Soul Stirring Declaration

Matthew 16 as the Bedrock of the Gospel

Again, let us turn to Matthew chapter 16. Our text this morning will be verses 13 through 17. These are five verses. Five loaded verses. And this right here is the bedrock of the Gospel. The bedrock. You don't build upon anything other than this here.

So let us hear from the Word of God this morning. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Amen.

Let us pray. Father, speak, O God, your servants are listening. Bore holes in our ears this morning that we will not be ashamed of you.

Lord God, I need help.

I'm not an elaborate speaker. Lord, and oftentimes we're not the best hearers either. Lord, I need to hear your Word. And Lord, I just pray that you will plant this so deep within us that we will not evade the single most important question in the entire history of mankind.

So Lord, glorify yourself. This is our cry this morning.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, we come now. I thought, here we are, entering the winter months and Christmas is on the horizon. What other truth than understanding and having the right understanding of who the head of the church is?

Today is December 1st and there's only one question that really matters. Who is Christ? Who do you say that I am? So before we launch off into this, I want to give you a quick overview of my outline for this so you can follow along.

I want you to realize, I'm going to show you something real quick. Jesus was not, I mean, man was not the first one that invented a shorter catechism. This is the shortest catechism.

It's in this form.

So that's the first one, it's in this scripture right here. This is how he teaches us. So this morning, we have five verses, starting in verse 13. We're going to see a chosen location. In 13b, we see a question for men.

In 14, we see the answers of men. In 15, we see the question for his disciples. Then again, we see an answer from his disciples. And last, we see Jesus' answer. And then I'll give application. It says that we see two questions and two sets of answers.

And then we have Jesus' reply to sum it all up. This morning, looking in chapter 16, I'm going to give you a brief overview real quick of Matthew 16. There's four discourses here in Matthew 16. You see here in verses 1 through 4, a conference with the Pharisees as they challenge Christ for a sign from heaven again.

Brother Michael was pointing this out to me again, and how they kept pointing out for a sign. Verses 5 through 12, the Lord tells us, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of this leaven. Beware of their doctrine.

This is our text, verses 13 through 17. But carrying on down, I stopped a little short, but verses 13 through 20, this is about concerning and knowing him correctly, and that he will build his church upon himself.

Verses 21 through 28 ends the chapter with the Lord Jesus saying, understanding the sufferings for them, and then that we will suffer for him. So that's the outline, but we're going to focus in on verses 13 through 17, and before...

Examination, Catechism, and the Need to Understand Christ

So the outline that... The introduction I want to give you is that throughout life, when we receive knowledge, we have to have something, a rubric, to help us understand. Do we understand what we have taken in?

So, that is called an exam. It can be a test or a quiz. Examinations come in all forms. It can be verbal or written. This is the act of inspection. What the Holy Spirit does, he inspects us. Search and see, oh God, if there be any wicked way in me.

This is a formal test of a person's knowledge to see his proficiency of a particular subject. This is the title. This is Webster's definition of examination. I'm going to give you some examples, and some of you probably can relate.

To authorize a heavy, large equipment that carries materials for commerce, there's a thing called a CDL. There's different classes, A, B, and C, for truck drivers, and it's a rigorous test, and you have to show your competency in understanding everything that entails of driving that large piece of equipment.

So, you have to show proficiency that you understand what vessel you're going to be using to deliver the commerce. Nurses, they have something called the NCAT. They have to show they have proficiency when dealing with the body.

Medical physicians have something called the MCAT to get into a school. A general contractor has to take a business and law examination. Teachers have to take a GACE, G-A-C-E, and lawyers and judges take something called the.

Bar.

So, these are all examinations. Examinations are a metric for learning. They help pinpoint areas of improvement, and it also gives our teacher an understanding of what are our strengths and weaknesses, because they want to see us pass.

Nobody truly wants to see somebody fail in life. So, just understanding what an examination is and the importance of that as we move into our scripture. So, let us look now in verse 13, and Jesus being the master teacher of all, I once had a professor in college that said, you know what the difference between an A and a B student.

Is?

A B student does exactly what the syllabi says. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing wrong with that. B is past the mark. But an A student asks questions before the teacher asks himself. The A student asks questions himself before the teacher asks him the questions.

