Title: Jesus Is . . .The Unavoidable Question
Series: Who Is Jesus? (Sermon # 8)
Text: Matt 16:13-17
Date Preached: April 20, 2008
COPYRIGHT © Joe La Rue, 2008
Introduction
A. Eight weeks ago we began a series of teaching that we called ‘Who Is Jesus’ by discussing Matt 16:13-17, in which Jesus asks His followers two questions: (1) Who do people say that I am?; and, (2) Who do you say that I am? As we bring this study to a close this morning, we are going to return to that passage of Scripture. Open your Bibles to Matthew 16:13-17. Look at it with me. Matt 16:13-17. The Bible says,
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.’” (Matt 16:13-17, NIV).
B. Eight weeks ago we focused primarily upon the first question that Jesus asked, ‘Who do people say that I am?” Today, we shall focus on the second question: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ That is the question that really matters for each one of us this morning. Who do we say that Jesus is? This is the unavoidable question. Once you’ve been asked it, you must answer it. As we’ve seen in this study, Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh, and claimed the right to be our King. And he claimed to be the only way that we can be made right with God. He claimed to be the one who would die for our sins, and He said, “No one can come to God except through Me.” That means that if Jesus was right, the only way to get access to God and to God’s heaven is to go through Jesus by accepting Him as Savior. And the rest of the Bible says the same things about Him.
1. And this is what makes this question, ‘Who do you say that Jesus is?’, so important, and so unavoidable. If Jesus really is who He claimed to be—if He really is the only way that we can be made right with God, and the one who is our Lord—then accepting Him as Savior and Lord is pretty important, don’t you think? In fact, I would even go so far as to say that if Jesus really is who He claimed to be, this question is the most important question by far that you will ever be asked.
2. And you cannot avoid this question. Either we accept Him for who He claimed to be, or we don’t. There is no middle ground. Either we accept Him as our Savior and Lord, or we reject Him.
C. Look at Peter’s answer. Verse 16, “Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” That word, ‘Christ,’ is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word, ‘Messiah.’ Both words mean “the Anointed One.” Back in those days, when a new King was installed, he was anointed with oil as a sign that he was being set apart for his new role in society. And so the Jewish people came to understand that the Messiah, ‘the Anointed One,’ would be an eternal King, who would save his people, and whose reign would have no end. The Messiah was also referred to in the Old Testament as ‘the Son of God,’ and so that too came to be associated with the title.
1. So, when Peter proclaimed Jesus ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ he was saying that he believed that Jesus was the Anointed One, sent by God, to reign over His people forever and save them.
2. In other words, Peter was proclaiming Jesus his Savior and Lord. Now, look at verse 17—“Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.’” In other words, ‘That’s the right answer, Peter.’
D. Trans: This brings us to a very important question: Is Jesus your Savior, too?
I. Do You Say That Jesus Is Your Savior?
A. This is the foundational question upon which everything else builds. We have seen that the Bible says that every one sins. Everyone in this room today has sinned and does sin; that is, everyone here does things that are wrong in God’s sight.
1. The Bible says in Romans chapter 3, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23, NASB). And in 1 John chapter 1, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8, 10, NASB).
2. The Bible says that those who sin deserve eternal separation from God. Sin is rebellion against God. Sin is breaking His law. And so in Romans chapter 6 we read, “The wages of sin is death.” In other words, ‘Sin deserves hell.’
3. Now, who has sinned? All of us! And, what do we deserve? Hell.
B. And Jesus says, ‘There’s one way out of your predicament. There’s one way for you to avoid your punishment. And that one way is Me.’ Jesus did all that is needed to pay the price for our sins, and those who accept Christ as their Savior are forgiven and free. The Bible says in Romans chapter 8, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 8:1, NASB). Why is there no condemnation? The Bible says, “When you were dead in your transgressions . . . God made you alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt ... against us ... and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Col 2:13-14, NASB).
C. Jesus has done all that needs to be done to save us. But sometimes we forget that, and we worry that maybe we aren’t good enough to go to heaven.
1. ILL: I knew a man years ago who was an elder in a church, a respected Christian man and leader and a faithful follower of Christ. And this man one time said to me, “If I get to go to heaven,” and I interrupted him and asked him, “What do you mean, ‘if’?”, to which he replied, “Well, I wouldn’t presume to tell God that He must let me in.” And I told Him: That’s the whole point of the cross! It’s that we can presume! Those of us who have accepted Him as Savior have a ticket to heaven that has already been paid in full! We don’t have to earn it. We can’t anyway! We’re not good enough to earn heaven! That’s why Jesus came!
2. That’s why Jesus died—because we’re not good enough! The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” (Rom 3:10, NASB). So if you’ve accepted Jesus, stop worrying about whether you’re good enough. Instead, embrace Jesus as your Savior and praise God that He saved you!
D. Now, maybe some here this morning have yet to accept Jesus as Savior. One time the Apostle Peter explained to some people that they were sinners, in need of a Savior, just like we’ve just talked about. And they said to Peter, “What shall we do? How can we be saved?” And the Bible says that Peter answered, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38, NASB). Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Have you repented of your sins and been buried in baptism, as the Bible says we are to do to accept Him? His offer of salvation is available to you this morning. At the end of the service I will invite you to come forward and accept Christ as Savior. Jesus has asked you the question: “Who do you say that I am?” You must respond: You must either accept Him as Savior, or reject Him. There is no middle ground.
