Who Do You Say That I Am? Part 2 Series

Who Do You Say That I Am? Part 2

The Book of Mark

Mark 8:27-33

I. Introduction.

A. Answering the question that Jesus posed in the passage we are studying is one of the most crucial things you can do.

B. Every one has an answer to this question when you think of it.

1. It is a question that few ever really sit around and consider.

2. Very few people articulate the question.

3. But it is a question that we have an answer to none the less.

C. As we pointed out last week, there are a lot of different answers out there.

1. In the secular world as well as religious circles.

2. A prophet a priest a great teacher, a healer of infirmities.

3. He is all of these things by the way.

4. Those are all accurate answers to the question but there is only one right answer.

II. The second question.

A. The second question brings the focus to the individual.

1. Who do you yourselves say that I am?

2. They had been beating around the bush and Jesus is personalizing it.

B. They had been watching and listening and learning now for over two years.

C. They had left their livelihoods and their families to follow Him.

D. They had been tested and stretched in their lives.

E. Now the time comes to see if they had internalized what they had observed.

III. The right answer.

A. You are the Christ.

1. Luke says the Christ of God.

2. Matthew records the Christ the Son of the Living God.

3. Peter answers the question but since he is the main spokesman for the group it was an answer shared by them all.

B. What is the significance of this statement?

1. The Christ.

a) Ho Christos GR. Heb. Messiah.

b) The word means to be anointed or consecrated or set apart.

c) The word is used in a general sense to identify certain offices.

(1) Priests.

(2) Kings

(3) Prophets.

(4) It is used to describe the Patriarchs of the nation of Israel.

d) In a specific sense the word is used to describe God’s special anointed one Jesus.

(1) Ps.2:2

(2) Dan 9:25-26.

(3) Jn.1:40,41.

e) A survey of the OT prophecies and statements concerning Christ reveals that what took place in the NT Gospels was the plan all along.

(1) Messiah would be born of a virgin – Isaiah 7

(2) Messiah would heal and restore – Isiah 61

(3) Messiah would be cut off – killed Dan 9

(4) Messiah would reign on David’s throne Is.9

f) However the view of the Jews had become so narrow that by the time Jesus arrived, the messianic hope lay only in a political/military ruler who would deliver them from the oppression of the Romans and restore Israel to its former glory.

g) They failed to see the 2 advents of the messiah.

(1) The first as the suffering sacrificial Lamb of God.

(2) The second as the conquering Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

2. So Jesus asks the disciples the question and they give the right answer.

3. It isn’t the first time they have said it.

a) Jn.1:41 Andrew said it when he told Peter about Jesus for the first time.

b) Jn.1:49 Nathanael

c) Jn.6:69 when Jesus popularity was waning and He asked if the disciples were going to leave Him.

4. The difference is found in Matt.16:17

C. It is impossible to answer this question apart from the Spirit of God.

1. “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father who is in heaven.”

a) The natural man cannot understand the things which are spiritual 1Cor.2:1-10, 14.

b) The disciples would never have come to this conclusion on their own.

c) This is the point at which this band of men became true believers.

(1) It wasn’t a result of intellectual considerations.

(2) It wasn’t a result of finally getting it after all this time.

2. It was direct intervention by the Father.

3. This is something we often miss but it is a biblical truth.

a) Jn.1:12-13

b) Jn.6:37,44,65

c) Eph.2:8-9

d) 2Tim.1:9 Paul said talking about God.. “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,”

e) Peter himself understood this later 1Pet.1:2.

4. This is so very important.

a) We are saved only because of what God has done for us.

b) Not because of anything we have done or will do or can do.

c) As a result we can truly and freely worship God because it really is all about Him. 1Pet.1:3.