Who Do You Say That I Am?

Audio Transcript

Let’s do what we always do: take our Bibles, and let’s turn this morning to Matthew chapter 16. We continue our study through the Bible, making our way through the Gospels for about a year and a half now, the life of Christ, and we come this morning to Matthew chapter 16.

Missionary Jim Elliott was only 28 years old when he died. He and four other American missionaries were speared to death in the jungles of Ecuador on January 8, 1956, by the very people they had gone there to reach. Years earlier, Jim had written a single line in his journal which has since made its way around the world thousands of times. He wrote this: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Jim and those others didn’t stumble onto that location by accident. They went there on purpose because somewhere along the way, they had answered a question, the same question that Jesus asked His disciples, and the same question that every one of us must answer in our lifetime. I want us to look at that question this morning in these verses before us.

Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13. I remind you again quickly, Jesus is now in the final year of His ministry, well into the final year of His ministry. The cross is looming large over Him. And we read this in verse 13: “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do men, or who do people, say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ And He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'”

It’s vital that I give you a very quick flyover of this specific location where Jesus took His disciples. This was not on the way to anywhere. Caesarea Philippi was a place far north of Galilee and Capernaum where Jesus had been teaching. It was about a five-hour walk over some very rugged terrain.

In fact, show that map, if you would. Hopefully that’ll give you a little bird’s eye view. Down there in the south, Sea of Galilee and Capernaum, that’s where Jesus has been teaching. That’s where He’s fed the multitudes. Now He takes His disciples on about a five-hour walk north up to Caesarea Philippi, right at the base of Mount Hermon, a spectacular mountain range, about 9,000 feet in elevation, usually covered in snow most of the year, that the caps of that mountain are. But Caesarea Philippi was probably the most pagan place in that region. It was originally named Panias after the pagan goat man god Pan, who they believed was born in that location. But Herod the Great’s son Philip renamed the region Caesarea Philippi after, sort of in honor of, Tiberius Caesar and himself.

And at this location was a massive cliff at the base of Mount Hermon. And carved into that cliff were, I guess you would say, shrines, where false gods were placed. Show that photo there. They’re still there to this day. There’s a few of them carved into the cliff, and they would place idols in there, and there was a temple on this location that has since been destroyed, but the foundations are still there. You can visit and see it today.

There was also a massive cave there, if you’d show that next photo. A massive cave near all of these shrines that the locals literally called the Gates of Hades or the Gates of Hell. They believed it was literally the opening to the underworld.

Now Jesus deliberately brings His disciples to this pagan location that’s not on the way to anywhere, this shrine filled with false gods, and there, of all places, He turns around and asks them the most important question they will ever hear. It’s as though He was placing Himself in front of those pagan idols and asking His disciples to choose.

Notice how Jesus begins. He doesn’t start by saying, “Who do you say that I am?” He starts softer. He says, “Who do people say that I am?” This lets the disciples off the hook for a moment, and they start giving Him answers. “Well, some say You’re John the Baptist who’s come back from the dead.” This was a very superstitious area and time. Remember, we looked a few months ago, John the Baptist was put to death there in Macaris prison. So the disciples have heard word filtering around that Jesus is actually John the Baptist who’s been raised from the dead. They say, “Well, you know, others say You’re Elijah or Jeremiah, one of the other prophets who’s returned.”

What we need to see here is everybody had their personal opinion about Jesus, and they were all wrong. And the same is true today. You stop 100 people on the street and ask them at random, “Who is Jesus?” And you’ll, well, this area is a bit unusual, Greenville, but you go to most places in the country, you ask 100 people, you probably get 80 different answers.

Some people still today say that Jesus was a great teacher, nothing more. Some say He was just a social reformer. He said good things. He bettered the community. He fed the hungry. He was a humanitarian. Some say He was a revolutionary. Others think He’s no different from Gandhi or Socrates or Plato or Confucius.

But C.S. Lewis summed it up better than anybody I’ve ever read in my life. I usually don’t quote things this long, but this is worth seeing if you haven’t before. He said this: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” Wow! And as we’ve been studying the life of Christ, I’ve paused here and there, and I’ve focused on a sentence or two that Jesus spoke that I said, “This is insanity. If He is not the Son of God, He’s crazy. Nobody goes around talking like this. No one, unless it’s true of them.”

