Peter Confesses Jesus as Messiah

Welcome

Thank you all for coming this morning

My heart is full with seeing so many of my family and friends here this morning

And also so much kindness from the congregation here at Crescent Valley

I must warn you though, I preached my best sermon last week. So unfortunaly, you should have come then....

haha

I am just kidding

Seriusly, it is so humbling to be standing up here, making every attempt to deliver the word of God to you all

Reading of the word

Please open your bibles to the Gospel of Luke

The 9th chapter at verse 18-20

This is where we will pick up today

The title of this mornings message is “Who do you say that I am”

and in my honest opinion this may be one of the most important questions we may every be asked

And many of you sitting here may wonder, the answer to this question should be easy… right

well...

However, during my research and study of this scripture and topic, I learned that the views of Jesus are quickly changing

We have now reached a point where, according to the poll I read

We have dipped to less than %50 percent of the country calling themselves christians

This poll also stated that %52 percent of those surveys, which represent americans, belive that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing else

So what else if not just a great moral teacher...

The numbers are just as high of those who believe that while he was a great profit, he was not God

That he is on par with Budda, or Mohammed, or any other great sage as just some great religious leader

Among those polled they also do not belive that Jesus was sinless or led a sinliss life

Now that is an outstanding amount of people that do not know who Jesus is

And we live in America, where I would argue just about everyone has heard the name of Jesus

Unfortnatly , not everyone knows who the Jesus really is

And ultimatly, that what really matters

What really matters is the fact that we dont simply know who Jesus was

Its that we KNOW Jesus

So..Who do WE say, that Jesus is

Please stand if you can, as we read the word of God

Read the passage

Pray

So did we get here

In between last weeks message where we finished up the last portion of Chapter 8 by Jesus proving his power of nature, evil, sickness and death

Luke moved to Jesus sending out the apostles and giving them the authority

Luke then moved to the account of the feeding of the 5000 with just a few loathes of bread and a few fish

So now we move from Jesus proving he is the son of God

To the disciples acknowledging he is the son of God

From them believing in the things he was doing

to beleving in him

This also signifies the mid point of Jesus’ ministry and essesntially the end of his Gallian ministry

from now on he will begin to prepare the disciples for his departure to Jeruselum and his ultimate fate

They have now been with him close to 2.5 years

They have seen all his great deeds, heard his teaching, and witnesses his miricles

However, in order to prepare the diciples for thier upcoming mission, they must fully understand who Chist is, they must go all in. They must set themselves apart from the crowds and answer the question

Who do you say that I am

So lets dive in

We will break up this mornings text into 3 sections

Jesus taking them to the spot and praying

Jesus asking them who the crowds say that he is

and finally, Jesus asking them

who do you say that I am

The Text

V18 - Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him.

I find it fascinating that every major event in Jesus ministry begins with prayer

Not that Jesus is out of step with His father but that most likely all of these prayers are prayers for his followers for us

A great example of Jesus praying is found in John 17

Just some key times we see Jesus praying in the Gospel of Luke include :

at his baptism (3:21),

for his ministry (5:16),

in choosing his disciples (6:12),

when he is transfigured (9:28–29),

when his disciples ask him how to pray (11:1),

for Simon’s faith (22:32),

and at Gethsemane (22:41, 44, 45).

Isnt it amazing, that Jesus was so intuned with the Father, he is the second member of the Trinity

He is God

And yet he prays..

That should be so inspiring

and such a great model to emulate in our own lifes

If Christ needed prayer, if he felst led to pray while he was in direct contact with the father. I would say that we need it as well.

I would also like to refer not only to the fact that Jesus was praying, but also where he was praying

see, geogrpahically we learn from Matthew and Mark that this event occured on the way to Cessarea Philipi roughly 25 miles north of Galilee

One interesting thing about Cessara Philipi is that it is an extremely Pagan area. We visited it and ill tell you its beutiful. Its got a nice spring with lush vegitation, pools, and the rocks, they form this awesome looking arc or what appears to be a doorway( although it really isnt)

Any way this place was once the worship place of Baal, and of the God Pan, not to mention the eventual worhsip place of Caeser

And only was Pan worshipped here but we belive Zeus was worhsiped here among many others

This place according to the Pagans was the gate to the underworld and the worship place of this very goddess. The goddes of furtility.

And we can only imigine the detestible things that occur at pagan places

None the less, this is where Jesus decided to asks the disicples this question. On the very spot where pagan gods are / were worshipped and it is belived that the gates to the underworld are present

Jesus is finally acknowledged as as we will soon see as the Messiah, the Son of Man, the savior, the son of God

And matthew also tells us that after peter answers him he tells peter, on this rock! I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!

As if he took the fight to the doorsteps of those opposing him, planted his flag and said, I Am

So this is the place, this is the setting the disicples are in.. the rest of V18 reads

V18b And he asked them, “who do the crowds say that I am? “And they answered, “John the Baptist. But other say, Eiljah and other, that one of the profits of old has risen.