So, looking at this, we see the master teaching us through catechisms. Look at verse 13. This is a chosen location. And as I read this passage, I want you to understand that our Lord, within His ministry, earthly ministry, He had three years for these disciples to teach them all about Himself and His work.

He didn't flippantly choose Caesarea Philippi. One has to say, why Caesarea? Why not Bethlehem? Why not Jerusalem? Why not Capernaum? Why not around the Sea of Galilee?

Why?

Why Caesarea Philippi? So let's launch into this. Verse 13, when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples saying, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Caesarea Philippi is located 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.

Most of you probably have a Bible that has a graph in the back of it. I can show you real quick. It's 120 miles north of Jerusalem. It's at the base of Mount Hermon, which many conclude that that's where the Transfiguration.

Happened.

And so it's a beautiful, picturesque place. Snow-capped Mount Hermon is beautiful. It has snow on the peak of it about year-round, because it's at 9 ,000 feet elevation. So this is a very picturesque, beautiful place, private.

If you look at this, I'm going to point to it. Here's the Sea of Galilee, and I circled Mount Hermon right there. It's right at the base of Mount Hermon. So Dan is to the south of it. This is where J .R. Bohm led the Israelites to worship false gods.

So here we go.

I want to continue with this. Also Caesarea Philippi is also known as Panaeus. It's a beautiful, lush, as I said, picturesque place, home to the pagan worshipping of the god named Pan. There's a lot of bell-worshipping here, idol-worshipping.

This is a very immoral place. This is a Roman city, as I mentioned, located in the background of Mount Hermon. This is founded by Philip the Tetrarch, which is the son of Herod the Great. Jesus met here for the remoteness and the privacy to meet with his disciples, but there's a far greater, deeper reason of why he chose this location.

This district right here, this area, if you look at it, you'll see there's a cavern in the side of a mountain. It was a stream that come from it that flowed down, was the main source of river for the.

Jordan River.

Many of these people worshipped and believed there was a fertility god within this area that would come back in the spring and they would do despicable acts of bestiality with.

Sheep.

If you look at this god Pan, it was half man and half goat. And so they would do despicable things believing that they would be blessed by this water coming forth from this rock. They had the wrong rock.

So this district was also, in our times, we would call this the red-light district. The red-light district. I want you to realize the question that also comes to mind. Two and a half years has gone by and now Jesus confronts his disciples with one question.

He asks two, but he's really getting to the heart of them, but he starts outwardly and then goes in. The first question I want to put to you this morning, why did Jesus choose such a place for a graduation ceremony?

This is a graduation ceremony of understanding who he is. So imagine, would you choose such a location, a red-light district for a graduation ceremony? Not saying you just passed it, no, our life is a continuing sanctification, but I want you to see this.

Why did Jesus choose such a dark area, a red-light district for his graduation speech? This was to encourage his disciples, that he was going to build a church in the worst of evils, that he was going to storm the gates of hell.

This was to encourage us. This area was considered the dark underworld. That's why you see in verse 18 it says the gates of Hades. He's meeting here to show us and encourage us. I'm going, the greatest light shines in the greatest darkness.

So this is where the Lord takes to reveal himself. So he's kind of had a, the Lord has veiled himself all throughout before in 15 chapters. Now he's revealing himself as the chosen one, the Messiah, and this is where he does it right here in the darkest environment.

If you look at the environment, it's lush and pretty on the outside, but it's rotten on the inside. So, Proverbs 28 .1 says the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold.

As a lion.

The Lord is demonstrating this before he teaches. He's showing his disciples and telling them not to be ashamed or to avoid the sinful culture. Luke 9 .26 says if anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory.

So Jesus connects having the right idea with himself with the church, and this is key. Beloved, it must be first Christ within the church. So here we go. This is either a pass or fail. One question.

Let's continue.

He asks the question, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Do you see here, truth divides. The Lord said, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Who do men, that's group one, the natural man.

All born of woman is a natural man. So this right here, Jesus teaches with passion to proclaim the truth without shame. He turns to his disciples and asks, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So I'm going to break down to you what men represent.

There's disciples and there's men. There's only two categories in this world. I'm going to make a distinction between to help us understand. Men aka the natural man, fleshly incarnate, the goal is self always.

