I'm reading from the Gospel of
Mark, chapter 8. Mark, chapter 8, verse 27. The Lord Jesus Christ and His
disciples were walking to Caesarea Philippi, and it says, On the
way He asked His disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that
I am? Whom do men say that I am? Now, this question he asked his
disciples is the question of questions, one which we need
to ask ourselves, one which all men need to consider. Who do
you say that Jesus of Nazareth really is? Who do you say that
that One named Jesus of the town of Nazareth nearly 2,000 years
ago, who do you say that He is? Well, whatever a person thinks
of Jesus of Nazareth largely determines if they are saved
or not. That's what Christ said in John
17, verse 3. He said, This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom He sent." The only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. Now, it has been nearly 2,000
years since Jesus Christ walked this planet, and so very many
people and religions have sprung up, and now more than ever, since
the world's population is greater than ever, there are more people
and more religions than ever, more opinions about Jesus of
Nazareth. I believe there are as many as
300 denominations in so-called Christianity alone, 300 denominations. So, apparently there are divisions
now concerning what men think of Jesus of Nazareth. Three hundred,
at least, of what men, their opinions of who this was. In John chapter 7, it is written
concerning our Lord that there was a division among all men
concerning Him. It says the same thing in John
chapter 9. There was a division. over him. And in John 10, the same thing.
There was a division over him of what he said and who he was. So there's much division over
who Jesus of Nazareth really is and what he said. Well, here
in Mark chapter 8, verse 28, the disciples began to answer
the Lord and say unto him. They answered when he asked them,
Who do men say that I am? They answered and said, John
the Baptist. Somebody said, it may have been
Peter or Bartholomew, spoke up and said, John the Baptist. Some say that you're John the
Baptist, risen from the dead. Someone else said, Elijah or
Elias, Elijah. Someone, some people are calling
you Elijah, reincarnation of the great prophet Elijah. Someone
else said, Some are saying you're one of the prophets, such as
Samuel or Moses or some great person like that. So they were
saying great things about Jesus of Nazareth. The general population,
the people throughout the world were saying great things about
Jesus of Nazareth, calling him John the Baptist. risen from
the dead, or Elijah, the great prophet Elijah, or even greater
than that, Moses or someone like that. So they were saying great
things about Jesus of Nazareth, but listen to me people, they
weren't great enough. The things they were saying about
Jesus of Nazareth were not great enough. What they were saying,
now they called him John, Elijah, one of the prophets. What they
were saying is he's a great man, but he's just a man. He's another great man in history,
another powerful, great personage in history, a great man. They were saying great things
about him, that he's a great man, along with other great men
in history. Now, that's not great enough.
What they were saying about him then was not great enough, nor
is it great enough now. Because most today are saying
not much more than that, that he's just a man. In Psalm 50,
it is written that the Lord God Himself speaks. It says in verse
1, "...the mighty God hath spoken, And in verse 21, I read, God
says this in verse 21, These things hast thou done, and I
kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thyself. End of quote. God says you thought
I was just like you are, a man. You see, men think about God
and about Jesus of Nazareth. Men think God is like a man. They think that God makes his
plans and they may fail due to circumstances, that he tries
and he can't do anything unless other people cooperate. That's
what we do, isn't it? Isn't that what human beings
do? We make our plans and they fail, so we have alternate plans
and contingency plans. Isn't that what we do? Not God.
Not God. He says in Isaiah, I have purposed
it. I'll do it. He said, none can
stay my hand or say unto me, what doest thou? None. He said,
I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass." Well,
men, they try, and they can't do things unless other people
cooperate. Not God. That's not the God of
the Bible. It may be a God that men have
made up. God says this in Isaiah 43, verse
13. He says, "...I am He, and there
is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and
who shall let it?" Or that is, who shall prevent me from working?
What shall stop me? if I purposed it." Well, men
do all that they can do, and then it's up to others to finish
the work. Not God. Acts 15, 18 says, "...known
unto God are all his works from the beginning." In Isaiah chapter
46, I believe it is, yeah, he says, I declare the end from
the beginning, from ancient times, things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. That's the God of the Bible.
