have two.

You can only have one. Unless the two are one, right? This is the verse you use with your Jehovah's Witnesses, friends. When you talk to a Jehovah's Witness, always go to the Old Testament, don't go to the New Testament. Because Jesus is in the Old Testament. The Messiah is in the Old Testament. The triune nature of God is proven emphatically in the Old Testament. And so you go to Isaiah chapter, I mean, Isaiah 44 verse number 6, and it says, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel. Well who's that?

That's the Lord God Yahweh. We know that. He is Redeemer, the Yahweh of hosts. I am the first and I am the last.

The King of Israel and the Lord of hosts is the first and the last. The Alpha and the Omega. Now the Jewish Tanakh reads, And their Redeemer. They're wrong. How do we know the Jewish Tanakh is wrong? Simply because if you read the Hebrew language, it says that this is a third person singular pronoun.

It is His Redeemer. It's not their Redeemer. The grammar is emphatic. You can't get around that. So when you talk to a Jew and explain to him, your Hebrew Old Testament teaches this, they will say, Yes, but the Rabbis say. Who cares what the Rabbis say? It's what the Bible says, right?

So the Bible teaches that the Redeemer of Israel, okay, is the Lord God of Israel, is the Lord Yahweh. That's what it says. But it gets even more emphatic in the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 12 verse number 10, And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, this is the Lord God Yahweh speaking, the Spirit of grace and a supplication. So they will look on me, who's me? The Lord God Yahweh, whom they have pierced. Wait a minute. When was the Lord God of Israel pierced?

And it says, And they will mourn for Him. Wait a minute. Him? I thought it was you who was pierced. You see, the Jews will say, Listen, our Jewish guide says this every year. He says, If when the Lord God Messiah comes to this earth and says that I have already been here before, I will know that Lance is right. But if he comes and says, Boy, it sure is good to be here. I will know that I am right. And so I say to him, Zechariah chapter 12 verse number 10 says that when he returns, he will say, I would have already been here.

Why? Because when you, Mark, look at him, you will look on the one whom you have already pierced, the Lord God of Israel.

When will you, when will you have pierced the Lord God of Israel? Two thousand years ago when he was here. So the scripture is emphatic. He is coming back a second time.

He has already been here a first time. You see that? And the Bible is even more emphatic in chapter 13 of Zechariah. You see, why do you need to know this? Because when you are talking to a Jew, when talking to a Jehovah's Witness, you must prove to them that the Messiah is God and the Jewish text teaches that the Messiah is God in flesh. It does teach that. Go to verse number 7 of Zechariah 13. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. In other words, the true shepherd of Israel will die. Does the Old Testament teach that the Messiah of Israel will die?

Yes, it does. How do we know that? Zechariah 13 verse number 7. They are going to strike the shepherd. You see, God is against the shepherds of Israel because the shepherds of Israel have led their people, his people, into paganism, into idolatry. And they will become a true shepherd who will lead his people Israel out of idolatry into a relationship with the living God. And so the prophecy by Zechariah says awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against the man. That man is not a normal man. That man is a mighty man.

Okay? The Hebrew text is emphatic. It's not just a normal man. It's a mighty strong man. And then it says my associate or in other words my equal. The man who is a mighty man is going to be my equal. My equal is my shepherd. My shepherd is me. He's God in flesh. And it says and against my man, my associate, declares the Lord of Hosts, strike the shepherd and that the sheep may be scattered. In other words the associate of God is the one who shares the same nature as the man who is the mighty man who is the shepherd who is the same as God himself.

You see that? It is so clearly obvious in the scriptures that the Old Testament teaches that the Messiah is coming. The Messiah will die. The Messiah is God in the flesh. So the question is how do people miss that? How do the Jews miss that? How do people today miss that? Go back with me if you would to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. It says in verse number 18, And it came about that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. Luke uses the phrase and it came about because there is a lengthy transition between the feeding of the 5,000 and this account.

This account according to Matthew happens in a region called Caesarea Philippi, which is about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It's a beautiful area. And there we go. We go to Israel and there you have the snowmelt from Mount Hermon flowing down. It's called Banias. Why? Because there was a myth that there was a pagan God who was born in a cave and that cave is still there today. And there was a center where paganism and Judaism mixed together. And it was there in that region that Jesus was alone with his disciples.