Jude 19 says, it is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. First Corinthians 2 .14, the natural person does not accept the things of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

So I want to break down two things that are important in this verse. Folly and they're not able to understand. Folly and understand. So why is this foolishness? Foolishness is an assessment that one makes and they regard it as ridiculous.

They're not able to see the true value. They can see meaning but can't see the preciousness of the meaning. Why is this? Because self is above all. Self is blinded. Self-reliance, self-preservation, self-exaltation, self-determination, self-sufficiency.

As Proverbs 14 .1 says, the fool says in his heart, there's no God. Jeremiah 6 .15 says, they're not even ashamed of their abominations. They're not even ashamed of their iniquities. Their faces don't even blush.

That's what denying yourself means is being ashamed of yourself. That's why the Lord said, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. So we're either ashamed of ourselves first. But shouldn't we, don't you ask the question though?

He should be ashamed to call us his friends, but he's not. I'm thinking, wow, what a God. They cannot understand. So my question is, if they can't understand, do they get a pass, get out of jail free?

No. No.

They're not excused. Romans 18 verses 18 through 20, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since creation of the world and the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. They are without excuse. So who do men say that I, the son of man, am? The son of man is an interesting title. This goes back to Ezekiel. It's mentioned 93 times in the book of Ezekiel.

If you will turn with me to Daniel chapter 7, this is where the son of man becomes really clear in the prophecy here. If you could, we're going to start in verse 9. Okay, Daniel chapter 7 verse 9, I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient of days was seated.

His garment was white as snow, representing purity, and the hair of his head was like pure wool, perfect divine wisdom. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued came forth from before him.

A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. These are angels. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Revelation 11 20 tells us what these books were.

They were the records of life, the record of life. This right here, beloved, is the war machine. Continue on. Let's look in verse 13. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the son of man, coming with the clouds.

Of heaven.

He came to the ancient of days to the father, and they brought him near before him, and then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, for his kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed. The father has given the son the kingdom. If you can, now let's flip back to Matthew 16.

The son of man made of woman. This is fully God. This is the son of God. But such humility to empty himself, to be identified with sinners. So what conclusions did these disciples arrive at? I want you to see the background of this.

He didn't ask, who do my enemies say that I am? Because they already said earlier, I think it's in chapter 10 or 11, he's of the house of Beelzebub. He's of the house of the devil. And that's when he said, how can the house stand if they be divided?

So we see this, but he's asking, what does the common man say that I am? Because the Pharisees and scribes suppressed these common men. Nothing's changed. I want you to understand, there's a fish in the sea called a cuttlefish.

I thought this is so profound. This cuttlefish, it looks like a big squid. It looks like it propels like a sea doo or something, jet propel. But its defense mechanism is shooting out ink that clouds the water to evade its enemy.

Is that what people do when they evade the declarations and invitations of God? They cloud the water and ask flippant questions? What church do you go to? Are you Arminian? Are you Calvinistic? No, the heart of the matter is, who do you say the Lord Jesus Christ is?

So I want you to see here, there are commonalities within men and their answers. So first, number one, it's wrong, it's error. Error comes in many forms, it's diverse, it comes in many colors, it contradicts you.

The truth will always stand as one. Lies live together. Sin is never satisfied alone, it has no backbone. I think of that invertebrate creature, it has no backbone, it just shoots out ink. It avoids the light, however, truth is of necessity and is intolerant of error.

Our Lord's enemy, called our master, he's from the house of Beelzebub. So far from the truth. The second thing that these answers had from men, I'm sorry, let's hear the answers of men, sorry. In verse 14, if you take a look at that real quick.

So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. There's the answers. So the thing that I want you to realize, they said some very reverent things, very respectful.

They kind of say you're at the ballgame, but you're not in the game. The conclusions of the natural men are respectful and reverent. Has nothing changed? I'm a Christian because I'm my grandmother. I'm a Christian because of my father.

I'm Christian because of so and so. Just take those names out and put whatever name you want to put. Nothing's changed. Just reach out there, come on. But I'll share this with you. They will have absolutely nothing to do with the doctrine of the cross or holiness.

Personal holiness. Those that take not a whole Christ, take Christ not at all. He is everything or he is nothing. The character of Jesus is much too hard, this is Spurgeon, the character of Jesus is much too hard, a nut for a philosophic tooth to crack.