He doesn't ask people to cooperate, and people can't thwart His plan,
His purpose. Say the same thing about Jesus
of Nazareth, that He wants to, He tried, He can't unless men
let Him. He wants to save you. And if
you won't let Him save you, He can't save you. There was a young preacher conducting one
of these so-called revival meetings years ago. And he was going around
the little community there door to door talking to people. trying
to get him to come to his little revival, and he went to the door
of an old farmer named Johnson. Let's call him Mr. Johnson. He
went to his door and said, Farmer Johnson, my name is so-and-so. I'm conducting a revival meeting
in town, and I'd like to invite you to come down, to come to
the meeting. And the farmer said, No, I don't
want to. And the young preacher was taken back. And he said,
well, but Farmer Johnson, you need to come. You need to come
hear the the preaching, because if you don't hear it and accept
Jesus, you'll you need to accept Jesus, Farmer Johnson. And he
said, no, don't want to. And the young preacher was even
further. taken aback. And he said, what do you mean?
You know, well, Farmer Johnson, if you don't accept Jesus as
your personal Savior, then he'll when you die, he'll send you
to hell. And Farmer Johnson said, nope, he can't. He won't. I won't let him do that either.
So if he tries to save me and I won't let him, if he tries
to damn me, I won't let him do that either. It makes sense,
doesn't it, people? If Jesus can't save, lest men
let him, and if he tries to damn them, they won't let him do that
either. Well, that's not the Christ of
Scripture. That's not the Jesus of Nazareth
of Scripture who said in John 17, All power is given unto me
over all flesh. That's what the Scripture says.
All power is given unto me, that he should give eternal life to
as many as God gave him." Colossians says that he is the head of all
principalities and powers, even over the rulers of the darkness
of this world. Well, whom do men say that I
am? Well, he is a good man. That
is not good enough. He is a great man. That is not
great enough. He is the God-man. That is what Isaiah wrote. A
child is born, a son is given. His name should be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father." Take that
and chew on it, Russell Ites. He is the God who created the
woman who held him in His arms. Well, our Lord asked His disciples,
He said, Well, who do you say that I am? In verse 29, he said,
Whom say ye that I am? Now, his disciples all confess
the same thing. What Peter said here represents
all true believers. Peter said, on behalf of all
believers, Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ. The Christ. Well, very briefly,
let me tell you what Peter meant. When Peter said the Christ, when
Peter back then confessed that Jesus of Nazareth, that man,
was the Christ, every Jew on the planet back then was looking
for the Christ. And every Jew on the planet knew
that the Christ was none other than God Almighty manifest in
the flesh. Every single Jew knew it was
God come down to earth as the Christ. That's what Isaiah 25,
9 says. This is our God. We've waited
on Him. He'll save us. The Christ was
going to be God to manifest in the flesh, the Holy One of Israel,
because only God can save. God our Savior. That's what his
name means. Well, every Jew knew that the
Christ was God, and it meant so much more back then for a
man to say that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ than it does now,
because men merely use that name to cuss with, saying, oh, Christ. And men confess all the time,
Jesus Christ this and Jesus Christ that. Well, true believers know
he's the Christ. What does that mean? Well, the
Christ had three offices in the scripture, the Christ. Only the
Christ bore all three of these offices, prophet, priest, and
king. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 18
of that prophet, the prophet of God, the only one who would
actually speak the very word of God. Not what was repeated to him,
but he himself is the Word of God Almighty. Deuteronomy 18,
15 and verse 18. In his mouth is everything God
said. Well, Christ came and he said
that. In John chapter 3 and chapter
4, he said, The words I speak unto you, they are the words
of the Father. He's the prophet, that prophet,
to end all prophets. There are no more prophets today.
I don't care what these pinhead preachers say. They're not prophets.
Christ said all that needs to be said anymore. I don't care
what Joseph Smith or Mary Baker Eddy or Charles Russell said.
They're false prophets. Jesus Christ ended all prophets. To him, give all the prophets
witness. He is the priest. This is the other office which
only the Christ has. He is the priest, the great high
priest, the priest to end all priesthood, the only one whom
God listens to, the only one who can take the sacrifice, the
blood before the Lord, the only one whom God will speak to men
through, the one mediator between God and man, the man, Jesus the
Christ. And He is the King, prophet,
priest, and king. Yes, he's the king of kings and
lord of lords. The only high potentate, Paul
wrote to young Timothy. There are no more priests and
there are no more prophets. Jesus of Nazareth is all of that
fulfilled in himself. And he's the king of kings, the
king of the universe. Do you know him? I hope so. Until next Sunday, good day. Thank you. So, we're going to go ahead and
get started.