Still today, you will hear lots of opinions about who Jesus is, but you must decide for yourself. Your parents can’t decide this for you. You can’t decide it for your parents. You must answer this question. You go, “Well, I don’t feel like it.” I don’t feel like eating my broccoli, but I still do once in a while. This is what…

I got a smackdown from my wife right there in the middle of the sermon. I don’t often, but sometimes, sometimes I do. And it’s amazing that, oh, really? I shouldn’t have mentioned that, because now I’m going to take a beating after the service about eating my vegetables. Where’s Joe? Joe, are you with me? No vegetables. This is the healthiest man in our church right here. He never eats vegetables. There’s something to it.

You see, it’s amazing the people I’ve met who keep putting this decision off. Keep putting it off. Now you take all the time you need to think through and examine the evidence and do all of that, but I’m telling you, the clock is ticking.

Went to a funeral just a couple Saturdays ago of the brother of one of our elders, and as I stood there again, I was reminded why Solomon said it’s better to attend a funeral than a party. Why? Was he just a doom and gloomer? A party pooper? No, he was wise. He said, “You stand there looking at somebody else, and it all starts to come together. You go, ‘Hey, that’s going to be me one day.'” Have I settled this?

We must answer this for ourselves, and that’s why Jesus then looked at His disciples and asked the ultimate question: “But who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am?” And you have to pause and go, these 12 guys had already agreed to follow Him. Did He really need to ask His own disciples this question? Yes, He did.

Because it’s possible to quote Bible verses. It’s possible to attend church services. It’s possible to read the Bible from cover to cover and still never have answered that question for yourself.

I don’t know. They’re just out of sheer probability. There’s probably someone here today. You’ve attended church faithfully. You’ve done all the religious stuff, but you’ve still never answered this question. And the world keeps giving you their answer, but Jesus turns to you and says, “I’m not asking the crowd. I’m asking you. Who do you say I am?” And your answer to that question is what your whole life and your eternal destiny depends on.

So this is no small matter, what’s taking place here at the base of this mountain. Well, the voice we usually hear first in this band of men speaks up again. Simon Peter blurts out and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now, first of all, I’ve told you every time you see the word Christ in your Bible, it means Messiah, the Anointed One, the Promised One. Every single time you see the word Christ, it wasn’t His last name. I don’t mean to be irreverent, but I’ve heard some people think that Jesus Christ, that that was His last name. That was His title. And it was a sacred title to the Jews that they didn’t throw around flippantly. What Peter is saying here is not, “Hey, You’re a great teacher.” He’s saying, “You are the Promised One, the one that the entire Old Testament points to, the one we’ve been waiting for. You are the Messiah.” And then he adds His divinity to it, “the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus says, “Blessed are you.” He gave Simon Peter a little pat on the back: “Well done, Simon.” But then He also adds this, and He says to him, “Flesh and did not reveal this to you.” That’s a way of saying, “You didn’t figure this out by mere human reasoning, Simon. Whether you know it or not, My Father in heaven revealed this to you, and that’s why you spoke those words.”

And that’s true for all of us. We don’t understand spiritual things on our own. Listen, I’ve been under the influence of the Bible since day one in my life, my entire life. I’ve read it I don’t know how many times. I study it. I love it. And yet there are still spiritual things I read in the Bible that I do not yet understand. They short my circuits. They’re too big for me.

Now, thankfully along the journey, God has spiritually opened my eyes to this thing and that thing and the other. But none of that comes through my own brilliance. I am brilliant. I am a genius. You know this. But none of that understanding comes from any human intellect. You can take the person with the highest IQ in the world, and they can read the Bible and miss it completely.

It’s the work of the Holy Spirit taking the Word of God and illuminating it to our darkened minds to where we go, “Wow, that makes sense.” And the person sitting right beside you goes, “Doesn’t make any sense to me.”

So Jesus reminds Peter, “My Father in heaven is the one who opened your eyes to this.” See, until God opens our eyes about Jesus, He’s just another man to us. But when our eyes are opened about who He really is, everything changes. Everything changes.

Then Jesus makes a play on words that has been fought over for centuries. I told you there’s some difficult places in the Bible, and we’re going to try to tackle those. Look again at verse 18. He says, “I tell you that you are Peter, Petros, and on this rock, Petra, I will build My church.” By the way, first time in the entire Bible the word church was ever mentioned right here. “And the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”

Now, I’ve highlighted the translation for those two key words there, Peter and rock. Peter is Petros. It means a stone, a loose piece that you could pick up and throw. Petra, rock, is Petra. It means a huge bedrock, something immovable.

