Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This morning I want to build a bit if you will, taking where we were last week and then moving forward.

But the passage we are looking at it known as a hard saying of the Bible.

Hard meaning difficult, it is a time when Jesus was being tested by the religious leaders, they are hard hearted, they have seen so much from Jesus and yet they asked for a sign.

It is kinda of like, what more should i do for you, you have seen and heard a great deal, but yet you still do not believe.

Now here is where it gets interesting, just a little while later, ( literally later the same day) Jesus was teaching the disciples and He asked then two questions, and we will look at these two questions this morning..

Who do the people say that I am?

Who do you say that I am?

Why are these important?

Well my friends, without a doubt knowing Jesus is the most important part of any life and what you think, know and believe Him shapes every aspect of life, both here and the here-after.

So lets take the word of God and lets turn to Matthew chapter 16.

Verses 13-20

So truly a unique and powerful passage my friends.

what can we see from this passage?

Lets consider this thought my friends.... and perhaps it is best to ask the question ourselves, just as Jesus did...

1.

What is the World’s opinion of Jesus?

My friends you may think , what does it matter, I don’t care what the world thinks about my faith and my Jesus.

But please understand it is crucial that we understand what the world is saying about Jesus.

It will be the only way for us to answer them as God gives us the opportunity to share a witness with them.

When you open the passage that we are looking at, consider what is being said...

Now look at verse 13 again with me

Now here is what is interesting right off the bat, Jesus has taken his disciples into a gentile land.

They are about 120 miles form Jerusalem, in the region of Caesarea Phillippi.

It is a northern part of Palestine.

This area had been a center of pagan worship from Baal to the Greek god Pan.

This place was at the foot of Mount Lebanon, near the Jordan.

Phillip, the only good son of Herod the great built it in honor of Caesar, the ruler of Rome calling it Caesarea, but added his name to it calling it Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from another town called Caesarea which lay on the northeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

So look at the setting, they are in a pagan land, a place where many gods are worshipped and chased after.

Jesus and the disciples have just come from a meeting with the religious leaders who sought to test Jesus by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

Now Jesus posses the question: Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?

Man, what a question.

The world has many opinions about Jesus, about God… some say God is real, some say there is no such thing, some say Jesus was just a good man who did good things for the people.

and some say He is God’s son...

Jesus knowing the wickedness of the peoples hearts, especially the religious leaders who should have known better… puts forth the question Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?

Now let me share this little note with you… I am doing a lot of teaching here

Now Jesus calls himself the “Son of Man” this is His favorite self designation of himself.

It is a messianic title that speaks to the mystery of the God man… the humble servant who came with power fully God and fully man, but also was a suffering servant, some to forgive sin and take the penalty of sin away from mankind by bearing its wrath upon His own body.

My friends I have said all this for to realize the world has an opinion of Jesus.

It was true then and it is true today as well.

So Jesus asked the disciples this question, in a place that was away from the pressure and stress of the religious leaders, but it was in the heart of pagan worship and idolatry.

Now listen to the disciples answer....... verse 14

So break down their answers....

Some say John the Baptist.... others say Elijah.

some Jeremiah.

A. John the Baptist....

John is a favorite character for me, he came with such passion and drive under the power of the Lord.

People heard him, followed him and were baptized by him.

But John’s ministry was only to prepare the way for the Lord’s coming, he had down this and by his own words John said

John knew his ministry was complete, he has seen the Lord at work.

But later John because of His faithful preaching was arrested and later beheaded by Herod.

Some thought Jesus was John resurrected....

But Jesus was completely different.

B. Some say Elijah....

We can say this with all sureness, Jesus never worked under the spirit and power of Elijah,

That was John the Baptist’s ministry.

tells us this ....

John the Baptist came and did this, proclaiming the kingdom of God was coming and for people to repent and make themselves ready.

C.

And then finally, some say Jeremiah....

Some said Jesus was the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah who had returned form the dead.

Jeremiah as the weeping prophet, the one who was heart broken over the sin and the moral decay of the people.

Jeremiah wept over sin.

Jesus displayed the same attitude over the state of the people, over the nation.

He wept, was heart broken over sin.....

Important - Oh my brothers and sisters when was the last time we wept over sin.

When was the last time we wept over broken homes, When was the last time we wept over people and family members who did not believe?

When was the last time we wept that so many don’t think it important to be in His house?

Oh my brothers and sisters when was the last time we wept over sin.

When was the last time we wept over broken homes, When was the last time we wept over people and family members who did not believe?

When was the last time we wept that so many don’t think it important to be in His house?

When was the last time????

The world had so many opinions about Jesus, then and now.

Jesus asked them to share with him what they knew...

The world still has so many opinions about Jesus, and most will arrive at some novel notion that Jesus is ok, He was a good teacher, but he is just one way to heaven....

We cannot afford to allow the polls of the world influence what we know and believe about Jesus.

Our spiritual decision cannot be the products of what others believe, and some are guilty of that very thing.

That is why it is so incredibly important that we read and study the Word of God.

God himself and His word must be that which influences us...

Now lets move to the second question Jesus asked...

Now lets move to the second question Jesus asked...

2. Who Do You Say That I am.... What is Our Opinion of Jesus....

Do you realize why Jesus asked the disciples this question?

He wants to know what they have determined and what their confession alone is....

Salvation my friends is an individual act, it is based solely upon our heart and confession.

So lets look back at our passage...

This my friends is one of the most important confessions in the history of the world.

for it is here that Peter, well Peter kind of becomes the spokesperson for the whole group when he answers, ....

But he sasys

… “.... you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Lets break down what Peter is communicating to Jesus this day....

A. You are the Christ.

The word Christ means Messiah or Anointed One… The term Anointed one points back to King David who was the anointed King of Israel, He was David’s son if you will by descent… as the physical man… As the God man, Jesus was the Messiah, the one whom the nation waited with great expectation…

As the Son of God, the God -man, he was what all Isreal has waited for, prayed for, looked for… and yes hoped for.....

He was a answer to all that was wrong…

B. You are the Son of the living God… Unlike the pagan world, unlike those stone statues, Jesus was alive… tells us that God became flesh and dwelt among His people.

Do you remember the story of Daniel in the Lions Den, the Persian- Mede King, had put him there, in the Lions den because of the law he had been tricked into establishing, not realizing at the time that the religious leaders and others hated Daniel and conspired against him.

But that next morning, the king came because he knew Daniel served a living God.

Listen to Daniel 6, verse 20

He called Daniel a servant, of the living God.... God is alive, and he became flesh and dwelt among us that he might bring us hope, that he could bring us life in the midst of a world dying in sin.

My friends, Peter and the other disciples knew that Jesus was the Son of God.