The Most Important Question of All Time
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Today, we’re going be looking at a passage of scripture that could very well be one of the most important passages in all the Bible.
This passage is especially near and dear to me because it’s the passage that God used to call me into the ministry.
Jesus poses to His disciples a general question but it very quickly turns personal.
And it’s this personal question that every single person since Jesus walked this earth has had to answer for themselves.
It’s a question designed to put every person on the same playing field.
It’s a question that cares not what race you are or what rights you think you may have.
It’s a question designed to make every person whose ears and hearts it falls upon stop and deliberate on the depths of it’s meaning to them.
I hope every person sitting here today has answered this question for themselves but if you have not, I hope you answer it for yourself before you leave.
It’s not a question that can be left unanswered.
You can put it off and put it off but rest assured, you will answer it at some point. Whether it’s on this side of eternity or on the other.
I highly suggest you answer it for yourself on this side before meeting the one the question is about face to face on that side.
The title I have chosen for today’s message is...The Most Important Question of All Time.
Matthew 16:13…if you have it would you say, Amen.
Setting the Scene & The Inspiration for the Conversation — (Vs. 13a)
Setting the Scene & The Inspiration for the Conversation — (Vs. 13a)
As we get started this morning, I want to take just a few moments and set the scene for you.
Last week, we looked at an interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees and if you will remember, they were seeking a sign from Jesus.
That interaction took place on the west side of the Sea of Galilee in a town called Magdala.
And once Jesus told them they would receive no sign, if you will remember, the Bible told us that “when they come to the other side.”
The other side was speaking of the Sea of Galilee.
Now, Matthew doesn’t record this interaction in Bethsaida but Mark’s gospel does.
If you look in...
22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.
23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.
26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”
So, they leave the Pharisees in Magdala and cross over the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida where Jesus heals a blind man and then, they make their way north to the city of Caesarea Philippi which is where our story takes place today.
William Barclay writes — Caesarea Philippi lies about twenty-five miles north-east of the Sea of Galilee. It was outside the domain of Herod Antipas, who was the ruler of Galilee, and within the area of Philip the Tetrarch. The population was mainly non-Jewish, and there Jesus would have peace to teach the Twelve.
It is of the most dramatic interest to see where Jesus chose to ask this question. There have been few districts with more religious associations than Caesarea Philippi.
(1) The area was scattered with temples of the ancient Syrian Baal-worship. W. M. Thomson, in The Land and the Book, enumerates no fewer than fourteen such temples in the near neighbourhood. Here was an area where the breath of ancient religion was in the very atmosphere. Here was a place beneath the shadow of the ancient gods.
(2) Not only the Syrian gods had their worship here. Near to Caesarea Philippi there rose a great hill, in which was a deep cavern; and that cavern was said to be the birthplace of the great god Pan, the god of nature. So much was Caesarea Philippi identified with that god that its original name was Panias, and to this day the place is known as Banias. The legends of the gods of Greece gathered around Caesarea Philippi.
(3) Further, that cave was said to be the place where the sources of the Jordan river sprang to life. Josephus writes: ‘This is a very fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth; and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of still water. Over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the cavern arise the springs of the River Jordan’ (Antiquities of the Jews, 15:10:3). The very idea that this was the place where the River Jordan had its source would make it highly evocative of all the memories of Jewish history. The ancient faith of Judaism would be in the air for anyone who was a devout and pious Jew.
(4) But there was something more. In Caesarea Philippi, there was a great temple of white marble built to the godhead of Caesar. It had been built by Herod the Great. Josephus says: ‘Herod adorned the place, which was already a very remarkable one, still further by the erection of this temple, which he dedicated to Caesar.’
In another place, Josephus describes the cave and the temple: ‘And when Caesar had further bestowed on Herod another country, he built there also a temple of white marble, hard by the fountains of Jordan. The place is called Panium, where there is the top of a mountain which is raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave opens itself; within which there is a horrible precipice that descends abruptly to a vast depth. It contains a mighty quantity of water, which is immovable; and when anyone lets down anything to measure the depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient to reach it’ (The Jewish Wars, 1:21:3).
Later it was Philip, Herod’s son, who further beautified and enriched the temple, changed the name of Panias to Caesarea—Caesar’s town—and added his own name—Philippi, which means of Philip—to distinguish it from the Caesarea on the coasts of the Mediterranean.
