Who Do You Say That I Am - Matthew 16:13-18 (9/15/13)

now I question okay see your opinion who is Jesus see nasty now you won't start trouble it's a myth created by man in order to control society I don't I don't consider Jesus my Savior or my spiritual leader he is a spiritual leader in one of the spiritual leaders I learned from who is Jesus he was he was a man he was a man Jesus is my opinion he's everything around here and spiritual everything earth water fire everything Jesus all that's good all the things that are positive and affirmative in life that's Jesus I believe he's a higher power in the form of a man everyone else walking around there's not another Jesus there's just one so yeah I believe you definitely did something not a person he's not a person okay okay did you believe you is a man or just like some higher power or no I don't believe in don't believe you even existed no okay no Jesus is our Savior Jesus is everything he's the reason why we live he's the reason why we get to do the things that we do in life he's my heart and he's what I speak through my poetry through my work through my everyday life that's Jesus Jesus has been called a lot of things by many people just recently I went to Yahoo Answers online and I looked up Jews what do you think of Jesus and I found some pretty interesting some pretty interesting answers one guy said I think the message that is attributed to him was good and that if the stories are true he's an inspirational man another said I think he had a nice teaching that he was a rabbi with a lot of followers and that his intention was to refer was not to Reform Judaism but to and not to start a new religion but I also think that the people have distorted what he taught but I don't believe he was the Messiah or the Son of God another one said as a Jew I highly respect him but I don't believe he is the son of God God is too holy to have a son and another one still said Jesus had Jesus Jews have nothing against Jesus he was born a Jew Jews just don't believe in his divinity Albert Einstein is credited with saying I am a Jew but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene no one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus his personality pulsates in every word no myth is filled with such life Muslims Muslims would call him a prophet many people would say that he's a good man and some people would say that he's just a myth it's kind of interesting the former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev he said Jesus was the first socialist the first to seek a better life for mankind Jesus confronts us about this very question himself so if you would let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 16 we're gonna be looking at Matthew 16 verses 13 through 18 and we're gonna be moving around a little bit this morning but this passage is gonna be the focus of our of our study this morning beginning in Matthew 16 verses 13 through 18 we read now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples who do people say that the son of man is and they said want some say John the Baptist others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets he said to them but who do you say that I am Simon Peter replied you are the Christ the Son of the Living God 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 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 now if we're to understand correctly that this event follows directly after the events in the opening of chapter 16 then Jesus and His disciples would have been really tired they'd been continually mobbed by people around the Galilee asking for miracles seeking healing and the people were just following him everywhere they went the Pharisees and the Sadducees they had relentlessly been challenging him and seeking to trip him up and in addition to the 5,000 that he fed with the miracles of the loaves and fishes in chapter 14 Jesus had just finished feeding another crowd of 4,000 so this had all been a world win it venture for these simple fishermen from Galilee Jesus had shown them a lot their heads must have joined just spinning after seeing everything that Jesus had done and all the miracles and large crowds no doubt Jesus needed and wanted a little alone time with the disciples to help them process everything that they had been experiencing so he took them up north from the Galilee to Caesarea Philippi now imagine back with me to the time of Jesus this place Caesarea Philippi is situated in the northernmost region of the Land of Israel it's kind of where that Gentile or non-jewish world meets the Jewish world it was a border city really truly a cultural crossroads Caesarea Philippi it that's its Roman name was a Roman city occupying what had been a Greek city occupying what had once been a Canaanite city and a Canaanite cult site and Herod King Herod never passing up an opportunity to suck up to the Romans made improvements to it and dedicated it to Caesar hence its name Caesarea Philippi now Caesarea Philippi it rests in the foothills of the great Mount Hermon Mount Hermon is the tallest mountain in the land of Israel its summit straddles the border between Syria Israel and Lebanon and it rises to