Both of our passages are rather
short, so we'll look at them. Matthew 16 and verse 13 to begin
with. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said unto Him, Some
say that Thou art John the Baptist, others Elias, and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. He said unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. All right, flipping to the 22nd
chapter, and in this chapter, let's read verse 41 through verse
46. A different crowd, Different
audience and our Lord taketh another way with them. He comes
at it in another way verse 41 When the Pharisees were gathered
together see Pharisees Jesus asked them say What think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? They said unto
him, the son of David. And he said unto them, how is
it then that David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord
said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word Neither durst any man from that day bring forth
any more question unto him." Now, our message today sort of
dovetails on what we were talking about last Sunday morning in
being born of God and ultimately our view of the Lord and of the
Savior, Jesus Christ. So let us begin this morning
by acknowledging that there are many answers to the question
that our Lord has raised. Now, I do not say that they are
right answers, but there are many different answers with regard
to who is Jesus, what thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
fact, not only many, but also blasphemous are some of the view
concerning the identity of the God-man of our Savior. Even in Scripture, as we read
this morning, we see those among the Jews They called our Lord
a blasphemer. Once they said that he was devil
possessed, that he was out of his mind, and they called him
a glutton and a winebibber. And the Jewish leaders, as you
read the New Testament, many of them denied that he was or
that he is the very only begotten Son of God. They denied him to
be equal with the Father in divinity and the essence of the Godhead,
and at the last, they condemned him as worthy of death for being
a blasphemer, for claiming equality with God, that is, with the Father. Now, we saw last Sunday, and
we refresh our mind today, Paul warned of such as would come
among them and would be preaching, quote, another Jesus and another
gospel. You'll find that 2nd Corinthians
chapter 11 and verse 4, and that they would be moved or motivated
by another spirit altogether, if you will. a counterfeit Christ
and a counterfeit gospel would pop up among Christendom or in
Christendom. Sad to say, it must be admitted
that most today of what would call itself Christian and march
under the Christian banner and that make some place to some
degree in their theology and in their teaching for the Lord
Jesus Christ, yet they do indeed proclaim another Jesus, another
character, a counterfeit and a false Jesus is being preached
throughout all of the land today. So with that as a background,
let's take a minute to consider the Jesus of the cults. I mean by that, Some of the major
cults of our day, if asked our question today, who is Jesus,
what think ye of the Christ? If we ask them, some would answer
us in the following way. If we ask the Mormon, what do
you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, we could mention the practice
of polygamy, still practiced to some degree or extent, or
the Book of Mormon, which they lay side by side with our blessed
and holy scripture. But they are best judged and
best known by the view that they have of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Mormons writers have written
over the century and have called Jesus a polygamist and the firstborn
of Elohim. Not that he is the eternal God
and Son. We ask the Jehovah Witness, Neck,
what think ye of Christ? And they tell us, well, Jesus
is the firstborn God. Jesus is the first one that God
created. And Russell, who was strong in
their movement, wrote that Jesus had at the beginning been Michael,
the archangel, but that he divested himself of his angelhood when
he became a man, and while on earth had not two natures, human
and divine, but only a human nature according to them. And
then we asked Ms. Baker Glover Patterson Eddy of
Christian Science, what do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Her answer was, Christ was not
God, but he was the Son of God, but only as an abstract idea,
not in reality at all. And she said, is as insignificant
as if he had never lived. in the world. I heard a commentator
on the news say, or called Jesus a philosopher. Then we ask, what
