Confessing Christ

RIVERSIDE INDONESIAN FELLOWSHIP
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Confessing Christ

Riverside Indonesian Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 10 November 2013

This has to be one of the most important texts in the Word of God. So let us this evening consider Matthew 16:13-17, “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Now this passage describes the apex, the high point of Jesus' endeavor to teach the disciples. And the final examination the Lord gives them really only has one question that you either pass or fail. When Jesus said to them in verse 15, "But who do you say that I am?" He really asks the question that every human must answer - Who is Jesus Christ? And on that answer hinges your eternal destiny.

This is the apex of the New Testament and of the Old Testament, - Who is Jesus Christ? That supreme confession of Peter is the basic reality of Christianity. For over two years our Lord has been moving to this moment, teaching, affirming, reaffirming, establishing, reestablishing, building and rebuilding their confidence, their commitment until Peter, on behalf of all of them, says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And so, let's look first at the setting. Verse 13 says, “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi.” Now, the word Caesarea just simply means of Caesar. It is a town named after Caesar. This town is called Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from another town called Caesarea down in the south western part of Palestine. Today it is part of the southwestern corner of Syria, but at this point in history it is under the control of Israel.

That territory was controlled by Philip the Tetrarch, who was a kind and patient man posing no threat to Christ and His disciples. He was, however, committed to Caesar as indicated by the name change of that town to Caesarea Philippi because he enlarged it and wanted to distinguish it from the other one.

Now this particular incident is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke because of its importance. And Mark tells us that this conversation happened as Jesus was walking to some villages somewhere around Caesarea Philippi. The Lord just had come out of a prayer meeting. The other gospels indicate that Jesus had been with the Father, and in the midst of the walk He asked them this important question - Who do you say I am?

Later on in Matthew there is a second question asked by Pilate that is a corollary to that first question, Pilate said - What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? The first question is: Who is Jesus Christ? The second question in Matthew 27:22 is: What am I going to do with Him? Both of them are very important.

Matthew 16:13, “Jesus asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man am?" The term ‘Son of Man’ refers to Jesus, and it is used 80 plus times in the New Testament and so it is the Lord's most common designation of Himself and although it is definitely a prophetic title of the Messiah taken from Daniel 7:13-14, He uses it more as a sign of His identification with humanity.

Now, Jesus has been serving for two plus years, and He has been preaching, teaching, healing and doing signs, wonders and mighty deeds, so what is the result of all of this? Jesus came into the world to reveal Himself and now it's time to find out what His disciples were thinking. Do they really know who He is? Nothing is as important for Him and the extension of His Kingdom as that question.

But Jesus is not really looking for an answer because He knows their heart, so this is a leading question. He knew what they thought about Him but He wanted out of the disciples' mouth a clear statement from them. He is after a confidence statement, a confession of who He is. It's time for that now, the lessons are over, the course has reached its apex, now comes the test.

What is the consensus of the general public about Me? And they respond in verse 14, "Some say, they said, that You are John the Baptist." This was indicated in Matthew 14:1-2 when it says: “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”

There's another opinion, look at verse 14, "Some said You are Elijah." Elijah was the highest prophet. And in Malachi's 4:5 it said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The Jews believed that Elijah would be resurrected, and that he would come back from heaven prior to the coming of the Messiah. And so some said this is Elijah.

Do you know that if you were to go to a Jewish Passover today, you would see at the Jewish Passover table an empty chair, and if you were to ask the host why there is an empty chair during the Passover in which no one sits, he would tell you it is the chair for Elijah. The Jews are still waiting for Elijah to come because when he takes his seat the Messiah is not far behind based on Malachi.

Now also notice in verse 14 that others said Jesus is Jeremiah. Where did this come from? Well, it comes from the Apocrypha, the non-biblical writings between the Old and the New Testament in the Roman Catholic Bible. There is a legend that Jeremiah, prior to the Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C., took the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense out of the temple and hid it in Mount Nebo.

And legend says that before the Messiah comes back to establish His Kingdom Jeremiah will return and get the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense and restore them to their place. And so Jeremiah suddenly had become a hero although when he was a prophet they threw him in a pit to get rid of him.

Lastly, there was a more general opinion among some that He was one of the prophets that had risen again. So all having in common the same two factors: a forerunner of the Messiah, and one coming back from the dead. You see, the resurrection has to be in there so they can explain the supernatural character. They never deny Jesus' miracles.

But they would not accept that He was the Messiah, they got as close as they could without getting to the truth. They are very much like our world today that wants to believe only so much about Jesus without accepting the whole truth. Pilate said "He's a man without fault." Napoleon said "I know men and Jesus Christ is no mere man." Diderot said: "He's the unsurpassed." Straus said: "He's the highest model of religion." Lecky said: "He's the highest pattern of virtue." Close...but not close enough.

And so Jesus asks them the second question, verse 15, “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And here is the most important question of all. My friend, you cannot avoid that question. You are pinned against the wall of eternity and you will be forced to answer that question. And your eternal destiny depends upon the answer you give.

