You can go ahead and turn to
Matthew chapter 16. I want to tell you this morning
about a man that I know. I know a man that was born in
poverty. As men often say, this man came
from the wrong side of the tracks. His mother was unmarried when
she conceived him, and an unknown man who was a hard-working blue-collar
worker later adopted him. And this man of whom I speak,
he had no formal education, yet no man ever spoke like he did.
He had no extravagant lifestyle. As far as I know, he was homeless
and never traveled further than 90 miles from his hometown. He never owned a home, never
owned a piece of ground or possessed any property other than the clothes
on his back. And for the most part, all of
his friends were poor, yet hardworking. They were unknown and uneducated
men. Many of his acquaintances were
considered undesirable. He was often criticized for being
with these friends, having a meal with them, but he was never discouraged
from being their friend. He never looked down on anyone.
He was always kind, and he was always gracious. And there was
no reason to hate this kind man, but many did, hating him without
a cause, I might add. And at the young age of 33, he
was accused of breaking the law and convicted upon the false
testimony and false witness of hired liars. And he was sentenced
to die. This man I know may not sound
like much to you, but he was the greatest man that ever lived.
Matter of fact, If all the good things that he did had been written
down, the world itself cannot contain or hold all the books
that could be written. Do you know this man of whom
I speak? This man I speak of is Jesus
Christ. And one day he was walking along
the seashore with 12 of his closest friends, and he asked them a
very simple question that brought a variety of answers. Verse 13,
when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea at Philippi, he asked
his disciples, this was the question, he said, who do men say that
I, the son of man, am? But the opinions that the disciples
got on this man, Jesus, they varied a great deal. Look at
verse 14, and the disciples answered the Lord, and they say, some
say that thou art John the Baptist. Some, Elijah. And others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. It seems that everyone had a
different answer and a different opinion as to who the master
was. Not much different today, really.
The world's opinion of God and His Christ always differ and
vary, and they seem to always be wrong. The main reason that
men and women err concerning this one called Jesus is pretty
much twofold. First, men and women have too
high an opinion of themselves, and secondly, they have too low
an opinion of Christ. And it was then that the Lord
asked a second question, a more personal question, a more serious
question to the disciples. This was a far greater question,
far more important. In verse 15, he saith unto them,
but whom say ye that I am? The Lord asked that question
to you today. Whom say ye that I am? Now listen
to me on this. In the end, it won't matter much
who others claim this man Jesus to be, but it's a life or death
matter of who you believe him to be. I wish I could stress
with words the importance of this. What think ye of Christ? That's the theme of our preaching.
That's the verdict that we always preach for. What do you think
of God's Son? Last week I talked to you about
laying hold on eternal life and we saw that Jesus Christ is eternal
life. You see, what you think of Jesus
Christ indicates whether you are in a life or death state. Verse 16, And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And
friends, your salvation is totally, totally dependent on whom you
believe Christ to be. Salvation is not dependent on
what you believe or how much you believe, but solely upon
whom you believe. And we say that all the time,
but it's so true. Peter said, Thou art the Christ.
It's so important also to understand that the title Christ is not
just a last name. His name was Jesus, but he was
the Christ. It's a title that belongs to
only one. Only one can have that title.
It rightly belongs to only this man named Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sin. Jesus Christ is the Chosen One. Jesus Christ is the Anointed
One. That's what the word Christ means. Anointed. That's what the title
Christ refers to. Christ the Messiah is God's Anointed. In Luke's account of this story,
Peter answered the same question. It was recorded this way. He
said, Thou art the Christ of God. I like that. He's the Christ of God. Jesus
Christ is the Christ of God. He's the anointed of God. He's the Savior of God. He is salvation. You could ask old Simeon if that
isn't so, he'd tell you. It was revealed to that old fella
by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before until he
should see the Lord's Christ. That's the exact terminology.
Till he saw the Lord's Christ, he saw the Lord's anointed. Jesus
is the Christ of God. The infinite one became an infant.