And Luke's account says that they were going off alone to pray. Matthew tells us it was a region of Caesarea Philippi. It's different than Caesarea Maritima, which is on the Mediterranean Sea. This is Caesarea Philippi. It was named by Philip the Tetrarch after Caesar, in honor of Caesar. And he attached his name to it to give him some semblance of honor as well. And at the northern tip of the land of Israel, we say that Israel goes from Dan to Beersheba. It's in the place where Dan was located. And so it was in this location that this question is asked.

And Christ was alone with his men and they went off to pray together. And you'll read in Luke's gospel how many times that our Lord goes off alone to pray. And it signifies his dependency upon his Father in heaven and the communion he had with his Father in heaven. And if you want to understand more about that prayer, read John chapter 17, because there you have deity, communion with deity, and have an understanding of what Christ was doing as he would intercede for his people on their behalf. But that's in essence what he was doing.

He would get alone to pray. And it was in this region that he would ask the question, the question, who do men say that I am? What's the popular opinion? What are people saying? Now we know what Herod was saying. And the men are going to repeat the same thing because that was the popular opinion. You're Elijah, but you're not eternal. You're Jeremiah, but you're not Jehovah. You are one of the prophets, but you're not the prophet. In other words, we're going to commend him that what he does is somehow not normal.

It's abnormal. It's supernatural. He has to be somebody who's come back from the dead because all those people were dead. Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, they were all dead. So somebody who has been risen from the dead. So somehow you're a supernatural being because somehow we have to attribute all the supernatural acts to something other than just a normal man because normal men don't do these kind of things. But a supernatural man, a man raised from the dead, well, there's a possibility he could do these things.

And so in their minds, this is a commendation. You're a legend, but you're not the Lord. You're great, but you're not God. In their minds, this is a commendation. This is a good thing, but in reality, it's a damning thing because it's wrong. You see, the wrong answer will damn your soul. The right answer will grant you entrance into glory. But the wrong answer will cause you to be separated from Christ forever in a place the Bible calls hell. They followed him, hundreds of them, thousands of them.

They followed him. And this was their conclusion. How could that be? How could they miss it? The question that Christ asked in Matthew's account is, who do men say the Son of Man is? Son of Man. That takes you back to Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14. Because in Daniel's vision, he saw one like a Son of Man. In other words, he sees the Ancient of Days, who is the Lord God of Israel, coming and he sees him as a Son of Man. He sees him in flesh. And so Christ refers to himself as the Son of Man because he is the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, Daniel's vision.

So who do men say that the Son of Man is? That's the question. You see, the people followed Christ, listen carefully, because of their felt needs, not because of their fallen need. There's a big difference, folks. A big difference. What were their felt needs? They were blind. They were deaf. They were paralyzed. They needed healing. They needed food. Those were their felt needs. And Christ met all those felt needs, didn't he? But what once he began to talk to them about the real issue of their soul, their fallen condition, they wanted nothing to do with him.

Nothing at all. Why? Because they were more concerned about the temporal than the eternal. They were more concerned about their physical condition than their spiritual condition. And that's the way it is with most people today. They don't care about eternity. They could care less about eternal life. That's too far away from them. They care about the present, the now.

And as Jesus would meet all their felt needs, because he's God, he can do that, he had compassion for those needs that they had, when he began to preach to them about the truth, they wanted nothing to do with him because they didn't want to examine their condition in light of a holy God. They didn't want to do that. And Jesus would bring them into account as to where they stood with the Lord God of Israel. And so he would come and he would ask the question, who do men say that I am? And yet they came up with foolish answers.

Elijah. Some say even John the Baptist, risen from the dead. Jeremiah. One of the prophets. All foolish answers. But how did he miss it? How is it, listen, ask this question, how is it somebody in your family has missed it? Have you ever asked that question? How is it a son of mine, a daughter of mine, a wife of mine, a husband of mine, a grandson of mine, a granddaughter of mine, how is it amidst all of the evidence they miss it? How do they do that? Let me give you the answer.

Turn to John chapter 12. I'm going to give you that answer this morning. You're going to be so glad you came. John chapter 12, here's the answer. It says in verse number 34, the multitude therefore answered him, we have heard out of the law that the Christ, the Messiah is to remain forever. And how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Folks, this is the last week of our Lord's life in John 12. They're still asking the same question. They're still asking the same question.

