So I was given the opportunity to share some verses that I studied with Ogden Valley Community Church on Sunday July 27th and I wanted to share some of the key points. The verses we looked at were Mark 8:27-9:1. In this section Jesus is less than a year away from the cross and he's preparing his disciples for what it is that he is going to face (torture and death on the cross), and what it is that they are going to have to face (11 out of the 12 disciples died for their faith). He asks his disciples, "who do people say that I am?" They give him a few different answers on who people thought that Jesus was, all of which were false. This is so true about our culture as well. There are so many different ideas of who Jesus is that it's hard to tell who he really is. First let me say that a statement or belief about someone is only as true as the object that that statement is about. For example someone could believe with all their heart that I am a 4' 5" little person, but the fact of the matter is that I am not. So a statement or belief is true or false depending on the object of that statement.
Well how do we know who Jesus was? I believe that the Bible is one of the most historically accurate pieces of antiquity that we have in the world today. In it we see the record of who Jesus was and the fact that his disciples were genuine enough in their faith of who Jesus was to die for that faith. That's better than any lie detector test. So we can say things about Jesus that are true as long as they are consistent with the record of who he actually was as we see in the bible. For instance we can say that Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:1-3,14), he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:13), and that the fullness of deity dwells in him bodily (Colossians 2:9). This is what Peter confessed genuinely to Jesus when Jesus asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" This is the most important question that you could ask yourself. If you are going to insert your name into the bible somewhere, I thing that it would be safe to insert it here. Who do you (insert your name here) say that I am?
Also their was a false view of what it is that Jesus would come and do amongst the Jewish leaders at the time. They thought that Jesus would come and save them from the tyranny of Rome. They thought that Jesus was going to be a political savior. That is why Peter rebukes Jesus for telling them that he is going to suffer and die. Peter couldn't have that. He was supposed to save them from the tyranny of Rome. But is that what it was that Jesus was sent to do. No. The word gospel means "good news" and this is the good news of the gospel. Jesus came to free us not from the tyranny of Rome, or any governmental institution. He came to save us from the tyranny of Satan. He came to pay the price for the sin that we have committed against a holy God. He came to remove the wrath that hangs over our heads (John 3:18) and absorb it so that we might be declared just before the same God that we have offended so deeply (Romans 3:23,24). The good news of the gospel is the fact that he offers it to us freely. There is nothing you can do to earn it. It is just hanging out there for anyone to grasp. It is a gift (Romans 3:20;Ephesians 2:8,9). The moment you place your faith in what Jesus did on the cross you are sealed with his Holy Spirit and guaranteed heaven (Ephesians 1:13,14).
Religion is man's unsuccessful attempt to reach a holy God on man's own terms. The good news of the gospel is God's successful attempt to reach man on his terms. The most important question you could ever ask yourself is the question that Jesus asked his disciples 2000 years ago, "Who do you say that I am?" It's a question that has eternal consequence. Who do you say Jesus is and how will you respond to what he has done? And remember a statement or belief is only as true as the object it points to so filter your response through the bible to make sure that whatever your answer is is the correct one.
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