Jesus is extremely popular at this point

and many are trying to figure out just what to do with this Jesus

much like we can do today as we come into a saving relationship with him

one such person that was pondering this is Herod

Its actually mentioned a little earlier in Chapter 9

The crowds, or popular opinion say

Jesus is John the Baptist

Elijah

Why Elijah

Profits of old has risen

why one of the profits

And justifiebly so, Jesus had the attributes of all these men and more

The crowds knew there was something special about Jesus

Something that set him apart from everyother teacher of that day

So they began to see him as this great profit or teacher (havent we heard this before)

Yet, they were missing something

They hadn’t quite grasped it yet, see they were most likely following Jesus for the miricles, for the healings, for the signs

and, like crowds typically do, when times get tough they coward and give in to the masses

much like they did in what will be roughly six months from this conversation jesus had with his disciples

When they cried Crucify, Crucify, release barrabus

Why? Well because following Jesus for Jesus goes against everythign our flesh wants

we want to be accepted, we want to be popular, we want to liked

And a lot of times, loving Jesus, standing up for biblical priniciples, will get you just the oposite of that

So, we have just seen who the crowds of this day think Jesus was

Well, what do we Americans (us) todays crowd believe of Jesus today

Fortnatly most americans do believe that Jesus was a historical person

However, younger generations are beginning to pull away from Christ and deny that he was God

We, the crowd, for the most part dont believe that Jesus was sinless

However, most say they have made a commitment to Him

And, most are confused about the fact how to get to heaven

A lot, especially among our younger generation believe that Jesus is not only way to heaven, that good deads can get you there, that being a good person can get you there, that other spiritual leaders can get you there

A relative truth type of salvation, where what is true to you may not be true to me but we will end up in the same place

This unfortunatly couldnt be further away from the truth, as we know Jesus is the way, the light, and the truth, and that no one comes to the father, except through Jesus

So.. now that we know the crowds response and the likely response we get today from the secular world lets move to Jesus’ second questions

Then he said to them “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God”

AMEN

The Christ of God

See we refer to Jesus as Jesus Christ

Yet Christ was not Jesus’ last name

Christ has another meaning, a meaning that has been around long before Jesus’ earthy ministry

See Christ means the anointed one, the savior

Christ means messiah, in Greek

So here we have it

years of preperations, years of study, prayer, sings, wonders, healings everything the diciples have witnessed has culminated here

As Peter, the spokesman for the apostles, reveals that they belive Christ is the messiah. The one sent to redeem israel and his people

The one sent to save you and me

I also find it facinating that within his statement Jesus even gives them the hint.. Who do you say I AM...

Referrecncing of course the name God gave himself in Exodus

Here is what Jesus says about himself thorugh his series of I Am statments

I am the bread of Life (John 6:35)

For he is what ultamily satisfies us, unlike normal bread which cannot satisry our hunger, Jesus can satisfy our deepest hope meaning

I am the light of the world(John 8:12)

We live in a dark world, but we are to turn to Him for light. He also said “the one who follows me will never walk in darknes, but will have the light of life”

I am the Door (John 10:7)

This references the door to a sheeps pen. he provides safety and security for all that follow him

I am the good shepard (John 10:11)

See, a good shepard lays down his life for the sheep. Pointing to his work on the cross and his love for this followers

I am the resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

Those that belive in Jesus will not taste death, but will one day dwell with Christ in heaven. So even on our most dificult days, we can lean on him

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father except through me. John 14:6)

well, that one doesnt need much explanation

I am the true vine (John 15:1)

As believers, we are fruitfull when we are connected to Jesus. and we are to stay in constant communication with him.

Declaring Jesus as the messiah for a first centrury Jew was no small feat

Jesus is fulfilled somewhere around 300 proficies found in the OT

Starting with where he would be born to how he would be crucified. Profices that start with Genisis Chapter 6 and sprinkled all through the OT

The chances of 1 man fulfililng that many profeceis is astronomical. The number is just silly

And if all of the profecies fulfilled, all of reaching performed, all of the miricles that he did still doesnt sit with you think about these next 2 points

This one taken from a source that I could not find, yet, I found it profound. Here is what it says

All the armies that have ever marched and all the navies that have ever sailed,

all the parliaments that have ever sat and all the kings that have ever reigned put together

have not affected life upon earth as powerfully as this one solitary life.

' When you think about the way that Jesus was born - in comparative obscurity -

He never did all the typical things that usually denote greatness -

He never led an army into battle or

He never led a navy.

It doesn't tell us that He ever wrote a book.

He didn't do any of the things that you typically think of with greatness.

We don't even know what He looked like. T

And yet, He changed all of history.

So my question still stands, who do you say Jesus is?

Is he a teacher or someone you like to think of?

Is he merely a profit?

Or, is he the messiah?

The one sent as savior to live a perfect life, to be tried and executed for teaching the truth, only to be raised on the 3rd day before ascending to heaven.

If this is who Jesus is to you, then great, but I ask you to dwell on that all week. If jesus is who you say he is, then does your life reflect it?

And if you are still on the fence about this Jesus, I pray that