LUKE 9:18-22 WHO IS JESUS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 9:18-22 Who Is Jesus

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Look at the passage here in Luke chapter 9 verse 18 through 22 this morning. We'll be answering the question, who is Jesus? That's really the subject of what we'll be looking at as Jesus asks his disciples, who do the people say that I am?

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And then he'll go on to ask the disciples directly, all right, that's what the people think. What about you? Who do you say that I am? And so we'll be answering this question, this idea, considering who is Jesus?

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There's three points I'd like to highlight for you this morning in our passage, considering this question, who is Jesus? And the first point this morning we find in verse 18 and 19. And the first point is this. Jesus is not just a good man, teacher, or prophet. Jesus is not just a good man, teacher, or prophet. Let's check it out here in verse 18. It says, and it happened...

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So as we get the background for this discussion that's going to happen, we see here that Jesus is alone and he's praying to the Father. He's spending some time away from the crowds, away from his disciples, just one-on-one, alone in prayer with the Father.

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We see this incredible example of Jesus all throughout the Gospel of Luke. Many, many times he's off on his own spending time with the Father in prayer. And I want to encourage you to seek those opportunities and take those opportunities and have that kind of relationship with God that you can get one-on-one, alone with the Father and spend time in prayer. Not with the TV on, not with the radio on, but just...

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in quietness between you and the Father. It's so important that we have that kind of relationship with God. Well, Jesus is alone. He's praying to the Father, and then we see that his disciples join him. So he's there, the disciples come, and as he exits from this time of prayer, he looks to his disciples and he asks them this question, who do the crowds say that I am?

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Now as we consider this, I think it's good to think first of all about why Jesus is asking this question. Because we know, of course, if we know anything about Jesus, that he's not asking this question in order to obtain information. He's not saying, you know, I really have no idea what people think.

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Well, maybe I should ask my disciples. You know, they're amongst the crowd a lot of times. They have contact with them. So, disciples, what are people saying? Because I'd really like to know. That's not what's happening here. Jesus instead is asking the question in order to have a discussion with them. In order to reveal to them who he is.

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And so as we consider this question this morning, it's not just a question that Jesus asked his disciples. He would love to have this discussion with you this morning. And so he would look to you this morning and say, who do the people say that I am? Who do the crowds? What does the world think about me? The people that you come in contact with, what do they say about Jesus? Who do they think that Jesus is?

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And so as Jesus looks to us this morning and asks this same question he asked of the disciples, again, it's not to get information from us, but to help us think through and understand who he really is. And so the disciples respond in verse 19 and it says, So they answered and said, John the Baptist. But some say Elijah, and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. Now the way this is worded, it seems that

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The normal consensus, pretty much what most people thought, was Jesus was John the Baptist. Now this is interesting because Jesus and John the Baptist were alive at the same time. Now at this point, John the Baptist was dead. He'd been beheaded by Herod. But the common thought of the people was, this must be John the Baptist resurrected. That this must be some miracle of God that he's come back to life. And that is why...

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They thought he could do the miracles and he could teach the way that he taught and say the things that he said because, well, he's probably John the Baptist resurrected. But that's not what everybody thinks. The disciples go on to say, some people think that you're Elijah.

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Now you might remember Elijah. He's one of the prophets of the Old Testament. And he's unique because he did not die in the traditional manner. He didn't die like everybody else dies. Instead, he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire. And so some of the people thought, well, maybe this is Elijah. Because Elijah didn't have a normal kind of death. And it was prophesied that Elijah would come back. So maybe this is Elijah.

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Maybe he's come back. He's been gone for a couple hundred years, but now he's back on the scene and he's working miracles and he's teaching these incredible things about God. That's what some people thought amongst the crowds. Others thought that he was one of the old prophets risen again. So they thought, well, maybe it's Jeremiah resurrected. Jeremiah has come back to life, they thought. And so he's preaching. He's doing these miracles. Maybe it's Isaiah resurrected.

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Who's come back to life. Or maybe Moses. One of those great prophets of the Old Testament. Maybe they've resurrected. And that is why he's able to do the things that he does. And so there was a wide variety of opinion about who Jesus is amongst the crowds.

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Now if you and I were to go around today or if we were to begin to look online or do some research, we would find similar types of responses to this same question. Who do you say that Jesus is? And some people would respond that, well, Jesus maybe was a good man. And that's sometimes a response that's given. Or some will say, well, Jesus was a good teacher.

