Who Is Jesus?

Jesus is the Christ

What we've sung about Jesus, we've read about Jesus, we've prayed about Jesus. Before we continue to focus on Jesus, I want us to start our devotional by thinking about another name in the Bible for a second. That's Theophilus. Theophilus was the original recipient of the Gospel of Luke. And unlike Jesus, who gets a lot of press in the Bible, we don't really know anything about Theophilus. He may have been a Roman officer, he may have been a Jewish high priest, but we do know that Theophilus had heard about Jesus. He had learned about Jesus, and he wanted to know more about Jesus. So what does he do? He contacts Luke. Luke is a physician and a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul as Paul's going throughout his ministry. So Luke seems like a pretty good guy to talk to about this kind of stuff, right? Well, Luke then sets out on a writing project. He contacts eyewitnesses and compiles an orderly account of the life and ministry of Jesus. And thus, we have the Gospel of Luke. And in Luke 1, we read about Luke's intention for writing this gospel. He writes,

it seems to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty containing the things that you have been taught.

While Theophilus wanted to scratch his itching curiosity, Luke wants Theophilus to have certainty. He wants him to be confident in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Today in our postmodern and progressive culture, certainty is not popular. Skepticism is virtuous, doubt is trendy, and uncertainty seems to be the only thing that we should be certain about. We're told to question the news, we're told to question everyone's intentions, we're told to question human biology, we're told to question math, and we're certainly told to question the Christian religion. modern biblical scholarship, religious liberalism, and most recently the deconstruction movement, it's all strived to make us doubt our churches, doubt our Bibles, and doubt Jesus. But Luke wrote this gospel account to address doubt. He addresses someone who has been taught, but who may still be skeptical. Someone who has many questions and concerns about the information that they've received. And Luke wrote this gospel account so that Theophilus may know and be sure that what he has learned is, in fact, true. So as we gather here tonight, we're not here to celebrate a myth or a fairy tale. This isn't a book club. This isn't just a Facebook meetup. No, Good Friday is a specially appointed time in the church calendar to remind ourselves about the truth of Jesus Christ. Tonight, we're gonna take a moment to reflect on the identity of Jesus, the suffering of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the price that Jesus paid to cover the debt of sin that we have amassed before God. Please open your Bibles with me to Luke 9, verses 18 to 22. It can be found on page 867 of your Pew Bible. So everything that we read about in this passage tonight, it's also accounted for in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. So we're not looking at Luke's account because of any particular nuggets of wisdom that Luke pulls out or any particular information that's unique to this. Actually, Matthew and Mark, they give a more detailed account of what we're about to read. But in Luke 9, 18 to 22, we receive two clear and certain answers. to two of the most important questions in all of human history. Who is Jesus, and what does Jesus do? Read along with me, Luke 9, 18 to 22.

Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist. But others say Elijah, and others that one of the prophets of old has risen. Then he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, the Christ of God. And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell no one, saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

