one that we will not have a service
this Wednesday night we do not have a service before the Thanksgiving
holiday and in case there's anyone here who does not know we have
a morning Sunday morning bulletin and those bulletins are on the
table in the foyer and information like that is I try to remember
to put that in the bulletin there is a conference in Crossville
this weekend. And, uh, if anyone would like
to attend Friday night, Saturday morning, Sunday morning, I am
one of the speakers. I'm speaking Friday night and
Saturday night, and I'll be back here Sunday morning. I do have
help, but, uh, anyway. All right. Turn with me if you
would back to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew 16 and let's read verses
13 to 15 again. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do
men say that I, the son of man am? And they said, some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elias or Elijah, others Jeremiah or
one of the prophets. He sayeth unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? Whom say ye that I am? Who is Jesus Christ? That's the title of this message.
Who is Jesus Christ? I don't know who wrote what I'm
about to read to you. I heard a man quote this, but
I don't know who wrote it. It doesn't matter. Just listen
to this. intro concerning him. Okay. This man, Jesus of Nazareth was
born in poverty and he was brought up in total
obscurity. He was the son of an unmarried
Jewish woman. His foster father. A man called
Joseph was a carpenter. He was a very inconspicuous man,
blends in, unknown and very uninfluential. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
had no formal training, no formal education. As far as
we know, in the flesh, on this earth, he never traveled over
90 miles from his family home. All of his friends were poor
people and unknown people. He himself never owned a piece
of ground. He never owned a house. He never held a public office. As far as we know, his only earthly
possession was the robe that he wore on his back. He traveled about with his disciples
preaching. Jesus began to preach, the scripture
says, preaching the kingdom of God and doing great and wonderful
works. The scripture says he went about
doing good. When he was just 33 years old,
he was accused of preaching heresy. He was accused of seeking to
be king. And upon the testimony of false
witnesses gathered together by religious leaders, he was sentenced
to be crucified. He only had 12 disciples. One of them sold him for $18. Another one denied that he even
knew him. And the rest of them, the scripture
says, forsook him and fled. He stood in judgment alone. He was nailed to a cross between
two thieves, two common criminals. And during his dying hour, according
to recorded testimony, he cried out, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? indicating that even the heavenly
father turned his back on him when he died on that cross. He
was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb that was
borrowed from another man. And three days later, life entered
him again and he walked out of that very tomb. This man, Jesus
of Nazareth, never wrote a book with his own hand, and yet more books have been
written about him than all other subjects combined. This man,
Jesus of Nazareth, never wrote a song, and yet he has been the
theme of more songs than all subjects put together. This man,
Jesus of Nazareth, never founded a college, yet all the colleges
together cannot boast of as many students as those who study his
life. He never studied medicine, yet
he healed more broken hearts and bodies than all doctors put
together. He had a personal conflict with
Satan, who could not seduce him, Religious leaders who could not
answer him. Lawyers who could not entangle
him. Pilot who could not find fault
in him. Death which could not destroy
him. And the grave which could not
hold him. Who is this man? Who is Jesus Christ? Don't you love just hearing about
him? Don't you love just hearing about who is this man? I love
thinking about the woman at the well and all of these different
believers that as soon as they saw him and thought about him,
she ran telling everybody, you need to come see this man. Who is this man, this glorious
man? We could spend our time this
morning declaring who He is not. We could do that. We could spend our time exposing
who men wrongly and falsely say that He is. I could stand up
here and spend all our time telling you, this is what men say about
Him. The Lord asked His disciples,
who do men say that I am? And they said, well, You know,
they say a lot of things. They say a lot of things. They
say you're a prophet. Yeah, they say you're a prophet,
sure. They say, you know, you're a good example. He said, let's get right to the
heart of it. Let's get to the truth of it. Who do you say I
am? Who do you say I am? And Peter
said in verse 16, Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. I want us to spend our time
this morning finding out what that means. From the scripture,
I want us to find out who Jesus Christ is and what that means
to say, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. There
will never be enough time on this earth to fully expound and
describe and declare who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I stand
up here and say, we're going to find out right now who Christ
is. There will never be enough time in eternity to expound him
to the fullest and see the fullness of who this man is. We're going
to spend eternity trying, we're going to spend eternity looking
into the things of Christ and learning the things of Christ,
more of who He is, but we'll never exhaust the subject. So we for sure won't exhaust
the subject in the short amount of time we have right now. We
don't have the ability. We don't have the time. We don't
have the ability. But I do have five things that I want to declare
from the scripture that will give us a small glimpse of who
He is. And I pray after seeing this,
we'll be able to say with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Now, what does that mean? Who
is this man, Jesus Christ? Let's start right here. Turn
with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter three. We're gonna turn
a little bit and see this in the scripture. 1 Timothy chapter three. 1 Timothy 3 verse 16, it says,
and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world. and received up into glory. Who? God. God was manifest in the flesh.