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He was a good rabbi. You know, he taught good morals and he gave some insight about God. And so he was a good teacher. Some people will say, well, Jesus was a prophet. Jesus was a prophet from God. God spoke through him. And so that's who Jesus was. Some will say that Jesus was a philosopher.

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And they kind of put him then on the same level as Buddha and Socrates and Confucius. And, you know, he had some real great insight about humanity and how to be happy and how to find fulfillment. And so he was a philosopher in that way, taught great morality. There's lots of opinions today about who Jesus is in the same way as there was when Jesus asked this question of his disciples.

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But Jesus is more than any of these things. He's not just a good man. Now when you consider that idea of being a good man, well, we first of all have to recognize the scripture is quite clear. There is no one who is good. And so Jesus indeed is a good man. He's the only good man because he is the only one who lived a sinless life. He was the only one who lived in perfection.

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Jesus makes this point in Luke chapter 18 when a young ruler comes to Jesus and says, good teacher. And Jesus challenges him. He says, why do you call me good? There's only one who is good and that is God. Now Jesus wasn't declaring that he wasn't good. He was saying, recognize you call me good because I am God. We'll talk more about that later on in our passage today.

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And so Jesus is a good man, but he's a good man because he's much more than just a man. He's not just a good man. Now, when people say that Jesus was a good man, they're not thinking in those technical terms. They're just thinking, you know, basically good. You know, he had high morals. He did a lot of good things. Did a lot of things for God. He was a good man. He's basically good. It's the same line of thought that, well, would say Jesus.

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you know, you and I are basically good too. It's just the environment that we're in that causes, you know, this great crime and these, you know, terrible things to happen. If we could just be put in a good condition, a good situation, good circumstances, then it would be shown that we're actually pretty good. It's just, you know, the circumstances around us that brings out all this bad stuff in us. Jesus is more than a good man.

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And the Bible says none of us are good. We're sinful. And that's the real issue that we're going to come down to. Now, some will say that Jesus is a good teacher. Now, if you're going to consider that Jesus is a good teacher, I would ask you to consider, is Harold Camping a good teacher? Now, hopefully you say, who? That's a good response.

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Harold Camping, if you don't remember, last year he was in the news a lot because, well, he had put up these billboards everywhere. Judgment Day, May 21st, 2011. This was going to be the end of the world. God was going to come back. He put the seal on it. It says the Bible guarantees it. You can count on this. That was his teaching. That was his proclamation. May 22nd came along. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I miscalculated. I think it's in October 2011.

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Is Harold Camping a good teacher? Is he a prophet of God? What he declared, what he said, was not fulfilled. It was proved to be false. He made a radical claim. Jesus is coming back on this day. And time proved that it was false. Now, I bring this up because Jesus also made radical claims. He made such radical claims that the religious leaders there in Israel said,

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They hated Jesus and his ministry. They were in strong opposition to it because it was so different, so opposite. It was radical what he claimed. And so if you say that Jesus is a good teacher, but you don't believe the radical things that he says, there's a contradiction in your mind and in your heart. You can't say he's a good teacher. He just, you know, speaks all kinds of nonsense. That's inconsistent if he is a prophet of God.

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then the things that he said must be accurate. And so some will say he's a good man, but they don't fully mean that he is the perfect sinless son of God. Some will say that he's a good teacher or a prophet of God, but they don't fully mean that they believe him, just that they think he taught some good stuff. Some will say that he was a great philosopher, but not that he was inerrant, that he is the only way, the truth, and the life.

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Some would say he's John the Baptist. Some would say he's Elijah. Some would say he's one of the prophets. You see, there's a lot of confusion about who Jesus is amongst the crowds. I like what J. Vernon McGee says about this. He says, there was much confusion regarding his person. Notice that all opinions were high, but all fell short of who he was and is. He points out, look, there's a lot of confusion, lots of different opinions about

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But notice how the opinions are all high opinions. The people who would say he's John the Baptist, they're saying God's done a miracle. He's reattached his head and brought him back to life and this is incredible. They're recognizing this is God at work. They weren't saying, you know, oh Jesus, he's just a scoundrel. He's just a con artist. They had a high view of who Jesus was. It was inaccurate, but they recognize this is a work of God.