Did you know that? And here's Simeon, he's holding
him in his arms, and he says, Lord, now let your servant depart
in peace according to your word. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Now who was he looking at when
he said that? He was looking at that infant
who was the Christ, that one who would grow into a man and
die, the just for the unjust. Christ is salvation, friends.
That's what I'm trying to convey to you. Simeon saw God's salvation,
and it was Jesus Christ. You remember that woman at the
well in John chapter 4? She told the Lord Jesus, she
said, I know that the Messiah, the Christ, is coming, and when
He comes, He'll tell us all things. And the Lord Jesus looked at
her, He looked at her straight in the eyes, and He said, I that
speak unto you, am He. I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. I am the anointed one that has
come from God. I am the Christ of God. And that
woman, she left her water pot. She had come to draw water, but
she left her water pot. She wasn't thinking about that
water in that well anymore. And she went into the city and
she told everyone that she saw, she said, come and see a man
that told me all things that ever I did is not this, the Christ. Do you know who Christ is? I'm asking you. What do you think
of Him? You know the demons knew who
He was. One day when the sun was setting, they brought all
kinds of sick and diseased folk to the Lord. And the scripture
said He laid hands on every one of them and healed them, every
single one of them. And devils came out of many,
and when they came out, they cried, Thou art Christ, the Son
of God. And He rebuked them and suffered
them not to speak, for they knew that He was Christ. Do you know
what these demons knew? Jesus Christ is the Christ of
God. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's the Christ of
God. The gospel we preach is called
the gospel of Christ. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Paul said in another place, who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, he
rather is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. Romans 8.34. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Who
is? Christ is. We are called unto the grace
of Christ. We're justified by the faith
of Christ. Oh, what simplicity there is
in Christ. We preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ. To live is Christ and to die
is gain. I love that name Christ. I love
that title, don't you? Any sinner who knows what it
means is gonna love it. Do you love the name of Christ?
Next, I would have you to notice that in putting forth this question
concerning himself, the Lord Jesus made a distinction between
two classes of people. Men and his disciples. The world and believers. Unbelievers and the elect of
God. Men, he said, who do men say
that I am? And then he said, who do you
say that I am? There's a distinction made. And
let me say, the carnal reasoning, the reasoning of man, the reasoning
of flesh and blood cannot figure Christ out. Sometimes I know
we talk to folks and we listen to them and we just shake our
heads and go, do they not know anything? No, they don't. They're blind. They're ignorant
of God's righteousness. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. You see, God's ways are past
finding out. It's got to be revealed to you.
And what conclusion did men arrive at concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ? Their answers were certainly
contradictory. Some said He was John the Baptist.
You know, I was thinking about that. The Lord Jesus and John
the Baptist lived at the same time. But John had since been
beheaded and died, and now they think that he's reincarnated,
but he was on the earth the same time John the Baptist was. Some
said he was Elijah. Others said that he's Jeremiah. How contradictory. You can't
be John the Baptist and Elijah. You can't be Elijah and Jeremiah. And in Luke's account, they said
this. They said that the Lord was one
of the old prophets that had risen again. Well, they believed
in reincarnation. Folks today still have some strange
views of Christ. I'm sure that there were many
other answers given. Don't you imagine? I'm pretty sure that the disciples
gave the Lord only the best ones. This is very important. There's
a great difference between what the world thinks of Christ and
what a believer thinks of Christ. Some call the Lord a glutton
and a wine-bibber. Some said that he cast out devils
by Beelzebub. He's a servant of Satan. They
called him the devil himself. Some said that he was a friend
to publicans and sinners, and he certainly was that. Thank
God he was. Others thought he was a remarkable
person. Others thought he was a wonderful
teacher. Even Nicodemus, a Pharisee, said that God must be with him
because no man could do the things that he did unless God be with
him. But I'm telling you that none
of these opinions, none of these thoughts, none of these beliefs,
whether high or low, whether good or bad, whether right or
wrong, None of them would profit and bless a sinner so. None of
these professions could bring eternal life. Friends, even a
good and favorable opinion can be a wrong one. The issue is knowing Christ and
who He is and what He's done. That's what Paul said. I'm determined. I don't want to know anything.
