Jesus Is Not Who They Expect- Identity And Death

I. Introduction

Update on life

I’l be taking the new role of senior pastor at a grace called Grace Bible Church of Cedar Ridge

It is in Grass Valley, California, which is about 1 hour north of Sacramento

Beautiful area that we’re excited to move to

And our family was welcomed well, so we’re super excited

But ultimately we’re moving there because of the need

1. Ask these questions to Decide:

Is it Doing good for myself- Yes

1 Corinthians 6:12- “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

‌Does it Enslaving myself to sin? NO

Is it Consistent with Jesus being my lord: Yes

‌Has it been Indorsed by God’s commands? Absolutely

‌Will it Do good for others? Yes

Does this follow Example of Christ and the apostles?

I know my life cruciform? Shaped by the cross

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1- Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

What would Paul have done? What would Christ himself have done?

when I think of Paul’s example of willingness to go where needed.

WE believe I can meet some of those needs of the church, and if any good things come about from my ministry, it will be to God’s glory, because He’ll have to give the growth that is beyond my strength to do so.

Any questions?

1. Prayers

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

2. Catch-

What does it mean to pick up your cross?

I asked the question to a number of college students who were in a bible study and they said to work really hard or do your spiritual duty.

But what would have the first century understanding been?

Not what they would expect

3. Review of the book

We are finally in the section of Jesus’ rejection.

He is pulling away from the crowds and getting alone

And he starts to be rejected

Look at Luke, what comes right before this

In every bible translation they see The feeding of the 5,00 coming before this

But the other gospels have a lot in between

Go to Mark 6:31-56 where the feeding of the 5k is

Then go to Mark 8:27–9:1 where this takes place

Luke omits the entire section Mark 6:45–8:26. What happens in between?

THe life of christ continues

TMS Bible overview

8. The Third Tour of Galilee (Matt. 9:35-11:1; 14:1-12; Mark 6:6-30; Luke 9:1-10)

The Conclusion of the Public Ministry in Galilee [sections 104-110]

a. The Feeding of the 5,000 and the Walking on the Water (Matt. 14:13-36; Mark 6:31-56; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-21)

b. The Discourse on the Bread of Life (John 6:22-71)

E. The Last Year: The Year of Opposition [sections 111-184]

1. From Passover to Tabernacles [sections 111-129]

a. Renewed Conflict with the Pharisees (Matt. 15:1-16:12; Mark 7:1-8:26; John 7:1)

b. Teaching Disciples (Matt. 16:13-17:13; Mark 8:27-9:13; Luke 9:18-36)

Why does Luke place it immediately on the heels of the feeding of the five thousand?

There are two answers, at least. In the first place, the writers of the gospels did not always arrange their material chronologically: sometimes their concern was more topical. Notice that Luke does not say that it happened the day after the feeding of the five thousand

Luke had limited space to make his point, so he chooses to make it here

II. Jesus teaches who He is through questions and corrections

1. Jesus’ teaching moment (18-20a)

i. Explanation

Jesus example of prayer (18)

Jesus always prayed, making it a priority

Mark 1:35 ESV

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

He might be praying about this next big question He is going to ask them

But notice he isn’t praying with them, but they are nearby watching him

So they’re learning the priority and importance of prayer

How does watching someone take time to pray teach other it’s importance?

Luke doesn’t give us the location but Mark does

Mark 8:27 ESV

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

Caesarea Philippi

During Alexander the Great’s conquest of the area in the fourth century bc, a shrine located in a cave (a source for the Jordan River) was dedicated to the pagan god Pan

Around 2 bc, Philip expanded this sparsely populated area of pagan worship into a city and named it Caesarea Philippi, in honor of Caesar Tiberius and himself

Video explaining how it is the city of the gods

In the midst of this place, with the these little enclaves in the walls where idols would sit

Jesus decides to ask them a question

Jesus practice of questions (19-20a)

Jesus often asked questions of his discples and His opponents

Letters to a Christian Questions Matter More than Answers

When teaching, Jesus himself asked questions. Standing before the chief priest and elders—people who needed to reconsider their understanding of the Scriptures in order to accept him—Jesus says: “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these [miraculous] things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” (Matt 21:24–25 ESV). For Jesus, questions were a necessary part of teaching

Letters to a Christian Questions Matter More than Answers

Questioning everything only produces doubt if we don’t believe there are answers. But having confidence to find answers transforms our questions into a pursuit of truth, and our questions can ultimately reveal the one who is the truth—Christ (John 14:6).

Jesus seems to have no problem asking leading questions either to get what He really wants to get at.

Questions is a key part of discipleship and teaching someone to obey all Christ commands

So, Jesus asks, who do the crowds say that I am?

Say means to declare or to express their opinion

And they have all sorts of thoughts, right?

Their responses

John the baptist

John the baptist, the great modern day prophet

But what is was wrong with him?

Herod had his head cut off and placed on a platter like this statue shows

Why do you think people woudl think it was John the baptist then?