So Matthew 5, 8 tells us the blessed are those that are pure in heart. It's his glory that blinds them. It's his glory that blinds them. So I'm going to break down these answers of what they said.

Why John the Baptist?

Well he after all was a forerunner, but didn't John the Baptist say, whom's traps I'm not even worthy to unlassen? Why would they say John the Baptist, whom had they lopped off? Elijah, he was a summit of the prophet offices.

Malachi 4, 5 tells us, you look at Jeremiah, he became a hero because during the Maccabean period of the 400 years of silence, they believe that he goes back and gets the ark. But when he was alive, they threw him in a pit.

Do you see, they're divided and the enemies are at enemy with one another. But I want to focus in on this, and then they just say one of the other prophets. They just, anybody, religious. But notice, this is what, sometimes the greatest things is what's not said.

Notice they didn't say, honestly I don't know. The Lord resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. What do you think his disciples first said, Lord, teach us how to pray. A humble heart says, I don't know what I think I know.

The Lord will answer that prayer. Ultimately, Jesus did not respond to them, but how blessed it is he even shows compassion as mercy is still available to be found today. Truth divides as we see, as I lead into the second point, we see as he turns to his disciples and asks the second question.

The Disciples’ Confession: Jesus Is the Christ, the Son of the Living God

Verse 15, let's take a look at verse 15. He turns to his band of 12 and he said to them, but who do you say that I am? Now after hearing all these errors, Jesus, I want you to understand that but is a transition.

Word.

It's saying, hey, come on over to the other side. There's another bridge that leads to another side. But, it's transitioning to a second group of people, his disciples. These are called learners. Humble and teachable people taught by the Spirit of God.

But who do you is the key word. This gospel is relational and personal. My God, when you read Psalms, David, my God. Spurgeon has a sermon named, My God is profound. It is so to say that he is my God.

These are the spiritual men. This is the group two. These are persons whose mind and heart have been renewed by the Spirit of God. First Corinthians 2 .12 says, now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God.

So we see some characteristics of these men. We see they're unanimous. Inside of this group of twelve is one answer. And any one of them could have spoken that one answer. But Peter being the mouthpiece, the outgoing spokesman, he spoke up for them.

You see they're learners and they're servants. The key word is obedience. So let's look at verse 15. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Continuing on in verse 16, Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

Amen.

That's a ten word declaration. That's a ten word declaration.

Why not?

You are the Christ. Stop right there. That's right. But ten words. What is the law of God? It's called a deca law.

Ten. Ten commandments.

Ten represents the authority of God. Ten represents the submissiveness unto His government upon heaven and earth. So ten here. This is a ten fold declaration. Ten word declaration. I pray that we will never lose sight of this ten word declaration.

Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Three definite articles. So you see that this is a unanimous consensus within this circle, this band. It's not three or four different things. Now I'd like to charge to you this understanding this question of who do you say?

This is, I call it the EKG of our hearts. This is truly the true state of our health that lies within this answer. This question is the greatest question that man will ever answer.

A .W.

Three toes are set in the knowledge of holy. What comes to mind when you think of God is the most important thing about you. Now I would like to charge you to let things go that are visible. To lay hold and tighten your grips upon eternal things.

Realize Christ and hold Him fast. God has set forth our beloved Savior to be a propitiation for our sins. In verse 16, you see Simon Peter answers and said this tenfold. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

Never forget this. But what is in this meaning of this tenfold, this ten word declaration? What does Peter mean when he declares Jesus to be the Christ? Well I'll tell you. He's the long awaited anointed one.

The one as mediator who was set apart, ordained by the Father, anointed by the Spirit. To be his people's chief prophet, priest, and high king. So what does Peter mean when he declares to be the son of the living God?

This is a unique sense and it's not applicable to any mortal. Jesus is the son of God. Is, was, and forever will be. Over against, when he says the living God, over and against all false and dead pagan gods.

Isaiah 40 verses 18 through 31. He is the only source of life that lives. All life comes from Christ. First Corinthians 4, 7 mentions, for whom maketh you to differ from one another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?

Now if you did not receive it, why do you glory? As if thou had not received it. So Peter, he is a new charter member. He makes this confession and Jesus stamps him as the new charter member of the New Testament.

Church.