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If it's Elijah coming back after being gone for several hundred years, well, this is a work of God. This is a high view of Jesus. One of the prophets resurrected, again, must be a work of God. They all recognize that God was at work. This was something significant and profound. To think of Jesus as a good man or a great teacher, great philosopher or prophet of God, those are good things. Those are high views of Jesus. The problem is...

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They're not high enough. They don't quite hit the spot of who Jesus is. They don't hit the mark. If you were to not just ask the crowds, but if you were to look at what other religions teach, you would find the same issue. When it comes to the subject of Jesus, many religions will teach about Jesus and have a high regard for Jesus, but

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But again, the problem is it's not quite high enough. Islam, for example, teaches that Jesus is a prophet, but they also declare that he is a man and not God. And that's an issue, and we'll talk about that. The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is an angel, specifically Michael the archangel. Mormons teach that Jesus is man and not God, and so on and so forth. It all comes down to who is Jesus?

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When you're dealing with other religions, when you're looking at the crowds, it comes down to this question, who is Jesus? Now some might ask, well, does it really matter what you believe about Jesus? Is it really that important that you believe this certain specific thing about Jesus? And I would answer you, yes, it is absolutely crucial.

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It is absolutely essential that you have an accurate view and understanding of who Jesus is. That it's not just based on what other people have said or what you've come up with in your own mind, but that it's based on reality, who he truly is, not just what you think or other people think. Now we live in a society which fights for free speech.

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And we value that right, that ability to be able to hold different opinions. And so in our society, we might ask, well, aren't other beliefs just as valid? What this person believes is Jesus. Isn't that just as valid as what other person believes about Jesus? Now, when you're talking about the rights, well...

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You're allowed to, we have the right to believe different things. But just because you believe something doesn't make it valid. Because you can believe the wrong thing. You can believe a lie. And so no, all beliefs are not as valid as the others. Just because you're sincere, just because you're devoted, just because it's really important to you, because you believe it strongly, that doesn't make it the truth.

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The only belief that's valid is the belief that aligns with reality, aligns with the truth. And so what we're seeing here in this passage is that it's essential to know who Jesus is. And a lesser view of Jesus is a lesser view of sin and a lesser view of our need of a Savior. If you say that Jesus is just a man or that he's just a prophet or if he's John the Baptist or if he's something else other than who he claimed to be,

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You're saying sin is not so bad and I don't need a savior in the way that he proclaimed himself to be. You see, it all boils down to who Jesus is. That impacts the whole gospel message. This is Christianity 101. This is being a disciple of Christ 101. You must know who he is. So who did the crowd say that I am? All kinds of opinions. All kinds of ideas.

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And it's important that you have the correct one. Paul was writing to the church of Corinth in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And he explains to them this fear that he has. He's concerned for the church. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, you don't have to turn there, but check it out later on. In verse 3 it says, "...I fear, lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

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For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. Here's what Paul says. Here's my concern, Corinthians. I'm fearful for you. Because in the condition that you're in, if someone comes and he preaches another Jesus, well, how many Jesuses are there?

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Well, there's as many Jesuses as there are opinions about who Jesus is. And so if someone comes and preaches Jesus as John the Baptist or as a prophet or as a good man or a great teacher, but it's different from who Jesus claimed to be, it's another Jesus. And Paul says, I'm concerned because in the condition that you're in, Corinthian church, you would put up with it.

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You would receive it. You would allow it. You would let them deceive you and lead you after this other Jesus who is not the real Jesus. And so it's a different gospel than the one that Jesus brought. And that's good reason to have fear because Jesus made it quite clear. He is the only way to the Father. You can't get to the Father through another Jesus. Who is Jesus? Well, He's more than just a good man.

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He's more than just a great teacher. He's more than just a prophet or a philosopher. Jesus, as we go on into verse 20 now, we find point number two. Jesus is the promised Savior. Jesus is the promised Savior. Verse 20 says, He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said, The Christ of God.

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So now he's allowed the disciples to talk about who the crowds say that Jesus is. But now he makes the question more personal. Alright, that's who they say that I am. Now who do you say that I am? This is the question that is presented to all of us. And this is the most important question you will ever consider in your life. Who do you say that Jesus is? Now Peter has great boldness here and he speaks up.