So what is the rock that Jesus will build His church upon? Listen, it’s not Peter. It’s not the man. Peter was an unsteady little stone who would later deny even knowing Jesus three times. Think Jesus is going to build His church on that? No, the rock here is not Peter. It’s the confession that Peter has just spoken. The bedrock truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of God. That is the foundation upon which the church stands. That truth.

Jesus worded it this way. How would you say it? Not to associate Peter with the church’s foundation, but to contrast him to it. He’s saying, “You are Peter, a little stone, and on this rock, this bedrock, I’m going to build My church.”

Years later, Peter himself wrote that Jesus is the living stone. In 1 Peter 2:6, he said (he’s quoting the Old Testament), “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” And Paul nailed it shut in 1 Corinthians 3:11. He said, “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

I’m so thankful that Jesus didn’t build His church upon a flawed man, because we wouldn’t be here today. He built it upon the truth that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus, still standing beside that black cave, I want you to get this, that cave that was called the gate to the underworld, said this: “And the gates of Hell will not prevail against My church.” What a place to make that declaration.

Do you think that object lesson stuck with the disciples the rest of their lives? The locals say, “That’s the gate to Hell.” “Let me tell you, the very powers of Satan and Hell itself will never be able to stand against My church.” What a statement that is. There’s so much more we could say there, but I must move on to get you out by 2:15.

But then, you know, this is such a beautiful moment. What Peter has just declared, and the affirmation that Jesus has given, and declaring that He’s going to build His church, this brand new thing, it will be founded upon an unmovable rock of who He is. What a moment this was. But as Jesus often does, He turns the conversation to something completely unexpected and heavy. Verse 21, back in Matthew 16: “From that time,” now this is a key statement, “from that time, Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day.” Again, there’s so much here. This is the first time that we have recorded that Jesus ever told His disciples He was going to die.

And by the way, please don’t overlook who it was who Jesus said was going to put Him to death. The criminals and the evil people and the sinners? Oh, no, sir. They loved Jesus. They saw in Him the very thing they were longing for. No. Who was it who was going to put Him to death? Look at this. The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes. All the religious people. What a heartbreaking thing this is.

The leaders of the, well, it wasn’t the church, but in our language, the leaders of the church, the religious leaders of the day, Jesus says, “They’re the very ones who are going to put Me to death.”

He’s just affirmed that what Peter said about Him being the Messiah is true, and I imagine the disciples’ hopes must have soared at that point. He’s the Messiah. The problem was every Jew was expecting their Messiah to come as a warrior, to crush Rome, to drive out the Gentiles, to set up a kingdom for the Jews, and to rule the world with an iron fist. And Jesus chooses this moment to say to them, “Fellas, I didn’t come for any of that. As a matter of fact, I’m going to be put to death.”

I can’t imagine the shock that must have run through those men. From this mountaintop high, “He’s the Messiah, and we’re His followers, like we’re in.” And “You’re going to what? You’re going to be put to death?”

It shocked them so much that Peter does the unthinkable. Verse 22, fasten your seatbelts for this: “Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord, this shall not happen to You.'” Now listen, Peter’s not being a jerk. He loves Jesus. He doesn’t want Jesus to die. He thinks he’s helping. He says, “No, Lord. No, no, no. That’s not a good plan. I don’t like Your plan.”

But listen to the Lord’s response. It’s one of the sharpest things He ever said to anyone. Verse 23: “But Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan. You are an offense or a hindrance to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.'” Wow. From “Blessed are you, Simon” to “Get behind Me, Satan.” Why? Because anyone who stands between Jesus and the cross, even with the best of intentions, is doing the devil’s work, because the cross was the one thing that could save the world.

Peter thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was jumping in and helping to rescue this one he loved so dearly. You see, whenever a believer stops thinking the things of God and starts thinking the things of men, he can become an instrument of the enemy without even knowing it. You and I are not immune. This is why the New Testament is filled with instructions on renewing your mind, on setting your mind on the things that are right and pure and holy and lovely. Fix your mind upon Him, on things above, not on things of the earth.

Peter wasn’t a villain. He just wanted a Christ without a cross. And so many people still do. They want a faith that costs nothing. They want a Jesus who fits into their plans. But there’s no such Jesus. He came, He came to die on that cross. And He would not be talked out of it by anyone, because the cross is where your sin and mine would be paid for.