of the Jesus of Arminianism today? What we refer to as our evangelical
Arminianism. Most of what believe, most of
who believe that it was possible for our Lord to have sinned while
he were here in the flesh. They do not hold to the impeccability
of the humanity of our Lord, of the God-man, of the person
of Christ Jesus, and that many that Christ died for yet will
be lost forever and forever. Now let's say that Christ is
the heart of Christianity. Christ is the heart He is the
foundation of Christianity. His person is indeed the foundation
of the Christian life. The saving grace of God flows
only through him and out unto the elect. And there is no other
name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. Acts chapter
4 and verse 12. Now in the text that we have
read from Matthew's gospel, there are questions which the Lord
posed to those that were present on those two situations. And both of them were asked by
the Lord himself. Not another, not an apostle,
or a disciple, or a preacher. But it's the Lord himself that
asks the question in our text. And if you look at Matthew 16
and verse 13, the question is put to his disciples, the disciples
and followers of our Lord. Granted, it was a friendly audience,
if we may denominate it that. It was his pupils. It was his
learners. It was his follow-up. And this
question by the Lord had a special intent toward them, one of them
being that it might help prepare them for the approaching death
and departure of the Lord. And another one, as Spurgeon
did put it, to draw out their faith and to establish them in
the doctrine of the person of Christ. Whom do you say that
I am? Then we notice in that one in
Matthew 41 through 46. This question is directed not
toward the disciple, but toward a group of Pharisees concerning
the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the anointed, the Messiah,
whose son is he? We'll have more to say on this
passage later. But let's work from the classic
passage in Matthew chapter 16. Now it gives us a very clear
identity of the person of Christ. And in verse 16, but also the
assurance here that the gates of hell shall not prevail Against
the church we find that in the 18th verse of this passage of
scripture Plus the great truth there in verse 17 that a saving
knowledge of Christ is only comes by special revelation, not something
that one finds out on their own. It is something that God reveals
unto them. None can learn Christ or know
Christ by the energy or the ability of the flesh. I might remind
us that there is a shorter version of this matter in Mark chapter
8, and verse 27 through verse 30. But looking at the passage
here in Matthew chapter 16, that in Matthew's gospel and Matthew's
history of the ministry of Christ, I think we can see how it is
bracketed on both sides of the passage with a weighty act of
preparation for the departure of our Lord. For example, in
verse 6 through 12 of this chapter, after preparation for his death,
and wouldn't you know, they misunderstood what our Lord meant when he spoke
of his death. And so he warns them in verse
6 through verse 12. They construe it to be a rebuke
for forgetting to bring bread or food for the journey. And the Lord tells him, listen,
bread is not a problem. because they were in the presence
of the bread of life, the living bread, he calls himself, that
came down from heaven. You'll find that in John chapter
6. But he said, beware of the teaching,
beware of the belief of those two enemies of the gospel, the
Pharisee and the Sadducee. And then in Matthew 16 verse
21 and following, he began to speak more directly of his death,
which he would die on the cross in Jerusalem at the hands of
both the Jew and the Gentile in confederate against him, but
that he would rise up again on the third day. And yet it would
not be that he would arise to continue the same kind or manner
of life that he had before his death upon the earth. That he
was going about with his disciples again, like he had for three
years, is not the prediction of our Lord. And Peter, wouldn't
you know it, Peter is the one that stands out here. And Peter
expressed a very strong offense when the Lord predicted and spoke
of his death. It was repulsive unto the apostle
Peter. Now, I would that we could get
some insight into the mind and into the thinking of the apostle
Peter. that might help us to account
for his action on this occasion. His thinking and his word to
contradict the Lord as he did and that to his faith. If you
