The Confession and the cost of following Jesus (revised)
A detailed Account - Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:12
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Handout
Handout
Teaching
Teaching
We have seen many teachings from Jesus on our journey.
About faith
About the word
About ministering to others
About God’s provision.
Last week we ended with the feeding of the 5,000 and many call this the end of the “Great Galilean Ministry” as Luke puts it that spanned from Lk4:14-9:17. It does not mean He is stopping the work. He is taking a period for prayer and preparation, not for Himself but for the disciples and what they were needing to be prepared for.
In our section before us this morning we will see two more lessons today about Christ the person, and Christ and His forthcoming sacrifice.
Our passage
Our passage
18 And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.”
20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone,
22 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.” 23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 “But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Anything in particular stand out to you in this section?
Jesus after a time of prayer, asks a good, 3rd person question, what is it (v.18)?
Who do people say that I am?
What was the answer given (v.19)?
John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets of old has risen again.
A new question (v.20), what is it and what was Peter’s response?
Who do you say that I am?
You are the Christ of God.
What did Jesus say “must” happen (v.22)?
Must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and raised up on the third day.
Jesus gives two instructions to disciples (implied), what are they (v.23)?
Must deny self
Take up his cross daily and follow Me.
How does one save his life according to (v.24)?
By loosing your life.
In your own words what is Jesus saying (v.25)?
You can have the world, but loose your very soul for it. There is no profit, no eternal profit if you loose your self, your very soul.
What can make the Son of Man ashamed (v.26)?
By being ashamed of Him, and His words!
What is the promise you see located in (v.27)?
Some of those standing here will not die until they see the kingdom of God.
Note: You can read the parallel passage in Mt16:13ff. We will stay our passage this morning and I invite you to read the others too on your own.
His Person
His Person
Do you think it would be prideful to ask someone what people say about you?
Jesus asks the question about himself, but not to build Himself up, but to see who people say He is. Jesus wants people to know who He is, the Christ of God. The Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Who people think, say Jesus is matters, eternally. (1Jn4:1-3)
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
Consider what Wiersbe said “it is impossible to be wrong about Jesus and right with God.”
Jesus is a man of prayer. Prayed before choosing apostles (Lk6:12-13) now he prayed before asking for their personal confession of faith in who He is.
People had opinions (Lk9:7-8, 19); But the apostles needed convictions!
18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,
Jesus had a method to His questions, He knew the answers but wanted answers from the apostles, leading to the apostles profession of faith in who He is.
Who people said he was
John the Baptist, this one is unlikely since John was ministering at the same time Jesus was for part of the time. Though by this time it was believed John had been put to death.
Others thought Elijah, another great reformer like John the Baptist who stood against the corrupt rulers of the day.
In looking at Him as possibly John or Elijah they are looking for a political messiah, one who would overthrow the corrupt rules of Rome who oppressed Israel.
Jesus then turns to ask who they say He is. - “The Christ of God.”
From the masses to the person, from in general to specifically
“This is the question placed before all who hear of Jesus; and it is we, not He, who are judged by our answer. In fact, we answer this question every day by what we believe and do. If we really believe Jesus is who He says He is, it will affect the way that we live.” (Patterson).
Specifically Peter identified Him as the Christ of God, God’s Messiah, the Redeemer promised in the Old Testament, not a Messiah from the desire of man.
Jesus instructed, commanded them not to say anything on who He is to anyone.
His Lordship, His Messiahship could not be fully known and understood yet, not until he suffered, died and rose again. Scripture will continue to show that even the apostles struggled with this.
“Before they could preach that Jesus was the Messiah, they had to learn what that meant.” (Barclay)
His sacrifice
His sacrifice
The teaching of His sacrifice is upon them, this is one of a few times he will do this.
Jesus was the Lamb of God preached by John (Jn1:29)
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple, His body (Jn2:19)
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
He compares himself to the serpent in the wilderness (Jn3:14)
14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
In Luke you will see the passion of the Christ two others times foretold Lk9:43-45, 18:31-34)
Jesus gave disciples what they “must” do to be a disciple. (Lk9:23)
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
First, say no to self, deny self
Next, to take up your cross and follow, daily.
To take up your cross, to them it would be a place of death, It is only in death that you can have life. You cannot gain a resurrection life without dying first.
Jesus strong warning (Lk9:25)
25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
Jesus had opportunity to gain the world, but did not (Lk4:5-8). He found victory in obedience.
Jesus wants us to have life, life full (Jn10:10) to have and walk in total victory that is found in Him. Those who give their lives to Him, pick up their cross daily and follow Him.
From the call for personal confession of faith in Him, comes the call for allegiance to Him too (Lk9:26)
26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
This call for allegiance is a call to worship the true God, any other call would be for idolatry.
Jesus does not want anyone to be ashamed of Him by:
Not wanting to be seen as a Jesus follower in public
Not willing to speak about the hope that is in you with others.
You avoid Him whenever it is possible.
Some people are ashamed out of fear, social pressure, intellectual reasons, culture or pride.
Jesus final words here are words of comfort and assurance (Lk9:27)
Luke 9:27 (NASB95)
27 “But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
After the call of confession of faith, call of allegiance to Him comes that of assurance of the glory to come, that some would see the kingdom come in their lifetime. What great comfort that would be.
The kingdom would be seen by some of them in the very next section of scripture, so you need to come back next week for that.
(Prayer) (Exit)