| The Majesty of Christ Series-Who Am I?-Part One | ||
| December 18, 1994 | Sermon by DRW | Passage Matthew 16.13-16 |
Introduction
Location of Caesarea Philippi.
1. The Need to Withdraw (13)
a. For Himself
i. get away from the crowds
(1) when John the Baptist was killed (Matthew 14.1-12) Jesus withdrew (14.13)
(2) at this point His followers were leaving Him (John 6). He saw the weeding out of followers and true disciples.
(3) circumstances caused Him to withdraw
(a) either King or nothing
(b) Jewish power in Jerusalem was becoming more consolidated in their attempts to kill Him (ie, Pharisees and Sadduccees were aligning themselves together)
ii. keen realization of who He was and His mission
(1) Jesus was not seeking popularity (and wasn’t getting it at this point anyway).
(2) Jesus didn’t want to establish an earthly kingdom
(3) He saw the cross before Him and set His face as stone to get to it (Luke 9.51 – this statement followed soon after this retreat).
(4) The Transfiguration occured within days of this retreat.
b. For those who followed Him
i. opinion polls were down
ii. some were leaving and some remained
2. The Need to Question (13)
Background
His name was not Jesus Christ. That was a title. His name was Jesus bar Joseph.
Others called Him Christ the most, then Lord, then last of all (once) Son of Man.
Jesus called Himself (83 times) the Son of Man.
In Matthew we have Son of Man and in Mark and Luke it is merely Who I am. The difference is in the audience, Jews versus Gentiles.
i. Son of Man is historically equal to Son of God
ii. Daniel 7.9
(1) inner court
(2) divine figure (Philippians 2)
(3) descending and ascending (comp Acts 1.9-11)
iii. Deific assertions
(1) Matthew 9.1-8, only God can forgive sins
(2) John 5.1-18, Matthew 12.1-14, Mark 2-God made the Sabbath
* Draw your own conclusions
iv. He is God
b. Who do people say He is?
i. John the Baptist or Elijah
(1) why John the Baptist? He had been executed days earlier and people saw them together.
(2) he was the forerunner of the Messiah. As was Elijah. They may have transferred the work of John as the messenger who announces the Christ (Malachi 3) to Jesus.
(3) People thought Elijah was to return from Heaven for he had never died (2 Kings 2). A few days later James, John, and Peter see Jesus with Elijah and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration.
ii. Jeremiah or a prophet
(1) announces the good news
(2) the prophet was thought by some to be the good one who overcomes politically the oppressing nations.
c. Who do you say He is?
i. John 6.66-70 the Holy One of God (=what the others thought of Him, good man)
ii. Matthew 16.16 the Anointed One, the Son of the living God
3. The Need to Respond to the Son of Man (13-16)
a. How do we respond to such an One?
i. John the Baptist Then He was merely a messenger of God bringing good news of a coming king, not much to worship.
ii. Jeremiah Then he was a good man who teaches good morals, not much to worship.
iii. God If He be God, and I believe Him to be, then He must be worshipped and obeyed. We will look into this aspect of Christ over the next few weeks.
b. In light of who Jesus is, what must we do?
i. draw closer through the disciplines
ii. thank Him
iii. tell others
c. Matthew 28.18-20 as benediction.
©2012 Teach for God Ministries. Used by Permission.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Teach for God Ministries.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By David R Williamson. ©2012 Teach for God Ministries. Website: www.teach4god.com