E. Trans: Okay, so first, the right answer to the question, ‘Who is Jesus,’ is that He’s our Savior. But there is a second part to the answer as well. Messiah means “Savior,” but it also means “Lord.” The Messiah was the one who would reign as King forever, and so when Peter proclaimed Jesus ‘the Christ,’ he was saying that he accepted Jesus as his king, as his Lord. Have you made Jesus Lord of your life?
II. Do You Say That Jesus Is Your Lord?
A. You see, it’s not enough that we call Jesus ‘Savior’ if we do not also obey Him as Lord. Jesus Himself said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 7:21, NASB). What this means is this: It is not sufficient to call ourselves ‘Christians’ if we make no effort to live as Christians! It is not sufficient to say “I go to church” or “I’ve read the Bible” if we fail to let the teaching about Jesus impact and change our lives. In other words, it’s not enough to claim Jesus as Savior if we refuse to let Him be our Lord.
B. Now, we all want Jesus to be our Savior. We all want to be saved from our sins and be made right with God. We all want the assurance that we are going to go to heaven when we die. We all want Jesus to be our Savior. But some of us may not be so sure we want Him to be our Lord.
1. Having someone else as our Lord is somewhat uncomfortable, isn’t it? It means that somebody else gets to be the boss. It means we are not our own master, but someone else is. It means surrender to someone else, and letting Him have his way in our lives.
2. Like Frank Sinatra, some of us want to proclaim, “I did it my way!” But, wasn’t it an insistence on ‘doing it our way’ that got us into trouble to begin with? Isn’t that what ‘sin’ is—doing what we want to do, instead of what God tells us to do? Of course it is! Doing it our way is what led to our lostness and our need for Jesus. Do we really want to keep going down that road?
3. Jesus says, “It’s not enough that you let me save you. I want to help you!” You see, when we turn our lives over to Jesus, that’s when He can really begin to help us because He can reorient our thinking and our actions so that they conform to God’s will for us. And God’s will is always better for us than our will, because God sees the big picture that we cannot see.
C. So this morning I ask you: Have you made Jesus Lord of your life? Are you trying to follow Him and do what He says? Are you surrendering yourself to His will, trying to resist temptation and sin and trying to be the person that He has called you to be? That is part of properly answering this question that He asks, “Who do you say that I am?” The correct response acknowledges Him not only as our Savior, but also as our Lord.
1. Yes, sometimes we fail to fully follow Jesus. Remember, the Bible says that if we claim that we are currently without sin, we are deceived. So, that means that sometimes we fail to let Jesus have control of our lives; otherwise, we would never sin.
2. But, the all-important question is this: Are we trying to let Him be our Lord? Do we need to settle that question once and for all, and commit ourselves to His lordship this morning?
Conclusion
A. So, as we wrap up this study now, let me return once more to the question that Jesus asked: “Who do you say that I am?” This really is the foundational question, the most important question we will ever face. And we face it now. Everyone here this morning faces this question. Who is Jesus?
1. When we began this study eight weeks ago, we saw that the historical evidence is indisputable: Jesus really lived, really attracted a following, really was crucified, and His followers really did claim that He rose from the dead. The evidence for those events is indisputable. We have non-Christian, non-biblical historians from the period who tell us those things.
2. And we saw that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. We saw that the odds of anybody fulfilling just eight of the prophecies were as great as the odds of picking a particular coin out of a stack that covers the state of Texas to a depth of 2 feet. Yet, Jesus fulfilled not just those eight, but over fifty more besides!
3. And we have seen how Jesus has compassion for us, and cares for us in our daily needs. And we have seen that the Bible says that Jesus is the one who died for us to pay the price for our sins, and then rose victorious from the dead. And we saw that the risen Jesus was proclaimed to be ‘Lord and God’ by His followers, and in fact Jesus had made the same claim, over and over, during His ministry. And we talked about how the Bible says that Jesus will one day return to our world to wrap up earth’s history and usher in eternity.
B. Now, we come to the question which we cannot escape: “Who do you say that I am?” In his book, Mere Christianity, after pointing out all the claims that Jesus made about Himself, C. S. Lewis wrote these words:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 40-41 (1997, Book-of-the-Month Club) (1943)).
C. Who do you say that Jesus is? How do you answer the question? Are you ready to accept Him this morning as your savior? Do you want to publically dedicate yourself to letting Him be Lord of your life? If so, please come forward as we sing. I’ll meet you and we’ll talk quietly about your decision, and then I will announce what is appropriate to the church.
D. If God is moving in your heart right now about making a decision for Jesus, don’t let this service end without making it! Remember, when Peter answered the question correctly, Jesus called him blessed, and said that God the Father had revealed this answer to Peter. If you are thinking about making this decision, it means that God is revealing it to you, too! Don’t turn away from God! Please, come forward as we sing this morning.