majestic 9,000 232 feet now growing up in Nazareth Jesus would have been able to even see Mount Hermon on a clear day and this site Caesarea Philippi was originally named after the Greek god Pan it's called pani as' the Greeks had erected shrines dedicated to pan there even today the area is known as Benyus or in Arabic or panis throughout the ages this place has had a real religious significance and it's because of the cave and the spring you can see it right here in the in the video in the background there there's a cave and you can see the water fixtures coming out from it the water in Springs the water springs forth from the foot of Mount Hermon appearing as if it had poured from the mouth of the the cave itself and in Jesus's time the spring actually did emerge from the cave so to the ancient Greeks caves like these were thought to be gateways to the underworld called Hades and it was this was a place where the dead went when they crossed over from life to death so imagine how a mysterious must have seemed to the ancients to see this water flowing forth from the from the cave forming the headwaters to the Jordan River the Greek god Pan dedicated in this place was the god of Shepherds and flocks and mountains and nature he was depicted as being half-man half-goat and playing a flute it's important to note that pan worship was still widely practiced even in Jesus's time as evidenced by the many shrines from that period so it's easy to see why this would be why they would build a shrine to pan here because it's it's lush it's green it's got vegetation it's got has the cave has the spring coming forth so to Jesus's gallo Galilean country boy disciples this must have really seemed strange in a really peculiar place with its cult worship and its exotic people it really kind of serves as a stark reminder of just how lost the world was sound like any places we know well it's in these surroundings with its strange people and strange practices that Jesus and His disciples found themselves in Matthew chapter 16 so let's go back and look at it a little closer we read in Matthew 16 verses 13 through 14 now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples who do people say that the Son of Man is and they said some say John the Baptist others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets who do people say that he is in our opening we heard what a lot of people had to say about him and some of these opinions were even complimentary a little flattering Jesus asked his disciples who do people say I am you know your your friends your family what's the word on the street what are they saying who do they say I am and the disciples replied well you know some think you're John the Baptist's come back well as you might recall John the Baptist was an evangelist he called the people to repentance and he baptized them he baptized Jesus some think Elijah maybe Jeremiah or other prophet or another prophets well these were great and revered men who fearlessly delivered God's message in times of peril but they were just men Jesus is asking do they and do you really get Who I am what my mission is well Matthew 16 verse 15 it says he said to them but who do you say I am but who do you say that I am who do you say that he is this is the eternal question which we all face could he have been make-belief well let's let's explore that question a little bit how can we possibly know if Jesus is real if he was a real person how can we know that they didn't give people birth certificates in those days there's no DMV records he didn't have a driver's license we don't have a Social Security number so how do we know about ancient figures from history any of them well people who knew them or lived during their time wrote about them another way is people left memorials or monuments to themselves for instance the great Pharaohs of Egypt they left the pyramids Alexander the Great built huge monuments Julius Caesar left carved marble busts and great buildings but what about Jesus well here's what some of the people who weren't Christians wrote about him Cornelius Tacitus a contemporary Roman historian hero to the crucifixion of Jesus by Pontius Pilate Maura Barr sir a peon a Syrian stoic philosopher he wrote a letter from prison to his son around 70 AD and he compares Jesus to the philosophers Socrates and Pythagoras even the Jewish Babylonian Talmud spoke of Jesus it's been taught on the eve of Passover they hanged yes you and an announcer went out in front of him for 40 days saying he's going to be stoned because he practiced sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray anyone who knows anything in his favor let him come and plead in his behalf but not having found anything in his favor they hanged him on the eve of Passover in truth no legitimate historians today really dispute the existence of Jesus that isn't the issue the controversy comes when we talk about who Jesus actually was and his so what did those who really knew him have to say for that we can look at the Gospels his disciples lived with them every day for three years what did they say about him was he just a good teacher was he like one of the prophets of old was he just some misguided but