The one thing that I want to know among you is what they give
Christ. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Who is He? What has He done? That's the
issue. Knowing and worshiping Him in
spirit and in truth. You cannot worship Christ unless
it's in truth. Only true worshipers can know
and worship Him that way. True disciples of Christ know
the truth about Him. And there are no blessings, none
at all, no blessings attached with a wrong view of Christ. None. Only the knowledge of Christ
given by the revelation of God can bless and save a sinner's
soul. Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And the Lord answered, In verse
17, and he said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. There are many today who have
a low opinion of Christ. And there are others that have
a high opinion of Him. But if you don't have a true
understanding of Christ by the revelation of God, As who He
is, you'll perish in your sin. The Lord told Peter in verse
17 that flesh and blood had not revealed this truth unto it.
And flesh and blood can't reveal it to you, dear sinner. Only
God can reveal it. This blessed truth of who Christ
is comes only by divine revelation. Sinners are given Life by the
power of God. Divine revelation comes not of
blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Now isn't that so plain? Isn't
that so plain? Man says, well I've decided to
follow Jesus. It doesn't come by the will of
man. It doesn't come by the will of man. It comes by the will
of God. That's what our Lord said in
Matthew chapter 11. He said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even
so, Father, for it seemed good in Thy sight. And in Luke 10,
verse 22, the Lord added, All things are delivered to Me of
My Father, and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father,
and who the Father is but the Son, and to whom the Son will
reveal Him. It's got to be revealed to you.
You can get it no other way. has to reveal Himself to you.
And isn't that so obvious from Scripture? Paul said in Galatians
1, verses 15 and 16, but when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. Christ said in John 6, verse
45, it's written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." How do
we learn from the Father? We're taught of God. God's got
to teach this to you. God's got to tell you the truth
before you'll ever believe it. He's got to reveal the truth
to you. And it's called divine revelation. And it's given to
those whom God makes pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. I understand that God uses men
to instruct us, but only God can reveal his son to and in
us personally. And yes, I understand that God's
servants are the pens, but only God can use those pens to write
his word upon your heart. When the father reveals Christ
to a sinner, at the same time, he reveals the sinner to himself.
Well, you can attest to that, those of you that know God. The
discovery of the sin and the ruining of self leads us to humiliation,
to contrition, to repentance, and the deep need of a Savior.
For those who are well have no need of a physician, but those
that are sick do. God's gonna show you your sickness
and your need of Him. You see, we're talking about
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christ of God, the anointed
of God. And there are three offices that
are anointed of God. Prophet, priest, and king. No man, until Christ came, was
ever allowed to have and to hold all three of those offices. That
right was reserved for Christ alone. You know, Moses was a
king. He was a prince. And Moses was
a prophet, but he wasn't a priest. Aaron, his brother, was a priest
and a prophet, but he wasn't king. Samuel, remember Samuel? He was a priest and a prophet,
but he wasn't king. David was a king and a prophet,
but he wasn't a priest. You remember Uzziah? King Uzziah? He was a king. But he was stricken
with leprosy when he tried to be a priest. In the Old Testament,
no man held all three offices, but the Lord Jesus Christ did.
And this proved that he was the Christ, the anointed of God.
Now let's talk about those three offices briefly. I'm not gonna
keep you long today. Christ is our prophet. A prophet
is a man who speaks for God. A prophet is a man that brings
God's message. He doesn't bring his own message.