But rumors were swirling that he had come back from the dead and this was him

Mark 6:14–16 ESV

14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

Those who saw them together knew differently, so they would say

Elijah Elijah was one of those great prophets but After the drama at Carmel (1 Kings 18), Elijah was so depressed that he wanted to die

Though perhaps mostly famously he was the prophet who didn’t die, but went away on chariots made of fire

2 Kings 2:11 “11 And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”

So the people of Israel have been expecting Elijah to return

The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. A

Luke 1:16 “16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,”

This is actually a quote from

Malachi 4:5–6 ESV

5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

This comes at the end of the book, and there is a promise of the day of the lord, when GOd will set everythign right

So John will come in this power showing the end times have come, and he starts this by reconciling God’s people

THe people are wondering if John died, then maybe Jesus is this person

Other prophets

Perhaps they thought he might be the great prophet as God said

Deuteronomy 18:18 ESV

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

None of the other prophets had been like Moses, but maybe this one might be someone

RC Sproul writes:

A Walk with God: Luke 44. Peter’s Confession of Christ (Luke 9:18–22)

There was no agreement as to who Jesus was. They don’t know who he is, but they do recognize that he is extraordinary. The public has recognized that Jesus is at least a prophet.

Who do people say Jesus is today?

Lots of thoughts right?

This has been the central question for a long time

that the question of Christology has been a major issue in four centuries in church history,

Emperor Constantine called Counsel of Nicea

318 Bishops from all over come…including St Nick

Aurius or one of his followers begins to make arguments

St. Nick got angry, walked over and slapped (or punches) his face in front of the emperor.

So they came together to agree what the bible actually taught about jesus

the fourth century, which brought to us the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed;

the fifth century which culminated in the great historic Council of Chalcedon,

Today people say maybe Jesus is a legend. This is the approach of the Da Vinci Code and the Jesus Seminar. The original Jesus was just a man, but the church deified him, miracle-ized him, and even raised him from the dead.

4 reasons to trust the bible's explanation of Jesus

Textual integrity

We can be pretty confident that the NT text we have today is accurate to the 1st century

We find old copies that match

Historical reliability

We can have confident the original authors were in the right place and time to see Jesus and be tested by others

Book quotes (Why Believe (Tawa J. Anderson))

The early date of the New Testament Gospels is important because it establishes the presence of living eyewitnesses who could either confirm or contradict the claims that the Gospels make about the life of Jesus"

"There is a complete and total lack of dissenting opinion; there is no record of anyone early who argued that the Gospels were unreliable accounts, that what they relate did not happen. It would be chronological snobbery to insist that we can know better, 2,000 years later, what really happened in the first century than the people who were around then

The Empty tomb

1 Corinthians 15:3–6 ESV

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

He mentions there are people still alive that can attest wo that they saw

Jesus's disciples claim to have seen Jesus after his crucifixion, death, and burial."

This is more personal

If the disciples made up the story of the resurrection appearances, don't you think they would have given up the story at some point along the road rather than going to their death for it?

People will die for a lie they believe to be true; but people do not willingly die for something they know to be a lie. So, on the one hand, Muslim mujahideen will die for Islam, believing that Islam is the true religion, the straight path, and that dying for Allah will grant them immediate entrance into paradise. They are, from my viewpoint, dying for a lie. But the key is that they are convinced that they are dying for the truth. If they knew that their suicide would not grant them salvation, would they be willing to die for their faith?"

Book quotes Why Believe (Tawa J. Anderson)

the Watergate conspiracy in the 1970s. The events surrounding the Watergate scandal are informative. Charles Colson and other confidants were involved in a conspiracy to protect President Richard Nixon from prosecution. But with the mere threat of imprisonment hanging over them, Nixon's closest advisers and friends quickly turned state's evidence and admitted to the conspiracy. People were not willing to suffer (let alone suffer death) for something they knew to be a lie.

but CS Lewis had this great response

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he’s a poached egg—or else he would be the devil of hell; you must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But don’t come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He hasn’t left that alternative open to us. He did not intend to

It’s called the trilemma argument.

It poses three options for Jesus: (1) Jesus says He is God, but He knows that’s not true, so He’s a deceiver (a liar); (2) Jesus really thinks He is God, but He isn’t, so He’s a madman (lunatic); (3) Jesus claims to be God because He really is God (Lord

Josh Mcdowell made this great chart

If he was wrong, he either lied or he was a deluded lunatic

If he was right, he is Lord, so how we respond matters

Then Jesus asks the real question

Who do you say I am?

The you is plural, as he looks at his disciples and asks them

And the you is emphatic, taking the focus of the question

Leon Morris writes

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary 1. Peter’s Confession (9:18–20)

The knowledge of Christ is always a personal discovery, not the passing on of a report learnt from other people.

Jesus Christ never asks anyone to define his position or to understand a creed, but “Who am I to you?” Jesus Christ makes the whole of human destiny depend on a man’s relationship to himself.

Oswald Chambers

ii. Illustration

1. "In an interview with Michka Assays, Bono, lead singer of the band U2, was asked about his Christian faith: "Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that far-fetched?" Bono had this to say in response:

Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that.

He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying:

"I'm the Messiah." I'm saying:

"I am God incarnate"

.... So what you're left with is either Christ was who He said He was the Messiah or......

iii. So real question…

1. What convinced you that Jesus was who He said?

2. How do you best call others to ask the same question of who Jesus is?

2. The shining pupil and correction (20b-22)

i. Explanation

Peter’s revelation

Peter is the one who speaks up, as always

Peter’s rebuke

Peter ropes the others in

ii. Illustration

iii. Application

3. The call to follow (23-26)

i. Explanation

The cost (23)

The reward (24-26)

ii. Illustration

iii. Application

III. Conclusion

1. Cohesion-

2. Resolution-

IV. Closing prayer

V. Discussion questions