well intended guy trying to get everybody to just get along how we answer that question reveals a lot about ourselves we can start by looking at what the Apostle John had to say he was one of the 12 disciples and part of the inner circle of three who were closest to Jesus he his he's thought to be the youngest of the disciples and he refers to himself in his own gospel as the one Jesus loved now John describes Jesus this way in the in his Gospel John chapter one verses one through three in the beginning was the word Jesus and the word Jesus was with God and the word Jesus was God he Jesus was in the beginning with God all things were made through him Jesus and without him was not anything made that was made and over in verse 14 the same chapter he tells us and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and full of truth john tells us Jesus is God that he was with God that He created absolutely everything that has ever been created that within the Godhead himself there is a father-son relationship and this son clothed himself in humanity and came to live among us that's pretty heavy stuff now following his death and resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples but one of them showed doubt about who he was seeing his name was Thomas and in John chapter 20 verses 27 through 29 it records the interaction between Jesus and Thomas now I want you to notice closely Thomas's conclusion verse 27 then he said to Thomas put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side do not disbelieve but believe Thomas answered him my Lord and my god jesus said to him have you believed because you have seen me blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed about Jesus Thomas concluded my Lord and my god returning to Matthew 16 Peter tells us Peter tells Jesus in Matthew 16:16 you are the Christ the Son of the Living God the disciples still needed further understanding but inspired by the Holy Spirit peter has a moment of absolute clarity you are the Christ meaning Messiah Son of the Living God the title given to the Jewish people the title the Jewish people given to the God of Israel and for this answer Jesus says to him in Matthew 16 verse 17 blessed are You Simon bar Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven this is what the people who knew him and witnessed his miracles and heard his words had to say about him but how can we trust he is who he says he is or that he is who they say he is can we even trust the Bible one of the strongest evidences for the Bible for the truth of the Bible is prophecy or the predictions by God of the things to come because only God can have true foreknowledge right would it surprise you to know that there are over 400 prophecies about the Messiah and the Old Testament that had been fulfilled in Jesus many of these prophecies are very specific such as his place of birth the events around his birth his crucifixion that he'd be buried in a rich man's tomb these are things no person could control or force to come true true about themselves many of the prophecies concerning Jesus are written in the Book of Isaiah well what would the significance of that be you might ask well over the past few hundred years an academic stream of thinking has emerged known as the school of higher criticism we see them in groups like the Jesus Seminar today these so-called scholars doubt the supernatural events recorded in the Bible and even the accuracy and the veracity of the Bible itself they argue there's unnatural or an alternative explanation for everything we find in the Bible and one of their arguments is that there really was no fulfilled prophecy in the Bible the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus purporting to be ancient were simply written after the fact these prophecies these prophecies were just added later to make it seem as if Jesus had fulfilled them and for a long time Christians had to take it on faith alone that what they believed was true there weren't any manuscripts old enough to dispute what these scholars were claiming then in 1946 something amazing happened a young arab boy a shepherd was tending his fleet is sheep in the Dead Sea area around Quran and while herding his sheep among the cliffs and caves in the area he got bored and you know like most young boys he found a way to entertain himself so he started playing with his slingshot and he slung a stone into one of the caves in the cleft of the rocks and he hooked he heard a peculiar sound it sounded like something breaking so he got curious and he decided to go investigate inside the cave he found a bunch of large clay jars and as it turned out these clay jars contained Scrolls of the Bible which had been stashed away by ancient Jews who wanted to ensure God's Word would survive and it did among these ancient scrolls was an entire copy of the Book of Isaiah now there's three very significant things about this Book of Isaiah first it matches to almost near perfection the copies of Isaiah that we use today there are a few grammatical differences and a couple minor omissions but absolutely nothing that changes the content of the book second archeologists and other scientists confirm its age predates