Tonight I'm going to be preaching
upon this subject, the therefore of forgiveness. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Whom Say Ye That I Am? This is the most important question
that you or I can possibly consider. Whom say ye? Not what does somebody else think,
not what does the preacher think, not what does the world think.
Whom say ye that I am? He said, whom do men say that
I the son of man am? What is their opinions? But notice
he said, whom say ye that not I the son of man am, but that
I am. Now that is his name as God. I am that I am. I love it when they come to arrest
him. And he said, whom seek ye? They
said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And almighty power
drove them backwards. You see, he wasn't a victim.
Never forget that. He was no victim. He's letting
them know at this time that it is his will that's being done. Whom say ye that I am? You cannot deny his importance. I think it's amazing the calendar
is centered around his birth. You can't say that about any
other human being. You cannot deny his importance. The answer to this question,
who he is, determines everything else. and it answers every question. Now that's how significant this
is. This is what God, I don't wanna
say is looking for, but how God views you is seen in how you
answer this question. This is the issue. Everything else pales in importance
with comparison to this issue. Who do you say that I am? Now look in verse 13 of Matthew
chapter 16. 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? What is the general population's
estimate of me? What do they think of me? Verse 14, and they said, some
say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah. or one of the prophets. Now,
their answer was meant to be complimentary. They put you in
high cotton. They compare you with some very
great men. But the answer is actually contradictory,
idolatrous, just flat out wrong, blasphemous. to put him on the
plane of a mere man. As great as these men were, these
were sinful men. They were contradictory men.
They were weak men in and of themselves, just like you and
I are. And to compare him to some man is nothing less than
idolatry. While this was meant to be good,
it wasn't, was it? Verse 15. And he saith unto them,
but whom say ye that I am? Whom say ye? What is your thought
and opinion concerning Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth? What is in your heart in your
thoughts regarding him. Whom say ye, but I, the son of
man. Now, I love Peter's answer, verse
16. And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Did Peter understand all the
implications of what he was saying? Well, no more than you and I
do. No man can dive into the depths of what all this means,
but it's glorious. He is the Christ, the son of
the living God. Now, Jesus Christ is God incarnate. That means God in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He's God the Son, the Son of
the living God. Now let me quote some scriptures
to you. Colossians chapter two, verse nine says, In this one
Jesus of Nazareth, the one born in a manger, the one who's a
carpenter, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. Everything that God is, sovereign,
all-powerful, all-knowing, independent, immutable, In him dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's who he is. Philip said, show us the father
and it sufficeth us. What a dull statement by Philip
at this time. But the Lord said, Philip, he
that hath seen me hath seen the father. Thomas knew who he was
after He knew before the resurrection, but when the Lord appeared to
him and showed him his hands and feet and said, be not doubtless,
I mean, don't doubt but believe. What was Thomas' response? He
bowed before him and said, my Lord and my God. And Jesus Christ is God. I love saying that. Makes me
feel good to say it. I love who he is. He's God manifest
in the flesh. He's Lord. That's what Thomas
acknowledged, my Lord and my God. Now, do you know what that
means? That's not an empty title. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the creator. He's the Lord of providence.
That means everything that happens, he's the first cause of it. Everything,
everything, everything. He's the Lord. Now, you can just
take that as far as you want it, or you can cavil against
it, but it doesn't change the fact. He controls everything. He's the Lord of salvation. Now,
what that means is as to whether or not you're saved, it's up
to Him. Now, I want you to think about that. Whether or not you're
saved, you don't have any control in it. It's up to Him. Lord. Now the Christ refers to
his offices as prophet, priest, and king. That's what Christ
means. The Messiah. And there's three offices. Prophet,
priest, and king. Now he's that prophet. You know
what that means? He's the authoritative Word of
God. On down in this passage of Scripture
he says, I say unto you, And that's what is meant by his being
that great prophet. He never had to say, thus saith
the Lord. All the other prophets did, but
not him. He said, I say unto you, and he speaks with divine
authority as the word of God. He is God's priest. And he's the priest after the
order of Melchizedek. Somebody says, who in the world's
that? Well, if I were you, I'd be finding out. The Bible has
a lot to say about this man, Melchizedek. And Christ is the
priest after the order of Melchizedek. And the scripture says, he was
without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, made like unto the Son
of God, who abides a priest continually. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's called, as the priest, the new and living way. Freshly slaughtered, his blood
is always poignant toward God, new, but he's not a dead sacrifice,
he's the living way, presenting his own blood before the Father. He is the king, yet have I set
my king, God said, on my holy hill of Zion. He's the king of
kings, He's the Lord of Lords. God incarnate, God manifest in
the flesh, and all that means, and God's Christ. Now, the next thing that occurs
to me when you think about who He is is, well, what did He do? He was born, as I said, the calendar
is controlled the day of his birth before Christ and the year
of our Lord. What did he do when he was here
on earth? Well, before he came to earth,
I love the way he said over and over again, I came down from
heaven. I came down from heaven. Before time began, according
to Hebrews chapter seven, verse 22, he was the surety of the
better covenant. Now what's that mean? He's the
surety. of the better covenant. Now,
two covenants. God's a covenant-making, a covenant-keeping
God, and there are only two covenants. Somebody says, well, what about
the Abrahamic covenant, the Noah covenant? Well, there's only
two. The covenant of works. That was
made with Adam in the garden. Now, it takes many forms, but
it was made with Adam in the garden. One tree you're not to
eat of. If you eat of that tree, you
will die. When you eat, he didn't say if
you eat, he said when you do, you shall surely die. Now the
covenant of works is doomed for failure. You know why? God said
it was. You know why? Because men are
involved. Mutable creatures, dependent upon their ability.
