Luke 9, verse 18. And it came to pass, as he, the
Lord Jesus, was alone praying, his disciples were with him,
and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They
answering said, John the Baptist. But some say Elias, and others
say that one of the old prophets is risen again. And he said unto
them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ
of God. And he straightly charged them,
and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, The Son
of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the
third day. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. We're told in this opening verse
that the Lord was alone praying and yet his disciples were with
him as well. Well, how can that be? Here we
are, the Lord, Luke is telling us that the Lord has finally
been able to secure for himself and his disciples a time of peace
and quiet away from the crowds who followed him. This was a
time in which he and his disciples could pray, could talk together
and to some extent have a rest in this remote and solitary place
that they had found. Other Gospel writers tell us
that this location was in the mountains near Caesarea Philippi,
which was 30 miles north of Bethsaida, where the feeding of the 5,000,
or the more than 5,000, had just taken place. So the Lord had travelled some
distance in order to get this place of quietness and this opportunity
for a more intimate time of discussion and fellowship with his disciples. This had been a long time coming.
If we go back in the chapter in Luke 9, Luke 8 and Luke 9,
as we've been studying over the weeks, we remember that the disciples
had been sent out and then the Lord had endeavoured to take
them away to a quiet place but the crowds had followed them
and then the feeding of the 5,000 had taken place. So here is the
Lord managing to get his disciples together. for some very important
matters. He desired that he should speak
to them and that some very important matters be brought into the open
and clearly stated. And he begins by asking them
about what the ordinary people were saying about his identity,
who the Lord was. And of course, let us not think
that that was out of mere curiosity, as if the Lord didn't know. The Lord well knew the hearts
and the thoughts and the motives of men and women, which, just
as an aside, must have been a great burden to the soul of one so
holy and pure. But Jesus asked this question
in order to elicit from the disciples what their own understanding
was and to provide an opportunity for them to consider the question
of Jesus' identity in their own hearts. The answers that the disciples
gave as to the popular ideas circulating
concerning the Lord's identity are the same as those that were
given to Herod in verse seven of this chapter nine. Some thought
he was John the Baptist. Some thought that he was Elias,
risen from the dead. That's Elijah. Such notions remind
us that there have always been a
variety of interpretations about the Lord Jesus, even when he
was personally ministering in word and deed. And it's similar
today. Despite having been given the
full revelation of God in Scripture and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
men and women still nurture the most weird and fanciful interpretations
about the meaning of life and where we come from and what happens
after death. Anything, it seems, is worth
considering, is worth believing, except what God has revealed
to be true. And this is the way of the natural
man. This is the blindness of the fallen creature. It has been
well said, men and women denying God does not mean that they believe
nothing. It means that they believe anything. but enough of what others think.
The question was, what do you think? The Lord asks his disciples,
but whom say ye that I am? And what an important question
that is. The answer divides those who
are Christ's from those who are not. It is worthwhile, it is
indeed essential for each of us to ask the question of ourselves. If we do not know him, if we
have not learned him and learned about him and do not have a true
apprehension of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, how can we believe
on him? I'm reminded of the Apostle Paul's
words to the Corinthians when he wrote, to them, telling them
what he had preached amongst them. He said, for I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was
buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We often mention those things
as we're getting ready for communion. But here's the point, there are
many, there are vast numbers who claim to believe in Jesus,
believe that he died for our sins, that he was buried and
rose again the third day. But that is not saving faith. That's not what saving faith
is. Saving faith is believing these things according to the
scriptures. That is, not just the facts of
the events, but the purpose and the meaning as well. Devils believe
the facts and the events because they historically happened. And
they tremble at the significance and the implications of what
Jesus Christ did on the cross, and they are certainly not saved. John tells us that knowledge
of Christ is essential to eternal life. In fact, that is going
to be our text this coming Lord's Day. This is, says John, this
is in John 17 verse 2, this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And I'm not going to leave off
this point right now without pressing the point even further
because I believe it's crucial. It is not sufficient to know
the historical Jesus or to be familiar with the stories of
Christ's life and his works. Knowledge of Christ is, by Christ's
own account, a spiritual matter. And when Peter speaks for all
the disciples and says, saying in answer to the question that
the Lord posed, but whom say ye that I am? When Peter speaks
for all the disciples and says, the Christ of God, or Matthew
puts it a little more fully, he says that Peter answered,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus at once
responds to Peter's statement, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. The knowledge of Jesus Christ
for who he really is, the knowledge of the true identity of Jesus