And they ask the same question because they refuse to accept the right answer. They refuse to accept it. Jesus, the Son of Jesus, performed miracle after miracle after miracle. He preached the gospel time after time after time again. And at the end of his three-year ministry, the last days of his life right before his crucifixion, they're asking the exact same question. They've already praised him earlier in John 12 as he enters into Jerusalem on the donkey, Hosanna, save now.

And they would praise him as the King of Israel, the Son of David. Who is this Son of Man? He keeps telling them the Son of Man is going to die. He's going to die. They can't accept that. So they ask the question one more time. Who is the Son of Man? Listen to what Jesus says.

For a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have the light. That darkness may not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of the light. In other words, believe what you see. Believe it now.

Christ is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That's what John tells us. The light is shining. Believe while the light is shining on you. Because if you don't believe while the light is shining and darkness overtakes you, listen carefully, you will not have an opportunity to believe. How do we know that? Read on. These things Jesus spoke and he departed and hid himself from them. In other words, it's over. Once the light hides himself from those in darkness, it's over for them.

They're guilty. There is no chance for repentance. It's over. Listen carefully. Verse 37. But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him. They refused to believe. They absolutely refused to believe in the identity of the Messiah. And then it says this. That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not believe. Did you see that?

Look at verse 37. They would not believe, verse 37. Verse 39. Now they cannot believe. You see that? Because they would not believe, now they cannot believe that the words of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled. Believe while the light is shining. If you do not believe while the light is shining and you enter darkness, you will not be able to believe. That's what Jesus says.

It was a judicial condemnation of Israel. Now listen to this. For this they could not believe for Isaiah said again, verse 40. He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart lest they see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them. Listen, because they would not believe, now they cannot believe. So the question comes, listen carefully, here's your answer, listen carefully, why wouldn't they believe? In the midst of all the evidence, why wouldn't they believe?

I mean we go to the land of Israel today and we sit in the same spots where Jesus would speak and address the multitudes. We sit in the same spots where the miracles took place and I'm overwhelmed by the evidence just by reading the Bible and they were there and they saw and they heard and yet they would not believe. Why wouldn't they believe? And the same reason they wouldn't believe is the exact same reason your son, your daughter, your husband, your wife, your grandson, your granddaughter, your best friend will not believe today.

Here's your answer. Let's read on. Verse 42, nevertheless many even of the rulers believe in him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing him lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Here's your answer. Verse 43, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. That's why they would not believe. The affirmation, listen carefully, of a false system was more important to them than the transformation by a true Christian. And the true Savior. The affirmation of a false system was more important to them than the transformation by a true Savior.

They wanted the approval of man. They want to be recognized by the world. They want, they don't want to go against the grain. They want man to like them. They want to be approved by man. And that's exactly what happened in John chapter 9. Remember John 9 about the man born blind at the pool of Siloam and Christ healed the man born blind and the Pharisees were all upset. Who did this to you? They weren't praising God because the man born blind could now see. They were upset because the man born blind could now see on the Sabbath.

They were upset. Who did this to you? The audacity that someone would heal you on the Sabbath. Who did this? He said, well, the man Jesus did. You got to be kidding me. Jesus? We don't believe you. He says, look, I don't care what you believe. All I know is this. I was once blind. Now I can see. I'm a happy camper. You're not. So they say, let's talk to his parents. Remember that story? Let's ask the parents. So they bring the parents in. Okay. Who opened this man's eyes? He's your son. He was born blind in your home.

You know who opened his eyes. Here's his parents answer. This is the mom and dad, the closest to this young man born blind. Okay. Here's their answer. His parents said this. We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. Thank you, mom and dad. And how he now sees, we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He's of age. He shall speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

For this reason, his parents said, he's of age. Ask him. His own parents. His mother and his father would not confess Christ before the Jews because they wanted the approval of a false system more than they wanted a transformation by a true Savior. And that is the only biblical reason given as to why your son does not accept your Christ. He wants, she wants, your wife, your husband, they want approval in the workplace. They want admiration by the world. They don't care about a transformed life. They don't want that.

They want the world's approval more than anything else. That's what they want. And Jesus made it very clear. Believe while the light's shining. Because if you don't believe when you had the chance, there'll come a time where you will not have an opportunity to believe. And that is the judicial judgment of God upon man who outright refuses to believe in the identity of the Messiah. Folks, that should wake us all up to the truth of the gospel and our responsibility to preach the truth. And Jesus makes it very clear.