Still later, Herod Agrippa was to call the place Neroneas in honour of the Emperor Nero. No one could look at Caesarea Philippi, even from the distance, without seeing that pile of glistening marble, and thinking of the might and of the divinity of Rome.
Here indeed is a dramatic picture. Here is a homeless, penniless Galilaean carpenter, with twelve very ordinary men around him. At the moment, the orthodox are actually plotting and planning to destroy him as a dangerous heretic.
He stands in an area littered with the temples of the Syrian gods; in a place where the ancient Greek gods looked down; in a place where the history of Israel crowded in upon people’s minds; where the white-marble splendour of the home of Caesar-worship dominated the landscape and drew the eye.
And there—of all places—this amazing carpenter stands and asks his disciples who they believe him to be, and expects the answer: ‘The Son of God.’
It’s as if Jesus deliberately set himself against the background of the world’s religions in all their history and their splendour, and demanded to be compared with them and to have the verdict given in his favour.
There are few scenes where Jesus’ consciousness of his own divinity shines out with a more dazzling light.
Now that we see the inspiration for the conversation that’s about to take place, let’s begin to take a look at The Inquisition from the Savior.
The Inquisition
The Inquisition
A. The General Inquiry — (Vs. 13b)
“Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?”
Jesus begins His probe of the disciples hearts by asking a question in the general sense.
Any good orator has a method to their message. A rhyme to their reason. This wasn’t a question off the cuff by Jesus here. This was a question designed to dive into the far recesses of their minds and their hearts and begin to pull out the truth that they had witnessed over the last 3 years or so.
There was a precision to Jesus’ probing. This was the introduction to a much deeper question that was to come.
This was the icebreaker if you will.
I can just imagine as they make their way through this immaculate city and see the white marble temples towering above dedicated to the ancient Greek Gods, Jesus uses this precise moment to present His introductory question...
“Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?”
Now, let’s look on down at The Disciple’s Reply.
B. The Disciples Reply — (Vs. 14)
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
I want to stop right here for just a moment and take a little deeper look into the disciple’s responses because sadly, many people still look at Jesus in this light today.
First off, they said that some said He was John the Baptist.
We actually read about a man just a few chapters back who had this mindset.
Does everyone remember Herod Antipas back in Chapter 14?
He had John the Baptist killed and then when the fame of Jesus began to grow, he thought it was John the Baptist resurrected!
John the Baptist was a man full of faith and willing to die for his beliefs but he wasn’t the Christ and he knew it.
John the Baptist said in...
29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
John knew who Jesus was but for some reason others just couldn’t comprehend it.
Not only did some claim Jesus was John the Baptist, others claimed He was Elijah.
You have to remember, Israel at this time period was under the oppression of Rome. In their eyes, things couldn’t get a whole lot worse so they were looking for the return of the Lord and they knew the law and the prophets and how that Malachi said in...
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
So, when Jesus shows up performing miracles and doing things no man had done before, they were ok with believing He might be Elijah just not the prophesied Messiah.
Elijah was one of the mightiest prophets of the Old Testament so the fact that Jesus was able to do the things He did made sense to them that He might actually be the forerunner of the Christ…just not the Christ Himself.
Sadly, the Christ was right in front of them and they missed Him altogether!
Please don’t make the same mistake today. Don’t miss the Savior of the world!
How many Sundays go by and people go to church, they hear the message preached, the feel the Holy Spirit impress upon their hearts their need for salvation and yet they come up with some sort of excuse, some reason why, it couldn’t possibly be!
Jesus is standing right before them as He was to the Jews, and they miss Him altogether!
Don’t let that be you today! Don’t miss the Savior of the World!
They thought Jesus was John the Baptist.
They thought Jesus was Elijah.
They also thought Jesus might be the prophet Jeremiah.
William Barclay says — (According to (2 Maccabees 2:1–12) Jeremiah had a curious place in the expectations of the people of Israel. It was believed that, before the people went into exile, Jeremiah had taken the ark and the altar of incense out of the Temple, and hidden them away in a lonely cave on Mount Nebo; and that, before the coming of the Messiah, he would return and produce them, and the glory of God would come to the people again.