But there was a covenant made before the covenant of works.
Now the Old Testament, The covenant of works. The New Testament's
a whole lot older than the old. And in this covenant, before
time began, God gave a great number of people to Jesus Christ. And he became their surety. What
a surety is? A surety is someone who takes
complete responsibility. Before time began, Jesus Christ
stood as the surety of God's elect and took complete responsibility
for their salvation. Now, I find that so attractive
to think that he took complete responsibility for my salvation.
Don't you find that attractive? Oh, I love this. And in time,
he came to this earth. He said, I came down from heaven.
He came to this earth, born in a stable, lived 30 years of obscurity,
nobody knew anything about him, and he kept God's law perfectly. He never sinned. He's God. He
can't sin. He doesn't even have the potential
to sin because of who he is. He kept God's law perfectly,
and everything he did was, according to the scriptures, a fulfillment
of the scriptures. He came to fulfill God's purpose.
God had this purpose in his coming. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, he kept
the law. He died on a cross. Well, why
did he die? There's one reason for death,
sin. The sins of God, he stood as a surety for God's people.
I'll bear their responsibility. He took my sin and made it his
own. That's why he died. And that
perfect life that he worked out is given to me. He kept the law.
He died for the ungodly. He was raised from the dead because
he satisfied God. You, me, we can't satisfy God. God raised him from the dead,
mission accomplished. Now why did he do all this? He's
God incarnate. He came to this world and kept
the law and died a sin, putting away death, was raised from the
dead. Why did he do all of this? Well,
the number one reason is it was God's purpose. Acts 2.23 says, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. This was God's purpose. He's
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is why he
did all this. God's purpose. He did this to
redeem a people. Matthew 1.21, thou shalt call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people. from their sins. And he made a way in coming here
for God to be just and justify the ungodly. You know what that
means? If you're saved, the very justice of God, the absolute
holiness and righteousness of God demands your salvation. That's something, isn't it? He
made a way for God to be just, absolutely just, and deal with
me on strict terms of impartial justice where his justice demands
my salvation because of the glorious work of Christ on Calvary Street. Why did he do this? Because he loved us. Greater
love hath no man than this. that a man laid down his life
for his friends. Who did he do this for? Don't miss this. Who did he do
this for? If that's not clearly identified,
it makes the other three statements concerning who he is and what
he did and why he did it meaningless. If he did this for somebody who's
now in hell, that means that what he did was meaningless. Who did he do this for? Everybody
he stood as a surety for, the elect, his sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. Now there are sheep and there are goats. He's
got a people called his sheep, the church, Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. He did this for his elect. He didn't do this for everybody
because if he did it for everybody, everybody would be saved. Now
somebody says, why didn't he do it for everybody? Well, if
he didn't do it for everybody, it's best. We really believe
that whatever he does is best because he's God. He knows he
glorifies himself. Where is he now? Hebrews 1.3
says he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high,
finished his work from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. Whom say ye that I am? Well,
I'm gonna say with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God. Now look at verse 17. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Simon, man, you're one smart
dude. It's amazing that you figured
this out. Boy, I admire you. Nothing like that at all, is
it? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Now, if you know Jesus Christ, if you believe
he is who the Bible says he is, guess what? God himself revealed
that to you. It wasn't just some man. He might've
used a man's voice, but it was he who did the revealing. This can only be known by revelation. It can't be known by education.