look at verse 22, Peter took him and commentators understand the
words here to mean that Peter took the Lord aside, took him
aside from the rest, just the two of them in the way, took
him by himself for a private time and at some distance and
maybe out of the hearing of the other disciples And then look
what it said. He began to rebuke him. Peter began to rebuke the Lord,
to reprove the Lord, to chide him for what he had said about
his coming death. Be it far from thee, Peter said,
this shall not happen unto you. Not to you, son of the living
God, the anointed Messiah sent from God. Taking us off of our
subject a bit here, but suffice it to say, Peter did not intend
here to be an instrument of the devil. But the Lord strongly
rebukes his apostle who was not yet fully enlightened on this
aspect of the Lord's work, that is, of his death, burial, resurrection,
and ascension to glory. Well, let's come back now to
the heart of our text in Matthew 16, 13 through 17. On a certain occasion, on a certain
day, the Lord used what Spurgeon called the Socratic method of
drawing out their minds, unquote. He puts the question to them. Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? Who do men say that the Son of
Man is? Of course, He is speaking of
Himself. By the way, this is probably
the most numerous way that our Lord referred to Himself during
his earthly ministry as the Son of Man. How many times our Lord
used that expression in referring to himself the Son of Man? More than any other title, Our
Lord called Himself the Son of Man. He more frequently uses
this term in speaking of Himself and of His work. Now, Son of
Man does not deny His divinity, for He is both God and man. He is the Son of Man, Psalms
80, verse 17 and Daniel chapter 7 and verse 13 speaks of one
like the Son of man and the Son of God in Daniel chapter 3 and
verse 25 so our Lord asked them What were or what is the prevailing
view which were being expressed about him among the people of
that day? What were some of the more prevalent
opinions that some of the people were having and expressing concerning
him? Now, we understand, I hope, and
I trust, that the Lord asked this question in regard to his
public ministry among men three years, to the mighty works, the
miracle, and even the teaching that our Lord had given. We know
that everywhere the Lord went, he made an impression, whether
positive or negative, hardly anyone was opinionless about
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does not ask for his information,
and he is not fishing for a compliment, but he knows every thought and
every word in the mind and the tongue. But he intends that this
question will redound unto the benefit of his disciples. They answer, some take you to
be John the Baptist. You know, that's what Herod did.
He thought that John was raised again from the dead in Matthew
14, 1 and 2. Others took him to be Elijah. one of the greatest of all of
the Old Testament prophets, either from his fiery preaching or the
prophecy in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5. Still others thought
that he might be the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, maybe from
him being a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Matthew
16, 14 or 1 the Prophet and in Luke's account
chapter 9 verse 19 some were even willing to consider that
he might have been one of the Old Testament prophet that had
appeared among men of his time and therefore raised from the
dead. And some of them went further
back and said that he might be that one that Moses spoke about
in Deuteronomy 18 and 15, a prophet like unto me, mentioned in Acts
3, 22 and 23. So here's a point of emphasis
along our way. People on several occasions,
saw the works of our Lord, heard the marvelous teaching that he
gave out, and they took him to be a prophet. Many had no problem
with that. This is indeed a prophet. The Samaritan woman said to him
at the well, John 4, verse 19, Sir, I perceive that thou art
a prophet. For he told her everything she
had ever done. And the man born blind in John
chapter 9 and given sight by the Lord, when asked by the Pharisees,
what do you say of him? What do you think about him?
Who is this man in John 9, 17? The man born blind said, he is
a prophet. In John chapter 7 and verse 40,
some heard him and said, of a truth, this is that prophet, to which
we say, yea, a prophet and much more than a prophet. But they stop short who see him
only as a prophet of God, only a man prophet, and no more. Or who see him only as a good
teacher. A lot of people do that today.
