Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – One day with Mom and Dad gone, brother Jon, age 15, got ahold of the car keys and helped himself to a ride in Dad’s brand new Ford station wagon.

Naturally, his sin found him out when he backed into a fence and put a heavy scratch on the rear fender.

When I found out, we connived to save his miserable skin.

Somehow we found a fast body shop, but it cost us every penny we could find.

We learned deep holes means big costs!

Now, the Bible teaches man’s been in deep hole since the Fall.

We get sin as our birthright, and make our own daily contributions.

There’s a solution, but it’s very costly.

With the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus’ ministry reaches its apex.

His popularity is at an all-time high; they want to make Him king.

But when Jesus insisted on repentance, John tells us in 6:60, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

He came to seek and to save the lost, but a lot of the lost didn’t want to be saved.

Salvation is costly.

This passage, vv.

18-27, teaches the cost of being truly saved.

The crowds are still there, but enthusiasm is waning.

Soon, when it’s clear they can’t control Him, they will kill Him.

Knowing this, Jesus changes focus to His disciples.

They go 40 miles north to Caesarea Philippi and get a critical lesson in saving faith.

Without help, without outside invervention, man’s fallen condition leads straight to an eternity in hell.

Salvation is costly.

Jesus here insures that everyone understands the price.

It costs God; it costs Jesus; and it costs us.

We will address these costs with three questions – Who is Jesus?

What Did Jesus Do? What Must I Do?

*I.

Who is Jesus?

(What is the cost to the Father?)*

V. 18, “Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him.

And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” History’s most significant question.

Who is Jesus?

It reminds me of the movie where Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid are being chased by a posse.

Usually no big deal.

But this time, at every glance over the rocks, the posse is right on their trail.

Butch begins to ask, “Who are those guys?”

Who are we dealing with?

That is history’s great question about Jesus.

All must answer, “Who is that guy?”

Luke constantly raises this question for Theophilus, Who is this?

Luke’s account of the miraculous virgin birth of Christ begs the question – Who is this?

When Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic in Lu 5, the Pharisees asked, “Who – Who can forgive sins except God alone?”

When He attacks Sabbath traditions they ask, Who are You to change the rules?

John asks from prison, “Who exactly are you?”

Jesus calms a storm causing disciples to ask, “Who then is this?” (Lu 8:25).

Herod asks in 9:9, “Who is this?”

And now Jesus Himself raises the question.

Why?

Because it differentiates!

How we answer that question determines where we spend eternity.

It is the greatest question you will ever answer.

It is a life changing moment when you say, “Final answer”.

You cannot afford to get it wrong.

So use your lifelines, or anything else you have to get it right.

Don’t screw this one up.

So Jesus asks it in two ways.

First, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” What does the man on the street say?

*A.

Jesus is a Man*

Mid v. 18, “And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist.

But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”

The crowds weren’t sure.

Most said John the Baptist, or even a resurrected prophet – but still just a man.

They’d seen him eat, get tired, get jostled around and knew he was a man.

A great man, but only a man.

And they were partly right.

Jesus was a man.

Not any they suggested, but He was a man.

One of the amazing things about Jesus is that He was a man.

If He was also God, why become a man?

Three reasons.

*1.

To Qualify as a Sacrifice for Sin* – We may not like the word “sin” these days, but it’s the reason we’re in the hole we’re in, and Jesus came specifically to deal with that issue.

Sin violates the character of God and, thus, cannot go unpunished – not even the tiniest thought.

It must be paid for.

And we can only pay by eternal separation from an infinite God.

Substitution is the only answer.

But the substitute must be perfect.

The last plague that finally freed Israel from Egypt was when all firstborn were killed unless the blood of a substitute lamb was on the doorpost?

Exod 12:5, “Your lamb shall be without blemish.”

Not just blood, flawless blood.

Not the runt of the litter or the one that broke its leg yesterday.

It had to be perfect.

The word “without blemish” (tamim) is found 51 times in the OT emphasizing over and over the demands for perfection.

Sin means sacrifice; the sacrifice must be perfect.

That is what the life of Christ was all about.

Before He could ever die for sin, He had to live without sin.

That qualified Him as the Lamb of God.

And so Jesus did what no person has ever done.

He “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).

He had to do that as a man, or no sacrifice for sin.

That’s why Heb 9:14 says He, “offered himself without blemish to God.”

And that’s why Peter says in I Peter 1:19 we were ransomed “the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

That’s the testimony of a man who watched Jesus like a hawk for 3 years and knew Him to be sinless – the perfect and only sacrifice for sin.

Done as man!

*2.

To Become a Sacrifice for Sin* – Next Jesus had to pay sin’s penalty by death.

Since God can’t die, He had to be a man in order to die.

Do you see the beauty of God’s perfect, incredible plan?

Only God could meet His own perfect standards and qualify as a sacrifice for others, but God can’t die.

The God is dead theologians of the 60’s were a bit premature!

God isn’t dead and God can’t die, so He sent His Son in human form to experience death for us.

Exactly what the Bible says in Heb 2:9, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels (that is, became a man), namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”