Who do men say that I am? You're great, but you're not God. So he says, okay, I'm not God. I am God. Who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Because you see, listen carefully, the popular opinion is wrong. Listen, if Biggest was best, Miss America would weigh 500 pounds. So we know that Biggest isn't always best, right? So the personal opinion, the personal judgment, who do you say that I am? Forget about what the world says. Because you see, here comes the answer. Now you know John 12.

Because you don't want the approval of man, do you? The believer doesn't want the approval of man. He could care less about that. He wants to be transformed by the living God. He wants God's approval, not man's approval. So he says, who do you say that I am? Because when push comes to shove, it doesn't make any difference what anybody else says about who I am or who you are. What makes a difference is who you say that I am. Because who you say that I am determines who you will ultimately be. That's so important.

And what does Peter say? Thou art God. You are God. You are God. Thou art the Christ of God. That's Luke's take on it. Matthew says, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Luke's account is, Thou art simply the Christ of God, the Messiah of God. Folks, I got news for you. He's not your Messiah. He's God's Messiah. You didn't make him the Messiah, and you did not even anoint him as the Messiah. His Father anointed him as the Messiah. He is God's Messiah. He's not even the Jew's Messiah. He is God's Messiah.

That's who he is. He is the anointed one by his Father in heaven. And that's why Simeon says in Luke chapter 2, he is the Lord's Christ. Remember he was given the promise, you will not die until you see the Lord's Christ, the Lord's anointed, the Lord's Messiah. Remember that? Remember what the angel said in Luke chapter 2? For to you this day in the study of David has been born a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Remember what was said in Luke chapter 23, verse number 35. Luke 23, 35. This is rather significant.

Here is Christ at the crucifixion. It says, And the people stood by looking on, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, if this is God's Messiah, let him save himself. That was their indictment against him. But it was the truth, right? It was the truth. Over in the book of Acts, Peter said the exact same thing. Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 4. It's Christ's, it's God's Christ, it's the Lord God of Israel's, it's his Messiah, that's who he is.

So Peter gets it right. He makes the great confession, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, you are God's Christ, you are the Messiah of God, that's who you are. And what did Jesus say? Luke doesn't tell us what Jesus said, but Matthew does. Well Matthew says, Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. You see, only God in heaven can reveal to you the identity of the Messiah. No man is going to convince you who Jesus is, only God is, because he's God's Messiah.

So he does the convincing, nobody else does. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Peter. You didn't come up to this by your own reasoning, no one convinced you of this, Peter. The reason you said it the way you did is because the Lord God of Israel, he is the one, my Father in heaven, he revealed it to you, Peter. That's how you know who I am. And that's how anybody comes to know who Jesus Christ is. It's because, it's our Father in heaven reveals it to him. You know, that's just one of the most incredible theological situations we can ever come to grips with.

Remember Matthew 11? See the disciples believe the revelation of God, didn't they? They believe the revelation of God, that what they saw was true, they believed it. Matthew 11, 27 says, all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to, what? Reveal Him. Our job is to believe. To believe in what? In the identity of Jesus the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah of Israel.

But we can't believe unless the Son is revealed to us by the Father in heaven. And that's exactly what took place in Caesarea Philippi some 2,000 years ago when Peter said, as representative of those men that were there, you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's who you are. To go against the popular view, you'll be challenged. And these men were surely challenged, weren't they? And their faith would fluctuate from time to time, wouldn't it? We know about the apostles. But to go against the popular view will always cause you to be challenged from that day forward.

They did not yet begin to understand the implications of their confession, but they soon would. And Jesus then will embark on helping them understand the implications of that confession when He says these words. He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone. Whoa. Why not? How come we can't tell them? How come we can't explain to them what we've just said? If Christ says to Peter, oh, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you, should we not tell others what God has revealed to us?

The answer, yes. But for these men, no. No. Because if we don't tell them what we've just said, they're going to believe it. Because at this point, our Lord had turned out the light in Galilee. The judicial judgment of Christ had been passed on a region that amidst all of the obvious evidence, they refused to believe. Don't tell anyone what you just said. Instead, tell them this. The Son of Man must suffer many things. The necessity of the cross. And be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

What? Are you kidding me? You must be wrong, Lord. We can't do that. We can't do that. We can't do that. You want us to tell them what? Yeah. Why? Why tell them that? Because. Next time. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you, Lord, that your word speaks the truth. We might not want to receive it, but it's the truth. And our prayer, Lord, is that every person in this room would truly understand the identity of Jesus Christ the Messiah and follow you wholeheartedly.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.