One of the beautiful things I love, and it’s sort of a subtle fragrance throughout all the Gospels, but it’s there clear as day, is Jesus repeats again and again, “I’ve not come to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” It’s so easily overlooked, but you realize that’s the, that’s guidance for our life.

Jesus had multiple opportunities to veer off the path of His Father’s will. Just a few weeks ago, they wanted to come and make Him king. And He said, “No, no, no, that’s not My Father’s will.” I mean, what an opportunity to pass up if you’re trying to, you know, build a following and be a big shot. “They actually want to make me king. We’ve arrived, fellas.” What did He do? He slipped away from the crowd and went to the mountains by Himself.

Why did He do that over and over again in situations? Why did He refuse the will of the crowd? Because He came to do one thing, the will of His Father. Can you and I say that? What decisions have we made recently that indicate, I don’t mean to anybody else, but to you, that indicate clearly you’re living for His will, not your own? Anything?

I love hearing from people in this church because I heard just this week of someone who made that decision. And it’s beautiful to see. You guys are amazing in the way that your faith is growing. And we were just talking about it with David this week. So many young couples in this church who could choose to pursue any path they want. And the thing that is most important to them as I meet and talk with them is, “Phil, I want my life to count for Christ.” I’m like, “Wow, this is incredible.” God has sent to us some remarkable young families who get this. Like really early in their life, they get this. And they’re choosing to live for His will.

Peter steps in, thinking he’s helping, saying, “Lord, this is not going to happen to You. You can count on me. I’m going to make sure You’re not put to death.” Good old Peter. I love the guy so much. And Jesus rebukes him and says, “Listen, what you’ve just said is not just a bad idea. It’s from Satan.”

That’s how strong this was, what Peter did, and he didn’t even know it. “You’ve gone from hearing the words of My Father and making that beautiful declaration about who I am to moments later hearing the words of Satan and trying to get Me off course for why I came.” That’s heavy stuff. You ever had those moments? I have. I’ve had those moments when I walk away from a conversation or something and go, “Wow, Phil, you need to spend some time with Jesus. That was really ugly.”

And then Jesus says something that brings this all home, and I imagine it made their blood run cold. Verse 24: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.'”

We have, please don’t take offense at this, it’s just how I see it, we have so domesticated and tamed the cross that we’ve robbed it of all its horror. We wear it on a chain around our neck. We print it on coffee mugs and T-shirts and bumper stickers. And there’s nothing wrong with that, because the cross has become very precious to us. It’s an emblem, a symbol, a banner that we hold up, and we’re thankful for. But listen, in the first century, the cross was the most abhorrent symbol of agony that had ever been invented.

No one wore a sterling silver cross around their neck at this time. You must understand, and please don’t take wrong what I’m saying, I think it’s beautiful that we wear the cross. I think it’s beautiful that it has become our symbol of salvation and freedom. But back then, not so. Picking up a cross and carrying it when Jesus spoke these words meant that you were going to be executed on it.

And now Jesus turns to His men and says, “If you want to follow Me, you’re going to have to take up a cross.” Well, that meant they were going to die. Suddenly this conversation has turned from, you know, the heights of excitement to now these 12 men standing there going, “What in the world have we signed up for?”

And I must remind all of us this morning that following Christ is not about adding a little religion to your life. Following Christ means laying your whole life down.

This is why, and I strive very hard to not mess up the equation here, I never try to rush or force anyone to be saved. I’d rather take some time and explain to them, like, imagine, you know, those of you have been in the military, imagine someone rushing you into signing up for the Marines without telling you anything about it. “Oh, you get free meals and free clothes and free housing. Sign me up.” And then three months later in boot camp, the guy’s ready to hunt you down and, you know, have a few harsh words with you. “Why’d you push me into this? This is horrible.” I think it’s fair. Jesus did it. I think it’s fair that we let people know, “Hey, if you want to follow Christ, this ain’t no Sunday school picnic.” Jesus did this over and over and over and over again to those who wanted to follow Him.

We make the same assumption, that Jesus is saying we must be willing to lose our lives for Him, that we must be willing to die for Him. Well, that’s true, but let me tell you, that’s about 1% of what He’s saying here. You see, literally losing your life for Jesus is the easy part. Losing your life for Jesus while you’re still living it is the hard part. Does that make sense? That’s the hard part. You get up every day and your self rises up and says, “Today’s about you. Make it all about you. Protect your life. Live for yourself.”