He's standing in relation to Christ that has already come. In verse 17, I want you to hear the master's reply. He didn't reply to the first group, but you get the approval now from the Lord Jesus. The first, looking at verse 17, Jesus answered and 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, understand the passing great just came. The blessing came. The master who has command to give all blessings and authority just gave it.

Blessed and let us not think lightly of what benefits we have in Christ. The essence of the Beatitudes are summarized right here. Psalm 89, 15 says, blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

The one having authority came not only to purchase blessings, but he commands the blessing. This blessing is designed to rectify ruinous mistakes of the blind and carnal world. Where sin has made us retarded, sin has made us stupid, it has hardened our hearts.

Our Lord corrects this fundamental error of false happiness. Both life and death is implied and set before us here. This is what he means, blessed. This is eternal life. I want you to realize in chapter 16, there is no miracles mentioned in chapter 16.

He wants them to ponder the greatest miracle. Is that one word to be called blessed. That's the greatest miracle man can ever receive.

Amen.

Ever.

So, what the law requires, the gospel gives. The gospel is Jesus Christ.

Yes.

So, in this name, he answers and says, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. What a name. Why does he say Simon Bar-Jonah? This was Simon, son of John. This was used by Jesus as a reminder to let Peter know of his nature.

Simply a human son born of a human father. A man who of himself could not contribute anything worthwhile. And we fall right in that same boat. But I want you to see later in verse 18, after grace, he becomes a worthy bearer.

Cephas, Aramaic for rock, or Peter for Greek. Continuing on. Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood. Let's stop right there. What is flesh and blood? This is merely human calculation. Intuition could never have produced such a sublime truth.

Holy men, Spurgeon says, are the pens. But God himself must write with them, or they will write nothing on our hearts.

Yes.

Moving forward. For flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. Reveal means it was not within you.

It had to be revealed.

Being at enmity with God, totally blind. But my Father who is in heaven, it is only when the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, purifies the mental eye by cleansing the heart and life, that we are able to understand and perceive the true matter, the true nature, and the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Psalm 24 says, who can ascend unto the holy hill of the Lord? It is he who has clean hands, not one clean hand, clean hands and a pure heart. So Jesus is the door, but he is also the key. So let us remember, cuttlefish do not have a backbone.

They escape by avoiding and clouding the water. So does the natural corner man. He evades the invitations and declarations of God by answering flippantly, raising questions of secondary character. But it comes down to this, who is Christ?

Who is Christ? Isn't that the question? So this morning, I know this is short, but I want to just focus in on this as application. Let me give now some simple application. The Lord Jesus teaches his disciples the art of overleaping sinner's defenses by dashing into their strongholds and smiting him with the edge of the sword by the means of inquiry.

Who do you say that I am? What think you of Christ? This is the searching inquiry which tries a man. Is your nature so changed that Christ has become your friend and your greatest delight? Isn't that the question?

If he is, blessed are you this morning. And I want you beloved to understand, the greatest enemy to hell is you.

It's you.

Doesn't Romans tell us he will put him under our foot? Your foot. Why? Because we are in Christ. But the Lord uses us as a vessel. Romans 1 .16. Oh, I'm sorry. I'll have to find the quote. I think I had it on my first two pages.

I want to read this to you. It's Romans. If you can, turn with me to Romans 16. And let's look at verse 20. Romans 16, verse 20. I'm sorry, let's start in verse 17. Now remember earlier, I said that these are divisive.

Jude said these are divisive people. Men, the average man. The carnal natural man. Verse 17. Now I urge you brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.

For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by smooth words and flattering speech deceive their hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all, therefore I am glad on your behalf.

But I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. Here it is. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Amen.

Your feet. You're the greatest enemy to hell and Satan himself. It says not the God of war, but the God of peace. He's our God of peace. So in the midst of the war, He gives peace. So, in application, continuing.

I beseech each of you, each man, each woman for himself. Put this question to your own soul. Who do you say the Son of Man is? What think you of Christ? Let me close by saying this. If you're not right here, you're not right in nothing.

As Christ is God's beloved, so let Him be your beloved. So when others ask you, who is Jesus? You tell them. He is the Christ. The Son of the Living God. He is my salvation. He is my desire. Salvation comes down to those that are ashamed of themselves.