God was. We just started our Bible study
a moment ago with in the beginning, God. God created the heaven and the
earth. God said, let there be light. God said, let there be
all of these things. God formed man from the dust
of the ground. God did all of that. All right. Well, who is God? God did all
of that. God created all those things.
Okay. Who is God? Turn with me, if
you would, to John chapter one, John chapter one. Verse 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That Word is Christ. Verse 14
says, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. That's Christ. Alright, now look
back up at verse 2. The same was in the beginning
with God, Verse three says, all things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Wait a minute now, who is Genesis
1.1 talking about? Who created everything? God did. God did. The end of verse one
says, the Word was God. The Word was God. All things
were made by Him. Who is Jesus Christ? Who are
we talking about here? We're talking about God. God Almighty. To say that He
is the Son of the Living God is not to say that He's God's
Son. Is He the Son of God? Yes. Is
the Father the Father of God? Yes. But to say he's the son
of God does not mean he's God's son. It's to say he is the equal
member of the Trinity. You have the father of God. The
Son of God and the Spirit of God. Another way to say that
is this, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
And people like to mix those two ways. They like to say God
the Father and the Son of God. The Father, it sounds like. It's God the Father, God the
Son, God the Spirit. The Father of God, the Son of
God, the Spirit of God. God the Father is the Father
of God. We talk about the Son of God.
Well, think about the Father of God. These three are one God. These
three are one God. And all of the fullness of this
one God was manifested in the person of this man, Jesus of
Nazareth. The only begotten of the father
is the only begotten image that there is of God the father. You
want to see the father? He said, you look at me. You've
seen me. You've seen the father. He is
the express image. God was manifest in the flesh.
God came down. I love that old song that says,
as poor wretched sinners, no God and no hope, it seemed there
was no one to help. But God, in his mercy, salvation
supplied, emptied heaven and came down himself. And a ransom
was bound. God came down. Turn over to Colossians
chapter one. Colossians 1, this is speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The end of verse 13 says, his
dear son. Verse 16 says, for by him were
all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things and
by him all things consist. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, he's
not just a baby in a manger. He is God manifest in the flesh. God. He's not just a good man. Was he a good man? Oh yes. There's
none good but him. None good but God. But he's not
just a good man. He's the holy God. He's the righteous
God. He's not just a 33 year old martyr. He is the eternal one. No beginning
of days, no end of days. God, that's who he is. God. Here's the second thing. Who
is Jesus Christ? Turn back a page or two to Philippians
chapter two. Philippians two verse five, it
says, let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, the
express image of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God because he was. 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 fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth
and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Who is Jesus Christ? He is Lord. He is Lord, He is Lord, He is
risen from the dead and He is Lord. What does that mean? That
means He's the King. That's what it means. He is the
sovereign ruler. Every knee bows to Him. Every knee. Everything is in
His control, according to His will and His way. He doesn't
try to do anything. He doesn't ask men if they will
let him do anything. He does whatever he wants to
do because he's King. He's King. Look at first Timothy chapter
one. First Timothy 1 verse 17 says, Now unto the King Eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. That's who Jesus Christ
is. That's who He is. He is the King Eternal. Of His reign there shall be no
end. Thy God reigneth." That'll be
the declaration of Jesus Christ for all of eternity. All of heaven
will forever acknowledge that to be so. He reigns. Turn with me to Hebrews 1. Hebrews chapter 1, this is speaking
of God the Father. Hebrews 1 verse 8, Unto the Son he saith, God the
Father said to God the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Even the father cries, even the
father cries, the throne belongs to you. Thy throne, O God, the
father said that. Men and women would be wise to
stop seeing Christ as being less than the father. We would all
be wise to stop seeing Christ as being less than the Father.
