Chapter 25: Jesus, the Son of God
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Introduction:
Introduction:
27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?” 28 So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
Pray
Background:
New Testament (Second Edition) 8:27–30: The Disciples Half-See
8:27. Caesarea Philippi was a pagan city known especially for its grotto dedicated to the worship of Pan, a Greek bucolic god. (Jesus thus chose to raise the question of his own identity in a largely *Gentile area.) “Villages of Caesarea Philippi” accurately depicts the area; throughout the *Hellenistic world, surrounding villages normally had a close relationship with the city in whose territory they were located.
8:28. Because some Palestinian Jews (particularly among the educated elite) believed that prophets in the *Old Testament sense had ceased, ranking Jesus among the prophets could have seemed radical—but it was not radical enough to grasp his true identity.
Caesarea Philippi was basically the most Pagan area Jesus could’ve taken them. It is the same place where He said, “Upon my rock I will build this church.” This was a foundational statement in His mission, which leads me to talk about my first point.
Point 1: The Prophets had Spoken
Point 1: The Prophets had Spoken
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Jesus was that which the prophets had spoken of.
In 1961, A mathematician by the name of Peter W Stoner published a study called Science Speaks about the prophecies of Jesus Christ among other things. He and his doctoral students reviewed the prophecies and mathematically figured up the probabilities of their occurence.
The chances of just 8 prophecies coming true of Christ are 1 in 10^28 (That is the chance you have of someone naming 1 grain of sand anywhere on earth and you picking it up on the first try)
The chance of 48 prophecies coming true is 1 in 10^157 (That is more than all of the atoms in the universe)
OVER 300 came true.
We can sit here and prove Jesus all day until we are blue in the face. The famous legal professor Simon Greenleaf who published the work A Treatise on Evidence that courts use today as the foundational text for how they include evidence in the court of law evaluated the four Gospel accounts against the rule of law and evidence and showed unequivocally that the case for the resurrection as presented in the Gospel was not only admissible, but would hold up in any court of law and that there is more evidence for this than most cases.
So the real question at hand is:
Point 2: Who is Jesus to you?
Point 2: Who is Jesus to you?
Look at the verse:
27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?” 28 So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
Jesus made a clear separation and demarcation when talking to His disciples.
He said, “Who do men say I am?”
but then He said, “Who do you say that I am?”
So let me make a clear separation and say:
I am not worried about who your church thinks He is or who your pastor thinks He is.
Who do you think He is?
Who is Jesus to You?
Is He Lord or is He just love?
Is this Bible or Have it your way?
If the only way we could form a picture of who Jesus is was by looking at your walk what would we see?
Would we see a baby in a manger or would we see the Son of God foretold in these prophecies?
You see there is a point when we have to get real.
There is a beautiful symmetry at play. It is not enough to understand who Jesus is:
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew giving his own account of this narrative showed that after Peter said, “You are the Christ,” that it was revealed to Him by God, but Peter still went on to betray Him and even later in this narrative rebuke Him when He foretold how He would fulfill the prophecies.
You see, at this point it didn’t matter what had been revealed if He didn’t act on it.
To know who Jesus is, is to accept Him as Lord and as the fulfillment of these 300 prophecies.
Where then is the symmetry? You see, to know Jesus calls us to obey Him and our obedience to Him causes us to know Him. I will show you
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
You can’t just do one and not the other. You can’t just believe in who He is and not receive Him as Lord.
You only fool yourself. As a man sows, so shall he reap.
The symmetry in the whole equation is found in looking at:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
They may so Lord, Lord (they believe) and do all these things in his name but the key question becomes:
DOES HE KNOW YOU?
The only way He will come to know you and give you that right to become children of God is through your obedience that is required as a result of knowing who He is. You got to possess it, not just profess it.
There is a point of no return.
Point 3: The Point of No Return
Point 3: The Point of No Return
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
There is a certain point that Scripture tells us when it will be too late to move on who Jesus is.
There will be a point where he says, I never knew ye.
Where will you be found?
What has heaven revealed to you?
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