We've got a lot of folks today that call themselves preachers
that are bringing a message, but it sure isn't God's. You and I need a prophet. That's
God's ordained means of revealing His word, His will, and His purpose. By nature, like the men in our
text, our thoughts of God, they're just all wrong. By nature, they're
all wrong. We're sold under sin, and God
is holy. No wonder they're wrong. That's
why we don't understand who God and His Christ are. We just don't. Did you know that the root word,
I didn't know this, but the root word for holy, you know what
it means in the original Greek? It means other. That gives great
credence to that verse in Psalm 50 verse 21 where God says, you
thought that I was altogether such a one as thyself. I'm telling
you, we're pretty much in every respect, by nature, the opposite
of God. That word holy means other, it
means separate, it means altogether different than us. God is certainly
that. Holy is the only attribute of
God that's repeated three times in the scripture, holy, holy,
holy. God in three Persons. It's just
as if we're to say, God the Father, holy. God the Son, holy. God the Spirit, holy. Oh, I'm
telling you friends, we need God to reveal Himself to us,
and He does so through Christ, His Prophet. Doesn't that give
fruition to that verse that says, in beginning at Moses, in all
the Scriptures, He expounded to them, in all the Scriptures,
the things concerning Himself. Christ is our priest, second
thing. Why do we need a priest? Have you ever thought about that?
Because we have no access to God. That's why we need a priest. We have no access to God. Because
of our sin, we cannot approach God. And there are three things
needful to be a priest of God. First of all, a priest of God
has to be a man. You see, only a man can represent
a man. Secondly, he has to be a sinless
man. Only a sinless man can come into
the presence of God. And thirdly, he has to be a divine. He has to be divine. Only God
can satisfy God. I'm a sinner and I cannot come
into the presence of God. And being a sinful man, I cannot
satisfy the law and the justice of God. We know that the wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. So God cannot be a substitute because God can't die. Man cannot
satisfy and God cannot die. So it's going to take a unique
priest at best to offer sacrifice for our sin. Jesus Christ is
both God and man. As a man He can die and as God
He can satisfy. the holy law and justice of God. He's my Great High Priest. Is He yours? There is no other. There is no other. My High Priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has forever put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Hebrews 9.26. And if any man
sin, or when any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous, 1 John 2.1. Isn't that what we
looked at last week? The Lord Jesus told Peter, he
said, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as
wheat, but I prayed for you. I prayed for you that your faith
fell on. That's what a priest does. He
prays for us. Child of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ is your high priest, sits at the right hand of God, ever
living to make intercession for you. Romans 8, 34. Wherefore
He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
I love to think about my prophet, And my priest, sitting at the
right hand of God in all power, all majesty, praying for me. He's praying for me. He's praying
for all His elect. Boy, doesn't that give you some
confidence and assurance that everything's going to be alright?
It sure ought to. And thirdly, Christ is our King. God says, I have set my King
upon my holy hill of Zion. Zion is the church of God. And
Zion is the object of God's love and God's choice. Zion is the
place of His habitation and residence. Zion is where God distributes
His blessings of grace. And God has set our King upon
Zion. When God looks at you and I,
His church, He sees His King. And Christ is the King over His
church. He's the church's safety and He's the church's security.
He's their comfort. He's their joy. He's their happiness. And He's called by His Father,
My King, because He's King of Zion. He is God's anointed, His
Son, His equal. He's both Lord and Christ, as
we read a moment ago. He's the One who reigns. He's
King of kings. He's King over kings. He's the
Lord of lords. He's the King of providence.
Everything that happens, that unfolds day in and day out, He's
King over it. He's the King of salvation. None
will be saved apart from Him. He's the King over all. And it's
because of Him that God's people are made willing when? In the
day of His power. What do you think of Christ?
Who do you say that He is? That's the question. Who do you
say that He is? Is He your prophet? Your priest? And your King? Well, if you're
ever to be saved, He must be. Let me just put it that way.