The Father doesn't see him as being less than the Father. The
Father has given all the authority and all the power of the throne
of God to Jesus Christ the Son. All judgment has been given to
the Son. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. So who is Jesus Christ? He's
Lord. He is God. He is King. He is Lord. Here's the third
thing. I'll be quick. Go to 1 Timothy chapter two. First Timothy two verse five
says, for there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. When Peter
said, thou art the Christ. What he was saying was, you are
the only mediator that there is between God and men. Who do
you say I am? Peter said, you're the only mediator
that there is between God and men. You are the only salvation
that there is. There is no other way. You are
the way. There is no other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Who's Jesus Christ? He's the
Savior. He is the Savior. Call His name
Jesus, for He shall save. He said, I am come to seek and
to save. From the cross, He cried, it
is finished. He said, Father, I finished the
work you gave me to do. And if we ever get a hold of
that, we'll let go of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. We'll let go of the law. We'll let go of the law. He did
it. He did it. He is the accomplisher of our
salvation. He is God. He is Lord. He's the
savior, the savior. And thank God. I just had to,
I put, I put the next one. Here's the next one, but I was
going over it this morning. I had to say, thank God. Thank
God, look at this. 1 Timothy 1, right here on my
same page. 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, it says,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Sinners, who
is Jesus Christ? This is who he is. Who is Jesus
Christ? Who do you say I am? Here's who he is. He is the friend
of sinners. Isn't that wonderful? He is the
friend of sinners. He's the savior of sinners because
he's the friend of sinners. Oh, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner. You're my friend. He is the friend
of sinners. The great complaint of the Pharisees. Right here, our brother just
read the verses before, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. The great complaint
of the Pharisees concerning this man Jesus Christ was, this is
what they said, this man receives sinners. Can you believe that? Can you believe that? This man
is the friend of publicans and sinners. Look at him. Look who
he lives with and dwells with. Thank God. Greater love had no
man than this. He laid down his life for his
friends. Thank God. That's one of the most glorious
things we could ever know about him, really. This man receives
sinners. I may not, but he does. Usually I don't, but he does. Who is Jesus Christ? Last one
for the morning, okay? Turn with me to Colossians 3. Colossians 3, verse 10, it says,
and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him, where there's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all." Christ is all. He is all. He is all of our wisdom,
He's all of our righteousness. He's all of our sanctification. He's all of our redemption. He's
all of our glory. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. He's all of our hope. He's all that we need. He's all that we need. Christ
is all. Whom say ye that Christ is? Christ is all. He's all. He's all of it. He's all. That's a small glimpse of what
it is to say, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, is
to say, you're our God. Who do you say I am? You're our God. You're our Lord
and King and Sovereign. You're our Savior. You're our
friend. You're our all. You are our all. If we can say that and believe
that about him, then this is what he said back in our text.
I'll close with this. If you'll go with me back to
Matthew 16, if we can sincerely say that, then this is what he
said in Matthew chapter 16, verse 17. He said, you're a blessed people.
If you could say that. Verse 17, Jesus answered and
said unto him, blessed art thou. Simon bar Jonah, son of Jonah,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven." If you know that and you believe
that and you really are clinging to that for your hope of salvation,
really, your parents didn't do that. Your preacher didn't do
that. That is a gift from God Almighty.
That is a gift from the Heavenly Father. May God the Father reveal
this to us. May he cause us to know who Jesus
Christ really is. The blessing of eternal life
is in knowing him, that they might know thee. May God truly,
truly reveal Christ to us.