Christ cannot be grasped simply by flesh and blood, cannot be
grasped by human intellect, cannot be received by all of the wisdom
of this world. The blessedness of the knowledge
of Christ is that it is a spiritual illumination and it is the work
of God himself. My Father which is in heaven
hath revealed this to you. And this revelation, this understanding
was spiritual from above. Calling Peter, as the Lord does
here, Simon Bar-Jonah, why not say just Peter? Why did the Lord
call him Simon Bar-Jonah? It was to remind him of his natural
descent and emphasise how the knowledge of Christ comes not
from his natural descent, not from natural things, but from
spiritual. You didn't get this knowledge
from your father, Peter, or your father's religion. but from my
Father which is in heaven. And there are so, so many people
today who are following their Father's religion and believe
it to be saving faith. But the true knowledge of Christ
is a divine work of grace in the soul of a man and a woman
and a boy and a girl by which spiritual quickening and new
birth brings an understanding of the true identity of Jesus
Christ. It is knowing that Christ is
God and man in one person. It is knowing why he came and
what he accomplished. It's knowing the nature and the
extent of his work on the cross, the power and preciousness of
the blood that he shed, It is knowing the necessity and the
meaning of his sacrifice, the sacrifice for sin and the satisfaction
that he gave to God's holy law, to God's justice. It's understanding
the necessity of his resurrection and his continuing work of intercession
for us. It's knowing that all these things
are essential and then also feeling a personal need of mercy and
forgiveness and cleansing, that we might have personally the
benefits he accrued by what he suffered. And I fear that there
are multitudes whose knowledge of Christ is limited to the historical
testimony of Jesus and the value of his moral example. and I fear
that so many have missed the point of his true identity entirely. It's a fearful thing to contemplate
that many who have entered eternity believing that they knew Jesus
Christ will be amongst those who are
told, depart from me, I never knew you. They enter into eternity
hoping for salvation and are disappointed. May God be merciful
to us. May God open our hearts. May
God reveal his truth to us. And may that understanding help
us and enable us to witness and testify and preach a gospel that
will be meaningful to today's generation. Our Lord Jesus is
indeed the Christ, the anointed one, the fulfiller of all the
Old Testament messianic prophecies. And he is the one in whom dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, in whom dwelleth the
brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person. He is the Christ who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in the fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. And it's this that
is highlighted in the final part of our reading today, the last
two verses. They contain important details
about the Lord's identity and ministry also. The first is a
charge. The Lord says, tell no man what
I am confirming to you here today. Tell no man that I am the Christ,
the Messiah. While it was important for the
disciples to learn Christ's true identity, it was not yet time
for this truth to be commonly spread by his followers. Christ approved of their confession
and he blessed Peter for it, but there was much yet to be
accomplished before the Lord's death and there was no need for
Jesus' enemies to be further enraged or for the common people
to be further excited beyond what evidence the Lord himself
provided by his works and by his teaching. Some indeed were
given faith to see Christ's true identity, but in the main, this
was to be the gospel message of the post-Pentecost apostolic
ministry. What the Lord goes on to say
next concerning his death and resurrection could not be clearer. He says, the son of man must
suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests
and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day. As I
say, it could not be clearer or more plain what the Lord expressed
to his disciples on this occasion. So let us just say that it is
easier to understand these things after the event and acknowledge
that spiritual illumination came to the disciples gradually. Our
Lord Jesus Christ did indeed suffer many things. in his person,
in his character, in his soul, in his body, suffer at the hands
of God, suffer at the hands of men, suffer under devils, the
assaults of devils. The disciples could call Christ
the Messiah, but the Old Testament prophecies of his kingly glory
must be melded and joined with those of the suffering servant
and the sacrificial lamb. Christ was rejected by all these
who were the greatest and wisest for reputation amongst men, but
they hated Christ without a cause. For you see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, Christ tells his disciples, he must
be slain and raised again the third day. And again, I see it
would be according to the scriptures, according to the types and the
prophecies concerning the Messiah from the Old Testament. And how
clearly did the Lord Jesus prepare his disciples and even comfort
them in the matter of his death and resurrection. And yet we
learn from other parallel passages that Peter's response to this
statement by the Lord was to challenge and rebuke the Lord
for saying that he would be put to death. It was always the Lord's purpose.
and his plan to lay down his life for his sheep. This is the
heart of the covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption.
And this alone is the way of life and peace with God. Peter
resisted the whole idea of Christ's death and had to be rebuked for
it. But what would have become of
the Church? What would have become of the
Bride of Christ? What would have become of the elect of God, of
you and me, brother and sister, had our Saviour not willingly
taken our sins and died, the just for the unjust, to bring
us grace, bring us to God, and bring us to glory? Let us thank
the Lord. for his love and his mercy and
his willingness to be our sacrifice and to be our Saviour. Amen.