This passage was a watershed moment in Jesus's ministry. Up to this point, there had been curiosity from the crowds about who Jesus was. He had taught with authority and he had performed miracles and he had caught the attention of almost everyone in Galilee. There was clearly something different about Jesus and he was not your typical Nazarene carpenter. At this point in Israel's history, there was also tension. and anticipation concerning their relationship with Rome. They had been longing for a Messiah, a Christ, to come and save them from Rome's political tyranny. They wanted God to send his anointed ruler and inaugurate the reign of Israel. And the main point of this confession, the main point of this passage is to reveal to us that Jesus is so much more than a carpenter, and he is so much more and the political hero of Israel. The main point of Luke 9, 18-22 is this, that Jesus is the Christ who serves his people in his death. Let me say that again, Jesus is the Christ who serves his people in his death. Verses 18-20 reveal to us Jesus' messianic identity, In verses 21 to 22, we learn about Jesus's messianic work. So first, let's take a look at verses 18 to 20, Jesus's messianic identity. Our passage starts with Jesus alone in prayer. Up to this point, Jesus had been spending a lot of time ministering in Galilee. He had been teaching and preaching and healing. But Luke also makes it clear that Jesus spends a lot of time alone in prayer. On this occasion, his disciples were with him. We're not sure if they were praying also, or if they were sleeping, or we really don't know what they were doing, but we do know that they were there. So there were 12 eyewitness accounts that could verify the authenticity of this conversation that's about to take place. So Jesus asks them a question. Who do the crowds say that I am? So when Jesus taught, he asked a lot of questions. We see here that Jesus is setting up a teaching moment. He has important information, an important lesson for his disciples to learn. And his disciples seem pretty well informed. They give a pretty good answer. They apparently have talked to the crowds. They know that different people have been saying different things. And the crowds also, let's be clear, they weren't exactly keeping their speculation a secret. The answers that we see in verse 19, these are the same rumors that Herod had heard about Jesus earlier in Luke 9. And I think what's so interesting about the crowd's answer is their false familiarity with Jesus. They think he's John the Baptist, or maybe he's Elijah, or another prophet of old. They assume that Jesus was something that they had seen before, that he was someone that they had known before. They were putting Jesus into their own boxes, into their own categories, and they were drawing their own conclusions based on who they wanted Jesus to be. So if Jesus was John the Baptist, then maybe God was getting ready to do something big against Herod and Rome. You see, John the Baptist had spoken out against Herod, and he played a significant prophetic role in rebuking Herod for divorcing his wife and marrying his niece. John was beheaded because of the grudge that Herodias, the same niece that John had spoke out against, because of a grudge that she held against him. So John the Baptist was unjustly murdered. for righteously calling these sinners into repentance. Well, if Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead, then God had resurrected Israel's political hero, and he was ringing the bell on a royal rumble against Rome. If Jesus was Elijah, then Malachi 4 was being fulfilled, and God was showing signs of getting ready to enact the great and awesome day of the Lord. the day that Israel's enemies were going to get what they had coming. Even if he was another prophet of old, then God was finally going to start speaking again after 400 years of silence. In some ways, all this speculation, it captures some aspect of the truth about Jesus. He does carry political weight. Jesus does fulfill prophetic promises. He does reveal and proclaim the word of the Lord. But ultimately, the crowds completely fail to recognize who Jesus truly is. And as we see what other people say about Jesus, that's ultimately not the most important question that we have to ask. Verse 20, Jesus asks another question, but who do you say that I am? Jesus asked this of his disciples, but this is a question for us also. When we think about who Jesus is, it's personal. It's for us. It's something that we need to answer. Who do you say that I am? Today, the crowds still have a wide variety of answers. a crew, an international college ministry, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. I know a number of you have been greatly blessed by their ministry. They have an evangelism tool called the Perspective Cards. It's a deck of cards that serves as a spiritual conversation starter, and each color-coded stack in the deck asks about a spiritual category to try and start a conversation, and each of those cards has a different option for what that answer might be. So whoever you're asking this question to, you lay out the cards and then they get to pick the answer that they resonate most with. One of the stacks that the questions ask is, who is Jesus? The options that they offer you are a spiritual being, a great spiritual leader, a liar, a lunatic, a legend or a myth, a revolutionary, or the creator and savior. The crew asks crowds of people this question, and the crowds give all sorts of answers. It's important to remember that popular opinion is not a credible source for spiritual truth. Jesus isn't all things to all people. He isn't whoever you want him to be. There's only one right answer to this question, and your answer matters. Who do you say that I am? And Peter answers rightly, the Christ of God. For the first time in Luke's gospel, a human rightly identifies Jesus as the Messiah. See, this is who Jesus is. He is not one of the prophets. He's not one of the spiritual leaders you could follow. He's not one option among many. No, Jesus is the one. who God had promised to send and save and usher in God's eternal kingdom. The word Christ, which is a Greek rendition of the word Messiah, means God's anointed one. It's a political title, and it carries tremendous political weight in God's kingdom. The Christ is God's king. So the Israelite kings in the Old Testament, they had oil poured on their head as a symbol of God's anointing and blessing as they carried out their responsibilities. And God made a promise to King David that one of his offspring would be an eternal king. He would have an eternal kingdom. You can read about that promise in 2 Samuel 7, verses 11 to 16. Well, in Luke 3, We read about Jesus' genealogy, Jesus' family tree, and we learn that Jesus is a direct descendant of King David. Christ would also be a savior. In Isaiah 61, we read about this prophecy about the Christ. It says,