Who Do You Say That I Am?

“Who Do You Say I Am?”

Matthew 16:13-20

David P. Nolte

A preacher visited a Nursing home that had some patients with Alzheimer's. He went around and greeted the people and he walked up to one lady and asked, "Do you know who I am?" She said, "No, but if you go to the Front Desk, they can tell you."

In another situation A United Airlines gate agent in Denver made her point when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.

A crowded United flight was canceled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS."

The agent replied, "I'm sorry sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these folks first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out." The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to gate 17."

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man gritted his teeth and swore at her and retreated as the people in the terminal applauded loudly. Although the flight was canceled and people were late, they were no longer angry at United.

The great song today said, “Everybody ought to know who Jesus is!” Should He ask you, “Do you know Who I am?” how would you reply? Look at the text for an answer:

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ‘I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.’ Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.” Matthew 16:13-20 (NASB).

He asked the question, not because He didn’t know what the people thought and spoke of Him; but to open the door for a declaration of their comprehension, to confirm and strengthen them in it. So, who is this Jesus?

I. JESUS IS THE PERFECT SON OF MAN:

A. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Jesus used that title “son of man” many times in the gospels.

1. Consider first what that does not mean:

a. It does not mean that He had a biological human father.

b. It does not mean that He was merely human and not Divine

2. Consider what it does mean:

a. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. .... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-2, 14 (NASB).

b. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11 (NASB)