the birth of Jesus by nearly 200 years so this particular scroll is 200 years older than Jesus and third all the prophecies recorded in it about Jesus are intact so what does that mean it means the argument made by those who would say these prophecies were written after the fact are wrong that's amazing this scroll is on display in the Israel national museum it's called the shrine of the scroll our Israel tour last year got to visit the shrine of the scroll and got to see many of the ancient manuscripts that we have today so what are some of the significant prophecies about Jesus from the Old Testament well Isaiah 7:14 he will be born of the Virgin he'd be born at Bethlehem Micah 5:2 he would be presented with gifts Psalm 72 10 that Herod would kill the children in Bethlehem Jeremiah 31 verse 15 that he will have a Galilean ministry a ministry in the Galilee area Isaiah 9 1 and 2 that he would be an heir to the throne of David Isaiah 9:7 chapter 11 verse 1 and 10 that he'd be betrayed by a friend psalm 41:9 that he'd be sold for thirty pieces of silver zechariah 11 12 that he'd be forsaken by his disciples zechariah 13:7 that he'd be spat on and struck Isaiah 56 he'd be disfigured by suffering isaiah 52:14 that his hands and his feet would be pierced Psalm 22:16 but none of his bones would be broken psalm 34:20 his side would be pierced zechariah 12:10 he'd be crucified with thieves isaiah 53:12 and he would be rejected by his own people isaiah 53:3 these are just a few of the prophecies fulfilled in Jesus so just for kicks what do you think the mathematical probability is the mathematical odds that just eight of these prophecies could come true in any one man just eight what do you think the mathematical probability is well according to Peter stoner in his book science speaks the mathematical odds of any eight prophecies coming true in any one person is 1 in 10 to the 17th power now that you know kind of number it's hard to get our head around 1 in 10 with 1708 so because it is kind of hard to get our head around that he came up with an illustration illustration I want to share with you can everybody see this so imagine the state of Texas covered in silver dollars two feet deep that's a silver dollar the whole state of Texas two feet deep now imagine somewhere across the vast state of Texas is one silver dollar buried among all the others with a red X on it among all of those silver dollars now I put a blindfold on you and you start walking and when you feel ready to stop you bend down with your blindfold still on and pick up a silver dollar now Shane and art you got to leave your will barrels at home stay with me this isn't about that if that Silver Dollar has the red X on it the one you pick up then you've met the mathematical probability that's what 1 in 10 to the 17th power is that's just for 8 prophecies coming true in any one person there's over 400 that have come true in Jesus the Bible has proven to be an amazing archaeological tool over and over again with each turn of the Spade the accuracy of the Bible is confirmed I think it's kind of funny for all their skepticism archeologists they use the Bible all the time to locate lost cities and civilizations yet they stand to be the first to criticize the Bible at one time scholars scoffed at the idea of a Hittite civilization as mentioned in the Bible there's no evidence of such a people ever living apart from the Bible today universities have departments of hittite studies names first found in the Bible have been found inscribed on ancient artifacts all over the Middle East places like the Persian Winter Palace and souza described in the book of Esther have been discovered excavated and found to be just as they were described in the Bible but having offered all of this we haven't dealt with the other evidence we use to determine historical persons what kind of monument or memorials have been left behind Jesus didn't build any pyramids he didn't build any cities he didn't commissioned any marble statues of his likeness although there was no shortage of paintings and pictures and latter times but what did he leave behind he left behind millions upon millions of chain lives lives that are still being changed today unlike other ancient people our Jesus he still lives and is still transforming the lives of people all around the world there's no greater evidence than that personally all this other stuff you know it it reaffirms my faith you know I like reading about it I like hearing about it but that isn't what brought me to Jesus and maybe it's that way for you too these twelve disciples who witnessed the wonders of God in the flesh who heard his words saw that's his power to change lives were themselves transformed by the experience these men were so unalterably change that they gave up everything everything to follow Jesus ultimately except for one all gave their lives they were executed for their faith put to death it's been said a man may give his life for what he knows to be true but never will a man die for what he knows to be a lie these first Christians died with the transforming peace and assurance they had which could only come from Jesus back to Matthew 16 verse 