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And he says, you are the Christ of God. We also have this account recorded for us in Matthew chapter 16. And there's a little bit more detail and information there in Matthew chapter 16. If you want to check it out later, you'll get some different insights. But in Matthew chapter 16 verse 16, when Peter answers, he says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And so we find two parts to Peter's answer here.

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In the revelation of who Jesus is. First of all he says you are the Christ. Now we're familiar with the word Christ. It is used a lot. We know about Jesus Christ. But sometimes we forget the meaning that is bound up within this word Christ. Because it's not a name. It's a title. The word Christ in the Greek it's Christos.

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It's the Greek word that is used to describe or to use to say the Hebrew word that we call Messiah. And so Christ and Messiah are the same. They're identical. It's the same word. It's just two different languages. One's Greek, one's Hebrew. The word means in both languages, anointed one. This anointed one, also known as the Messiah or the Christ, is the one that God has been promising to

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To mankind since the very beginning. If you rewind back to Genesis chapter 3. There Adam and Eve are there in the garden. Perfect environment. No sin. But they make the choice to rebel against God. And partake of the forbidden fruit. And at that point it caused all of humanity. They were the only two people alive at the time. And so all of their descendants including you and I.

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now have this sinful nature as a result of their rebellion against God there in the garden. And as God is dealing with that choice that they made, He begins from that point and all throughout the Old Testament to promise a Savior and to declare that He will provide salvation, that He will provide a deliverer, a redeemer, a way of salvation for the people, for all humanity, for all mankind.

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And so this promise is throughout the scriptures. In fact, as we've been reading through the Bible in three years, we're now in the book of Numbers. It's the fourth book of the Bible. And already we've seen so many prophecies and pictures and foreshadowings of this promised Savior that God was declaring. And so when Jesus came on the scene in Israel 2,000 years ago, the Jews were looking for that promised Savior. They were looking for the Messiah.

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Because God had been promising it all throughout the scriptures. Now, the Jewish people at that time, well even until today, when they are looking for the fulfillment of this Messiah, this anointed one that God has been promising, they were only focusing on certain parts of the prophecies that God had given about this anointed one. There's really two aspects to the Messiah. The one aspect is

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Is that the Messiah would come in humility. As a servant. He would be rejected. He would be put to death. And that's clearly taught. Check out Isaiah chapter 53. It's easy to see. These incredible prophecies about the humiliation and death. Of the anointed one. The Messiah. But then there were also prophecies about this glorious reign. This reign of righteousness that the Messiah would bring. And so that second part is what the Jews focused on.

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especially there and as jesus appeared on the scene the nation of israel was not free they were under roman rule and they really wanted the messiah to come overthrow the roman empire and establish his kingdom and so they were focusing on that they were looking for that now you and i looking backwards at all this we have a little bit more clarity because now we understand the messiah wasn't just coming one time but twice

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The first coming of the Messiah was the fulfillment of that coming in humility, the rejection, the crucifixion. And that was fulfilled by Jesus. The second coming of the Messiah is what we know will take place, which is when Jesus returns to the earth after the tribulation period. He comes back at the battle of Armageddon.

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And at that point, he will establish a kingdom here upon the earth. And he will rule and reign in righteousness and there will be peace. And all of those prophecies regarding that aspect of the Messiah will be fulfilled at that time. But the Jews, they weren't looking at the suffering and humility and rejection part. They were focusing on that. And so they were looking for the Messiah, the one who would come and establish a kingdom here.

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And Jesus came as the Messiah, but he fulfilled that first aspect. In Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, it's prophesied to Jerusalem. He says, Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Jesus is prophesied in Zechariah 9, 9, will present himself to the nation as their Messiah,

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In lowliness. In humility. Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. And that is exactly what happened. We celebrated a while. A couple weeks back. It was the triumphal entry. When Jesus entered in. Presenting himself as the Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah. Peter got it right. He said you are the Christ. And the Lord.