So, not only did the people believe that Elijah would precede the Messiah but also that Jeremiah would as well.
Again, they were fine with believing that Jesus was a mighty prophet and the forerunner of the Christ…just not the Christ Himself!
And lastly, others said Jesus was one of the other prophets.
A prophet was a man of God sent with a message for their time, or a man in whom dwelt the spirit of one of the great prophets. — David Alan Carr
Most were fine with believing that Jesus was a man sent from God operating in the spirit and power of one of the mighty prophets.
They just weren’t fine with Jesus being the Son of God in the flesh!
After all, how could He be?
Some said in...
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
Some called Jesus a sinner.
24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
Some, if you will remember, said He was operating in the power of satan.
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Even many of Jesus own family didn’t believe He was who He claimed to be.
3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
4 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.
5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.
Many things to many different people...most were fine with elevating Jesus to a status above an ordinary man just not quite to the status of who He actually was which was the prophesied Messiah!
After hearing what others had to say about Him, as a wise master builder builds carefully upon his foundation, Jesus carefully builds upon the conversation.
He now takes it from the general (what others think) to the personal… “What do you think?”
Look down with me at The Personal Inquiry…the most important question ever asked of mankind!
C. The Personal Inquiry — (Vs. 15)
“But whom say ye that I am?”
I can only imagine in this very moment, everyone went silent…like I bet you could have heard a pin drop for a split second.
They’ve been walking with Jesus now for roughly 3 years.
They’ve witnessed the miracles.
They’ve heard the preaching.
They’ve heard the parables and even gotten the extended version with the parables being explained to them.
They’ve witnessed Jesus walk on water and literally calm the storms of life.
They’ve witnessed Jesus feed thousands with mere bites, raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons, and put the high and mighty religious elite in their place.
For the last 3 years, their lives have engulfed with following this man named Jesus and learning all that they can from Him.
And Jesus now decides to bring the inquiry home to each one of them and see if what He’s poured into them over the last 3 years now is enough.
“But whom say ye that I am?”
As we’re going to see next, there was one disciple, ironically the one with the biggest mouth, who didn’t take long to reply.
Were all the others looking at their spokesman to see what he’d say?
Or was Peter so confident in his faith in the Lord that he didn’t need time to think?
I think it’s probably the latter.
After all, Peter was the only to step out of the boat remember?
Let’s look on down at Peter’s reply.
D. Peter’s Personal Reply — (Vs. 16)
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“You are the prophesied Messiah.”
“You are the Son of the living God!”
“And because you are the Son of the living God, Lord you are God!”
John Phillips said — Peter rose to the occasion. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he said. The answer was marvelous in its conciseness and comprehensiveness. Peter acknowledged Jesus to be both human and divine; he recognized that the Son of man is the Son of God. By saying, “Thou art the Christ,” Peter put Him on the throne of Israel as the Lord’s anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. By saying, “Thou art … the Son of the living God,” Peter put Him on the throne of the universe.
Listen friend, this is the point every person has to get to in the mindset of their heart order to be saved!
Jesus has to be more than a mere prophet.
Jesus has to be more than a good man.
He has to be more than just a man who performed mighty miracles!
He has to be God to you!
He has to be Lord over your life!
You must make Him God over your life!
You must submit to His Lordship as Peter did here or you can never inherit eternal life!
If He’s just a prophet, He doesn’t have the power to save.
If He’s just a good man, He can’t forgive your sins.
If He’s just a powerful teacher, then He’s a dime a dozen!
But dear friend, when you accept Him as the prophesied Messiah, the Son of the living God, He becomes the only one in a class of His own!
There’s only one who was sent to save and He’s come, He’s completed the job He came to do.
He lived a perfect life and died a sinners death.
He gave His life a perfect sacrifice for your sins.
Only the blood of the perfect lamb of God is able to save and it was shed on Calvary some 2,000 years ago by this man named Jesus.
And because of His sacrifice, because He gave His life so that you might have life, He has been exalted to a status above all!
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Who’s name does it say will every knee bow to and every tongue confess that He is Lord?
Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
At the name of “Jesus” every knee will bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth!
And every tongue will confess that “Jesus” Christ is Lord!
Jesus is the anointed one!
Jesus is the one and only Son of God!
And Peter got it!
And I pray you get it this morning!
