Who Is Jesus

Todd Riddick

Jesus • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Matthew 16:13–20

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Intro

Its hard to believe but Easter is already just a few weeks away, and so this week we are beginning a new series, and we will be focusing on Jesus.

This week we are talking about who Jesus is.

Who did the Jews think Jesus was?

Matthew 16:13–14 (NIV)

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

16:13–16pp—Mk 8:27–29; Lk 9:18–20

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

So we can see here that there were a lot of different ideas that people believed who Jesus really was.

Some people said He was John the Baptist, well that was kinda hard to do since John the Baptist actually Baptized Jesus.

The next one is a little bit more understandable. They believed he was Elijah. Elijah was a prophet from the Old Testament, he was the prophet that went up against the prophets of Baal and dumped a whole bunch of water on the altar. You may remember we talked about that a few months ago.

We can see that Elijah was a great prophet and servant of God but also Elijah never died, we see in 2 kings that Elijah was actually taken up to heaven without dying.

We also see that the last words written before the New Testament was actually a prophesy about Elijah

Malachi 4:5–6 (NIV)

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

So for a group of people that are looking for a coming Messiah, I could understand the thought that he may be Elijah.

Still other people believed Jesus was one of the other prophets, now Im not really sure why they would have believed that, but apparently they did.

There were also others that just thought of Jesus as a good teacher.

Mark 10:17–18 (NIV)

The Rich and the Kingdom of God

10:17–31pp—Mt 19:16–30; Lk 18:18–30

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

This is a passage from the Rich man that came to ask Jesus what he must do to be saved. So we see that there were many different thoughts about who Jesus was but Who was Jesus?

Who Was Jesus?

Lets continue in Matthew 16

Matthew 16:15–19 (NIV)

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

I love what Jesus said here. He asks the disciples who He was and the disciples immediately side stepped the question.

So Jesus didnt let them get away from it. He reinforced the question.

Who do you say that I am?

And wouldnt you know it that our favorite disciple that speaks first and tends to think second is the one that answers, except this time Peter is absolutely correct.

Peter tells Jesus that Jesus is the Messiah.

Definition - Messiah: the promised and expected deliverer of the Jewish people.

So Peter answers Jesus you are the one that is going to deliver us, the one that we have been looking for as a jewish people for hundreds of years.

And I love Jesus’s response to Peter. He tells him you are absolutely correct, this information was not just your own but revealed by God the Father.

This brings me to a conversation from C.S. Lewis that in summary basically said that we have to determine who Jesus is. Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord.

Who do you say Jesus is?

So we see who the Jewish culture said Jesus was. We see who Peter said Jesus was and Jesus confirmed it, but here is the most important question that you will have to answer.

Who do YOU say Jesus is.

Do you think He was just a good teacher, a smart man, do you think he never even existed?

The most important thing that you will ever have to decide is the answer to this exact question.

If you believe that He is the Messiah and the deliverer do you act like it? Are you living your life in a way that has been delivered? Saved by the Grace of God. In awe of what He has done for you every day?