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 as the disciples are gathered around Jesus in this strange bustling place with all its strange ways and pagan beliefs Jesus tells Peter in Greek you are Petros or Peter meaning stone and upon this Petra this bedrock I will build my church this was meant as kind of a play on words but what Jesus is saying to him is look around you Peter don't be dismayed or disheartened by what you see here the world is like this many people will say many things about me but upon the truth you spoke I will build my church bat cave Jesus probably pointed to that very cave as an illustration to make this point it's unfortunate the ESV translates the passage as hell because it's actually the Greek word Hades Hades the place of death will not prevail against me Jesus will overcome death he will overcome evil the world's religions and systems will not stop this and his church will overcome it because Jesus is at its head he is the Christ the Son of the Living God so this brings us back to our first question who do you say he is Jesus doesn't leave us with a multiple-choice question he really only leaves us with a true or false question in Matthew 12:30 Jesus says whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not and whoever does not gather with me scatters in John 14:6 it says jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me and in acts 4:12 it says and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved Jesus is either telling us the truth or he's a liar as I close this morning I just want to mention a couple of things first you may have noticed many of many of these pictures not all but many of these pictures we use on the overhead for our illustrations today are from our touchstone trip to Israel this last year and I've got to tell you it's an amazing thing to go to the land where the Bible is written where it's from it makes things that were at least for me things that were black and white become 3d and Technicolor when you go to Israel yourself it's really a it really transforms the Bible in ways and the context for many of these stories kind of pop at you pop out at you like Caesarea Philippi and when you see that in person and you read what Jesus said at those locations it really provides a context for you and kind of gives you an idea of what he meant kind of an extra dimension - to the to the teaching he's trying to present and to be able to walk through the ruins that Jesus and His disciples walked well that's that's just amazing Capernaum you can see the house of Peter you stand there look at your Bible and you read that Jesus's ministry was here at Peter's house and you're standing in a street that's across the street from the synagogue that's written in the book of Matthew about where Jesus was teaching and you're looking at Peter's house and you're standing in the street you're looking at the synagogue right there in front of you the smells knowing that what you're smelling or the smells he smelled and you look at the mountains and you see that the relief and the shapes of the mountains and the landscape and you know that's the same reliefs and shapes that his disciples and Jesus saw in their time those are the images that were in their minds it really is it really is life-changing and so I would encourage you talk to some of the people that have been talk to some of the people from our group that that went and let them share with you some of their experiences and I'd also like to encourage you to pray about going yourself if it's you know the Lord's will for you we would love to have you join us we're going again in May and the first first week in May of this year but it really it really is a transforming experience and last and most importantly if you haven't made a commitment to Christ or you have questions I want to invite you to come over here to the right after service there'll be people who can pray with you or help you with your questions or point you to people who who might be able to answer your questions but don't wait don't wait if you don't know this Jesus if you don't have a relationship with him he calls you now now is the time you don't have to get right you don't have to fix yourself you don't have to clean up first he wants you the way you are he wants to meet you where you're at let's pray father we just thank you for your word Lord and and we thank you for your examples father we we just pray that for those who don't know you Lord who do who don't know who you are Lord that your Holy Spirit would just speak to them Lord turn the light on in their hearts father we just pray as we go out this week Lord that you empower us to impact others of the good news of your gospel Lord we pray for opportunities to minister and we pray for those who don't know you Lord in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Touchstone Christian Fellowship Video

Views: 28,632

Rating: 4.817143 out of 5

Keywords: Touchstone Christian Fellowship, touchstonecf, God, Jesus, Christ, Greg Hawkins, Peter, identity, Who do you say I am, Christianity (Religion), Jesus Christ (Deity)

Id: WQ-LJ8Z-U9A

Length: 38min 37sec (2317 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 19 2013