Jesus is Lord, Amen!
No other man has done, nor can ever do, what He did for you!
And if you are still waiting on the Messiah to come dear friend, if you wait long enough, you will meet Him that’s for sure but it won’t be a glorious meeting I can assure you of that!
If you don’t believe that Jesus was the Christ and you are still waiting on the Messiah, you will not meet Him as Savior but you will meet Him as judge but then it will be too late!
The only thing the mighty judge will deliver unto you is a guilty verdict for not believing upon Him while you were alive!
And the most dreadful words any person could ever hear will be spoken to you… “depart from me ye that work iniquity, I know you not!”
Whom do you say Jesus is this morning?
Is He Lord of your life?
If not, make Him Lord today!
Choose Him as your Savior so you don’t have to hear those dreadful words when you cross that threshold of eternity!
As we come to the end of the inquiry, let’s finish this up quickly by looking at Jesus injunction in Verses 17-20.
The Injunction — (Vs. 17-20)
The Injunction — (Vs. 17-20)
A. The Revelation of Christ — (Vs. 17)
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
There was the revelation of Christ, then we see the revelation of the Church.
B. The Revelation of the Church — (Vs. 18)
Peter — (petros) — stone or boulder that is individual. As in a rock that might be picked up and thrown.
Rock — (petra) — speaks of a mass of rock such as bedrock. Something that is massive and sure.
Then we have the very first mention of the Church and this, what Jesus says next here, has been the center of controversy for thousands of years.
The Roman Catholic Church takes this scripture to mean that Peter was chosen by Christ to be the very first priest of the church. They believe that when Christ said here, “thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church” that Peter was the foundation of the Church.
But when you understand that original words, that’s not what Christ meant. He used two different words here.
Peter was to undoubtedly be a part of the foundation of the Church of the living God but not “the foundation.”
Peter was to be one part of the church and I would even dare say that Christ’s plans for Peter were to play a large role in the founding of the Church but he wasn’t to be the foundation the Church was founded upon.
That title was reserved for Christ.
Paul said in...
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
And Peter understood this.
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Peter played a major role in the founding of the Church and it’s spread but he also understood that he was one piece of a much grander plan!
He would be one stone in the midst of a multitude but the foundation that the Church was to be founded upon would always be Jesus the Christ…the Son of the living God!
Then Jesus says, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!”
William Barclay said — Now Hades was not the place of punishment, but the place where, in primitive Jewish belief, all the dead went.
Obviously, the function of gates is to keep things in, to confine them, shut them up, control them. There was one person whom the gates of Hades could not shut in; and that was Jesus Christ.
He burst the bonds of death. As the writer of Acts has it: ‘[God] freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power … You will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption’ (Acts 2:24, 27).
So, this may be a triumphant reference to nothing less than the coming resurrection. Jesus may be saying: ‘You have discovered that I am the Son of the living God. The time will soon come when I will be crucified, and the gates of Hades will close behind me. But they are powerless to shut me in. The gates of Hades have no power against me, the Son of the living God.’
However we take it, this phrase triumphantly expresses the indestructibility of Christ and his Church.
We see the revelation of Jesus as the Christ.
We’ve seen the revelation of Church.
Next, we see the revelation of the Churches Charge.
C. The Revelation of the Charge of the Church
Keys speak of authority.
Barclay says — To loose and to bind were very common Jewish phrases. They were used especially of the decisions of the great teachers and the great Rabbis. Their regular sense, which any Jew would recognize, was to allow and to forbid. To bind something was to declare it forbidden; to loose was to declare it allowed.
D. The Request to Conceal His Identity
C.S. Lewis once said, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.” — The Sermon Notebook - Matthew.
What will you do with Jesus?
Jesus is standing
at your heart's door,
Standing and waiting,
He's knocked before.
This is the question
you face once more,
What will you do with Jesus?
At your sad heart,
He is knocking still,
Longing to enter, your soul to fill.
You must accept or reject His will,
What will you do with Jesus?
Oh, will you leave
Him alone outside,
Or, will you chose Him,
what'er betide,
This is the question
you must decide,
What will you do with Jesus?
Chorus
What will you do with Jesus?
What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be!
One day your heart will be asking,
What will Jesus do with me?
The Sermon Notebook - Matthew.