Jesus says, “No, no, no. I want you to be a living sacrifice.” Well, that’s a phrase that was unheard of. No such thing as a living sacrifice. Jesus says, “Yeah, there is. Every day I want you to climb back on that altar and let Me put you to death while you’re still living. I want you to live as a dead man to yourself, and instead let Me live through you.”

This is where the rubber meets the road for us. You know how easy it is to promise something you think you’ll never have to deliver? “Oh, I’d die for Jesus if I ever had to.” Because, you know, 99.9% chance here in Greenville, you’re never going to be put to death for Jesus. So it’s easy to say that, “Of course I’d die for Jesus.” And He says, “Yeah, but will you live for Me?”

Jesus says, “If you try to hold on to your life, if you live it for yourself, that’s exactly how you lose it.” The person who clings to his life will eventually watch it slip through his fingers like sand. But the person who hands it over, the person who surrenders it to Christ, finally finds the life he was created to live.

Oswald Chambers said this, it’s one of my favorite quotes of all time. Please let this sink in: “The goal of the Christian life is not self-realization, but Christ-realization. The steady, daily surrender of a self that was never going to satisfy you anyway.” And those of you who’ve lived long enough, who’ve made enough selfish decisions, know that that is the truth.

And then Jesus drives it home in this last verse that we’re going to look at in Matthew 16, verse 26, with this haunting question: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” These are accounting terms. Do you hear them? Profit, loss, gains, exchange? Jesus is asking, “What’s the exchange rate on your soul? What would you take for it?”

The simple truth is, you could get it all. Every promotion, every dollar, every accolade the world has to offer, and reach the end and realize you’ve traded away the one thing you can never buy back.

Jim Elliott refused to cling to his life, but he wasn’t a fool. That was not a foolish decision. He was a man who had already answered the question, “Who do you say that I am?” and a man who had already decided that following Christ was worth far more than preserving his own life. And by the way, his and those four others’ blood that soaked the sand on that riverbank in the jungle watered the seeds of the gospel. Later, their own wives went back, and the very ones who had murdered those five men gave their lives to Christ, along with many others. And there is still a thriving Christian community there today.

You can’t keep your life. The only question is whether you’ll spend it on something that lasts.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. This message is not about you walking in tomorrow and resigning from your job and packing your family up and moving to Ecuador or Ethiopia to be missionaries. It’s not what this is about. Some will be called to do that, most will not. We are called to live this kind of life where we are right now. What does that look like for you? What needs to change for that to happen?

Paul summed this up beautifully in Philippians 3, verses 7 and 8. He said this. Now remember, Paul was a big shot before he came to Christ, a big, big, big shot. He said, “But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish that I may gain Christ.” See, Paul did the math, and he discovered that knowing Christ and living for Him was worth more than everything else.

But it all begins with answering that question, “Who do you say that I am?” Have you answered that question yet? Have you ever confessed that Jesus is your Lord and your Savior? Or are you still living on what the crowd says about Him?

It’s amazing. Jesus came and gave His life that we may be free. The line in the song this morning just hit me between the eyes. I don’t remember exactly, but the righteous Judge looked at him and said, “I’m free. I’m clean.” Like, wow, are you kidding me? And yet there will still be people who stand before the Judge one day full of excuses. “Well, my neighbor said this about You, and I thought that that was probably right,” or “My parents raised me this way,” or…

The only thing that will matter on that day is how you answered this question, “Who do you say that I am?” That’s it. You must settle that matter in your own heart. That’s step one.

Maybe you’ve already done that, but maybe you’re stumbling on step two, like Peter did, saying, “No, I’m not going to let You be Lord on Your terms. You’re my Lord, but I’m not going to let You be Lord on Your terms. It’s not going to happen how You say.”

Are we willing to follow Him even when it involves a cross? Or do we want a Savior who blesses the kingdom we’re already building and stays out of the areas that we have marked off limits?

I want to tell you that the self that you’re working so hard to save is the very self Jesus is asking you to lay down. Not because He wants to take something from you, but because He has something for you infinitely better. A life that you could never manufacture on your own.

So I close by asking, is there a cross you’ve been refusing to pick up? Is there, is there a surrender you’ve been talking Him out of? “Not now, Lord. Maybe someday.” He comes to you again and says, “I want you to lay this down.” “Well, now is not a good time.”

Before we leave today, I pray that we will have all answered this question for ourselves: “Who do you say that I am?” And then, not stopping there, I pray that all of us will desire to lay down our lives for His sake and follow Him wherever He leads.

“Who do you say that I am?”