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Look to Peter and he said, Peter, you haven't figured this out on your own. Some person did not reveal this to you. The only way that you could know this is if the heavenly father himself revealed it to you. That's in Matthew chapter 16. Check it out. Peter got it right. Jesus is the Messiah. In John chapter 4, you might remember when Jesus was talking with the woman at the well. They have this discussion, a couple different things going on, but it comes to a point in verse 25 where

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When the woman tells Jesus, I know that the Messiah is coming. And when he comes, he will tell us all things. The Messiah, the Christ, I know he's coming, she says. And Jesus responds in John 4, 26, I who speak to you am he. Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, the promised Savior that God had declared would come

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From the very beginning back in Genesis chapter 3. He is the promised Savior. Well there is two parts to Peter's response. First he said you are the Christ. But then Matthew 16 verse 16. He says you are the son of the living God. It's shortened in Luke to say of God. But Peter says you're the son of God. This is an essential part as well. Because the Jews understood. That to claim to be the son of God.

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was a claim to be equal to God. In John chapter 5 verse 18, it tells us that the Jews sought to kill Jesus. And it says specifically, because he said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. It happens again in John chapter 10. Jesus is there speaking, and the Jews pick up stones. They're going to stone Jesus, put him to death right there on the spot. And Jesus says, hey, I've done a lot of good works.

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For which of these good works are you going to stone me? And the Jews reply, we're not stoning you for some good work, but for blasphemy. Because you, being a man, make yourself God. So here's the reality that we need to grasp hold of. Jesus is God. He is the Messiah. Part of that, by the way, the anointed one that was promised.

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Check out Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. It also declared that this coming Savior, this coming anointed one would be God. And Jesus in his ministry proclaimed himself, he declared himself to be God. And so when Peter says, you're the son of the living God, we kind of miss it in our language, in our culture. We don't fully understand that to say the son of God is more than just saying, you know, like you and I are a child of God.

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To say that Jesus is the Son of God is to say that Jesus is equal to God. That's how it's used within the scriptures. That's how the Jews understood it. That's how Jesus proclaimed it. He declared to be God. Now this can cause a little bit of difficulty in our minds because God is infinite and we are not. But we saw at the beginning there that Jesus was alone praying. Who is he praying to? If he's God.

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Well, Jesus was praying to the Father. And what we find in the Scriptures is that God is much more than we can fully understand. So we try to describe it by using words like Trinity or the triune nature of God. Because the Scriptures reveal that the Father, our Heavenly Father, is God. The Scriptures also reveal that Jesus is God. And that the Holy Spirit is God.

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But these are not just different names for one person or for one God. Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is not the Holy Spirit. They are not each other. And now our minds can start to work really hard. I think it's difficult. But here's the thing. You don't have to figure out how that works. You can't figure out how that works because God is infinite. All we have to do is believe what He has declared to us.

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Now if you want to play with it a little bit in your mind, you could consider that you also have somewhat of a triune nature. Not the same exactly as God, but you have a body. And that makes a lot of sense to us. We're used to that. You can see it. You can touch it. You also have a spirit. Now that kind of goes into a little bit unknown territory. I mean, how does that exactly work? How is your spirit connected to your body? And that can be difficult for us to understand. You also have a soul.

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What's the difference between a soul and a spirit? And how does all that work? I mean, you think about your brain, right? They can look at your brain and they can say, you're thinking. Because they can see the activity. So what happens when this body is dead, that brain is no longer, there's no activity, it's not functioning. Are you able to think? How does that work? How does that happen? We don't know. It's way beyond us. Yet somehow, you have a body, you have a soul, you have a spirit.

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Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 tells us that the word of God is able to discern between the soul and the spirit. You could try to figure out, well, what's the difference between the soul and the spirit? And you'll be thinking for a long time. The word of God can do it. God is able to do it. It's beyond us. We don't have the capacity to figure out our own selves, much less the triune nature of God. So that's the point. You can wrestle with it. You can play with it in your mind. That's fine. But the bottom line is you must believe God.

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what God has revealed to us. Jesus is God. Now again, does it matter what you believe? Does it matter whether or not you believe that Jesus is God? Does it matter whether or not you believe that he is the Messiah? And again, I would say to you, absolutely yes, it matters. It is essential because a lesser view of Jesus is a lesser view of sin and our need for a savior.

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When you reduce Jesus to he was just a good man or a good teacher or a prophet or an angel or whatever, then you are reducing the severity of sin. You're saying sin's not that bad. It's not so severe. It doesn't require such a great sacrifice. It doesn't require that much to deal with. But that is inconsistent with what the Bible says. It's inconsistent with what Jesus declared.