A lot of people say that our Lord set a fine example, a model
of behavior, and on and on they go in describing our Lord. So the Lord, in hearing what
he already knew what people were saying, puts the question then
directly onto his disciple. Matthew 16 and 15. But who say
you that I am? Or literally, whom say you me
to be? One interlinear has it this way. Whom do you pronounce me to be? Now, there's a contrast that
is drawn here, and the contrast is between men, the men of the
world, and you. men referring to the people at
large, to the general drift of the age who had heard and seen
our Lord, those who had had contact with our Lord or had heard reports
of him. And the contrast is made here
with the word but. If we look at the word but, But
men take me to be this or that. But whom do you take me to be? What is your view of me? What is your opinion? What is
your estimate of me? Whom do you hold me to be? Who
am I? unto you and in your eye." And
again, it is Simon Peter who leads the way in Matthew's account
and answers and makes a good confession indeed. However, the
Lord had not addressed Peter Only or individually as seen
in the context in verse 13 He asked his disciple then if you
look at verse 14 and They said then if you look at verse 15
he said unto them that that is the group of them. But it is
not surprising that the Apostle Peter takes the lead and answers
first in behalf of himself and of others. But this is good,
I think, considering the part that the Apostle Peter was to
have in the early church among the Jews when our Lord was gone. And see, He does not say, the
living God. Indeed, he says, some say that
you are, or he does not say, some say that you are the Christ,
the son of the living God. Instead, Simon makes that personal
confession in himself. You are the Christ, the son of
the living God. What a summation of the Christian
faith. No doubt you are familiar with
that example or expanded similar confession of this same apostle
in John chapter 6 and verse 68 and 69, saying this, To whom shall we go? Thou hath
the words of eternal life. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, the apostle
makes a statement of faith, and in doing so, he summarizes the
creed of the Christian church. He states here, or confesses,
the heart of the Christian faith. That is what Lange called, quote,
the first and fundamental Christian confession of faith and the germ
of the apostles' creed, unquote. Let us look closer, therefore,
at this remarkable confession of the man and the apostle, and
I speak of none other than Simon Peter. Who was this man, Simon
Peter? He was not to be a Pope. but
to be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in verse 19, and lead
the people after Pentecost. You see that in Acts chapter
2. And that the Gentiles, by his
mouth, should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Acts 15 and 7. as seen in Acts
chapter 10, when the Gentiles heard Peter preach and the Spirit
of God was poured out upon them. Now see the essence, therefore,
of the confession of those whose heart the Lord has opened and
has revealed Himself. From three combined places, let's
hear this confession. Here in Matthew 16 and 16, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. In John 6, verse
69, thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And in Matthew chapter
14 and verse 33, of a truth, thou art the Son of God. Now, these establish the relationship
of the Son unto the Father, of Christ unto God, and that in
two ways. Number one, he is the Christ,
meaning the anointed one, the one whom God has anointed. And number two, he is the Son
of God. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. AT Robertson in his word pictures
in the New Testament calls attention to the fact of the articles here
in verse 16 such as the Christ not a Christ one Christ But the
Christ the definite article thou art the Christ thou art the son
of God and the living God, everyone with that definite article, the. The and none other are the Christ,
the son of the living God. We read that the Lord God had
anointed him to be the holy one of God. But let's deviate long
enough to remind ourselves of that significance in the Old
Testament economy of one being anointed with oil. In two instances,
Kings were anointed. I think I said this last Sunday.
Kings were anointed when they were installed into their office,
like Saul, anointed with oil. And the high priest was anointed
when he was installed into the office. Thus, under the old economy,
the priest and the kings were anointed and that signified their
appointment to that office and to act. in the authority and
in the power of God. Now, remember something about
David concerning God's anointed. You'll find it in 1 Samuel, chapter
26, 5 through 12. We won't turn there and read.
But David's reason for not killing Saul when he had the opportunity
was this. He would not lift up his hand
against the Lord's anointed. You'll see that again, Psalm
105 and verse 15. And the Lord Jesus, the son of
God, is called the Lord's anointed in Acts 4, 27 and 10. 38. As I understand the Hebrew word
Messiah, I think we said this last week, is the word Christos,
the anointed one who has been smeared or rubbed or oil has
been poured upon them. But coming to the second part
of the confession of the Apostle Peter in behalf of himself and
the other disciples, and may I add all true Christian of all
day and of all time, it stands like this. Secondly, the Son
of the Living God. That's what we think of Christ.