If you're ever to be redeemed, He's got to be your prophet,
priest, and king. Now before I finish, I want to
again quickly but closely observe Peter and the disciples, believers,
which represent believers' confession here of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, Peter wasn't the only one that felt this way. He had
kind of been designated as the speaker for the group. Other than Judas, I know that
the eleven felt the way, or the other ten anyway, felt the same
way that he did. But in verse 16, let's look at
it again and I'll finish. He said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. So many times we've discussed
that little word, the, that's so often used in the scriptures.
In the English language, it's called a definitive article.
A definitive article, let me give you the proper definition
for it. It's used in the English language to refer to a thing
or a person that is identified or specified as particular. Peter said, Thou art THE Christ. And what he meant was, there
is no other. Just one. He's THE Christ. No other Christ but Him. Peter
said, Christ is THE Son The Living God. There's no other Son of
the Living God that can be the Christ. There's no other Living
God. Do you see how definitive this
word is? Salvation is of THE Lord. It's of God who's the only Lord. Christ is the Son who has always
been with God. He is the only begotten or the
only born Son of God. You know, believers are born
in sin. Then by grace we're born of God. Christ knew no sin. He's the only begotten born of
God. Believers are born in sin and
by God's grace, they're born again. Believers are made sons
and daughters. That's what the Scriptures say.
God has predestinated them unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself. Christ has redeemed them who
were under the law that they might receive the adoption of
sons. Hebrews chapter 7. Verse seven
tells us that Abraham offered up Isaac, his only begotten son. Now there are two definitions
here for this word begotten. First, it means to be the only
one of its kind within a specific relationship. For example, we
have it right here in Abraham and Isaac. Abraham had two sons,
but Isaac was the only begotten son. Meaning that Isaac was the
only son that he had with Sarah, and even more so, he was the
only son of the covenant that God made with him. And then the
second definition of begotten here pertains to being the only
one of a unique kind. That speaks of Christ. Jesus
Christ was uniquely God's Son. The Holy Spirit of God overshadowed
the Virgin Mary. God beget Christ in the flesh,
and Christ shared the same divine nature as God. In other words,
Jesus Christ is the only begotten, born Son of God, and because
of Him, we receive the adoption of sons and daughters. Among
those of the world, many opinions and beliefs of who Christ is.
If you don't think so, just ask, folks. Just ask. You know, I was thinking yesterday
as I was reading over this again, that's the reason that we've
got churches on every street corner just about. Varying opinions
of who God and Christ are. Did you know that Madisonville
and in the close surrounding area, and this is common, you
can find this on the internet. I don't know how up to date this
was, but in Madisonville and Arlington and some of the small
communities, Hanson and around here, there are 23 Baptist churches. 23. There's eight Methodist churches,
there's six Church of God churches, five Christian churches, five
Pentecostal churches, two Holiness churches, two Nazarene churches,
and eleven non-denominational churches. Just to mention a few. That's not all of them. Right
here in this small town, there are a lot, a lot of varying and
different opinions of who Jesus Christ is. But who do you say He is? That's the question. Who do you
say that He is? Is He God? Is He the anointed
of God? Has He washed you in His blood?
Have you bowed to Him as your only hope of redemption? Is He your Savior? Is He your
Lord? There are some of you who like
the idea of Christ being your Savior, but not so much with
Him being your Lord. Some of you have many Lords.
You're covered about with much in serving them all. We make
idols out of so many things. You're full of care and troubled
about many things. Jesus Christ is not yet your
Lord, but He's the one thing needful. You better bow to Him
as your Lord. I pray that God would teach you
that. Do you see that Christ is the one thing that you need
most in this life? God will have to show it to you
for you to see it. I think we've established that,
haven't we? It's got to be revealed. Preacher, I have a high and a
good opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ. I really do. So did many
in our Lord's day, and they perished in their sin. His question to you this morning
is a simple one. His question to you this morning
is a personal one. Who do you say that He is? Who
do you believe that Christ is? Well, may God be pleased to reveal
Himself to you who don't know Him. And may God make you who
do know Him continually thankful that He has.