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You must believe that Jesus is God, first of all, because that is how He revealed Himself. He declared Himself to be God. That's how He presented Himself to the people. But also, the deity of Christ is essential to the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus Christ, being God, became man. He didn't stop being God, but He added humanity to His deity.

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And as a man, he was able to live the sinless life, the perfect life, because he is God. And in doing so, he became the perfect sacrifice. The only one qualified to take the penalty of sin. And that brings us to the third point in verse 21 and 22. Point number three.

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is that Jesus is the one who died and rose again. Who is Jesus? He's the one, the only one, who could die and rise again on the third day, just as he declared. Look at verse 21. It says, And he strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day.

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So Peter proclaims this incredible insight. You're the Christ. You're the Son of God. You're the promised Savior. You are God right here with us. And Jesus says, you got that right, Peter. Good job. Don't tell anybody. Why not? I mean, this is good news. The Messiah is here. Why not tell anybody?

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Well, in a little bit, Jesus was going to present himself to the nation as the Messiah, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. And he was going to ride in to Jerusalem on a donkey. And so I would say it this way. Jesus is saying, let me reveal it first and then you can declare who I am. Let me have the opportunity to say it first, to announce the news, to present myself as the Messiah to the nation of Israel.

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But then Jesus goes on to say, alright, now you understand who I am. But let me correct your thinking a little bit. Because again, the Jews were looking at the second aspect of the prophecies of the Messiah. Alright, you're the Messiah. That means you're going to overthrow Rome and establish a great kingdom. This is going to be amazing. But now Jesus, it says that he began at this point to teach his disciples a more accurate understanding of the Messiah. He says, look,

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I must suffer many things and be rejected. And I'm going to be put to death. But then I will be resurrected on the third day. I found this amazing as I was considering this declaration of Jesus. He prophesied in advance what would take place. He would be rejected. He would be crucified. But then he also resurrected. I thought about it in the terms of authentication. Do you ever have to prove...

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that you are who you say you are? Of course you do. How do you do that? Well, we have picture IDs that we use sometimes. And to prove that you really are Richard Guillen, you say, see, here's my picture. California verifies I am Richard Guillen. They've got my name right there next to my picture. And in a lot of cases, that's sufficient. Okay, that authenticates you. That proves that you really are

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Who you say you are. Who you've declared yourself to be. Or sometimes it will be in the form of, well give me that three digit code that's on the back of your credit card. Why? Well we want to authenticate. We want to prove that you really are who you say you are. That you have possession of the card and that you can read those three digit numbers off the back of the card. Because there's absolutely no other way that you could have those numbers. Right?

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Well, it's not a foolproof authentication, but it's a way of authentication to prove that you really are who you say you are. But sometimes you'll be asked for information like, what's your mother's maiden name? Because in theory, very few people would know that. Only you would know that. And so that can be used to authenticate and prove that you are who you claim to be. They might have you verify information, address, zip code, social security number, or maybe a fingerprint.

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So you use that, that authenticates. Yep, it matches. You must be who you claim to be. It's important in today's society to have these methods of authentication, especially with the identity theft and those kinds of things that are going on. Now, when it comes to the things of God, God gave his people a way to authenticate prophets back in the Old Testament.

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He said, look, here's how you can tell when a prophet or someone who claims to be a prophet is really from me. You can tell by checking out their prophecies. And if one of the things that they say does not come to pass, if it doesn't happen the way that they said, if they're not 100% accurate, they are not a prophet of God. And so he gave them a way to authenticate, to validate.

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Those who truly were sent by God. If you were going to be involved in a transaction with somebody, how would you authenticate them? How would you verify that they are who they say they are? Well, you might use one of those means that we talked about, or maybe you would use a notary public, right? Get it notarized. What does the notary do? They're responsible then to verify, to authenticate. Here's your ID, signatures match. Okay, I'm comfortable.

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Saying that you are who you claim to be. Well as Jesus gives this declaration to his disciples. He is giving a method of authentication. This one's foolproof. Not like the three digits on your credit card. Those get stolen all the time. This one can't be faked. This identity cannot be stolen. Because he said I will be killed. And I will rise again on the third day. I will resurrect.

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No good teacher or prophet or good man could say that unless he really was who he claimed to be. The promised Messiah. The Savior. God. Because he resurrected on the third day just as was declared. Now the disciples were not the only ones who knew this authentication method that Jesus had given them.