That's what the Bible teaches concerning Him. You are the Son
of the Living God. And again, we have it in John
6 and 69, thou art that Christ, that particular Christ,
that one Christ, the Son of the Living God. And again, if you're
interested, hear the tenses in John chapter 6, verse 69. We have believed, we have believed,
we have known that you are the Holy One of God. They were convinced
of it. They had laid hold of it. It
was their belief and their motto. Now the we here is emphatic and
is expressive. We will not go away. To whom shall we go? Who else
has the words of life? Consider what has one left who
has given up Christ? What has one left who has gone
away from Christ and sought out salvation in another? Where did those go? John chapter
6, who went back and walked no more with him, as the scripture
said. Back to their Phariseeism, back
to their Sadduceeism, back to Judaism, which was near the end
of its course when our Lord died upon the cross. What will they
have? who turn away from Christ. He's the son of the living God. He's the eternal son of the eternal
living God. He is the uncreated Son of God. I say this because there are
those who teach that Jesus is not God, but that he is only
the Son of God, he being called the Son of God So often in the
scripture and yet he is the only begotten son of God and being
that eternal one is called both God and Creator in the beginning
of John's gospel chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 Now, I think that this
confession of Peter is all the more bold when we consider that
it was going against the strong tide of Jewish unbelief in that
day. that Peter is going against very
strong and contrary opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ in that
day, against the strong unbelief and rejection of Judaism. Therefore, John 9, 22, Any that
did confess Him to be the Christ were to be put out of the synagogue. They were to be excommunicated
who confessed Him to be Christ, the Son of God. The Jew had come
to that point. But see how the Lord responds
to the confession of His apostle this time in verse 17. He pronounces
the apostle a highly blessed man for his having such knowledge. Blessed art thou. How few have this view of Christ
in that day or in hours. Few there are who can match the
description or the confession of this apostle of Christ. It puts one among the privileged,
blessed few. But blessed is everyone. Blessed are all they that hold
Christ to be the anointed one and the Son of the living God. Why is such a one blessed? Why
is it such a blessing to know him to be the Christ, the Son
of the living God? Wherein lies this blessing? Is it for something that we have
done or have learned or have sought out? No. It is because
it is not a knowledge. It is not a knowledge that comes
by human ingenuity or by human reasoning. It's not a knowledge
that comes by observation, not from another man or another individual. Such knowledge comes by divine
revelation. Hear what Christ said to Peter.
Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father
which is in heaven. Or there's a strong passage related
to that in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 25 and 26. And it says essentially this,
that God both hides and reveals The things of God from this one
are from that one. And the Lord said, this is good
in his sight. It has pleased God to do so. In Matthew 11, 27 said, the son
reveals the father and the father reveals the son. Only they mutually
know one another. Only they have a full knowledge
of each other. And none can know the truth of
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ except by a special revelation
by God, by His sovereignty. The Lord opened Lydia's heart. And she attended. We see the
woman at the well as Jesus progressively began to reveal himself unto
her. And she went from calling him
a Jew, sir, a prophet, to saying, is not this the Christ? None can know this, none can
savingly and spiritually know this, except by special and divine
revelation. Without it, one might look upon
the Lord from a mere human standpoint and progress no further. I'll close by reminding us there
are two views of Jesus in the world today in what we call Christendom. Number one, there is the view
of apostate Christendom who looks lightly upon our Lord, takes
him not to be a sovereign redeemer and very God come in the flesh. Some people look upon our Lord
as a good man, a good example. Some have even taken Him to be
a social worker or a reformer. I read the other day we're a
high official in our government. took the example of Jesus, that
we ought to feed and give food stamps to all people in every
place that they might, that Jesus would be the example of that. It was Jesus who said, the poor
you shall have with you always. But then, thank God, there is
that view of true Christianity. Thou art the Christ. the Son
of the Living God. So I want to say to all of us
this morning, consider ourselves highly blessed of God. Consider it a blessing of God
out of heaven. If you believe this morning that
Jesus is the anointed one of God and the very son of the living
God, that he came from God, that he always existed, that he was
in the Godhead or the divine essence everlastingly, and that
He took flesh, dwelt among us, and died a saving death upon
the cross. And if you believe that, you
are highly blessed today. Thank God for that revelation. Peter, flesh and blood, hath
not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. That's why we can't beat people
over the head or out argue them and bring them to a right confession
of the Bible and of Christ. It is a divine revelation. The veil must fall off of the
eye and off of the heart and only the Lord can do that and
shine in our heart in the face of Jesus Christ. Thank God for
that revelation and the manifestation of it.