Jesus: Your Savior

Matthew 16:13-23

I love watching the doctor shows where they’re trying to solve some ridiculous case. They either know what’s wrong and they’re trying to figure out how to fix it. Or they don’t know what’s wrong and they’re trying to find the diagnosis.

House is probably one of my favorite TV Doctors. I know he’s a jerk, but he fixates on his patients. Even when he’s not actively working on them, his brain is.

There's an episode of House where a teenage girl comes down with what everybody believes is smallpox. The CDC is there. The doctors are treating it like smallpox. Her father has already died. And everybody with authority in the room is convinced they know what's happening.

But one young doctor notices something everybody else has missed. She becomes convinced that this isn't smallpox at all. It's another disease—one they can actually treat.

There's only one problem. They have to prove it, and the only way to prove it is for House to examine the body of the girl's father. That means House has to put himself at risk.

House hesitates.

And this young doctor asks him a fascinating question:

“Do you believe me? Forget me. Do you believe you?”

In other words: Forget what I think for a minute. You have all the evidence in front of you. You've seen it for yourself. What do you believe?

And House takes off the protective gloves, examines the body—and finds exactly what he was looking for. They had their answer. 

I couldn't get that question out of my mind as I read Matthew 16, because Jesus does something very similar with His disciples.

Matthew 16:13–23 ESV

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered 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 tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

We looked at who God as a whole last week. Ultimately He is our source, God gave us life so we can trust Him with our life.

This week we want to drill down on who Jesus is.

Jesus - Our Savior

When Peter calls Jesus “the Christ”. We kinda glaze over that. Any of the disciples would’ve immediately understood the significance of Peter’s declaration.

Christ is more than a last name—it is a Title for One who would come and deliver Israel.

Now many understood this as a King or a ruler, and to be fair many prophecies in the Old Testament told of the Messiah being a ruler who would set up a Kingdom.

Isaiah talks about a government that would have no end — so fair to say we’re looking for a King. They were expecting some kind of deliverance from Roman rule and occupation.

And after Peter’s declaration, Jesus clarifies what Christ really means and Who He really was.

He tells them:

I’m going to suffer under the religious leaders in Jerusalem.

I’m going to be killed—I’m gonna die.

And on the third day — I will rise again.

But notice in verse 21…

Matthew 16:21 “21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he MUST go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Jesus told them He had to go and do these things — why? He was going to suffer as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Many of you have probably heard all of this, but I want to give a quick refresher to make sure we’re all on the same page.

Jesus came to die for us because we sinned against God.

Sin means that we went against God and His plan for us. God had a perfect plan for us to live within and we wanted to live outside of that and do our own thing.

The punishment for sin is death. We want to live without God, we will live without God for all eternity in a place called Hell. It is a place where there is no good or peace ever because God’s presence is not there.

God was not okay with that. He loved us so much and He sent Jesus, His Son, to come and die in our place. He sent Jesus to suffer Hell on the cross for us.

And after rising to life on the third day we know for sure that He did indeed die for us and that He defeated sin’s hold over us.

Peter was going along with everyone else on His understanding of the Messiah and Jesus is quick to correct him. He tells him, “Get behind me, Satan!” He calls Peter and his thinking evil or adversarial. He is going against God’s plan.

Who do you say that Jesus is?

Everything in your life is built on YOUR ANSWER to one question: Who is Jesus?

When Jesus tells Peter that he is the rock and on this rock I will build my church, Jesus is not talking about building the church on Peter, but on the words that Peter just spoke.

These words were give to Peter by God the Father. And reminds us that Jesus defines Who He is in His Word, not us.

Your life is built on your answer to this question, not your mom’s answer, your dad’s answer, your grandma’s answer, your best friend’s answer, your pastor’s answer — It’s not based on anyone else’s answer, but YOURS.

Who do you say and believe Jesus is?

Your faith and trust in Christ must be your own not someone else’s.

It’s not just that it must be your personal answer. We need to make sure it is the right answer. You don’t get to make up your own versions of Jesus. We already looked at how Peter and other’s messed that up.

We are guilty of the same things. Anytime we say or think about what we believe God should be doing, we are confessing Who we really believe Jesus is.

Some believe Jesus gives physical and monetary rewards in this life for faithfulness to Him.

Some believe that Jesus is going to just let everyone into heaven when they die because He is a loving God and a loving God can’t possible send people to hell.

Some believe that following Jesus means we will have an easier life.

Some believe that following Jesus means we have and are following a strict letter of rules in order to be saved and remain saved.

Who you believe Jesus is will be reflected in how you live.

Say or believe wasn’t just mere words or acceptance of something as true. It was something you built your life on and what you continue to build your life on.

It’s about trust and confidence.

You can see this in sports. A coach can see a player’s potential and tell them, you can do this. You’re faster or stronger or have a more natural understanding of the game. Others on the team can see this potential in the player, but until they believe it, you won’t see it on the court or the field.

They have to have confidence in what they can do, just like we have to have confidnece in Who Jesus is.

If we truly believe that Jesus is God and that Jesus came down and suffered the punishment for our sin to save us and make a way for us to know Him and walk with Him, then that should change the way we live.

We should be grateful for Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

We should be asking constantly what God wants us to do in the situations that we face.

We should be living on mission doing the things that Jesus did. Going out into the world and telling others about Him.

We should be spending time with other Christians so that we can be encouraged by others who are walking on the same path as us.

Conclusion: Who does your life say Jesus is?

If someone were to follow you all next week and I asked them who do they believe Jesus is, what would they say?

“They love others. Jesus is a part of every decision they make. They are never too shy to tell others about Jesus when the opportunity presents itself. They like to hang out with other Christians and talk about what they are learning about Jesus from the Bible.”

“Honestly I don’t know. After they leave church they look like everyone else. They care about the same things everyone else does. They talk like everyone else too. They don’t spend alot of time with other Christians, but when they do they don’t really talk about Jesus that much.

You may not be one of those answers but somewhere in between. I just want to you to take a moment, bow your head , and sak yourself Who does my life say Jesus is?

If you don’t like the answer, you can do something about that today. God’s mercy is new every day and Got is constantly wanting to renew us and restore us.

So let Him do that today. Let’s all be sure what we know our answer to the question Jesus asks all of us. “Who do you say that I am?”