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The religious leaders knew it too. And so in Matthew 27, we find them going to Pilate and saying, hey Pilate, we remember when this guy was walking around that he said he would rise again on the third day. Now here's what we think, Pilate. You need to set a guard at the tomb because, well, we don't want the disciples to come and steal away his body and then be able to claim that Jesus resurrected. We don't want to give them opportunity to

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Basically perform identity theft to make a way to falsely authenticate his message and point to an empty tomb. But they actually just stole the body away. So they said, put a guard at the tomb. And that's what Pilate did. But putting a guard at the tomb was not really sufficient because, well, the disciples didn't steal away the body, but Jesus actually resurrected because he is who he claims to be.

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So he declared it in advance to authenticate that he really is the promised Savior, that he really is God. But one final thought in this passage. Here in verse 22, it says, The Son of Man must suffer many things. And this comes back to the importance of understanding who Jesus is. He said, The Son of Man must suffer. This was not optional. This was not

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this was essential. Jesus said, I must suffer. It's part of the plan. It's part of the reason why I came. Because it is necessary for me to suffer. Why was it necessary for Jesus to suffer? Why was that essential? Why was that important? We see Jesus' death was unlike any other. His suffering was essential because of our sin.

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Because it was only through His suffering that you and I might have the opportunity to be forgiven. His suffering was essential because He was sinless because He is God. His suffering was essential. He must suffer. And this is an important part of the gospel message. Your sin, my sin, is so serious that

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It's so severe. You need to understand, it took the death, the sacrifice of God himself to take care of your sin and my sin, to give you the opportunity to be forgiven and have eternal life. Jesus is declaring, this is what's required because your sin is that bad. It really is that bad. We have a tendency to water down sin because we water down who Jesus is.

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If our sin is not so bad, we don't need that great of a Savior. But our sin is that bad. Our sin does deserve judgment. Eternal judgment. Eternity in hell separated from God. That's what we deserve. It's that bad. And that's why it required the incredible sacrifice of Jesus being God who became man and

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To live a sinless and perfect life. Animal sacrifices, they're insufficient. They were temporary until Christ came. Good works, insufficient. Because our sin condition is too bad. And so just trying to make your good works outweigh your bad works, it's not going to work. It's not sufficient. It doesn't measure up. Being religious, being sincere, being really devoted, it's not sufficient.

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The only way was for the Son of God to volunteer, to be the sacrifice, to receive the penalty that we deserved. And so Jesus said, the Son of Man, that's me, Jesus says, I must suffer. It's the only way to atone for sin. It's the only way to provide salvation. So does it matter what you believe about Jesus? About who Jesus is? Yes, it absolutely does.

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Because a lesser view of Jesus is a lesser view of your sin condition. And you're declaring to God, God, you're wrong. My sin is not as bad as you say it is. I only need a little bit of help. And so, you're rejecting the truth that God has declared by having a lesser view of who Jesus is. No, we need to understand who He declared Himself to be. He revealed Himself to be the Messiah, the Savior, God Himself.

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The only way of salvation. The only way to the Father. If he was anything else, his death would be meaningless. Lots of good men have been put to death. Lots of moral people have been put to death. Even the apostles, like Peter, he was crucified. Meaningless for your salvation. Doesn't impact your salvation at all. Religious people have been martyred and put to death. Doesn't matter. Philosophers have been put to death. Meaningless.

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If he was anyone else, his death, his suffering would have been pointless as far as your salvation is concerned. But he's not just a good man. He's not a resurrected prophet. He's not just a good teacher or a great philosopher. He is the promised Savior. The only way of salvation. He is God. And he died on the cross for your sin and for my sin. That's who Jesus is.

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Let's pray. Lord, as we consider who you are, I pray, God, that you would help us clear our hearts, clear our minds of any misunderstanding of who you are. And Lord, replace those lies, those things that we've believed, replace that confusion with the clarity of who you've revealed yourself to be. God, I pray that you would implant these truths in our hearts.

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That we would know who you are. But not that just that we would know, but Lord, that we would receive. Because you said by believing in you, we have life. By receiving you as who you claim to be, we have forgiveness. We have right relationship with God through you, Jesus. And so Lord, I pray that you would draw us near to you. Help us to grasp hold of the reality of who you are because we desperately need you and we're lost without you.

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In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.