You can't figure this out. You can only know this if God
himself makes it known to you. The Lord said in Luke chapter
10, It's the scripture says at that time, Jesus rejoiced in
spirit and said, I thank the old father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent
and revealed them unto babes. Even so father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Now, if you don't believe this,
God hadn't revealed it to you. And if you believe this, God
has in fact revealed this to you. Paul said, when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace to reveal his son, in me, not just to me, but in
me, that I might preach him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. I didn't, when God revealed,
if God reveals himself to you as to who he is, when Jesus Christ
revealed himself to you as to who he is, you don't have to
come up to somebody and say, here's what I think. No, he's
revealed him to you. You don't have to have some other
man to buttress up your faith. God has revealed this to you. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Verse 18. And I say also unto thee, Now,
here's one of the Lord's I say. I say unto thee, not thus saith
the Lord, I'm saying this. That's where the authority comes
from. He says, I'm saying this. What if I say, I say unto you? That's the way that's every,
so what? Do you think that means anything? No, it doesn't mean
a thing. I say to you, like I'm, but when he says it, oh, I say
unto you. Oh, the authority. of his word,
the son of the living God. Verse 18, I say unto thee that
thou art Peter and upon this rock, now Peter means little
rock, little rock, upon this big rock. Thou art Peter and upon this
rock I will build. my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Now, is Peter the rock upon which
Christ builds his church? This contradictory, I love Peter,
I relate with him, I'm not speaking down at him, but he was a contradiction. Kind of like me and you are.
He was so afraid of a maid that he denied Christ before men,
scared to death, didn't feel comfortable going in that direction. He's the one who caved into pressure
in Galatians chapter two and tried to identify with the Jews
because he's ashamed that the Jews would think wrong of him
for being with the Gentiles. He was a weak man, sinful man,
a man of grace. I love Peter. But would Christ
build his church on Peter? Well, that's utter foolishness,
isn't it? That is ridiculous. He's talking about Peter's confession.
Upon this rock, this confession of me, thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God. Upon this confession of me will
I build my church. We need church planters. No,
we don't. That's the last thing we need.
Men getting together, we're gonna plant a church or we're gonna
build a church. Christ is the builder of the church. Aren't
you thankful it's that way? Christ is the builder of the
church. And he says, upon this rock will
I build my church. Now, here we have the first time
in the New Testament, the word church is used. Upon this rock
will I build, the church is a divine, this is, I know there's a lot
of stuff that goes on under the name of church. Like that rock
and roll we had, we came into, they said this is a church service.
No it's not. No it's not, foolishness. That's all it is, foolishness.
That's not a church service, that's That wasn't in my notes. You
know, I just, I just, when I came up here, I thought, what in the
world? But see, this made me forget what I was going to say.
The church means a called out assembly. That's what the church is. It's
known in two senses. The universal church, That's
talking about every believer from every age, all of the elect
of God from Abel or Adam to the last one, feed the church of
God, which he purchased with his own blood. Christ loved the
church, Ephesians 5.25, Christ loved the church and gave himself
for it. Now I wanna be in that church,
don't you? The general assembly and church of the firstborn whose
names are written in heaven is what Hebrews 12.23 says. Somebody, I've had too many people,
well, do you have a church membership? Well, yeah, I'm a member of this
church. Well, do you have a role here? No. What does that mean? When it comes right down to it,
what does that mean? Well, why have a role? Does that mean
if you're on this church role, does that mean you're on that
church role? No. No, there's nothing in the Bible about that.
Everybody that believes the gospel and is here is a member of this
church, and I mean a true member. Do we have a role? No, no, that's
foolishness. There's the church universal
and there's the local assembly, like this right here. The called
out assembly. And here's what's special about
the called out assembly. Christ promises his presence. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name. There I am in the midst. Revelation 2 says, he said, I
walk among the golden candlesticks. And he tells us the golden candlesticks
are those churches. I walk among the golden candlesticks. Church is special. It's the called
out assembly. That's why the writer to the
Hebrews said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.
as the manner of some is, but exhort one another as you see
that day approaching. Oh, what a blessing to be part
of his church, the church of the living God. And he says,
upon this rock, I'll build my church. Therefore, it will be built perfectly. No worries, no fears of failure. He's the builder of the church.
And look what he says next. Verse 18, I say unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You know what that
means? All of the elect will be saved,
and all the forces of hell and Satan cannot prevent it. He's gonna knock the door down.