What was their answer? Verse 16 says, “Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Simon Peter was the spokesman, wasn't he? Whenever there was some speaking to be done, he did it. You see it everywhere in many places. This isn't just Peter; this is Peter gathering up the consensus of the disciples and speaking on their behalf. Jesus calls him Simon Peter; his legal name so it gives a very official character to the confession.

Look at the confession in verse 16, it is decisive, it is emphatic and it has no qualifiers. "You are the Christ." You are the Messiah! You are the anointed one of God. You are the One we have been looking for, the eternal King, the eternal Savior, the embodiment of all of our hopes and all of our desires and all of the promises. You are the One God said You would be.

You might say - Didn't they always believe that? Yes and no. In John 1 when they first met Jesus, Andrew runs to get Peter, he says - Peter, we have found the Messiah. But from the time they made that initial assessment they begin to waver. Why?

They believed the testimony of John the Baptist and believed what they saw when Jesus did all his miracles. But then, all of a sudden the humiliation and the rejection and the hatred and the bitterness started and they began to wonder. So, there was this confusion because it didn't seem to be working the way they thought it should. They were strong in faith sometimes and weak at other times.

They have seen many incredible miracles. They have just heard profound teaching. They are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah even though as He goes to the cross particularly, they begin to shake a little. And in the John 14 passage where the Lord is telling them that He is going to die and leave them, they're getting very nervous and they say - We don't know where You are going.

But at this point there is this supreme confession that they believe He is the Messiah. And the Spirit of God imbedded this in their hearts when He came and made them the men that changed the world. Through all of the struggles and hatred of the Pharisees, the rejection of the people and the confusion of their Messianic expectations, still they arrived at that point of proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah.

Well, they got the answer right, He was and is the Christ. And then Peter added to the confession, "The Son of the living God," not only the Son of Man, but the Son of God, not only God, but the living God, as opposed to all the dead idols. And when Jesus is called the Son of God, it is saying that He is one in essence with God.

Now, they said that and they believed that He was God. And you might say - Well why then did Philip say in John 8:19 – Where is your Father? It is because the disciples did not understand the meaning of Jesus also being God at the same time. They did not understand the Trinity, and I don't either. So, I understand their question, but they believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

Now, look at verse 17, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar- Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus says - you didn't get that information about who I am from your humanness, it wasn't your superior intellect, it wasn't your intuition, there's nothing in the human realm that could reveal this. Only the Spirit of God can reveal this to you for we all are just blind people.

Now, the question is - how has the Father revealed it? How? What did the Father use? The Father revealed Jesus Christ to be the Messiah through Christ Himself. That's the way it is today. You will discover who Jesus Christ is only when you look at and listen to Jesus Christ and when you follow what He teaches. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

And what is the result? What happens when you believe? Matthew 12:8 says, "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." The Sabbath was the center of all life in Israel. Sabbath means rest or cessation. And the Sabbath was a time of rest with two things in mind, one - cessation from work and two, holy convocation. In other words, there was worship and there was rest.

In fact, God gave Israel a catalogue of Sabbaths. In Leviticus 23 there are seven different Sabbaths. Now that concept of the Sabbath is a symbol, it is a picture, it is a type, it is not a reality. The reality is that someday there will be a true rest for the people of God. The whole Sabbath system had no other purpose except to point to the One who would bring true holiness and rest.

Now, turn to Luke 4:16-19, “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Jesus says then – in verse 21, “this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” That is exactly why He violated their Sabbath ordinances, because Jesus, the reality, was there. Jesus is the Lord over the whole sabbatical system which ruled and governed their lives. And that is why the New Testament repeats every one of the Ten Commandments except - Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy - it doesn't repeat that one.

In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul comes to this very conclusion, “16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Don't let anybody judge you on that. That's why it says in Hebrews 4:3, “For we who have believed do enter that rest.” It is the rest of salvation.

Listen, since I embraced Jesus Christ who is the Sabbath, who is the fulfillment of all the pictures - I seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. I am seeking a holy convocation with God every moment of my life. And I have a rest. I don't need one day a week to rest spiritually, I rest in God always.

That's why Paul uses the term redemption so much, there's a Jewish element there. Because God has set us free in Christ. He has given us the liberation. You violate the Sabbath not when you work on Sunday. No, no, no. You violate the Sabbath rest when you refuse Jesus Christ and you continue on in your own self-righteous works.

What happens when you believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God? Look at verse 17, "And Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon." What does it mean to be blessed? Ephesians 1:3, “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” All of the divine supernatural resources that God can pour out on His children are yours.

And so our Lord acknowledges the great confession of the disciples. He stamps it with approval. And He promises to bless them. And that's the promise that He makes to you as well. That if you confess Jesus as the Savior, the Son of the living God, and you embrace Him, that you shall enter into holy rest forever and you shall cease from your own self- righteous works and you shall be blessed. Let's pray.



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