Oh, hell puts up her door. It's nothing before his invincible,
almighty, irresistible grace. He obliterates the door and he
snatches out every one of his people and there's nothing that
Satan can do about it. You see, he's a defeated, vanquished
foe. The seed of woman shall crush
your head. And that's exactly what he did
on Calvary's tree. And now the gates have been beat
down and all of God's elect are drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're his, he's gonna have
you. Now you can just write that down. If you're his, he will
have you. And all the forces of hell cannot
prevent it because of who he is. I love that song. Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who ruled
the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high. Despise the mention of
his grace. Secure without a hiding place. but thus the eternal counsel
ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. Now, if you're saved, he arrested
you. He apprehended you. He knocked
the doors of hell down and took you. Verse 19. He says to Peter, Peter, upon this rock, this confession
of me will I build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now this is the verse that is
used to prove that there's a Pope. Peter was the first Pope and
he's got authority. Whatever he binds or any other
Pope binds on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever he sets free
on earth is set free in heaven. Now, I've got these words in
my notes, and I chose them carefully. My response to that, how evil, how wrong, how stupid,
the thought of a pope having the control of men's salvation. to give such power to a sinful,
corrupt, blind man as if he could determine your eternal destiny. Now, let me say this. I'm glad
salvation's not in his hands. And I'm glad salvation's not
in your hands. I'd be in trouble. You'd get mad at me. I'd do something
to offend you, and you'd say, send him to hell. I'm glad salvation
is not in my hands, because I'd mess it up. Thank God salvation
is in his hand. Now, when he says, I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom, what's the key for? It's to open
up a lock, isn't it? That's what a key's for. It's
to open up a lock. He is the key to understanding
the scriptures. He's the lock that opens it up.
Whatever passage you're dealing with, it has to do with Him. He is the key that opens up heaven. You may enter into heaven freely
if He opens up the key. He's the key to everything. He's
the key. He said, I'm the door. What's
a door for? A door lets people in. By me, if any man shall enter
in, he shall be saved. He's the door. If he opens to
you, if he opens your heart, if he opens heaven to you, it's
open. Now that's what this key is all about. I have the keys
to the kingdom of heaven. This confession of me, who I
am, that's the key. It's not talking about some man
being able to let you in or let you keep you out. That's talking
about the gospel. Look what he says. He says, whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now, do
you find freedom in the message of it is finished? Takes the pressure off, doesn't
it? It's finished. He accomplished salvation without
any help from me. Oh, what freedom, what liberty. Well, I'm gonna be liberated
in heaven too. But if I find this message offensive here on
earth, and I'm bound by this message, I won't be in heaven. I won't be in heaven. Your gospel
will either loose men or it'll bind men. The message of the
gospel. Verse 20, then, and this is amazing
how frequently this is Scriptures Then he charged his disciples
that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ
That's over and over in the scriptures when he'd do something. He said
don't tell anybody about it Don't tell anybody who I am now Man's
religion Tries to market the gospel tries to present the gospel
in such a way as to sell their goods and make it appealing to
the flesh. The Lord didn't do anything like
that, did he? He said, don't tell anybody who
I am. You see, the Lord wasn't trying to do anything. He wasn't
trying to market himself. He wasn't trying to get men to
believe on him. The Lord doesn't try to do anything.
God's trying to teach me something. No, he ain't, because if he does,
you're taught. He doesn't try to do anything. The declaration of who He is
is what He uses to build His church. He's not trying to gain
a following. He came to save His people from
their sins. And that's exactly what He did. He's not trying
to gain a following. I saw on somebody's website,
Making Jesus Famous, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't
do something like that. He's the Lord of Glory. He doesn't
need your attempts to make him famous. He is who he is. And
we love it that way, don't we? We love him as he is. Now, I
want, in closing, to call for a verdict with everybody in here. Everybody. I want to call for
a verdict. Whom say ye that I am? What do you say? What does God
see when he looks into your heart for the answer? What God thinks
of you is seen in your answer. If you die with any other answer
than Peter's, you die God's enemy. Now that's a very scary thought. If I'm his enemy, I'm in trouble.
And what you think of God himself is seen by what you think of
his son. And if you die with Peter's answer,
Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. You die God's
beloved. First John chapter five, verse
one says, whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. Now the issue between you and
God is what think ye of Christ. I want you to forget what you
think about yourself. There's somebody in here thinking,
am I saved? Am I not saved? Just quit thinking
about yourself. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would give each one of us the grace from our heart
to say with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. Bless this message for your glory.
In Christ's name we pray.